I know this is thinking WAY ahead for some of us… but what will you do to stand out when it comes time to market your work?
We’ve talked about being a zebra among horses before, and I thought about that mostly in relation to the writing itself. But how do we get our voices heard above the crowd, other than standing on a box and screaming “Look at me! Buy my book! Please! Buy it buy it buy it NOW!”
For the most part, we have to get creative. It won’t be our publisher, editor, or even the promotional rep we’re assigned. That’s right — these people, although they have good intentions, don’t always want to take the chance to step out of the box. I understand why, but that means we’ll have to take marketing our work into our own hands.
A few days ago I read a story about an author who did just this, when her assigned publicist did next to nothing to help her.
Know what this author did? She paid actresses to read her book on the subway and laugh.
That’s right! She put out a casting call, auditioned actresses, formed a plan, and got these women on subways reading her book (and they were filmed as well). The whole shebang cost under $1000, and has paid dividends for the author because of the amount of publicity the stunt ended up getting.
Here’s the full article on exactly what she did: “I Paid Them to Read My Book”
Heck, I want to buy her book just because of the sheer brilliance of Jennifer Belle’s marketing plan. Support the creative, I say!
Do you have a creative marketing plan for your book? I mean, you don’t have to TELL us your genius idea if it’s super secret, but have you thought about what it might take to stand out above the crowd? (I haven’t, if that helps…!)
