Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Releasing your baby


Last week Jo-Anne posted about her book release and some of her feelings and work behind it. September 1st was the release of my latest romantic suspense, Dangerous Passage, so I too have been thinking a lot about what goes into a book release. As much as an author might love to write, the behind the scenes, spreading the word, has become essential.

Several months ago, I put together a detailed plan to help me in my side of the promotion and sent it to my marketing director. It helped me to be able to glance at the list and cross things off as I finished them. Here are some of the things I included in my 'to-do-list' in anticipation of the book’s release.

*Setting up blog interviews with giveaways. This means filling out lots of Q  & A’s from bloggers
*Newsletter announcing the book’s release
*Donation of Dangerous Passage for my high school’s fall auction
*Giveaway on my blog
*Goodreads givaway
*Letting my readers know about interviews and giveaway opportunities
*FaceBook giveaway in connection with my publisher and FB chat
*Post information on my website on the background of my story/human trafficking

These are just a few ideas that I’ve been working on, but I’d love to hear your ideas.

For those of you who are writers, share some of the things you’ve enjoyed doing for your own book release.

For those of you who are readers, in what ways have you enjoyed interacting with authors?

I'd love to hear your ideas!

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LISA HARRIS is a Christy Award nominated author who has over twenty novels and novella collections in print. She and her husband, Scott, along with their three children, live near the Indian Ocean in Mozambique as missionaries. As a homeschooling mom, life can get hectic, but she sees her writing as an extension of her ministry which also includes running a non-profit organization The ECHO Project. To find out more about her books you can visit her website.

9 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa,
    Some nights ago I had a dream to contact prisons and have them place my book in their libraries. So, that day I acted upon my dream, seeing that it might have been from God. I actually got through and made a connection with a man who said he'd bring my request to their meeting. At present I'm awaiting news. Who knows, it may get my books in there, where they need godly themes the most.

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  2. That's a fantastic idea, Elizabeth. We can never dismiss the ministry side of our books or stop praying that they will touch lives! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Hi Lisa,
    With Deadly Devotion's release in June, about a herbal medicine researcher sleuth, I had a lot of fun on blogs inviting readers to share their favorite folk remedies. It proved to be a popular topic and I learned all kinds of intriguing tidbits.

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  4. What a great idea, Sandra! And a great way to get readers involved in a fun way!

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  5. Great idea having a checklist like that, Lisa. I should have done that a few books ago, instead of suddenly realising all the extra promotional things I need to do when that release date is almost upon me! I would do most of the things you have mentioned, I think, but one thing I always do is that I send out a 'news of book release' email about three weeks prior to the release date, giving those on my distribution list a 'special deal' if they buy a hard copy of my new book via my website--usually something like postage free until the actual release date.

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  6. Love that incentive ideal, Jo-Anne. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to add ideas to my list for next time!

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  7. Hi Lisa,
    Here's another great idea that a fellow writer did that I thought was wonderfully innovative. She contacted a cruise company and offered to speak about some aspect of writing and was given free passage (for two) to some lovely islands in return!!!! Why didn't i think of that?

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  8. Elizabeth, that has to be the best idea yet! Where can I sign up? :-)

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  9. As a reader I love interacting with authors its so much fun. I often will write an email saying how much I like a book I have just read. Nothing more frustrating than an author with no contact or way to contact. Mostly I will go through the website or blog but there are some who have a website with no way to contact them or they don't have any web presence. Getting a note back however short is always a blessing to me. Also Goodreads some of the forums there LIH is a good example where readers and authors interact is great.
    I love having authors on my blog. this year hasn't been as consistent due to injury and illness but I do love interviewing authors and love helping with a blog tour.
    For authors with books coming out next year I am part of the ACRBA (Australian Christian Readers Blog Aliance) which tours books from around the world and have reviewers from world wide but more in Australia. We love to promote good fiction and non fiction and childrens books. Its a free service and just requires some review copies. (end of plug)

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