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An article in the Washinton Post titled On Web, A Most Novel Approach started me on a quest to find ways that authors promote themselves and their books. I found examples and advice from women who have been there and done that, and I found helpful resources to get you started on the same path.
The current hot trend is to create a book trailer. Book trailer sounds like a movie trailer, because it's the same concept. But it's an attractive and flashy video promo for a book, not a movie.
Here's an entertaining example of the book trailer, promoting A Lady Like Sarah by Margareet Brownley.
The author has placed the video on her own website at MargaretBrownley.com, on You Tube, and on sites like Book Screening and Book Trailers, two sites that aggregate book trailers and present them to readers looking for the next good book.
The trailer for A Lady Like Sarah is pretty professional in appearance. Book trailers range from amateur and homemade to slick and polished. If you are self-promoting a book, put a book trailer on your website and Facebook and YouTube and everywhere else you can make it available.
Kate Messner put her video together for The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z at what looks like a book convention. She added a bit of bouncy music and a few screens of text and — presto — book trailer.
Many of BlogHer's readers have already done similar video feats and wouldn't have to stretch much to envision a book trailer using the same techniques. Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos from Fertility Authority, Silent Sorority and Coming 2 Terms is a good example of successful self-promotion.
Scroll down the page at Coming 2 Terms where Pamela Jeanne promotes Silent Sorority. You'll see links to a book purchase on Amazon, a Twitter link, a link to an amazon.com author page, a link to Pamela Jeanne's video on YouTube, and a link to Silent Sorority's Facebook page.
I contacted Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos about how she self-promoted her book. She responded,
I stumbled into a large, underserved market. After a decade of trying to conceive -- using all that nature and science could offer -- I discovered I was among a silent sorority of women faced with the difficult road of trying to build a life without once sought after children. I searched at length in the "repro lit" area for an account I could relate to, but found that all of the books on infertility published in the past 20 years were authored, paradoxically, by moms. I decided to fill the void by writing a book and blog aimed at giving infertile women a voice. What resulted was a book called Silent Sorority. It's a hybrid of memoir, pop science, and social commentary.
I actively searched out other bloggers writing on similar topics. In reviewing their blogrolls, I reached out and got to know a wider circle of those writing and responding to common issues and challenges, commenting on their blogs and responding to those commenting on mine. I searched out and commented on forums. I branched out further still, developing and posting content on BlogHer and other online platforms from Open Salon to MORE magazine. I contributed to eZines such as Exhale and I landed a regular column on a website called FertilityAuthority.com.
I built a companion book website and became a student of search engine optimization. I set Google alerts for news articles on infertility and the mommy culture, leaving comments on websites ranging from the New York Times to the Orlando Sentinel to the Times of London with a URL that linked back to my book website. I subscribed to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and I pitched reporters and freelancers who had written on companion topics.
I embraced social media and social networking tools. I created a Twitter account and developed a Facebook Fan Page. I joined author forums such as SheWrites and book lover websites such as Shelfari. I developed an author page on Amazon.com's new Author Central channel.
Pamela has some tips for those of you who are thinking about self-promotion:
Know your audience, the market, for your book better than anyone else. Understand where they spend time online and participate in the conversation. Don't employ a hard sell, but rather engage in a dialogue. Write about what you know and where you have a passionate,
