Whether you self-publish your book or get published traditionally, one of the hardest challenges you will face is getting your work to the attention of potential customers. The "selfies' phenomenon--people taking their own pictures and posting them everywhere online--has been much in the news lately. Here's a way you can take advantage of it.
WHAT’S THE IDEA?
People’s desire to take selfies isn’t going away any time soon. Invite your followers to take a picture of themselves with your book and email it to you.
Award prizes for most unusual facial expression, most unusual location, best selfie with pet and book. The more categories you come up with, the more winners. The more winners the better!
Make the prizes downloadable so it doesn’t cost you anything to send them. For instance, each person could get a pdf of a certificate of their win, plus wallpaper for their computer, a mini-poster for them to print out, or an exclusive short-short story featuring some of the characters in your book (maybe a couple of the minor characters).
Of course cash always motivates people, so consider also having money awards for the top three. It doesn’t have to be a lot—£10, £25 and £50 or $25, $50 and $75 would be sufficient to drive entries.
WHY IT WORKS
The thing people find most interesting is…themselves. This contest capitalizes on that.
WHERE TO PUBLICIZE IT:
Publicize your contests on your web site and blog, social media, your YouTube channel and via free press releases. Also send information to websites that cater to amateur photographers.
BONUS IDEA
Get a local coffee shop to let you put all the winners on a wall for a few days and get your local newspaper to write about it.
For inspiration on how else to market your book cheaply and creatively, get a copy of my book, Do Something Different, published by Virgin Books and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.
