Timing, as they say, is everything.
On authors loops recently, the question of timing has popped up a few times. Some say they’re sick of writers doing too much too soon. Some advance promo is fine, but the word is: too much will glut your readers and actually kill interest. I’ve taken heed of that advice. My next release is May 6, and about a week before, I’ll send one email with a story blurb and excerpt to the publishers’ readers/authors loop, post my trailer on You Tube and my blog, but the rest will wait until release day. I’ve heard that, for print books, there’s a specific promo timeline starting months in advance, and for print, that probably makes sense. For ebooks, not so much. Although I must admit, I was a little puzzled to receive an event notice on Facebook last week for a book being released… in the fall. Will I remember by then if I reply now? No. To me, that’s a wasted effort on that author’s part, and an annoyance on mine.
According to BronzeWord Latino Authors, marketing is all about establishing a brand. Some authors (myself included) write across genres, so I don’t want to pigeonhole myself. I need a platform that will represent all the genres I write in, from urban fantasy to contemporary women’s fiction to paranormal/historical/contemporary romance. Hmm. A conundrum, as you might well imagine. But not impossible, I think. For me, it will be about the passion of the writing itself, not necessarily which label is slapped on the product.
The greatest power, even in this digital age, is word of mouth. Generating a buzz takes a lot of time, but is well worth the effort. To get your name out there in front of readers, participate in as many email groups, chats,
Romance writers seem to have more resources available to them than other genres. Sites such as Romance Junkies provide some great tools for authors.
FreeBookExcerpts.com allows authors to post excerpts and readers to post comments. Let the buzz begin!
