Partnership in Promotion: Top Ten Tips

Long gone are the days when authors could write a book and then sit back and let it sell itself. Now, whether traditionally or independently published, authors need to spend some time marketing their books. I know many of you will feel this is a never ending task, and others won't even know where to start. Never fear, help is here. Or should I say help is near. 

Let me elaborate. Help is as near as you reaching out to others. It has been proven time and time again that working together with others can exponentially rocket your marketing efforts. There are a number of ways in which this can be done. 

1. Speaking engagements - I have joined together with two Scottish Crime Authors, Chris Longmuir and Jackie McLean to form the Dangerous Dames. We undertake a number of speaking engagements together. This increases exposure for all three of us as we chat about the events on various social media platforms. 

2. Start a Facebook group of authors with similar genres, or interests. Within this agree to share about each others books, or share marketing ideas

3. Host and/or interview on each others blogs. 

4. Join together to run giveaways related to various times of the year. 

5. This may be somewhat limited but I also interview authors on my radio show

6. Share each other's social media posts about your books

7. Share each other's books on your own website. 

8. Share each other's business cards/ and or postcards 

9. Join together to do pop up shops in malls

10. Join associations which deal with writing and/or your genre. I am a member of The Society of Authors, Scottish association of Writers, The Crime Writers Association, SCWBI, Sisters in Crime, The Association of Christian Writers, and Scottish Fellowship of Christian Writers. Not only do these help me to be a better writer but increase opportunities for support and mutual promotion. 

I will finish by saying this is well worth exploring and way more than just the sum of all its parts. It's time to get the word out there and sell more books.