Creative Promoting

I waited way to long to post another article. I apologize for that. At this moment the snow is falling rather hard. We are in a blizzard warning! Yep, don't get those very often. Have you noticed my new additions to the blog? I added some links to some of the social networks I visit. I hope that you will pop over and join me over on the other sites as well.

Today I thought we could look at the aspect of promotion. This happens after we get our book(s) published and many would agree that this is the hard work portion of being an author. Promoting a book is like promoting anything else - it starts by drawing attention to it. Promoting a book has changed throughout the years as we have seen the rise of blogs, twitter and the IPhone but some of the tried and true methods still work.

How do we promote our books? We do book signings and participate at expos and craft shows; you know, getting out in the public eye. We also have articles placed in the newspaper and some have the opportunity to get on the news. Nothing is out of bounds when it comes to promotions (as long as it is legal). To prove my point I have the perfect example for you. Before I get to that we need to look at one more avenue for book promotion. The Internet is quickly becoming the number one source for finding books and driving sales. I say that because I still think word of mouth is the number one way to promote a book. For example, 'The Shack' got a huge springboard from word of mouth when it was released.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. We have blogs, social networks like goodreads.com and facebook, we have other networks like Twitter and we have youtube.com. I separate Twitter from the other social networks because, at this moment in time, this is as close as we can get to word of mouth promotion through cyberspace. All of these things can come together for a major promotion push for your book if used properly.

Like I mentioned before, nothing is off limits when it comes to promotions. We are encouraged to be just as creative drawing attention to our books as we were when writing them. The more creative the promotions the more attention we draw - or so I'm told The great thing about promoting your book is that it can be fun. We should think of ways that are fun for us because readers and fans will pick up on that energy.

Wait a minute Brian, I'm not published yet so I don't have to worry about it. Yes you do. An author platform is nothing more then promoting yourself as an author. You want to be fun and energetic when introducing your name to the public because everyone feeds and shares that excitement.

A friend of mine has her second book coming out soon and she ventured into the world of book promoting recently that made a massive splash. How she tops this one is beyond me but she drew a lot of attention.
She is the author of "Tender Graces" and her next book out is "Secret Graces." To promote her new book she decided to do a naked reading. That's right, she read a portion of her book in her birthday suite but it gets better; she was covered by a replica bear skin rug and she posted it on Youtube! Oh I hope she doesn't get mad at me for writing about it her but she did it and even her publisher got a good laugh out of it. The exposure (no pun intended) was great though. This is a great example of stepping out there on a limb, being creative and generating some energy for your book release.

What crazy ideas do you have for promoting a book? For more information about this author's naked reading you can read more about it HERE and from her own site HERE.