What do you expect from your published book? What does your publisher expect from it? Perhaps more importantly, what marketing strategies do you expect from your publisher and yourself? If don’t have answers to those questions, you will after reading Publicize Your Book! by Jacqueline Deval. Deval guides you through the planning stages of a book promotion and tells you when to make your move to get what you want.
For example, she shows you the warning signs of an incompetent/overworked/disinterested in-house publicist. Even better, she tells you what to do about it. Need to know when you should hire a freelance publicist? Do you know how to hire one? It’s all in this book. One of Deval’s philosophies is to promote your book within your publishing house. Get involved early in the planning stages and meet the principal players on your publishing team. Deval firmly believes that you should develop a marketing plan and present it during the initial meetings. She spends a great deal of time on how to create a marketing plan, and the section is what makes this resource indispensable.
Some of the suggestions found in Publicize Your Book! will work better for non-fiction authors (like getting on Oprah), but there is a multitude of ideas every author can use. Deval walks you through launching print, radio, TV and Internet publicity campaigns in very easy-to-read instructions. She tells you what questions to ask to gain information you can use. There are also helpful appendices filled with resource lists and sample press materials. Small press and self-published authors will find this book extremely helpful, but if your work is with a large publishing house, Publicize Your Book! is a must-have resource. This review first appeared in EC Promotions.
