by Tari Faris, @FarisTari
I have three children and I will be the first to say that raising the first has been much different than raising the third. It isn’t just because the kids are different, I am different as a parent. With my first child, I recorded every new tooth, celebrated every milestone, and called for advice often when I found myself in unknown territory. By the third, I only remember the first tooth, the biggest milestones, and rarely found myself baffled on how to handle something.
In writing, authors often refer to their book as their baby. And in many ways the parallels hold true. Especially as I look at releasing my “first child” to the world. Every milestone is huge: First contract, first round of edits, first acknowledgments page, first cover, the list goes on and on. But with this first child, I also find myself in situations when I am not quite sure what to do.
My book cover released a whole list of questions in my mind: When I got it and I loved it, what is the next step? Do I contact my publisher or agent? When can I release the cover to my fans…the world…and how do I release it for the most impact? When people want to buy it what is the method that is most helpful to me and the success of the book?
We find the answers in the same three ways we found the answers in parenting.
Ask your parents.
Okay, so my mom and dad don’t know anything about publishing but I have “parents” or mentors who have walked this road and can offer their wisdom and advice. Find writers who are ahead of you in the game and build relationships, ask questions, and learn from their wisdom of experience.
Read.
In the same way that new parents will read book after book on parenting advice, read blogs and books that talk about writing. “But they contradict each other,” you say. True. But so do parenting books but we all still see the value in them.
Dive in.
There is a certain amount of parenting you learn by just diving in a giving it a go. Don’t be afraid to try something new, you will have success and failures but, in the end, you will have a knowledge base that will help with every “book baby” that follows.
Recently, I had the opportunity to release my book cover to the world. So after applying the three tips above, this is what I did.
I gave a sneak peek image and announced I would be showing my cover to my newsletter subscribers to try to drive up my subscribers. (I got about 20 new subscribers off this)I then created a graphic to release as soon as my cover was dropped on Amazon. I used this announcement to link to the Amazon page to try and generate some preorders. (And several mentioned that they did preorder- I don’t know how many)Finally, I started using it in email signatures and blogs to further my reach.
I am sure there are other things I can do and will do as my release date grows near. But it is a start. And as I do my best to give my baby to the world, I will continue to apply the three principles and hope and pray this child thrives.
What about you? What do you in a cover reveal? What have you seen others do that you really liked?