No Money Marketing
Written by Author Angela Yuriko Smith
Somewhere,
the next J.K. Rowling is being ignored. Perhaps
she is a self published author, part of the growing wave of writers that have
decided to invest in themselves as professionals. She has worked tirelessly on her book,
perfecting it, and it is indeed a thing of beauty. After the initial excitement of
publishing dies down, she excitedly watches for her sales to take
off. A few books are
bought by friends and family, and nothing more. Her book is doomed to sit on her
shelf, unloved and unnoticed.
This
is happening all the time; independent authors are being ignored not because
they are bad, but because the writer lacks the money and know -how to get their
book noticed. Having
witnessed this unhappy phenomenon for years, I formulated a plan before I published to avoid being shelved
myself, and it worked. In
its first month I managed to get my book, End
of Mae, nearly 50
reviews, 4 author interviews, 2 Q&A sessions and an editor pick that
exposes it to over 150,000 plus
Second Life fans on Facebook. Additionally,
2,000 unique visitors experienced my book in an interactive way. That was accomplished in less than 30
days.
That
is a lot of attention for one little indie novella in its first month. I will be honest and tell you straight
up that it’s not because End
of Mae is an amazing work of
fictional genius. It’s
definitely worth the price, but to be honest, the secret of my success has been
the marketing plan. The
best part of all is that I probably spent under $50 on the entire
campaign. Most of that was
to pay for a few paperbacks I gave away as gifts and prizes.
Of
course I can’t tell all the details of my plan in one small post, so I have
been taking notes and recording my plan in the book I am finishing now, titled All You Need Is “Like”, and I
hope to release it in the next month. It’s
a tell-all expose of thinking outside the box and turning your internet into
your hardest working employee. For
now, I only have the time and room to share my most effective methods, but you
can find more information on my blog, dandilyonfluff.com.
1. Use your social network. As the title says,
all you need is “like”, but if you have less than 300 friends on you Facebook,
internet job sites like Microworkers won’t even pay you a penny for your
influence. When I learned
this I started bulking up on my friends, and managed to bring my friends from
200 to over 1,000 in a month. My
primary source of FB friends was to seek out individuals in the same boat;
namely artists, crafters, media and the like. They need friends like we do, and are
very happy to reciprocate. Once
my list started building, I started getting friends requests from them. When you see a business listed,
request a friend connection. You
will soon be part of an interconnected web of like minded individuals. A bonus of this is that marketers and
media tend to be in those circles, and make excellent professional
friends. Please note that
before I did this I removed all my children’s pictures and information from my
profile for their privacy and safety. If
you don’t want to do this, I suggest having two profiles.
2. Get virtually successful. There are virtual
worlds, such as Second Life, that are turning into very real sources for
networking. Universities
are setting up virtual campuses. Corporations
are setting up virtual headquarters. There
are virtual television stations, magazines, news agencies, writer’s
communities. Don’t think of virtual worlds as “a game,” think of it as your
portal to the world, each avatar represents a person and potential
reader. In Second Life I
managed to send a press release containing a one chapter mini book, promotional
shirts for him and her, all the pertinent information as well as a method to
travel back to where I had created the house from the book virtually. This went to over 500 bloggers and
magazine editors. The
rewards were being featured permanently in Second Life’s Destination Guide as an editor pick, shared with their 150,000 and
growing fan base. Many of
them followed up with a visit to my virtual “Heylel’s House”. I received 30-50 unique visitors a day. There, fans can interact directly with
scenes from my book, I can have live readings and parties and share links to
the book trailer and other information as well as give away free gifts. This barely scratches the surface of
the promotional potential available online. There is so much more I could say on
this, which I guess is why I have to write a book on it, but while we’re
waiting, consider exploring Second Life as a serious marketing tool.
3. Be graphic. If a picture is worth a thousand
words, than a trailer must be worth a million. A book trailer can be as simple as
quotes from your book imposed over related photos, or as complicated as a
re-enacted scene. I went
the route of Machinima, a viral trend that uses games and virtual worlds to
create music videos and mini movies. I
am lucky enough to have a talented daughter make mine, and it has become a
major tool in my marketing arsenal. We
recreated the spooky woods from the opening of the book, but I won’t take space
to describe it when you can see it for yourself on her new channel. Here I can only tell you why and how
it has been so effective. First
off, trailers are as viral as lice in a preschool. A video can be shared not only through
Facebook and Twitter, but on your Smashwords and Amazon author pages, on
Youtube, in blog pages. It
can be left as a video response to Youtube videos on similar topics. Your friends will share it, and if
it’s well done, their friends and so on. Even big picture Paramount is
recognizing the power of viral video, and they have formed a new branch called Insurge, devoted to the low budget and easily
shared. Like a movie
trailer, a book trailer should raise questions to potential new readers. I have been told on two separate
occasions that someone bought my book to see what happens to the girl in the
trailer, which we incidentally filmed in Second Life. I laughed happily when I was asked if
the pixel girl in the film was “really Mae”. That was what I’d hoped to do, form a
relationship with the viewer that could continue into my books.
These
are three of my most effective marketing tools that I have used to promote End of Mae. I am always happy to answer questions
and share information, so please feel free to contact me through my blog, FB profile or visit End
of Mae with a “like”. Good marketing will not sell a bad
book, but it will get a good book the attention it deserves. And with the internet bringing the
world to your desktop, now all you need is “like”.
**Originally Published on TeamNerd Reviews**
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