source: http://www.go-publish-yourself.com/archive/articles/book-marketing/poynterd3.php

By Dan Poynter

Publishing is changing—for the better. There is a New Model for book writing, producing, selling and promoting. One part of this revolutionary change is in book promoting.

Here are several ways to use new technology to promote your book faster, easier and cheaper.

Broadcast email, done properly, is not spam. Book announcements should only be sent to existing customers, potential customers on opt-in lists and targeted members of the press. Most of these people are in your personal address book. Match your offer to those who have already expressed an interest in this type of information.

Make your publishing company Web-site centric. Put your book and all your basic promotion documents on your site and print from the site when you need hard copies. Don’t maintain a stock of dealer bulletins and news releases in your office. Keep the masters in your cyber pressroom and retrieve them when required. For an example of a pressroom, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=pressroom/pressroom.html

If you speak on the subject of your book, set up a speaking sub-site with all the information on what you can do. Post your speech descriptions, client list, fee schedule, facilities forms, speaking calendar, audio/video clips, etc. Replace your press kits; avoid printing and mailing. For an example of a speaking sub-site, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/speaking/index.html

Help the information-seeking potential customer to make a buying decision. Give enough information on the book. Provide the same shopping experience they have in a store. If you are publishing fiction, put the first chapter on your site as a free read. The first chapter in a creative work will give the reader a taste and is designed to keep the buyer reading. If your work is nonfiction, provide the first page or so of each chapter to give the browser an idea of what is in the book. If you need help setting up your web site on this model, contact Mary Westheimer at http://www.BookZone.com. BookZone hosts the websites for some 3,500 book publishers.

For the media, put the entire book in a unique address section (URL) along with your promotional materials. Email a pitch letter to the editors and reviewers and invite them to your web site to see your book, and media kit: bio, testimonials, news releases, etc. Tell them what is in the “media kit” and remind them they will save time because they do not have to retype the material. Let them read the book free online. Capture the reviewer’s address when they log on. Add the reviewer to your list and notify them directly when you are promoting your next book. The mission is to design an online media kit that is so useful, the reviewers will flock to use it. And, self-service will save you a lot of time and money.

Publishers Weekly and USA Today recently reviewed their first eGalleys. Invite reviewers to your site and offer to send an eGalley. Promotion @ the speed of email is the wave of the future.

Do the reviewers want eGalleys? PW, for example, receives over 100 galleys each day. They select a handful and the rest go to a holding room. Periodically, someone comes to clean out the room. EGalleys avoid this solid-waste disposal challenge.

Subsidiary rights. Send an email to editors of newsletters, magazines and ezines and offer them the opportunity to excerpt parts of your book free. Ask them to include source, copyright and ordering information at the end of the excerpt.

To find the email addresses for magazines and newsletters, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/bookprom.html and http://www.opinion-pages.org

Email promotions can result in slightly fewer responses than traditional mailings and follow-up telephone calls. But the costs in time and money are far less and the responses begin immediately.

Foreign Rights. Use email to ask foreign publishers if they would like to buy subsidiary rights and translate your book into their language. Send publishers directly to a rights section on your Website. That section will provide a complete book, author bio, testimonials, cover image, news releases, back cover sales copy and other promotional materials. Capture their address when they log on. Then follow up with email.

For foreign publisher email addresses, see International Literary Market Place. It lists publishers outside North America by country. Start with the major language groups: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. Select publishers that publish in your subject area. If you can’t find many, email the national publishing association for that particular country, describe your book and ask for suggested matching publishers.

See the RightsCenter at http://www.rightscenter.com and PMA’s Foreign Rights Virtual Book Fair at http://pma-online.org/pmafair/index.cfm .

Use every means possible to send people to your site. List your URL in ads, your .sig, and anywhere you might ordinarily leave your telephone number.

Replace expensive four-color brochures with less expensive business cards. Your card should have a photograph of the book’s cover, your usual contact information and a list of all the resources that can be found on your Website. Use the cards to drive traffic to your web site. For great prices on cards, see http://www.MWMdexter.com

Related Web Sites. Surf the Web for sites related to the subject of your book. When you find one that matches, contact the owner and suggest a dealership. Get as many outlets as possible to sell your book.

Newsgroups. Take part in newsgroups related to your book’s subject. Answer questions and become known as an expert on your subject. For a list of newsgroups, see Groups at http://www.excite.com, http://www.YahooGroups.com and http://www.deja.com.

Promotion services. Do not hire the spammers who flood your email box with offers to promote your site or product. Doing so will cost you a lot of money, incur the wrath of potential customers and will encourage more spam.

Direct Contact Media Services will send out your news release to carefully selected media via fax and email. Paul Krupin will rewrite your news release to make it more useful to the media. He will send the announcement to 1,500 to 2,500 targeted print, radio and TV outlets. 1500 one-page releases cost $300. Contact him at dircon@owt.com and see http://www.book-publicity.com .

For more ideas on promoting books online, see U-Publish.com by Dan Poynter and Danny O. Snow. See http://www.u-publish.com .

New computer programs, new printing processes and the Web are transforming the writing, producing, disseminating and promoting of information. Books will never be the same. The winners are author, publishers and readers.

In the future, nonfiction book publishing will see minimized inventories and maximized relationships between authors and customers (readers). Publishing will become customer-centric and “books” will thrive on uniqueness, customization and variety. Book writing, publishing, selling
and promoting are changing—for the better.

Writing periodicals:

Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self- Publishing Manual. For more help on book writing, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

or

Book Publishing periodicals:

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. © 2003

or

Professional Speaking periodicals:

Dan Poynter has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. He is past-chair of NSA’s Writer-Publisher PEG and the founder of the PEG newsletter. For more help on book writing, publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPublishing.com. © 2003

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source: http://www.authorinsider.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1158957291&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7&

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Source: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/50-simple-ways-to-build-your-platform-in-5-minutes-a-day

Written by: ChristinaKatz

Writing rules. Self-promotion drools. Isn’t this how most writers think?

But as long as you view your writing as art and your self-promotion efforts as the furthest thing from art, your chances of ramping up a successful 21st-century writing career are going to remain slim to none.
These days, there’s an art to writing and an art to self-promotion. From the moment you start putting words to the page, it’s never too early to start thinking about how you’re going to share them. And once you begin to see your writing and promotional efforts as equally artful, something wonderful starts to happen: You find readers.

Books aren’t written overnight—they’re developed one day at a time. And it’s the same with our platforms, which comprise all the ways we make ourselves visible to our readers. The idea that you need a platform might seem overwhelming at first. But if you consistently take small steps to put yourself out there, before you know it, you’ll have built a strong, sturdy foundation for your work.

So, if you’re the kind of writer who prefers being read to being unknown (who doesn’t?), here are 50 quick, simple ways to launch your platform into action. Think of each small step as a giant leap toward finding readers—and a fun, rewarding opportunity to share your hard-wrought words with others.

Listen & Learn

1. Find Your Keepers. Clarify the kinds of readers you want to connect with now, and you’ll be glad you did later. First, jot down a quick list of all the types of readers you’ve ever had. Now, decide which groups you want to stay connected with for the long haul, and make them your keepers.

2. Start Surveillance. Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) can help you become practically omnipresent in only a few clicks. Take five to set up alerts to notify you when your name, articles, book(s), Twitter handle, site URL and/or specialty topics pop up online. When you’re alerted to people promoting your name, supporting your work or sharing your ideas, stick out your virtual hand and say, “Hey, thanks! I appreciate that.”

3. Poll for Solutions. Ask questions. You’ll get answers. If you’re wondering which online photo hosting service to use, or if others are having the same server problems that you are, try posting the question on Facebook and Twitter. I do this often, and love coming back and reading what others have said. If it’s a decision you’re making, share which advice you followed.

4. Show Respect. On social networks, follow and friend folks in your field whom you admire. Steer clear of anyone shifty, clingy or shilling stuff all the time. A good rule of thumb: Don’t promote or forward the causes of anyone online who you wouldn’t in regular life. It takes time to get to know people, but it’s worth it when your reputation is on the line.

5. Study the Competition. Jump on a search engine and type in the keywords that describe what you write about. See who pops up on your radar. Don’t be afraid of the competition; study your competitors. What are they doing better than you? Add what you learn to your to-do list.

Create Context

6. Introduce Yourself. Take a few minutes to write a brief bio you can use wherever your name appears online. Include your URL, relevant professional credentials, recent publications (online or off), significant self-published efforts and professional partnerships.

7. Show Yourself in Action. I’m willing to bet you have a whole bunch of photos of yourself out and about doing what you do. If some are shots of you writing, great. But even better if you have some decent-quality photos of you speaking, teaching a workshop, signing books or the like. Collect them, and use them to accompany your posts online.

8. Post Ads and Affiliate Links. You need to make money to invest money in your platform, so why not make the most of the resources and tools you already like? You won’t get rich from affiliate revenue, but it can add up over the course of a year and cover some of your ongoing platform expenses. It takes minutes to post an ad or affiliate link on your website or blog.

9. Hold an Event. Have an event with a time limit (like one week only, or 30 days). Create whatever type of environment is appropriate for what you write—perhaps an activity where something has to be completed in a certain amount of time so there is a ticking-clock factor (think NaNoWriMo). Create an environment that draws your tribe in, helps people interact and get to know one another, and converts folks into loyal fans who will keep coming back for more. Dream something up.

10 Grade Yourself. HubSpot makes free graders (grader.com) that can gauge the effectiveness of your website, blog, Google Alerts, Facebook page, Twitter account and more. Each grader takes less than five minutes to run. Do so periodically, and add its suggestions to your to-do list.

Contribute Content

11. Give It Away. Spread the word across your social networks for everyone to come and get whatever you can give for free. If you already wrote an article that you don’t plan to sell, why not give it away? Maybe you created something inspirational or uplifting. Give it away. People love free.

12. Brainstorm 20 Ideas. If you don’t constantly ask yourself what new ideas you have, half of them will get away. And then you’ll have to read your idea on someone else’s blog, or in a magazine or newspaper with someone else’s byline. That’s how the zeitgeist works. So get in the habit of writing down your ideas, perhaps in a special idea journal. Drain your brain into it five minutes at a time.

13. Put Your Best Forward. Make sure people who are just discovering your offerings can go straight to some of your best online writing that has passed the test of time. Otherwise it’s just going to get buried under your latest efforts. Most blogs have widgets that will do the rounding up for you. Create a way to send fans and followers straight to your best posts.

14. Recycle. Take a few minutes to pitch content you’ve already written to a new outlet. Can you find a blog, forum or association newsletter that might be interested in your topic? Put some of your old writing to work all over again for fresh eyes.

15. Review Worthy Writers. Inquiring readers want to know what books you like and why. Briefly review books as you read them and post your insights on review sites (like GoodReads, Amazon.com and Red Room). For good karma, sing the praises of your all-time favorites, too.

Cultivate Community

16. Prompt a Response. A prompt is a suggestive word or theme that cues an interactive response from others. It can be as simple as a photo, symbol or word, or as complicated as a riddle. When hosting an annual book giveaway, I asked a question each day for a month, and everyone who answered was entered in the drawing. Participants loved the prompt more than the free books. It’s a fun way
to interact with your growing online community.

17. Take Five to Interact. Reply to commenters on your blog. Thank people who used your free content. Think of three people to appreciate for any reason at all. Spend a little bit of time with those who’ve gone out of their way to care about you.

18. Make an Engaging Offer. If you’re working on a project and you need people to get involved, offer something—say, a discount or kickback—to the first 50 who express interest. Create excitement for those who are willing to work with you.

19. Form Strategic Partnerships. Who do you want to partner with? Being friendly and helpful should have no strings attached—but true partnerships are mutually beneficial, formal agreements in which each party is hoping to gain something specific. List three likely partners and reach out to them.

20. Create a Quickie Blogroll. Make a quick list of writers you admire. Then search for links to their blogs or sites to create your blogroll. Position your blog as an inspiring resource by going for quality, not quantity.

Be Authentic

21. Be Yourself. Advice that tells authors to act like brands encourages us to forget to act like regular people. But social media is made for people, not robots. The fact that you’re a writer and a parent or an uncle and a Packers fan or a vegetarian makes you interesting. Your readers and fans want you to be personable, not a one-topic ever-plugging broken record. Spend five minutes making a profile more you.

22. Put Passion Into Action. Let’s say you write literary fiction. Isn’t that harder to build a platform around? Nope. Take your passion online and put it to work. Don’t assume no one cares. Assume there are a million people out there like you, and start connecting with them. Take five to write a quickie mission statement about why you’re on fire about your topic. Reread it every time you get online. It will help focus your efforts.

23. Get Together. Let folks know that you’ll be speaking or signing or teaching (or whatever else you do) near them when you travel. Make yourself accessible.

24. Spark Conversations. Other people are just as passionate about your topic as you are. So get on Google, do a Twitter search, visit forums where your topic is trending and spend five minutes participating in a chat. If nothing is happening, strike up your own conversation.

25. Share the Journey. I bet you have a lot going on right now. Surely some of it is interesting. Or perhaps you have a fresh take on what you have on your plate that others would find humorous or refreshing. Update others on what’s happening right now. Don’t try to keep your ups and downs a secret. Curious fans love to be treated like insiders.

Synergize Connections

26. Friend and Follow Media Pros. Track down media folks related to your career thrust, and friend and follow them on social networks. Never come on too strong. Just be laid-back and friendly. And if you have social-media clout, don’t be surprised if they’re looking for you, too. Influential people will come to you when your passionate action makes you stand out.

27. Say Thanks. In five minutes you could crank out a handwritten thank-you note, stick a coffee or book gift card in there, address and stamp it. Why not do this at least once a month?

28. Articulate Your Allies. Who supports your work? Whose work do you champion? Identify someone you have mutually compatible goals with, and see how you can help each other. Suggest ways to cheer each other on.

29. Generate a Q&A. Create a series of questions on a topic you find fascinating, and then get interesting people in your genre or area of expertise to answer them in any format: a video chat, a written Q&A or an audio chat. It makes compelling content.

30. Shake Things Up. Don’t be one-note. Stop agreeing with everyone about everything and take five minutes to form a rebuttal (without turning it into a rant). Take a dull topic and make it interesting by putting a new spin on it or taking a contrarian stance. Get people engaged in the conversation.

Produce Yourself

31. Capture E-mail Addresses. Use a newsletter service or RSS feed service to create a place front and center on your site where folks can sign up to receive correspondence from you or to have your blog posts delivered to their inbox.

32. Go Multimedia. Bring old content to life using fresh media. Spend five minutes practicing reading something you’ve written out loud into your smartphone. Or boil down a chapter or article into five tips off the cuff and record them unscripted. Let your words riff. Don’t try to make it perfect.

33. Ask for Feedback. To learn to do what you do better, get your audience involved. Create a five-minute feedback form and send it out.

34. Outsource Something. Take five to consider all the hats you wear: the creative, the closer, the perpetual student, the accountant, the publicist, etc. Identify a weakness that someone can help you with now. Then hire or solicit the support you need.

35. Share More. One common mistake we make is slaving over our content to make it perfect, thinking that if we do, readers will come to us. But too often, no one comes! Work hard to maximize everything you write. I’ve counted 49 ways you can use the “Share This” button to buzz content you want to champion. Get this button for your blog and browser now.

Publicize Yourself

36. Hunt and Answer. Don’t forget the traditional media. Answer media requests at Help a Reporter Out (helpareporter.com). In five minutes you can find and respond to at least one appropriate media request. Make a game of how fast you can weigh in. Every post is another way to get your name out there.

37. Grow Your List. Wherever you go, whatever you do, bring along your e-mail sign-up sheet on a clipboard. Even better if you can offer a benefit for signing up, such as a free story, checklist or special report. Never sell or share contact information.

38. Think Ahead. What do you have coming up? Keep a list of any future events and publications on your blog, in your newsletter, on social media and in your e-mail signature. Update it often.

39. Compartmentalize. Segment your e-mail lists by what folks need from you, not what you need from them. I wouldn’t send attendees of my Northwest Author Series the same correspondence that I send my former students or my e-zine subscribers. Each e-mail group gets its own type of correspondence. Reorganize your e-mail groupings.

40. Master the 5-Minute Release. Zoom in on the latest happenings, holidays and story hooks and tie your career news in with what else is going on in the world. Write five-minute mini press releases and send them out at least monthly. Short is good.

Pay it Forward

41. Round Up Resources. Round up books, websites and other resources on topics related to yours and then add them to your home page. Be helpful to others, and they’ll send people to you.

42. Boost Others. Help a fellow author or a first-timer buzz his outstanding new book, class, service or conference. If you’re a believer, become an evangelist. And if you really mean it, offer a testimonial.
Why not?

43. Offer Your Services. According to Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It!, the best question you can ever ask on social media is, “What can I do for you?” Such a simple idea, yet so profoundly intelligent. Put it to work for you on a regular basis.

44. Be a Good Guest. Ask yourself the hard-hitting questions others don’t dare ask (but are dying to know). Now you have a compelling guest post to share on your “Freebies” page.

45. Hit the Highlights. You don’t have to give the play-by-play after you attend an event. But why not share the best of what you noticed or learned? You can even go multimedia with your coverage. Have your camera, audio recorder and video recorder ready to grab snippets of live action to share with others who wish they could’ve been there.

Strut your Stuff

46. Count Down to Every Launch. Do you have a book coming out? A new class? A new article in print? Make a big to-do about whatever you’ve got that’s new. Announce each launch without pressuring anyone to spend. The place where your service connects with your audience is the place where you create the synergy that fuels your future projects.

47. Spiff Up What’s Old. Offer some kind of promotion to entice folks to your evergreen offerings. I offer a scholarship for two of my classes, and this always pulls in fresh interest in what I teach. A scholarship, a discount, two for one, refer-a-friend—any strategy that makes something old new again is a good one.

48. Make Merchandise. Don’t try to make money with every single thing you offer. Instead, let some of your offerings create buzz for your name using services like CafePress or Zazzle. A fan who likes what you do enough to wear your name on a product becomes a salesperson for your work. Create promotional offerings and put links to them on all the pages of your website. Why not?

49. Sustain Yourself. Being active online calls for balance and patience. Clarify how and where you want to spend your energy, and filter out the rest until you can ride the net without too many wipeouts. Take five and describe exactly what you hope to accomplish in the future time you invest.

50. Break Out of Your Box. Ask yourself, “What would I create if I let myself create anything I wanted?” Let go of any old labels such as novelist, poet or journalist. What would you really get a kick out of writing, right now? Spend five minutes jotting down the truth—the whole truth and nothing but what really sounds fun. Your ability to break out of your own box will inspire others, so go for it!

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source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/the-gamification-of-book-marketing-and-promotion/

By: Vikram Narayan

As part of my volunteering activities to serve the community, I teach public speaking to 14 year old school children at a local school on Saturday mornings. Sometime ago, one of the challenges I noticed was that students would not applaud and cheer when one of their peers completed a speech on stage. Worse, many of them would speak to each other and be distracted while one of their classmates was speaking. As you can imagine, this was demotivating for the young speakers, many of whom were giving a speech for the first time in their lives.

Then, I introduced a simple idea which has changed the atmosphere of these sessions considerably. With the help of a few “student officers”, we divided the class into four “houses” (groups) that competed against each other in a friendly manner. Next, we started giving points to the group that was the most enthusiastic audience. Overnight, we had a class full of hyper-interested students that were willing to listen carefully to their classmates’ speeches and cheer their progress.

The human brain is wired to play games. Competition, evaluating and managing risks, teamwork, chasing goals while overcoming obstacles and staying within boundaries (rules) and keeping score are part of what make us human.

What is a Game?
Jesse Schell, author of the excellent book – ‘The Art of Game Design’ offers this definition for a game:
“A game is a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.”

Now, what if we phrased the problem of marketing and promoting books using the “lens” of games? Then the game can be defined for readers in the broadest possible manner as:
“A game where you solve the problem of discovering new books and evangelizing them while having fun”

Now, maybe you’re thinking that this will never work. People are busy. They are serious. They don’t have time to play games. If this is your thought, then I ask you to reconsider … after thinking about the following examples:

1. The stock market – The stock market is a game. There are rules. There are goals (make as much money as possible while managing your risks.) And it can often be fun (especially if you make money!)

2. Discount sales – Have you ever been to a Labor Day sale at your local fashion store? Have you felt the rush of excitement as you get your hands on your favourite brand at 50% off? Here again, there is a problem (get a good product at a lower than normal price), there is competition and it is mostly fun.

3. The Wii – For most people, exercise can be boring. Then the Wii came along with the WiiFit and became a leader in the category of games called Exergaming. Overnight, many children who were glued to playing computer games started living more healthful lives by playing these games.

As can be seen from the above examples, even boring activities can be made exciting by bringing in some of the concepts of game design. At BookBuzzr, we’ve been hard at work trying to incorporate principles of game design into the book marketing and promotion process. For example, we’ve created a Hangman word game which allows authors to market their books in a unique format. In the example below, the author is attempting to capture the interest of those people who hate their bosses. All you have to do is to guess the ‘colourful’ name. As you can see this game would appeal to those who have had a bad boss. While they guess the words, they are likely to get interested in the author’s book.

Vikram Narayan is the founder of BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies. (Twitter – @bookbuzzrCEO ) Vikram is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to starting BookBuzzr, Vikram founded another software company that has been successfully serving clients from all over the world since 2001. When he is not dreaming up ways to help authors accelerate their earnings and book sales, Vikram spends his time playing the guitar, practicing Aikido and spending time with his family.

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Source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/have-a-holly-jolly-promotion-season-for-your-book/

Or How to Jazz Up a Writing Career with Holiday Promotions
Expert: Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Have you heard of The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans?

It was originally self-published. Evans believed in himself (and his book) when big publishers didn’t. When it did well, “lo and behold,” as they say in the Christmas stories. Someone saw the light.

The motto here, for writers, is “Seasonal material sells.” Especially things that can be given reasonably inexpensively during gift-giving seasons. Seems that books fit the bill. They’re generally $15 dollars or less. They lend themselves to the inspirational (always high on the list of gifts people like to give). And they lend themselves to great cover and book design including religious, whimsical, cartoons, and on and on. Oh, and books are easily and inexpensively mailed or e-mailed!

So, are you using the seasons to build your writing career?

There are all kinds of ways to do it. Magdalena Ball and I are seasonal poetry partners. That is, we have written the Celebration Series of chapbooks. She contributes half the poems, I the other half. And we also share publishing and marketing skills. Blooming Red: Christmas Poems for the Rational is the Christmas entry for that series. We also have entries for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and even one with a feminist theme to celebrate women for—maybe their birthdays?

Gordon Kirkland is a humorist (Canadian, bless his little soul!). He has written a couple of very funny (and extremely giftable!) books including Holly Jolly Frivolity and The Plight Before Christmas. I met him when we both spoke at a writers’ conference and I know he believes in marketing almost as much as he loves writing.

And that brings me to using seasons to market any of your work. Here are some ideas for doing that, even if you don’t have an entry in the seasonal category (Yet!)

• Write articles (like this one?), using your own themes related to your books or whatever else strikes you. They can be used as guest posts on others’ blogs or on your own blog or Website.
• Offer a discount on a book to be used as a greeting card or casual gift. See how Magdalena and I did it for Blooming Red.
• Cross promote with a fellow author on a book in your genre. People who read cozy mysteries likely read more than one a year. And they often love to give them as gifts. Both authors’ contact lists should be full of people who read cozy mysteries so offer them all a two-for one special—a new one for themselves and another for a gift.
• Share a list of holiday (or Easter or Valentine’s) gift book ideas. Post it on your blog. Put it in your newsletter. As an example see Karen Cioffi Ventrice’s list. A list like this is Zen. Help yourself. Help other writers. There is even a way to make this idea into a seasonal catalog and produce it as an income-producing venture in the new edition of my award-winning Frugal Book Promoter on page 340 (but also check the index for other ideas for using catalogs). It is also a way to benefit the publishing industry.
• Write a little seasonal poem, story, or article to include with your holiday letter or greeting card.

Do you have ideas of your own? Please leave a comment (with your e-mail address) and I’ll add them to this article to use next season, to promote my books—and yours.

Have you heard of Charles Dickens? Do you know Scrooge—in person or as a character in A Christmas Carol? If so, how can you argue with what writing for the season can do for you?

Carolyn Howard-Johnson has several decades experience in journalism, retailing (authors are retailers, too!), in publicity, and as a marketer of her own fiction and poetry. She is also author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books—one series for writers and one for retailers. Learn more about all her books and services at http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

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GREEN BAY, WI (12/06/11) – BookWhirl.com, one of the leading frontiers of the self-publishing industry embraces the month of December with raging discounts for the Christmas Marketing Holiday. Due to insistent public demand, BookWhirl.com has decided to kick off another generous promo to celebrate the last four weeks of the year 2011. The Christmas Marketing Holiday offers 10% discount on BookWhirl.com’s advertising and publicity packages.

BookWhirl.com’s Christmas Marketing Holiday is applicable on the following services: Author Marketing Tools ServicePak, Author book Publicity ServicePak, Kirkus Book Review Bundle, and BlueInk Book Review Combo.

“The year 2011 was great for BookWhirl.com. This year, we have rolled out more than seven new products and services and have become successful in all aspects of our business. We have proven that we are a significant player in the self-publishing industry. We are serious in our vision of becoming every self-published author’s lifetime partner. For 2012, we have bigger dreams. We hope that you will continue to look forward for a bigger and brighter future”, announced Johnny Chu, CEO and President, BookWhirl.com

Through the BookWhirl.com’s Christmas Marketing Holiday, self-published authors are given the opportunity to gear up for next year’s book marketing campaign even on a small budget. With the current promo, client authors who are interested with launching bigger marketing campaigns can save thousands of dollars.

For more information, please visit http://www.bookwhirl.com/Christmas-Marketing-Holiday.html or call 1 (877) 207 1679.

About BookWhirl.com

BookWhirl.com is an online book marketing service company, specializing in providing low-cost, high-quality marketing services for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books. Through its unique, inexpensive book marketing services, BookWhirl.com helps authors promote their published works more effectively and connect to readers in a more effective, more efficient system. BookWhirl.com employs an experienced team of online marketing strategists, ad copywriters, graphic artists, and web designers, whose combined talents ensure an effective online marketing campaign at easily affordable rates.

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GREEN BAY, WI (11/04/11) – BookWhirl.com, one of the strongest players in the book marketing industry creates a big buzz as they launch the Early Bird Thanksgiving Promo Level Up. Running from the second week of November until the first week of December, the Early Bird Thanksgiving Promo Level Up offers mark down prices to all self-published authors planning to raise their book marketing at an all-time high for this season of love and thanksgiving.

The Early Bird Thanksgiving Promo Level up is applicable to all BookWhirl.com’s marketing services, including premier packages. Self-published authors are given the opportunity to maximize their book marketing budget as they avail bigger markdowns when they choose to sign p on earlier dates. Starting off on the first of week of the Thanksgiving month, discounts starts at $125 markdown from November 7-11. Sliding on the second week, from November 14-18, is a $100 markdown. Moving on to the third week, from November 21-24, is a $75 markdown. Late birds can still catch up on the last lap of the promo with a $50 markdown from November 28 to December 2.

Through the Early Bird Thanksgiving Promo Level Up, BookWhirl.com helps self-published authors maximize their book marketing campaigns even on a shoestring budget. With the latest promo, authors can now avail of bigger discounts even with the premier marketing packages. They can broadcast email ad campaigns, post online directory listings, distribute media releases, have their books reviewed, and have their books featured on a reputable magazine at the most affordable prices.

For more information, please visit http://www.bookwhirl.com/Early-Bird-Thanksgiving-Promo-Level-Up.html or call 1 (877) 207 1679.

Disclaimer:  Discounts do not apply to WD, MRC Tailored, and E-book Conversion services.

About BookWhirl.com

BookWhirl.com is an online book marketing service company, specializing in providing low-cost, high-quality marketing services for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books. Through its unique, inexpensive book marketing services, BookWhirl.com helps authors promote their published works more effectively and connect to readers in a more effective, more efficient system. BookWhirl.com employs an experienced team of online marketing strategists, ad copywriters, graphic artists, and web designers, whose combined talents ensure an effective online marketing campaign at easily affordable rates.

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Source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/the-amazon-launch-for-your-book-what-you-can-learn-from-my-mistakes/

Expert: Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or partnering with your publisher
(updated and expanded to 416 pages!)

As the author of The Frugal Book Promoter and other award-winning books in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books, I probably shouldn’t have made any mistakes with the online launch of the second edition. And I probably wouldn’t have if I had been taking my own advice.

In the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter I warned people that it’s never too early to begin promoting a book. That was years ago! Sometimes we need a boot in the pants to remember what we already know. I shouldn’t have waited so long to begin making lists and checking them twice!

And since that first edition was published I had built a great platform that I thought would be sufficient. And that brings me to my biggest mistake. Hubris. We authors who have been around awhile are often sure that we can rely on what we have done and who we already know. My contact list included Denise Cassino, an online launch specialist (www.mybestsellerlaunch.com), and I knew I could rely on her. I have a huge contact list I had been collecting assiduously. What more did I need?

Well, The Frugal Book Promoter also warns authors to categorize their lists. Which I did. But I didn’t have a specific category for the kinds of writers and people who run writers’ services I could ask for bonuses. Bonuses are those things that we offer people when they buy our book on a certain day to try to raise our sales rank. I pulled together a great bunch of bonuses, but after the fact I kept remembering folks I could have asked so it wasn’t nearly as long as it could have been and these bonus partners help an author get the word out (online) about your book.

Further, I took a vacation just before the launch so I hadn’t given myself much thinking time. Again hubris. I reiterate in my book that getting publicity and doing promotion is a partnership. The people an author or publisher hires to help them can’t do it on their own. They need both ideas and cooperation from the author.

Hubris. I had launches before. One for my novel at the Autry Museum of Western History. One for my book of creative nonfiction at my home. Several at bookstores for chapbooks of poetry. But they were realtime launches. This online launch was different. Launches designed to raise ratings at online bookstores are done online and needed lots of techy expertise. At least I knew that I needed Denise!

Services for online launches are like a bowl of minestrone. They come in different sizes, at different prices. The different ingredients are designed to do different things for the health of your book. The more you know about them before you start, the easier it will be to make choices based on the time you have, the money you have and the needs of your particular book.

I knew that when you hire any publicist, you aren’t just buying services. You’re buying their network, their contacts. Their Rolodex is at least as important as their expertise. I didn’t know how much I could do to support Denise because the word “online” mislead me. It seemed so…well, automated. I was right but I was also wrong. No matter what your expert’s level of expertise, the author is still always a vital ingredient. They bring the personal stuff to the launch buffet.

I also had a grasp of how to promote on online bookstores but I still needed Denise to lead me through lots of little things I didn’t know. Luckily, time wasn’t so short she couldn’t do that. Stuff like getting one’s Kindle edition and paperback edition connected. Things like getting your book into a suitable Amazon category with as little competition as possible. Thinks like running a “like” and “tag” campaign before you even begin the launch. If you don’t know about those things, you need some help, too. Yes you do.

I thought this campaign would be lots less work than a book tour. Let me tell you, after two days focusing on online sales, I was exhausted. On the night of my launch I fell into bed at 8 pm. I know people who have stayed up all night checking ratings. I am inspired by their stamina but not about to emulate it!

So, was my campaign a success? That’s the other thing I learned. Online launch campaigns are just like marketing in general, though they can be measured more accurately. When you hit #1 in Amazon’s sales ratings you’ve made it. But is that really your only goal? I don’t think it is. My book hit a very low (and fantastic!) rating of 1,422 (the lower the better) in overall books but never made it to #1 in its category. #4 was the best we could do for a book in the competitive category of marketing. Here’s what the campaign did:

1. It gave me new opportunities to connect. Even a mistake we made with the bonuses gave me a chance to reconnect with people who had already ordered The Frugal Book Promoter.
2. The new names of opt-in writers I collected were worth their weight in marketing gold.
3. The new partners who contributed to the bonuses the campaign offered—well, that was more than worth the effort.
4. Oh, yeah! At least for some time, my book beat Stephen King’s On Writing, a moment even noncompetitive me shall cherish! Mmmm. And a couple Writer’s Digest market books!

Online book launches are like anything else in marketing. They’re about branding. They’re about exposure. They’re about networking. They’re about sharing. Most of all they’re about learning more and having some fun. Marketing in all its aspects is a vital part of publishing. An online book launch is a way to learn to love it.

Carolyn’s online campaign propelled her book to number four in one of its categories and to the top 100 books on Amazon for a time. When she fell into bed at the end of the launch day, that was enough. She writes a free Sharing with Writers newsletter and blogs for the benefit of authors at www.sharingiwthwriters.blogspot.com, www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com, and www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. Learn more about her consulting services and books for writers at www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.

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Source: http://adzines.com/Book-Marketing-Articles/How-to-Send-Press-Releases-to-Newspapers-About-Your-New-Book/6444

There are over ten thousand daily, weekly and monthly newspapers in the United States and Canada. For the first time author they are a valuable source of free publicity. They are hungry for news and your new book is news. When approaching these papers there is a list of things that are frowned upon and another list of things under the heading of ?don’t you dare. We will examine the latter category first.

Never start your press release with the headline in all caps or in bold or underlined type. Capitalize your heading as you would a title for a book and no more. Never use a barrage of personal pronouns as you must stay in the third person. Never forget to place a summary statement just after the headline. That is a few sentences that will bait the reader so to speak. It should make them want to read what follows next in the main body. Never, never, never include any personal or contact information in the summary statement or body of your press release. Save the contact info for the last “about” section of the press release, that is what it is for. In that final section, go gently. It is ok to include such info as the projected target of your book, telephone number, web site and other contact information. A note on your credentials is ok too, that is your degrees or experience or anything that qualifies you to have written your book.

Essentially there are four parts to any good press release and they are as follows:

1. The headline: One or two sentences that describe what the news is all about. Don’t get dull; if you lose the reader here you have lost the reader for good. Don’t say? Author Has New Book On The Social Problems of Latinos. But rather try something like “Fiery Latinos Who Have Found Ways to Escape the Fire in the Neighborhood.” Don’t worry as much about it making sense to everyone. Worry more about how it catches their attention, their curiosity or even their imagination. Most editors have played mind games with the public since the invention of op-ed science; you may as well jump in too.
2. The Summary Statement: This consists of one, two or three sentences that summarize what the body of the release is about. Here you must use phrases that offer solutions, new views, controversy, or outright absurdity. If you have written a book on how to lose weight without dieting, try something like. Author Says Diets are Dead At Last.
3. The main body: This is the meat and potatoes section of the release. Choose those finer points of your book those things that comprise the heart of the matter. Use contrasts; compare your ideas with existing ones. If you have written a novel, frame the story line succinctly from the most intense parts of your book rather that a complete overall narrative.
4. Biographical information: Stay in the third person and do not make a sales pitch. Stick to credentials, experience, qualifications, and contact information. Got a web site, use it first and all other contact info as a secondary only.

The ways commonly accepted for submitting press releases to newspapers is in transition. You will still have good results by sending faxes but it is also ok to use e-mail. Newer ways are to use news feeds but at this moment it seems that only big news gets picked up and the wires are very crowded with national and world events for the most part. It will help if you approach editors first to ask if you can send them a news release. If you’re not sure how to approach them just ask which editor might be interested in your particular kind of submission. Most editors are very congenial when approached this way and as they say, get your foot in the door. All of this takes a great deal of time and only the very serious need apply for this job.

It almost pains me to say that you must check you spelling and grammar very carefully. Use a word program to write your release first then send it out. It is ok to send the same release to many papers. And it is ok to send them more than one time but you should space your submissions out over a period of several weeks not days. Try to re-word each submission if possible so as not to give the impression that you are bombing them in hope of a result. You may get shot down but don’t get discouraged. Some editors will just ignore you unless you have a book on the New York Times best seller list. One other very sad thing to report is that if you have used a POD publisher or you are self published you will rarely get the attention of the major news papers. If your book creates a minor national controversy or if it should leap in sales overnight they might bend their rules.

Where do you get the lists of newspapers? Many lists exist online that will cost you nothing. You can subscribe to a media service that will provide you with huge lists of newspapers but that will cost you from two to five hundred dollars. If that is worth it to you then have at it. Remember newspapers will only put your release in once so when new things arise about you or your book send them the news.. Like anything else in the public domain, some newspapers will reject you, some will be indifferent and some will think you are the cat’s meow. Hang in there, it is worth it.

Rev Bresciani is the leader of a non-denominational ministry in the New Orleans area. He has written many articles over the past thirty years in such periodicals as Guideposts and Catholic Digest. He is the author of two books available on Amazon.com, Alibris, Barnes and Noble and many other places. Rev Bresciani wrote, Hook Line and Sinker or What has Your Church Been Teaching You, published by PublishAmerica of Baltimore MD. He also wrote a book about to be released by Xulon Press entitled An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ. You can see more about Rev Bresciani on his own website at http://americanprophet.org

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Source: http://adzines.com/Book-Marketing-Articles/Media-Events-for-Book-Promotion/6439

“How do I set up a media event?” – As a publisher, that’s a good question to have an answer for.

Media events and public appearances can fall into any number of categories and include any number of venues (book stores, radio interviews, television interviews, writing group speeches, presentations, chat room interviews, online book tours, public forums, and more).

A good place to identify possible media event locations is through local bookstore. Most bookstores carry event calendars or maintain a list of contact people who hold that information.

Browse the calendar listings and see if a certain book promotion fits with their plans. Sometimes it might be necessary to tailor a planned event for a particular occasion or holiday. If there is contact information available, make a note of it so you can pitch the appropriate person about your event.

Follow-up with prospective contacts who have not confirmed dates. Selling yourself and your book is a numbers game, and as any salesperson will tell you, the amount of contact is directly proportional to the amount of sales.

Be persistent without being annoying. If, after three or four attempts with a particular media contact, you are still unsuccessful move on to another prospect.

Once you secure an event, prepare it thoroughly in advance. People who attend or listen to your events are participating because the advertisement or announcement struck a chord with them, so be sure to deliver what they came to see or hear. Don’t be shy about letting them know how to order your book. After all, that’s the reason you’re involved in the event in the first place.

Promote your media event aggressively. Invite your friends and family, and if it’s within the scope of your marketing budget, advertise in the local paper. Neighborhood papers may even promote your event for free within their “Events” pages. You may even be able to tie it into a book review.

The store is sponsoring the event to attract more customers; the station is sponsoring the event to attract more listeners or viewers. Whatever the venue, it is your responsibility to attract the crowd. The venue is just that – a venue.

Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press Publishing at OutskirtsPress.com and author of Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer. Information at http://outskirtspress.com/publishinggems

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