Identifying the Target Audience for Your Book

You have written a book, and now you’re set to launch your marketing plan and schedule a book tour, right?  Well, not so fast.  Have you considered who your target audience is for your book? 

One of the biggest mistakes that authors make is assuming that “everybody” will want to read their book.  No book is for everybody.  If you take one thing away from this particular article, keep that one at the front of your mind:  No book is for everybody. 

Books come in many different genres, and readers have their favorites.  I like to read non-fiction history books, while my wife likes to read romance novels.  If an author of a romance novel was trying to reach me as a member of their target audience, they would fail because I’ll likely never buy a romance novel (unless it’s a gift for my wife, but she only reads romances written by her favorite authors). 

Before I got into the publishing industry, I worked as a radio announcer.  The most successful radio stations I worked at were those that realized that not everyone who listens to the radio listens to their particular station.  People have their favorite types of music.  Someone who likes rock music isn’t going to listen to a country station.  Someone who favors rock of the 50’s and 60’s isn’t going to want to listen to a rock station that plays only 80’s hair metal.  With that in mind, the radio station targeted people of a certain age group. 

We even went so far as to find pictures of people from magazines who represented our “average listener” and taped them on the wall in the radio studio to help us keep in mind who the target audience was for our station.  At one station where I worked, we taped a photo of a soccer mom in her 30’s with a husband and two kids on the studio wall, because our research had shown that was the target audience for the type of music we were playing, and our advertising was aimed at that audience.  We didn’t try to please everybody with our radio station; just our target audience.

That is exactly the type of approach authors need to take before formulating their marketing plan for their book.  You can’t please everybody with your book; just your target audience. 

Yet, many authors decide that their book can’t or won’t be a success unless they are doing a book signing in a big box bookstore whose target audience is…everybody.  The problem is if you have written a historical fiction novel and only one out of 100 people who walk through the front door of the bookstore are interested in historical fiction, you aren’t going to move many books if you are only relying on the store's regular foot traffic. 

How do you determine the target audience for your book?  Let’s illustrate it this way.  We’ll assume you have written a novel about a family torn apart during the Civil War, and two brothers find themselves on opposite sides; one fights for the Union, while the other fights for the Confederacy. 

Initially, you may want to target everybody who buys books.  For our purposes, we’ll use this photo to represent the audience you may be tempted to target from the outset:

But, this may better reflect the number of people who are actually interested in historical fiction:

Going even further, this may be a more accurate portrayal of the number of people from this group who are interested in historical fiction that focuses on the Civil War:

If your marketing efforts are focused entirely on reaching everyone in the first photo, your message is going to fall on deaf ears.   Most of those people are not interested in a historical novel set during the Civil War.   You will be spending a lot of time, effort and energy trying to reach a massive group of people who aren’t receptive to what you are trying to sell them. 

You may interest a few people in the second photo, but again you will be wasting a lot of time trying to target people that are never going to buy a book like yours for as long as they have a nose in the middle of their face. 

If you identify your target audience, those folks in the third photo, and you are only spending your time doing the things that will reach them and let them know about your book from the very beginning, you are actually going to be a lot more successful.  These are the people that are going to attend your book signing events and speaking engagements, and more importantly…buy your book.  Not only that, but they are going to let their like-minded friends know about your book, too (if they really like it and want to recommend it).  In turn, those friends will then let their acquaintances know about the book, and so on and so forth until larger groups of people know about and are buying your book, but they are the RIGHT groups of people…those most interested in a book like yours.  They are your target audience, and your sales and exposure will grow with word of mouth among those in that target group. 

You may be thinking “If I target that huge mob of people in the first photo from the start, surely at least a few of them will be interested in my book.”   That may be true, but what if the people in the third photo are not among those in the first photo?  Any author who has participated in a sparsely-attended book signing event and sold 1 or 2 books can tell you that they would have much rather had everyone in the third photo (their target audience) walk into the event and buy their book than all of the people in the first or second photo walk through the doors of the bookstore and walk past their table without giving their book a second glance.   

Going after “everyone” in the book buying public is a lot like playing the lottery and buying hundreds or thousands of tickets, hoping just one or two of them might be a winner.  By focusing your efforts on the groups of people who would be most interested in the type of book you have written, you will basically be taking that lottery ticket money and putting it in a savings account instead.  While the potential reward of the lottery is much larger, success is elusive and rare.  Putting a few bucks in the bank may not guarantee a huge reward right away, but it will pay off consistently over time. 

Try this exercise for determining the target audience for your book.  First, draw an inverted pyramid on a piece of paper:

The top line represents the largest group of people who might possible be remotely interested in your book.  The second line is the genre for your book.  The third line is the particular subject of your book.  The fourth line represents the groups of people that might be interested in that particular subject, and the last and smallest line of the pyramid represents the exact type of person that might be interested in your particular book. 

Now let’s put the pyramid into practice, using a Christian book as an example:

1^st line:  Christians

2^nd line:  Bible study book

3^rd line:  What the Bible says about grieving

4^th line:  People who have experienced loss

5^th line:  Someone who has recently experienced the loss of a loved one or is trying to come to terms with their grief. 

Using this inverted pyramid example, we can see that if we only targeted Christians, we’d be shooting for a very broad group of people.  This particular book is focused on the teachings of the Bible as it relates to grieving, and the target audience is people who are trying to cope with their grief.  If you start out your promotional efforts targeting only Christians, and not necessarily those interested in a Bible study book, particularly a person interested in reading books about coping with grief, you’ll miss your target and you’ll expend a lot of energy reaching out to the wrong readers. 

Let’s say the author of this book was only doing book signings at Christian bookstores, just hoping to catch a customer walking through the door looking for a book just like their grieving book.  They may sell a couple of books.  However, if that same author sent notices to local Bible study groups or grieving support groups to let them know about their book signing, more of those people walking through the door of the Christian bookstore may be looking for exactly that type of book.  Remember, you’re trying to reach the pointy end of the pyramid, not the wide end of the pyramid, at least at the beginning. 

The books that become hugely successful are those that start at the small end of the pyramid and work their way up.  That comes as word about the book spreads amongst the small target audience and up through the larger groups of people at the wider ends of the pyramid.

It may seem counter-intuitive to only reach out to smaller groups of people at first, but these are the people that are going to be most passionate about a book like yours.  They are going to be the evangelists for your book, and they are the people who are going to be spreading the word-of mouth that your book needs to be a success.

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How Will You Sell Your Book?

For many authors, thoughts of where and how to sell their books don't come to mind until the manuscript is finished and sent off to the publisher, or when a release date has been set for the book. After all, the book has to come first, right?

Certainly, writing a good book is essential for its sales prospects, but if you are waiting until you are holding a printed copy in your hand before you start thinking about the best means of marketing and promoting your book, you could already be handicapping its chances in the marketplace, and hampering your chances to sell more books.

In fact, for many successful authors, the best time to think about potential markets for a book isn't when the final touches are being put on it in editing, or when the book has been sent to the printer, or even while the book is being written. No, the best time to think about the marketing potential for a book is before you start writing the book in the first place.

When you write a book, you are essentially starting a new business. The author is the brand, and the book is the product. Like when starting any good, viable business, a bit of research has to go into it first before just deciding the launch. Not every business idea is a good business idea, and not every book idea is a good book idea. If 80 percent of all businesses fail in the first year, the same holds true if not more so for books.

Does that mean you shouldn't bother writing the book in the first place? Before you can answer that question, you have to answer a few questions first, just like you would when starting a business.

Does a market exist for the business (book)?

How much competition is there in the marketplace?

Does the book solve a problem or appeal to particular niche?

Who is the audience for the book?

How would I reach that audience?

Many authors mistakenly believe that these are questions a publisher should primarily be concerned about, and while they are, the author has to be able to easily answer these questions because even if they have a publisher, much of the promotional activity is going to fall squarely on their shoulders. The publisher may offer some marketing assistance, but that is usually short-lived until they move on to the next project, especially if the book doesn't ring up a significant amount of sales within a short period of time after the book's release date. If the book is self-published, then the answers to these questions become even more important.

So, how does an author go about finding out if their idea for a book is one which will ultimately be profitable? This will require a bit of market research. Of course, if you query a publisher and they jump at the chance to publish your manuscript, then you have a pretty good idea that your book is one that they are confident they can sell. However, if you can confidently answer the questions above, that makes your chances of your book being picked up even better, and if you self-publish, you'll be saving yourself a lot of time down the road when it's time to market your book.

Does a market exist for the book? Check out online booksellers and physical bookstores. Do they carry many other titles that fit in the genre of the book you want to write? How are they selling? Are they featured prominently on the site or in the store, or are they sitting in the bargain bin or being made available as free or cheap downloads? Can you find other titles that are similar to the book you are thinking of writing that have done very well, or are even current bestselling titles?

How much competition is there in the marketplace? If you are finding other titles similar to the book you are thinking of writing, or that you have already started writing, and they are selling very well, then you probably have a viable project on your hands. Look a the Young Adult book marketing, for example. Once the Twilight series of book become very successful, similar titles (and movies) followed, all featuring young people facing extraordinary circumstances: Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, etc. All were developed into a book series, and all were targeted to the same demographic (audience). Some view competition as a bad thing, because that might indicated a crowded marketplace, but publishers...and the book-buying public...like to gravitated toward a familiar, proven concept. If your book idea is utterly alone and there are literally no other books like it in the marketplace, it could mean you are a trendsetter, but it could also mean no market exists for your book.

Does the book solve a problem or appeal to a particular niche? To determine if you are the trendsetter or the author facing the prospect of having no audience for your book, you'll have to dig a bit deeper than looking for titles similar to yours? Do some creative Googling online for topics related to your book idea or book-in-progress. If you are writing a reference book for 19^th Century watch repair and there are no other books like it around, but you see there are blogs, message boards, Facebook groups and Twitter pages dedicated to the topic and these resources serve tens of thousand of people, you might be on to something. That's an under-served audience that would probably jump at the chance to read a book like yours (and those would be great places to start building an audience for your book). If, on the other hand, there is the equivalent of electronic tumbleweeds blowing across the screen when you look up these topics, you might be trying to serve a need where none exists, and no amount of book publicity is going to overcome that problem.

Who is the audience for the book? When I worked in the publishing industry, this was always one of the first questions I asked authors once it was time for me to start working with them on marketing and promoting their books. If the author wasn't sure who the audience for their book was, it didn't make my job impossible, but it made it much more difficult. An author has to be clear on the audience they are trying to serve, and that clarity should probably be present when they are writing their book. Authors write because they love to write, but they don't just write for themselves, they write for readers. For non-fiction authors, answering this question is probably easier than it is for novelists, but most successful writers know who their following is. Mary Higgins Clark appeals primarily to women, James Patterson writes books for mystery lovers, Stephen King writes books for those who love horror stories. Sometimes, writers will stray from their genre and write a completely different type of book and may even write under a different pen name, but they typically write with a particular kind of reader in mind.

How would I reach that audience? We touched on this a bit above, but during your market research on your book idea, you are going to come across many groups, message boards, social media pages, web sites, and organizations that are dedicated to the topic or genre of your book. Take note of these, because this is where you are going to find members of your audience, even if you already have your own following as a writer. You don't want to join a Facebook page and just start blasting “buy my upcoming book” all over it, but you can certainly join and engage the audience, answer questions, provide value and be an active member of the community. If you find several blogs dedicated to your book's topic, offer to write guest posts, or host guest posts from those bloggers on your blog, but make these folks your friends, because when it comes time to release your book, these folks will be your biggest champions and cheerleaders. If you wait until your book is released before you start putting in the work of audience-building, you'll be starting from scratch. If you have a strategy for reaching this audience and you can detail the type and size of the potential audience, as well as how you would reach that audience, to a publisher or potential publisher, then you'll not only increase your chances of getting published but you'll have a pretty good target to hit when it's time to plan the launch of your book.

Of course, it's not always about book sales, and I'm not trying to discourage anyone from writing that novel they have always wanted to finish. However, if you are trying to make your writing a career, and not just a hobby, never forget that publishing is a business. It's easier than ever to get published, but more difficult to sell books in large quantities, especially if you aren't clear on your audience and how you will reach them.

If you have already finished your book and need help determining your audience and the best way to reach them, fill out the contact form at the bottom of this site and we can help you launch (or re-launch) your book to eager and waiting readers!

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Guest Post: How Authors Can Use Webinars to Sell More Books

By Gihan Perera

If you're an expert who has written a book about your area of expertise - or you're in the process of writing it - I'm sure you know already that it's not enough to just publish the book and wait for the money to come rolling in. You need to do more - much more - to promote it (if you want more sales) and you (if you're using the book for positioning as an expert).

Webinars can be a powerful tool to help you as an author. Here are three ways you can use them to help you as an author.

1. Market Research
Your readers are looking for you to help them with one or more of these four things:

• Solve their problems
• Answer their questions
• Meet their challenges
• Achieve their goals

The more your book does these things, the more successful it will be. Unfortunately, sometimes it's difficult to know exactly what readers want.
One way to find out is with a free Question and Answer webinar. You invite everybody in your network (and ask them to forward it to their networks as well), turn up on the day and simply spend an hour answering the questions that people ask. Don't promote anything; just answer their questions. You provide an extremely valuable service, and in return you discover exactly what your market wants to know.
I've seen people do this without any more structure than I've just described. But you can add a few extra features - and make it easier for you at the same time - in a few ways:

• Invite attendees to e-mail you their questions in advance, so you have time to prepare your answers.
• If you've already got some structure for your book (for example, you know it's in four main sections), arrange the questions in this same broad structure.
• Record the webinar, and get the recording transcribed - this might even provide some new material for your book.

2. Bonus Webinar for Customers
To encourage people to buy your book as soon as it's launched, offer a bonus webinar for customers who buy it by a certain date.
In this webinar, you simply deliver a presentation outlining the main concepts of the book, answer reader questions, and perhaps even offer some bonus material. Don't worry about repeating some of what's in the book, because attendees will appreciate learning the information in different ways.
Of course, a webinar is just one of the many ways you can encourage "early bird" sales, but it has a number of advantages:

• A webinar has a date attached, so this creates a natural deadline.
• You can serve all these readers at the same time, so you don't have to limit the offer to a certain number of readers (as opposed to, say, offering a free 15-minute consultation to them).
• The recording can become a product in its own right, which you can sell individually or as part of a bundle with the book.

3. Webinar Series
One disadvantage of a book is that it only gives you one point of contact with your customer. Most people won't read a book more than once, and very few of them will even read it in full even once!
You can address this by offering an on-going webinar series about the content of the book, either to customers only (as a bonus) or to anybody (as a promotional opportunity).
The purpose of your webinar series is not only to promote book sales - although it will do that anyway. It's also to continue positioning yourself as an expert, and to remain in front of your target market's mind, so that when they're ready to buy what you've got to sell, you will be their first choice.
Again, webinars are not the only option available to you. But if you're willing to make the commitment, they can be a very powerful option, because your attendees get to engage with you live.

Gihan Perera is an Internet coach for speakers, trainers, consultants and other business professionals. He's the author of "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get free e-books, webinars and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gihan_Perera
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Authors-Can-Use-Webinars-to-Sell-More-Books&id=7034441

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The Terminator's Book Platform

Regardless of how you feel about action movie star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, authors could take a few cues from the Terminator. 

Arnold has always been a shrewd businessman.  He earned his degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and put that knowledge to use in the 1970s, starting his own mail-order business.  He was a millionaire by the age of 30, long before he became a Hollywood actor.  That kind of money was unheard of in the world in the competitive bodybuilding at the time. 

Now he is putting his marketing sense to work again, on a new book that is due to be released in October.  Sure, Arnold is a celebrity, but that doesn't mean bestselling book sales are guaranteed.  That is why he is working on building the platform for his book early by getting potential readers involved in the production process for his book and by connecting to them through social media. 

Last month, Arnold and his publisher released the book cover and a synopsis of the book.  It was blasted out to Arnold's 2.4 million Twitter followers. 

The back cover photo is being left up to his Facebook followers, who will get to vote on which photo should be used.  He also launched a Pinterest page to solicit photo suggestions. 

I have mentioned previously in this blog that marketing a book should begin as early as possible, to help build buzz and word of mouth.  Getting readers involved in picking a book cover or an author photo is a great way of doing that.  Of course, you may not have 2.4 million Twitter followers, but authors should work on building a presence on social media the moment they decide to become an author, share the production process with readers, maybe even a sample excerpt or two and get them excited about the book. Do this successfully, and by the time the book is released you'll have an audience eagerly waiting to buy a copy. 

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Guest Post: Sell More Books Using Center of Influence Marketing

 Today's guest post is courtesy of Lynn Baber, author of Amazing Grays, Amazing Grace and He Came Looking For Me.  You can find out more about Lynn at LynnBaber.net.   

Survey says…… most books are discovered through Center of Influence or Relationship Marketing.

AllBusiness is Personal

After my first business book was published in 1989 I started shopping a second title, All Business is Personal. Simon and Schuster was reviewing the proposal when I had an abrupt career change and left the board room for the barn. End of project.
The simple truth I hoped to communicate in All Business is Personal is that effective marketing is to individuals and not statistically defined groups. Whether the buying decision is for a stick of gum or a fleet of company cars, there will be some one who will approve the purchase order. That one person is the focus of successful marketing.  The simple truth of relational marketing has not changed one iota since 1989.
Authors quickly learn that selling a book is far more difficult than writing a book. Once upon a time I was a business consultant with an emphasis in marketing. Center of Influence (COI), or relationship marketing is an old concept that is becoming more and more relevant in the online world we live in.

Center of Influence Marketing

Simply put, COI is the process of identifying and targeting the people whom others look to for information, answers, and opinions. We live in a tribal society of sorts, where folks listen to the same music their friends do, read the same books as their peers, and share similar belief systems and spiritual leaders.
If you haven’t noticed the increase in tattoos you must be legally blind. Gender, age, and economic status appear to be irrelevant. Tattoos are the in thing. Why? Because the folks a man, woman, boy, or girl hang with or wish to emulate have tattoos. Skin art isn’t an expression of individuality but the desire to join the “tribe.

Market Your Book to Real People Not a Nameless Faceless Audience

The mechanism of Center of Influence marketing is simple. This is the place where I remind you that ‘simple’ is not synonymous with ‘easy.’

• List the characteristics of one person who would most benefit from your book. Describe them in the most detail possible as if they were the protagonist in your new novel.
• Research to determine who that one person (by name or description) would most likely look to for advice, information, and truth. Who would they trust? Which tribe do they belong to or aspire to?
• Make a list of the folks (real people now) who are at the center of tribal influence.
• Personally approach those people with an introduction, the offer of a review copy of your book, a meeting, or some type of further contact to at least get on their radar. If you don’t know the person establish a beginning and make it personal.

What Not to Do When Contacting Center of Influence Prospects

“I love you and want to marry you. I want to raise children with you and grow old together.” – a note addressed to Occupant

Relationship marketing using generic terms and targeting is just as obvious and doomed to fail as a pledge of lifetime fidelity to Occupant. Social media only works when it is personal.

• Don’t be impersonal. Learn about your COI target and his or her “tribe.” Do enough research to know why others look to them. Make your approach personal and relevant.
• DO NOT send out a blanket email or letter to “Dear Center of Influence”
• All Business if Personal. Ignore this truth you may as well quit now and use your books as fuel for toasting marshmallows. You must earn the opportunity to get a hearing with each Center of Influence unless you already have an established relationship.

The next step will determine the success of your book. Use your new relationship with each COI leader to get a review, speaking opportunity, or invitation to do an article for their blog, newsletter, or other media or group outlet. If the COI loves your book make it easy for them to share that discovery with the members of their tribe. If a COI does not love your book, ask why. Feedback from a tribal leader is a priceless gift for the purpose of refining your marketing plan.
Creativity is essential to writing a great book and equally necessary to market it successfully. If you have any questions please ask. I would be pleased to help you in any way I can.
Now go out there and find the movers and shakers who can carry your message to their tribes!
.
Click on the first two words of this post to visit the Goodreads Survey details. If you want more, check out this link as well  http://bit.ly/I3LHjQ

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Readers, Fans, and Evangelists

Today's guest post is courtesy of  Jim Miller.  Jim does a great job of helping authors find their target audience, and he also writes his own blog at http://aftertheinkdries.wordpress.com

Authors talk and think all the time about who is reading their books, but how often do you think about who talks about your book and who gets others to read it?

Gaining readers is only the first step of building an audience. A reader is merely someone who read your book whether they loved it, hated it, or were indifferent. If all you’re building is readers, you’re doing all the work yourself, one reader at a time. You can have success this way, but you can have more success paying attention to the other types of people you’re looking for.

Fans are people who love your book and talk about it. Evangelists are people who get others to buy it. Building up these segments of your audience is far more important than building readers alone. These people will be the army you need to grow your brand.

So how do you build fans and evangelists?

• The first step is to provide a place for fans to gather. If you don’t have a blog, start one. If you don’t know what one is, you’re reading one. The internet has no lack of articles to learn how to blog well, but here is a good place to start.

• Use your website and/or blog to let people know more about you and your message. If you’re a fiction author, you can write short stories or back stories about the characters in your book and post them here. Do whatever you can think of to give more to people who want more. Think about the things you like to read about famous people you admire and provide these things.

• Encourage anyone who comes to the site to post comments and questions, and respond to them. Readers think every author is famous, and the more they like your book, the giddier they’ll get about hearing from you. When they’re excited about hearing from you, they’ll tell all their friends that an author replied to their comment. They may post a link to your blog or website on facebook or on their own blog. You can encourage this by giving blanket permission to repost your posts if they give you credit, like I did with the tips on blogging from Ford Saeks. (If you haven’t clicked that link yet, it’s right here.)

• Wherever you go to speak or sign books, tell people about your blog and/or website, and encourage them to connect with you there. If you use projection slides with your presentation, put your blog or weblink on the last slide, and make sure it stays onscreen while you are taking questions from the audience.

• Always, always, always ask people to tell others. Obviously, I’m not talking about accosting strangers and asking them to tell people about your book. That would be creepy. However, whenever someone says something nice about your book, your knee-jerk response should be, “Thank you so much. Please tell everyone you know about the book. We’re trying to build an audience!”

• This is particularly true when people ask you when your next book is coming out. It is not uncommon for new authors to have 5 or 6 people ask this question and then try to put pressure on me to make their 2nd book happen. I can’t go to our acquisitions editors and say, “6 people have asked when the next book is coming out.” Their first question will be, “How many books have they sold?” If someone asks you when your next book is coming out, say, “As soon as we sell enough copies of the first one, so tell all your friends to buy it.” Some people will. Those are your evangelists.

• Reward your fans and evangelists in ways that are small to you but big to them. This could be anything from sending them a handful of bookmarks to naming a character after them in your next book. Some authors even use their blogs to workshop their future books. They share ideas or setting and plot points on their blog and work the feedback they like best into their writing. Be creative.

The crazy thing is that fans and evangelists don’t even have to be readers, necessarily. I’m a fan of Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv. I interviewed him (skeptically, I might add) when I was the editor of a magazine that showed how churches use technology in worship. The more I heard his heart and heard his passion repeated through my interviews with the rest of his staff, the more I came to appreciate him. I’ve never read his book Chazown (that’s the Hebrew word for “vision”), but I like it because I’ve seen his God-given vision in action.

Even stranger, I’m an evangelist for Bill Hybels, another author who is pastor of Willow Creek Church. When I was 17, my dad gave me one of his books, and for 25 years now, I’ve called it “the best book I’ve never read.” The book is called Who You Are When No One Is Looking. The title alone convicted me and changed the way I look at the world. It has shaped my character again and again over the past 25 years, and I’ve told many, many people to buy the book. If you’ve never considered this issue or known who you should be when no one is looking, go buy the book and read it.

If you’ve done anything at all to build your audience, you have some fans and evangelists. Connect to them and watch how much faster your audience grows.

Comment below: What are some of the ways you’ve created fans and evangelists?

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Reader mail: Niche Marketing Success Story

Today's post is an email I received from an author in response to Mark Mingle's guest post:  Are We Having Fun Yet?  Lisa Y. Potocar is the author of "Sweet Glory."  Lisa's email is a great example of why authors must be intimately involved in promoting their book, and how targeting a book's niche audience can lead to success...and a lot of fun along the way! - Terry

Hi, Terry!

In reply to your blog today, “Are We Having Fun Yet?” I’m having a BALL!!!! Just to keep you in the loop, I’ve had at least 15 events since my novel’s release on January 31, 2012, and I’ve sold a ton of books out of my own stash—YAY! I’m having HUGE success with the public libraries and their book clubs and historical societies. And my greatest audience is adults versus young adults, for which my story is aimed.  

I’ve been hopping on every opportunity that comes my way, including a radio interview, a writing presentation for 4^th through 6^th graders (this I did free of charge and it was a HUGE success), and two blog interviews. This past Monday night I presented to a local historical society, and the board members were thrilled when I signed back over to them the $50.00 honorarium to help them preserve their building.

I’ve been bringing Billy Bear (3 feet in stature) dressed in full cavalry garb and some Civil War bunting with me everywhere I go—Billy alone attracts great attention, but his offer to answer a question for a free bookmark is adding to bringing the crowds. And everyone has been rewarding my passion for my subject and enthusiasm to present it with a purchase or two—sometimes three—once even five by the same person.

I have numerous contacts to make that have arisen from my various events, such as the Capital District Civil War Round Table, a Civil War reenactment and encampment event in Windham, NY, Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, PA, numerous public libraries, another blog interview, etc., etc. I’ll keep you posted!

So….you be the judge….am I having fun yet? I hope you’re having fun too!

Lisa Potocar, Sweet Glory

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Guest Post: Are We Having Fun Yet?

Today's guest post comes courtesy of Mark Mingle. - Terry


When it comes to selling books, something is wrong if you are not having fun. Very wrong.

Think about it. You have taken your book from an idea, to a manuscript, now to a published work. No one knows it inside and out like you do, and no one will be more passionate about sharing your message than you will.

Doing that should be fun, just like it's fun to show off your new car, your new baby, or your new home. I'm not talking about bragging and being obnoxious, but about genuinely being excited and passing along that enthusiasm. Remember, enthusiasm can be contagious, and nothing is better for a book than that kind of organic, grassroots excitement.

Not all phases will be fun, and there will likely be failures along the way. That's life, and nothing that is worth anything in life comes easy. Publishing a book is not for the weak at heart. You will face rejection, frustration, and trouble. That's par for the course and shouldn't discourage you. Resistance on the path to success makes you stronger, and as an author, a huge part of the process is finding out what works - and what doesn't - for you and your book. That takes time, and it is done by trial and error. But breaking through after hard work can be extremely rewarding.

Once you find what does work, replicate it to death. Have fun with it, be a blessing to others, and find a way to help people by using your book. Whether it is fund-raising, taking your children's book to schools and seeing the kids' faces light up, or challenging someone with exactly what they need from your book, these opportunities can be fun and provide a terrific outlet for spreading the word.

If doing this has become painful and is no longer fun, it's time to re-evaluate what you are pursuing. There are always new directions and possibilities to pursue. 

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Guest Post: Sell Books With a Book Contest

Sell Books With a Book Contest

By Sandra Beckwith


Do you want people in your social networks talking about your new book? Host a book contest! With the right prizes, this promotional tactic can generate book sales, blog subscribers, Twitter followers, or Facebook fans (or all of the above).
Book contests are easy to implement and inexpensive, and they offer wonderful opportunities for you to connect with your readers and those who should become your readers. They also give your friends and fans an opportunity to "introduce" you to their networks.

Here are a few guidelines to get you started:

Decide what you want to accomplish. The contest goal is important because it helps you structure the contest and establish rules. When Barbara Techel hosted a recent contest to promote "Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances," she wanted people to buy the book, but she also wanted to generate more authors as Twitter followers because they're the book's target audience. Other common contest goals include increasing the number of blog subscribers and Facebook fans or generating pre-publication orders.

Be creative. Host a contest before publication to help select your cover design or to name a character in the book.

Don't require a purchase. It's against the law.

Determine your prize. Give away five copies of your book; offer the books of other people (get free shipping worldwide at BookDepository.com) when you're working to generate more followers, subscribers, or fans; or use other merchandise as prizes. Just make sure your prizes are appropriate for your target audience. Techel attracted authors by offering prizes donated by businesses that help authors market their books.

Set a time frame. Most book marketers agree that seven to 10 days gives you enough time to build momentum and get action.

Establish rules. How do people enter? How do they win? If entries are judged, be sure to explain how that happens. To generate more Twitter followers, Techel asked people to follow her on Twitter and retweet a specific tweet posted on her contest website page.

Encourage people to share contest information - and make it easy for them to do so. Most of us are willing to help you get the word out - we just need to be reminded to do it and sometimes instructed how.

Be organized. No matter what system you use, make sure you've got a way to track entries. For example, if you're running a Twitter contest that requires people to follow you and retweet the specific contest phrase, include a unique contest hashtag. It will make it easier for you to track and gather entries. In situations where the winner is selected at random, use Random.org. It's easier than doing it yourself and nobody can challenge the outcome as biased.

Announce the winners. This helps extend the life of the contest and generate even more awareness.
Match the right prize with your audience's interests, and you could have the formula for significant viral exposure.

Sandra Beckwith is a former national award-winning publicist who now teaches authors how to be their own book publicists. Get free tips and subscribe to her free "Build Book Buzz" e-zine at http://buildbookbuzz.com.

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The Book Marketing Snowball

I was recently speaking on the phone with a new author whose first book was just getting ready to go to print, explaining how book signings work, why authors do them, the importance of niche marketing, how distribution works, etc., when I got this question:

"Well, that's all well and good, but how do we get my book into Walmart?  They would sell a million copies of my book!"

I then explained that marketing a book is like rolling a snowball down a hill.  When it first starts rolling, it is a small snowball.   As it continues to roll down the hill, it gradually gets larger and larger.  By the time it reaches the bottom of the hill, it is significantly bigger than it was when it started. 

When a new, unknown author first becomes published, their book is the small snowball.  It may go unnoticed at first, but with persistent promotion it will continue to grow.  It may not grow as fast as the author wants it to, but in order to keep the sales and exposure going, the author and publisher must continue to keep pushing it down the hill.  If the author stops promoting their work, what happens?  The snowball isn't going to get any larger, and neither will the book sales. 

Many authors want to begin at the top of the hill with the big snowball, but they only have a big snowball if they have a large platform from which to launch their book.  Is the author famous?  Are they well-known in their state, region or even across the country?  Do they have a large following in their life or profession?  If not, then they are starting with a small snowball. 

You may have heard of the book "The Girls With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson.  It's a book that has been made into a movie, which is now playing in theaters.  The book wasn't published until after the author had died, and it was released in Sweden, Larsson's home country.  Nobody outside of Sweden had heard of Larsson prior to his book being published, but it won an award and was well-received in his home country.  A publisher in Great Britain took a chance on the book and translated it into English, renaming it from the original title, "Men Who Hate Women" to "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."  The book didn't sell. 

The British publisher resorted to giving away copies; leaving them in public places like bus stops where people would find and read them.  Like a snowball, word of mouth grew until book sales picked up and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" became a success.  Eight years after it was published, the book is now a Hollywood movie. 

That is an extreme example of a small snowball rolling down the hill and becoming something very big.  Not every author will have this kind of success, but the journey will almost always begin with a small snowball.  If you keep pushing it, it will become something bigger.  You just have to keep pushing. 

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Ten Things All New Authors Should Know About Publishing

There are a lot of misconceptions about the publishing industry.  New authors publishing their first book usually have an idea of how things "should" work, but these are ideas that typically are rooted in how the publishing industry used to work, or are based upon things they may have read online that just aren't true.

With that in mind, I thought I would address the Top 10 things new authors should know about the publishing industry, and explain how things really work.  Hopefully, this will save you a lot of time, effort and frustration.

1.  Books are not automatically stocked by bookstores.  In 2010, more than 3 million ISBN numbers were assigned.  That means three million different book titles.  The average large bookstore stocks about 110,000 titles.   Not every title that is released is going to be stocked by a bookstore.

2.  Publishers don't control which books get stocked in bookstores.  Bookstores decide for themselves which books they will stock.   The publisher can't make them stock anything.  Publishers submit titles, make them available for distribution and in some cases pay for shelf space, but they do not decide which titles you see in a bookstore.

3.  Most books are not sold in bookstores.  Bookstores sell a lot of books, but most books are sold online or through retailers other than traditional bookstores.

4.  If your book doesn't have an ISBN or distribution, it's not going to get sold through a bookstore.  If you are looking for wide availability for your book, it has got to have the kind of distribution publishers can provide.  There are some titles that are the exception, but that is just what they are:  rare exceptions.

5.  Ebooks are not replacing printed books,  yet.   According to the last figures I saw, ebooks were about 12 percent of the book market. 

6.  Pricing your ebook at 99 cents doesn't mean you'll sell a million copies.  These gimmicky sales strategies work a handful of times.  By the time you have heard about it, it has been done and everyone else has gotten the same idea.  Only eight authors have sold more than a million copies for the Kindle on Amazon.  That's right.  Eight. 

7.  Low book prices don't necessarily translate to higher sales.  This past weekend I shopped at a bookstore that was going out of business.  Every book on the shelf was one dollar.  There were still many books on the shelf that had not sold, not even for a dollar.  If a book is too cheap, many readers wonder "what's wrong with it?"

8.  For the most part, selling books is a slow process.  Many authors expect to sell thousands of books the moment they reach their book's release date.  If nobody knows about your or your book before the release date, they aren't going to know on the release date, either.  It takes time to build your reputation as an author, and sales.  I bought a business book at the $1 sale I mentioned earlier, and after reading it, I thought "this is a pretty good book."  I checked the sales ranking on Amazon:  it was ranked in the 1 million-plus range, meaning it's not moving many copies through Amazon, if any. 

9.  The average book title in the U.S. sells about 200 copies.  More than 651 million books were sold in the U.S. in 2011, according to Nielsen bookscan.  If the 2010 numbers hold up and about 3 million titles were released, that means the average book title sold about 217 copies last year.  The number could be lower, because that 3 million titles figure is only taking into account new titles being released, not titles that were released in previous years that sold in 2011.  A book by a new unknown author is generally considered a success if it sells 5,000 or more copies, UNLESS it's a book released by a celebrity of some kind, then those numbers would be considered dismal.

10.  There is no magic formula for selling books.  I often hear from authors who ask me to tell them how to quickly sell thousands and thousands of books, or make their book a bestseller.  Here is the secret:  write good books, target your niche audience, and work really, really hard to make you and your book known.   You'll sell books, but there is no guarantee you'll become a bestselling author.

Of course, I have covered a lot of this information before in previous blog posts, but I thought it would be helpful to compile a Cliff's Notes version here that would address some common misconceptions.  You can have success as an author even if your book isn't in every bookstore in the country, or you aren't featured on a national TV or radio show.  The publisher I work for recently had a title on the NY Times Bestseller list for non-fiction, but I work with authors who have sold many more copies than that title has, although they have been at it for a longer period of time.  Remember, patience and persistence win the day!

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An Important Marketing Tool: The Business Card

An Important Marketing Tool: The Business Card

By CJ Heck


When it comes to marketing your book or your written work, don't overlook one very important tool - the business card. It's one of an author's most important tools, and they're not expensive, considering the many ways a business card can help you.

If you have a website, have your website URL printed on the back so they can visit your site. Have a picture of your book(s) on it, like a logo. I've sold a lot of books using my business card. There are so many uses for it and I'd like to share some of them with you. You can probably come up with even more ways.

** Remember, we're in the business of selling books:

* Bulletin Boards in stores and businesses you go to. Thumb-tack your card there with all of the others.

* While sitting in waiting rooms, on a plane, train, or bus talking to people. Hand them one of your cards.

* At gatherings, parties, class reunions (yuck), or while networking with your 'real' job - hand out both of your business cards.

* Tuck a few inside books you've sold for buyers to pass out to their friends.

* Ask it it's okay to leave a small stack of them on the counter at your local public libraries. Libraries love local authors! So do people who come to the library - they will take the cards, trust me.

* If your book is a children's book... anytime you see a mother with children, strike up a conversation, introduce yourself and hand her a card, or several to give to their friends.

* Again, for children's authors, any time you meet a teacher, a principal, school librarian, give them cards, too. You can also tell them you do school visits (if, in fact, you do them).

* Ask to leave a stack of business cards on the counter at the mechanic's where you take your car, at your hairdresser, barber, and even at the gym.

* Buy a small business card holder, have it full of cards and right beside you on the table at book signings, school visits, or other speaking engagements. Maybe someone won't buy the book that day, but when they take a business card, it's an excellent reminder of your book for later, when they're considering gifts.

Here's one of my personal favorites. I've sold a lot of books this way:

Restaurants - when the check comes after dinner, write "Thank You" on one of your cards, and add the waitress' or waiter's name if it's on the check. Then be sure and sign it and leave it, along with the tip. Many times, they've followed me out to the door asking more about the book, or wanting to shake my hand, or even ask for more cards for the rest of the staff.

* The above also applies to anyone giving you a good service - your barber, the clerk in a department store, but always write "Thank You" and sign your card. Remember, it's an autograph AND a reminder about your book and website. People love meeting authors - use this to your advantage, fellow writers. Have those business cards in your pocket and ready to pass out.

You'll sell more books, I promise.

CJ Heck is a published poet, writer, blogger and author of four books. For excerpts and more information, please visit: http://www.barkingspiderspoetry.com. CJ is also a Vietnam War widow.

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Are You Prepared for Opportunity?

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.  ~Benjamin Disraeli

A couple of incidents this week reminded me of this quote, and led me to write this blog post.  Authors are always scrambling for opportunities to promote their books, but most expect it come when they want it to, not when it actually does arrive.   Many think that all of the major opportunities for their book will come as soon as their book's release date arrives, but I have rarely found that to be the case.  

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a producer of a nationally-known television news program.  I won't mention it specifically here, but let's just say you would definitely recognize it, and it reaches millions of people every week.  The producer wanted me to put them in touch with an author.  Great!  These are exactly the types of opportunities I love to pass along to my authors!  However, when I tried to reach the author, their phone number had been disconnected.  They had changed their number and not sent me the new one.  Luckily, I was able to reach them by email, but this could have been a huge missed opportunity for them.  This author's book was released 2 1/2 years ago. 

Another one of our staff received a phone call from Focus on the Family.  They wanted one of our authors to write an article for one of their publications.  The publication reaches millions of people, and of course, the author would be able to mention their book.    This author's book was released about 18 months ago.  

As you can see, some time has passed since the books' release dates until these authors were presented with career-boosting opportunities.  They didn't happen within a few weeks of the release date, as so many expect, but after both authors had put in time and effort to position themselves as experts in their fields.  

A successful writing career consists of writing good books and a series of opportunities that may come your way.  Those opportunities can come at any time, whether it is 2 months or two years after your book's release date.   Patience and persistence always win the day.  Will you be ready for opportunities that come your way?  

What are some of the opportunities you have been able to take advantage of?  How long did you work at promoting your book before these opportunities became available?  Please share in the Comments section of this post. 

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Guest Post: Which Books Sell Best At Which Times of Year

Which Books Sell Best at Which Times of Year

By Irene Watson


Promoting your book means taking advantage of any opportunity that will be relevant to it. In general, book sales are very low in winter, following the Christmas rush, but summer and the holidays are good times to sell books. Being aware of what events or holidays will help your book sales can help a publisher and author realize when to promote hard and when promoting may be wasting time and energy that could be put into working on the next book or preparing for a better promotion opportunity down the road. Here are some guidelines for determining the best times to promote your book.

Christmas: The Christmas season is probably the time when the most books are sold. However, the fall is also the time of year when the most books are published because everyone thinks his or her books will sell best at Christmas. Not true. No one is going to want to receive a diet book as a Christmas gift-that would be insulting-although the same person might buy the diet book for him- or herself at a different time of the year. Similarly, a self-help book telling you how to take charge of your life might be offensive to someone, making the person feel the gift is a sign of disapproval about how he is living his life. Books work as gifts when the book matches the receiver, being something the person is interested in, so obviously, someone who likes to cook might enjoy a cookbook, or a spiritual person might enjoy a collection of inspirational quotes and poems. Novels, children's books, history books, and even biographies always have a tendency to sell well as gifts at the holidays.

Summer: Summer is the next big season for book sales, and authors have more flexibility during this time than during the holiday season. Plenty of book festivals and art and craft shows exist where you can promote your title to the general public and usually find some people interested. Any topic has potential in the summer, as long as it's not related to winter, like a book about skiing or ice-climbing. Of course, the biggest sellers are often novels for beach and escapist reading on a vacation. Travel books also sell well in spring and summer for people preparing for vacation. And don't forget fitness books-people want to shed those extra pounds so they can look their best at the beach.

Other Holidays/Seasons: Depending on your book's subject, you can help to promote it at various holidays. Start planning two months or more before the holiday and start promoting at least a month before so as the holiday approaches, people become interested and excited. For example, any romance novel has potential for Valentine's Day, any book about Ireland or that has Irish characters in it could do well for St. Patrick's Day. Horror novels can be a hit around Halloween, and historical fiction or history or biographies about significant Americans could do well at the Fourth of July. Books on war and the military can be promoted in conjunction with Memorial Day and Veterans Day, or at anniversaries like Pearl Harbor or the landing at Normandy. And if your book is about hunting, there's deer season, bird season, bear season. There's also a school "season." Be creative about considering possibilities.

Anniversaries: Don't forget significant anniversaries of events-several books are in the works to be published in conjunction with the two hundredth anniversary of the War of 1812, and I imagine the same will be true in 2014 when World War I reaches its century mark. There are always various events being held on certain topics of interest that can help to sell your book. For example, if you write about automobiles, Henry Ford, or the automobile industry, the upcoming 100th anniversary of a specific model of a car, such as the Model T celebrated in 2008, could help you to promote your book.

Annual or Bi-Annual Events: Every time the Olympics comes around, books about athletes and especially Olympians can see higher sales. If you are a local author writing about the history of your area and the town holds an annual Founder's Day, you can promote your book at the festivities. The Fourth of July is a popular time for communities to celebrate their own history in conjunction so keep that in mind. It might also be an annual car race, an annual fishing derby, or an annual exhibit at the public library on mental illness that might be relevant to your book.

Festivals: No absence of festivals occurs, especially in summer. If you're writing history or something with an ethnic connection, seek out the local Greek, Scandinavian, Italian, Irish, or any number of other ethnic festivals. The lilac festival might help sell your gardening book; the yachting festival might help your book on shipwrecks. And don't forget about food! It might be the annual cheese festival or the annual seafood festival-anywhere people go to eat is going to bring a crowd-the festival-goers' minds might not be on books, but you'll catch a few people's eyes. When people are having fun and satisfying their appetites, they are in a good mood and more willing to part with their money.

National ____ Day/Month: You name it, there's a day or month for everything. It might be Black History Month that will help you, or Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or even National Pickle Day. Find out when these events take place, help to raise awareness of them, and promote your book in conjunction.
Whether it's a hometown event or an international conference, a national holiday or a historic anniversary, numerous possibilities exist for ways to tie your book into something people will get excited about. Plan ahead so you are ready to promote when the event occurs. It might be advertising on your website for the month in advance that on "Mother's Day only" you will have a "half-off" special. It might be booking yourself to be at holiday shows every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It might be seeking out organizers for summer events in the winter so you can be prepared. With a little creative thinking, you can always tie your book into something else that already has people interested and excited so you can capitalize on their enthusiasm to help your book sales.

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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How "Book Thief" Made Out Like a Bandit

I came across an interesting article today in Publisher's Weekly.  It was about Markus Zusak's 2006 novel "The Book Thief" surpassing more than two million copies sold.  For the author that is slogging away at book signings, two million seems like an incomprehensible number.  So, how did he do it?

According to the article, Zusak's publisher, Random House, credits " book clubs, community read programs, and passionate word-of-mouth recommendations."

In other words, the publisher and author targeted the niche audience for this book.  Notice they don't credit Walmart, prime placement on Amazon's front page or a huge advertising campaign for the book.   Too often, authors are looking for the whiz-bang flash of a splashy ad in a newspaper, or pin all their hopes of a bookstore chain carrying their book in every outlet in the country.  There is much to be said for word-of-mouth advertising.

The author himself is surprised, saying he didn't think anyone would be interested in reading the book.  He simply writes for the sake of writing.  He has some pretty interesting comments beginning at 3:26 in the interview below.

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Guest Post: Holiday Author Events

Holiday Author Events: How to Increase Holiday Book Sales

By Irene Watson


Book sales are typically highest for most authors during the holidays so authors should take full advantage of the holiday season. Many avenues exist during the holidays to increase book sales and a little extra imagination can always help, while a lot of the possibilities can also be effective the rest of the year. If you want to sell books, the holidays are definitely the best time.
Any dedicated author who wants to sell books will make sure the months of November and December are filled with opportunities for them, and while it would be easy to let your book marketing go onto the back burner because of all the other busy activities surrounding the holidays, this season is often the one that can cause the biggest jump in book sales. If you want to sell books, here are some tips for making a fun holiday season also a profitable one.

1. Plan Ahead. Begin in the summer or sooner trying to schedule your events in November and December. Many Christmas art and craft shows begin taking applications at this time, so to get in and get the best placement, spring and summer are the time to reserve a space. That said, often shows are not filled until the last minute, so never feel it's too late to call and try to get in if you didn't plan ahead. If you have a new book coming out, you might plan to release it in late fall-September or October are slower months for book sales, but a release at that time will give you a couple of months to plant the seed in Christmas shoppers' heads while catching those early shoppers, and it will give you time to build buzz about your book. Finally, the more time you give yourself, the more ideas you can come up with and the more you can refine them so they will be effective during the holiday season.
2. Schedule Events Every Weekend. Whether it's a Christmas craft show, a church bazaar, or a holiday book signing, make sure you fill the holiday season with events that will draw in people who are looking to purchase Christmas gifts. The more high traffic the area receives, the better. While a book signing at a bookstore might seem like a good idea, more people are buying books online, whether we like it or not, so bookstores may not get the traffic that other places receive. A Christmas Craft show, on the other hand, can often generate traffic that numbers in the thousands. Furthermore, people go to craft shows looking for craft items and are often surprised to find books there, which are often among the more affordable items. You receive exposure there to people who might never go in a bookstore, and you are bound to be seen by people with money in their pockets that they are planning to spend. Any event in a mall is also a good idea during the holidays.
3. Participate in Holiday Entertainments. If you've written a children's book, you might get yourself a booth at the mall when Santa is there so your target audience of children sees you. If you can find an open mike holiday event, such as a poetry reading, go and read from your book so people hear it and want to buy it. Is your downtown having a Ladies' Shopping Night? Then ask one of the store owners if you can sell your books that night in the store.
4. Donate Books for Christmas Fundraisers. Christmas is the season of giving. You can give copies of your books to local charity events, whether it's the church bazaar, the local Toys for Tots or another organization's book drive, an auction of items for charity, or anything else that offers your book a chance in the spotlight. And don't forget that giving of your time is also fruitful. Participate in an event where you might not only feel good about helping others-whether it's the church bake sale, a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for the homeless, or any other event-but where you will also meet new people and you can tell them about your book-granted, the homeless might not buy it, but the other workers there might. Remember, wherever you go, many people will treat you as a celebrity because you are an author. You don't have to flaunt your book, but when people ask what you do, simply remember to say with pride, "I'm an author." Many people find it exciting to meet someone who has written a book, and even if you only get one interested person, that person is often capable of spreading the word to many other potential buyers.
5. Offer Holiday Specials. Many ways exist to get people excited about your book by offering various forms of specials. If you attend a Christmas craft show, make a sign announcing you have an "Exclusive Show Special" and offer a discounted price for your book, or better yet, if you have several books, offer a "Buy Two, Get the Third Free" or other package deal. Perhaps you have an author friend who will share the book with you and you can have a special where the customers get one of each of your books as a special deal. Or if you have an artist friend, you could offer a discounted piece of art with the purchase of a book or vice versa. And don't forget your website! Offer specials there and send out emails to your readers, plus post messages on Facebook and other online places where you can reach your online readers to let them know you have a special limited time offer, or even that you are offering free shipping until Christmas. Anytime you can let people think they are getting a deal, they are more likely to buy.
6. Be Cheerful and Festive. Exude the holiday spirit! Wear Christmas colors-red and green, or fun Christmas ties or sweaters. At events, decorate your booth with holiday ornaments, from a Christmas tablecloth, to giving away Christmas candy, or anything else that will attract people to your booth, putting potential customers in the holiday mood and making them feel welcome. Remember, nobody wants to do business with a Scrooge, much less read his book. A Christmas Carol has already been written. Now it's time for people to read your book.

Trying to promote your book during the holidays can be time-consuming and exhausting-at least many authors have told me that as their reason why they don't do it-but I find that when you connect with people at holiday events they are usually in a cheerful mood and cheer you up, and when you imagine people tearing open wrapping paper to discover your book under their Christmas trees, it can be quite an invigorating experience. As far as book sales go, most authors should wish it could be Christmas all year round.
Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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Guest Post: Start Marketing Your Book Even Before It's Done

Start Marketing Your Book Even Before It Is Done

By Lisa Shultz


Ideally, one should plan and implement a marketing campaign many months before the actual launch of your book. Lay the foundation for success early and then be consistent with ongoing marketing well after your book has been released.

Here are seven tips to do while you book is being edited or in process of production and you have a bit of extra time on your hands since the book is being worked on by others.

Tip #1: Review all your social media profiles and update them. Put information in the profile indicating that your book is soon to be published, and add a date if you know one, and a brief overview of what the book is about.

Tip #2: Begin to do searches on all social media platforms of your target audience and join groups, "like" pages, and subscribe. For example, you were writing a book about a dog, your target readership might be dog lovers. Spend time finding out where dog lovers hang out both physically and on the internet. Perhaps visit the actual locations in your community where dog lovers go and build relationships with owners of stores and leaders of organizations related to dogs.

On the internet, begin interacting with members of groups related to dogs and just enjoy the conversation. In forums and groups, it is best to spend several months in friendly interaction before ever suggesting a call to action such as buying your book. If the membership enjoys your comments in the groups, they will be much more willing to actually buy a book from you at a later date.

Tip #3: Build your lists. Accelerate your efforts at adding followers to your lists. Those lists might be friends and fans on Facebook, your email distribution list, and blog subscribers. Wherever you have lists, build them to greater numbers. Allot a certain amount of time each day to list building activities to increase your connections.

Tip #4: Begin to inquire about joint venturing with others who have large lists. Leverage the lists of synergistic people in your niche by suggesting a mutually beneficial partnership of cross promotion. Perhaps they will promote the launch of your book to their lists if you feature them on your blog or they have the opportunity to give a bonus to your list when someone buys your book.

Tip #5: Draft press releases and email and social media announcements so you are prepared for the big launch day when it arrives. You may edit these drafts as the day approaches, but you will have these important promotional pieces in a ready state.

Tip #6: Create interview questions that you would love to answer on radio shows or blog interviews. Those who might interview you appreciate you making their job easier, and you have a chance to practice your answers so they sound smooth and natural.

Tip #7: Place information about your book release in the signature line of your emails such as "Author of the soon to be published book entitled (your book's title)".

Remember that marketing needs to be a part of your routine every week consistently before and after your book comes out. Keep a constant stream of exposure to your target market for your book's success. Whether you traditionally publish or self-publish, you will be in charge of marketing your book, so start early and be persistent!

And if you would like to know more about self-publishing process, visit http://www.selfpublishingexperts.com Get free instant access to tips, a free book visualization and more. You'll find that the writing process can be simplified and even easy with guidelines and sequential steps to follow. Lisa Shultz is a self-publishing specialist and loves to help others bring their books to life.

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