Inside Publishing

Now that your book is finished, what happens next? We're here to guide you through the publishing process, from editorial to distribution and sales.

Picking the Right Book Marketing Services in 2023

by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Jan 3, 2023

Not all book marketing services are created equal. That’s a given. And some have strengths in some genres or expertise that they don’t in others.

When it comes to finding the right book marketing service, you’ll want to find a partner. A team that has your best interests. A team that’s on the same page and making recommendations that make sense to you.

No matter what they have to offer and what promises they make, here are six key considerations for finding the right book marketing service:

Are they honest about strengths and limitations?

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

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Customize Your Pitch to Each Catcher

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Dec 13, 2022

Whether you are cooking a meal, planning a vacation or making a sales presentation, it is the preparation that determines the relative success of the outcome. The more time you put into preparing your sales presentation – what you will say and how you will say it – the more likely it is that you will get the order.

Your presentation to a corporate buyer, media producer or book distributor is not about your book, it is about how your content can solve your prospects’ problems. The corporate buyer wants to increase sales. The producer wants a good show for the audience, and a distributor wants to keep the pipeline to retailers full and flowing.

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

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How to Make a Good First Impression, or Correct a Bad One, with Prospective Buyers

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Nov 29, 2022

We all want to make a good first impression when calling on a sales prospect for a large book order. An order for thousands of books could be at stake. So the pressure is on you, and that alone could cause you to make a bad first impression. But there are other reasons, and some are beyond your control. The most expeditious thing to do is to control the impression you make on buyers. But if you don’t, you may be able to correct it. Here are Ten Ways to Make the Right Impression.

1. Understand that your words and behavior are always subject to interpretation. The buyers’ initial assessments of you are the result of their assumptions, stereotypes and cues. Dress, talk and act the image you want to convey.

2. Walk in the office confidently, smiling and dressed professionally. Shake hands firmly while making eye contact.

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

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Dealing with Emotions While Selling Your Books

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Nov 15, 2022

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.

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity