by Patricia Bradley, @PTBradley1
What do you do when you have a book releasing during a pandemic? Unless your name is Stephen King, or David Baldacci, or Dean Koontz…you pray. A lot. It’s hard to make your book stand out among the hundreds of thousands of books that release each year, but even harder during a pandemic.
This is what I face today as Standoff, Natchez Trace Park Rangers, Book 1 releases. But first let me say that my sales are not in my hands. Your sales aren’t in your hands, either. They are in God’s. That has been my philosophy from Day One of my writing career. If He chooses, He can make a book a NYC Best Seller. Or not.
That doesn’t mean I don’t do anything to help my sales. I just don’t fret about it. My first book released the day of my mother’s funeral. That was one time I didn’t do one thing around the time of the release other than a few blog posts that I had written before my mother became ill. The book still released, and to-date, it has over eleven hundred 4.5 starred reviews.
There are things you can do that help your release. Over on The Write Conversation, Karen Whiting has quite a few good tips on marketing. Read them here. And here are a few suggestions from me.
- Blog posts.
- Radio interviews.
- Podcasts.
- Facebook videos.
- Form a street team
- Develop a social media presence – but that needs to be done well in advance of the release.
I’m sure some of these tips are not what you want to hear. Almost no one wants to do a Facebook Live of themselves talking about their book, but how about a short video reading your opening? You don’t have to have a fancy camera—your phone camera will do just fine.
You don’t have to do it live, either. I shudder to think about doing that. There is much more control in taping yourself, and if you have the know-how, editing the film.
If you don’t have the know-how, guess what? There are hundreds if not thousands of videos on YouTube that will show you how to edit your movies…and often the video editing apps are already on your computer. I use iMovie and Quicktime to edit mine, and while I’m far from an expert, I am getting better. People don’t expect an amateur to be perfect.
I’m discovering that making little clips can be fun. If you want to see one I’ve done, it’s at Family Fiction. One tip—write out a script and learn it unless you’re really good at editing. ☺
How about you? What tips would you give someone who is releasing a book now?
Standoff (Natchez Trace Park Rangers Book #1)
The Natchez Trace National Parkway stretches 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. It’s the perfect road for a relaxed pleasure drive. Unfortunately for park ranger Luke Fereday, lately it’s being used to move drugs. Sent to Natchez to infiltrate the organization at the center of the drug ring, Luke arrives too late to a stakeout and discovers the body of his friend, park ranger John Danvers.
John’s daughter Brooke is determined to investigate her father’s murder, but things are more complicated than they first appear, and Brooke soon finds herself the target of a killer who will do anything to silence her. Luke will have his hands full keeping her safe. But who’s going to keep him safe when he realizes he’s falling–hard–for the daughter of the man he failed to save?
Winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense and a 2018 Carol finalist, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy. Her romantic suspense books include the Logan Point series and the Memphis Cold Case Novels. She also has written sweet romances for Harlequin Heartwarming available as e-books.