Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Fun Ways to Take On The Dreaded Marketing Beast

What's scarier than Halloween?

Book marketing. *Insert groan here* It's all Facebook this, Tweet that, Google Plus something else, Tumblr over there. Oh and don't forget blog, blog, blog. Here are some more ideas to get you rolling and help you get your name out there without wearing a sign and standing on the street corner.

1) Author Marketing App - This one installs on your Facebook author page. It lets you upload your photo, bio, links, your book covers, and any information about where you're signing. A pretty neat little app for FB.

2) Zazzle.com - Make your own t-shirts! Tired of Team Sparkles and Team . . . um, that werewolf guy? How about a shiny new t-shirt (mug, iPhone case, poster, etc.) with your "team" logo on it? Memes are very in right now!

3) Book excerpts - I saw these in my goody bag at the Ozarks Romance Authors conference in June. Some (obviously dedicated) authors printed their first chapter (or so many thousand words) on paper to make a mini-book.

4) Leave your business card everywhere. Leave it with your waitress (don't forget the tip!). Leave it in library books, bulletin boards of places you seldom visit. Who knows who you'll reach. (Note: My business card has my physical address on it, so maybe you're better off not leaving that one all over the place.)

5) Generate a QR code. You can save it as a .jpeg and put it almost anywhere (refer to #2). This little code will take anyone who owns a Smart Phone to your site, to your Amazon page, or anywhere you want them to go in a flash. Here's a cute idea. Get some of those stick on name badges that say "Hello, my name is" and print your QR code beneath it! 

When I'm not scouring the Interwebz for marketing tips, I'm blogging at Have Novel, Will Edit, goofing off on Facebook, Twitter, and G+

2 comments:

Melissa Limoges said...

Great tips, Allison!

Annie Rachel Cole said...

Really good ideas. Tomorrow I'm in a teacher workshop about how to make the QR codes. Was wondering what I was going to do with the info. Now I know!
Thanks