Promotion Takes Time

I'm pleased to announce that I'll have two book signings for The Upside of Down at Pioneer Book, 858 S. State, Orem, UT on Friday, March 18th, 4:00-6:00 pm and again on Saturday, March 19th, 12:00-2:00 pm. I'd love to have you stop by and say hello. Pioneer Book has been very accommodating and I really appreciate the opportunity to do a book signing.

I recently discovered that my book is in the spring Seagull Book catalog. Yay! I'm so excited to see it in this catalog.

I've also been very pleased with reviews by Tristi Pinkston and Sheila Staley.

My book has also received some great reviews over at Goodreads.

I've been working on promoting this book for months and I'm happy to see that it's finally getting some attention. As writers, I think we're so anxious to get the word out about our books that we become very impatient--we expect results right away. In my experience, it takes time. Marketing is a long process and it takes time to see results. I wrote a guest post for Cedar Fort Books about 10 things to do to create an online presence.

If you're looking to build interest in your book I recommend a few things:

1. LDSPublisher. You can choose to sponsor the blog for a month or pay a small fee to advertise your book in the sidebar. If you choose to sponsor, you will be required to send a copy of your book to a comment winner drawn randomly at the end of the month. Visit LDSPublisher for more information.

2. Goodreads. You can advertise on Goodreads to create interest in your book. You pay ahead for the ad and Goodreads charges against that amount to display your ad to your target market until the credit is gone. You can also do a giveaway. You simply register the details with Goodreads and choose what date(s) you want to have the giveaway contest. For my giveaway over 1200 people entered.

3. Facebook. You can advertise on FB for a small fee. You can target your market with the various options so only those who you think will be interested in your book will see your ad.

4. Blog Hop. The concept behind a blog hop is that people jump (or hop) from one blog to the next. Each blog is tied to the others through a link and you offer a book related prize in exchange for people becoming followers, liking your FB fan page, or signing up for a newsletter (or whatever you determine makes them eligible to win the prize you're offering).

5. Virtual Blog Tour. Send out copies of your book to various bloggers in exchange for a review.

You can read more on my article at Cedar Fort Books. Just remember, building interest takes time. Don't wait until your book is out before you start your marketing and promotional efforts. I recommend starting about 2-3 months prior to your release date by talking about it on your blog, posting information and cover images on your blog and website, and announcing it to email groups you're a part of. You can also set up a Goodreads giveaway to begin before your release date and you can create interest by offering a contest for pre-orders.

And, don't forget to work on your next book because your best marketing effort to build a fan base will be to write another, better book.