One thing I keep harping on is that authors need unique, targeted marketing for their novels. This is never more important than when you launch a novel series, because you're not just in it for one book, you're in for (hopefully) the long haul.
Over at Publishers Marketplace, author Douglas Clegg has been talking about his pre-publication strategies for his upcoming release The Priest of Blood, the first novel in his Vampyricon series.
Look at what he's doing: marketing the product versus the author, using the internet, creating and providing exclusive freebies and collectibles to hook potential readers, and doing it with the kind of finesse that crosses genre lines and pulls in readers from all over the place. I love the artistry involved in everything he's chosen to do for his novel; it's gorgeous and smart -- and it is light years beyond the old, tired bookmarks-and-widgets approach.
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Thank you so much for the note here. But I would say the Darkyn.com website also is set up to engage -- and enthrall -- the reader in If Angels Burn well-before picking up the book, but also encourages fans of the book to come back to find out about the rest of the series, and to bring others to the book.
ReplyDeleteThe website got me to pick up If Angels Burn. I gave it one page to hook me (I'm ungenerous.) I was hooked within the first six sentences.
Congratulations on this novel. I really loved If Angels Burn. I look forward to the next one, too.
And thanks for looking at what I've been doing at Vampyricon.com. Admittedly, mostly it's about the artists I can hire to create an experience for people online who come to the website. But I'm always trying to come up with another way to engage the reader, and entice her or him into taking a peek at the book.
Marketing for books never has to be same-old-same-old because of the uniqueness of each novel.
Best,
Doug Clegg
You're right about having to use different techniques.
ReplyDeleteI have a series coming out later this year, and in the lead-up I've been running a multiple-choice quiz which awards virtual medals for people to stick in their blogs.
The quiz introduces characters from the books, gives potential readers a taste of their traits, and hopefully gives them a laugh along the way. (The books are sf/humour, so a silly quiz is appropriate. Might not work so well for other types.)
Posted anon intentionally, and not a URL in sight ;-)