Writing on a Budget: The Cost of Self-Promotion

By Lisbeth Coiman

Self-promotion is a full-time job. Large publishing companies have entire PR teams to promote an author’s work. If the writer signs with a small press the weight of promotion falls on the author who can chose one of three options. A. Do not promote at all. Bring the book into the world and allow the universe to do its thing.  B. Hire the services of a PR company which can go anywhere from $1800 to $3000. C. Blow your own horn and blow loud. 

Bird eating a butterfly with book title
Available at FLP

After all, books are like children. We conceive them. We care for them when they are gestating. But once they are born, it is our responsibility as word artists to nurture their growth. I am proud of all my children: the two human and the three books. As much as I have been/am a committed mother, I refuse to just put a book out and abandon it to its luck. 

The cost associated with self-promotion can skyrocket. It will cost a couple of hundred dollars to learn to design a website. Li Yun Alvarado does an excellent job. There are fees associated to purchasing and keeping a domain. You will need a few author pics to use for submissions, events, and social media graphics. At minimum that would be another $250. Melissa Johnson offers budget sensitive photo shoots.

Then there is the issue of advertising on social media platforms. Pay anywhere from $15 to $30 to boost a post. Pay fees to store graphics in Planoly or any other social media friendly archive. There is also the opportunity of paying somebody just for the task of posting on social media, which is not cost effective but can take time off your shoulders. I have temporary hired designers to do this for me, but only for short periods of time. Camari Hawkins and JT have helped me design graphic concepts and update my website. Graphics must meet social media constrains, which will require fees if you want a sophisticated job.

In the end, the only low-cost option is a DIY approach. My choice is always to go for the most basic. But even when spending the minimum, the time spent in advertising your forthcoming or just released book takes a toll on the individual. I do not wish to exhaust my readers with a mile long to-do list of items required for a book release campaign. Know that it requires hours of careful planning. These include but are not limited to: writing press releases, sending letters, contacting reading series, calling radio stations, organizing events, contacting libraries, getting a zoom account, purchasing your own books to sign to readers, writing emails back and forth, designing graphics for social media and cross posting everywhere possible to avoid boosting fees, or updating a website that is far from perfect. It is unpaid time in a long process that can last a whole year leaving even the most committed writer with no space to develop new content. 

Don’t get me wrong. It is gratifying too. I feel proud knowing that I have done this on my own, with the help of friends who retweet/repost, or encourage me, or offer their venues to host an event, or simply offer fresh ideas. Even when three people show up for an event, I am happy to know that I reached new readers, and they are now aware of my work as a poet.

I am nowhere close to be an established writer even when I can no longer claim to be emerging. But in the last five years, I have worked day and night learning, writing, and making myself known. Yes, I am grateful for all the support I have received along the way from the extraordinary talented community of Women Who Submit and others in LA for they have have welcome me and my craft. But I thank me first for the hard work I put raising my babies. 


headshot of Lisbeth CoimanLisbeth Coiman is an author, poet, educator, cultural worker, and rezandera born in Venezuela. Coiman’s wanderlust spirit landed her to three countries—from her birthplace to Canada, and finally the USA, where she self-published her first book, I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (2017). She dedicated her bilingual poetry collection, Uprising / Alzamiento, Finishing Line Press( Sept. 2021) to her homeland, Venezuela. An avid hiker, and teacher of English as a Second Language, Coiman lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Ten Small Presses Under $25

IMG_2016By Lisbeth Coiman

As if you didn’t gather enough information at the AWP, here is a bit more, a short list of publications to send your best work to. This time I rounded up ten small presses names with their contact information and a short review. They all have open reading periods. They all do exceptional work at bringing emergent voices on print.

1. 2Leaf Press
Reading Period: Opening date January 1.
Submission Guidelines
What They Like: NY-based nonprofit that promotes literature and literacy. They look for new voices, and produce quality work in a wide variety of genres by culturally diverse authors. Focus on literary fiction and cultural non-fiction.

2. Alternative Book Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
What they like: They are looking for work that can stand time, not just for a sale hit.

3. Cinco Puntos Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
What They Like: Although they have a focus on the US / Mexico border region, they also publish great writers from other parts of the countries with stories located in other settings. Submission starts with a phone call.

4. C&R Press
Reading Period: Now accepting
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $25
What They Like: They are interested in supporting authors whose thoughtful and imaginative contribution to contemporary literature deserved recognition and support.
5. Diversion Press
Reading Period: Opens May 1
Submission Guidelines 
Reading fee: 0
What They Like: Academic non-fiction, slice of life, how-to, history, and other non-fiction works. They also publish a poetry anthology and sponsor a poetry contest.
6. Outpost19
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: 0
What They Like: Looks for innovative projects and provocative reading. Uses submittable.
7. Pink Fish Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $0
What They Like: Try to destroy the stigma of “poor quality work” that accompanies independent authors. They believe in talented voices, and gifted writers are the forefront of popular culture. Isn’t that nice?
8. Red Hen Press
Reading Period: Open till September
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $20
What They Like: Red Hen Press is committed to publishing work of literary excellence, supporting diversity, and promoting literacy in our local schools. They seek a community of readers and writers who are actively engaged in the essential human practice known as literature.
9. Wild Embers Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $0
What They Like: Looking for experimental stories of love and liberation from marginalized place in all genres, fiction, creative non fiction, and poetry. Welcomes art included with narratives. Query via email at wildemberseditor@gmail.com. Only PDF files.

10. Willowbooks
Reading Period: Open from April 1 to September 1
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $0
What They Like: Their mission is to develop, publish, and promote writers typically underrepresented in the market, and the reading period is open to all writers from diverse cultural backgrounds.



Headshot 2Lisbeth Coiman is a bilingual writer standing (unbalanced) on a blurred line between fiction and memoir. She has wandered the immigration path from Venezuela to Canada, to the US, and now lives in Oakland. Her upcoming memoir The Shattered Mirror celebrates friendship among women and draws attention on child abuse and mental illness. She also writes short fiction and poetry, and blogs “irregularly” at www.gingerbreadwoman.org