Get thee to a marketing/pr meeting!

Yes, four to six months before your book is coming out ask for a marketing/pr meeting with the appropirate folks at your publishing house. Here are the talking points you want to cover.

I think the key  is to start with something like this:

“I’m thrilled that you are publishing my book. And I’m really well aware of how many books you publish each quarter. So let me say that first – I appreciate everything that you are going to do  - but I do understand that not every book gets as much marketing/PR as other books. I’m a realist and not a kid – so I won’t throw a tantrum, but I really want my book to succeed and am more than willing to work with you guys as a marketing partner. I’d like to know what you are doing – but I’d also like to know where I can help and add to your plan.”

You should go into he meeting knowing if you want to spend any money on your own book and if you do – how much?

I recommend putting at least $2000 to $5000 behind your own book if you are anywhere in the process except the best seller list. And then what I recommend goes way up. There are various ways to spend this – but you can’t figure out how to spend it until you know what they are doing and where.

I understand not everyone can or wants to put money in – I’m just telling you what I recommend here and what I think you should ask.

Do not ever underestimate the offer of sharing costs of extra publicity. I started doing this and have recommended it to other authos and have been AMAZED at how  offering to share the cost leads to more and more. Not every house, but many get more involved with you and your book when they see you taking this kind of interest and putting your own money where your words are.

Is it right? Does it make sense? Is it what we want to do?

That's another story. The point here is it often works.

Then the basic need to know info is:

1.How many ARCs are you going to send out?

(If it's less than a 100 you might want to discuss this with them and find out if they will do 50-100 more – 200 is a good number to aim for)

Can I have 20 to give out to advance readers on line to get some buzz going?

Can I give you a list of reviewers on and off line who have reviewed me in the past to send ARCs to?

2. Is there any tour planned?

If yes and it's small or no and you can afford to do a tour on your own ask if they would be interested in working on one with you.

3. Are there any online or off line advertising/promotional plans?

If yes, what? If no –and if you are spending some of your own money: “Do you know of any reasonably priced opportunities that I could pick up – or share the cost of with you. I’ve heard Authorbuzz.com is a great way to reach a really big audience for not a lot of money.”*

4. What would you like me to do for this book?

I know that seems obvious but you’d be surprised how few authors ask. And there are things.

5. Is there anything we can do to incentivize my readers with this new book? For instance – can we do $1 off coupons – electronic ones or printed ones – that I can send to my newsletter or offer in a contest in my blog.

It's not a big deal for them to do this and sometimes it winds up being a great promo. I know one author who asked and out of the blue they came up with 20,000 $1 off coupons. Most they put in the Booksense white box – but they gave her 2500 to offer to her readers and hand out etc.

6. If appropriate – ask if they are doing a reading group guide?

If they aren’t – you should and post it at ReadingGroupGuides.com for $100

7. Will I have/who is my publicist? What is the time frame he/she will be working on my book? What kind of press/reviews are you going after?

You want to ask this because maybe you have another angle they have not though of or to add. Also you want to know – and you can tell them this – because you don’t want to bug them by asking questions/sending info too early in the process. You also want to know this because it will tell you something about their size/scope of their plans and you need to know that so you know if you need to scramble and do more.

8. Do you have any other authors with books coming out around the same time who might be interested –and whose books would work well with mine – who might be interested in doing some piggy backing?

Again you’d be surprised no one thinks of this. But two authors at a reading get more attention than one. Offering to blog about someone else’s book if they blog about mine kind of stuff helps/works if done right.

9. What don’t you want me to do?

Again no one asks this and it's important  - they do have things that interfere, don’t work, go against the grain etc and you need to know what they are even if you choose to ignore them.

10. Do you have any problems with me setting up my own library or other speaking engagements and do you want to know about them?

* I’m using Authorbuzz.com as an example because it is clearly the best thing out there and it's affordable and it's mine but you can insert anything else here you want.

Comments

[David J. Montgomery]

This is great advice -- the kind of stuff that most of us just don't know about.

Thanks for sharing it!

[Jeri]

Thanks, MJ! Question: should we go through our editors for this information (let's assume a face-to-face meeting w/PR people is out of the question), or should we ask the marketing/PR people directly? I wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes.

[Jessica Keener]

Another wonderful and generous post. Thank you!

[M.J.]

Jeri - You go through your editor - asking her to set up the meeting - or ask your agent to do it.

And thanks Jessica & David!

[Monique]

Perfectly sound advice, and I think there are two primary relationships an author has with a publishing company. The first is with a editor and the second is with a publicist. Authors can offer an incredible insight into their book and how to target their audience.

[edward d. curry]

Dear MJ: I met you at the Festival of the Book in Charlottesville. I have a book I will be publishing in a few months. At that time I would be interested in the service we discussed. I'm sure you don't remember talking with me but perhaps my question will jog your memory. "How many people do you have working for you and who handles the program?"

Sincerely,

Ed Curry