Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Prioritize. In the past, I’ve told you to do your homework. Know your market. Know your audience. Know thyself, in effect. There are so many avenues out there for self-promotion. There are a million websites and blogs. There are regional and local publications. There are trade shows and conferences. In order to be most effective, however, you must prioritize. Otherwise, you are spreading yourself too thin, and you are losing your efficacy. Therefore, do your homework in the proper way and pick media outlets, contacts, and events that will truly give your book sales a boost. Do not spread yourself so thin that you become transparent. You need to be seen. You need to be passionate about what you do. But if you try to do EVERYTHING, you will mess up and fall flat on your face. PRIORITIZE. So that being said, it’s time for me to say farewell. It’s time for me to prioritize and become the most focused, effective person I can be. I hope you’ve enjoyed my Self-Promotion or Death Tips. I hope you’ve learned a few things. I wish you all the best! Keep working hard out there! Keep selling your books! And never give up! To Ellen: thank you so much for this opportunity, and I wish you and Feathered Quill all the best!

For more info about Sara Dobie, visit her blog: http://saradobie.wordpress.com. For more about her company, check out their blog: http://sylvandellpublishing.wordpress.com. Sara’s on Twitter, too: http://www.twitter.com/SaraDobie (AND http://www.twitter.com/SylvanDell).

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Submit your book for awards. The RIGHT awards. By “right,” I do not necessarily mean the ones that cost a fortune. I mean the ones that your book might actually win. I know I always talk about doing your homework, and I know you get sick of hearing it. However, homework is the key to award submissions. There are so many awards out there. You need to make sure that your book has a shot in the contests you enter. So check ‘em out. There are listings in the Writers’ Market. But you can also just search the internet. Try to find the awards that are FREE. Many of them cost money, and as an independent author, you may not be able to afford submission. So again, find the awards that are FREE. And submit away. Send something akin to a promotional package with your award submission, complete with cover letter, promotional materials about you/your book, and of course, your book itself. Awards function as publicity tools. If you win awards, people will be more attentive to you and your writing. They will be more likely to purchase your book, so go after those awards! So simple and so easy to forget!

For more info about Sara Dobie, visit her blog: http://saradobie.wordpress.com. For more about her company, check out their blog: http://sylvandellpublishing.wordpress.com. Sara’s on Twitter, too: http://www.twitter.com/SaraDobie (AND http://www.twitter.com/SylvanDell).

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

WRITE. Duh. Don’t roll your eyes at me. I’m serious. You’re a writer, aren’t you? You’re good at writing. You have writing advice for others. So when was the last time you wrote an article about character development? What about a column on the topic of climax and resolution? You know about this stuff. You know the ins and outs—the creative and structural techniques that work and don’t. So why not share those techniques with your knowledge-thirsty audience? Write an article. Do some homework to see where it would fit. (Or vice versa, really. Find a website you like and write something catered to that website.) Whatever chicken-or-the-egg technique you use, WRITE. And then, submit your article for inclusion on an industry blog. Submit it to magazines. Submit it to writing newsletters. Anywhere your article might fit, submit it. It’s free advertising! (And hey, some places even PAY for this sort of thing!) This builds your reputation as Author Extraordinaire. It spreads word of your book, because of course, you will include a bio, including all your website/ISBN info, RIGHT?! It will make a name for you, which will make a name for your book. It’s a free and easy way to develop a fan following, and all you had to do was be a writer and WRITE!

For more information on Sara Dobie and her promotion tips, please visit her blog.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

This goes for big publishing houses, as well as self-published authors. For me, it’s review copy time. We just received bulk shipments of our final fall release (Baby Owl’s Rescue), and I’ve sent out over a hundred review copies in the past three days. As wonderful and exciting as review copy submission is, it’s more than putting a book in an envelope and taping a label on the front. It’s about prep work and follow up. When you’re submitting review copies, you first prepare. You email your reviewers to say “HEY! Don’t forget about me!” and ask if they have an updated address or anything else that might affect your mailing. Then, once you’ve mailed the book, you send them an email that says, “HEY! The book is coming! Can’t wait to read your review!” Then, there’s the follow up. About a month after you’ve sent the review copy, you need to email your reviewers again and say, “HEY! Did you receive my book? Whatdya think?” I don’t want you to harp on your reviewers or stalk them. I do want you to keep them informed. The more informed they are, the more familiar they’ll be with you and the more likely it’ll be that they will write a positive review for your new title.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Tip of the week: Don’t get an ear infection, because you will never get it to go away. (Sigh.) Okay, seriously, let’s talk Twitter. I’m a baby Twitter user. I just started to master this 140-character power tool a month ago. However, there’s one thing I’ve learned, and if you want to become a Twitter guru, you should know about it. The first thing you need to do when you sign up is find your local media. Sounds obvious, but we forget. In the publishing world, we daydream about CNN, Oprah, and Publishers Weekly. We forget about our local newspapers, TV stations, and radio announcers. And yet, these are the people who build your fan base. You have to start somewhere; I suggest you start local. So as soon as you get into the Tweets, start following your local media. Often, they will return the favor. And then, if you’re interesting and clever enough (and of course, you are), they’ll see how interesting and clever you are, and they’ll set up an interview. Case in point: within three weeks of being on Twitter, our company co-founder was fielding a phone call from our city paper. This is the city paper that seemingly had no idea we existed. And yet, thanks to Twitter, they heard about the good stuff we do in the community and beyond, and we had a story in the newspaper four days later. Tweet on.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Tip of the week: Don’t get strep throat. It sucks, and it makes you miss deadlines, as evident by my Tuesday, as opposed to Monday, post.

Okay, seriously, PR Tip of the Week. Make your signings into theatrical events. I don’t care if you’re in children’s books or YA or adult novels. You have to make your signings and events entertaining, informative, and showy, because that is how you develop a fan base. That is how you get random people in Barnes and Noble to come up to your lonely book singing table, even if they don’t know who you are. For example, have a book signing costume—an outfit that brings attention your way and highlights something about your book. Have an ambience. Set a scene. Have table decorations. If you’re permitted, bring extra media—a stereo playing music that “feels” like your book, a computer that plays your book trailer no repeat, or even just a huge poster with your eye-catching book cover. Anyone can sit there and sign books. It takes innovation, creativity, and passion to make your book signing into an event, but making it into an event will make it into a book sales phenomenon.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

I was forced into Twitter last week. I already had a Facebook page. I already had a blog, but I was FORCED into Twitter last week. Since then, I have already developed a rapport, and posts (140 characters or less) only take about fifteen seconds. However, my blog has BLOWN UP. I broke all my clicks-per-day records last week, over and over, with each passing day. The lesson learned? Social media does work, and as an author, you should get involved. You should have a website, of course. But you should also have a blog, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account. It sounds like a lot of work, but it isn’t. You can set things up to make life easier. (For instance, my Twitter posts to my blog; my blog posts to my Facebook.) It’s all about web presence. The more avenues leading readers and fans to YOU, the better. So get involved in social media, no matter how dumb it sounds to “Tweet.”

For the interested parties:

Sara’s blog: http://saradobie.wordpress.com

Sara’s Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/SaraDobie

Sylvan Dell, the new company blog: http://SylvanDellPublishing.Wordpress.com

Sylvan Dell, the new company Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/SylvanDell

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Follow up. You have to follow up, and you can’t be afraid of being annoying. Don’t get me wrong—sending an email repeatedly, every day, obsessively, like Andy’s library in Shawshank Redemption isn’t the idea. However, here’s how it goes in promotion. Let’s say you want to do an interview on a certain blog, so you send them an email. You don’t hear back. After a week, you should NOT pout and go eat worms. You should send a follow up email, as in, “Hey, wanted to follow up on that email I sent your way last week. Did you have time to consider my interview offer? Keep me posted!” And always include the initial email, pasted beneath your signature as a reminder. If you still don’t hear anything, start posting comments on the blog of interest. Sooner or later, you’re going to get the host’s attention. Then, you’ll get your interview. Success. So the lesson for today: FOLLOW UP!

Sara Dobie Still Needs YOUR help!

Sara Dobie still needs help with her new short story, “I See Monsters.” She’s up to entry SIX in this writing waterfall, and she would love comments. Head on over to her blog to catch up with Joshua and Caleb: http://saradobie.wordpress.com. The final post will be Monday, August 24!

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Tip of the Week: Be the hot topic version of an ambulance chaser. This tip is directed at the blogosphere, and it works—I’ve done it on my personal website. As a writer, you have a blog, because it’s what writers do. We WRITE. As a writer, you should also read, specifically issues of pop culture popularity and newsworthiness. Then, as a reader and a writer, you should write about what you read. Post the popular pop culture post on your blog, and voila, whenever someone searches for additional articles about, say, book burning in West Bend, Wisconsin (http://saradobie.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/we%e2%80%99re-still-burning-books/), your blog will pop up. This will drive traffic to your blog, which will drive traffic to you and your work. So stay up on all industry news and pop culture. Write about the hot topic when the mood strikes, and I’m telling you, your blog will explode with Google searches for weeks because of it.

Sara Dobie Needs YOUR help!

Back in May, I did an experiment. For a week, I wrote every day, creating a short story through day-by-day blog posts. I’m doing it again this week, and I would love to get a critique going as I write. So be sure to head to http://saradobie.wordpress.com. Keep an eye on the posts, and comment as much/often as you can with kudos and feedback. Writers gotta help each other out! Hope to hear from all of you this week!

Self-Promotions or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Being that my company is in the midst of a massive PR blitz (http://saradobie.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/hail-to-the-sylvan-dell-revolution/), the tip for this week is well founded on my experience over the past five days. The word is BLOG. I know I already told you to make friends with your local media. The same goes for your blog community. Your blog community does not have to be composed of your geographical neighbors. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Your blog community DOES have to be related to you and your book. First, find blogs that relate to your target audience. Second, build a rapport with said blogger, following his/her posts and commenting where applicable. Then, you can ask said blogger to review your book. Maybe said blogger can cover a new release or write about your upcoming events. Either way, I’m beginning to see the techie world is the world that matters. So go out there and conquer your blogosphere. (I just did a full month series on blogging, in fact, so if you want some extra help, visit ForeWord Magazine’s Publishing Insider, month of July: http://www.forewordmagazine.com/blogs/insider/.)

Self-Promotions or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Start a bi-monthly email blast. First, build your email list. Your email list should include friends, family, local bookstore owners, local media, your Associated Press branch representative, and blogger friends. Build this list. Do an initial introductory email with information about you, your book, and your website. Then, every two months, touch base with these people. Your bi-monthly email blast should include book updates (especially if you have a new release hitting shelves), upcoming events where fans can meet you in person, media quotes about YOU/your BOOK, and an article or two of interest to your audience (i.e. something with content similar to your book or your industry). Include links to your website, book ordering information, and contact details. The important thing here is to keep on the radar of prospective customers. Don’t let them forget you’re out there, you’re doing stuff, and you’re important, dang it!

Feel free to stop by my blog, too:Saradobie.wordpress.com. You'll find all sorts of useful information and interviews there.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Be a speaker and an author. I know we “writer people” like hiding behind glowing computer screens, Facebook, and Twitter. However, in order to become an author with impressive book sales, you have to be a speaker AND an author. Get a presentation together. If you’re a children’s book author, have a presentation for kids with props and craft activities. Also, have a presentation for educators! The educators are the ones who buy your book, so have a presentation revolving around literacy tips and getting kids excited about reading. If you’ve written an adult novel, host workshops and speak at conferences. Build your reputation. Become an expert. By becoming an expert, people will want to learn from you. They will want to buy your book and invite you to events to SPEAK. In order to SPEAK, you have to be a speaker and an author. So learn the tricks. Take a public speaking course if you need to, but learn fast! Because half the battle of “Best-Selling Author” is “Available for Speaking Engagements.”

Feel free to stop by my blog, too: Saradobie.wordpress.com. You'll find all sorts of useful information and interviews there.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Tip of the Week: Make friends with your local media. I’ve told my clients a million times; I can do as much as possible on my end. I can send the review copies, email the press releases, and make the phone calls for you. However, it’s so much more effective for your local media to put a face with your name, as opposed to dealing with “Publicist Sara Dobie”—some faceless ghost person who only exists in the electronic realm and as a disembodied voice on the phone. If you have a book coming out (or heck, even if your book came out a year ago), be sure your local media knows you. Don’t be afraid to show up at your local TV station with a copy of your book, and just say, “HEY! I’m a local author. I’m amazingly important, and here is a complimentary copy of my book. And but of course, I would love to stay for a quick interview.” You will be making a reporter’s job much easier. You will be handing them a story. Don’t fear the media. They’re your friends. They will help you sell books. Just make sure they know who the heck you are and that you’re a literary phenomenon, thriving in their back yard.

Feel free to stop by my blog, too: Saradobie.wordpress.com. You'll find all sorts of useful information and interviews there.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sara Dobie, Public Relations Coordinator for Sylvan Dell Publishing in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. I've seen books thrive; I've seen books fail. It's all thanks to the author. It's all thanks to self-promotion. So here we are. From now on, you'll get a tip of the week from me on topics ranging from website etiquette to book events and signings. Feel free to stop by my blog, too: Saradobie.wordpress.com. You'll find all sorts of useful information and interviews there. Let's get started. Self-promotion or DEATH!

Tip of the Week:

“If you’re an author/writer, I’m assuming you have a website dedicated to you and your work. (If you don’t, we have trouble. If you don’t, get one NOW, whether it be a blog or an expensive, designer site. Just DO IT.) On your website, do you have an easy way for people to order your book? It sounds simple, but people overlook it all the time. On your website/blog, you should have a link to your publisher’s website, a link to Amazon, and a listing of which bookstores carry your book. How else are you going to make your money if people don’t buy your product? So be sure you make ordering easy for your fans. Otherwise, you’ll never make a profit, because let’s face it, people are lazy. But it you give them a magic button that says BUY THIS BOOK, they are much more likely to cough up the dough and build your fan base.”

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