Tea at Trianon: Ways to Promote Your Book

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Ways to Promote Your Book

A helpful article for authors and would-be authors. To quote:

Tweet about it.
Make a book trailer.
Ask your readers to send in images of them with your book and then pin them on Pinterest. (people love the human connection)
Comment on threads in facebook groups or on other people’s threads to build your reputation as an expert.
Write a press release for PRWeb. It’s a great way to get some backlinks to your site and maybe even some press interest!
Do a presentation at a local meetup group. Don’t ‘sell’, just give great information, and make sure to have some books to hand in case people ask.
Do a kdp free promotion. They still work if you use them correctly.
A GoodReads giveaway is a fantastic way to generate some interest and also to get some reviews. You need to be approved as an author first by GoodReads and this works better with your print books so it’s a little bit of process but well worth the effort!.
Create a post about your book on your facebook business page. Pin it to the top.
Post some free content or excerpts from your book on http://scribd.com. You can also sell your book here — worth some extra exposure?
Give a talk at a local school (if it’s appropriate content — works well for children’s fiction, history or other educational content).
Make a series of how-to videos for YouTube related to you non-fiction book content.
Send an email to your list. Give them a reason to buy — like maybe they could send you the receipt and you’ll put on a special webinar or teleseminar?
Run a facebook ad but make sure it’s closely themed around time or an event — maybe you have a Christmas recipe book and just before Christmas you run an ad targeted at foodie groups.
Create a discussion on http:///www.quora.com. Ask questions, engage users, DON’T make it just a pitch for your book. If you are keyword savvy then use keywords in your post title and content so that it will show up on the search engines and give you ongoing promotional returns.
Get more reviews! (more reviews will help your Amazon ranking).
Create a URL forward that directs people to your Amazon page. Use this as your “main website” in your book and whenever you’re talking about your books. (for example mysite.com/bookname and forward this to your amazon page).
Do as much guest posting as you can and refer to your book in the author box (or use that URL forwarding tip just above this one!).
Create a bunch of $0.99 books that are full of quality. Use these as tasters for your other books — people will take a chance for 99c and if they like your content they’ll be back.
Get some fun, slightly silly, videos done on fiverr in the hope they might get shared and go viral.
Put a link to your book in your email signature (and if you’re a bestselling author, then make sure you say that!).
Don’t enable the “Digital Rights Management” option in your kdp dashboard. Yes you might find your book being given away on free sites but more sharing = more people know about you…
Start a podcast (or better yet, get on someone else’s podcast).
All those great reader images you asked for — get people to post them on facebook and tag you. It’s a great way of letting their friends know about you.
Create an Amazon associates account and add an image of your book and a link back to Amazon on your website (and as well as your royalties you might also get a few extra pennies from the associates programme!). (Read more.)