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Marketing your Book and Author Brand During COVID-19

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This is a guest post by Yen Cabag, blog writer of TCK Publishing. In this post, she shares her recommendations on how authors can balance their book marketing and promotional needs with the current heightened need for public safety and social distancing.

Building your author platform is a must-do for anyone wanting to become a successful author.

After all, if you believe in the importance of the message or the experience you offer with your book, you shouldn’t be hesitant about getting it in front of other people.

Authors aren’t just writers – you also need to be intentional at marketing and selling your book, too. 

There are many ways to market your book, including exciting things like book tours and book signings, as well as more mundane tasks like keeping up a presence on social media. And, of course, many experts recommend you start building your author platform even before you get your book out.

But, with the coronavirus pandemic upon us, what’s an author to do? 

First things first: you definitely don’t want to capitalize on people’s fear by feeding on their uncertainty.

Unfortunately, some writers have done so in order to grab attention and short-term sales. But this strategy never works in the long-term, and can often backfire on the author rather spectacularly.

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Book Marketing 101: The Crucial Basics of Promoting Your Book

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book marketing 101

Karen Ferreira’s creative agency specializes in providing high-quality, affordable illustration services for authors. 

As a keynote speaker at her annual conference, Children’s Book Mastery, Karen interviewed me about the crucial basics of promoting your book.

We explored the following:

  • What mindset should authors adopt when promoting their book?
  • What are the most crucial elements of promoting your book?
  • What are some creative and unusual ways to promote your book?
  • How can authors come up with their own marketing ideas?
  • How can an author create a promo kit for themselves?

Because book promotion is such an important – but challenging – topic, Karen generously provided a transcribed copy of our discussion to use here on the blog.

We wrapped up our chat with Karen asking me what my top tip is to help authors succeed. (You’ll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to find my answer. ??)

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How Writers Can Make the Most Out of Co-working Spaces

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How Writers Can Make the Most Out of Co-working Spaces | YourWriterPlatform.com

Writing can be tricky at times. It can be a grueling and monumental task that often requires the stars to align.

It can also be socially isolating and mentally exhausting.

This is why we’ve discussed the topic of persevering through the difficulties of writing and of life in our article on How to Stay Motivated When Life Gets in the Way.

We recommended getting rid of all distractions to get you over your writing slump. And while turning the TV off and ignoring your apps may help, sometimes what you need is a change of scenery.

Luckily, the rise of co-working spaces gives you many affordable and accessible options.

Co-working spaces can spark motivation and get you back into writing. They also provide a platform for writers, freelancers, and startups who want to experiment with new ways of working.

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Book Promotion Ideas for Authors: How to Plan Events in Unique Venues

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If you’ve been considering hosting a local author event in a unique or non-traditional venue, this guest post by Beatrice Beard will be a big help. By getting out into the community, building relationships with local businesses, clubs and organizations, you can strategically create some buzz and excitement around your book AND create a win for the venue, as well.

If you’re trying to come up with creative or unique ways to promote your book through events, there are a lot of options.

The reality is, you can book an event for book promotion at nearly any kind of venue. From coffee shops to craft beer breweries, there are so many options out there.

One of the great benefits of doing an event in a non-bookstore venue is that there won’t be any author competition.

Here’s what you should keep in mind when you consider your next venue.

Be Creative

There are many venue options if you want to do an event in a non-bookstore market. If it makes sense for your buyer audience and the venue’s customers, then it should be considered.

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How to Reach Out to Reviewers: a Publicist’s Guide

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Book publicist Ben Cameron has been in the game for twenty years, working with both traditional and self-published authors.

But he’s noticed a bigger change in the publishing world in the last five years than he has in the last fifteen. 

“That’s come down to the self-publishing revolution, and the revolution in ebooks,” Ben observes.

He recently talked to us about these changes — and what they might mean for self-publishing authors’ publicity games.

In this article, he offers his professional insights on what kinds of reviews are out there, how to find them, and how to get them. Let’s take a look at what he has to say.

TYPES OF REVIEWS

First up: the types of reviews out there that you can secure. As you might expect, the Internet’s revolutionized this quite dramatically, such that Ben now divides them into two categories: professional reviews, and “real people” reviews.

Professional reviews 

Professional reviews are reviewers paid by media companies to review books. Places like Kirkus Reviews, The New Yorker, and The Guardian are a few examples.

These tend to work best for literary or academic books — but their standing in the industry is so great that even just one of this type of review can make a big difference for any book.

[Read more…]

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

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