Our new segment for 2022 is for new authors/writers and written by published authors, titled – Writing Tips. These posts will be shared with you every Wednesday. Our latest post is from author Kim Nash on the subject ‘Publicising your Book’. This post contains affiliate links.

Publicising your Book

I know there are lots of fabulous writing tips on this brilliant blog, so I thought I’d go slightly off-piste and give you a few tips for publicity for authors and how you can create hooks for your books when it comes to publicising them.

Author brings out another book, that is not a news story. So it’s all about finding a hook to make the reader sit up and want to read the story (just like your book really!)

Here are my top tips for finding a hook to be able to arrange publicity for your book.

Think about where your book is located?

Moonlight Over Muddleford Cove was based in Dorset where I spent a lot of my childhood, and loved it so much it inspired me to write a book based there. So I targeted Dorset press and talked about how lovely it was to return there as an adult and show my own child around. As well as targeting Staffordshire press, where I live.

What was the inspiration for your book?

My book Sunshine and Second Chances was based in Portugal, a place I know and love and I found places to target about this. Blogs who cover destinations such as TripFiction are great for location based fiction. It was also about four fifty year old women, so I targeted the press aimed at that market too – such as Silver Surfers.

Does your book talk about a particular topic?

Does a character have mental health problems, or a particular type of illness or even hobby. Is there a therapy dog in your book? If so, you could target mental health/health/craft/dog magazines or blogs etc and write a feature on why you wanted to include that topic in your book.

Can you fit into a National day category?

National Cake Baking Day (if you have a bakery), National Book Shop day (if you have a bookshop). Really drill down into the topics that you write about and see if they fit somewhere. Then approach those publications, blogs etc.

Research similar books and look at where those authors have been able to get coverage.

When you are ready to send a press release ensure it’s concise and factual with the most important information at the top.

Journalists are mega busy people and inundated with requests. Make it as easy as possible to see what your press release is about. Ensure the title is attention grabbing. Change it for location-based publications.

Add every single detail into the body of your email AND add a word document in case that’s their preferred format and that they can literally copy/paste your words if needed.

– Add every detail they would need without making it too wordy.
– Add a brief bio.
– Add an image and briefly say what the image is.
– Sum up the book in one sentence. IE. Sunshine and Second Chances is a heartwarming, feel-good novel about the power of friendships and creating your own kind of happy.
– Add a brief summary of reviews. IE. Early reviews say ‘‘The perfect, feel-good, life-affirming summer read,’ ‘An outstanding summer read!’ and ‘‘An absolute lush of a book, it’s just lovely, lovely, lovely!’
– Make sure people know where they can buy your book.
– Ensure links are added if online, or available retailers if offline.

I will just add that publicity does not guarantee book sales. It does, however, build awareness and recognition. Hope this is helpful!

Kim Nash is Head of Publicity at publisher Bookouture. When she’s not shouting about other people’s books, she’s writing her own. She also runs a real life book club and organises author/reader events. She lives in Staffordshire with her football mad son Ollie and her bonkers English Setter rescue dog Roni.

A holiday with old friends makes for plenty of fun in the sun!

Debs chokes on the dust as she looks forlornly at her ancient vacuum-packed summer clothes. It seems doubly cruel that losing a husband has meant gaining two dress sizes, but ever since Dishonest Dave ran off with Perfect Penny from three doors down, Debs feels like she’s been hiding away from life. But perhaps the upcoming reunion on Portugal’s scorching coast is just what she needs to restart her life?

The date has been in the diary for years and as soon as the group unite under the radiant sunshine, it’s cocktails round the pool and non-stop laughter. Now if only Debs could feel more comfortable in a swimsuit.

When Debs realises that the grin on the gorgeous landscape gardener Eduardo’s face means he’s understood every word of their chat about sex lives post-40, she’s mortified. Until she realises that Eduardo might be particularly interested in hearing more tales about Debs’ past, present, and… future?

After all, this week was supposed to be a chance to let off some steam. Can Debs get over her hang-ups long enough to do more than stammer at Eduardo’s brawny chest? And if she does, how could her life possibly be the same ever again?

A heart-warming, feel-good summer read about friendship, love and second chances. Perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Sarah Morgan and My Mamma Mia Summer.