3 Great Tips from our Book Marketing Experts

Over the past year, we’ve been very excited to work with women’s fiction author Jennifer Ammoscato and her hilarious chick lit debut, Dear Internet: It’s Me, Avery. We knew that this relatable and laugh-out-loud-funny novel would click with reviewers, especially due to its Internet-specific theme, and wanted to ensure that it received all of the online attention it deserved!

Our goal was to arrange features and glowing reviews on high profile review blogs, such as Chicklit Club, which would reach Jen’s target audience. Here are 3 successful methods we used to ensure this book did not go unnoticed:

1) Target Your Specific Audience

We knew that Dear Internet: It’s Me, Avery had a specific audience: those who enjoy humorous, romantic reads such as Bridget Jones’ Diary. Some call it chick lit, others women’s fiction, but we called it opportunity! Instead of contacting every review blog out there, we concentrated on the ones that featured other books in the genre. These sites are where the established fans go to find the next big thing, and we knew the book would be up the alleys of the reviewers, as well! For example, review blog Books, Chocolate and Wine featured everything we knew our readers would love.

Book Marketing Tip: Determine your target audience, and focus your attention on reaching them by procuring features on the outlets where they are likely to frequent.

2) Have Something To Offer Reviewers

Large review blogs receive countless submissions and pitches daily, so we knew we would have to offer some exclusive content in order to pique their interest in Dear Internet: It’s Me, Avery. When reviewer Karen Doctor highlighted the book on her “Killer Fixin’s” feature, we provided her with a hilarious excerpt that worked with the theme of food, and one of author Jen’s all-time favourite recipes. In addition, Jen offered some fun, branded merchandise to be won in a giveaway!

Interviews, such as the one Jen did for the Bookaholic Confessions review blog, and unique guest posts, like this hypothetical dream-cast meeting for Hello Chick Lit, are sure to grab the attention of reviewers!

Book Marketing Tip: Have a list of exclusive content to offer your top-tier reviewers, such as excerpts, guest posts, merchandise for giveaways, and author interviews.

3) Participate In A Blog Tour

Blog tours are akin to traditional book tours, except that instead of travelling to different locations, all of the stops an author makes are virtual as they “travel” from blog to blog. Jen’s blog tour was scheduled for the days leading up to and immediately following the release of Dear Internet: It’s Me, Avery, in order to draw attention to it at the ideal time.

Different websites on a blog tour will be interested in different types of content. For example, Chick Lit Plus posted a review, while Jersey Girl Book Reviews was interested in a review, guest post, and special excerpt. Be sure to plan your blog tour well in advance, in order to give the reviewers enough time to read and review, and yourself enough time to answer interview questions and prepare your guest posts!

Book Marketing Tip: Reach out to review sites that you know participate in blog tours well in advance, in order to secure dates that coincide with your book’s release.