Is it good or bad to promote creatively?

[superupaman]

I'm curious about how (and where) do other writers promote their books and if some of us experiment with creative ways of doing it. And if it is a good idea or not.

I am working on my collection of short stories, which I will release online for free. And I've been thinking about ways to promote it.

Facebook ads and such stuff is fine, I am even working on a comics, and will possibly do give aways. But then I am also an artist, so that's all I can think of for now.
I can understand that comics have their own separate readership and that might not translate well when it comes to short story readers, but it's part of the plan so I'm not super concerned about it. However, that's why I am asking this question; had I not planned it, it would be a bad idea to promote this way. I guess.

Have you tried creative experiments when it comes to promotion, and did it work?

 

[Vaz]

I'm not published but in terms of promotion releasing your short stories to promote your work is never a bad idea. In terms of where to release them on your blog/website is one option, Wattpad is another decent platform to show off what you can do and gain some interest.

V

 

[Dave Barsby]

I don't see a simultaneous book / comic release as a bad thing. It's different and the two may not cross over much, but so what? If 1 in 100 read the comic then hunt down the book, that's one fan who may tell their prose-loving friends about the book, and vice versa. The only really bad forms of promotion would be either where it costs you a silly amount (don't book that primetime TV ad just yet), something offensive (so don't called the book **** Off Comics or the comic **** Off Books) or simply of poor quality (and bang goes my idea of plastering hand-scrawled posters saying "my books out, now" on lampposts).

 

[Gawian]

Do not get the front cover of your book tattooed on your chest and back and run naked through the town
Trust me... it does not work.

OK, but seriously,

I've heard of a number of people having great success using Social Media over any other form of advertising. I was quite surprised because usually all Social Media is good for is crying over boat names, or dead gorillas, or whatever else is achieving its 5 mins of fame.

But Twitter and Tumblr are apparently quite good for getting noticed.

Like setting up a Tumblr account, or just general blog, and advertising your comics on there, with maybe the first 1 or 2 pages available to read on the blog, but for the rest, putting a link to where people can buy it.

 

[Dan Jones]

Do not get the front cover of your book tattooed on your chest and back and run naked through the town

I did this for my non-fiction book "A Natural History of Elephants." Didn't go down well.

Ahem.

To answer the question, yes it's a good idea to promote, and IMO it's doubly important to be creative about the way you promote and market. The majority of people will use certain routes (social media etc) in a certain way - so how will you use them differently? Or use a different path altogether? It seems like you have some good ideas; just remember that marketing costs time and effort, and good PR costs hard cash. How you approach and blend the two will go some way to determining how successful your work will be. But I'd wholeheartedly advocate an innovative approach.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I just spotted this, courtesy @Susan Boulton .

 

[SpacePixie]

I guess it depends on how creative it is, and if you target the audience just right. Have you tried making up postcards with your artwork and website to distribute at community colleges or independent coffee shops? You could check out indie bookstores, comic book shops, or gaming hangouts and ask if you can put up posters or postcards. Or you could post your link in various facebook groups. I think the goal is to find your audience and market wherever they spend time, whether in person or online. Once you find your audience, then you can get creative. Use your artwork to your best advantage. Pictures are a great way to capture attention.

 

[Overread]

A few more thoughts;

1) Constancy - any long term advertising or marketing such as using twitter or a blog must be constant. You must have regular updates and expect the early days to be very low in volume; but you have to nurture and grow things. If it turns out dead or you don't have the time then kill it off formally (ideally with a link to a current website or other web presence that you do keep up to date with).
A dead or abandoned blog or twitter gives you no gain and can be detrimental as people think you've given up.

2) Pre-release - any advertising takes time to gain traction and thus ideally you want to start BEFORE you launch. You've clearly already been thinking of this with releasing short stories earlier. This is all about building up interest pre-launch so that when you do launch you've got a built in number of people already eager to purchase.

3) Different markets can be very separate; just look at how many on Chrons regularly pay attention to the comic section compared to the writing or reading sections. However different markets can mean getting into untapped potential; just don't expect it to be a wildfire but more a smaller niche.

4) Don't forget local and in person initiatives. A signing or event at a local book store or attending a convention. These are ways you can get more attention and keep building up that core of eager readers.

5) Pre-release give away/competition/earlybird readers - another way to gain attention. However this can backfire as it all depends on quality and the reviews you get and on if you get any. Note any semblance of "paid for reviews" or "free copies for good reviews" etc... is bad. Reviews must be honest and without accusation of bribery.
That said net yourself a block of positive reviews on a big side like GoodReads or Amazon and that will help a lot.

 

[superupaman]

Thank you everyone for the incredible amount of information! This is awesome! I'm definitely making notes.

One thing, I am kind of skipping the comics idea for now. Turned out I am not equipped to do long, time-consuming digital artwork. As after two days (one page) worth of work left me with wrist pain. So, yeah. I will, however, still do small promotional drawings.

Also, a segue: I am not sure if other writers do this, but I know many artists do---I have plans to do a Patreon campaign for the short stories, as I will be releasing them for free, along with free paintings, while I will work on the novel in the background. So it makes sense to me to do that.

In case you don't know, Patreon is a crowdfunding site for creators who are creating on a regular basis. Check it out, this is a great time to be on Patreon, I've seen amazing things happen there, in the art side.

As a writer, though, I have a lot to learn, and I think short stories will help. But yes, the novel will take a longer time, but I think it is better to be active and visible that way.
And by the time the novel is done, I will hopefully have a readership, that is if I do it right.

So, there's that. If anyone else wants to try this model, I can say if you're doing all the things that's advised in this thread for marketing, and apply that to your Patreon, you can do good. And if someone's doing it already, I'd like to know how's it working for you.




Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Dave]

I did this for my non-fiction book "A Natural History of Elephants." Didn't go down well.

You need to prove this next time we meet.