Promoting and marketing fiction

Hi everybody --

Up until recently, everything that I've written has been non-fiction. I had an easy time promoting my first book on hip replacement because it had a niche audience.

My second book is a novel about two women who are about to turn 40. One of them goes missing and the other launches a massive search to find her friend. I have listed this book on numerous search engines with a variety of keywords; have cross-linked it to at least eight similar web sites; have talked about it in various author forums; and have encouraged my friends to talk about the book via word-of-mouth and e-mail. I sent out press releases to the local newspapers, and asked several online women's magazines if they would review the book.

So far, I am getting some traffic to my web site but no one is buying the book unless they know me. I wondered if people could make suggestions about how to market and promote fiction. I'm really finding it so much harder than non-fiction.

Vicki, I've read a number of the articles on your wonderful web site and they have been very helpful. But many seem to apply more to authors who have published with traditional companies. I have self-published this book. So far, I have not decided if I'm going to put it on Amazon or in the bookstores because the profits to me will be so negligible. I would really like to sell the book off my web site and through the Lulu site where it is cheaper to buy than on Amazon. But what I need to do is drive people to one of those two sites.

Thanks a lot. Sigrid

[ May 27, 2005, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: Sigrid Macdonald ]

Sent you a private message.

Sigrid, there is an article in the June/2005 issue of The Writer magazine. http://www.writermag.com

It's titled "Before you self-publish: Make a Marketing Plan." It might be of help as it still has some ideas for how to market your self-published book.

I'm pretty sure the magazine is still at newsstands and in book stores.

Vicki,

Thanks so much for the tip. I checked out the web site and could not find the article. Is the magazine available in Canada? I have never seen it on the stands.

I decided to bite the bullet today and signed up for Lulu's expanded distribution program with Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders. My book should be available through those online retailers in a month or two :-)

Then my task will be getting people to find my book on Amazon! I never had any problem at all marketing my nonfiction books but fiction is so different.

I always appreciate your helpfulness. Sigrid

Vicki ... for what it's worth -- one of my writers' groups recommended a book called Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. I've just ordered it from Amazon.com and was able to get a second book for a reduced cost (can't wait for them to arrive). My publisher is a small publisher and so I'm working on a marketing plan for when the book is released later this year. One of the things I've read in writers' magazines and advice given in on-line writers' groups is that authors need to really take a proactive role in marketing. You might want to check out other marketing books for some fresh approaches. One piece of advice is to tie your book with the news. While I don't know how many 40-year old women go missing, right now the hot story is the high school senior who's been missing for a week now. Maybe you could research google about missing women and see what kind of info or stats you come up with and then use that in some promotional material.

Blessings, Francine

Sigrid,
Have you tried this: http://www.parapublishing.com/

Dan Poynter is a self publishing guru - respected in his field - seems like a nice guy, too. I transcribed his presentation for the NAWW and he gave a lot of good advice about marketing books. A regular self publishing pioneer, that man. I'm no expert - just offering you another place to look in case you hadn't seen this.
I've also heard about having book signings in unusual places - 'think outside the box'. Good luck. Sometimes it seems like writing is the easy part and marketing is the hard part.

Unique - Many thanks. Poynter's site looks interesting. Will bookmark it.

Writegirl -Yes, I think it is critical to tie it to the news. My book is based loosely around the true story of a woman in Ottawa who went missing. That is one way that I am pitching my book. Seems to me as though a girl or woman goes missing every time I turn on the news! Now there's that 18-year-old in Aruba. I know that the news inflates things, but it happens a lot more often than we think.

Thanks everybody for your advice! Sigrid