Finding ways to promote your work as an author with a book in an endless sea of new books is rather like getting caught in the swash and backwash at times. How do you ever get your book out into the wide ocean if it can’t even leave shore?
Since The Buddha’s Bone was released back in October, I’ve placed a few advertisements in KDP Sponsored ads, Ingram Advance Catalogue, Bargain Booksy and Myslexia. These have helped to get my book in front of readers, and my sales peak on days when I run promotions – though sadly I have no money tree in my garden to keep doing this on a regular basis.
Recently I decided to enter a couple of novel competitions too, in an attempt to garner more publicity for my work: the Rubery Book Award and the Bath Novel Award. I chose these two after considering the balance between payment and expected outcome: the reasonable fee for each was worth the opportunity to get my work in front of a new audience; in this case a panel of judges. For reference, I paid £44 for the Rubery Book Award and £29 for the Bath Novel Award.
What now? The longlist for the Bath Novel Award is due this month, and winners for both will be announced in July, so it’s a short wait for me. Regardless of the outcome, it was an experience worth doing as I have learned about the process involved in relation to entering future books into novel competitions. Either way, I’ll be writing another post on the topic, if you’re interested.
Leilanie Stewart 