Really this post is about thinking about thinking outside the box when it comes to book promotion.  With that in mind, read on …

So I was combing through some old emails I hadn’t gotten to yet when I found one from Ancestry.com saying I had some “Hints,” or possible record matches for some folks in the family tree I built on their site.   It was when I clicked on the link and started looking the hints (or leaves as the refer to them on their TV commercials) that it suddenly dawned on me … there was room here to promote my book.

I bet you’re scratching your head over that one …

Yeah, I’d never thought of “advertising” on Ancestry.com … until I remembered that I based two of the main characters of my book series, The Purity of Blood, on my real life ancestors (my 4^th great grandparents in this case).  Same names, same facts of their birth, death, marriage, etc. I just fashioned those facts into real people that I brought of the 19th century into today.

How’d I do that?  Vampires, or course, Silly!

So on Ancestry, you can write a story about your ancestors, things like items you can’t list with a simple date and place. In the case of my grandparents, I attached a story to their profiles telling that I’d written them into my novels and that if you were reading this, you were my cousin and might enjoy reading more about how I envisioned those grandparents would be as living, breathing characters in my novels. And, oh yeah, they’re available for sale on Amazon. I don’t feel bad about doing this seeing as I really do think they are my target demographic for my books.  Anyone who shares Randall and Lois as ancestors I’m sure would really enjoy how I took the time to as accurately as possible pull them from the pages of history books into a story with heart.

By the way, when I posted that item on their profiles in my family tree, a little “Leaf” popped up on everyone on Ancestry.com with my grandparents in their tree as well. It’s a link to that story I wrote …. Talk about direct marketing!

I’m telling you this story because it was an unusual promotion platform.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!

We all have Facebook. We all have Goodreads, blogs or websites …

But what makes your story, your book special and unique?  For my novel series, it was the real life ancestors I wrote into my fictional story.  I’d love to hear from you about unusual ways you’ve found to promote your books.

-Jennifer

PS: Don’t forget my latest novel, If Love is a Lie, Finding and Losing Love Online, hit Amazon just this weekend!  Check it out: