Please enjoy this post from Marilyn Meredith - author of more than 50 books. Marilyn writes her Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series as F.M. Meredith. I think you'll learn a lot from her comments on marketing her books. She's a real pro.
Before the pandemic, my favorite way to promote my books was in-person, whether as a speaker for a writers’ group or conference, or at service or social club. If I could get people to laugh, I sold books. My second favorite was to participate in a book or craft fair. My calendar was full of both for 2020 and everything was cancelled.
So that meant I had to concentrate on other ways to let people know about my books. One thing I’ve always enjoyed doing is being a guest on someone’s blog like I am today. One of the big reasons is because I like to write, but does it sell books? Sometimes. When I’ve done best is when I’ve been on a blog tour and held a contest for someone to have his or her name used for a character in the next book.
Like other authors, I use Facebook to promote new books—and old ones too. I’ve gathered quite a few friends along the way, and some of them have become fans. Of course, I don’t just write about my books, I talk about everything I’m doing. The same for my own blog, I write about most anything that comes to mind and host other authors. I also belong to some Facebook groups, but not sure any are helpful when it comes to selling books.
Now, what has worked best for me. Because I write series, offering one of the early books series for free has resulted in reader buying other books. There are many places to offer free books, all you have to do is a search on the Internet to find them. Most of these places charge a small fee.
And there is BookBub, but they are picky about what books they promote, and the fee is way beyond my budget.
Sometimes I feel like my promotion efforts are like throwing cooked spaghetti at the wall and seeing if it sticks. It’s hard to tell what is working, though much easier now that I’m self-pubbed and watch what and how many books are being sold.
How about any of you other authors, what are you doing and what works best for you?
Blurb for #16, Not As We Knew It.
The challenges come one after another for the Rocky Bluff P.D. to handle―from a missing woman to a fatal house fire. Detective Doug Milligan is faced with new and unusual problems to solve, some on the job and others related to his family. With the department shorthanded because of the Covid virus, Chief Chandra Taylor must make some hard decisions in order to protect the town of Rocky Bluff.
