Dear Mimi…

It’s true that with so many books to promote, publishers focus their efforts on a few key titles each season even as they do basic marketing for the others. Luckily, there’s plenty that authors can do to self-market. I dedicate 33 pages to self-marketing alone in my Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies (final revisions of which go to my publisher today; do you smell a DearEditor.com “celebration free edit giveaway” in the air?). Alas, authors can’t do it all any more than publishers can. So copy their model with your efforts: Focus on three key marketing items for your self-marketing campaign. You can grow from there later. Your three choices will depend on your particular expertise, time, resources, and goals. What’s your best medium—blogging, podcasting, appearances, social media? What are you promoting—you the Expert on Something, your book, a specific aspect of your book’s topic, your genre or literacy in general? What can you give people to earn their attention and make them spread the word for you—free books, free information, free bonus material or study guide downloads, free exposure for their books in exchange for exposure of yours? You must strategize all of this before you take any specific action or create specific materials because catch as catch can is not an effective marketing campaign. Above all, stop thinking of yourself as an Author Who Wants to Help; appoint yourself Self-Marketing Manager and drive a focused, efficient, and effective campaign that’s tailored to your strengths and abilities.

Happy writing!

The Editor