Category: Promotions

A lot of writers really despise promotions.

Promotions and Marketing, Alive, Alive, Oh!

About 35 years ago, my brother published a nonfiction book. And the publisher got him gigs where he went on television to talk about it, that sort of thing.

The publisher’s own promotional machine kicked into gear, and he got some actual, honest to goodness press.

But alas, those days of a publisher’s in-house promotional marketing are long gone unless you are very, very famous and bestselling.

Yet even Stephen King does promos.

But It’s So… Fake…

It can be, yes. But it does not have to be!

We have all seen clickbait and we have probably all been taken in by it. And that’s perfectly okay. This is reality and you are responding to something which is crafted to do just that — get you to click and read, and spend time on page.

And there are lessons which we can all learn from clickbait. So for one thing, why is it so irresistible so much of the time? And can we separate the wheat from the chaff and extract something that can help?

Overpromising? Don’t do that. But tantalizing your readers and potential readers? Yes. You should be doing that.

Because it is highly likely that there are other readers out there. Readers who don’t know about you yet.

Marketing is the means of reaching them. It is also a means of nurturing your current readers. Because keeping them happy is a great idea!

And because the easiest customer to get is a preexisting customer. So, don’t ignore promotions! They are important and they will help you to be able to afford to write some more.