Promoting your book is a must, but it can be very time-consuming. It is important to have in your toolkit, easy methods to bring attention to yourself and your work, in addition to the more labor-intensive efforts. Here are some of the simple, quick to orchestrate ways that I have promoted The Talking Drum and helped build my personal brand.
Signature line—On the signature of my email account, I include the following:
Lisa Braxton
essayist| short story writer | novelist
Author of the novel: The Talking Drum
www.lisabraxton.com
Anytime I send an email to anyone, they are no only reminded that I am a novelist, but they are reminded of he name of my novel and are given a link to my website to learn more about it.
Return address labels—I won a contest to receive a free copy of a book by novelist Randy Susan Meyers and when she shipped me the book, I noticed that her return address label included a cover shot of one of her books. I thought that was a great idea for self-promotion and have ordered some custom address labels with the cover of The Talking Drum for myself.
Incidental mention of the book—A few weeks ago I participated in an evening of storytelling. I told a story about how my husband and I have shopped year after year for the perfect Christmas tree. When the emcee introduced me, he made a point of mentioning that my debut novel would be coming out in a few months.
A copy of the cover on display—I took the jpeg of the cover of The Talking Drum and had it printed on glossy paper, framed it and put it on display on a small table at work, where we get a lot of foot traffic. On a fairly regular basis, someone will have seen the display and proceed to ask me about the book, which gives me the opportunity to let them know the synopsis, pub date, and how they can purchase a copy.
Sharing copies of other works—Sharing copies of anthologies which include stories I’ve written, with large influence: church pastors, club and organization presidents, popular friends. They have and continue to tell their audiences about me and The Talking Drum. At the end of last year, for example, I shared more than half a dozen copies of the anthology Remembering Christmas, which includes one of my essays, with 
individuals who can talk me up.
And since then I’ve been giving away copies of another anthology that was just published that includes one of my stories.
Real Women Write: Growing Older/Sharing Stories, Sharing Lives in Poetry and Prose from the Story Circle Network includes my essay: “A Small Gift Strikes the Right Chord.
Getting results from these “low-hanging fruit” methods of self-promotion helps build momentum for the more time-consuming and sometimes daunting task of getting promotion through other avenues.
