I am more than a bit overwhelmed right now as Safe House is so near to being released in print. I've spent months getting ready for this day, establishing a web presence with blogs, printing and sending out ARCS for reviews, lining up blogs who will allow me to guest post for a blog tour. And I am still unprepared.
I still need more reviews. I need a better press release. I need...more time.
The irony of the whole thing is that this isn't my first book. I knew I knew nothing about promotion for a mystery author last time. I figured I'd learn and that I would know better this time. Yeah right.
Since I was last published things have changed. The internet has changed. Authors now promote themselves on social networks like Facebook and Myspace. They are required to tweet on Twitter at least once if not several times a day. Twitter wasn't even a whisper in its developer's ears when I last got published.
Authors should still keep up with emails on places like Yahoogroups that deal with their genre like Mysterymostcozy or CozyKorner making sure to post about their books and yet still keep up with the group's converstaion, making it clear that the author is not just there to sell books. We need to network with other authors to keep up with the trends. Then we authors are supposed to arrange in-your-face promotion--signings, and talks and tours.
Sigh. With more time, perhaps it's all possible. Who knows what other promo activity could be invented with more time. Tell me, please, how do you do it all?
Christine Duncan is the author the of the Kaye Berreano mystery series
4 comments:
I finally realized that I can't do it all!
We read all of these promotional books and tips, telling us we need to do this, this, this, and that - but there is simply not enough time in the day to do it all. (Not without hiring a small army to assist!) We just have to remember that promotions continue long after the book release as well...
L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net
Yep, when a book comes out, there's so much to do to promote it that there's no time to work on the next one. I guess we have to give it a time limit and then get back to work. Hard to do. I'd rather be writing. :)
I feel your pain, Christine... I really do. I have no answers either other than do your best to balance out the promo with the writing and both of those with your day job, if you have one...and all of that with the need to exercise and have a social life!
It's not easy. I don't know why we torture ourselves this way.
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
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