Kellie Celia provides tips for authors to build a community and promote their work through low-cost marketing initiatives. She recommends connecting with core audiences like other writers, teachers, and bloggers. Authors should build buzz by seeding their book to influential people and considering early promotions. For book launches, authors can harness social media, blogs, and local press through ideas like Twitter promotions and blog tours. Kellie provides recommendations for free tools to help with social media, blogs, and online publicity.

1. Build a Community
Promote Your Work with Viral, Low-Cost
Marketing Initiatives
S

2. Meet Kellie
Kellie Celia: Marketing Communications Manager, Publishing
Walden Media/Walden Pond Press

3. Walden Pond Press

4. Timeline
Relationships
Buzz Building
Book Launch
Campaign

5. Know Your Audience
Your Audience
Audience
Core & Core
Peripher
Peripheral al
YA: Primarily
What This PB/MG: Teens; Teen Interest in
Gatekeepers Librarians; Adult Topic/Format
Means Crossover

6. How Readers Find
New Authors
Reader in Target
Audience
Impressions
Personal • Social Media
Recommendations • Reviews
• Bookstore/Library
• Amazon

7. Build a Community
S

8. Build a Community: Connect
with Your Core Audience
S Where to Go/How to Connect
S Other Writers
S Your Target Audience
S Teachers/librarians
S Teens
S Booksellers
S Bloggers
S Parents

9. Build Buzz
S

10. Get People to Read Your
Book…

11. “We got [The Hunger Games] into the hands of the right
people…you’re leveraging one thing to build the next.”
- Tracy van Straaten, Scholastic publicist

12. Buzz Building Begins
• Targeted Outreach
Seed Your • Approaching/Pitching
Bloggers/Tastemakers
Book
• Possible Partnerships
Consider Your
Peripheral
Audience

13. Add Early/Inexpensive
Promotions
S Early/Inexpensive Promotions
S Goodreads Giveaway
S Teaser Excerpts
S Cover/Artwork Reveals

15. And Don’t Forget…
S Track Mentions of You & Your Book
S Twitter Keywords
(Through Hootsuite/Tweetdeck)
S Google Alerts

17. Plan Your Book Launch
S

18. Plan Your Book Launch:
Some Viral Ideas
S Harness the Power of Social Media
S Twitter Promotion: Tweetstakes (can also be
don in a similar fashion on Tumblr)
S Goodreads: Giveaway, Book Lists
S Facebook: Ads, Sweepstakes, Teasers
S Harness the Power of Blogs
S Blog Hopsusing Rafflecopter
S Blog Tour
S Harness the Power of Local and Online Press

20. Plan Your Book Launch:
Some Viral Ideas
S Harness the Power of Social Media
S Twitter
S Goodreads
S Facebook
S Harness the Power of Blogs
S Blog Hops using Rafflecopter
S Blog Tour
S Harness the Power of Local and Online Press

23. Plan Your Book Launch:
Some Viral Ideas
S Harness the Power of Social Media
S Twitter Promotion
S Goodreads
S Facebook
S Harness the Power of Blogs
S Blog Hopsusing Rafflecopter
S Blog Tour
S Harness the Power of Local and Online Press

24. Book Launch and
Beyond
S

25. Helpful Tools
Twitter
Facebook
Blog
Online Publicity
For the Self E-Publisher
Other Social Networks
Helpful Articles
S

26. Tools mentioned here are free of charge
(unless otherwise noted) and are hyperlinked
to their respective websites.

27. Twitter Tools
S Twitter Management Tools: Helpful for tracking conversations, keywords, etc.
about you and your book:
S Hootsuite
S Tweetdeck
S Twitter Book Parties : Sign up to have dozens of authors tweet happy book
birthday to you the day your book is released.
S Twitter Hashtags About Children’s Books & Writing (LoreenLeedy’s Blog)
S A Writer’s Guide to Twitter (by Debbie Ohi): Best Practices Guide
S Twitter chats: A list of all Twitter chats on all topics – kid book related:
S #mglitchat– Thurs. 9pm ET
S #kidlitchat – Tues. 9pm ET
S #yalitchat – Weds. 9pm ET

28. Facebook Tools
S Facebook Ads: The tools to creating an affordable FB ad campaign
S Always base your payment on click-throughs, not impressions
S Target with keywords, rather than broad categories
S Involver: Get two free Facebook apps for your author page
S Creating Your Own Facebook Sweepstakes/Contests:
S Scribd: Good for uploading PDF excerpts/artwork
S Woobox: To upload an excerpt, pull SCRIBD file and use the “create a
custom tab” option on Woobox to upload it. Woobox can also help you
upload sweepstakes announcements and more.
S For a fee:
S Northsocial
S Wildfire

29. Blog Tools
S If You Blog:
S Blog Hops at I Am a Reader Not a Writer: Hundreds of bloggers link up
every few weeks to do a book-related giveaway around a certain theme.
Without much promotion, including your blog in a hop leads to dozens of
blog hits and much visibility for your giveaway.
S Rafflecopter: Giveaway tool – allows user to enter your blog giveaway by
liking your Facebook page, tweeting about the giveaway on Twitter, etc.
S Around the World ARC Tours: Submit your book through this free service
and each blogger passes it on to another after she finishes it.
S Google Reader: Makes it easy to read all the blogs you follow.
S Debut Author Group Blogs:
S The Lucky 13’s
S The Class of 2K13

30. Blog Tools (cont.)
S Find Kidlit/Yalit Blogs:
S Kidlitosphere Central
S Goodreads Independent Book Blogger Awards: May only be up for a little
while longer, but a great listing of over 300 kidlit/yalit blogs
S Listing of MG/YA Review Blogs on The Reading Tub
S Romance Times Network: Good resource if you have YA book with
romance elements
S Technorati: Search for blogs by specific topic
S TeenReads.com: Great spot for YA reviews
S Free Book Friday Teens : Site hosts YA book giveaways every Friday
S Book Blogger Appreciation Week
S Book Blogger Directory

31. Online Publicity Tools
S Blog Talk Radio: Scroll through these podcasts for book and topic related radio
shows.
S Local Associated Press Bureau
S Pitchrate and Haro: Two different sites that send daily emails listing journalists
who are looking for sources.
S Radio Guest List: Smaller radio talk shows with targeted audiences looking for
guests to interview
S Examiner.com: There are local Examiners in every major metropolitan area
who review books and cover a myriad of other topics.
S Meetup.com: Find local groups meeting about books and/or topics that pertain
to your book.
S Best Book Publicists on Twitter: From GalleyCat

32. Online Publicity Tools (cont.)
S 50 Free Press Release Submission Websites
S Great Kidlit Book Publicists:
S Media Masters Publicity
S Kidsbuzz
S Greg Pincus (has more of a social media focus)
S Helpful Publicity Focused Blogs:
S Publicity Hound
S Novel Publicity
S Jane Friedman

33. For E-Pub Books
S Kindle Boards – Writer’s Cafe
S eReader Daily News
S Ereader News Today
S Kindle Daily Deals
S Articles:
S The Rise of E-Reading – Pew Internet Libraries
S Blogs:
S A Writer’s Guide to Publishing

34. Other Social Networks:
S Informational Networks:
S Reddit
S Quora
S StumbleUpon
S Skype:
S Skype an Author Network
S Authors who Skype for Free with Classes and Book Clubs
S Visual Networks:
S Tumblr
S Pinterest
S YouTube
S Instagram

35. Other Social Networks (cont.)
S Writer Communities:
S Verla Kay Blue Boards: Engage with other members in the writer
community.
S Wattpad: Post excerpts of your work and build readership.
S Figment: Post excerpts of your work and build readership - this is a
particularly good network for YA authors
S Scribd: Post excerpts of your work
S Reader Communities:
S Goodreads
S Run a Goodreads Giveaway with Maximal Results - Novel Publicity
S Shelfari
S LibraryThing

36. Helpful Articles
S The Making of a Blockbuster: The behind the scenes story of the
readers and booksellers who launched The Hunger Games franchise
(Salon.com)
S How Do Books Get Discovered? A Guide for Publishers and Authors
Who Want Their Books to Find an Audience (Goodreads.com)
S The Author-Indie Bookstore Connection: Eric Luper Talks Promotion
(Shelf Talker – Publisher’s Weekly Blog)
S Connecting with Young Readers Through Social Media (Women On
Writing) – A MUST READ article for YA writers
S Publisher Simon & Schuster says Authors Should Blog and Social
Network (The Creative Penn)

37. Find Kellie Online
Facebook: www.facebook.com/waldenpondpress
Twitter: @WaldenPondPress
Goodreads: Walden Pond Press
Blog: www.waldenpondpress.blogspot.com
Find Slides on Slideshare
S