Unconventional Self-Promotion with E.C. Ambrose – Part 2

Editor’s note: This is the conclusion of a two-part guest series by E.C. Ambrose.  Check out Part 1 if you haven’t yet! 

So, how do you create, identify and evaluate unconventional tactics for promoting your work?

One of the keys to unconventional approaches is that you can also get more excitement by having the book appear in places where people don’t usually see books: you won’t be competing with many other titles, so the book already stands out.  For this reason, I also reached out to bloggers who didn’t review books, but who worked in the areas of medieval history or historical medicine, and got some nice mentions as a result.

Friends have excerpted work for specialty magazines, and written articles for their company or alumni newsletters.  These may not pay, but your work is inherently interesting to those who know you or who will feel they have something in common with you.

Start by looking at yourself, your book, and the process that went into it:  what striking or unusual aspects of the book might help you get attention? Your time is valuable, and, as with any promotional activity, you need to decide how it’s best spent.  When you evaluate participating in one of these unique approaches, take a look at the following factors:

1.  Is this opportunity targeted to likely readers of your work?  In addition to listing the unique features of your work, brainstorm a list of groups who might be interested in the book, and then look for ways you might reach them.

2.  How many likely readers will you reach?  Keep in mind, a specialty publication that’s focused on your subject matter, but has a small circulation, might net you more readers than a larger, but more general venue.

3.  Are there ancillary benefits you’ll gain from the opportunity?  This might include local or on-line press coverage and interviews, getting paid for the article or talk you deliver, making connections with editors, bloggers and journalists, and building up your own resume and list of publications.

Easy tools from sources like Amazon Author Central and Google Analytics can help you track the results of your promotions and target your efforts even better for book 2.

E. C. Ambrose is the author of the Dark Apostle series, starting with Elisha Barber (DAW, 2013) and continuing next July with Elisha Magus.  www.theDarkApostle.com