Seleste deLaney—Promo Rookie

When Julia first asked me to write a post on promotion, my first thought was "Oh, I so don't think you want me doing that." After all, I'm not someone who's been around for years—my first story was just published in August. After I thought about it for a minute though, I realized I had to start somewhere too. You see, promo is something that every author, no matter how big or small, faces. Sure, you can throw your book out there and hope someone picks it up, but with all the stories available, the odds of a random reader finding yours with that method…not so good.

Publishers (big or small) want books to succeed, but some of them quite simply don't have the kind of financial backing for big promotional pushes of NYC publishing. What that means is a lot of the promo is left up to the author. Now, if you're lucky, your publisher is doing some work in the background that you don't know about. I had one put a two-page ad in Romantic Times magazine (my book was one of eight featured). Another makes sure that every release is available on NetGalley (which is a huge site for online reviewers). To put it simply, if you're lucky, they're doing something.

But the author needs to work too. For my first two releases, the vast majority of reviews I received were ones I asked for. I stalked the internet and twitter looking for reviewers I thought might be interested and hitting them up. I also asked friends who happen to be reviewers as well. The absolute most important things to remember when asking for reviews are to be polite and accept it if they say no. There are a million reasons for a no, and that includes a no after they say they'll read it. If your story doesn't grab them, they have every right to set it down.

To go with the reviews though, you want potential readers to have the opportunity to get to know you as a person. That means working the guest blog and interview angles. Again, for your first time out, you might have to ask for those spots—be polite and accept it if the answer is no (Are you sensing the trend here? Good.). If you land a spot though, do your damnedest to make sure you get things in on time. I will admit, I've been a little late to the game more than once, but I don't think I've ever missed turning something I promised in.

These are the most important lessons I've learned about promo over the last several months:

1) Be as professional as you can. I'm a laid back person most of the time, but I try to put on my game face every time I promo.

2) Keep a good calendar. Better yet, keep a couple, and make sure they're updated regularly. (An example of one of my mess-ups, I somehow missed Julia and I setting a date and had to re-schedule. Glad she was understanding.)

3) Be willing to step outside your comfort zone—variety is the spice of life and all that. I hate, hate, hate being on camera, but I spent money to have an author media kit (photos and video) made this year. I went on to do not one, but two video blogs over the holidays (when I was sick no less), and I have another one planned for April.

4) Be willing to spend money for promo, but be wise about it. There are a lot of options for promotion out there, and it's easy to spend a lot of cash.

5) Learn from your mistakes but don't regret them. If a certain type of promo doesn't work for you, don't do it again, but look at it as a learning experience.

6) Above all, try to have fun with it.

Promo isn't easy. It's a lot of work, and in the end, it takes a certain amount of faith to believe that it's going to pay off. But as authors, we've weathered the storm of rejections, revisions, delayed releases, and all sorts of other things—we kind of live by faith.

Seleste deLaney is not a promo queen. She is however an author. You can find her newest release Badlands at Carina Press and other online retailers. In addition, you can find her personally on her blog, Facebook, and twitter.