Market My Novel

ost authors are naturally gifted in prose, but when it comes to marketing, their creativity dries up in a fit of fright. Others believe they know everything there is to know about marketing, but quickly discover that they toiled over strategies that equated to delusions of grandeur when it comes to sales.

For the most part, authors are not natural marketers. Even the most publishing-savvy authors sometimes aren't equipped to handle full-scale marketing ventures.

That's where the experts come in. They can help you devise a winning strategy that is a successful mix of marketing, PR and branding – one that will set the stage for even great future campaigns.

If you don't have the budget – or inclination – to hire a professional, then you need become an expert yourself.

Scared? Don't be. As a journalist, I learned quickly that you have to become an instant expert on a topic to write a solid news or feature story about it. They key to becoming an instant expert is asking a lot of questions – especially the right questions.

• Buy books on marketing. Don't just purchase books for authors. Get books by marketing professionals in a variety of fields.
• Talk to other authors about what they did and did not do.
• Find out what your publisher is doing for you, and how you can fill the gaps. Ask your publisher for recommendations on marketing you can do yourself.
• Look at what other authors in your genre are doing and figure out a way to do it better.
• As your Web designer about key online components to marketing your Web site and figure out ways to incorporate that into your overall marketing strategy.
• At the end of a Q&A session, always, always ask the person if they have anything to add, or if there are any areas you did not touch on that would be useful. This is sometimes where you get the best tidbits of information.

Educate yourself. Know up front that there will be bumps in the road. You aren't going to do everything right the first time. Also know that not every marketing tactic will work for you, and some are more about branding than sales.

Be sure to set reasonable marketing goals and objectives, based on where you are in your career. For example, a new author starting out should not expect to obtain Nora Roberts sales figures from a virtual book tour.

If there are portions of your marketing strategy that you simply hate – like the tedious drone of submitting links to sites like Digg – then ask friends or family members to help. Got kids or grandkids? They work for food (and sometimes allowance).

Also set reasonable work times. For some authors, working up to 16 hours a day on marketing over three months is doable. It is not for other. Figure out how much time you can spend on marketing each day without driving yourself – and your family – insane. My personal belief is that 3-5 hours should be obtainable for most authors. There will be days when you are busier than others. That's OK. You'll be blessed by downtime you did not expect.