MARKETING
Relationships make sales
Marketing is a needed investment/consistent promotion
4-6 promotion before the book is published
Keep choosing topics to write about with your book
Seminars, workshops, speaking engagements (call media to cover your event)
Bio in the back of the book/invite readers to your website and leave their email address
Get catalogs for free at libraries/big houses list promotion techniques
Come up with new ideas/they excite people
Raise funds for an event and cover a charity
Create books you can market
Keep up with the competition
ASK YOUR PUBLISHER
What kind of support can you offer me; will you send out books for my talks, will you take the books back and not charge the location, do you handle book request; will you cover travel expenses, can I sell books at an event
Sell yourself/if you know what you’re talking about, books will sell; tell readers what they will benefit reading your book.
Reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and libraries. The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune Books, The Washington Post Book World, and the Wall Street Journal. Check Literary Market Place for BEA yearly dates. Read up on the offers and benefits of BEA (Book Expo of America). Get other authors to share in the cost of rooms.
BOOK STORES:
Bring a SASE with a paper head to book managers and ask for endorsements/go a week before and bring a book to showcase in the window
Leave business cards
Bring a poster to be advertised with your upcoming event, leave business cards by the poster
Have gifts to pass out to those coming/special ones for those who buy
Have the gifts relate to your book
Leave autographed books with the manager to place on the shelves/have stickers with the word “Autographed on them)
Have flyers to pass out.
Have gift wrapping if someone wants to give it out as a gift. Have them cut to the size you want already.
Have a “Thank You” note for the manager with a gift
SPONSORS
Academic fields such as history, health, psychology have associations that will sponsor conferences.
INTERVIEWS, NEWSPAPERS, CABLE SHOWS
Contact hosts to cover you and your book with your event. Leave them a signed copy. Ask for an endorsement.
OPPORTUNITIES
Books open doors to get speaking engagements. Find SOMETHING you can talk about from the topic of your book, even fiction. Offer writing assignments, call broadcasting and the media. Can you write other books on your subject? Offer your book for raffles and charities. Ask before the raffle of your book comes, if you can speak about it. Ask networks if they need a book to raffle.
BOOK COVERS
Put a quote from your book on the front cover. Pull the reader into buying your book. Use bright colors. Reviews on the back of the book. Mention what readers will get out of reading the book. Put your contact on the back of the book and your website and email. Have your logo and theme, offer a course or a speaking engagement
CHATROOMS, WRITER’S GROUPS
Offer to do a talk or give advice to the attendees. What did you learn through your process of writing, publishing, and marketing. What should they stay away from with mistakes you made? Leave them your business card to contact you.
BOOK SIGNING
Put out a paper listing contact information for readers to sign their names with their emails for upcoming books. Give them a paper with advice on it, as what I’m writing. If you can, dress the part of the character in your book. It will be a hit.
Have your logo and brand on cups, T-shirts, mugs, etc.
TRIGGER AN EXPLOSION of sales and discounts. That will immediately get your book to the best-seller’s list. You need 50 reviews to get to that status. Have the sales on Amazon so you have them notice your sales. Your rating will get closer to the top and be shown on their site.
LENGTH
Don’t make a book too long. People like a fast read. Less pages make the price lower and more sales without too much to invest.
HOOK
Made the first two paragraphs a grabber. It takes 12 seconds for a book to sell: The jacket of the book is catchy, bright, the title hits them and the first page has to hold their attention. The synopsis on the back of the book can pull a sale.
SEPTEMBER
This is the BUSIEST month for sales of NEW books, a holiday, someone laid up.
Radio shows, podcasts or other media that goes nationally. Get your book out there. Online stores can print your book and offer video and audio.
SPEAKERS IN THE SPRING
Festivals
Find sponsors for gifts to give away
Media sponsors will publicize the event
THE GIFTIONARY.COM
Offers consumer resource for gift giving. Authors who give books out as gifts, would appreciate this site. Robyn Spizman offers helpful information to help gift givers.
BENEFITS TO TALKS
Customized your talks to different audiences.
You’ll make money
Publicize yourself and your book
Generate sales
Helps media to cover to by opening doors to the opportunity for contacts, promotional events for talks at other locations
Ask for feedback by passing a paper out for them to fill in with question on their opinion of your talk
Get testimonial letters (have the SASE for them)
Add event to your resume
Ask names of anyone wanting you at their event or do they know someone else who would?
Add names to your mailing list (get their emails.) Highly important
Pass handouts. People like going home with information that will help them.
Be available for an interview before and after book signing. Leave the reporter our business card and a gift (your book, etc.)
Give a news release or press kit where you are going to talk so they can publicize it up before the event
Always have something to sell having talks
If you don’t get paid for the talk, ask the organization having you agree to purchase so many books
Stay in touch with your audience
Try Blog Radio
START A CHAT ROOM AND NEWSLETTER
Keep your readers and followers updated with your news. If there isn’t any activity on your upcoming list, write about your book, what you are working on, ask them question, Keep their Interest.
INTERVIEWS
Read up on your host first, look at pictures of the studio. Get there early to look around to feel comfortable. Talk about your experiences regarding the book.
TRADE PUBLICITY
Publisher Weekly (PW)
Literary Journal
Ask a librarian to show you other trade media
TACTICS
Before your book is published develop a file with names in the trade, consumer media.
Watch, read and listen to other author’s interviews
Get prep for hard questions/media coach can help prepare you
Make a list of important topics to cover for listeners to learn about you and your book
Use humor
Look for media coverage that you can tie your book into that’s updated
Get a famous person in your genre give you nationwide credibility
Every day, more than 4,000 radio and TV shows have more than 10,000 guests. Go on google and key in TV and radio stations in your state. You can go from one side of the country to the next with interviews by Zoom. Major shows pay for transportation and lodging.
Leave a copy of your book, business card with the receptionist at every show
Bring a book and offer it as a give away
ALWAYS check back to who you send information to and keep a record; who, date, name, what was sent.
When you write an article on your book, mention “the piece is from “a forthcoming book” or “a book in progress
Go to gmarketing.com
Ask agent or publisher to add into a contract a clause if your book becomes a best seller, they will reimburse you money
JOIN
Rotary clubs
A coached council in your town
Chamber of Commerce
Women and Writer’s groups
Establish a strategic alliance with a business or nonprofit organization that will buy a large quantity of your books and send you around as a spoke person
Travel with other authors to save on expense or a booth
Join professional organizations for writers
Become a spokeman
TOURS
Planned Television Arts (PTA)
Moring Drive Radio Tour (MDTR) Live ten-minute interviews in 18-20 cities
The Satellite Media Tour (SMT) 5-minue television interviews
A teleprint conference (TPC) a live stage, 1 hour news conferences with 10-15 reporters
They require $4,000-$18,000. (if you can come up with ½, ask your publisher for the rest. These are major shows
MEDIA KIT
On the front folder of your media kit, put your book cover
One Sheet: Rewrite your bio (emphasize your speaking experience with bullets, quotes from members, list clients (there positions and locations)
Short paragraphs on what your topic covered
Put your photo on the cover of the kit, another in the kit
Contact info
Add anything that would impress the client (articles) a postcard cover of your book, a video
5 WEAPONS FOR COMUNICATING
Audio, video, stationary, business cards, and bookmarks
Producing an audio is not expensive/ you can find a distributor. You can later publish it with an audio publisher at LMP. They are great to send to the media and give away gifts or sell at book signings.
PRESS RELEASE
Make sure you have a “attention-grabber headline, a lead paragraph capturing the editor with who, what, when, where, why and how! Describe book in order with importance, bottom of the page have book title, author, publisher, date pub, price, # of pages, illustrations, ISBN, Place phrase “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” uppercase letters in upper left corner, upper right “CONTACT:” avoid sending a head shot or cover of the book instead come up with an image of you with a caption editor or someone important, put your medial kit on your site and mention it is available there, (update your release date when it’s published), one paragraph of your bio at the end of the release, send it to the editor of your genre, use Media directory listed in the Resource Directory for a mailing list. The ultimate compliment is a newspaper and magazine story of you.
MAILINGS
Use several small stamps that add up to the first-class postage-The envelope will be more likely be opened. Mail pages about the manuscript as “MEDIA MAIL”. It’s cheaper.
TWITTER/FACEBOOK
Put tips of the day. You will be notice every day and can start a conversation
To get the most out of Twitter go to business.twitter.com/twitter101 (try to get it on tip for the radio
You have to give people a reason to return
WEBSITE
Change the topics at least 3Xs a week. Have people come to your site for freebees.
Write excerpts of the book
Ask people for their emails for your list or if you receive a message, copy down the email. BUILDyour list.
AMAZON
If you have a series of books, offer the first one free, and charge for the others.
Alberta Sequeira, Author and Speaker 