Book Marketing 101: Reviews and Interviews

We want to thank Brenna Lyons for offering This series in support of Small Press Month. Her experience as a senior editor, President of EPICauthors, and a 20 book (in print) published author is invaluable for our authors.

Book Marketing 101

By Brenna Lyons

http://www.brennalyons.com/ http://www.myspace.com/brennalyons


Reviews, Interviews, Spotlights-

Does it do any good?- Do reviews sell books? Do interviews? Listings on sites? Promo spotlights? The answer to all of them is "possibly." Some people research reviews, some take the word of a few trusted reviewers and some disregard reviews completely. It is a selling point for those who pay attention to it, as any promo you try is. Nothing works for every reader. Not chats. Not tag lines. NOTHING. These things are selling points for people who pay attention to them. The question is, do you want to spend the time and effort to capitalize on it, or do you want to write them off as a waste, though a PORTION of the audience you want to reach use them?


Ideally, anything that costs you a minimum of time and effort and little or no money for the possibility of exposure is a good investment. Links raise your site in search engines. The rest tells people about your books and (hopefully) gets them to your site or your publisher site, and gets them buying.


It's not just enough to HAVE reviews and interviews. You have to let people know about them. Celebrate good ones on lists. Put them on your web site. Send people there to read the interviews. Always save a copy of the interview. You can even place it on your site later...as long as you give the site credit for the interview and the site doesn't mind. Even if they do, your PORTION of the review is yours. Their portion is theirs. You can paraphrase what they asked you and still use it, if it comes to that. This will add to your "all about me" sections without a lot of extra work from you.


Features and returns on features: what should you look for?- *How much leeway will you have in what goes onto the site for your feature? Will it fairly represent your book? Is it what you want to say about your book? Is there a cost involved and is it reasonable? (We'll get back to that.)


Here is a solid fact you need to remember. Promotion is cumulative. If I promote and bring people to my publisher, that is good for the publisher and all the authors at the publisher. If the publisher does promotion that gets people to the site, the same is true. Instead of viewing promotion as a race between authors of your company, you should be working with them. I'll get back to that, too.


You may not be able to afford $100 for a banner at a major site, but you can make a banner that features three authors from your publisher and the publisher's banner, linked to the publisher site, and split the cost for $34 per person...$25, if the publisher supports such ventures for you, which isn't likely, but it does happen sometimes. That means your book AND your publisher site get exposure, both of which are ultimately good for you...and it's in a major venue.


The same holds true for ads. You might not be able to afford a $200 business card-sized ad in a major magazine, but with 5-8 authors going in on a full-page ad, you can chip in $100-$150 per person and lower your costs. Again, you get your own book exposure and your publisher. Good all the way around.


How much is too much? Do your homework, site stats per price- How much does the site expect you to pay for a feature? How many hits per month does the site get? Where on the site will your feature show? How many hits does that portion/page of the site get? These are all important questions, and any reputable promo site/review site will be willing to answer them.


Paying $30 per month for a site that gets 20,000 visitors per month may sound like a good deal until you compare it to paying $30 per month for a site that gets 100,000 visitors per month. You see the difference? This is where you want to do your homework.

Get out the spreadsheet and research hits versus cost of promotion. Some sites, like The Romance Studio, offer a ton of services for a $2.50 per month member fee.

I HIGHLY suggest owning the programs to make your own banner ads. The software costs $60 or so, which you will reap back within three ads you design for yourself. Don't just place banner ads on other sites. Place them on your own! They are eye catching and add pizzazz to your site.






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