Writing A Novel - Promotion

When I picked the theme of "Writing A Novel" for this month's A to Z Challenge, I was thinking of the first stage of writing a novel and all that it entails, but as the month has progressed, I have started thinking more and more about the entire process. One part of the process (that I extremely far away from) that I dread is PROMOTION. While I have gotten into a rhythm with blog promotion - publish article, send to Google+, post to the RRTI Facebook page, send to Twitter and post on my tumblr - I still don't feel ready for what is necessary to promote a novel.

Why Promotion?

Here's why it is on my mind. First of all, as I posted earlier today, over at StoryDam we are going to start doing interviews of the published authors in our community. I figured, These are cool people, I don't like the idea of promotion, maybe they don't either. Let's do a shout out for them! Of course, this is ONE THOUSAND times easier for me to do for someone else than for myself.

The second reason why this is on my mind is because of a strangely wonderful phone call I had last night. A former coworker of mine, Anthony, who I have not spoken to in about five years, called me out of the blue. As we caught up on things, he told me he had just published a book! He is donating all of the proceeds to charity and he said, "I just hope it sells." I thought to myself, I have to help! He needs promotion!

How Can I Do This?

The thing is, I am no expert. I'm just someone who has been on the internet the last couple of years, learning as she goes. So what have I learned? 

The Internet Is Powerful 
One major drawback my friend Anthony has is that he is not on the Internet. Due to his own medical issues, he couldn't even type his own book. So what can he do? Well, step one is getting someone like me to read and review his book. Let the people on the Internet speak for you! (I will be reviewing his book here soon; I read it last night!) 

The Internet Isn't The Only Answer
For the last two years I had the extreme pleasure of going to BEA (BookExpo America) and I am planning on going again at the end of next month (In fact, stay tuned, because I am going to start posting stuff about this year's BEA soon). This is a place for authors. I told Anthony about it and I told him to see if he can get to the Javitz Center, even if only for one day.While this is probably the biggest of its kind, every community has some place where writers and readers congregate - find it!

Talk Is Cheap
The amazing thing about last night's phone conversation was the simplicity of it. Anthony called me because he ran into a mutual friend of ours and my name came up. He was curious about how I was doing. He was laughing when he said, "I wrote a book." He had no idea that I - the person he knew as a math teacher obsessed with numbers, patterns, shapes and all things mathy - had been online talking about books, with plans to roll out a bunch of book reviews in the month ahead. With that mere mention of his book, one that he initially felt awkward about, lead to his book's first read on goodreads!

My Final Thoughts

The fact is, as much as I dread the idea of promotion, I'm beginning to learn that it doesn't have to be complex. And I don't think it will have to thrust me too far out of my comfort zone when the time comes. It is seeming a little less daunting as I look for ways to help others. That's always the way for me, I guess it is part of my teacher-spirit. I learn through lesson planning. When teaching others, I finally understand. (Top secret inside information: that's why I picked "writing a novel" as my theme this month. I figured it would force me to dissect aspects of this journey for my blog readers that I had been ignoring for myself!).

How do you feel about promotion?

What are some promotion tips or tricks you know of?

 Do you feel more comfortable handling your own promotion, or handing it off to others?

Thanks for reading! 

__________

Just A Tiny Promo:
And just in case you don't feel like waiting around for my review of Anthony's new book, here it is: Finding a Path through Difficult Times by Anthony L. Sardella:

Everyone at some point in his or her life will experience some kind of life-changing event. Although there might not seem to be any light when faced with adversity at first, there will be better days ahead. It will take time, patience, courage, and strength to be able to find a path that will open our hearts and allow us to find peace within.