Marketing Begins Before Your Book Releases

Pamela S. Meyers lives in the Chicago suburbs, an hour’s drive away from the Southeastern Wisconsin setting of most of her stories. Her debut novel Thyme for Love, Book One in her On the Road to Love series, released November 2011, and Love Will Find a Way, Book Two will release very soon. Her historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, will release in April 2013. When she isn’t busy writing her next novel, you can find her coordinating the ACFW Genesis Writing Contest for Unpublished writers. You can find more information on Pam at www.pamelasmeyers.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pamela.meyers 

Marketing Begins Before Your Book Releases

It’s my pleasure to guest here at Novel Rocket. I was given carte blanch as to what my post topic should be, and since my second book Love Will Find a Way, the sequel to Thyme for Love, my debut novel is due to release soon, I’ve been thinking of ways to start the marketing process before the book is available for my readers.

A few weeks ago I developed a to-do list.

1.  Target the people who read my first book with some reminders about my characters and the storyline. For many it’s been quite a few months since they read the story, and their memories are probably a bit faded as to the plot and characters. I need to write blog posts about my about my characters and talking about what happened in Thyme for Love while hinting of things to come in Love Will Find a Way.

2.  Because April, my heroine, is a chef, I spent last winter and spring testing recipes and tweaking them for inclusion in the story. As I cooked and experimented I took pictures of the dishes and posted them on FaceBook. That’s another topic I can utilize my personal blog for in the prepublication days of my novel. I won’t post the same recipes I included with the manuscript, but perhaps recipes for ones mentioned in the book, but not printed out.

3.  Even though the story takes place in a fictional town, it is very close to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, my hometown, and my characters go there often. I can post pictures of the town and lake on Twitter and FaceBook, and say my characters visit these spots in my stories. This would serve a double-purpose since I have a 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, coming out in April.

4.  A good friend of mine developed the book trailer for Thyme for Love and has been working on a trailer for Love Will Find a Way. I purchased photos from several online stock photo companies such as www.istockphoto.com and http://www.shutterstock.comwhen I was unable to find those I needed in my personal collection or at the free-use site at www.morguefile.com. Before he began work, I roughed up a script to be incorporated into the trailer and suggested which picture should go with the script. The trailer is close to being finished and should be ready to launch when the book releases.

5.  Think about places besides bookstores where you can hold events that relate to your book. For example I recently discovered a cooking school in Lake Geneva. I need to contact the chef who owns the school and see how I might do a tie-in with the school. For my historical, I’m working with the museum in Lake Geneva for an event to feature my Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin story.

6.  If your book is not your debut novel and your book is on Amazon, it may be a good move to check into making the first book a free offering for a limited time. Everything I’ve read indicates that these types of promotions help book sales.

7.  Once you have your release date confirmed, you will want to line up bloggers for a blog tour to influence for your new book.

I hope these suggestions have helped and maybe sparked ideas of your own. In fact, if you do have ideas other than what I’ve suggested here, please comment and share with everyone. I can’t wait to see all the creative ideas.