I posted this before
in another thread. I'm going to put it here, too:
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What type of "promotion" should one expect from a publisher once a book deal has been struck?
I'm going to talk about novels here, because that's what I know about.
Things vary, of course, but the minimum you should expect:
1) Review copies/advance reading copies well in advance of publication to major venues (Booklist, Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly) plus major newspapers, and any specialized magazines that deal with your subject matter (you'll work with your publisher on this -- you know your subject).
2) Ads in trade publications.
3) Listed in the catalog.
4) Talked up by the sales force.
5) Press releases to state and local newspapers (you'll work with your publisher on this, too -- they'll already have a list, you can add to it.) Press releases should have copies of the book attached. (A press release without a copy of the book is wasted paper.)
Attractive cover, carefully written back cover blurb ... those should go without saying.
TV/Radio/Newspaper ads, book signings, book tours ... they're a waste of time and money for a first novel. There are other resources a publisher can use, depending ... they vary from foiled-and-embossed covers, up through endcaps, shelf talkers, front-of-the-store placement ... depends on whether they think that the book will get enough extra sales that way to pay for the extra expense.
The single biggest reason someone buys a novel is because they read and enjoyed a previous book by the same author. The next biggest reason anyone buys a novel is because a trusted friend recommended it. All the other reasons fade into single-digit percentages.
A first novelist doesn't have that earlier novel that someone read (that's one reason selling short stories is important, even though there isn't a lot of money in them). So you have to rely on the early adopters, the adventurous folks who pull books off the shelf even if they've never heard of the author, to tell everyone in their carpool or in their bridge club, "You have to read Nameofbook!"
This is tough. But the single most important thing to do is write your second book. Make it better than the first. Then you will have all the people who read and enjoyed your first book buying it, and talking to their friends.