But today, we're going to talk about the marketing you might do beyond the basic plan. Remember that plan had bookmarks, postcards, and a blog tour on it.
This plan includes those three things, but has additional features.
1. Swag item. Here is where you can step up your swag -- if you'd like. I print stickers. For POSSESSION, I bought an image and used it in promotions, giveaways, buzz-building, and as stickers.
I'm doing the same thing for SURRENDER. You want to see?
I can print 500 stickers for $27.30. This year, I got smart and put my website on the sticker. Last year? Not so much. Live and learn.
Cost: Low $, low hours.
Uses: Give them out with every promotion, blogger swag, include at book signings, slap on any book-related package you mail. Use the image in your online campaigns too. Last year, the Tagged image was used in my newsletter campaign (see #2 below) and as an avatar campaign on Twitter.
Don't like stickers? (Though it's hard to beat 500 at $27.30...) No problem. Find something else you can use with your book. Some ideas:
- Pin buttons
- Water bottles
- Wrist bands
- Candy
- Moo cards (I'll admit, I bought these too... maybe I am J.K. Rowling!)
- T-shirts
- Jewelry
- Bottlecap magnets
2. Newsletter Campaign.
If you haven't started gathering names and emails for a newsletter, you probably should about the time you're querying agents. You can use this opt-in audience for promotion, and there are several sites that you can use to create your newsletters for free.I use MailChimp, and I love it. I haven't paid a dime for it. You can sign up for my newsletter here. Now that we're getting closer to the release of SURRENDER, there might be some goodies for newsletter subscribers only...
Cost: $0, 1-2 hours/month. (Seriously. I can put a newsletter together in under 30 minutes.)
Uses: Run giveaways, exclusive to newsletter subscribers. Keep readers up-to-date with your books, deals, news, etc. Use images from #1 to run book content-specific promotions. Talk about other books. Advertise ARC sign-ups (which, BTW, you can sign up for an ARC of SURRENDER here).
The possibilities are virtually endless, and with a free price tag and very little time investment, you should consider a newsletter.
Caution: Don't be a spammer. If you say you're going to send a newsletter once a month, don't send one once a week.
3. Goodreads**. I think Goodreads is a great place to reach readers, because well, that's where readers hang out. The biggest pro for Goodreads? The ARC giveaway. Remember that you're going to use your ARCs for review purposes, and there's no better way to get a crap-ton of people requesting your book than to run a Goodreads giveaway.
Cost: $0-10 (mailing cost only), low time.
Uses: reach readers where readers hang out, giving away a prize people want, building buzz.
All you have to do here is spend a few minutes listing the giveaway. (Oh! Look! There's an ARC giveaway of SURRENDER going on right now!) Goodreads even picks the winner for you, gives you code for widgets, the works. You are responsible for mailing out the book. If your publisher is sending the ARC, your monetary investment is zero. If you are, you'll have to pay for shipping (but you can put your sticker on the outside of the package...)
Goodreads gives you the code for widgets too.
So there you go. The second tier above the Basic Marketing Plan.
Well? Can you set up a newsletter? Order some additional swag? List a giveaway on Goodreads? What else would you implement into this marketing plan?
Next week, I'm going to talk about additional ideas to market your work exclusively online. **I'm also writing a separate post about Goodreads and Facebook ads, both of which I've purchased and used. So stay tuned for that!