With my blogged book edited and designed and ready for printing, the forewords and blurbs all in, and everything basically in the hands of the publisher, you might think I’m just sitting around twiddling my thumbs. Not.
I am gearing up for the busiest period in the life of my book yet. March and April represent my big pre-promotion months. I’ll be doing all the planning for the “big launch,” which happens in May. The book will finally be ready for shipping in late April, which means I’ll actually have them in my hands for the first time when I go to Southern California to speak at the end of that month. The three-to-six month period beginning May 1 serves as my window for promoting the book, with the first three months representing an opportunity to make the biggest push.
What will I be doing? Right now I’m going through the Writer’s Digest Books list of pre-release activities. These include things like:
- Creating a business card with the cover of my book on one side
- Creating a book launch event
- Introducing myself to a local independent bookseller and to local libraries
- Preparing a press release
I’m also going through the promotion plan I created in my book proposal, which included pre-publication items and post publication items. I’ve also been increasing awareness of the book and driving presales with my 4-part “Blog Your Way to a Book Deal” teleclass.
I’m also reading Dana Lynn Smith’s book How to Get Your Book Reviewed: Sell More Books with Reviews, Testimonials and Endorsements. And I’m gearing up to send out the latest PDF galley of the book to reviewers.
Plus, I’m beginning to put into place the post publication launch pieces. For instance, I am:
- Taking a blog tour course offered by John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers
. As part of this course, I’ve begun to set up my blog tour, which I hope will include 20-30 “stops” with what John calls SuperStar bloggers. This will take place in May. In June, I am planning what John calls a BlogPalooza, much like what I do during Write Nonfiction in November. I will bring in superb guest bloggers during that month to drive traffic to my blog.
- Planning a radio tour for the month of June (and possibly May).
- Developing events for an actually launch day at the end of April, which will include a teleseminars, a book giveaway, a coaching session giveaway, and some other things.
- Looking for speaking engagements during the six months after the launch of the book and, actually for a whole year after the book is published.
- Updating my websites, social networks and blogs so the book can be sold easily from there.
Additionally, Writer’s Digest has a post-publication to-do list:
- Take a signed copy to the local library.
- Contact the press for features.
- Contact local book stores wherever I go.
If this sounds like a lot of work, well…It doesn’t just sound it, it is. I’ll be honest; I’m struggling to get all of this done and to keep up with my blogs (4 of them) and my client work. Forget about getting much other writing done or working on the other book proposals my agent would like on her desk (yesterday).
How will I get it all done? I can’t keep staying up until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. I’m about to hire an intern to help, and I’m looking at spending some of my advance for a virtual assistant instead. (That might be a better use of the money than almost anything else, including some of the items on my promotion plan.)
I have a long to-do list, and I’m chunking away at it day by day. That’s the best I can do.
If any of you have launched a book and have other ideas for how to successfully get one off the ground—or to manage the time needed to do so, I’d love to hear them (and I’m sure my readers would, too). Please leave me a comment.



















Engagement. That’s what every blogger seeks—or should seek. If your blog readers comment on your posts, it means they not only read but get involved in what you write—involved enough to actually have a conversation with you. The blog stops being a one way broadcast, like a printed book, and becomes a conversation. Most bloggers would say that’s a true blog, one that engages the reader to do more than simply read what you wrote.
As a book blogger, you also want your readers to comment. Your blog represents a test marketed version of your book. Every time you publish a post, the comments your readers leave offer you valuable feedback you can use to improve your manuscript and make it more readable and marketable. Your blog readers serve as the best critique group you could ever find because they are the actual people who will buy your book. You want to engage them.
If you don’t know Liz, she also was named Top 100 Social Media & Internet Marketing Bloggers, Top 100 Most Influential Marketers of 2008 and 2009, 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Social Media, NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers and her blog is listed on Alltop Social Media and Alltop Twitterati. Liz is a social web strategist and community builder who works with businesses, universities, and individuals to help them understand how text, words, and images work in the culture of the social web. Learn more about Liz here.
As I said in my last post, Liz knows more than a thing or two both about blogging and publishing. And she knows a lot about how to get readers engaged on a blog. We have differing opinions about how comments can or should be used when blogging a book (as noted in my last post), but if anyone knows how to get readers engaged, it’s Liz. Here’s what she had to say when I asked her about getting readers to comment on blog posts.
You have 4,300+ posts on your Successful Blog and 600+ on your writing blog and several hundred on the Liz Strauss blog. Even more impressive to me, you have 94,000 comments on your blogs. How do you get that kind of engagement from your readers?
In other words, leave people with something to think about?
And that’s when you get the comments?
What are the kinds of questions you ask readers at the end of posts?
I offer a lot of information on my blogs and don’t get a lot of responses. I guess don’t always ask good questions at the end of my posts.
Many writers who are blogging books or promoting their books approach their topics as experts. They offer information. I see and read many blogs like this as well. These bloggers don’t tend to get as many reader comments. Can you discuss the different types of blogs and role comments play on these blogs?
Liz had a few more things to say about comments on blogged books in a previous post based on my BlogWorld interview with her. You can read them here.
With Liz’s last words in mind, let me ask you, my blog readers, a question: What have you done to garner comments on your blogs or blogged books? What has worked best to engage your readers?