Promoting your writing – or in fact, anything!

Last week’s Foyles talk by a self-publishing professional and her impressive author client was as much of a lesson in self-promotion as self-publishing.

I reckon their top tips for being a successful author can be whittled down to just three key pointers, which also apply to marketing any creative work.

1. Be humble
Don’t feel entitled. You are one of millions of authors. If you search ‘books’ on Amazon you’ll see the competition that you’re facing. Today, it was over 41 million in the UK alone.A pproach booksellers nicely, and don’t just go for the hard sell – it puts people off. Even more importantly, know that your work must be superb because the bar is so high.

2. Be proactive
Publication day is a small marker in your journey, not the destination. You need to be prepared to sell your work, and yourself, over the long haul. You’ll need to have stamina and creativity.

3. Be creative
Start a conversation by printing flyers, pens, T-shirts, whatever it takes to interest people in your writing. But also, look within your writing for opportunities. Mention of a hotel could, for example, lead to advertising work or a raffle prize arranged with the management. Using your royalties to support a charity is another win-win situation because they’ll love to have the support and the publicity will benefit you both. Non-fiction can sometimes help ‘sell’ other works – for example, publishing a factual history book could set you up as an expert, and lead to more interest in your historical novel.

Summarised from talk entitled ‘Publish that Novel‘ by Helen Hart of Silverwood publishing and author Sandy Osborne at Foyles bookshop in Bristol,15 January 2014.