How to Promote Your Self-Published Book During Small Press Month

Since March is Small Press Month, now is a great time to promote your self-published book! Celebrate Small Press Month by doing something to promote your book every day during the month of March. Here are some ideas to get you started.

March 1 – Order extra author’s copies to have on hand as you work through these promotion tips.

March 2 – Contact other independent published authors in your area and combine your resources to fully exploit the opportunities during this month. With the advent of social networking sites, this is easier than ever. In fact, your publisher may already have a group on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

March 3 – Contact your local bookstores and suggest they offer discounts on Small Press books this month. Bring in yours and offer it to them at a discount to get them started.

March 4 – Contact your local newspapers and inform them of Small Press Month. Suggest they write a small article or events calendar for Small Press events in the area. Tell them you will be sending them a press release.

March 5 – Send a press release to the local media (newspapers, radio, television) mentioning Small Press Month and your independently published book. Be sure to mention any events you are hosting or participating in.

March 6 – Follow-up on your press release from yesterday with the local media via telephone. Reiterate Small Press Month, your planned events in the community, and your Small Press book. Send them a review of your book so they can use it as a foundation.

March 7 – If you haven’t yet published your book, today is the day to start. Research self-publishing companies and choose a company that finds your needs.

March 8 – Contact your local libraries and suggest they feature Small Press titles, including yours. Offer to leave a free copy with them. Also, leave a sales sheet.

March 9 – Send out review copies of your book. If you need help getting started, contact your self-publishing company. They may offer resources to help you.

March 10 – Contact local schools in your area and tell them about Small Press Month. Mention that you are a local published author and offer to speak to their assembly about how to accomplish their dreams of being published. This is particularly effective if you have a children’s book you can then sell after the assembly.

March 11 – Contact local universities and colleges. Same concept as yesterday — promote yourself and your book by sharing your knowledge of how to write a book and get it published. Have copies of your book available to sell.

March 12 – Schedule a seminar or teleseminar on “How to Write and Publish a Book” and offer a “Small Press Month” discount on the registration fee. Send out a local news release about your class.

March 13 – Contact other sales channels outside of the bookstore that may be likely to sell your book. This may include websites related to your book’s topic, gift stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, boutiques, etc. Look at your book and ask yourself where your readers may be shopping.

March 14 – Contact local art studios, design boutiques, or other small independent businesses in your area. Give them the opportunity to share in co-op on some advertising initiatives (plus, if applicable, offer to conduct some events in their venues).

March 15 – Join with other independently published authors and arrange a co-op advertisement in the local media, using any dollars secured from local businesses you spoke with on the 14th. In addition to simply promoting your book, promote your upcoming events. The other authors can join in the events, which may lead the bookstores to be more interested in scheduling it.

March 16 – Contact all the local radio producers in your area and pitch them on Small Press Month.

March 17 – Make sure your online Amazon.com listing is all it can be. Do you have a Kindle Edition for your book? Is your book participating in Search Inside the Book? Do you have your Book Video trailer playing from your Amazon blog?

March 18 – Contact the major newspapers (New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post) about Small Press Month. They’re likely to write up something if enough authors contact them, and you will want to be among the piles of information they have received.

March 19 – Contact your local community center and inform them of Small Press Month. If you have gathered a band of local authors, this will be more effective. Schedule an impromptu event, celebrating Small Press books.

March 20 – This may be the month to switch publishers if you have published elsewhere. Look at the publisher you chose and ask yourself: Is your retail price too high? Is your profit too low? Is your author’s copy price too high? Are your marketing options too costly?

March 21 – Small Press Month is just one month out of 12. Prepare for other book events, like the London Book Fair, Book Expo of America, Beijing, and Frankfurt.

March 22 – If you haven’t already done so, create a social networking account on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. Start using these sites to promote yourself, your book, and your events.

March 23 – Contact the Learning Annex (or similarly themed Adult Education Program) in your area and offer to teach a class on the subject of your book. As a published author, you are qualified to teach on your subject since you are an expert. Your book may even be required reading for each student.

March 24 – Start writing online reviews through Amazon. Write reviews for every book you have ever read. Mention that you are the author of your book at the bottom of each posted review. 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 yours.

March 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/

March 26 – Start preparing for April (National Poetry Month), especially if you have a volume of poetry you have published.

March 27 – Help other writers you know get published and earn a 10% commission for the referral after their book is published. Contact your self-publishing company to see if they have an affiliate program.

March 28 – Start a blog and keep it active and up-to-date. Register it with blog directories so others start reading it and participating. There are many blog programs to help you get started. Conduct a search on Google to find the one that works for you.

March 29 – Submit your published book to the Google Merchant Center.

March 30 – Publish a “Large Print” edition of your book. 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. This will help you increase your revenue and double the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives.

March 31 – Take a breath. It’s been a busy, productive month.

ABOUT JODEE THAYER: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Jodee Thayer works as the Manager of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Jodee Thayer can put you on the right path.