Marketing your book can seem like an endless round of Facebook posts, Tweets, blogs, and online ads. There's a more creative way to give your book catalog publicity, though, and you can even have fun doing it. It's called Joomag, and it's a way to create interactive magazines on any topic you like, for free. Unlike static paper magazines, your Joomag can include video, audio, links to galleries, and other interactive features.The uses for these magazines is almost endless, and can be tied in with any genre.
How to Make a Magazine
Sign up on the Joomag site and start to create your pages. It's that simple. You can upload PDF files if you already have them, or you can create new material right in their editor. Joomag provides a number of layout templates to vary the look of your pages, creating a product that looks just like a magazine from a newsstand.
Pricing
The Joomag interface is free to use, and you can create as many versions as you want without any cost to you. There are more elaborate publishing packages, mostly designed for people who want to create and sell actual magazines, but for a publicity piece the free package has all you need. It includes the editor and templates, embedding, the ability to add video, audio, and links, and a personalized URL you can send your fans where they can access your magazine.
Subject Matter With Joomag
Using Joomag for book marketing depends entirely on what you've got in your book catalog. Are you a non-fiction author writing in a specialized niche? You're probably an expert on your subject by now. Create a magazine with basic, beginning articles on your favorite topics as an entrance into your genre for those who don't know anything about it. Alternately, make detailed issues aimed at specialists, those rabid fans who know almost more than you do about your writing topics.
For fiction authors, the sky's the limit. Do you write a romance series set in a fictional town? Create the town's local magazine, including fake social events that happen in your book's settings. Thriller authors might come up with fake background files for spies, police files on your current or future murders, or information on serial killers. If you write about young adults, make an interactive diary belonging to your main character. Get creative, and make it personal.
Marketing Your Magazine
Spreading the word will be easier than you think. People will like these magazines, because they don't look like blatant advertising, and they're likely to pass them on to friends. Post them on your website or Facebook feed. Tweet the address. Give a copy away in exchange for signing up for your email list, and make additional versions a few times a year to keep fans interested and following your marketing.
Keep the Faith and May the Force Be with You!