Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Launching a Book

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I got an early copy of Finger Lickin’ Dead via UPS on Tuesday (the book releases June 7).

Since I’m now at less than a month until the launch, I’m getting in gear for promotion. I’ve been more active with appearances lately, and am starting to set up stops for a blog tour.

For me, the best approach has been a combination of making appearances after the book’s release and gently promoting the book via social media before the release and on the launch day.

I’ve tried different marketing approaches, and have found a lot of great resources online. On the Writer’s Knowledge Base, you can find 234 posts on promoting your release. Here are some particularly useful posts:

How to write a press release:

Authors: How to write a press release for your book—by Alexis Grant (Always good to take press release advice from a journalist.) Book trailers:

How To Use Book Trailers Effectively—Joanna Penn’s interview with Darcy Pattison

Play nice:

Ten Commandments for Book Launch Day—by Randy Susan Meyers

5 Launch Day Lessons—by M.K. Hobson

Press kits for your website/blog:

Book Marketing Part III: More on press kits—by Lavinia Thompson

Launch party:

How to Throw an Awesome Book Launch: by Moonrat

How to Plan a Successful Debut Book Party—by Jody Hedlund

How to build an author page on Amazon and Goodreads:

How to build an Amazon author page and other information—by Cassander Carr

Using social media to launch your book:

HOW TO: Launch Any Product Using Social Media—by Guy Kawasaki

Promoting your book even before the sale:

27 things you can do to promote your book—Before you write it, before you launch it, and after you’ve published it—by Sue Collier

If you’ve released a book, what worked for you?

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