Guest Post: Jessica Handler

Today's guest post is written by award-winning author Jessica Handler. - Terry

I’m not usually a paragon of discipline, but when it comes to getting the word out about Invisible Sisters, marketing isn’t discipline: it’s fun. I’m fortunate because the book’s publicist played a part early and has a hand in publicity even almost a year after my memoir came out. Even a great publicist will tell you that it’s up to the author to be responsible for her book’s success. My publicist has made the connections for Invisible Sisters inclusion in some wonderful book festivals (I’ll be at the Virginia Festival of the Book in March, and the Southern Kentucky Book Fair in April) and I’ve pitched and organized lectures, book talks, and speaking engagements at writers’ clubs and community organizations. I ask friends and family (and friends of family) if I can visit their book clubs. If they live far away, Skype is a great resource!

Before you market your book, you’ll want to understand your platform. Get a friend who’s read the book to help you figure this out. Make a list of the topics and issues in the book, even if it’s fiction. Is it about children, parents, travel, religion, social justice, hobbies, medicine…if you’re not sure, ask yourself who your ideal reader would be, and why. This will help you decide what groups in your community would particularly like to hear you speak on this topic. Learn to use social media, like Twitter and Facebook, and update your status or your tweets to build recognition about yourself and your book with groups and individuals who you think would be interested. For example, if your book is about parenting and there’s a parenting story in the news, tweet, update, and blog about the connection! Don’t have a blog? Start one; there are plenty of free and low-cost templates out there, and plenty of students, nieces, nephews, and friends who can get you set up if you’re hesitant to try it alone.

Word of mouth (and keyboard) is the best way to encourage readers to buy and enjoy your book. Ask friends to tell other friends how much they liked it. Send thank you notes (the old fashioned kind, written by hand) to book groups and event organizers after you participate, and make sure to include a business card or promotional postcard with info about your book and contact info for yourself.

Here’s the easiest tip of all. Be friendly, enthusiastic, and support writers in your community, and they’ll support you back. Attend readings at bookstores, community centers, libraries, and schools. Join their mailing lists. Get to know other people supporting writers in your community. Writing is a solitary occupation, but you’ve got a book out! Time to celebrate and spread the news!

About the Author:

Jessica Handler’s first book, Invisible Sisters: A Memoir (Public Affairs, 2009) is one of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Eight Great Southern Books in 2009” and Atlanta Magazine’s “Best Memoir of 2009.” Her nonfiction has appeared in Brevity.com, More Magazine, Southern Arts Journal, and Ars Medica. She received the 2009 Peter Taylor Nonfiction Fellowship for the Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshop, and a special mention for a 2008 Pushcart Prize. Handler teaches creative writing in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read More

Book Marketing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Just out of curiosity, I checked Amazon recently to see which titles were the current bestselling titles offered by Tate Publishing (where I work as associate director of marketing). The Top 5 (at the time) were:

1. A Daughter's Worth: A Bible Study for Teenaged Girls
by Ava Sturgeon
2. What All Little Girls Need & What Most Women Never Had: Healthy, Loving Relationships with Their Fathers
by Joe Cucchiara
3. The Manufactured Identity
by Heath Sommer
4. Eden: The Knowledge of Good and Evil 666
by Dr. Joye Jeffries Pugh
5. How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher's Salary
by Danny Kofke

If you peruse these titles on Amazon, you'll notice that with one exception, they were released 3 to 5 years ago. That's right, 3 to 5 years ago. They aren't new releases which have raced up the Amazon sales rankings. The authors all have one thing in common: they have consistently and persistently worked to market and promote their titles.

As I have mentioned here before, too many authors give up on promoting their titles way too soon. In many cases, I have spoken to authors who are ready to throw in the towel 3-6 months after their book's release because the aren't seeing the kind of results or reception they thought they would get with their title. It has always amazed me that authors are so willing to give up on something in which they have invested so much time and effort.

Publishing is a competitive business. Last year, more than 560,000 titles were released in the U.S. That's more than 1,500 titles per day! What are you doing to make your title stand out?

I help market two of the titles in the Top 5, and I am somewhat familiar with a third title on the list. I know that these authors have done the following to raise the profile of their books:

They have made a number of media appearances. In the case of Dr. Pugh, she has scheduled numerous Internet radio programs for herself through BlogTalkRadio. This led to an appearance on the syndicated radio program Coast to Coast AM, and that led to her being invited to appear in a series on The History Channel called The Nostradamus Effect. She continues to do Internet radio interviews.

They are actively participating in author appearances and book signing events. These include speaking engagements and any other events where they might have an opportunity to discuss their book.

They have their own web site or blog. Most, if not all, of these authors have raised their online profile with their own web site, writing on their own blogs and participating on social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.

They didn't quit. Even three to five years after their books have been released, these authors continue to seek new opportunities to talk about and promote their books.

A couple of years ago, I remember seeing an ad in a publishing trade magazine in which the publisher was congratulating one of their children's book authors for selling 100,000 copies of their book. Wow, I thought, that's pretty good! Out of curiosity, I checked to see when the book had been released. I was shocked to discover it had been released almost 20 years ago. It had taken two decades for the author to sell 100,000 copies of their book, but they were still promoting it, and they were still selling copies of their book every year.

It is good to set goals for yourself each year about what you would like to accomplish with your book, but remember, it all doesn't have to happen within a couple of months of your book being released. Marketing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. Your book has no expiration date. It will have a shelf life for as long as you are willing to stand behind it.

Read More

Publicity is FREE: 15 Commandments for Getting in on the Ride

Publicity is FREE: 15 Commandments for Getting In on the Ride

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

A huge retailer once said that advertising works, we just don’t know how, why, or where it works best.

What we do know is that advertising’s less mysterious cousin, publicity, works even better. It is the more reliable relative because it is judged on its merit alone and carries the cachet of an editor’s approval. It also is surrounded by the ever-magic word “free.” The two are easily identified as kin.

These two often walk hand-in-hand and yet they can be incompatible. The editors of good media outlets will not allow the advertising department to influence them. Still, in an effort to be completely impartial they reserve the right to use advertiser’s stories editorially if they deem them newsworthy. That is why it is helpful to use advertising in a vehicle that plays to the audience you would like to see standing in line for your book. This paid-for exposure then becomes an entrée to the decision-makers. A contact in the advertising department may be willing to put a news release on the desk of one of his editors, maybe even encourage her to look at it. There are no contracts, but it does sometimes work. If you’re going to try this route, choose a “little pond”, a bookish brochure or an “arty” weekly so that the dollars you spend will be noticed.

Sometimes a magazine or newspaper will run a special promotion called advertorial. These are sections where you pay for an ad and then the newspaper assigns a reporter to cover the story you want told. The article carries some of the prestige of editorial copy—that is the general reader may assume the article has been chosen only on its merits because of its copycat character. The writer or editor you meet will can be approached when your have something exceptional.

Still, advertorial isn’t exactly FREE. If FREE sounds more like the fare that will serve your needs, carve out some time to do it yourself and follow these 15 commandments:

Educate yourself: Study other press releases. Read a book like Publicity Advice & How-To Handbook, by UCLA Marketing Instructor, Rolf Gompertz, a SPAN member. Order it by calling 818-980-3576. Join publicity oriented e-groups.

Read, read, read: Your newspaper. Your e-zines. Even your junk mail, a wonderful newsletter put out by the Small Publishers of North America (www.spannet.org) and one called The Publicity Hound (www.publicityhound.com.) My daughter found a flier from the local library in the Sunday paper stuffed between grocery coupons. It mentioned a display done by a local merchant in the library window. My second book, HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED, became a super model in their lobby and I became a seminar speaker for their author series. Rubbish (and that includes SPAM) can be the goose that laid the golden egg.

Keep an open mind for promotion ideas: Look at the different themes in your book. There are angles there you can exploit when you’re talking to editors. My first book, THIS IS THE PLACE is sort of romantic (a romance website will like it) but it is also set in Salt Lake City, the site where the winter games were played in 2002 and, though that’s a reach, I found sports desks and feature editors open to it as Olympics © fervor grew and even as it waned because they were desperate for material as the zeal for the games wound down.

Cull contacts: Develop your Rolodex by adding quality recipients from media directories. The website http://www.gebbieinc.com/ has an All-in-One Directory that gives links to others such as Editor, Publisher Year Book, and Burrell’s. Some partial directories on the web are free and so are your yellow pages. Ask for help from your librarian—a good research librarian is like a shark; she’ll keep biting until she’s got exactly what she wants.

Etiquette counts: Send thank-you notes to contacts after they’ve featured you or your book. This happens so rarely they are sure to be impressed and to pay attention to the next idea you have, even if it’s just a listing in a calendar for your next book signing.

Partner with your publicist and publisher: Ask for help from their promotion department—even if it’s just for a sample press release.

Publicize who you are, what you do: Reviews aren’t the only way to go. E-books are important promotion tools and Twitter is big news right now (find me at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo). Katy Walls, author of “The Last Step,” coordinated an “anthology” of recipes from authors who mention food in their books (yes, some my family’s ancient recipes from polygamist times are in it). It is a free e-book, a promotional CD, and great fodder for the local newspapers. If you’d like a copy, e-mail me at HoJoNews@aol.com. Use it as a cookbook and as a sample for your own e-book promotion.

Think of angles for human interest stories, not only about your book but about you as its author. Are you very young? Is writing a book a new endeavor for you? Several editors have liked the idea that I wrote my first book at an age when most are thinking of retiring, that I think of myself as an example of the fact that it is never too late to follow a dream.

Develop new activities to publicize: Don’t do just book signings. Use your imagination for a spectacular launch. Start an award. I give the Noble (Not Nobel!) for literary work each January at www.MyShelf.com. Get charities involved. Think in terms of ways to help your community.

Send professional photos with your release: Request guidelines from your target media. Local editors won’t mind if you send homey Kodak moment--properly labeled--along with your release. Some will use it; it may pique the interest of others and they’ll send out their own photographers. It’s best, however, to send only professional photos to the big guys.

Frequency is important: The editor who ignores your first release may pay more attention to your second or twenty-fifth. She will come to view you as a source and call you when she needs to quote an expert. This can work for novels as well as nonfiction. I received a nice referral in my local newspaper because I am now an “expert” on prejudice, even though my book is a novel and not a how-to or self-help piece.

Follow Up: Shel Horowitz, author of Marketing Without Megabucks (http://www.frugalfun.com), reports that follow-up calls boost the chances of a press release being published. Voice contact builds relationships better than any other means of communication.

Keep clippings: Professional publicists like Debra Gold of Gold & Company do this for their clients; you do it so you’ll know what’s working and what isn’t.

Evaluate: One year after your first release, add up the column inches. Measure the number of inches any paper gave you free including headlines and pictures. If the piece is three columns wide and each column of your story is six inches long, that is 18 column inches. How much does that newspaper charge per inch for their ads? Multiply the column inches by that rate to know what the piece is worth in advertising dollars. Now add 20% for the additional trust the reader puts in editorial material.

Set goals: You now have a total of what your year’s efforts have reaped. New publicist-authors should set a goal to increase that amount by 100% in the next year. If you already have a track record, aim for 20%.

Observe progress: Publicity is like planting bulbs. It proliferates even when you aren’t trying very hard. By watching for unintended results, you learn how to make them happen in the future.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON’T (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo ). For a little over 2 cents a day THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER assures your book the best possible start in life. Full of nitty gritty how-to's for getting nearly free publicity, Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares her professional experience as well as practical tips gleaned from the successes of her own book campaigns. She is a former publicist for a New York PR firm and a marketing instructor for UCLA's Writers' Program.. Learn more about the author at http://carolynhoward-johnson.com or http://HowToDoItFrugally.com

Read More

How to Sell Books in Bulk

Most authors have dreams of making their book an instant bestseller...seeing their book fly off the shelves of bookstores and selling their books to throngs of fans at book signings. However, the average signing at a bookstore results in about six copies sold. That's right, six.

But what if I told you it is possible to sell hundreds, perhaps even thousands of copies of your book without stepping foot inside a bookstore? Authors are doing just that...by selling their books in bulk.

I'm not talking about selling books out of the back of a truck, although that might work for you, too. No, these are sales directly to major companies which will use these books at premiums or "freemiums" for their employees and customers. A few examples:

1. If an author has written a book about personal finance and money management, they could approach a chain of banks or credit unions about the possibility of purchasing a quantity of books at a discount (probably 40-50 percent off the cover price) and giving those books to new customers who open a savings or checking account.

2. Perhaps the book is about time management, or leadership, or effective work habits. The author could approach major companies about purchasing a copy for every manager or employee in their company. If it's a large company, the quantities could number in the hundreds or thousands. Again, you would need to offer the books at discount.

3. If the book is educational in nature, such as a Bible study book, the author could develop a course to go along with the book and offer it to churches around the country. Of course, the book would be required reading for the course. You could develop the same type of strategy for books about money management, getting through a divorce, better communication with your spouse, etc.

4. If you do public speaking and you are active on the speaking circuit, but not yet getting paid for your speeches (or aren't commanding high fees yet), tell organizations that instead of charging for the speaking engagement, the cost of attendance is the purchase of your book, which of course is tied to the topic of your speech. Tell them their members are getting the "organizational discount" of 20 percent off the retail price. The books could either be purchased at the door by attendees or in bulk by the organization itself (you can sweeten the deal by offering a bigger discount if they buy in bulk). If they have 500 attendees at the speech, and your book's retail price is $10, you'll stand to make $4,000 off that speaking engagement if attendees buy books at the door.

5. If you have a book about dieting, try to partner with weight loss organizations or gyms. You could cross promote with the businesses by giving them books at a discount to give to their new customers for free when they sign up for a membership, and when you are selling books at other events you could agree to place a small ad for the gym or weight loss organization inside your book (a card some other type of insert would do). When customers sign up at the gym with that card, they would get a discount on the membership.

These are just a few ideas, but it gives you a starting point. Perhaps you have some similar ideas of your own, or you could develop some that would work specifically for your book. Instead of trying to sell a handful of copies to each retail store around the country, target a few large companies or organizations which will purchase your book in bulk by the thousands. It will require some sales skill on your part, and you will have to show the companies and organizations how YOUR book will benefit THEM. They must see value in what they are buying. For the authors that can strike these types of partnerships, the rewards can be great.

Read More

The 10 Terrible Truths of Book Marketing

During the time I have worked in the publishing industry, I have heard a lot of different ideas and statements about how to market books. Some of them are pretty good. Others might seem like a good idea to someone new to the industry, but in actuality they don't work at all. Those are the ideas I'm going to address in this post, but only because they come up so often. I probably hear these ideas or comments on a weekly basis. So, here they are, in no particular order: The 10 Terrible Truths of Book Marketing, along with the marketing requests or comments which generally accompany them.

1. My book will sell itself. No book sells itself. Selling books happens to be a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun. But no, books do not sell themselves. If they did, I wouldn't have a job.

2. Celebrities will help me sell my book. I have had requests to send review copies to President Obama, Joel Osteen, Sean Hannity and Larry the Cable Guy, among other celebrities. I'm not sure what authors think these people are going to do with their books, and I think President Obama has his hands full without taking on a book marketing project (other than his own book). Besides, most celebrities are more concerned with selling THEIR books than that of another author.

3. I'm an author, not a book salesman (or salesperson). Well, of course you're an author first, but along with that title comes a certain responsibility to help promote and sell your book. For some authors, this means doing book tours and making media appearances. For others, it means speaking to Rotary Clubs and eating rubber chicken dinners at speaking engagements. But make no mistake, authors must be involved in promoting their book, or it will collect dust on the shelf.

4. (From children's book authors) Let's sell my books through Scholastic Book Fairs. They sell a lot of books. Yes, Scholastic Book Fairs do sell lots of children's books...millions of dollars worth each year, in fact.  But, if you and your book aren't known and already have some kind of track record of sales, your book is less likely to be picked up by Scholastic. 

5. If I could just get on Oprah (or some other national TV show) my book will be a bestseller. I have worked with authors who have been on numerous national TV shows. There is no denying it is fantastic exposure, and it's the kind of exposure I work toward for my authors every day. However, making one appearance on a TV show does not guarantee bestseller status.

6. If we buy an ad on (Facebook, YouTube, Drudge Report or some other web site) my book will sell thousands of copies. Millions of people use these sites. It is true that these are high-traffic sites, attracting millions and millions of users. But hits on a web site don't necessarily transfer into sales. Think about it: when is the last time you purchased something as a result of seeing an ad for it on one of these sites? If you're like most people, the answer is probably "never." If you do sell a few copies, it is unlikely you would make back the amount of money spent on the ad. Even after I tell people this, they still insist on spending the money, only to later call and tell me they shouldn't have done it.

7. I'm just going to set up a web site and sell all of my books online. Having a web site should certainly be a part of any author's marketing strategy, but it's only one part of an overall strategy. Authors should also use other social media sites, do book signing events, niche marketing, media appearances, etc. One web site alone won't help an author sell a lot of books.

8. My book appeals to everybody. Unfortunately, no book appeals to everybody. Take a look at the New York Times bestsellers list. I'll bet there are books on that list you have no interest in reading. This is why it is crucial to specifically target your book's niche market.

9. Once my book is released, I'll be able to quit my day job and work at writing full time. This is every author's dream, but unfortunately few writers are able to make a full time living from doing nothing but writing. Many of them have day jobs, teach writing courses, teach book marketing courses, take freelance writing jobs, write for newspapers or magazines, etc. Most authors make $1-$2 in royalties for every book that is sold. If they received an advance, they don't receive those royalties until the publishing company sells enough books to recoup the advance. In those cases, it could take years for an author to see their first actual royalty check, if they get one at all. If a book isn't a success, the advance may be the only cash an author receives for their book. If authors can't purchase books from their publisher at a steep discount for resale, they may be waiting a long time to see any real money from their book.

10. If my publisher believed in my book, they would spend a lot of money to market it. The fact is, your publisher has already taken a chance on your book by agreeing to publish it. They have already paid for editing, layout, cover design, printing, distribution, shipping, and marketing. However, not every title gets a big ad budget. In fact, few books get ad budgets, period. These are usually reserved for authors who already have a reputation for producing books that sell. These are authors who have a platform, a fan base that wants to read the books that they write. Now more than ever, publishers are depending upon authors to deliver the fans that will buy their books.

In most of these instances, there is a belief or a misconception that if the author or publisher "just did this ONE thing, the book would REALLY take off!" What I'm trying to convey with this list is there is no magic bullet when it comes to book sales. There is no "one thing" that will deliver the sales the author wants. It takes a lot of things: hard work, persistence, patience, and of course, writing great books, to achieve success in the publishing industry. So tell everyone about your book, consistently promote it, work hard, don't give up, and great things CAN happen!

Read More