Reaching out

I posted a while back about the Halfway to Hell business cards I’d had printed. The cards are double-sided: I have the name of the book on the front, and details of where to buy it and the Facebook page on the reverse.

The cards are a nice, compact way of letting people know that the book is available, and where they can find out more about it. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been asking if I can leave a few in places people like to read or browse books: coffee shops, charity shops, libraries. Usually, people are happy to take a few for the counter, which is great.

They’re not just advertising though, the Halfway to Hell cards also make an attractive bookmark.

With that in mind, I’ve been helpfully inserting them between the pages of the bestselling thrillers in my local branches of Waterstones, WH Smith, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda etc.

Basically, it’s a way of getting my book noticed by the type of people who like to read crime and thriller books. If they find my card inside the new Lee Child or Michael Connelly, they might be interested enough to look at the Facebook page or download a sample from Amazon. If they’re not interested, no harm done and they’ve got something to keep their place.

I’m not expecting to generate huge amounts of sales by doing this, but it’s another way of getting the book out there. A bit of cost-effective guerrilla marketing never goes amiss, and if I sell just five more copies through this route, it will have recouped the outlay.

The only problem is, the book may be available globally, but I’m limited to my local area. Glasgow and Edinburgh mostly, sometimes further afield if I’m on my way to a meeting. This is where I need some help.

I’m looking for people to take a dozen or so Halfway to Hell cards and do what I’m doing – tuck them into thrillers in your local supermarket.

If you’d like to join the Halfway to Hell marketing team (ha), drop me an email at gavinbell.thrillers@hotmail.com with your details. I’ll send you a dozen cards (or more, if you like), and I’m happy to send them anywhere in the world.