I’m the last person who should be writing this. I spend my days promoting all sorts of things – for other people – but I am terrible at doing it for myself.
Somehow it seems too ‘in your face’ cringe-worthy. I’ve never been one for attention, so lf-promotion is anathema to me.
However, for budding authors and bloggers, it must be done.
Here are the key places to do it:
- Your local newspaper – they are usually desperate for news but deskbound and short-staffed in these difficult days, so they will generally use your story, especially if you write it for them.
- Local radio stations, BBC and commercial. Local interest works well here. I was interviewed by Radio Cornwall re my local history books. The publisher organised it, but you can contact them yourself.
- Have a website – ideally, a decent one, with a blog or journal that is kept up to date. Agents will look at your social media profile to see what impression they get.
- Twitter – difficult to know quite what works on Twitter but worth having a profile. It’s not always about selling. When writing my latest book on Pamela Colman Smith, I was freely given a never before seen photograph to use, simply sent by someone on Twitter who had found it in an old book. Instagram, if you want something visual. If you want to be funny, try TikTok.
- A Facebook page but really, I feel, you need to share stuff which isn’t you just saying how great your book is because that gets a bit boring and slightly egotistical. So share other people’s stuff, too, and then they might do the same for you.
- Try LinkedIn for professional networking.
- If you don’t have a website, then set up a free blog on WordPress.com or Blogger.com … (I’m sure Rob will cover this at some point).
- Good luck and here’s hoping for some serendipity, too!
