Promoting Your First Novel

I just had an email requesting tips on promoting your novel. I'm really new to all this and making it up as I go, but I'd be happy to share what I've learned so far, in no particular order.

1. Join the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime (if you're a mystery writer--most other genre fiction has corresponding organizations). Go to their websites and their conferences to see what sort of support they can offer you and what sort of networking you can do.
Contact your state's (or local) arts council to find out what support they offer authors, financial or otherwise. The Lake Region Arts Council, through funding from the McKnight Foundation, granted me $1200 to buy promotional materials for May Day.
3. Purchase some promotional material. I've seen recommendations to spend half your advance on promo stuff, and that sounds about right, as long as half your advance is around $700-$1200. I researched promotional companies and had good luck with Inkspress, from whom I ordered calendar magnets, pens, bookmarks (their bookmarks are fabulous), and postcards. Read A Guide to Publicity for another viewpoint on promotional materials. Also, consider that your book is your best publicity tool, and your money might be better spent getting copies to interested reviewers, media outlets, and bookstores, which leads to number four...
4. ...Get your promotional materials and/or book in the right hands. I purchased the library database from the Mystery Writers of America and the Deadly Directory, as well as printed out the list of booksellers on the Independent Mystery Booksellers of America website. I sent all appropriate sources a postcard. Some of the information in the library database and Deadly Directory is outdated, so this is more like shooting with a shotgun and hoping some of the spray hits something. If you do send out postcards, make sure to put a handwritten message on each one (short is fine--I write, "Thanks for reading!") to make yours stand out from the pile. Oh--before you send out any of these postcards, make sure to talk to your publicist if you're lucky enough to have one so you're not double-dipping.
5. Order and read Shameless Promotion for Brazen Hussies.
6. Become a member of the Murder Must Advertise listserv.
7. Contact any newspapers that might be interested in your novel, its topic, or its setting. My Murder by Month series is set in Battle Lake, so I contacted the Battle Lake newspaper, as well as my local newspaper, my hometown newspaper, and the newspaper in the city where I went to college. Offer to send a review copy as well as make yourself available for an interview.
8. Contact your local radio and television stations and offer to come down for an interview. I was scared to do this at first, so I had a brave friend of mine do it. It's easy! For her. She set up a television interview, which wasn't nearly as scary as I imagined (they tape it so they can edit out things like peekaboogers, accidental swear words, and nervous tics). I also emailed a couple radio stations and set up on-air opportunities that way.
9. Call all the bookstores within reasonable driving distance (and don't forget bookstores at local colleges, if college students might be a good audience for your novel) to set up booksignings. Again, if you have a publicist, check with himmer first. I have my first book signing tomorrow, and it's my understanding that they are generally poorly attended unless you're already famous. For those of us who aren't, your main audience at a book signing is the people who work at the bookstore. Be nice to them, Fancy, and they'll be nice to you.
10. Don't do anything that seems like a really bad time for you. If you're terrified by public speaking, for example, don't agree to be a keynote speaker at a booksellers conference. If you're still reading this, writing is likely more than a hobby for you, and if you're going to make it your business, make it into one you enjoy.

Best of luck! :)