What are the best ways to market your book?

[shushubag]

I know you want to pimp the hell out of your book when you get it to print but what are some options to get it out to a possible audience. Obviously there's the con circuit but what else?

This is for anybody and everybody to answer.So go buck wild.

[Artboycat]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to market my book... it seems that a lot of people are going into the web comic field and then collecting those comics into a trade or series which they can sell on the web if they generate enough web comic fans...I haven't tried anything on that level yet but I'm considering it...

[Lee Nordling]

Target comic shop owners; they're the ones who actually decide how many of your books to buy in this non-returnable market.

--Lee

[maverick]

Take out a full page ad in Diamond's Previews catalog.

Banner ads on high-traffic places such as newsarama.

Press releases.

[T.J. May]

Originally Posted by maverick

Take out a full page ad in Diamond's Previews catalog.

Banner ads on high-traffic places such as newsarama.

Press releases.

DO NOT BUY AN AD in previews unless you have oddles of money too burn. You'd be better off printing an extra run of your comic with a huge SAMPLE stamped on it. Have diamond, or you yourself, send it out to all the comic shops you can.

An ad in previews is far to expensive for the kind of numbers you are likely to do. You'll never recoup it.

That said. At this point I'll never print anything less than a GN again. The market for the smaller issues is too small and not profitable. I'd use the internet to create a following. Maybe collect every 22-pages of story as a POD. But I wouldn't go to mass market until I had a GN of 120+ pages.

I don't have time to chime in more. But feel free to PM me if you want the skinny on what worked and what didn't for my projects.

[D.J. Coffman]

You could sell your book direct to your fans... promote your comic by running a daily comic strip, or become transparent with your work online so people follow what you're doing.

[Jason Arthur]

Originally Posted by T.J. May

You'd be better off printing an extra run of your comic with a huge SAMPLE stamped on it. Have diamond, or you yourself, send it out to all the comic shops you can.

Does Diamond offer that as a service? Anyone know?

If so, do they charge for it (I would imagine they do)?

thanks,

-- J

[Wayne Drake]

I completely suck at selling my book. But some ideas worth looking into are

-Post in online free, act-i-vate style
-Print it after it wraps online.
-Have a launch party and/or get table space at a Con that's about comics, that means no wizard worlds or comic-con.
-Mail review copies to comic review websites and/or pop culture sites relating to what's in your book. ie, horror, space.

also; if your indie, i suggest making graphic novels. It's tough to have a single if you're indie, and graphic novels can have a permanent shelf life.

[shushubag]

Originally Posted by D.J. Coffman

You could sell your book direct to your fans... promote your comic by running a daily comic strip, or become transparent with your work online so people follow what you're doing.

I always thought that was a great idea. I just lack the computer skills and patience to put together a strong enough website for that.

[jas]

Serialise on a site.
Print and sell it from the site but then send a hundred or so to reviewers and publishers and distributors and try and arouse some interest in a larger second print run. That's my thinking.

[JAQ]

Originally Posted by JasonArthur

Does Diamond offer that as a service? Anyone know?
If so, do they charge for it (I would imagine they do)?

Diamond will do just about anything if you give them enough money for it. I don't know if that specific service is on their rate card, but they do offer various marketing services to publishers, for a fee. See their web site.

[MrGranger]

Originally Posted by JasonArthur

Does Diamond offer that as a service? Anyone know?

If so, do they charge for it (I would imagine they do)?

Yes....they will do a target freebie or to all their retailers. It does cost something like .25-.40 per book, plus the books. Actual costs will vary depending on when, what you do.

Shawn