AAW Writers Helping Writer’s Series: Part 3- The Princess of Guerilla Marketing, Linda Dominique Grosvenor
© Dee Y. Stewart
But to me Linda is the Queen of Grace. Her writing organization-The Prolific Writer's Group is by far the most informative, and professional collaborative of writers, reviewers, and publishing professionals that I have come to know. Grosvenor's books' characters exude elegance and strength that parallels directly with her kind spirit. She has also been gracious enough to contribute to this month's series by sharing with us how writers can promote their own books.
How important is it to get noticed by one of the major distributors?
Most people put too much focus on Amazon.com and other online booksellers, however to move the greatest amount of books you definitely need major distributors on your team and in your marketing/promotion plan.
Do you think that authors start making connections with distributors too late?
I believe that too many authors focus on writing the book and when the book is completed, edited and proofread they honestly believe they're done. After the book is available and the sales aren't what they expect then they scramble to find other avenues to promote the book. I don't necessarily think that it's ever too late to employ the major distributors, however, by the same token, the distributors can stock the book from now to eternity, if there is no marketing/promotion plan in place creating demand for the book, expect huge returns.
So when should a writer start their marketing plan?
I've started marketing my book a year in advance. If you know a book is coming start talking it up. Six months is ample time. Some authors I find get stuck on a date. They may want their book to come out in the summer and there is a glitch with printing and they refuse to change the date so they force the book out there without ample promotion and find that sales are lackluster. Nowadays writing a good book isn't enough. If you run into a glitch reschedule the release date. Give yourself at least 6 months lead-time. Most major trade papers require at least 2-3 months anyway.
After they sign on the dotted line, won't they be able to turn the marketing reins over to the in-house public relations representative and wait for sales to take off?
 |
