I am extremely new to self-publishing novels. Since Book of Glads Volume 1 and Volume 2 are mainly set in Philadelphia, I’ve been dipping a toe in grassroots marketing. This includes dropping books off in Little Free Library boxes around the city, as well as boxes that are unaffiliated with Little Free Library. I believe the one in Mom’s Grocery on 11th Street is one of those. In addition, there I’m dropping copies of the book off at businesses featured in the books.
There have been plenty of ideas that I have not (yet?) pursued. For example, in City Hall’s Dilworth Park, small businesses can rent space to sale their wares. Most of it is crafts, or CBD or souvenirs or art. When The Alpha Upgrade of HD Heathers was released a year+ ago, I thought it would be interesting to look into getting one. Use it to get some local attention. Give away or sell the books at cost. The idea started with a catchy slogan for drawing people to the booth: EXPERIENCE PHILLY 200 YEARS IN THE FUTURE. It seemed cute enough.
Then there are the ad options at the bike rental stations throughout the city. Each of these station has at least one animated display offering ad space. Most of the ones I’ve seen are not being used. Just an Email address to get in touch. Unfortunately, there is no website or phone number. I say ‘unfortunately’ because each time I’ve sent an Email, I’ve received no response.
I also went around to the independent bookstores in the area and asked if I could leave some books. One of them, in Old City, called Book Trader, offered to put me in their window. I was overjoyed by that, and even printed up a slick to go with it. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I walked by periodically to see if it was up yet. It wasn’t. I thought, damn, well, I’ll give it a week more before going in there and asking where I might be able to find it. Even if they didn’t put it in the window, they were going to put it somewhere.
I’d resigned myself to that the next time I walked past, but there it was, and here it is. Super thrilling.
