You can create a beautiful book package, price your book well, get some early reviews, and make a killer Marketing Plan, but ultimately buzz happens for one reason, and one reason only: people are excited about something. Hopefully that something will be your book, but creating buzz is largely out of your control. (Unfortunately, that mindjacking thing isn’t real… yet.) However, there are things you can do to encourage and facilitate buzz (and excitement) about your new baby bird book leaving the nest.
When I first launched Open Minds, the buzz came from 1) I was doing something new (indie publishing), and 2) people were drawn to the book package before it even launched, and 3) I had some advanced reviews that were awfully darn nice (thank you Book Bloggers!). And the launch was great! But I didn’t rocket up to selling thousands of books a month in the first day – that took time. And word of mouth. And a whole lotta patience.
By the time I launched Closed Hearts – seven months later! – there was a lot of buzz for the book. Why? Because people had read the first book, and were eager to see where the story went from there. For the third book, Free Souls, released six months after that, I didn’t do much more than announce it was out, and it sold like crazy right away. This is why building a fanbase on a series works. And why the most important thing you can do is get your work in people’s hands.
Note: you don’t have to have super-slick newsletters; in fact, the simple ones are nice in today’s hyper visual world. But make sure it’s easy to find whatever action you want your readers to take.
Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, which is young Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs #1) which is her excuse to dress up in corsets and fight with swords. She also has a dark-and-gritty SF serial called The Debt Collector and a middle grade fantasy called Faery Swap. It’s possible she’s easily distracted. She always has more speculative fiction fun in the works. You can find out what she’s up to by subscribing to her newsletter (hint: new subscribers get a free short story!) or by stopping by her blog (www.susankayequinn.com).adult science fiction. Her latest release is
I'm writing these things down because my day is coming and it'll probably be here sooner than I think! Thanks 🙂
You always have such amazing advice, Susan. Thank you for always sharing. 😀 And I agree – it's all exciting, but in the end it's whether people read and spread the word themselves.
These posts are so helpful, Sue. I love that you're blogging this book before publishing it. Pretty awesome. I passed this link on to a newly published YA author who's a teen herself and looking for ideas on what to do now. All the great info throughout your blog, plus info on WANA Tribe discussion threads is what I suggested to get her headed in the right direction. She's new to social media, but teens catch on fast. You're the perfect role model for her to follow. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. Very much appreciated!
Aw, thanks, Lyn! I love that you're encouraging a young writer! I've been working all weekend on getting these posts lined up because I know there are people out there who can use it right now. Thanks for letting me know that's true!
Yep taking notes here as well. I know you reply to these comments often. And I didn't see the answer to this around your site–but what are your thoughts on copywriting indie pubbed work? Is it necessary? Advisable? Your site here has been my go-to info in getting ready for my release. Maybe I overlooked the topic. 🙂
This should help. 🙂