Post #39 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
What to do when you win a literary award for your book?
This has been an exciting couple of weeks for Matilda and for me. We told you last Friday about a few of the awards that both our collective memoir, Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Generation To” Tells Its Story, and the first book we published under our Riparian Press imprint, Dr. Greg’s Dog Dish Diet: Sensible Nutrition for Your Dog’s Health won. Well, we’ve won some more. But before I brag (just a little bit), I’d like to open the discussion to what you should be doing when your book wins.
First, of course, you need to win some honors. And for that, you need to enter the award competitions. Start by making a list of awards for which your book is eligible. There are more opportunities than you might think…some are open to every book, others open only to books published in the past year, a few are limited to books published by the small independent houses, and just a few focus on certain categories and types of books. Start with some of the smaller competitions; learn what it takes to be a winner. Hint: read last year’s winners in your category. And who knows, some day in the future you just might be competing for the National Book Award or a Pulitzer. Hey, we can (and should) all wish.
…build a marketing program around it!
If this is your first book, you may still be dreaming of the twin sisters fame and fortune that you expect will be arriving on your doorstep any day now. While anything is attainable, it’s not as simple as writing a wonderful book and then sitting back and letting your publisher and agent do the rest. Ah that it were. But those days are long, long gone, and I often wonder if they were more the thing of myth than even reality for the average writer of yore. I feel that the Internet provides us more opportunity for sales than we have lost with the decline of the big publishers.
In any case, you’re going to have to be chief cook and bottle washer to your book…if you want the big payoff. That means not sitting back and waiting for your publisher to make you a star. Now if you’ve been reading our Memoir Writing Book Business blogs, you’ve already surmised that awards are one more tool in your marketing kit. They are not the golden key that unlocks sales, but they represent something else you can leverage…and that is how the game is played.
Here are some suggestions for how to use your new award:
Celebrate! The first thing you must do is give yourself ample credit for winning. Even with all the books and ebooks published each year, as an author you’re still in rarified company. So go out to dinner. Have a glass of the bubbly. Go for a walk on the beach. Jump up and down. Do whatever makes you feel special. You’ve worked hard to write your book and to get it published. You deserve the award. Be assured, your winning an award is not a fluke.
Next, order the foil stickers for your book covers (more about this in a minute). And be sure to frame the certificate for your wall. You can stare at it while you’re writing your next book. It will give you determination to go forward…and keep writing and winning.
Five ways to put your award to work…marketing your book.
- Write a press release. Don’t miss an opportunity to get out to websites, publications and bloggers with news of your win. This is legitimate news; make the most of it. And be sure to extend your bragging rights to your Facebook Fan Page and Twitter. Now a special word of advice: If you want to get picked up for interviews and reviews, make sure that your press release is about more than you winning…make it about (and for) your audience of readers. Make it clear to talk show hosts and interviewers about how you have something to say to their audience. As we always like to say: It’s not about you!
- Show your book cover with its new sticker(s). A book cover with a couple of award-winning stickers on it has a way of catching the eye. Let’s face it, to the reading public it’s a de facto endorsement. So make the most of it. Buy a roll of stickers for the books you have on hand. Replace all the old cover shots with the new ones that show off the award stickers. And when you’re ready to reprint, incorporate the award(s) right into the cover art.
- Change the signature on your emails. By now I hope you’ve created a custom signature for yourself that appends to all your emails. Most email systems support this capability, and you should be taking advantage of this. Be sure to add that you are now an award-winning author.
- Remember, it’s always “award-winning.” From now on, always say “award-winning author” and “award-winning book.” This is absolutely not the time to be shy. In all your press releases, biographies, author blurbs, you have the right to announce your win.
- Use All Your Social Media. Send out an email to everyone on your personal email list. Urge them to send out the news to their friends. But don’t stop there. You’ve been developing your Twitter list and your Facebook presence. You’re probably on LinkedIn and have relationships there. Be sure to broadcast the announcement of your award to all your social media contacts. But don’t let the news vanish into thin air. Always add a link back to your website where you can talk more about your book and why visitors will want to purchase it.
An Excellent Example: Judy Mandel, author of Replacement Child, is a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. Within 24 hours of the announcement of her win, we had received an email from Judy asking us if we would mention her new book award on our website. Of course, we’re glad to do this. We interviewed Judy a few months ago and published a review of her book. We are not only proud of Judy’s win, but we celebrate her sense to get out to people quickly…make hay while the sun shines!
So when you win a book award, think about every one and every site that is appropriate for you and your book. Odds are, the website owner will be delighted to mention your book’s new award. And if they haven’t reviewed you before, they may well be eager to consider your award-winning book. And once you get reviewed or mentioned in a post…be sure to ask for reciprocal links.
These are our top five ways to use a new book award. Have you done something clever with your book award? Have you seen an author do something you thought was smart with her (or his) book award? if so, please add your ideas below in the Comments section.
Rosie’s Daughters and Dog Dish Diet are Finalists in the National Indie Excellence Awards
Okay, this is our little moment to crow. We’re not only proud of winning and delighted for Dr. Greg Martinez, who has won four awards for Dog Dish Diet, but we want to point out that we’re still winning awards for Rosie’s Daughters almost TWO years since the first publication. And you have a chance to do the same. But you have to get out there to win.
About the title of this blog post
So about now you may be wondering, what’s the phrase “It’s déjà vu all over again” have to do with book publishing…and who said that first anyway? Yogi Berra explained that this quote originated when he witnessed Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris repeatedly hit back-to-back home runs in the Yankees’ seasons in the early 1960s. After almost three weeks of receiving back-to-back wins for Rosie’s Daughters and Dog Dish Diet, we’re feeling as though Yogi may have been describing our winning streak. We encourage you all to go for a win, and then market it for your own advantage. Good Luck!
book awards
memoir book marketing
building a book marketing plan
book sales tactics
creating a platform for your writing
