In a post today ( in BBC News ), discusses the government of India’s strong interest in returning to the expansion levels of yesteryear. With a former growth rate of around nine percent annually, India’s latest growth rate has been around 6.5%+ recently. Actually, 6.5% looks great compared to many countries around the world for [...]
How to write a book article series to this point has been about bringing a book to life – quality writing, quality visuals on the back cover and front cover, and professional editing. Now comes the big day: An author holding their own book for the first time.
The first time I ripped open the box with my first book inside and held the finished book in my hands, I was elated. At the same time, I thought “now I have to get to work and sell volumes of books. This was such a nervous moment that I decided to catch my breath and go for a long lunch.
After lunch, reality sinks in…how to promote and ‘move’ boxes and boxes of books. All authors will understand. Enter targeted promotion, well-planned marketing and lots of work. Writing a book is the easiest part of the birth of a successful book, moving your books off the shelves and out of boxes takes more planning, tenacity and time.
Recognizing that there are many authors who have approached promotion and marketing of their books in many unique ways, I want to provide proven techniques here that should spur your creative juices to customize what I say in the next few articles for your own personality and set of conditions. Whether self-published or an author associated with a publisher, you will have to do much of the promotion yourself. Here are several promotional “legs” to establish before customizing your marketing program:
a) Website – When an author wishes to be interviewed by the media, speak before a group or otherwise “be out there,” people will judge a website by its cover. Approach creating an author website with the same care and professionalism used to create the book. Think of visuals (book covers) and content (inside pages).
b) Blog – A website sets the foundation for an online presence. A blog tells the world an author is “building” on the foundation of the website and interested in interaction with readers through comments on a blog.
c) Social Media – I like LinkedIn and Facebook, one is for professional interaction and the other is for more relaxed, fun topics. I recognize there are many social media networks worldwide and an author can consider social websites in other countries (if your book is relevant to these international markets). For example, Orkut is the big social media gorilla, owned by Google and especially popular in Brazil and India.
Set up a professional profile and join relevant “groups” on LinkedIn. Search for relevant demographics on Facebook for your book (e.g., a cookbook author searching for “cooking” aficionados). For individuals who seem to be a match with my book material on these two social media sites, I direct message a short and professional note introducing myself, asking if there is a mutual interest in a social media connection. So far, these messages have been well-received (probably because most people just send an “invitation” without personal note attached).
d) Press Releases – Set up a schedule to distribute newsworthy press releases. I hear authors say all the time, “Yes, sure. I don’t know what to say in a press release beyond the first one announcing my new book.”
Tie material in your book to current events. For example, if your book is on “bringing up a smart child,” all news stories about education for children in the age group you cover in your book is a tie-in for writing about your findings and mentioning your book…along with contact information.
PRWeb.com has great resources for crafting quality press releases. Search “free press releases” and “press release distribution services” for getting the word out. There IS a learning curve to writing a professional press release. Stick with the ramp up learning process for crafting a relevant and meaningful (to the media and their public) press release because the effort will soon become easy and quick.
These four promotional marketing “legs” will create a foundation for an author to begin selling their book. In part six of how to write a book, I will start with time-proven techniques authors have used to add to the foundation above, have fun interacting with people and start selling books. Stay tuned…
Mike McCann
Mike-at-GlobalBusinessCafe.com