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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
 

Two Ways to Become More Creative

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 26, 2016

The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg and only 705 of its 2200 passengers and crew survived. With too few lifeboats onboard, many lives were lost unnecessarily. With a little creativity more people might have been saved. For example, what if the crew saw the iceberg as a sanctuary instead of a cause of death? They might have ferried people there. Unfortunately, we’ll never know. 

There is an important lesson from that tragedy that can help us solve more problems. The lesson? When you look at something do not think of it only in traditional terms. The crew of the Titanic saw the iceberg as a menace to be avoided. They overlooked possible solutions hidden in plain sight, much like publishers overlook the opportunity for lucrative sales to buyers in non-bookstore markets.

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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The Advantages of Advertising in Print Media

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 19, 2016

One of the basic axioms of book marketing is that it takes multiple impressions on target buyers to induce them to make a purchase. The more varied these touchpoints the greater the impression and motivation to favorable action. 

Successful book publishers market their books using an assorted mix of promotional media. The four parts to an assorted communication mix are publicity, advertising, sales promotion and personal selling. The weight of any one element depends upon the content, nature of your product lines, the author’s involvement in marketing, and the target buyers. As a general statement, publishers focus on publicity and avoid advertising -- print advertising in particular. They feel that if they do any advertising it will be in digital format thinking print communication “is a thing of the past.”

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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How to Leverage the Power of Free to Drive Sales

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Jan 12, 2016

I know that giving something away for free may not seem like a smart business move, but let me explain. Free giveaways can be a very effective business tool when you think of those freebies as a marketing expense (the cost of exposure) rather than lost sales. Free promotions are a great way to get you exposure in front of your target audience, expand your following, and drive sales in the long run. The key is to know how to take advantage of free. 

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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Dealing with Emotions While Selling Your Books

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 5, 2016

Negotiating a large-quantity book sale is a little like playing poker, requiring both hard and soft skills. To be good at it you need practice and experience. You also need a little chutzpah, the creativity to recognize alternatives, the ability to assess odds, the willingness to take calculated risks and the confidence to bluff when necessary. 

But unlike poker, selling to a corporate buyer is not a winner-take-all game. It is not zero sum activity where one’s slice of the pie is increased at the expense of the other. Negotiating is a give-and-take exchange seeking a larger pie to split. 

Pursuing that end can cause consternation among the participants, particularly if they have not dealt with each other before. Both sides enter the negotiation with various degrees of tension or anxiety. If you manage the emotional tenor of a negotiating session you can be more successful bargaining and bring it to a win-win conclusion.

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Marketing & Publicity
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Win More Book Orders Before You Begin Selling

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Dec 29, 2015

The circumstances surrounding every selling situation are different, but there are two parts essential to them all: substance and process. Substance is made up of objective elements such as price, terms and shipping costs. Process is the path you take from your initial meeting to the close. 

One of the costliest mistakes in negotiating a large book sale is focusing primarily on the substance of the deal and not enough on the process and the players. You can be more successful if you understand each distinct process since it is more likely to differ than the substance of any selling event.

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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Easy and Effective Self-Promotion: Part Two – Networking!

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Dec 15, 2015

In the first part of this series, I outlined simple ways to establish a presence online to promote yourself. Below, I offer tips to build upon the presence you’ve established online to begin networking with your followers and thought leaders in your industry.

Join the conversation

One of the most important things you can do online is to remain visible; you’ve put a lot of time and effort into establishing your presence online, so make sure to remain actively engaged with your followers and other members in your industry. There are several different ways you can stay active online – I’ve listed a few below:

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Easy and Effective Self-Promotion: Part One – Creating an Online Presence

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Dec 8, 2015

For most authors, the idea of having to promote yourself online can seem overwhelming at first. You know that marketing online is crucial for the success of your book, if you don’t know where to start, not to fear! I’ve created a two-part guide to make marketing online manageable.

Blogging

First and foremost, regular blogging is a great way to showcase your expertise, promote yourself, and help you rank higher in Google searches. Plan to blog at least once or twice per week at minimum.

I know that sounds like a lot of time and effort, but the following suggestions will help you be efficient with your blogging and overcome writer’s block (it happens to everyone!):

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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Short-Term Actions to Reach Long-Term Goals

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Dec 1, 2015

Entrepreneurial book publishers are continually faced with a dilemma. They recognize the need to focus on long-term growth and they create five-year plans to achieve it. On the other hand, they understand they must generate short-term revenue to stay in business long enough to reach their ultimate goals. The dilemma? How to survive during the short term to achieve long-term success?

The answer is not to find better books to sell, but to find better ways to sell books. Create and implement an array of marketing tools that allows each to fulfill its designated function over a specific time period. 

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Marketing & Publicity
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Perfect Pricing

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Nov 10, 2015

As an author, you work hard to create a book that is flawless – you write a first manuscript, make revisions, make some more revisions, and toil for a long time to finally get your book “just right” and ready for sale. Now you have your book up on Amazon, but it’s not selling the way you want it to. When that happens, it’s discouraging after all that time and effort you put into creating the best book you could. So why the low sales? And what can you do about it? 

To answer these questions, let’s take a moment for a quick marketing lesson. When building a marketing plan, it’s important to keep in mind the 4 P’s of marketing: product, place, promotion, and price. Briefly, I’ve defined them below:

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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Six Book Marketing Mysteries Unraveled: How to Get Great Reviews and Sell Your Book!

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Oct 27, 2015

People like what people like. I say this a lot to the authors I work with to emphasize the importance of having reader reviews. But what about the authors that already have great reviews, or even awards? Authors often tell me their books get great reviews (on Amazon, Goodreads, blogs, etc.), receive literary awards, and still, the book sales just don’t happen. Having great reviews is just one component of having a great marketing plan; the next step is maximizing those great reviews and converting them into sales. Below are six ways to leverage your reviews to drive more sales:

1.     Leverage: How are you leveraging your book’s positive publicity? Are you leveraging it at all? If not, you should be. Your first step should be to promote any awards, and there are several free ways you can do that: 

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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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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