An Indie Author’s Marketing Plan

I’m terrible at marketing. I think it boils down to the fact that I don’t like intruding.

That being said, I still have to promote my upcoming release, The Beginning of Forever. So I’m tossing around some ideas.

Here’s what I have:

***Paid Services***

Schedule a Blog Tour: I’ve found a tour site that I believe caters to my genre and will be contacting them shortly to set up a tour. I’ve used this method before and wasn’t very happy with the results, but the fault was my own. I didn’t do my research. When paying for a blog tour, authors should read the blogs of the participating hosts. If the majority of the blogs focus on YA and you write Erotica, then it’s not a good match. Lesson learned.

Giveaways: My first giveaway is scheduled right here on the Vallory V blog during my September Hero Worship Week. I came up with Hero Worship Week last year and it was a lot of fun so I’m incorporating a giveaway with it this year. There will be three prizes all having a connection to Amber and Kevin’s story. I’ll also do one at the end of the year.

Facebook Party: I had one of these for Cheers and it was hilarious. My family and friends participated and made me laugh so hard. And my brother was asked to model for a romance cover. Thankfully, he works for the school district and couldn’t do it. I couldn’t have dealt with him if his photo was up on Amazon.  Don’t know that I got any sales from it but awareness was definitely created. I may do this later in the year around the holidays.

YouTube: Again sales, not so sure, but awareness! I’m busily working on a video to introduce with the book’s release.

***Free Stuff***

Tweet Schedule: I’ll be tweeting from September 6th to the end of year about The Beginning of Forever. If you follow me on Twitter, know that these messages are on a loop!

Forum Posting: Same as above!

Email Signature: Once I have a live link, I’ll add the book to my email signature.

Press Release: I’m in the process of creating a press release and will send to my local newspaper as well as any digital outlets I can find such as Yahoo! and Examiner.com

Update the Blog and Facebook Page: Have to change the headers and add photos.

Ask for Help!: I’m also compiling a list of authors who have appeared on this site and asking them if I can appear on theirs to promote my new release. Eek! This is goes back to my intrusion phobia, but I’ll do it!

It’s pretty skimpy and if anyone wants to share other ideas, I’m listening!