Yesterday I announced my new book, Addition by Adoption, and started the promotional juggernaut to get the word out about it. I’m self-publishing it, so I’m on my own. And I’ve learned you can’t just sit back and wait for your book to sell. I need all the help I can get.
So I have all these plans and ideas to spread the word. It all went into motion yesterday (well, actually Monday with my e-mail newsletter). Today I individually e-mailed more than 130 people trying to line up reviews, interviews, blog posts, Twitter/Facebook mentions—basically anything people are willing to do (if you didn’t get an e-mail and think you should, hit me up—I could always use more promo help). I’ll be contacting a lot more people in the days and weeks ahead (that’s fair warning to anyone who has ever known me). I also sent out nearly 20 digital review copies of the book today. Last week I stayed up until midnight trying to plan all this out.
It’s all a bit overwhelming. And kind of scary.
I’ve been planning this book for almost a year now. Now as I’m sending out copies and getting ready to make this happen we’ll see if it’s any good. We’ll find out if I’ve been wasting my time or if I actually have something interesting on my hands.
Because books aren’t easy. If I can sell a mere 100 copies I’ll be in the top 21% of books sold.
So here we go.
On the plus side, it’s amazing hearing back from people who are ready and willing to help. I’m so grateful for that. Some folks have just said ‘tell me what to do and I’ll do it.’ One person said not to send them a copy, they’d buy their own plus a few more to give away to their friends. Wow.
That kind of response makes it a little less scary.
hey kevin, this is actually a really good resource video on marketing for a book launch by Tim Ferriss:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/12/13/how-to-create-a-global-phenomenon-for-less-than-10000/
also this article on the 1,000 true fans by Kevin Kelly:
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php
good luck!!
-sam
Kevin – would love to help – do a review, whatever. Maybe there’s some cross promotion opportunities we can explore with World Orphans. (I’m the dir. of communications.) Shoot me an email.