Start before the book is finished
The single biggest predictor of a quiet launch is having nobody to tell. Promotion is not something you switch on in publication week; it is the slow work of collecting people who already want the book, months before it exists.
Three things are worth doing early, and they cost nothing but time. Write publicly about the thing your book is about — not about the book itself. Ask the readers who reply whether they want an email when it is out. Keep those addresses somewhere you own, because a mailing list of two hundred people who asked to hear from you will outperform a following of ten thousand who did not.
Write the three descriptions you will reuse
Before you contact anybody, write your book down in three lengths: one sentence, one paragraph, and one page. Every bookseller, journalist, podcast host and festival programmer will ask for one of these, usually at short notice. Having them ready is the difference between saying yes to an opportunity and missing it.
Lead with what happens in the book, not with how it made you feel to write it. A reader decides in about eight seconds, and they are deciding on the story.
Get interviewed, and get interviewed again
An interview does something an advert cannot: it lets a reader hear you think. Podcasts, literary newsletters, local radio and book blogs all reach people who are already in the habit of buying books, and an interview page keeps working long after the conversation is over.
Pitch small and specific. A show that covers your exact corner of publishing will say yes far more often than a large general one, and its listeners are more likely to buy. When you pitch, include the publication date, the one-sentence description, and one reason this show in particular should care.
We do both kinds here: a recorded interview for authors who can find an hour, and a written interview for authors who cannot. You can listen to past episodes to see what a conversation sounds like before you put your book forward.
Publish an audiobook edition
Audio is the part of publishing that is still growing, and it reaches people who will never sit down with a print book — commuters, walkers, people who work with their hands. An audiobook is a second income stream from a manuscript you have already written, and the narrated sample doubles as the best promotional clip you will ever have.
If your book is already out and sales have levelled off, this is usually the highest return of anything on this page. Here is how audiobook conversion works, step by step.
Ask for reviews, plainly
Reviews are the closest thing publishing has to a recommendation from a friend, and almost nobody leaves one unless they are asked. Ask at the end of your newsletter. Ask in the back matter of the book. Ask the people who message you to say they loved it — they are the most likely to write something and the least likely to think of it.
Never pay for reviews, and never trade them. Retailers remove them, and readers can tell.
Do events where the readers already are
A reading to four people in an empty bookshop is demoralising and sells nothing. A twenty-minute slot at an event somebody else has already filled — a book club, a festival panel, a library series, a livestreamed conversation — puts you in front of an audience that turned up on purpose.
Offer to be useful rather than to be promoted. Programmers book people who will make the hour interesting, not people who want a platform. Our upcoming events are one place to start.
Keep going after launch week
Launch week matters far less than most authors fear. Books find readers over years, and almost every book we feature sold more in its second year than its first — because the author kept talking about it long after everyone else had moved on.
Pick one promotional thing a month and do it properly: an interview, an essay, a new edition, a paperback push, an appearance. One a month for a year beats twenty in a week.
Watch out for people who are not us
Promoting a book makes you visible, and visible authors get approached by people impersonating podcasts, festivals and publicists. Before you reply to anybody claiming to represent us, check the sender against our published Editorial Outreach Team list. Our official support address is hello@themarginvoice.com.