01Jul
How to get the best results from online publicity
To get good results in traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, TV and radio often requires knowledge of the industry, contacts and long lead times. For a self-publishing author doing your own marketing, it is unlikely that you will get many results that way. From our previous articles, you should already have an idea of how important the opportunities on the internet are for a self-publishing author. Here, we’ll cover some of the key areas where you can generate publicity for yourself and your book.
Online publicity can be hugely effective. However, as with any form of publicity, it takes persistence, research, a lot of time, patience and hard work to get results. But the possibilities are there if you are willing to try. For example here are some of the sites you can use:
Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube
Blogs
Review sites
Listing sites
Interview sites
Online magazines and newspapers
Genre-specific sites
The key to beginning is research. Do your research on your genre/target market, and keep notes about sites you have contacted to avoid duplication and time wasting. Find sites which are active, have good followings and make sure you look at their policies on accepting submissions/carrying out reviews before contacting them. For example, just because you find a site which reviews history books doesn’t mean that you should automatically get in contact. They may not review the right era/type of book you have written and you may get yourself blacklisted by contacting too many irrelevant sites. Bloggers and reviewers get a huge amount of requests and you need to do your research properly before contacting them. Understanding their needs and interests will help your success rate.
Don’t rule out the smaller sites. Just because a site doesn’t currently have a big reach, doesn’t mean that they won’t grow, or that the coverage is not important. Publicity is a marathon not a sprint, and you need to be grateful for every piece of coverage you can get! Plus you can use the quotes forever, you get a link to your own website/social media and you get a good contact which may lead to other interest or coverage too.