Quick Tip for Marketing Your Fiction Book

Within every fiction story is a kernel of truth … no matter how profoundly fantastical it might be. Find your novel’s kernel of non-fiction truth and use it to create newsworthy content for the media.

Where is your novel set? If it is a real place, you can talk about the location.

Do your characters have professions or life experiences that others can relate to? Is your character a disk jockey? A work-at-home mom? A drug addict? All of these are topics that can be talked about in the media and tied to your book.

Does your novel concern a broader social concern? Does it talk about drunk driving, terrorism, homelessness, living with a disability, being a single parent, or some other socially relevant topic?

Does your novel include historical information? For example, Jeam M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear was based on archeological evidence. Many horror novels are based on legends and myths. Alternate history novels and historical romances take place in a specific period of history.

To give you an idea of the direction I’m trying to point you in, I’ll give you a mini case study. Currently, I’m reading The Second Ship by Richard Phillips. The novel is set in modern day New Mexico and involves Area 51, UFO conspiracies.

Although I’m not finished reading it (and it is pretty good so far), I can see a wide range of marketing possibilities inherent in the non-fiction kernels of truth in this novel. For example:

• Is is possible that aliens have visited Earth?
• Are there mundane explanations for our rapid technological advancement?
• What are the risks vs. rewards of rapid technological advancement?
• What are NASA and other agencies and organizations doing to search for alien life?
• What is Area 51 and how is it tied to UFOs?
• What kind of research does the lab at Los Alamos, NM, conduct?
• Where to go and stay when visiting New Mexico in search of UFOs.
• Can technology expand the powers of the human mind?
• The ethics of scientific research and discovery

So what kernels of truth can you find in your fiction?

If you would like help coming up with ideas to market your book, I can help. Check out my coaching services at AskCarma.com.