Self-Publishing 101: Part 4- How Friends Can Help @ A Grassroots Level

So you did your pre-order sales to friends and the rest of the people you’ve networked with through your blog and other social networking sites … at a discount. You’ve set up your author site through Amazon (where your book is listed for sale.) You’ve also set up book signings (see my other posts) and you’re ready to get the word out beyond your immediate touch. The next thing is to ask your FRIENDS and FANS to help you along the way.

Here’s one way:

I went to Vistaprint.com (which is a great place to design your postcards for mailing, sell sheets and other various marketing materials that will be the object of discussion for Part 5) and ordered 50 FREE rack cards that I customized with pictures of my books and a blurb:

“Thanks for your purchase. I hope you enjoy your book(s). As you may know, the publishing of these books has been done at an organic level. That means that their success depends on the grassroots involvement of fans. There are three things you can do to help.
1. If you like the book(s) please go to Amazon.com and do a review and click “like.” Look for the book by title by author Rebecca Lynn Dunning
2. Ask for the book to be brought into your local library.
and
3. Tell your friends verbally and via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.”

When you do your signings and send out the pre-order sales to friends, slip the card into the book. At signings I ask them to do a review on Amazon when I hand them their copy.

Another way to enlist the cyber community is to do a give-way contest for a signed copy of your book on your blog (you are already blogging right?)

Here is a blurb from my give-away blog post:

“Either:
1) Click “follow” for my blog AND go to Amazon and click “like” on Beetle Hunter and/or The Real-Life Princess.

OR

2) Visit Rebecca’s Facebook Page for Awen House Publishing and click “like” AND Find her on Twitter and “follow”.

************To be entered: Comment below with which number you chose…”

BY THE WAY, IF YOU HAVE FOUND THIS POSTING TO BE HELPFUL, PLEASE JOIN IN THE FUN OF CLICKING THE ABOVE LINKS! Thanks.

Afterward the contest is over and you’ve published the winner, offer each person who entered a book at discount.

What you have done is create buzz for your book while moving it up on search engine optimization.

Thanks for reading.  Please comment and pass it along.
~Rebecca

Rebecca Dunning is an award winning writer who lives in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado with her husband and three children. She not only loves to read and write but also enjoys hiking, climbing mountains 14,000 feet or higher, running, biking, traveling the world and about anything else out-of-doors. Her books include, The Real-Life Princess and Beetle Hunter.