Marketing Anthologies: more authors = more exposure?

A few months ago a reader asked me about marketing for an anthology. As it happens, I was actually part of an anthology last year, RICH FABRIC. Though we didn't do a ton of marketing for the project, I did learn a few tips. Here are five ideas for getting the word out about an Anthology.

Shameless self promotion at its finest

1. Even though each author brings their own platform to the project, you'll still need to find your core audience. Who reads anthologies? Are you targeting readers of a certain genre or subject matter? Is there a non-fiction audience for your fiction anthology or vice versa? Before you start your marketing efforts you'll need to decide exactly who your audience is. And don't forget your own audience. Even if this is outside what you normally give readers, your fans will be excited about something you're excited about.

2. Divide and conquer. With more authors, you need to recruit everyone to participate in the marketing, not just those who are organizing it. Make sure the efforts are consistent. Everyone might select a different section to showcase from their own contribution, but make sure all the rest of the information being used in marketing is the same. One hashtag, one cover image, one blurb, one banner ad, etc.

3. Anthologies have shorter pieces that are great for magazines and newspapers. As a group, decide on one piece in the anthology to showcase and use that to try to get additional exposure. This is one of those times when everyone needs to be in agreement. While it may be difficult to put egos aside, submitting everything separately is a quick way to end up with no exposure.

4. Consider planning some joint events. If more than one author lives in a somewhat close proximity, consider hosting a group event such as a workshop or reading. You can talk about collaboration, the process of an anthology, or themes in your project. And don't forget to cross promote. With an anthology, you almost have a built in blog tour, but remember to branch out as well.

5. Would your project work well for a charity? Anthologies are perfect for charity work. As a group, determine a percentage of sales to donate to a charity that means something to all of you or has a tie in to the theme or subject of your book. Put this information in your marketing packet and ask the charity to help you in promoting the book.

These are just a few ideas, but the sky's the limit. The main point to keep in mind with promoting a group project is to keep everyone in the loop with what efforts are being made (and how they can help) and staying consistent in how everyone is marketing the anthology. This may mean one person becomes the lead to keep things organized, but don't fall into the trap of letting the organizer carry all the load. Take advantage of how many of you are involved and keep each other accountable in spreading the word. After all, you wrote a book together and that was the hard part!