Teaming up for Greater Impact

Joining forces with other authors can make your promotion efforts more effective and enjoyable. Here are some of the reasons you might consider teaming up with other authors to promote your books.

• It’s unique. With so much social media promotion going on, it’s hard for an individual author to stand out and make an impact. But if you team up with others, it can give your promotion a unique spin, and you’re more likely to catch the attention of potential readers.

• It’s fun. Brainstorming promotion ideas with other authors is fun. It can also help you come up with new, creative ways to reach out to readers. Two or three heads are better than one! Knowing you will share the work and the benefits makes promotion more enjoyable.

• It expands your potential reading audience. When other authors help you spread the word about your books, you have a greater potential to reach new readers. If they are traditionally published their publicity and marketing team may also help promote your event, contest, post, or giveaway. When your readers see that you’re teaming up and recommending other authors’ books, they appreciate that information and it creates goodwill.

• It builds relationships and helps others. Helping others is always a good idea. It strengthens friendships, and as my Mama always said, what goes around, comes around. So give to others and help them out because it’s the kind thing to do.

Multi-Author Promotion Ideas

• Multi-Author Blogs. Teaming up with other authors to host a blog is one way authors can multiply their promotional efforts. This lightens the load for the individual author and expands each author’s reach. Some successful multi-author blogs are: Seekerville; Heroes, Heroines, and History; Inspired By Life; and Novel Rocket. Some authors have built a reputation for promoting other authors on their blogs: Lena Nelson Dooley and Trish Perry have consistently done a great job with this.

• Multi-Author Book Signings and Events. I’ve done many book signings over the years, and the most successful have always been those featuring two or more authors. It’s much easier for Author Number One to introduce customers to Author Number Two and talk about their books. Then Author One can tell about Author Two’s books. Spending the time with other authors is also a wonderful benefit. I’ve also taken part in book fairs and multi-author special events, and those were great.

• Multi-Author Contests or Giveaways. Connecting with other authors and planning a special giveaway is another idea you might try. This month I teamed up with Julie Klassen and Sarah Ladd for our Escape to England Giveaway. We used a Rafflecopter form on Sarah’s Facebook Author Page, inviting readers to sign up for our email newsletters, follow us on Twitter, and Pinterest, visit our websites and Facebook pages, and we had over 7,000 entries. That giveaway ends Nov. 30, so there’s still time to enter if you’d like. I’ve seen multi-author giveaways based on release dates, genres, publishing houses, and historical events. Creativity wins!

• Multi-Author Pinterest Boards. Some authors create Pinterest boards to promote a group of books. Love Inspired Authors, Crown Promotion Group, CAN – Christian Author Network, and Christian Indie Authors all have boards with many different authors adding pins and helping spread the word about their books.

• Multi-Author eBook Bundles. This year I’ve seen several groups of authors coming together to create eBook boxed sets or bundles of novellas or novels with a particular theme. The ladies from Seekerville have created a historical Christmas Set and a Contemporary Christmas Set, and there are some other teams of authors doing this as well.

The next time you are creating a marking and promotional plan for one of your books, don’t go it alone. Reach out to other authors whose books you enjoy and invite them to team up with you. You’ll be helping each other and building some great connections.

What kind of multi-author promotion ideas could you add to our list?

Bio: Carrie Turansky is the award-winning author of more than a dozen inspirational romance novels and novellas. Her latest releases are The Daughter of Highland Hall, The Governess of Highland Hall, and Snowflake Sweethearts.  She loves touring England, collecting teacups, and arranging flowers for special events. You can connect with Carrie at her website: www.carrieturansky.com, or on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.