How to Generate Buzz Around Your Novel

​Build relationships  ​

You know how they say it takes a village to raise a child? Well, publishing your book is a bit like that. It’s so important to build relationships in your creative communities and online circles so that buzz is created amongst your peers. On social media, try to reply to people or at least like their comments. Engagement makes you appear friendly and accessible, and humanising yourself on an internet platform will encourage people to engage with your work when it is published. Alternatively, connect with literary bloggers and other writers, either via DMs or via public replies and engagement on posts. It really can be a snowball effect—once you’ve got one literary blogger excited about your work, you can then access their audience and it can potentially escalate into something exciting.

Use Twitter as effectively as possible ​

There are countless ways to use Twitter to your advantage. Don’t be afraid to DM other authors asking them to read and review your upcoming book—maybe they’ll ask you to do the same and you can do a trade-off. Chances are they’re looking for promo too! Another great way to use Twitter is to find an author with a similar target readership to your own and follow all their followers. Seeing as you have common ground, they’re likely to follow back, and you can grow your following. When actually tweeting, use a tool like Hashtagify to find the most useful and efficient hashtags to use; making sure your content is reaching the right audience is a really important way to make sure buzz is being generated around your novel.

Graphic design is important ​

A good proportion of running successful social media platforms is having a keen eye for graphic design and aesthetics. Don’t forget, a good percentage of people following you are going to be creative types who appreciate the effort that goes into your work. Use a tool like Canva (the platform is extremely accessible and easy to use) to create aesthetically pleasing and coalescent stories and posts which include quotes from your upcoming novel, or excerpts of good reviews you’ve gotten. Show people you have something worth reading--and do it with style! Dedicating time to graphic design will get people interested in your brand and prove you’re willing to go that extra creative mile. 
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If you haven’t already got a blog, get a blog! ​

This is such an invaluable tool for upcoming authors. Writing interesting content on a range of literary topics and gaining a following can be crucial to generating buzz, because you have a committed audience at your disposal who you can promote directly to. Once you have a following of people who trust your recommendations, value your content and respect your brand, they’re likely to get excited at the prospect of published work. You could even use your blog to post a countdown to publication as well as teaser excerpts and a myriad of other novel-related content. This may seem obvious, but remember to stay active! Try to post regularly to keep people interested and up to date. ​
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Use all the tools at your disposal ​

We are lucky to live in a digital era which affords us so many opportunities we didn’t previously have! There is a slew of digital tools out there you can use to your advantage to create buzz for your upcoming release. Rafflecopter is a tool you can use to organise online giveaways; instead of simply distributing advanced reader copies (ARCs) to dedicated book reviewers, allocate a handful of copies to a free giveaway. Rafflecopter allows you to do this while getting entrants to participate in discussions or promote the book: whether they win a copy or not, this is getting people involved and excited for your release. Playbuzz is another tool you can use for a cover reveal campaign, which allows readers to vote between potential covers. Cover design is extremely important, and while they may say don’t judge a book by its cover, consumers certainly do. Allowing your readers to have some active participation in cover design arouses interest and excitement, and it promotes engagement. ​
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And finally, chat to the professionals (that’s us) ​

Our Marketing Advisors have a wealth of knowledge and advice on hand for you to take advantage of. We are a friendly bunch, and we’re here to help!  ​