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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
 

The Do’s and Don’ts of Marketing Your Book: Part 1

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Mar 1, 2016

As an indie author, the process of marketing your book can seem overwhelming. There are so many marketing tools and resources at your fingertips that it can be difficult to figure out where to start! To guide you on your marketing path, I’ve created a series of Marketing Do’s and Don’ts. In Part 1, we’ll talk about Do’s and Don’ts to help you create a marketing plan for success!

Do: Understand Your Industry

Knowledge is power, so as you compile this marketing plan, get to know your market. Research and prepare a list of bloggers who you should pitch for advanced reviews. While you’re compiling this list, keep track of who to contact, and when you need to pitch them. You can also research the top authors in your industry to investigate what types of marketing efforts they are implementing. Success leaves clues, so you can learn from these top authors what marketing efforts work best in your industry.

Don’t: Rely on opinions 

Inside Publishing
Marketing & Publicity
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Managing Post-Sale Emotions

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Feb 9, 2016

Negotiating a large, non-returnable sale of your books to a corporate buyer can be a euphoric event. As you leave the premises you may celebrate with large smiles and high-fives. Unseen and unforeseen by many publishers are the various post-sale emotions experienced by the buyers, especially if this is their first time dealing with you. Their feelings may range from comfort and positive expectation to uneasiness, wariness, disappointment or regret. 

Experienced salespeople know that the sale is not over when they get the signature on the dotted line, but when the buyer reorders. There is still much to do to manage delivery of the books, making sure they are customized, printed and shipped as requested – on budget and on time. Publishers who get it understand that they can only generate repeat orders, recurring revenue and referrals from satisfied customers.

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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.

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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.”

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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. 

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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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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.

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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!):

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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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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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