Hi Dominique. Since I live on the West Coast, I'm late to the game and, as usual, Jane asked everything that was on the tip of my tongue. The one thing that continues to clang in my head is how you can possibly do justice to 400 books. Whether they're novels, shorts, or re-releases, they all have to be marketed and promoted. The sheer volume requires a huge amount of time and money.
It's great that you're working with your authors on how to navigate social media, but what most people don't realize is how long it takes to establish an online presence. Whenever querying authors tell me they're "going to set up a website, FB page, and blog," I tell them it's too late. Additionally, with the popularity of social media, there is a huge amount of white noise. How do your circumvent that?
Almost daily, promo opportunities are posted/provided to the authors that we arrange-- from blog hops, interviews, radio interviews, newspaper interviews, live chats, and Musa Promotional events.
This is a little unclear. Do you get those radio and newspaper interviews for your authors, or do you show them how to do it? I'm confused because you say that promo opportunities are posted to the authors. Is it more like a bulletin board that says, "KCBS is looking to fill a time slot with an author for the Ben and Jerry Show, so be sure to send in your cover letter."?
Or do radio stations contact you requesting an interview with a specific author? And does this happen on a regular basis? I'm trying to figure out whether you send TIP sheets and cover letters to radio stations, or tell authors how to do this.
For instance, we are heavily into radio, local TV, and newsprint. They know about us because we have running ads for our releases in RTIR (Radio Television Interview Report), and we send ARCs, TIP sheets, and cover letters to all the newspapers. The problem for an e-publisher is that all those venues ask for a physical book. Do you print up galleys for this purpose?
Do you advertise in RTIR (Radio Television Interview Report)? If so, how do you afford the costs for so many authors? How do you go about contacting newspapers around the country? Sending a TIP sheet and cover letter is good, but what about the follow up? That takes lots of time, and I can't imagine how you can accomplish this for such a huge number of authors.
If you're showing your authors how to navigate the radio and newspaper, then they should be aware that only the author's local newspaper, TV, and radio may bite because we've found most of these venues ignore cover letters from the authors.
Please know that my questions aren't meant to be provocative. I'm merely trying to wrap my head around how it's possible to do all the things necessary to properly promote your authors. Practicality suggests that you need to lean very heavily on your authors to do much/most of the promotion legwork. And as savvy as a lot of authors are, they don't have the experience or know-how to bring a book to the forefront. That's the publisher's job.