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Advice for Authors

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 3:11 am
by SarkaJonae
Hi everyone,
I've been reading through some of the topics to pick up useful tips for paid promotion and unpaid promotion. I see some great ideas that would work well for community projects and fun new products/inventions. But I don't see anything that would work for authors, at least of fiction. We can't get blog support because book blogs only post reviews, interviews, giveaways, and spotlight posts about books, not Kickstarter projects. I work with book blogs and I know they won't open the door to Kickstarter projects. We can't approach the media because a new novel isn't newsworthy, unless the author is or was famous, or maybe the content is somehow controversial enough to get attention :)
It seems like even the paid promotion won't help too much because a lot of it is geared toward press releases and blogs. Except for the social media aspect. That's the only way I can see authors getting their book projects in front of readers who might want to fund the project. Does anyone have some specific advice for authors? Is there a paid service that would work for an author? I see fiction book projects getting funded, so I know it's possible :) But beyond posting on our blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts, what else can we do? Thanks in advance.

Re: Advice for Authors

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:29 pm
by sbriggman
Hi Sarka. I think it depends on how much of your book you have finished and the genre. Have you considered guest posting about fiction writing or your book genre as a way to get exposure? Here is one interview I've done of a children's author who successfully raised money on Kickstarter that might be helpful: http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/janky-pat ... ckstarter/

In general, I find it always to be a good strategy to spread knowledge about your expertise (in this case fiction writing or the industry) and when you do, you will have a chance to do a one or two sentence pitch about your latest endeavor. You can spread knowledge through blog posts, social media, in-person events, radio, Tv/Youtube, etc.

Re: Advice for Authors

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:21 pm
by SarkaJonae
Thanks for responding. I'll definitely check out the article, but I'm guessing that if it was a children's book there was some sort of benefit that the author used to get funding. Regular fiction is considered pure entertainment, even frivolous, so radio and media is out. As I said, this is a question about non-famous or unknown authors, so in-person events and blog posts are out. Social media could only be effective for friends and family if you're not a well-known author. All the authors I've spoken with only got money from friends and family, or had a pre-existing, and rather large, fan base. I don't know what the rest of us can do :(

Re: Advice for Authors

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:10 pm
by sbriggman
I am testing out this new initiative. Do you think that something like this would be helpful for getting the word out if you are on a low budget? http://www.crowdfundingpr.org/get-paire ... iche-blog/

As an author, you could write an article about the process of writing or crafting compelling copywrite that appeals to people's emotions in exchange for a link to your campaign (guest posting). Let me know your thoughts.

Re: Advice for Authors

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:21 pm
by SarkaJonae
I've been trying to find places to write guest posts, so it's funny that you should suggest this :)

Re: Advice for Authors

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 4:10 pm
by sbriggman
Cool :D Hope it works out for you. I sent out the first round of replies to inquiries yesterday.