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Marketing & Publicity

Good marketing is an art. Knowing your audience is critical. Get the word out about your book in a compelling and interesting way.

Steps in Marketing & Publicity

  • How to craft your message
  • Social media
  • Search engine optimization
  • Go local
 

Take the "Junk" out of Direct Mail

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Mar 6, 2018

Direct mail has been given a bad reputation because of overuse and poorly designed mailing pieces. People tend to perceive direct mail as junk mail, and its Internet equivalent as spam.

However, when you have a finite, identifiable group of people who are potential customers for your books, direct mail may be the most effective and efficient marketing tool you can use to reach them. It gives you control of the timing, delivery and content of your promotion, a pre-determined fixed cost and the means to forecast and measure the return on your marketing investment.

Unfortunately, direct marketing is too often implemented simply by purchasing a mailing list and then sending an existing brochure. Unless you first prepare a plan, including a way to evaluate your relative success, you may end up wasting money and becoming disillusioned in the potential effectiveness of a strategic direct mail campaign.

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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I Only Have "-ize" for You

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Feb 20, 2018

Many independent publishers use the Christopher Columbus method of planning. They do not know where they are going. When they arrive, they do not know where they are. And when they return, they do not know where they have been. This is not a good way to run a business.

Avoid this situation by writing a strategic, functional plan to market your books. Your plan should identify the most promising business opportunities. It should clarify your goals and the activities you will employ to move toward your objectives efficiently. For a view of a new planning formula, look through these "ize."

Recognize. A basic premise for successful marketing is to find a need and fill it. You do this by researching three major areas. First, discover what product opportunities exist. Second, learn the demographics and psychographics of your prospective customers. Finally, calculate your potential market's size, growth and competitive status.

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Marketing & Publicity
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Goals are Worthless…

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Feb 13, 2018

Goals are the foundation of a solid marketing plan. They provide a target at which to aim, the standard against which you can gauge your company’s progress. They divide your vision statement into manageable steps and provide a path to its realization. And written goals provide a means for looking back to see how far you have come. 

If all these benefits of setting goals are true, how can goals be of no value? Goal-setting is a tool, and like any other tool it is useless if used incorrectly. Goals are worthless…

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Marketing & Publicity
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Marketing from the Customers’ Perspective

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Feb 6, 2018

 
Nothing happens until something is sold. That has been the call to action for generations of salespeople. Every day independent publishers make marketing decisions that are designed to facilitate the sales process. We publish books, distribute, price and promote them to entice people to buy them so that we make a profit. 
 
However, the book-buying public looks at the process differently. According to our potential customers, nothing is sold until someone buys something. From their perspective, books are not sold, they are bought -- and publishers could make more money if they made it easier for people to buy. Consumers are looking for worthwhile information that is easily accessible, priced properly, and that they understand will help them. 
 
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Marketing vs. Editing vs. Writing: The Delicate Balance of the Self-Publisher

by AC de Fombelle
Bowker | Thu Feb 1, 2018

 
Tips & Tricks
 
Life is all about balance. The balance between your personal and professional commitments; between heart and mind; between activity and rest. A perfect life is one in perfect equilibrium. In self publishing, the tricky balance is between writing, editing and marketing. Three necessary activities for a successful publishing project.
 
Balance
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
 
Inside Publishing
Writing
Editing
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A Meeting of the Minds

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 23, 2018

 
What do you need to succeed in book publishing? Your first thought may be money, particularly OPM -- Other People's Money. However, that is not as critical as you may think. Money will come when you do everything else right. The most important attributes that lead to success cannot be purchased. Here are the Top 10 “Must Haves” for success in book publishing:
 
Information Skills
Contacts Plans
Ideas Accountability
Feedback Camaraderie
Support Resources
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Marketing & Publicity
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Monkey Traps and Marketing

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 9, 2018

 
There is a unique way to trap monkeys in the islands of the South Seas. The natives drill a small hole in a coconut, hollow it out and fill it with rice. Once a monkey puts its hand in the coconut to get the food, it cannot remove its clenched fist. Refusing to let go of their prize, the monkeys are unable to escape. 
 
Publishers can get caught in a similar trap if they become conditioned to avoid risks and persist in using strategies that were successful in the past, without evaluating whether they are still relevant today. Their grasp on a comfortable feeling of security yields the same sense of contentment the passengers on the Titanic experienced moments before it struck the iceberg. 
 
Don't just do something, stand there!
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Sell More Books with “Method Acting”

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Jan 2, 2018

 
Do you know your audience?
 
If you’ve ever questioned whether or not what you’re doing is working, then the answer might not be yes. 
 
It’s worth spending some time in your genre to become a fan and get to know what your audience is really looking for. 
 
Although this may not seem like it will translate into sales, it’s the book marketing piece that can make or break your success as an author. Because writing the book is the easy part.
 
Method Acting
You may have heard of an acting technique known as “immersion” or “method acting.” The actor takes a role and runs with it in every aspect of their lives. In essence, they become the character.
 
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How to Price Books

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Dec 19, 2017

If your book needs a boost, sometimes the easiest thing you can do is to adjust its pricing. 

While completing a book in and of itself is quite an accomplishment, it’s a whole different thing to have a book that actually sells. You may have heard this from other indie authors, or even experienced it yourself. You add your book to Amazon, full of plans for a wild success, and then, nothing. It’s disheartening to see your hard work just sit there. But there is some good news! There might be an easy fix.

Boost Your Book Marketing and Sales by Pricing Your Book to Sell!

How you price your book is something we don’t often think of as a trigger for book promotion or how to sell more books, but it is. First, let’s look at your book’s perceived value, vs. the going market rate.

Marketing & Publicity
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Stop Promoting and Start Communicating

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Dec 12, 2017

 
Book marketers tell me they spend hours and significant sums of money promoting their books, but experience little results. They do not understand that the impact of promotion is not the number of press releases, emails and media appearances that they conduct. It is the lack of communication and engagement with the recipients. If they do not understand why they should buy your books, they won’t.
 
People are inundated daily with mass communications that are directed to a general audience. Your prospective buyers are busy, and will not read or listen to a message if they don’t think it will improve their circumstances in some way. Be more successful breaking through the clutter by first getting their attention, giving them some reason to learn more and then act. 
 
Inside Publishing
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  • Obtain ISBNs (click here!)
  • Convert your file to ebook (click here!)
  • Acquire a bar code (click here!)
  • Increase discovery (click here!)
  • Purchase a QR code (click here!)
  • Register your copyright (click here!)
  • License your book’s content (click here!)
  • Find out who you write like (click here!)
  • Promote your book online (click here!)

Getting Started

Create a Culture of Quality in Your Publishing Company

Thu, November 13

FAQs about ISBNs

Fri, October 24

How to Write a Business Plan as Narrative (Part 2 of 2)

Wed, September 10

A Novel Planning Technique for Book Publishers (Part 1 of 2)

Fri, September 05

Do You Have the Write Stuff?

Wed, September 03

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