A week from Thursday, on August 19, I’ll participate in the Writers’ League of Texas’ monthly panel on marketing topics. We’ll be discussing the theme, “Building Your PR Team,” so in preparation I figure it’s time I start asking myself:
“Uh, Chris — do you even have a PR team?”
Sure I do. For years, I’ve employed the firm of Mee, Mishelf, and Aye to help me get the word out about me and my books. I figure that’s the same team that most writers use, and so I expect that I’ll spend some time discussing which tools and approaches have worked out the best for us.
Thinking out loud here, those tools and approaches have included:
Networking through groups such as the Writers’ League of Texas (obviously) and the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Posts and comments on this here blog and others My website My Bartography Express email newsletter, which I produce via Constant Contact In-person appearances at conferences, in both official and unofficial capacities Collaboration with my publishers’ marketing and publicity staffs Business cards, post cards, and bookmarks Old-fashioned hard-copy correspondence with folks I think would be interested in knowing about me and my books My books themselves, which it wouldn’t do me any good to publicize if I hadn’t put sufficient time and care into creating in the first place
I’ll be giving all of these a good ponder over the next week and a half. Which have had the biggest impact — and how do you even measure that? Which have not been a good use of time, effort, or money? Which might not be as effective as they seem, and which may have done more for me than I’ve realized?
If you, dear Bartography reader, have any questions or insights into these PR tools and approaches or others I’ve failed to mention, I’d love to hear them. I’d be most grateful, in fact. And I bet attendees of this month’s panel will be especially glad that I got some help from beyond the good people at Mee, Mishelf, and Aye.
You might highlight your great relationship with BookPeople. Independent booksellers are often a godsend to authors, especially their own local authors, and you’ve had some terrific events at the store.
That’s an excellent point, Cyn. And in general, I think it’s good for authors to ask themselves, “Who wants my book to succeed?” Certainly, booksellers do, so they’re definitely good folks to set out to reach through one’s authorly marketing efforts.