From someone who has made a lot of mistakes
Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder is now available for purchase wherever books are sold, including my own store.
This means I am working my butt off making sure everyone knows the book
1. exists,
2. Is available to be read,
3. Is accessible on my website and where other books are sold,
4. Is worth reading.
Welcome to the promotional tour!
The strange thing about being a writer is you have to be both introverted enough to write a novel while also extroverted enough to promote yourself. I have to define the thin line between a self-promoter and a shameless self-promoter. To talk about your work while keeping your privacy. To not be completely frustrated when your best friend says, “Oh! The book’s out already?”
When I released my first book, I didn’t know how any of it worked. I naively believed that all I had to do was make it available and people would find it and read it. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be found online.
I didn’t know how to get reviewers and I was concerned about getting scammed. I didn’t even know how to get my book on Goodreads, much less how to get people to read my book and post about it on Goodreads. I was hassling my friends about posting reviews. I was sending out free copies hoping people would read it and write a review.
I learned a lot of things based on the fact that I didn’t even know what I didn’t know until I was in the middle of it.
This time, I decided to take the lessons from my first time out and be more proactive about my promotions.
Here are the five promotional tips I put in place as an indie author to help let readers know that I have written a book and it’s worth reading.
I have a newsletter. I love sending out my newsletter every month, letting readers know what I am writing and other things that inspire me. But how do you build that list? When I go to events, I have a banner with a QR code for people to sign up for it.
I also joined Book Funnel, which is a service where readers can gain access to up and coming writers. I made my short story “Local Monsters” available to be read for free as long as they provide their email address. I gained new followers quickly. A certain percentage unsubscribed, but others have stuck around.
I joined Book Sirens. I didn’t know about this service with the first book, but it is a space to offer ARC copies in exchange for reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. You cannot guarantee that the review will be favorable, but there is value to bad reviews as well. It’s much worse to live in obscurity.
I submitted the book for a review from Kirkus Reviews. (Read what they said here) There are several industry approved review publications that accept solicitations and I went with this one because it’s how libraries determine what they will stock on their shelves. I want to see my book in libraries because I love supporting libraries. And many cannot just add a book just because someone asks. There are many hoops that indie authors have to jump through, and being reviewed helps ease that process.
I hired a book publicist service. I met a representative from Books Forward at a writers conference, and then ran into them again at a different conference a few months later. I signed up to run a campaign with them because I knew they would have more resources than I did. They were also really nice. They developed a customized list of news outlets, reviewers, book blogs, podcasts, and other media outlets to let people know about my books. I have done interviews and seen where people are mentioning my book on their websites and social media accounts. They have helped me with my launch and I’m a little sad thinking that we won’t be working together much longer.
And honestly, the promotion has been a lot more fun than I considered. I don’t always know what to say or how to promote my own work. It’s far easier for me to be dismissive or make the thing I created seem small. It’s that same instinct that kicks in when someone compliments my hair color, my sweater, my nail polish. It’s so easy to respond to the compliment with, “Oh, it’s no big deal.”
It’s often when I’m caught off guard that I shrink myself. What’s great about about a lot of the promotional parts is they work on a schedule. I have appointments with people recording podcasts, I’m offered a list of questions to answer, I’m offered a challenge like “recommend five books about a theme you like!” And honestly, any opportunity that I am given to talk about books and the process of writing, I am here for it.
So be on the lookout for Brandi Bradley and Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder at book festivals, libraries, bookstores, and at the post office for when I mail out any orders that come in via the website.
XOXO,
B.
If you have not grabbed your copy of Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder, head over to the shop and download your digital copy or order your paperback copy!
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