Ten tips to promote your book

Are you a San Diego author with a book to sell that's struggling?  At its January meeting, Sisters in Crime had as the evening's speaker, Andrew E. Kaufman.  Kaufman is a San Diego author who realized, once his e-book While the Savage Sleeps had been published, that he was "a small fish in a huge ocean."  That, in essence, is the world of selling books online. 

Kaufman's book, While the Savage Sleeps, was published in June.  It started out with poor sales and then went to the number one position in his genre—twice.  Here are ten tips Kaufman provided at the Sisters in Crime meeting to help the San Diego authors who were present at the meeting.

1. Be a good storyteller.  No amount of marketing will help a book that is poorly written.
2. Have a good title and cover.  Kaufman liked his title, but hired a graphic designer to redesign the cover when he realized his original cover just wasn't selling books.
3. Craft a great hook for the book.  Kaufman's is, "Two strangers.  Distance separates them.  A dark secret connects them.  A voice from the grave will draw them together."  The hook should be less than 25 words.
4. Have a description that makes readers want to buy the book, not move on to something else.
5. Market directly to readers through the various forums.  There are forums for Kindle, IPad, the Nook, etc.  This marketing needs to be done subtly not, as Kaufman says, "by shouting, HEY!  READ MY BOOK!" 
6. Get reviews and when there are good ones, have your friends mark them as "helpful."
7. Set up Google Alerts so you know who is talking about you on the web.
8. Get professionally made promotional materials like booksmarks and postcards.
9. Do interviews with reporters or bloggers who are interested in you or your book. 
10. Be persistent.  Marketing takes work and time.  Kaufman says that he spent about six hours every night working the forums and marketing his book when he first started.  Now, he's "down to 3 hours a night."

Want to learn more?  Visit the Sisters in Crime San Diego Chapter website at www.sincsd.org or Kaufman's website at www.andrewekaufman.com.