I'm constantly having conversations with my authors about what they can do to garner more publicity for their books—whether it's hitting the road, using the Internet, or contacting booksellers. While I think we have come up with a number of great ideas, no one does it better than marketing genius Seth Godin. Not only can Seth teach you everything you need to know, but he's actually an entertaining and enjoyable read. If you haven't ever read even one of Seth's books, you need to do so, or at the very least check out his blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/.
I'd also love to hear from you. What brilliant marketing or publicity campaigns have you participated in or seen in action? And another question—Where do you think authors make mistakes or errors in judgment when it comes to publicity and marketing?
—Jessica
3 comments:
The Harlequin NASCAR tie-in seems brilliant to me. There are two problems, though. The first is that the only name I'm associating with NASCAR is that of Harlequin itself. Authors other than the flagship author (the one who is--was?--the wife of a NASCAR driver) are not being connected very strongly and, see, I don't even remember the name of the major author--maybe it's Jennifer Bishop? The second point is that Bishop is being identified so strongly with NASCAR that I wonder how they're ever going to promote her writing about any other topic.
Another excellent marketing idea is Brenda Novak's Juvenile Diabetes Foundation auction (and I don't think that just because I've offered an auction item two years in a row). It connects her to a deeper, wider and more perilous world. The best thing is that it completely reflects Brenda herself as well as the people her stories are about: passionate, caring, driven individuals who could walk a straight line through a hurricane.
Great blog, BTW. You talk about some really substantive issues. Thanks.
Cheers,
Sally
Elaine Viets, who writes the Dead-End Job mystery series, set her last book, MURDER UNLEASHED, at an animal boutique. For every book sold during a particular time period, she donated $1 to PAWS or other animal shelter. I thought this was a fabulous idea.
Mystery writer J.A. Konrath is doing a 500-store tour for his latest release. Something like 500 stores in 90 days. The idea is to generate buzz and goodwill among booksellers (he plans to acknowledge them in his next book).
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