There’s Still Time to Promote Your Self-Published Book During Small Press Month

You’ve probably heard Outskirts Press crowing about Small Press Month in March. It’s the perfect time to promote the amazing work of independent publishers and self-published authors. High quality self publishing is easy. Marketing your book afterwards is the key.

We hope you’re taking advantage of this celebration to promote your own self-published book using the 31 tips (one per day) provided by Outskirts Press. The idea is to take a few moments each day to implement one important step in your efforts to market and promote your self-published book.

By now, we hope you’ve taken our suggestions to stock up on hard copies, connect on social media, send out press releases and reach out to local schools, universities, fellow authors, small businesses and sales channels. Don’t worry if you’re just ramping up now. These small steps are simple enough to take two at a time. Here’s what the rest of your Small Business Month should look like:

Mar 15 – Join forces. Connect with other independently published authors and arrange co-op advertisement in the local media, using any dollars secured from local businesses you spoke with on March 14. In addition to simply promoting your book, promote your upcoming events, so people will show up. The other authors can join in the events, which may lead the bookstores to be more interested in scheduling future event, even on such short notice.

Mar 16 – Get talking. Contact local radio producers in your area and pitch them on Small Press Month. Not sure where to start? Outskirts Press offers a Top 10 Radio Interview & Media Training option to get you started.

Mar 17 – Think green. St. Patrick’s Day green, that is. Take the day to focus on electronic editions of your book. If you’re only selling hard copies, consider getting a Kindle, NOOK or Apple iPad edition of your book.

Mar 18 – Think big. Local is a great starting point, but don’t forget to contact the major newspapers about Small Press Month, too. They’re more likely to cover something if they are contacted by authors, and you will want to be among the piles of information they have received:

• THE NEW YORK TIMES: 229 W 43rd Street, New York NY 10036-3959 (212) 556-1234
• USA TODAY: 1000 Wilson Blvd, Arlington VA 22209-3901 (703) 276-3400 and 535 Madison Avenue, 20th Fl, New York NY 10022-4212 (212) 715-5410
• WALL STREET JOURNAL: 200 Liberty Street, New York NY 10281-1003 (212) 416-2000
• WASHINGTON POST: 1150 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20071-0002 (202) 334-6000

Mar 19 – Commune. Contact your local community center and inform them of Small Press Month; post information on their community bulletin board if one is available. Gather the local authors with whom you’ve teamed up and schedule an impromptu event, celebrating Small Press books.

Mar 20 – Reassess your publishing options. If you published elsewhere, this may be the month to switch to Outskirts Press. Assess your current publisher and ask yourself if you’re happy with what you’re getting.  Even if you’re not ready to switch, Outskirts Press offers a variety of marketing products and services for authors, regardless of where they published.  Browse those marketing products today at: www.outskirtspress.com/marketing.

Mar 21 – Think about the other 11 months. Small Press Month is just one month out of 12. Prepare for other book events throughout the year, like London Book Fair, BookExpo America, Beijing Book Fair and Frankfurt Book Fair. Or make it easy on yourself with the Global Book Tour marketing package from Outskirts Press, which includes all four book fairs with a 25% discount.

Mar 22 – Go social. Create a social networking account on Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn. Outskirts Press makes it easy with a social media platform set-up service that gets you started toward promoting and marketing your book through social media.

Mar 23 – Promote through learning. Contact the Learning Annex or similar adult education program in your area and offer to teach a class on the subject of your book, or about self-publishing. As a published author, you are an expert on these topics. Your book may even become required reading for each student! Cha-ching!

Mar 24 – Name drop. Start writing online reviews through Amazon. Write reviews for every book you have ever read. Mention that you are the author of a book at the bottom of each posted review and include the book title and a link. If people like the writing style of your review, they may investigate your book, especially if you write reviews for books within the same genre as your book.

Mar 25 – Contact the public libraries in each state and mention your involvement with Small Press Month. Send them information about your book. Here’s a link that will get you started: http://www.publiclibraries.com/.

Mar 26 – Set your poetry in motion. If you’re a poet, start preparing for National Poetry Month in April.

Mar 27 – Affiliate yourself with others. Help other writers you know get published and earn a 10% commission for the referral after their book is published. Register for the Outskirts Press affiliate program today and start spreading the word to all of the writers in your life.

Mar 28 – Blog about yourself. Start a blog and keep it active and up-to-date with blog posts about you, your book and other things that interest you. Register your blog with blog directories to gain more readership and participation.

Mar 29 – Touch Base. Submit your published book to the Google Base listings. It’s free. http://base.google.com.

Mar 30 – Think big (print). Publish a large print edition of your book to expand your market. With the world’s demographics growing older, large print editions are becoming more and more popular. Featuring 14 or 16-point fonts, these editions appeal to the aging community because they are easier to read. You’ve already written the book, now re-publish a new easy-to-read edition to increase your revenue and double the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives. It’s easy to get published here.

Mar 31 – Take a breath. It’s been a busy, productive month. Take a couple hours to yourself today to recharge and gear up for all the events, promotion and marketing opportunities that will come your way in 2013!  An Outskirts Press Personal Marketing Assistant can help you organize all of those opportunities and create a detailed marketing plan just for you.