From kraken to octopus teacher: how to tame the 8 arms of promotion

When it comes to promotion, it’s a too-much-opportunity-too-little-time situation. You want to be out there—you need to be out there—but you can’t spend all of your time making that happen. Self-publishing appealed to you because you love to write, not because you wanted to spend your time dabbling in a sea of social media and giveaways.

The solution is to stop everything and take some time to plan.

Admit to yourself that you’re going to have to dedicate a portion of your precious time to feeding the unwieldy kraken, or it may just capsize the ship. Some promotional tasks are one and done while others are on the sporadic side. Still others are ongoing and happen with regular frequency.

Here’s how you can get through it.

ONE AND DONE
1 Author Web Pages. Amazon, Bookbub, LibraryThing, Bookshop.org, Goodreads, and more. What do they have in common? All of these book-loving platforms offer a chance for self-publishers to show up in the form of an author page. In some cases, you can even gain a foundation of followers—something wonderful for those who set up preorders and launches.

However, it also means you have to fill out the forms for every one of these sites. My advice: close your eyes and get it over with (something I have yet to do). List up all of the sites you want to appear on and spend a day ticking them off, one by one. You won’t have to spend much time in these places once the author page is set—unless you want to. The important thing is that your page shows up when someone searches for you or your book.

SPORADIC TASKS
2 Book Giveaway Contests. Goodreads Giveaways are good for drawing attention to your book and for getting reviews. Setting up a Goodreads Giveaway is easy to do, and you can offer a giveaway for your book as many times as you like. (More on giveaways here.)

If, on the other hand, you decide to host a giveaway of your own via Instagram or your website, you’ll have to come up with the rules, make sure entrants follow them, advertise the giveaway, pick the winners, and get their prizes delivered in a timely way (not to mention reach a sizeable number of people and convince them to enter). But you’ll save yourself the cost of the Goodreads Giveaway ($119 or $599).

3 Free Book Promos. If you’re part of Kindle Select (that is, your book is available via Kindle Unlimited), you’re allowed five days of free book giveaways per ninety-day Kindle Select period. Figure out how you want to divide up those five days and then obtain the promos (in the form of newsletter e-mails) that will reap you the most downloads. (More on Free Promos here.)

4 Your Local Campaign. Do what you can to get your book known in local circles. Not only should you drop by to meet the librarians and bookstore owners but you can send a copy to the local news and leave a copy or two in a free little library (these are popping up all over the place).

In addition, you can post something on the town Facebook page. It’s best to assume they won’t take kindly to blatant self-promotion, so find a way to creatively mention that you’ve published a book.

Local gift shops and general stores may want to carry your book as well. I’m wondering if grocery stores might be game too (I’ll let you know if I have any success there).

ONGOING TO-DOS
5 Book Reviews. Doesn’t matter whether they are prepublication, media, or regular reader reviews, each type draws attention to your book. Even a not-great review can help your book find readers, especially if the reviewer says something like, “This wasn’t what I expected, but if it’s a beach read you’re looking for, you’ll like it.” Also, remember that it’s fine to purchase professional reviews, but never pay for “regular” reviews.

6 Social Media. Are you on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, or any of the other applications that provide an opportunity for others to discover and touch base with you? Don’t try to rule them all. Expert advice says pick two that you like and get comfortable interacting there. You can get ahead of the game by writing a bunch of captions/posts and finding/creating illustrations to go with them. Schedule a day or two each month to do this.

7 Blogging, Vlogging, Newsletters, and Podcasts. You’ll have to think this one through because it’s going to be one of your bigger responsibilities. In order to successfully share content, you’re going to have to commit to a regular schedule that keeps those Google algorithms interested. Most likely that will mean putting out a blog post or podcast, or whatever you’re doing, at least once a week, though more frequently would be better. Of course it’s hard to commit to more than once a week, so do what you can but do it regularly.

Newsletters are the exception here because the intention of the newsletter is to keep your following in tune with your writing life. Most newsletters are monthly and are not going to appear in mass searches the same way, say, a weekly podcast would. That means they won’t do much by way of driving traffic to your website.

8 Guest Content. A great way to gain new subscribers is to show up on someone else’s site. Those who read and enjoy your guest appearance may just subscribe to your blog as well.
So, in addition to offering content in the form of your blog, vlog, or other, you can and should query other people’s blogs, vlogs, and podcasts in the hope of making a guest appearance there.

The many arms of promotion may be unwieldy at first, but if you devote the time necessary, you'll soon reap the benefits of bringing them under control.

Kim Catanzarite is the author of The Jovian Duology. She’s also a freelance developmental and copy editor and an instructor for Writer’s Digest. Currently she’s on a mission to get her books into local libraries and bookstores.