Promotion: Line of Sight - FREE on Amazon from June 3rd - June 7th

It may not be the most inventive headline, but by gum it does the job! Yes, Joffe Books is making the sequel to Standpoint free to download for a limited period. The links are below, but you already knew that, right?

That's the thing about promotions. There's an honesty to them that some authors find a little...well, crass. It puts them in mind of street markets with someone shouting, "Oranges - a pound a bag!" The thing is, sometimes it works. I have a friend who had great success on Twitter by trying different approaches - questions, gags, review quotes, and statements, all followed by a trusty sales link. As she explained to me, some folks will be turned off by your marketing efforts, in which case they're not your target audience.

Gone are the days - if they ever existed - of authors working in their garrets, crafting their world-changing novel, and then passing it on to a publisher to launch it into the world on their behalf, leaving them free to remain in the garret. Whether you're self-published or traditionally published, as the author you will need to engage with your audience and the marketing of your book. 

I can remember working on a bookstall and calling out, "Get your books - they're hot, they're lovely!" We raised a few smiles and maybe made a few extra sales. More importantly, for me anyway, I felt as though I was doing something instead of waiting passively for people to pass by.

So here are a few quick tips for promotions:
- Have a plan and prepare your promotional content in advance.
- Start early to build up some interest. In the case of a free download, like Line of Sight (see what I did there...), it may not be possible to alert people in advance, so focus on other elements of the book to raise its profile.
- Call in favours if you can. You want to reach as wide an audience as possible, preferably one that has different reading communities.
- Try your luck. Experiement. Be bold. Risk.
- Respond. If people reply to you, don't leave them dangling.
- Make time. It will take more time than you think to handle promotions well.
- Consider spending some money. That's right - paid advertising might pay off for you. Do your research carefully to ensure you pick the best options for your needs.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to be offered a book launch (and lunch!) with all the trimmings. That's especially true for ebooks. What you can do, however, is create an event online, such as a blog tour, or a Facebook party (that's not the kind where people trash a house), or even a webchat if you have an established fan base.

And now, without further ado, here are the links for Line of Sight (only free June 3rd to June 7th), along with the sales links for the first book in the series, Standpoint.


LINE OF SIGHT

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com


STANDPOINT

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Leaving a little something to the imagination

One of the arguments you always hear when a novel is televised or made into a film is: ‘it’s not how I imagined it to be when I was reading the book’. We all know the disappointment of seeing our favourite character badly translated onto screen: I know that, for me, much of the disappointment of The Hunger Games film was that I felt it was badly miscast (as fine an actress as Jennifer Lawrence is, to me she was too Amazonian to play scrappy, starving Katniss) and I am, frankly, dreading seeing well-known short-arse Tom Cruise playing the 6’5” hero of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels when the film hits our screens this year.

But how does that issue affect you when you’re actually the person who wrote the characters? I’ve been spending a lot of time promoting my book Dark Dates, lately, while also starting to work on the sequel. One of the questions that regularly comes up in interviews is ‘who would you want to play the main characters on TV/in a movie?’ – and I admit it’s one which has me stumped. I can think of a few ideas to play the central male figures, Cain and Laclos (and the secondary male characters, like the Counsel) – Charlie Hunnan, Tom Hiddleston, Ben Browder, Timothy Olyphant , Jason Isaacs – but if I’m honest, this is just me drawing up a list of men I fancy and would like to be in the same room as (I’d get to do that as a writer, yes? Yes?) When it comes to the central female character Cassandra, I’m utterly clueless: and in part, that’s because I was deliberately vague in describing her. There’s hardly any clues to her physical appearance in the book, because I wanted her to be an ‘everywoman’ of sorts: someone we can all imagine being. Tying that down with lots of concrete details would have spoiled it for me.

One area where this has practical implications, though, is when you start thinking about the book cover, and promoting the book. Often, particularly in the urban fantasy genre, covers have figures on them: in much the same tradition as romance books, they like to draw you in with gorgeous people. Of course, if you’re going down the self-publishing path, as I am with this book, that gives you the issue of paying for models (or roping in your most photogenic friends and using very good lighting) – but I think even if I had the money to do that, I think I’d be against it. It’s far too easy to slip into cheesy; to make your heroines look like glamour models and your heroes look like Fabio, or  to make your monsters silly rather than scary - and then you've scuppered your book before anyone has read the first page.

When I was working with my cover designer, Caroline Goldsmith, we deliberately chose to use things that were significant to the story, but steer away from actual people. In working on the promotional material for the new book – you can see the teaser below, and a trailer for it here – we worked with images of London, as the city is such an integral part of the action. If you’re going to use one of the world’s most striking cities as a backdrop for your book, surely it makes sense to utilise that – and leave the rest up to the readers’ imagination?

Using the London skyline - based on a photo by Caroline Goldmsith

As a closing note – if you’ll excuse the geek out – I’ll include this warning about book covers from one of my favourite TV shows, Supernatural: which has the wonderfully meta storyline of the main characters, Sam and Dean, having their lives turned into a series of novels within the show. Which turns this…

Into this...

See what I mean about putting people on the cover?

What do you think? Do you have favourite covers which feature characters from the book? Let me know!

Marketing the Intangible - Chris Chalmers

Marketing the Intangible. Or How I Unleashed My E-novel on a Largely Indifferent World.

If anyone ought to have an inkling of how to sell something that isn’t actually there, it’s me. I’ve spent a fair few of my 20-odd years as an advertising copywriter selling mortgages, pet insurance, mobile phone tariffs and a dozen other things that don’t, in any physical sense, exist. And isn’t that also the case with an e-book? Don’t be fooled by that sexy little thumbnail on Amazon – beyond the boundaries of your digitally generated Kindle screen, there’s nothing there at all...

Chris Chalmers, author of Five to One

I was thrilled to be published, of course – it had been a long old slog, as it is for most of us. But when I heard that Five To One had won a debut novel comp run by a digital publisher and was going to see e-print at last, there was no stopping that irksome voice at the back of my head from popping a few champagne bubbles with the words:  Oh, well you’ll not be signing any copies of that then...

It’s true, e-publication comes with one or two drawbacks that the print-endowed are spared... Elderly relatives ask you endlessly when your book’s out in paperback... There’s no wobbly stack of copies to manoeuvre an hour early into readings, so you can bag the best spot on the table... And as you sound out your local bookshop for a little light publicity, they look at you like you’ve just suggested squatting in their window and gnawing on the ankle of a tethered E. L. James. (On second thoughts, they’d probably go for that on grounds of brand-appropriateness – hers, not mine...)

So how do you publicise an e-book? Answer: You take stock of what you’ve got and you run with it.

Non-fiction’s easier, obviously. Write a book about Ju Jitsu and, a few clicks on from Google, you’ve got the email address of every club in the UK and beyond.  With fiction, it’s harder to find your audience. But, as a clever publishing friend of mine pointed out, my novel had one thing going for it: location, location, location... Five To One is set in London SW4, and it traces the path of four lives that converge when a helicopter crashes on Clapham Common at 12.55 on a sunny afternoon.

Aha, Clapham Common! Kindle-Central if ever there was one...

Back on Google and four days later I’m taking delivery of 5,000 full colour, double sided postcards, just perfect for pushing through letterboxes and signing for adoring fans. Admittedly the latter hasn’t happened much, and even the former was stymied by the approximately 30% of doors in Clapham South that sport that very un-sporting NO JUNK MAIL sticker (...Junk? My book? How very dare they...) It’s taken three, day-long expeditions – two sunny, one sodden – but nearly all have now been distributed round those chi-chi streets fringing the famous  Common. How my pavement pounding has translated in terms of sales I don’t know for sure, but I did notice a definite blip in the Amazon rankings within a day or two of each door-drop.

On top of that, I’ve inveigled myself into readings and onto author panels at venues as diverse as the Royal Festival Hall, The Hootenanny pub in Brixton and The Ivy Club in WC2. I’ve had an article in Writing Magazine (where I came across the fateful competition in the first place; hey, it may look like Woman’s Realm but it’s all good stuff...) I’m now on my fourth local radio interview, and continuing to blog, tweet and FB myself into the consciousness of as many people as possible. That said, the social media thing is one area I don’t feel I’ve mastered yet. I’m like a wasp trapped in a jam jar, making lots of noise that I’m not convinced is projecting very far.

And naturally I’ve taken gratuitous advantage of my advertising roots, by touting a 30 minute presentation round agencies called Published at Last – a Tale of 9 Years, 4 Books and the Small Matter of an E-revolution. Ad agencies like a bit of show-and-tell with their lunch on vaguely arty topics from the outside world (it makes them feel less guilty) and, like everything else, it’s a useful for getting the word out... It’s also furnished me with another nifty publicity idea courtesy of a member of the audience – namely, slipping my Five To One postcard into bookshop copies of John Lanchester’s Clapham-set Capital.

I haven’t had the bottle to do it yet, but it’s a good wheeze. And any other suggestions welcome...

Five to One, by Chris Chalmers

About the writer:

Chris Chalmers arrived unexpectedly following a Beatles' concert at Southport Floral Hall when his mum was induced by the stomping. He's travelled to 40 countries, swum with iguanas and proposed marriage in front of 60 elephants. He was also once the understudy on Mastermind (sadly, no one tripped on the green room stairs). His first novel, Five To One is now available on Amazon and he’s currently looking for a home for the next one. More information at www.chrischalmers.net.

Twitter for Writers - use your tweets wisely!

I’m a huge Twitter fan. I probably spend more time than is healthy scrolling through my newsfeeds – I use it as a source of information and entertainment, as well as a nice way to waste time when I should be doing something more productive. But I’ve also found that it’s an enormously helpful marketing tool (I’ve had several gigs off the back of it, sold some books and made some useful contacts). But many writers are either scared of using Twitter at all, or use it badly. Here are some tips on making the most of your Twitter feed… so get tweeting (and come say hi! – I’m @thriftygal)

Avoid the hard sell: one of the biggest mistakes writers make is to use their Twitter feed as a stream of self-promotion. Nobody minds you promoting stuff – after all, that’s the purpose behind a lot of feeds, whether they are theatres, brands or artists. But if that’s all you do, it gets boring very quickly. I unfollowed one author recently because all he did was tweet quotes from his own books; I’ve read his books, so what’s the point? People want a person they can connect with – so tweet about what interests you, what you are working on, etc. Create an online persona that reflects who you really are, and people are much more likely to engage with it. (Aim for no more than 20% of your tweets to be ‘plugs’.)

Build relationships: to get the best out of Twitter, use it as a conversation. If someone tweets something you like, tell them! If someone asks a question and you can help, answer it. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you attract like-minded people. While you shouldn’t just think of them as potential customers, obviously this is widening your potential readership. It’s also fun: I have a whole batch of people I interact with regularly, none of whom I know in ‘real’ life, but it makes for some great exchanges.

Support other users: Retweet posts that you think are clever, or funny, or thought-provoking (or where people are asking for help/information); use Follow Friday (#FF) to promote tweeters who you like or who you think your followers would be interested in.

NEVER troll! Remember, your tweets are public and identifiable. Don’t ever tweet anything abusive, and try to be measured if you are stating a negative opinion. Be aware that some people follow thousands of users so won’t see every tweet, so don’t think it’s OK to tweet something then ‘contextualise’ it (eg, tweet something inflammatory/racist/homophobic that you mean ironically, then follow up with something like ‘obviously I’m joking’ – I’ve seen it done! What tends to happen is people will see the first tweet then think, hell, I’m not following this nutter any more…)

Clueless as to how to get started? I’m assuming a basic knowledge of what Twitter is and how to use it, but if you’re completely in the dark, do check out an earlier post I did on Twitter for Business which is aimed at absolute beginners.

Jack of all trades

When I was first doing the submissions/rejections thing, I had an idealistic vision of post-publication life.

That is, I thought it would be pretty much the same as before.

I would have a book with my name on it, but other than that I'd still be sitting in the same chair, writing another novel at the same computer. The only differences would be that I'd have a valid excuse for doing it, and if I was very lucky, I'd get the occasional PLR payment enabling me to treat myself to a Wispa.

How wrong I was! It turns out that being an author requires a multitude of skills – and some of them don't have an awful lot to do with writing.

There's web design, for example. Now, I'm not claiming that my website is the epitome of professionalism, but it's sure better than paying someone else to do it, and then having to email them every time I have a whim to change the colours, and wait around for a few days while they're working on a proper author's site or looking for their lost hamster or something.

Then there's designing event posters and flyers, maybe some bookmarks or promotional postcards... and in my case, labels for gimmicky miniature gin bottles. It makes life so much easier to know how to do all this, because what happens when you leave it to a publisher, event organiser or even a techie friend? That's right – nothing.

While computer skills aren't incongruous with being a writer, public speaking certainly is. Way back when I was a sixth-former, I signed up for a Toastmasters International course, dreading it but knowing it would be useful one day. And boy, has it been useful! If I hadn't had that chance to discover I was capable of it, I can only imagine how terrified I'd be at the thought of giving a reading or speaking to a library group. Even for an author like me, hanging by a thread on the shabby coat-tails of the Z-list, that kind of event is a vital part of promoting the book. And yet the paradox is that writing's a solitary occupation not necessarily done by the most confident or sociable people in the world.

Which brings us on to... telephone skills.

It's pathetic, isn't it? Many of us are scared to phone for a pizza, let alone call a festival organiser and persuade them that our presence will pull in the crowds. How can we ever phone a bookshop and beg to be allowed to do a signing? Well, we can't, so we turn to the more sensible, efficient and, most importantly, written method of communication - email.

The problem with email in the world of book promotion is that no one ever answers it. Ever. Not even to say “Get lost, scummy author, I have more important messages to attend to. Yes, that's right, the ones from pieces of toenail dirt.” So the only real option is to stammer into that archaic and frightening contraption, the telephone.

I don't think I ever will ever master the skill of being coherent on the phone, but I find the other non-writing aspects of being published great fun, and more glamorously author-like than I ever expected. The only trouble is, I'm doing so much of all this stuff that book 2 is in danger of falling by the wayside!

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http://www.carolinerance.co.uk/

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Photo: Muris Kuloglija Kula