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Netting Readers:  How to promote your electronically published romance on the internet
Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3

Part 1

How do you get readers to buy your electronically published romance?  You’ve heard of the “rule of seven”—people are so saturated with advertising nowadays that they have to see your name and the title of your book seven times to remember them.  How on earth do you get your name and title out there where a reader will see them seven times? 

 Well… it’s not quite as impossible as it sounds.  First of all, you need a webpage.  This may sound glaringly obvious, but there are a surprising number of authors who don’t have a home on the Internet.  As an e-book author, the audience you’re targeting is web-savvy readers.  You’ll use your website to highlight upcoming projects, excerpts, covers, biographical information, and all the other information your fans want to know.  If people can’t find you on the Internet easily, they may not find you at all, because people don’t want to do hours of research to learn about an unfamiliar writer.  It’s your business to make sure they can easily learn all about you. 

 You can hire someone to design your website or do it yourself.  Either way, try to ensure that the look of your website reflects what you write.  An author who writes historicals will probably have a website that looks quite different from one that writes contemporaries.  (If, like me, you write both, you’ll have fun trying to strike a happy medium.)   Avoid webhosts that use popup advertising, which annoys your readers and gives your website an amateurish look.  Don’t overload your site with graphics—a lot of readers still have slow connections and computers, and people won’t wait forever for pages to load.  Your website doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to be easily navigated and up to date.  Updates are crucial.  Whenever you have a new item of interest (your new cover, a good review, or news about your release date), update your site immediately.

 Your site should be full of useful content.  What do I mean by that?  First, don’t ramble for thousands of words about your cat or kids—this is a professional site, not a personal one.  Make absolutely certain there is a prominent link to your publisher, or wherever the reader will be able to buy your book.  What else?  Biographical information (keep it short and to the point), covers of your books, review snippets, and, of course, your excerpts.

 Ah, yes… let’s talk about excerpts.  Unless you’re brand new to e-publishing, you probably already realize that you need to have an excerpt of your book on your site.  Readers can’t thumb through your book in their local Barnes and Noble, and they aren’t likely to buy a book from someone they never heard of if they can’t at least sample the writing.  So a good excerpt, prominently located on your website, is crucial.  

 You need to check with your publisher and see how much you are permitted to post.  Most authors put up the first chapter or two of the book; erotica writers might prefer to post a love scene.   With my full-length novels, Love Remembered and All I Ever Wanted, I posted my first two chapters.  With my novella, Isn’t It Romantic?, I only posted the first chapter… I didn’t want to give away too much of the book!  

 Make absolutely certain your excerpt is perfect.  It must be exciting and draw in the reader, and furthermore there must be no grammatical errors, no spelling errors, and no formatting errors.  I’ve seen sloppily proofread excerpts on sites by major New York authors—but as e-published authors we can’t afford sloppiness.  If readers think your excerpt looks poorly written and amateurish, they are not going to buy your book, and even worse, they may judge all e-books based on your shoddy sample.  Make it perfect.

 So now you’ve got a website with an excellent, carefully proofread excerpt posted.  But it does you little good to have a website if your readers don’t know it’s there.  How can you publicize it?

 Your next step is to hunt down every romance review site you can find.  Every last one of them.   There are a great many of them, and they come and go all the time.  Some, like All About Romance and The Romance Reader, don’t review e-books.  Just forget about them.  Do not harass their reviewers, repeatedly beg them to review your book, or write nasty flaming posts on their message boards whining about the unfairness of their review policies.  (Believe it or not, some authors really do this.)  You don’t want people to remember your name but associate it with unprofessional, childish behavior.  Just accept that some sites don’t review e-books and move on to the ones that do.  And don’t bother with sites that want to charge you money for a review—there are plenty of sites out there that review for free.

 Make a list of all the free review sites you can find that review romance novels in e-format.  (Keep this list where you can find it—you’re going to use it again later.)  Look them all over carefully.  Most of them have an “author news” section.   Write up a brief press release several months in advance of your book’s release date.  (Yes, release dates in e-publishing are often tentative.  Be bold, list a release date based on your editor’s best guess, and hope your publisher will get your book out there.)   If your publisher schedules your book for release close to the date you receive the contract, which can happen with some e-pubs, go ahead and send out that press release right now.

 A press release has to be short and to the point, but it must include your subgenre (historical, contemporary, paranormal), title, publisher, and release date.  Mine read simply, “Ellen Fisher is pleased to announce that her latest historical romance, Love Remembered, will be issued by New Concepts Publishing in October, 2003.  Read an excerpt at: (my website address).”  Always, always, always list your webpage URL so that readers can go read your excerpt. 

 You need to send this info to every last website you can find which is willing to list it for free. It’s amazing how few writers take advantage of this sort of thing; my news stayed on top of About.com’s romance site for a full month.  Don’t forget professional organizations’ websites (like EPIC or your local RWA chapter) as well—most of them have a special section for sales news.

 You’ll also want to list your news on any romance-related message boards that permit promos.  Again, be careful here.  All About Romance, for example, has five message boards, and Romantic Times has ten—do not clutter up all their message boards with promos.   You will alienate their regular posters, come across as a spammer, and probably just be deleted anyway.  Confine yourself to “Author News” type message boards.

 Maintain a positive, professional attitude on boards and lists.  Remember that you’re an envoy for e-publishing as well as for your own book, and don’t make negative comments about e-publishing.  Here’s a real-life example from a message board.  The author posted about her book, giving the title but neglecting to give either her web address or the publisher’s website, so that any interested reader would have to hunt her down on Google.  She added plaintively, “I'm hoping that there really are people out there who read e-books.”  This totally unnecessary comment gave her post an air of desperation that wasn’t likely to win her readers.  Be positive!   Believe that there are people who want to know about your book—aim your comments at them and don’t worry about the rest.

 Always be polite.   One small-press author posted to several different message boards, all of which dealt with the romance genre, and prefaced the promo of his book with the statement, “I'm not a big fan of the stereotypical formula romance novel.”  Then why did he choose to post on those boards, all of which were frequented by fans of the “stereotypical formula romance novel”?  There’s absolutely no point in bothering to promote if you’re going to insult readers along the way; it won’t garner you any sales and is simply a waste of your time.

 Proofread everything you send out carefully—you will be judged on your writing, and misspellings won’t gain you readers.  Here’s another real example.  The following was posted by a small-press author to a well-known romance website board: “I'd like to introduces you to my web-site.  I am a new author with two new books due to pulish next year.”  If she can’t string two sentences together without misspellings, how are readers to believe this person can actually write an entire book?

 Get your website listed anywhere you can.  Many of those websites that specialize in romance also have a page listing authors’ webpages.  E-mail them and politely ask that they add you.  There are sites that list e-book authors’ webpages, too.  If your publisher has a website where all their authors are featured (for example, NCP has The Phoenix Nest), get listed right away.  Suggest to the other authors who write for your publisher that you all exchange links.  If you have friends who are authors, suggest the same.  The more places you’re listed, the easier you are for readers to find.

Part 2

You’ve got a website, and you’ve sent out a press release announcing the upcoming release of your book.  Now what?

The next thing to do is to get yourself on a number of romance lists.  I used Yahoogroups, which has a search function, where you can enter a phrase like “romance novels” or “historical romance” and find groups of people who like to discuss what you write.  Yahoo also has some handy features—they tell you the number of people who are in the group, and they have a little chart showing how many messages there are each month.  You want to pick groups that discuss your particular genre (general romance novels) or subgenre (there’s little point in joining a contemporary group if you write historicals exclusively).  But you also need to pick groups with a fairly large number of members (my personal minimum is about 150) and that are active.  If they don’t have a lot of messages going back and forth, then no one is really paying attention and it’s a waste of your time.  Once you join, check the messages and make sure they’re actually talking about romance most of the time.  If they’re not, unsubscribe.  You’re there to talk about romance with people who like romance.

What do you do with these groups?  First of all, you need a signature line.  It needs to go on EVERY e-mail you send out, including your replies.  You should always reply to everything using your full pen name, and beneath that, your signature line must be short and pithy.  Of course you can tell everyone about every book you’ve ever written, but most people have a mental spam filter that will block out more than three or four lines.  Your sig line should also list your website or a place where readers can buy your book.  Before Love Remembered was published, my sig line read:

Love Remembered, a colonial Virginia romance
Available October, 2003 from New Concepts Publishing
Read an excerpt at (my website address)

Once the book was published, my sig line directed them to my publisher’s website, where they could buy the book.

The important thing here is getting people to your homepage or your publisher’s site without annoying them with a lot of details.  You’re going to be active on these lists, so people will get to know you and know what you write eventually.  If you don’t think you have the patience to wade through scads of e-mails on various subjects, then limit yourself to one large group—it won’t do you the slightest bit of good to join numerous e-mail loops if you don’t participate in discussions.

Yes, this is going to take quite a bit of time.  But don’t feel that you have to respond to every last thread—pick a couple a week and respond only to those.  Delete everything else.  Even if you only post a few times a week, people will still get to know you.  That’s all you’re doing—making your name known to people, in a casual, indirect, friendly way.

You must not join an e-mail loop and immediately begin flooding them with promotional notices.  Readers will react negatively.  Make sure you join well in advance of the release date of your book.  I joined several groups and became very active in responding to posts, none of which had anything to do with my book.  (“Has anyone read the latest Julia Quinn?”  “Yes, I’m reading it now and really like it.  I especially like…”)  I never tried to work my novel into the conversation; my sig line was in every post, but otherwise I rarely mentioned my book.

Remember your mother’s old rule: “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  Don’t post to excess (you aren’t the only person on the list and it’s not all about you), and be very, very careful to always maintain a polite, nonconfrontational tone.  Don’t discuss religion or politics.  You’re there to discuss a genre you enjoy, to socialize, and to make friends.  If you’re lucky, they’ll like you well enough to buy your book.   But always remember that there are a lot of other books out there.  If someone doesn’t buy your book, it’s not personal—they just couldn’t afford all 200 new books that were available that month. 

It is okay to occasionally promote yourself (with the word PROMO in the subject line so people can delete if they don’t want to read it) as long as the list permits it.  (Some don’t.   Check the rules before you post.)  Make sure you proofread everything before you press “send”-- remember, you’re a professional writer and want your readers to be impressed by your writing skills.  But don’t promote yourself endlessly.  It’s okay to mention that you got an excellent review, and it’s acceptable to tell everyone your fabulous new cover can now be seen on your website.  It’s fine to advertise a contest, and of course it’s great to mention that your book has finally been released!

What’s next?  Reviews.   Many romance readers won’t buy a book from an unfamiliar author unless they’ve read a positive review or two, so it’s crucial that you get your book reviewed as many places as possible.  Check with your editor to see what your publisher’s policies are.  If your book is going to be hugely changed during the editing process, you don’t want to send out advance review copies, but if the changes are going to be minor and your publisher permits it, go ahead.  If the manuscript isn’t going to be changed too much, many publishers allow writers to send out an ARC, even if they don’t edit until close to the release date, as long as it’s clearly marked something along the lines of UNEDITED, UNCORRECTED ADVANCE REVIEW COPY.   

If you can’t get your manuscript out till publication date, don’t worry about it—reviews after publication will still be beneficial.  But if you can, refer to that list of romance review sites you made earlier and start contacting the editors of those sites.  Always e-mail the review site for permission prior to sending your ARC.  You want to get as many reviews as you possibly can.  Is this going to cost you an arm and a leg?  Not necessarily.  Print magazines (like Romantic Times and Affaire de Coeur) generally require a hard copy (a single-spaced, 12-point, unbound manuscript is usually acceptable), and so do some websites, but many review sites accept an electronic ARC via e-mail.  You can always skip the sites that require a hard copy if you feel it’s going to cost too much to print out your manuscript and send it —but remember, the more reviews, the more exposure. 

Make sure your ARC is perfect before you send it.  Read it through, run spellcheck, and then have a second pair of eyes look it over for errors of logic, grammar, and punctuation.  Reviews are crucially important, and you must have a professional product to impress those reviewers.  People do notice details.  In looking over reviews of e-books, I’ve occasionally seen comments such as, “This book had a good plot, but it badly needed editing.”  Don’t let your excellently plotted book get a bad review because you were sloppy. 

Try to get your ARCs out in a timely manner.  Most sites require at least sixty days; print magazines tend to require four months.  Yes, in e-publishing your book will be available for a long time, but the fact is readers want to know about your book the month it comes out.  They’ve been trained by New York to look for books in the first month of release, and if they don’t read a review until two months later, they’re less likely to go buy the book, regardless of how glowing the review is.  You need to have those reviews out there the month your book is released in order to get the maximum effect.  Conversely, you don’t want the reviews posted to the sites too early, either.  Most sites won’t post your review until your book is released (although there are exceptions, so be sure to ask).  But many will send you an advance copy of the review.  What do you do with an advance review?  Lots. 

First, excerpt the very best quotes and put them in a prominent spot on your site.  Notice I said the very best quotes.  You shouldn’t quote a review in its entirety anyway, as it is copyrighted material, but at any rate a full review is not interesting to your readers.  Use the best quotes, giving full credit beneath the quote (the reviewer’s name, the name of the website or publication, and a link to the full review when available).   For example:  “’Abby Author is a phenomenal writer!  This is a fascinating book!’- Reba Reviewer, Romance Review Website.” 

Don’t bother to quote the synopsis the reviewer gives of your book (a brief synopsis should already be on your site somewhere anyway) and for heaven’s sake, don’t quote anything the reviewer has to say that’s less than flattering!  “This book starts out a little slowly,” for example, is not something you want to advertise to readers, even if the remainder of the sentence is incredibly positive.  I’ve seen writers, even New York published ones, quote some fairly unpleasant things about their own books.  Don’t.  You are trying to win readers, and in order to do that you must convince them this is a good book.  You’re not lying-- there will be a link on your site to the full review, after all-- you’re just accentuating the positive.  But don’t quote the reviewer wildly out of context, either.  (Shortening “It’s stunning this book ever got published” to “stunning” is not acceptable!)  If it’s not a generally good review, just don’t mention it on your website.   Readers will see it on the review site, but there’s no point in calling their attention to it.

Take the best quotes and post them to your e-mail loops, if they permit them, carefully labeling them PROMO in the subject heading.  You might want to combine two or three good reviews in a promo, since you’ll probably wind up with ten or more reviews, but be sure to give appropriate credit to the reviewers and review sites.  Let your professional organizations know about your excellent reviews, too—many of them love to have you share your successes and will post them on their website.   Send the best quotes to your editor so she can list them on the publisher’s website.  You can also take the best quote about your writing and put it on the header of your website or somewhere prominent on the front page.   For example, just beneath your name: “The best romance novelist writing today!”

And how about interviews and chats?  Along with reviews, interviews are terrific free advertising.  Many of the sites that do romance reviews also do interviews.   Ask them (well in advance of your release date) if they’d like to interview you.  The worst they can say is no, and if you ask far enough ahead, they might very well say yes.  Some review sites and e-mail groups do chats, too, so ask if you can do a chat.  Chats frequently feature more than one author, and people are usually quite willing to work you in.  Always be sure to mention your website address and the title of your book in an interview or chat.  And make sure, as always, that you are polite and professional in an interview or chat—you want readers to like you!

Part 3

Before your book is published, you need to set up a newsletter.  Make your newsletter electronic—it’s much easier to get readers’ e-mail addresses than their snail mail addresses, and besides, you’ll save on postage.  Set up your first newsletter to go out a month before your release date.  You can set your newsletter to be monthly or quarterly, depending on how many books you produce a year, but you generally shouldn’t send it out any more frequently than once a month—readers can get irritated if you flood them with too much information.  (An exception would be if you have two books come out in a month.)  Remember that many readers also belong to romance lists, and they already have a lot of messages coming into their inbox.  Don’t annoy them by adding excessively to the load.

I used Yahoo Groups, which has a number of advantages—people can subscribe and unsubscribe automatically, it keeps track of your mailing list for you, and it’s free (although supported by ads, which may annoy some people).  It also provides an archive, so that new readers can go read your older newsletters if they’re interested.  There are other similar services out there—ask writer friends for their suggestions. 

I decided my first newsletter would go out September 1, a month before my release date.  I set up a Yahoo group on August 11, and imported the addresses of people who had previously asked to receive my newsletter.  That gave me a big list of twenty-three names.  Well… it was a start.  But making personal contact with readers is very important, and newsletters are one of the best ways to do that.  I put a button on my site marked “Newsletter” leading directly to my Yahoo group, so that people could click and join.  (Remember, it has to be easy, or readers won’t do it.  Don’t make them fill in a form or otherwise jump through hoops.  You’ll lose readers.)  I also sent out promos to my e-mail groups, announcing my newsletter and asking people to join, and I put a promo on an “Authors News” romance message board.  Plus I put my newsletter address into my signature line (but only temporarily, as it made my signature line a bit too long).

Never “harvest” e-mail addresses (taking addresses from websites or lists you are on) and send strangers your newsletter.  Do not send your newsletter to other authors you’ve corresponded with, or to readers who have written you, unless they have specifically asked to be included.  Make absolutely certain the people you send your newsletter to really want to be on the list.    When people write you, it’s perfectly okay to invite them to join your newsletter, but don’t put them on the list unless they request that you do so.

If possible, make your newsletter attractive so that readers look forward to receiving it.   A visual similarity to your website is a plus.  Yahoo Groups, unfortunately, forces you to use plain text.  You can use an attachment if you wish, but be aware that many readers are wary of attachments.  A pretty newsletter is nice, but don’t make your newsletter so fancy and graphic-intensive that it takes half an hour to get into people’s inboxes!

And what should your newsletter talk about?  You, of course.  The first few paragraphs of your newsletter should be about your upcoming novel.  Mention it by name (in large, bold letters), give a brief synopsis, and provide readers with a link where they can read your excerpt.  Remind them of the release date and give your publisher’s URL.  Mention a couple of good reviews you’ve received (quote very small snippets, taking the absolute best quote from each review).  Lots of authors like to provide a brief excerpt (sexy or funny ones are most memorable).  You can briefly mention other upcoming books, but remember, you are trying to sell ONE book right now.  First things first—if you can get them to buy this book, they’re much more likely to buy your next one.

And then, your main goals accomplished, you can get a little more personal.  Now is the time to be chatty.  Remember, you’re trying to make your readers feel a personal connection with you.  Talk about how you got into writing novels, or how your background contributes to your ability to write your genre (my first newsletter mentioned my BA in history and briefly discussed my college years in Williamsburg, a colonial town which appears in both my historicals).  Then you can mention your family—your kids, your spouse, even your pets.  Keep it friendly and chatty, but to the point.  (There is a big difference between being chatty and rambling endlessly.)  Start early, polish it, and read it over a number of times.  Ask yourself—is it interesting?  Will my readers learn something about me and my books?  If not, revise it as ruthlessly as you’d revise one of your romances.  And as always, check your spelling!

Group newsletters can be a good way to reach readers, too.  I joined with a number of other NCP authors to form a group newsletter, Phoenix Rising.  Before the first issue went out, it already had three times as many readers as as I’d managed to sign up for my own newsletter over the course of several months, and it continued to grow.  A group newsletter can be a terrific way to reach readers who don’t know you—fans of every author in the group join, and in the process learn about the other authors in the group.  Remember, though, that a group newsletter can complement your own newsletter, but it shouldn’t replace it.   Your individual newsletter provides personal contact with your fans—don’t skip it.

What about advertising?  Is it worth the money to advertise in print magazines, or to buy banner ads?  Tough question.  There are certain difficulties associated with advertising in print publications, not the least of which is that you have to buy the ad quite a few months in advance.  If you pay all that money for an ad in July, and the book’s release is delayed until October, you’ve pretty much wasted your advertising dollars.  This can happen fairly easily in e-publishing, where release dates tend to be fluid.  For this reason many e-authors don’t advertise in Romantic Times or other magazines until their book is released.

Romantic Times is the best known romance review magazine, and a very compelling reason to buy an RT ad is to get a review.  Under RT’s current review policies, as an e-published author you probably won’t get a review in Romantic Times unless you purchase an ad.  If you really want that review, that might be enough reason for you to justify buying an ad.  But does an ad in RT guarantee better sales?  I know of one author who bought an RT ad and sold fewer than one hundred copies of her book, total.  Considering the smallest ad you can get in RT costs almost four hundred dollars, it may not be worth it.  Frequently, however, groups of authors buy ads together, lowering the cost significantly, and this is an excellent option to explore.

Banner ads are a different problem.  Lots of readers use Webwasher or similar software that removes ads, and those that don’t tend to scroll past ads quickly.  But some readers do like to look at them, so they will get you some exposure.  They probably won’t get you a lot of direct sales, however.  I bought one ad that let me see the statistics—after 2000 people had viewed the ad, only 15 had actually clicked on it.  That meant less than one percent of people who saw the ad went directly to my publisher’s website, and fewer still probably actually bought the book. 

However, remember that your goal is to make your name known.  A reader may not think about buying your book until she’s seen two or three ads featuring your book, several reviews of your books, and a few sightings of your signature line on lists she frequents.  A banner ad helps make your name familiar to readers.  Bearing all this in mind, I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of money on banner ads.  Happily, most of them are fairly inexpensive, and it’s a small investment that may pay off. 

Other small ways in which you can advertise your book?  Print up flyers on fancy paper, identifying yourself as a local writer, and place them in your local libraries and used book stores (get permission first).  List your website and invite readers to come check out your excerpt.  Print up some business cards with your name, website, and e-mail address and hand them out to anyone who asks about your writing.  You don’t have to have them done professionally—you can get cheap, attractive cards at your local office supply store and run them through your laser printer.  Make bookmarks on your laser printer or have them made.  Yes, bookmarks may seem silly, since you’re promoting an e-book, but remember that romance readers are avid readers, and even the ones that love e-books read print books as well.  Anything that gets your name in front of readers may garner you a sale once the book is released.

So you’ve promoted in advance for months, set up a newsletter, bought advertising, and your book has at long last been released.  What do you do now?

Well, a lot of your work has already been done.  Reviews of your book are popping up all over the Internet like daisies, two or three interviews have been posted, and any advertising you bought in advance will appear as well.  But you’ve still got some work to do.  You need to let everyone know your book is available—now! 

Your first step, naturally, is to send out a newsletter.  Make it short and sweet—this isn’t the time to ramble on about all your works in progress.  You can do that next month.  This is a special announcement newsletter which focuses solely on the release of your newest book.  Be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to give the URL where the book can be bought.  Not just your publisher’s URL, but the exact page where the reader can buy the book.  And mention any advantage the reader may gain by buying the book right now.  For example, NCP gives a 20% discount on new releases.  If your publisher does something similar (discounts, free shipping, or so forth), be sure to mention it.  You want those readers to buy your book today.  If they put it off till tomorrow, they may not buy it at all.

Now go back to your list of romance review sites (you are, of course, keeping that list where you can find it easily, right?).  Remember the press release you sent out several months in advance of your book’s release date?  Do a new one.  Mine read, “Ellen Fisher is pleased to announce that her historical romance, LOVE REMEMBERED, is now available from New Concepts Publishing.”  If possible, give a snippet of your best quote from that particular site’s review (make it very short, like “The best romance ever!”).  Be certain—absolutely certain!-- to give the URL where the book can be purchased.  Send these releases out to every last site on your list, and post it on every relevant Author’s News board you can find.  (Again, don’t flood inappropriate boards with posts.  Pick one board per site, please, and only post once.)

Send promos out to your e-mail groups, announcing the release of your new book.  Only post one promo announcing your book’s release per group.  Although it’s okay to post the same information to all your groups, you shouldn’t do it too often… frequent cross-posted messages annoy readers, many of whom are on lots of groups and don’t want to see twenty posts from the same author every day.  It may be tempting to inundate your groups with daily reminders, but don’t do it… you’ll alienate more readers than you’ll gain.

Send your news to your professional organization.  Again, be certain to always give that all-important URL.  Readers are not going to hunt for your book; you have to make it easy for them.  Make certain you get the news out to everyone—your book is available!  Get the info up on the front page of your website, too.  Make sure you have a prominent link leading straight to the page where readers can buy your book.  Not just to your publisher’s home page, but to the page that features YOUR BOOK.

If you follow all these steps, will your e-book sell well?  Not necessarily.  A book’s success depends on a lot of factors, not all of which are under your control—the cover, for example, is very important, and unless you’re an artist as well as an author, your control over that factor is extremely limited.  Also, you need to bear in mind that some subgenres of e-romance sell better than others—an erotic futuristic is likely to outsell a barely-warm historical.