by: Dana Lynn Smith

Source: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/book_marketing_maven/2010/11/book-publicity-tips-for-authors.html

Book publicity is the process of seeking and getting media coverage for books and their authors. Media coverage can potentially exposure your book to a large number of people and it offers more credibility than some other promotional methods. It’s also a great way to build your author platform, name recognition, and expert reputation.

Although a newspaper article or radio interview won’t cost you anything, you may have costs associated with generating interest from the media, such as hiring someone to write a press release, paying for press release distribution services, or hiring a publicist to prepare publicity materials and make media contacts on your behalf. If your budget is limited, you can do these tasks yourself.

Below are some resources to help you learn how to generate your own media coverage:

* Award-winning publicist Sandra Beckwith offers a terrific publicity workbook packed with book publicity forms and templates.

* Author and marketing expert Marcia Yudkin recently wrote and distributed nine different press releases for her new series of books. In this case study, she shares the details.  Also, take a look at Marcia’s article on how to generate media coverage.

* This book publicity article by Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, has some very helpful tips for the most effective ways to pitch the media.

* Joan also offers an excellent free course on how to use news releases effectively. You can sign up to receive a daily lesson by email for 89 days at no charge, or purchase the entire series in ebook format so you don’t have to wait three months to get all these great publicity tips.

* This collection of book publicity tips on the Savvy Book Marketer blog includes several guest posts written by experts in book publicity and promotion.

There are many online press release distribution services. For my most important releases, I use the paid service at PRWeb.com. For routine releases, I use the free service as PRLog.com.

Media coverage can be valuable way to gain attention for your book. If you don’t already have a book publicity plan in place, get started today.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana’s blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.

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Source: http://www.newsletterjournal.com/information/book-marketing/book-marketing-101-book-publicity-for-authors-creating-a-book-publicity-campaign.html

Written by: Ray Robinson

Publicity is that elusive thing that can make or break your book – in all sorts of ways! Learning to promote you and your book is something that can take a bit of “re-training” for most new authors (and many old-timers too). Publicity is really all about selling your idea (and you), but all too often the word “selling” brings up images of polyester clad used-car salesmen, telemarketers, and strong-arm sales strategies that do nothing but alienate your intended customer.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

True “salesmanship” is all about creating a deep connection with your intended reader or reviewer by providing unique, useful and rewarding information about your book. It’s all about creating a relationship that you will both benefit from and to which you can return time and again. It’s about creating the awareness that you are an EXPERT about the topic of your book.

Good publicity is also regular and consistent publicity – there really is no such thing as an overnight success. Remember that you never know who is reading or listening — it just might have been someone who could lead you to bigger and better things.

Here’s some ways to create a great relationship with the editors and reporters that can provide your book the long term exposure it needs to succeed:

1) It’s ALL about your intended audience – and very little about you. You might be brilliant, but the editor only cares about their audience. As a matter of fact, more often than not if you come across as thinking you are too wonderful, you’ll most likely turn out to be a turn off to the editor or reporter. This is where “blanket” press releases that go to thousands of outlets fail – they typically focus on you the author, and unless you are already a household name, guess what? No one cares.

You MUST tailor your release to the intended audience – and it must be unique. Focus on the benefits you will provide their audience. Think about the publication or program you are trying to approach – what do they provide to their audience and does your book contribute to their goals? Don’t under any circumstances make your pitch sound like an ad for your book – if you have a good fit, and have good information inside your book, then it will generate interest in the book. The goal here is to make the editors, reporters, and audience understand that you are an expert on your topic, and that your book contains lots of good information – by PRESENTING some of the information… not by TELLING them you are an expert.

2) Target your pitch. Be confident knowing that reporters and editors have lots of need for information. But also understand the one of the quickest ways to get rejected is to pitch the wrong person – you’ll waste both of your time (and probably annoy the editor or reporter) – do you homework and find out who is the correct contact for your book. Once you’ve found the right person – ask them what they want. Only pitch your idea if it’s a fit. Be sure to respect his or her time – everyone in the media industry works on unbelievably tight deadlines. Ask if they are under a deadline and if so, could you call back at a better time.

Be short, sweet, and to the point – which means get to the point quickly. The audience will eventually want more detail than the reporter or editor – but for your reviewer, be able to sum up your book in 30 seconds or less. “Talk less, listen more” – let the editor or reporter drive the conversation after you have them interested. They will have specific needs and questions – so stop talking and answer them explicitly.

3) Approach ALL types and sizes of publications and media. Don’t be afraid to contact the “big guys” and don’t neglect the smaller ones. Any one in the media has to aggressively pursue getting new and fresh content for their shows, magazines, and newspapers. This is especially true of anyone who needs to fill space on a daily basis. They are almost always on the search for people who can present information on exciting and interesting topics and trends. The biggest outlets are always on the search for an unknown that they can highlight.

The smaller journals and outlets often have a very focused and influential audience – and you never know who might be reading them or listening to their show . The smaller publications can also be “gateways” into the larger ones . Almost every single size of publication has value in your publicity campaign. Your chances of getting into smaller publications is probably higher than the larger ones, so set your time and effort accordingly.

4) Treat your contacts with unfailing respect and politeness. Yes, you are very busy – you might even be far busier than the publicist or producer that you are trying to approach. But you need them to help you out – and being constantly aware that they are very busy themselves will keep you focused on getting your materials to them in a timely manner. Never ever be late in submitting materials for a review or interview.

5) Understand that publicity isn’t a “one shot success” effort. It is all about sustained and consistent awareness of your product. Marketing research indicates that a consumer will need to see your name about 7 times before they will remember it. Try to keep your interviews and reviews spaced out a little bit – frequency and consistency are critical. Don’t ever let up on your publicity campaigns – even the most successful product lines in the world (think Nike and McDonalds) continue to consistently spend millions on awareness campaigns for their products. Very rarely is anyone an “overnight success” – even the best-selling authors spent years building their reputations.

Follow these 5 steps while conducting your publicity campaigns, and your level of success will be far greater than those who have either ignored or never learned these basic steps.

If you like this information (and found it helpful) please feel free to post it on your site, put it in a blog, toss it in your newsletter, or in general spread it around. Please just give us credit here at www.dogearpublishing.net

May you have success in your creative efforts!

Ray Robinson is a partner in Dog Ear Publishing http://www.dogearpublishing.net a self publishing services company specializing in delivering “high touch” services to the author community. His company provides a full range of services to authors, from editorial to page layout to marketing and fulfillment.

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by Dan Poynter

source: http://www.sellingbooks.com/get-your-book-into-the-chain-stores

With chain stores: it’s the author, not the book.

One way to get into the chains is through the backdoor. Go to a local chain store and offer a mini seminar on your subject. We used to call these “autographings.” Then you must turn out the crowd. Remember, the store is only providing the venue. They want you to bring in new customers.

Send an announcement to everyone in your email address book and ask your friends, relatives and colleagues to forward the announcement to anyone they know (within driving distance) who will be interested in you or the subject.

Take books to the store. When you get there, proceed to the shelf where your book will be and look for other books very much like yours.

Take them back to the presentation/autographing area. When you speak, take time to hold up the other books (puts your book in good company) and praise them. “This is the book that got me started in this business.” “This is the book I keep next to my dictionary for constant reference,” and so on. Your audience can purchase just your book or they can leave the store with three or four. Each person can spend $20 or $60. Sixty dollars will impress the store a lot more. And that store will want to stock your book.

Then go to the next chain store. Based on your prior performance, they will want you; they may even have heard of you already. After a few stores, the chain will want your book.

Do not be disappointed when the chain puts you in 300 stores instead of every one of their 850 outlets. Each store is profiled; they know what will sell there. For example, a business title will go into downtown stores while parenting titles will be displayed in stores in the suburbs. Your books will go into the stores were it will move.

It’s the author, not the book. Stores want authors who sell books. Chains know books don’t sell themselves, authors sell books.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

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Success in the self-publishing industry involves a lot of getting ahead of the game. Your punctuality speaks on how much you are committed to your career. How you plan and prepare shows how serious you just are.

After working hard during the wee hours of the night in completing your book, you finally arrive at the point of getting your book ready for its launching. Whether it may be a lavish launching or not, a book launching is the best time to introduce your book to the market. It’s an excellent opportunity to meet and greet prospective readers and give them the opportunity to buy a copy.

Here are some ideas for your book launch to become a success.

Get the Right and Real Figures

Come up with a budget. Carefully assess what you really need for the event. The budget can basically include the place, a sound system, tables, chairs, food, and promotional materials such as posters, brochures, flyers, tarpaulins, and the like. Seriously consider how much you are willing to spend for your book’s launch. Remember that the event is only the beginning of your official book marketing campaign.

A book’s launch doesn’t have to be that grand. A book marketing campaign can go all the way from 6 months to a year, so you better spend your budget on what’s worth for the long term. You can host the book launch at your own house or ask a bookstore near you where you can possibly hold the event. Better yet, hold your book launch at a university’s library, preferably your alma mater.

Send Out of the Box and Cost-Free Invitations

Reserve your bookmarks, brochures, and flyers during your book launch. Take advantage of social networking sites to spread the news about your upcoming event. For example, Facebook allows you to create automated event invitations through your profile where recipients can ‘RSVP’. This way, you can estimate the number of guests that are attending. Moreover, you can announce your event through status updates.

Inform the Media

You can send out a press release to different media organizations through fax or through the internet but don’t forget to inform your local media about your launch since you are a part of the community that they cover. Proximity has greater chances of being published. You can visit radio stations in your area and announce your book’s release. And if they request for an interview, be ready to talk on air. Do some research and list the names of the right people in the media who can help promote your book. The media likes to be pampered. So it’s better if you send them personalized invitations for your event.

It’s also important to hand out press kits to the media right after your book launch. That way, they won’t miss out on the important details about you and your book.

Initiate Conversation

You are in charge of telling the story behind your manuscript. Prepare and write your speech for your book launch from the heart. Be careful not to keep your talk too long or too short. Be creative to keep their ears listening to what you are actually saying.

Create Promos and Specials

Give out freebies and treats. It can be through bookmarks, button pins, cards, candies, pens, and the like. You can also offer promos or discounted rates when they buy your book. Make your attendees feel extra special. This is a way of saying “thank you” to everyone who has expressed support by attending your book launch.

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by: Tony Eldridge

source: http://blog.marketingtipsforauthors.com/2010/07/importance-of-social-networking-to.html

With a title like The Importance Of Social Networking To Authors And Professionals, you could expect to have a book, or volumes written to cover all the ways social media has become an indispensable tool for marketing your business. Well, I am not going to write a book here, but I am going to share one unexpected benefit of having a presence on social media sites that I learned over the last few weeks.

As many of you know, this is the first post for me in a few weeks. I had a string of illnesses hit the family and the death of my uncle in Indiana. Every now and then, circumstances arise that cause you to put all nonessential activities on hold so you can devote full attention to those circumstances.

That’s what I did for the last few weeks. Yet because I had a presence grounded in social networking, I was able to take care of some important personal needs without falling off the face of the earth. I received warm wishes on a number of sites and followers were able to know I would be away from blogging for a while.

While I was “away”, things happened that I expected. My traffic slowed down considerably. When you pause your posts, then this is a logical expectation. In fact, one thing you can do to grow your traffic and presence over the long haul is to continue to give good content.

But some unexpected things happened as well:

1. I continued to get followers on Facebook, Twitter, and on my blog which are the three main areas of internet presence that I personally focus on. These followers came at a steady clip. I believe that if the time I was away continued, the frequency of new followers would go down. But still, I was surprised at the robust activity of followers for me being away as long as I was away.
2. Not only that, comments on past blog posts continued to come. With hundreds of posts that give advice to people about marketing their book, my blog is starting to become a searchable resource that has rich relevant content for people. The search engines are also constantly delivering results with my past blog posts for people looking for the content I have.
3. My mailing lists continue to grow. People are still signing up for my free mailing lists, even though I have not sent out an update in a few weeks. Because I have built in some automated interaction, my absence has not hurt me for the few weeks I have been away. In my free Conducting Twitter Contest mailing lists, I have set it up to deliver a series of 10 lessons to people who want to learn how to conduct a twitter contest. In my free Video Tips Newsletter, I instantly give away 7 free video tips when people sign up for the list. This means that they have content to go through for a while as a reward for signing up even before the next video gets to them.

In the last few weeks, I learned the importance of cultivating a great social networking presence while I was able. I also realized the value in consistently creating good content over time. In doing so, it has rewarded me when I needed to step away and focus on personal issues. And the great thing about it is that it was all waiting for me when I was ready to return.

If you are just starting to build your social networking presence, take heart. What you are doing now is investing for the long term. That’s something that buying an ad can never do for you. If you are not seeing the results that you want immediately, don’t worry, they’ll be there soon. You just need to be committed to building your presence for the long haul.

—-

I have one request of you. I have entered a video contest that honors our men and women in the military. Regardless of how you feel about our wars, I know that most of you separate that issue with the people who serve. Take a look at my video entitled, “Compassionate Strength.” It’s a video that shows our soldiers interacting with Iraqi children.

The videos do not have a link directly to them, so you may have to do a little searching to find mine. Also, you will quickly see that someone has gone to great lengths to try to rate all videos as a 1 star. Please don’t let that throw you. My guess is that it’s someone who has entered the contest and thinks that this will help his/her video. It seems that if someone starts to get some good ratings, it’s not long before a bunch of 1 stars lowers the rating on the video.

C’est la vie

Tony Eldridge

Forney, TX, United States

Tony Eldridge author of the action/adventure book, The Samson Effect, that Clive Cussler calls a “first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure.” He also share his book marketing tips with fellow authors through his blog and through his free weekly video marketing tips for authors. You can follow him on Twitter @TonyEldridge

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source: http://www.authorinsider.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1150387574&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

Congratulations, you’ve written a book and even gotten it published! Now, all you have to do is get people to buy it. Getting people to actually enter a bookstore with the purpose of buying your book is not easy because you’re not a “brand name” yet. But you do have a potent weapon at your command– the telephone. Use it.

Call the editor of the books section of your paper. Say you’d like to send a copy to him or her. Ask if he has a few minutes so you can briefly tell him about the book on the phone. After you send the book, give her a chance to read or at least glance at it, then call again.

If you can possibly tie the book to something in the news, that’s great. Let’s say you wrote Cooking with Chocolate and the health section of your paper has an article on the health benefits of chocolate. Call editors and reporters in the health, food and book sections.

If there’s a human interest reporter or columnist, call and then send them a copy of the book. Human interest reporters can usually write on anything that interests them. Try to interest them in you. What did you do before you wrote the book and why did you write it? Do you have eight children and wrote it at your kitchen table every morning between 2:00 and 5:00 am? Did you gain 20 pounds writing the book? Or, did you lose 20–proving that chocolate really isn’t fattening?

Call the assignment editors at television news programs. Frequently, if there’s an interesting hook, they will interview you. Track down book shows on radio and television and call the producers.

Don’t be afraid to make the phone calls and don’t believe someone when he says he’ll get back to you. He won’t. The person who has the most to gain (you, in this case) has to make the call. Too often people are afraid to call. Ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen. They’ll say no, right? Editors are not going to gather menacingly on your doorstep or come after you with garlic and torches. They’ll say no. Can you live with that? Of course, you can, so call.

Put on a comfortable pair of shoes, gather up copies of the book and hit the pavement. Stop in at every small bookstore and beg to leave copies. I assume you’ve already called the biggies. Offer to appear to talk about and read from your book or do a mini-seminar.

You’ve got to do things to create a buzz. The author of the aforementioned book on chocolate could give away chocolate bars with each copy. Or slices of cake she made (recipe in the book) during her appearance in the bookstore. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to drop off a cake with the book in the newsrooms.

Don’t forget retailers. They might agree to do a window around your book. I once got a prominent jeweler to do a window with diamonds falling out of toe shoes and copies of the book, written by a dancer, displayed.

By Miriam Silverberg

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source: http://www.bestsellerauthors.com/blog/
Written by: Joanna Penn, from TheCreativePenn.com:

You might not think soccer has much to do with writing, but authors can learn a lot from the World Cup about marketing, branding and creating multiple streams of income.

• The brand stands even though the players change over time. Each of the national teams in the World Cup have a following from their country, but they also have a character of their own. People debate Brazil, Germany or England as if they are the same team every competition. The brand of the country’s team is what persists. This is key for authors who are concerned about whether to build websites around themselves or their individual books. Think about it. Each of your books will be hyped for a short time and then will fade away and it will become part of your backlist. You do not have the time and energy to build sites around each of the books.Build yourself as the brand and you will persist over time. You do need to market each book but this should feed into your overall author brand.

• Build merchandise around the key product to create multiple streams of income. Soccer fans don’t just pay to watch games. They also buy millions of dollars worth of merchandise to support their team and show their dedication. Let’s face it, unless you sell a blockbuster, authors don’t make a huge income from book sales. What you need is multiple streams of income that sit around your book and provide extra income. Think online courses teaching people valuable information about writing, genre specific tips for fiction writers, or giving additional information about your niche for non-fiction writers. Think speaking and running seminars, live or on the internet. Think audio products, either straight audio versions of your books, or additional information that people are interested in. This is not selling out to commercialism, this is paying the bills!

• Create loyal and fanatical followers. Soccer fans are some of the most loyal and crazy fans in the world. They wear the badge of their team, they travel round the world and they are passionate and even violent in support. You want to create loyal fans for your author brand and your books. These are the people that will buy your book on preorder as soon as it is announced, or will buy the whole backlist to make sure they have read every word you have written. How can you encourage followers like this? Firstly, it is a given that you need to write great books that create a marvelous experience or are packed with information. You also need to create relationships by giving people more than they expect. You can blog and reveal some of your writing practices, create audio interviews so people can find out more about you, do live events, be accessible on social media. The new crop of successful authors are out there connecting with people, selling books by creating fans, one person at a time.

So, keep an eye on the World Cup and learn what you can about marketing, brand building and fanatical followers as you do.

Joanna Penn is the author of 3 books, a speaker and blogger at The Creative Penn.com : Writing, Publishing Options, Internet Sales and Marketing…For Your Book. Click on the following links to get your free article on Author Branding, plus an audio on Book Marketing and theAuthor 2.0 Blueprint: Using Web 2.0 Tools to build your author platform online. Joanna is also on Twitter @thecreativepenn

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How should one define triumph in self-publishing? Authors have assorted reasons why they settle on self-publishing. More often than not, a part of the pie chose this nature of publishing because they want the world to read a piece of their mind. There are also others who want to make means out of their writing, while the rest simply want to get their names published. The reasons for self-publishing are broad and varied.

Self-publishing involves monetary investment. That’s the basis why the same kind of concern and importance should be given when you finally get your book out in the market as what you had given during the writing and publishing part because monetary success in self-publishing is accompanied by risk, strategies, and sustainable development plans. Being able to publish your book is definitely not the end of your occupation as a self-published author.

Either two things take place in marketing: failure or success. With the speedy development of technology and the Internet, the art of marketing has become far more complicated than it was. Here are primary and competent marketing strategies that go beyond time and trend.

Take time in getting to know your market. Prosperous marketing campaigns are the result of insightful consumer preferences. When you totally identify the need of your probable readers, it helps you narrow your options on how to convene those needs and build demands. The key is suitable market segmentation. A thoughtfully targeted campaign will definitely enhance the efficiency of your marketing strategies.

Focus on what your book can offer. Often times, we bombard the media with our names and book titles. That’s no way to craft sustainable publicity. Tell the public about what makes your book extraordinary. What does reading your book present that cannot be found elsewhere? You need to creatively tell your market why your book is worth the read.

Integrated marketing works best. You cannot depend on just one form of marketing. What if something goes wrong with your website, what happens then? That is why media mix is critical. Use various media channels to reach out to your market and magnetize feasible readers.

Offer consistent and regular messages. In advertising, redundancy is clarity. Steadiness in your marketing message helps your readers know more about you and your book. Giving your readers an array of messages will only make them confused. Frequency sustains the public’s familiarity.

Conduct initial tests. Perform a dry run your book’s marketing campaign. Testing comes first after everything is laid down. Always accompany Plan A with Plan B. If possible, come up with different versions and test which medium will do best. Tests are necessary to progress your marketing presentation.

Evaluate your campaign. Do in-depth evaluations every after campaign. Evaluations will aid you distinguish your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will lead to an enhanced marketing campaign the next time you publish a book.

Value author-reader rapport. Besides marketing, focus on building relationships with your reader market. Do not just sell your book, market yourself as an author, too. An example of this is being proactive during book signing events.

Learn more about the dynamics of marketing self-published books, Author Marketing Services, Book Marketing Services, and many other useful tips about online book marketing.

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