Biographies and autobiographies are everywhere, written by or about famous athletes, historical figures or everyone in between.  In essence, a biography is a book that chronicles the life events of someone other than the author. On the other hand, an autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by that person. For those Dorrance authors who have recently written a biography or autobiography, we want to help you promote your newly published book.

Just like most books, a biography or autobiography can be promoted via social media, or through our three quick tips to promote your book.

However, the nature of these books opens doors for additional, different types of promotion. For instance, Dorrance author Dick Spangler wrote the autobiographyWest Point to Pearl Harbor: A Little Boy Remembers the Japanese Attack and Other Survivor Stories from America’s Greatest Military Disaster. Below are a few examples of promotional tactics that could apply to this, or most any biography or autobiography.

Go straight to the source – Consider leaving your local area and traveling to an area relevant to the subject matter to promote your book. In the example of our Dorrance-published autobiography, Mr. Spangler could visit the memorial of the Pearl Harbor attack in Hawaii and discuss his experiences onsite with the visitors. There might even be a museum or gift shop that would be willing to host a book signing event, or to stock the book on their shelves.

Holidays and events – Try to find a holiday or event that revolves around the topic of your book. In our example, Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, is a perfect day to promote  the work. This strategy will help you align the message of your book with the related holiday or event; well-crafted social media posts will allow you to demonstrate the relevancy between the event and your book to your followers. But one word of caution: If your book focuses on someone who endured a tragic event – such as Pearl Harbor – be sure to treat the anniversary date with an appropriate level of respect while encouraging people to learn more about that person’s experiences on that day through your book.

Time it right – Be sure to know important dates surrounding the person about whom you wrote your biography or your autobiography, and try to time your promotional efforts around them. Birthdays and other major life events that you learned while researching your topic person offer prime opportunities for promotion.

As a quick review, a few good tips to promote your biography or autobiography are to go straight to the source and promote your book in an appropriate location, focus your attention on relevant holidays and events related to that person, and time your promotional efforts around important dates associated with your biographical or autobiographical topic.

As always, remember to think outside of the box and feel free to build off of these tips to create the promotion plan that’s right for you and your book. Good luck and happy promoting!