| Promoting Your Book | |
| by Stephie Smith | |
Disclaimer: This website owner
is not responsible for misinformation!! Please do your own homework. The purpose of this chart is to supply information that authors can use to promote their books. If you have helpful information to share, please email me (see email below) and I'll give you credit for the information. |
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| Donald Maass says in his book, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL, that the only thing that sells books is "word of mouth." So the question becomes how do you get people to start reading your book so they will spread the word? |
Click on a subject in the below table to go to a particular section. | ||
| THING TO DO AFTER THE CALL | |||||
| Advertising | |||||
| Type/Name | Submission | Timeline | Notes | Extras | Credit To: |
| Glass Slipper Web Designs creates banners and flash ads. You can buy art work for the banners through iStock.com | Ads usually run monthly. | You can buy ad space for your banner or flash ad at web sites such as Romancing The Blog, Manic Readers, Writerspace, and Noveltalk (also at most of the book review sites). Some of these sites also have Author Pages. | J. L. Wilson, author of Mystery / romantic suspense and futuristic. | ||
| Romance Sells, a Romance Writers of America (RWA) publication. Note: You must be a member of RWA to advertise in this magazine. | You can download a pdf with full instructions on how to submit for an ad. | Published quarterly. (Note: Dates listed are for 2008, so they will vary year to year.) Spring: Registration announcement Jan 8, advertising deadline Jan 21, release date Mar 7. Summer: registration announcement Mar 31, advertising deadline Apr 21, release date Jun 6. Fall: registration announcement Jun 30, advertising deadline Jul 21, release date Sep 5. Winter: registration announcement Sep 29, advertising deadline Oct 20, release date Dec 5. | From the RWA website: Romance Sells is a 5.5 x 8.5 booklet that includes articles directed to librarians and booksellers providing tips on how to promote the romance genre and increase those book sales. Broken down by category, your full-page advertisement enables you to display your bookcover, give an overview of the storyline, list quotes written about your book, and mention your accolades and other titles. Booksellers have told us they use Romance Sells to pre-sell to their customers as well as make their own buying selections. Librarians also use it to make buying decisions and many say they post individual pages on their bulletin boards to help their patrons make reading decisions. Romance Sells has a circulation of over 8,000, reaching more than 6,500 booksellers and librarians. And the number increases with each issue. We hope you’ll contribute your own mailing lists of favorite booksellers to our master database to help us reach as many stores as possible. | Theresa Meyers, author of romance and women's fiction. | |
| Book Review Sites / Mags | |||||
| Type/Name | Submission | Timeline | Notes | Extras | Credit To: |
| A Romance Review | review submission Online form to fill out and submit with book info. | 3 mos before publication is ideal. They only accept submissions for current or future release dates. They hold books for 90 days, so if it is not chosen for review during that timeframe, it is removed from their database. | Ratings = 1 to 5 roses. ARR says, "Most review sites are purely voluntary, and many reviewers work for more than one site. If a book is passed over by reviewers, it is often just a matter of too many books, too little time, and not a reflection on quality or author recognition. We simply run out of time. Sometimes, dozens of ebooks and print titles are discarded in a single month due to time-limit expiration. Additionally, ARR is very fortunate to have a great relationship with most of the top publishers in the industry. In most cases, we receive our review submissions directly from them, not individual authors." | Also does Author Interviews and Author Of The Month. However, last postings were from early 2007. (Reviews were current.) | |
| All About Romance | See this page for info on requesting a review. They are on the distribution list for many publishing houses. Print books formats accepted: galleys, ARCs, or finished books. E-books: send email with brief summary of book and code or other info necessary for a free download. | Have emailed to ask. | Go to the Reviews Hub to read impt info. Ratings given: A, B, C, D, F. Has a scorecard chart showing ratings given by their judges. | ||
| BookReporter.com | To submit a book for review on any of their sites, please send it to: The Book Report 250 West 57th Street Suite 1228 New York, NY 10107. | Typically books are reviewed within 2 mos of publication. | They review bestsellers, contemporary fiction, historical fiction, debut authors, mysteries, thrillers, some fantasy/science fiction and some romance. At this time they do not review eBooks, POD Books and other self-published titles. The Book Report Network is comprised of 6 online book review and author feature sites: Bookreporter.com, ReadingGroupGuides.com, FaithfulReader.com, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, Teenreads.com (for teens ages 12-17), and Kidsreads.com (for kids ages 6-12). "Although we cannot guarantee review, we consider every book that comes into our office. Due to the volume of submissions that we receive we cannot contact authors or publishers on the status of a book for review. We suggest you sign up for our newsletter, which will list the content that we are promoting." | Does author interviews, posts excerpts and praise, links to Amazon. | |
| Joyfully Reviewed | Request an ebook or print book review. Online form to fill out w/info (see Notes column). | 2-3 months prior to publication date. | Info requested: Author Name, Title, Genre and SubGenre, Ebook or Print Series, Book ISBN# and whether it stands alone, Formats Available to Reviewers, Name of Publisher Publisher Link, Number of pages, Release Date, Author Email Address, Author Website, Blurb. No ratings system but does have a RR (recommended read) for some. Posts reviews to Amazon. | You can schedule a chat (see more under Chats), advertise on their site, do an Author Spotlight interview. | |
| Library Journal | See this page for address to send material. | Prefer to receive materials 3 to 4 months in advance of publication date. They accept galleys, page proofs, or manuscripts. Small houses that can't supply advance galleys may submit finished books. They will not review romance novels after publication date. | Include the following information: Author, title; name, address, and telephone number of publisher; date of publication; price; number of pages; and ISBN and LC numbers if available. Please indicate whether any illustrations, an index, or bibliography will be included; also include a brief description of the book, its intended audience, and information on the author's background. | Mary Kay Foss | |
| Rakehell | At the bottom of each page is an email address to contact them. | Contact them *at least* one month prior to publication date to request the review (you can request a reviewer also). They will reply with a shipping address so you can send the book to the proper review. They also accept ARCs, galleys, and digital copies. | They review Regency-set historical romance and will also occasionally review a well-known Regency author who is writing in a bordering time period, such as Georgian or Victorian.. | ||
| Romance Junkies | You can send a paper copy to Romance Junkies, P.O. Box 158, Superior, AZ 85273 or Electronic Format or Ebooks as an email attachment to address listed on this page. They prefer PDF but will take Word or HTML. | As far in advance as possible. Right now many of the ebook publishers that submit to them are doing so the day of release or earlier that week, which means they can't possibly get the review done in time for the release date, so even if you know your e-publisher will be submitting, you might want to submit it earlier. | Ratings = 1 to 5 Blue Ribbons. Authors and publishers are welcome to submit their books with the info (title, author, release date, genre, author website (if they have one), and publisher, along with a short blurb about the book. |
Scroll down the Author Services page past the review info to see their free services (includes posting author bio, events) and fee services (banners, book cover ads, author spotlights, etc.) | |
| Romance Reviews Today | Go to this page for review request contact info. | They need your print book at least 60 days prior to release so they can post the review when the book is on the shelves. For ebooks they are more flexible since ebooks have an indefinite shelf life (but they don't want to post a review any later than 2 mos after publication date for ebooks). | Reviews books but does not rate them, unless you happen to get on their Perfect 10 list. | Author Services page offers Ad Space, Author Spotlight, Ad Design, Book Mark Ad, and Website Design for a fee. Free services include Reviews, Interviews, and Contest Listing. | |
| Romantic Times Bookstore | On the BOOK REVIEWS submission page, it says to send galleys/ manuscripts/ ARCs to the appropriate reviewer by the deadlines listed on that page, to be considered for review. If you're not sure who to send to, there is an email address to send the title, publisher, publication date and sub-genre of your book to find out where to send it for review. | The deadline dates for submitting your book are approx. 4 mos in advance of publication date so you should follow the instructions in the Submission column 5 mos prior to publication to ensure that you will get your book there in time. | Ratings = 4 1/2 Gold: Phenomenal. In a class by itself. 4 1/2: Fantastic. A keeper. 4: Compelling. A page-turner. 3: Enjoyable. A pleasant read. 2: Problematic. May struggle to finish. 1: Severely Flawed. Pass on this. (They have 5 Star ratings on some books, but this rating is not mentioned on the page that explains their ratings, so perhaps they don't use it anymore.) Also an "RT Top Pick" that may be assigned in addition to the rating. | They offer ads of various sizes for the magazine and web. They have a strict schedule for reserving ad space. I would call them as soon as you have get a book deal to find out how far in advance you need to request space or to have an interview or feature article. | Beverley Kendall, author of sexy Victorian-set historical romances. |
| The Romance Reader | Go to this page and click on the link in the left menu that says "Authors - like us to review your upcoming romance?" | Have emailed to ask. | They receive ARCs, galleys and review copies from authors and every major romance publisher. In addition, a contributor may sometimes review a book that she has purchased. "We have a general rule not to reveal any details after the first third of a novel, unless the information is absolutely essential to evaluating the book. We do believe that we should describe the basic premise of the plot. Readers want to know what the story is about so that they can decide whether or not this is a book they want to read." See more info on their FAQ page. | TRR also welcomes author participation in the following features: Author Address Book (they post your contact information and link to your web site.) Author Potpourri (share your recent news with your romance fans.) Author Freebies (they post your reader giveaways.) Road Stories (have an interesting story of a recent booksigning?) Author Mailbag (they post your comments) | |
| The Romance Readers Connection | Go to the bottom of this page and click on the link: "Request A Review." They accept print and e-books, paper format or electronic (pdf is good). | The latest you should send is the beginning of the month prior to your release month because all reviews for the month are posted the 1st of the month. For example, if the book is an October release, the due date for that review from the reviewer would be Sept 25 to go live on the site Oct 1. | Ratings = 1, 2, 3, 4, 4-1/2, 5. | Offers Advertising on their site and has Author of the Month. | Rita Award winning author Leslie Kelly |
| The Romance Studio | Click here for their submission information. 95% of their review submissions are in electronic format (html, pdf, word, text, rtf). Their reviews will appear at TRS on their reviews page and will also be posted to both of theirYahoo lists theromancestudio and trsblue upon completion. They receive direct from the publishers listed on this page. | No timeline, restrictions or cut-off dates. Authors, publishers, or submitting agents can submit a published work or edited ARC at any time. | Overall rating of 1 to 5 Hearts (Flawed, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent) plus Sensuality Ratings Key: Sweet - little or no lovemaking. Mildly Sensual - suggestive; may include non-explicit love scenes. Very Sensual - spicy; may include somewhat explicit love scenes. Explicit - erotica or romantica; only for those 18 years and older. | Click here for services such as web design and hosting, advertising (book cover, banner, book trailer ads). Also, author members can post a "What's New" notice and have their book submitted to the "Just Release"' page |
Evangeline Collins, author of Lush, Elegant, Sensual Historical Romance. |
| We Write Romance | WWR accepts independent book submissions from publishers and authors. Contact them for additional info and/or the mailing address to which you should send review materials. Books are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. | 3 months prior to publication is ideal. They will, however, review books and post them after publication. | Ratings = 4 - Sparkling Read, A Bookshelf Keeper; 3 - Excellent Read, I'd Recommend To A Friend; 2 - Moderate Read, Has Some Flaws But Still Enjoyable; 1 - Mediocre Read, Has A Lot Of Flaws Ratings for Sensuality / Sexuality = 4 - Scorching Hot, Extensive Use Of Sexual/Sensual Language (Story Relies Heavily On Sex); 3 - Steamy, A Nice Blend Of Sexual/Sensual Language (Sex Is There, But Not The Focus); 2 - Warm, Little To No Use Of Sexual/ Sensual Language (Everything Up To Sex); 1 - Cool - Kissing Only (No Sex) | Click on the following links for: Advertisement and Promotional Opportunities which include book cover ads, banner ads, your name linked from their home page, etc. They do website and banner design. Also, you can schedule interviews andsubmit articles. | Cerridwen Press and Avalon Books author Carolynn Carey. |
| Other Review Sites | Kimberly Killion has a long list of review sites on her website so check those out. I don't have room or times to add them all here, but iIf you use one and find that it was of help in promoting your book, let me know and I'll add it to my list with a credit to your website. | Romance author Kimberly Killion. | |||
| Blogs / Interviews | |||||
Chatting with Anna Kathryn  |
Anna Kathryn Lanier is a romance writer, published in both historical and contemporary, and she is a number one best seller at The Wild Rose Press. Every Monday on her blog Chatting With Anna Kathryn, she hosts a romance author as guest blogger. According to those who have guest-blogged, she has a great turnout. Email her to get on her calendar. | Penelope West is one half of Trout & West Authors (her daughter Victoria Trout is the other half!) writing "Stories where Family Matters." | |||
| Dear Author | Dear Author has a column called First Sale where you blog about your circumstances surrounding your first sale as an author. I assume you can contact them and ask to be featured in this column. | ||||
| Petticoats & Pistols | Petticoats & Pistols...Romancing the West is a blogsite for western authors. You can contact them about guest blogging by clicking here. | Carol Ann Didier, author of Native American romance. | |||
| Risky Regencies is a blog for authors who write Regencies and Regency-set historical romances | |||||
| Chats | |||||
| Joyfully Reviewed | Click here to go to the page to submit your request for a chat. There are currently no fees for Author Spotlight Interviews or Chats. If an author wants a specific date/month, she should contact them two or more months ahead of time. They will schedule chats and interviews closer to publication date that than, but the earlier you schedule, the better chance you'll have of getting the date you want. | ||||
| How To | |||||
| Create an ARC of your manuscript | Romance & Fantasy Author Lori Devoti has an article called How to Build an Arc, which gives step-by-step instructions to make an ARC of you manuscript so you can email it out to reviewers (instead of sending the actual book through the mail). | Romance author Kimberly Killion. | |||
| Mailing Lists | |||||
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Pat Rouse has a Romance Readers Groups List of romance friendly bookstores and readers groups that are eager to receive promotional mailings from authors. She charges a very reasonable annual fee for this list, which she updates and emails out to subscribers quarterly. For more information, please email Pat directly. (Note: the email address to the left is an image file so that Pat's email address will not be picked up by spammers. So, please type it into your email program.) | Cindy Miles, author of whimsical paranormal romance. | |||
| Online Classes | |||||
| Louise Ahern | "Louise Knott Ahern is an award-winning journalist with more than 12 years of experience as a reporter, editor and PR specialist in some of the biggest news markets in the country. When she’s not chasing down freelance articles or working on her own novels, she coaches authors on how to master the media and promote their books. She’s the instructor of the popular online classes PR Boot Camp and Pitching the Press and several live workshops, including, 20 Questions to a Killer PR Plan and How To Talk to a Reporter." Check her website for news about online classes. | ||||
| Jennifer Estep | Jennifer Estep has a workshop titled "How to be a Shameless Hussy – Working the Media like a Pro" where she covers topics such as 1) Dos and don’ts for dealing with journalists 2) How to create a basic press kit 3) How to create extra, book-related materials for readers on your Web site 4) Commonly asked interview questions 5) Some tips on what to wear to an interview. Contact Jennifer through her website (click on Contact on any page) to find out when her next worskhop will be. | ||||
| John Foxjohn | John Foxjohn, known by his peers as the king of self-promotions, teaches an interactive class on inexpensive, but effective ways to promote the author and their novels. Foxjohn covers most aspects of promotions from media releases to obtaining radio and TV interviews. Also covered in the class are the do’s and don'ts of book signings. Contact John through his website to see when his next class is. | Penelope West is one half of Trout & West Authors. "Foxjohn teaches a class that takes a lot of the stress out of marketing. He has some wonderful tips on promotion." | |||
| PR Agencies | |||||
| Annie Jennings PR | From the website: "Communication Outreach Strategies Via The Media. Book Promotion, Radio, TV, Print & Internet Media" "Over 25,000 Book Authors, National Experts & Firms Trust Annie Jennings PR With Their Internet Marketing, Publicity & Book Promotion" | ||||
| Author Sound Relations | From the website: "Author Sound Relations (ASR), the new and smart alternative to working with large public relations firms." Services include online media relations (reviews, spotlights, chats, e-newsletters, banners and ads, etc.); publicity and media events (book signings, press releases, promotional materials to conferences & reader functions); admin assistance (proof reading galleys, copy edits, sales letters, website content and monthly updates, maintaining MySpace, Facebook and other sites; contest prize mailings, promotional product design for bookmarks, postcards...). Clients include Susanna Carr, Kresley Cole, Christina Dodd, Susan Mallery, Jane Porter and more. Click here for pricing info. | ||||
| Blue Moon Communications | From the website: "Our success record includes two of the seven selections for the "Kelly Ripa Book Club" on LIVE! with Regis and Kelly and we are proud to number several New York Times best-selling authors among our clients." You can check out their rates, their client lis, or read the excellent articles on the website about author branding, putting together a press kit for your publicity plan, and my favorite, the promotion schedule checklist (at the bottom of this message point page) which tells you month by month what you should be doing in the way of promotion as you count down to your release day. Contact Theresa Meyers, president of Blue Moon Communications, for more information. | ||||
| Milton Kahn Associates | Recipient of The Southern California Book Publicist Award - Best Publicist of the Year, Milton Kahn gives this advice to authors: "A solid national public relations campaign targeting all of the key media in television, cable, radio, newspapers, magazines and wire services is the most important factor in determining the success of a novel." "While everyone dreams of getting on major television shows such as Oprah, a variety of key radio shows is really critical to building a successful national publicity campaign for a book because it allows the author a much greater block of time to promote his or her book." | ||||
| Pump Up Your Book Promotion | From the website: "Full Service Public Relations Agency Specializing in Online Book Promotion" | New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson | |||
| Topaz Promotions | Topaz Promotions offers a Standard Promotion Package by the month (or 3 months), a Single Title Special to promote one book, and "At Cost" Add-Ons. | ||||
| Promotion Tips | |||||
| Book Marketing Buzz | From the site: "Welcome to Book Marketing Buzz! This blog is dedicated to bringing you the latest in book promotional techniques to help you market your book. Book promotion tips, ongoing promotional series geared toward the published author to help them market their books, and even a few SEO tips thrown in to help you optimize your author website or blog. Lots of fun stuff! Book Marketing Buzz is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion, an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion. You can visit us at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com." | ||||
| Google Alerts | Cameron says to set up a google alert (http://www.google.com/alerts) for your pen name and book title. Google will email you every time any blog or news article mentions those words. It's a great way to find out who's reading you. You can then go to the blog or article and add info or thank them, which gets your name out there again, or you can just stay up to date on what's being said about you. | Cameron Jacobs writes romantic suspense. | |||
| Leveraging your RWA chapter memberships | Most online chapters have space on their websites for member book releases. Be sure to contact your chapter's web mistress and have your book cover added to the site. Also list your book release in your RWA chapter's newsletter. Some online chapters (such as Hearts Through History and Passionate Ink) even have separate public newsletters that are available to non-member readers. | Evangeline Collins, author of Lush, Elegant, Sensual Historical Romance | |||
| Local Book Signings | JoMarie DeGioia says to call your local book stores as soon as you have an approximate publication date. (The following info from JoMarie is specific to Barnes & Noble stores, so independent book stores may operate differently.) Ask for the Community Relations Manager (CRM) and find out what's needed to have your book carried in the store. Unless your book is to be published by one of the major publishers, it will need to meet certain requirements, and the store can provide you with a list of those. Generally if the book meets them, the CRM can make arrangements for a signing (she might have to get approval from corporate if you're published with a major house though). She will need enough time to put the event in the monthly store calendar as well as to order promotion signs. Defer to the CRM at your store for a timetable. S/he can tell you how far in advance you need to schedule a booksigning and when you should drop off your press kit, including an author's photo and a thumbnail of the book cover. With advance notice, B&N usually supplies the signs for the booksigning and they will have your books in stock to buy. On the night of the booksigning, bring any promotional materials you are giving away--such as bookmarks, and if you have your own "Autographed Copy" stickers, bring those. A bowl of candy can often draw people to your table! | JoMarie DeGioia, author of sensual historical romances and also spicy contemporaries written under the name Josie Dennis. | |||
| Local Publicity | Start compiling a list of all local newspapers and free automatic mail distribution newspapers in your area. Contact them to do an article on you and your book right around release time. Same with local radio stations. Perhaps you could arrange to be a guest on the "morning show" with the DJs as people are driving to work. Great way to promote your book on the air to commuters. Same with local television stations. | Award winning historical romance writer Donna Rosenbloom | |||
| Publicity Primer | As part of Desert Rose RWA's The Romance Writing Guide, Theresa Meyers has a 4-parter on Mastering The Media: Publicity. Stage 1: Getting Your Message, Stage 2: Getting Noticed, Stage 3: Successfully Leveraging Your Interview, Stage 4: The Truth About Booksignings and Book Tours. Included is info on press kits, pitch letters, press releases, Q&A sheets, and TV and radio interview tips. | Stacey Goitia w/a Anastasia Foxe..."She's plotting to capture your heart with zany characters in unpredictable situations." | |||
| Networking to share ad costs. | Ads can be expensive, but less when shared... Nick Conrad says to find out who else at your publishing house has a publication date near yours and share the cost of a full-page ad with them. A full page ad split 4 ways is cheaper than a quarter page ad. | Nick Conrad, editor for Ellora's Cave and Cerridwen Press | |||
| Video Trailers | |||||
| Create a trailer | This article at TechLearning.com tells you how to make trailers using the free downloadable Microsoft program, Photo Story 3 | ||||
| Create a trailer | This article on Brenda Coulter's blog explains how to make your trailer using Windows Movie Maker. | Award-winning inspirational author Brenda Coulter | |||
| Create a trailer | Another article about Windows Movie Maker. Jill Elizabeth Nelson also uses it to upload trailers to You Tube. | Romantic suspense author Jill Elizabeth Nelson | |||
| Buy a trailer | Ghost Writer Extraordinaire will give you a "high-quality video trailer for your book, posted at over 40 popular video sharing sites, including YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, and AOL Video, and a DVD copy for your files" all for only $150 | ||||
| Buy a trailer | At Circle of Seven Productions, you can view their client-publishers list, watch the videos they’ve made, read testimonials, and look at costs, which range from $300 to $4,000. See what they did for Lisa Kleypas, Kayla Perrin, Christine Freehan, Heather Graham and more... | C.L. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of fantasy romance. | |||
| Look at (tons of) trailers | At Watch The Book you can check book trailers for every genre to help you decide what to do with yours! | ||||
| Read about trailers | Here you’ll find Sarah Weinman’s recent article at Poets & Writers called Book Trailers: The Key to Successful Video Marketing | ||||
| Music for trailers | In return for the use of their free royalty free music loops, Partners In Rhyme ask that you please link to their website using one of their copy 'n paste html codes. | ||||
| Music for trailers | Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com asks for a $5 donation per piece of his original royalty-free music per his FAQ page. | ||||
| Website Stuff | |||||
| Website design by Wax Creative Design | Websites designed by Wax Creative Design include those of authors Susan Andersen, Jessica Benson, Elizabeth Boyle, Deanna Carlyle, CJ Carmichael, Susanna Carr, Kathryn Caske, Mary Castillo, Melanie Craft, Michelle Cunnah, Diane Gaston, Laura Lee Guhrke, Candace Horn, Eloisa James, Samantha James, Alisa Kwitney, Susan Kay Law, Jennie Lucas, Monica McCarty, Joy Nash, Sophia Nash, Pamela Palmer, Jane Porter, Julia Quinn, Maya Rodale, Pam Rosenthal, Michele Scott, Stefanie Sloane, Tamara Sneed, Hope Tarr, and Cathy Yardley. Can include blogs, contest page, members only section, monthly book club, newsletter, plus matching bulletin boards and My Space pages. | Pam Rosenthal, author of erotic historical romance. | |||
| Website design by Atomic Cherry Design Studio | Atomic Cherry Design Studio will design your website from budget packages to full blown content. Web forum, bulletin board, blog, newsletter and mailing list, picture gallery, audio and video integration. You name it, they can probably do it. Authors Kresley Cole and Kris Kennedy have Atomic Cherry websites. | Kris Kennedy, author of Hot, Sweeping Historical Romance. | |||
| Run contests for ARCs | Romance author Melissa Mayhue has the right idea. She's running a contest for free copies of the ARC for her latest book. A lot of authors do this because it's one way to get a word-of-mouth buzz started about your book before publication date. But what I like about Melissa's contest is that to enter, you email her about where you go to find out about the books you want to read next, i.e., the websites, blogs, magazines, review sites, etc., that you're in the habit of checking out to find great books to read. This is a win-win-win situation--2 wins for the author and a win for the contest winner. Your contestants win an ARC to read (and start a buzz about), and you (the author) find out popular sites for blogging, requesting reviews, etc., for your book! | Romance author Melissa Mayhue ... | |||
| Run a forum from your website with phpBB | From their website... phpBB is "the most widely used opensource bulletin board system in the world." It is completely FREE. You download it the software, make changes to the code, run it on your website. They have detailed documentation and video tutorials, etc. | Kresley Cole, New York Times bestselling author of historical and paranormal romance | |||
| Sell with PayPal from your website | Penelope West gives this advice: "One of the smartest things we did was to set up our website with PayPal to take advantage of price specials for the launch period of our book, Ethan's Flight. We sold a lot of books through our website. We also offered a special service on our website – autographed books and personalized, if requested. One thing you MUST know if you are mailing out books: when you take the book to the Post Office, you have to request Media Rates. They cannot offer it to you if you don’t ask for it, and you'll end up losing a lot of profit because it's a difference between $6 postage and $2 postage." | Penelope West is one half of Trout & West Authors (her daughter Victoria Trout is the other half!) | |||
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