Fiction Notes

2012 Random Acts of Publicity – FAQ




Coming on Thursday, September 6: WIN A MARKETING CONSULT FOR A FRIEND!
Susan Raab of Raab Associates (http://raabassociates.com/) has kindly offered 10 FREE marketing consults.
The catch? You can’t enter.
You can only enter your friend’s name. See the posting at 12:01 a.m. September 6 for full details–you’ll have 24 hours to enter.

  1. Who can participate?
    Anyone who wants to help a book get noticed by readers. This year, we are focusing on Conversations about Books, either your friend’s book or your favorite book.

  2. What do I do?
    We know the basic Acts of Publicity are to BLLuRT or Post (see below). But this year, we want to focus on Conversations about Books. What are the talking points of the book you want to feature? How can you start a conversation? Are there behind the scenes stories that make the book sound more interesting? Do different audiences require different talking points and different conversations? How do you create online conversations? How often do you start in-person conversations about a book? Let’s TALK about Talking this week.

    Basic Publicity Tasks

    • BLLuRT (http://bit.ly/RAoP2011). The basic tasks for book marketing online remain the same, BLLuRT! You may also choose to do one of these tasks, in addition to starting a conversation.
      1. B is for Blog. Blog about a book, the author or anything related.
      2. L is for Link. (http://bit.ly/RAP-Link) Link to something about the book, the author’s page, the book selling page, anything.
      3. L is for LIKE. (http://bit.ly/RAP-Like ) LIKE the book’s Facebook page, the author’s page. Or Add them to your Google+.
      4. R is for Review. (http://bit.ly/RAP-R ) Review a book. Some experts suggest that books tend to break out when they get over 25 reviews on Amazon, GoodReads or other booksites.
      5. T is for Tell or Talk. (http://bit.ly/RAP-T )Tell someone about a book. Your friend, a teacher, a librarian, anyone. Talk about the book—why did you like it? What excited you about this book? Why should I read it?
    • POST. It’s also a great week to post something about book marketing, perhaps a personal experience, a tutorial, a tips sheet or a case study of book marketing. Put the URL of your post in the Random Acts of Publicity Facebook page for others to read
  3. What books should I talk about this week?
    Your Friend’s book or your favorite book. We are focusing especially on new books or less well-known books. Focus on a great book that not many readers know about.
  4. Can Publishers participate?
    Yes, you can BLLuRT about books, too. We ask that you focus on mid-list or new authors, those who could benefit from a boost during Random Acts of Publicity week. We know it’s your job to BLLuRT about the front-list, that and much more; as an individual working in book publishing, though, we are asking that you champion a dark horse during Random Acts of Publicity Week.

Random Acts of Publicity Week was created by Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com), writing teacher and author of Prairie Storms (www.facebook.com/PrairieStorms) , as a way to help create an atmosphere of fun and collaboration in marketing books. It occurs each September, the four days following Labor Day.

Darcy Pattison

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26 responses to “2012 Random Acts of Publicity – FAQ”

  1. I’m in! What an amazing idea…love the pay it forwardness of the whole thing. :) So many deserving authors out there…what a creative way to spread the word about their work!

  21. Sheila Dalton’s novel, The Girl in the Box, Dundurn Press, Toronto, ON, is a gripping psychological story of two women galaxies apart who are thrown together by murder, loss and consequences that ensue. It’s a page-turner that takes the reader from Guatemala to Toronto to Canada’s far north. One of those stories you keep remembering for a long time.
    http://www.dundurn.com/books/girl_box