Tag: book promotion

That Book’s Time Is Over

I’ve heard from a number of authors recently how they wanted to wait until their new books came out to run features. As always, I offered to them the opportunity to run a Sneak Peek (book excerpt) for their book since it was more than 90 days old and therefore didn’t qualify for an announcement feature. Their response “Nah, that book’s time is over.”

Um…what?

No. I don’t buy that. Sorry. So, the book didn’t take off the way you’d hoped. That doesn’t mean you should give up on it. There’s no reason that you shouldn’t take advantage of book excerpts or guest posts or any other opportunity which comes your way to feature that book. Continue reading “That Book’s Time Is Over”

Welcome to Friday Night at the Movies

Send in your trailers!

Starting in the new year, Indies Unlimited will be introducing “Friday Night at the Movies.” Each week we will feature a different book trailer video on Friday night at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Trailers will be featured once a week on Friday night. At the end of the month there will be a contest where people can vote for the “Video of the month.” No cash. No prizes. It’s all for the glory!

This is a great excuse for you to “rally the troops” and ask for votes – it’s a gentle reminder to your posse about your book.

Here are the submissions guidelines, which can also be found on our submissions page:

The Video Trailer Feature requires a 100 word book description to accompany the video. Include a link to YouTube so we can obtain the necessary HTML code. You can see an example HERE. Authors submitting a Video Trailer will have that book showcased in the IU store for one year. These features require a purchase link for Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble or some other mainstream outlet. Please include at least one of these links with your query. Trailers should not have a run time in excess of 1:30 (90 seconds).

Publishers Launch

ISLANDERS by John BarlowA traditional book launch, at least in my experience, is a pretty nerve-wracking affair. You wait to hear whether the pre-publication orders are good, and a week or two prior to the launch itself you get the Publishers Weekly and Kirkus reviews. If you’re lucky you also get some early reviews in newspapers and magazines. For most books, that’s probably the high-point. Because few books gain any real traction immediately after their release, although of course this is exactly what is needed if your book is to remain on the shelves of bookstores for more than a month or two.

[ANECDOTE. When my first book was out in the UK, a beautiful hard back, my partner went into a large branch of Waterstones in London and asked for it. ‘Oh, yes,’ the guy said, ‘we have it in the storeroom. We didn’t think it was going to sell, so we didn’t put it out.’ This was on the very day of its launch.] Continue reading “Publishers Launch”

Is Anyone Listening When I’m Not Here?

What would happen if you threw a party and no one came?

Do you ever feel like that in our world of indie writing and publishing? We continuously talk and promote our books through Twitter, Facebook and other sites. We talk about these things all the time on this site. Hell, I am one of the biggest proponents of social media. In fact, I earn the majority of my non-writing income now from helping companies set up and maintain social media sites and campaigns.

How necessary is it?

Continue reading “Is Anyone Listening When I’m Not Here?”