Sybil Baker’s debut novel, THE LIFE PLAN, tells the story of an American woman whose fight to save her marriage takes her to Thailand, where she soon finds herself fighting for her career and her reputation as well. It’s a story that grew out of Baker’s own experience as an expatriate. In 1995, she moved from Virginia to South Korea, where she lived and worked as an English teacher for 12 years. During her years abroad, she traveled extensively and to date has visited more than 30 countries, focusing primarily on Asia. In addition to her novel, her fiction and essays have appeared in such journals as Upstreet and Segue. She also teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.She lives with her husband in Chattanooga and is at work on her next novel.
What were the top 5 things you did to market your book after publication?
1. Scheduled readings at bookstores and visited local universities.
2. Released a book trailer
3. Started a blog tour
4. Updated my Web site and blog with events, guest bloggers and posts.
5. Contacted authors I knew personally and met authors who had written books with a similar audience.
What was the best thing you did before publication to prepare?
I think the best thing I did was increase my Internet presence—I started a blog on writing, teaching and travel; increased my presence on Facebook and Goodreads; and read a lot of other blogs.
What do you think had the biggest effect on your book sales?
I’m lucky that I live in a supportive, thriving arts community here in Chattanooga. Because I’ve met people in the community and through the university, I’ve had a lot of local support for my novel that I wouldn’t have in a larger city. My novel is a trade paperback and relatively cheap—if it had come out in hardback, I don’t think so many cash-strapped students would have bought it!
The next biggest effect has definitely been hosting people on my blog and appearing on other people’s blogs, like yours. It’s been such a fun way to reach out to people I wouldn’t have normally had the chance to meet. I’m doing a blog tour now with WOW-Women on Writing, and that so far has been really exciting.
How did you and your publicist develop your book promotion strategy?
We subscribed to a lot of writing- and publicity-related blogs and read them daily. Sometimes it felt I was drowning in information, and the learning curve was high, but now I feel it was worth it. From that, we decided to have as much of an Internet presence as possible and to target the local area with readings and appearances. I’m lucky that I live within two hours of Nashville, Atlanta and Knoxville, and three hours from Asheville and Birmingham, so I have a lot of possibilities.
What do you know now that you wish you had known before you began promoting your books?
I thought I was pretty prepared, but I could have been even more prepared. I wish I’d known how long it takes to line up speaking engagements, especially to organizations and universities. I waited until January to book visits for this spring but most places are booked through the fall.
Another thing I would have done was developed different e-mailing lists to inform people of events—my e-mail lists are a work in progress and incomplete because I didn’t do that beforehand.
How do you balance writing with the business side of being an author?
Because I also teach, I divide my time in chunks. Right now I’m not writing at all but have a new novel out with a few readers and am waiting for their comments. This summer, when I’m not teaching, I plan to revise and submit the new novel and begin new projects, which I’ll spend most of my time on. When school starts in the fall I have to grab the writing time when I can, especially now that I’ll still be promoting THE LIFE PLAN.
I’m very lucky to have Katie Christie doing a lot of research and publicity for me—I couldn’t have done half the promotion or marketing without her.
Any other advice for newly published authors?
With the way marketing and publicity are changing so rapidly, I’d say try everything and see what works. When you find what’s working, spend more time on that. Try not to spend a lot of money, though, unless you have it. You should definitely have a Web site and business cards. Practice good writer’s karma—be kind to your readers and other writers.
5 FAVES
Favorite item on your writing desk: I don’t have a desk, but I’d say I usually have tea or coffee beside me.
Favorite way to procrastinate: www.laineygossip.com
Favorite literary character: I don’t know if it’s “literary,” but I love Mme Precious Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith’s THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY series.
Favorite CD: Depends on the mood, but one of my all time favorites is Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?”
Favorite snack: cheese
For more about Sybil Baker and her book, visit http://www.sybilbaker.com/.
What were the top 5 things you did to market your book after publication?
1. Scheduled readings at bookstores and visited local universities.
2. Released a book trailer
3. Started a blog tour
4. Updated my Web site and blog with events, guest bloggers and posts.
5. Contacted authors I knew personally and met authors who had written books with a similar audience.
What was the best thing you did before publication to prepare?I think the best thing I did was increase my Internet presence—I started a blog on writing, teaching and travel; increased my presence on Facebook and Goodreads; and read a lot of other blogs.
What do you think had the biggest effect on your book sales?
I’m lucky that I live in a supportive, thriving arts community here in Chattanooga. Because I’ve met people in the community and through the university, I’ve had a lot of local support for my novel that I wouldn’t have in a larger city. My novel is a trade paperback and relatively cheap—if it had come out in hardback, I don’t think so many cash-strapped students would have bought it!
The next biggest effect has definitely been hosting people on my blog and appearing on other people’s blogs, like yours. It’s been such a fun way to reach out to people I wouldn’t have normally had the chance to meet. I’m doing a blog tour now with WOW-Women on Writing, and that so far has been really exciting.
How did you and your publicist develop your book promotion strategy?
We subscribed to a lot of writing- and publicity-related blogs and read them daily. Sometimes it felt I was drowning in information, and the learning curve was high, but now I feel it was worth it. From that, we decided to have as much of an Internet presence as possible and to target the local area with readings and appearances. I’m lucky that I live within two hours of Nashville, Atlanta and Knoxville, and three hours from Asheville and Birmingham, so I have a lot of possibilities.
What do you know now that you wish you had known before you began promoting your books?
I thought I was pretty prepared, but I could have been even more prepared. I wish I’d known how long it takes to line up speaking engagements, especially to organizations and universities. I waited until January to book visits for this spring but most places are booked through the fall.
Another thing I would have done was developed different e-mailing lists to inform people of events—my e-mail lists are a work in progress and incomplete because I didn’t do that beforehand.
How do you balance writing with the business side of being an author?
Because I also teach, I divide my time in chunks. Right now I’m not writing at all but have a new novel out with a few readers and am waiting for their comments. This summer, when I’m not teaching, I plan to revise and submit the new novel and begin new projects, which I’ll spend most of my time on. When school starts in the fall I have to grab the writing time when I can, especially now that I’ll still be promoting THE LIFE PLAN.
I’m very lucky to have Katie Christie doing a lot of research and publicity for me—I couldn’t have done half the promotion or marketing without her.
Any other advice for newly published authors?
With the way marketing and publicity are changing so rapidly, I’d say try everything and see what works. When you find what’s working, spend more time on that. Try not to spend a lot of money, though, unless you have it. You should definitely have a Web site and business cards. Practice good writer’s karma—be kind to your readers and other writers.
5 FAVES
Favorite item on your writing desk: I don’t have a desk, but I’d say I usually have tea or coffee beside me.
Favorite way to procrastinate: www.laineygossip.com
Favorite literary character: I don’t know if it’s “literary,” but I love Mme Precious Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith’s THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY series.
Favorite CD: Depends on the mood, but one of my all time favorites is Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?”
Favorite snack: cheese
For more about Sybil Baker and her book, visit http://www.sybilbaker.com/.
