by Lorie Lewis Ham
My first mystery novel, Murder in Four Part Harmony, came out in 2000. It was published by a small press—one of the first to do print on demand. Learning how to promote a book was an adventure. I published four more books over the next ten years, and I never stopped learning.
My first books came out before social media became a thing, though an online presence was still important. One of the first things I did was get a website—back then I had a friend who set it up for me. I also did a lot of networking in person—went to mystery conferences, joined a local chapter of Sisters in Crime, and joined Mystery Writers of America.
I started networking before I finished the first book, and that was invaluable. My agent out of a recommendation from a mystery author I got to know through networking. Having an agent only lasted for one book, but that is a whole other story. I also learned to know other authors, reviewers, and librarians through an email group called DorothyL, which still exists. I also joined a lot of email lists through Yahoo. As I continued writing and publishing, I made more contacts by starting to do book reviews on my website. Those contacts also connected me to places and people who might review my books. One contact taught me how to make my own paper ARCs and bookmarks at home.
Another thing I remember doing was buying a copy of the Writer’s Digest Market Guide. Using that, I found other publications that might review my books. One of my first book reviews came from the Midwest Book Review and I found them in that guide. I remember feeling so excited about that review! They’ve reviewed every one of my books since then, including my new book that came out at the beginning of August, One of Us.
Speaking of the new book, it came out ten years after the final book in my old series, The Final Note, which I self-published for various reasons. I spent the last eleven years publishing an online magazine called Kings River Life, and while I kept busy as an editor, publisher, and reviewer, the book-promotion world changed! When it came time to promote One of Us I felt like it was my first book all over again. I realized I knew almost nothing about book promotion in 2021, except for social media from promoting KRL.
So, what did I do?
The one thing that didn’t changed in those ten years was the importance of connections and friends within the industry. They were the ones I reached out to for help. Many of them not only provided advice and suggestions, but they also asked me do guest posts on their blogs and reviewed my new book.
Here are some things I’ve done—it is hard to say which work the best, but hey, if you get even one book sale from each thing that’s something—especially with a first book.
- Bookfunnel—invaluable! I don’t have the funds to make print ARCs, but through Bookfunnel I send out an unlimited amount of review copies and giveaway copies of ebook versions of my book. And people download it in whatever format they want. This is probably one of the best investments I made for this book. Plans start at $20 annually.
- Lots and lots of guest posts. Some were through a blog tour with Escape With Dollycas, many were with other authors on their blogs, and some were just ones I saw posting on social media the past few years of promoting KRL. The hardest part of this one was coming up with ideas. I recommend planning ahead—I will for the next book. For cozies this is free, but she does ask if you can purchase a small ad afterward, which I did to thank her for all her hard work.
- Goodreads—important! I never got involved with Goodreads; I just never felt like I had time. But as a writer, it’s important, especially a self-published author. I was surprised to find that even now, many places will not review self-published books, so getting reviews up on Goodreads and Amazon is very important. I still have a LOT to learn about Goodreads, but I know more now than I did a few months ago.
- Bookbub—growing. Bookbub is an awesome place for anyone who reads ebooks, but it also helps authors. Readers find and follow you, people recommend your books to those who follow them and review them, and it’s another place to connect. I haven’t done a lot with this one yet, but I think it’s something you grow over time. And it’s free!
- Cozy Mystery Review Crew is another resource I will reach out to again with the next book. For a tiny fee, they will get your book out to people willing to review cozies. Mine is borderline cozy but they accepted it. I have now seen several of those reviews show up on Goodreads and Amazon.
There is paid promotion on Goodreads and Bookbub, but with a budget of almost nothing, I haven’t explored those yet.
Last, there is social media, and while the value of that changes constantly, it still helps get the word out. In the past Facebook (soon to be called Meta) was where you needed to be, but unless you pay to be seen, it has a lot less value than it used to. Twitter is important, but also not as effective as it used to be. Instagram seems to be where it is at these days, but I’m still learning how to use that one. A couple of tips I learned—Linktree is vital to promotion on Instagram, and it’s free. You can’t post links on Instagram, but you can put one link in your bio—using Linktree that one link can link to all of your links. I’m also learning to use the free version of Canva to make graphics, not only important on Instagram, but also on Facebook as posts without links are seen by more people (at least at the moment).
The two big things that stayed consistent all these years are that you need a website and you must make connections. It’s possible these days to make your own website—hey, if I can do it anyone can. I use Blogger for mine. It’s free and fairly easy. Watch out for Wix and sites like that—unless it changed recently, you can’t move your website and will have to start all over. With Blogger and WordPress you can move them if you ever need to.
There’s soooo much more, but that should get you started, and if you make those connections, those people will help you learn more. My experience is all in the mystery world, but I’m sure these tips holds true with other genres as well.
I hope you consider checking out my new mystery novel, One of Us, a Tower District Mystery. Find links to some of the blog posts I did for my new book on my website—topics include unusual pets (a pet rat), location, why I write mysteries, and why I included the Mafia in my books.
Lorie Lewis Ham lives in Reedley, California, and has been writing ever since she was a child and publishing since she was thirteen. For the past eleven years, Lorie has been the editor-in-chief and publisher of Kings River Life Magazine, and she produces Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, where you can hear an excerpt of her new book One of Us.
