Tag: marketing

creativity

Thank you for a great book promotion for World Book Night

Christa Avampato
Emerson and I send you love. Photo by Christa Avampato

Hello all – I’m popping in here to say a big thank you. Last week 1,202 people downloaded and bought my first novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters! World Book Night was the first special promotion I’ve ever done, and I had no expectation of how it would go. I’m so grateful to every one of you who downloaded and purchased the book.

It means so much to me, and I hope Emerson’s story brings you joy. If you feel inclined to write a review, you can do so here. Reviews help new readers discover the book.

Thank you again for all your wonderful support. I can’t wait to share the launch of my second book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, in just two weeks on May 14th!

creativity

Tips for authors: How to successfully pitch individual book reviewers

Christa Avampato
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

My second novel, Emerson Page and Where the
Light Leads, will be released everywhere books are sold
in less than a month on May 14th. This week I’m focused on pitching the book to
individual book reviewers. These are reviewers with popular websites and social
media accounts who primarily focus on reviewing books. I wanted to share some
top tips for authors who are pitching these reviewers:

Review their websites
There are sites like BookSirens.com that make it easy to find book reviewers.
It may be tempting for authors to just contact all reviewers on platforms like
this and let the chips fall where they may. This hurts you and it hurts all
other authors, too. Use these platforms to go to the individual websites. What
does a reviewer care about? What’s their style and brand? Would your book be
appealing to them, and if so, what you can you highlight about your book to get
their interest?

Respect the reviewer’s guidelines
By going to their websites, you will almost always find review guidelines.
Please follow these to the letter. What do they want in the pitch? What do they
not want in the pitch? What types of books and authors interest them? If they
are not a match for you, don’t contact them. Again, they are flooded with
requests. If they aren’t a match for your book, save your time and theirs, and
move on. 

Respect the reviewer’s genre and format preferences
Within their guidelines, they will often define the genres and formats
(paperback, ePub, PDF, etc.) they prefer. They may also define what they don’t
want. Again, if they aren’t a match for you and your book, move on. I started
out sending my PDF as an attachment in my pitches. Then I decided it was best
to send the pitch without any attachment because the PDF is a big file and may
clog their inboxes. So just send the pitch as an email with no attachment and
include a link to your book or author website instead.

Personalize the pitch
Now that you have all this information from the reviewer’s website, personalize
your pitch. Give them everything they ask for and give them a reason to be interested
in your book. Is there something on their website, social platforms, or in
their bio that you love? Do they have a personal interest that matches with a
unique aspect of your book? Touches like that show your care and generate
connection. 

Respect the reviewer’s time
Authors are strapped for time whether or not they have an agent, and whether or
not they have a publisher or have chosen to self-publish. (FYI — I don’t have
an agent and I have a publisher.) Having a book published is launching a
business. You, the author, need to do a lot of marketing and promotion of your
book. There’s a temptation to save time and send mass emails to reviewers or
take a “spray and pray” mentality. I get it. But please don’t do that. You are
asking a reviewer to give hours of their time reading and reviewing your book.
Make it easy for them to say yes by following their guidelines, preferences,
and personalizing your pitch.

Have you successfully pitched book reviewers? What are some other top tips
you would share? 

creativity

In the pause: Authors, the marketing of your book is on you

Christa Avampato

Publishers tell authors they need a platform. Here’s what they really mean: the marketing and promotion of your book rests with you. That care and concern can’t be farmed out. No matter who you hire or who publishes the book, you must be your own advocate, cheerleader, and agent. Being an author is a business; thank goodness I have an MBA.

I let myself feel disappointed by this fact for about 5 minutes. It was a rough 5 minutes. And then I picked myself up and went to work executing against the plan I had laid out months ago. It’s a grind and I have to give it everything I have in this last stretch before the November 1st release. I wrote and sent 43 pitches in 36 hours, most of them in the very weeeee hours of the morning.

I also had to come to the frustrating conclusion that the act of writing the second book has to take a backseat while I promote the first book that comes out in November, especially in these last few months before it’s released.

And with every query I just couldn’t get this quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald out of my mind: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Today, what we can dream about for the future rests firmly in our ability to manage what’s already been done.