by Irene Watson

source: http://www.sellingbooks.com/tips-to-pre-sell-before-you-publish-your-book

Pre-selling books is a great marketing strategy to build anticipation for books and to get paid while you work rather than after the work is completed. By pre-selling, I mean two things:

1. Making readers want to buy your book before it has been printed.
2. Selling copies of the book before it is printed.

Authors can start selling their books as soon as they have the idea for one. While that may be extreme in some cases, many authors have done so by keeping journals or blogs on their website about the evolution of their book, ideas, drafts, stumbling blocks, all of which may interest readers and keep them coming back for more information including to find out the date the book will go on sale. For an already established author, this strategy of pre-selling as soon as the book idea originates may work very well. For other authors, it may be better to wait until you at least have a complete draft or until you are ready to send the book to be printed, since even if you are just waiting for the printing, it may give you a full month or two to market your book before it is printed.

Effective marketing will pre-sell your book. If a reader says to himself, “I’m going to buy that book when it comes out,” then the book is as good as sold, provided you remind the reader now and then about the book. When we go to a bookstore to buy a specific book, haven’t we already bought that book in our minds-isn’t it pre-sold then?

Besides building buzz for your book before it is printed, pre-selling can also mean collecting the money before it is printed.

Henry Ford was the master of pre-selling and we can all benefit from his example. Ford wanted to mass-produce his automobiles, but first he needed to find the money to pay for the cost of building them. When Ford shared his dilemma with friends, Harvey Firestone suggested he pre-sell his automobiles and use the money from the pre-sales to create the first mass production assembly line, which then produced the automobiles Ford delivered to the customers who had already paid for them. Today, authors can capitalize on Firestone’s brilliant idea and Ford’s execution of it by pre-selling their books to pay for part or all of the printing costs.

If you have the money to print your book, you might not think pre-selling is necessary, but consider that if you plan to print 500 copies and you can pre-sell several hundred, you may find you have the money to print 1,000 copies, thus reducing your cost per unit price so you can ultimately make more money off your books. You’ll also get some idea of how popular your book will be and how many copies you may need to print. And the sooner you let people know about your book, the sooner they can spread the word, and the sooner you get a return on your investment. What author doesn’t want to earn back his or her printing costs as soon as possible?

Pre-selling is not simple, however. You do need to work at building the buzz about your book. You can advertise on your website and elsewhere that the book is being pre-sold, but you have to get people interested in the book so they will buy it, and you also must get past the hurdle in their minds of “I’ll wait until the book actually comes out.”

Tips for Effective Pre-Selling:

1. Advertise Pre-Sales on Your Website: Post the book for sale on your website with a date for the printing that gives you wiggle room. For example, if your book should be printed by October 1, you may want to post the release date as December 1. In this case, people will realize they can still get the book in time to give as Christmas gifts, you have extra time in case you run into any last minute printing problems, and you will wow your customers by delivering the book early if everything runs smoothly. It also will give you extra time to mail or deliver all those pre-sold orders before your proposed release date so you’re not frantically trying to do so on December 1^st. Furthermore, an October 1 release date may not suggest Christmas to people’s minds, but December 1 will give them the idea that the book could be a Christmas present.
2. Offer a Special Pre-Sale Price: As soon as you have a reasonable idea of what your book’s retail price will be and your printing costs, start pre-selling with a special pre-sale price. Customers will be more willing to buy before a book is printed if they think they can get a deal. For example, if your books are going to cost $10 each to print and you’re selling them at $29.95, you might offer a special of $17.95 for presale copies. As long as you make a profit, you might even go lower. I suggest $17.95 because it’s a 40% discount. Most bookstores will want 40% so why not sell to customers direct rather than through the bookstores and still get as much profit? If you’re using a book distributor, the cut is closer to 55% in which case you’ll make more profit selling directly to customers than through a distributor. Make sure on your website you advertise that the price is $29.95 but the pre-sale is $17.95. You might also put a deadline date on it, such as $17.95 only until October 1. Then on October 1, if your book is still not out, you might raise the price to $19.95 and continue to pre-sell until that December 1 date.
3. Blogging and Serializing: People aren’t going to buy the book, if they don’t know what it is about. Beyond just a paragraph or two of content, you can post to your website or blog a chapter every few days to build interest in the book. If it’s a novel with 20 chapters and you have 16 weeks until the book’s release, post a chapter a week. If it’s a non-fiction book, you can do the same or just post favorite parts. You can give away over half the content and people will still want to buy the book.
4. Marketing Pieces: It’s never too early to start telling people about your book. As soon as you have a cover design, start including your book’s image and information about your book on all your marketing pieces-brochures, business cards, bookmarkers, bumper stickers, and anything else you can imagine. Take every opportunity to advertise the book’s upcoming release.
5. Talk About Your Book: If you’re already an established author and you’re doing book signings, give away flyers or bookmarkers to your customers advertising the next book. Bring posters with you. Tell everyone about your book every chance you get. Without being obnoxious, turn the conversation around to something that relates to your book. “When I was researching my book…” is a great lead in.
6. Reviews: Ask your printer for review copies-send out copies to get reviews before the book is printed, so as soon as it is released, reviews will appear that will spark interest in your book with readers. Remember that many book reviewers will only review books not yet released.

Pre-selling is lucrative, builds buzz, and also helps authors and readers get excited about books. The more you pre-sell, the less work you’ll have to do later once the book is printed to make people aware of it. By then, the book should be selling itself!

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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irene_Watson

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How to Foster Success for Your Book Launching Event

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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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The effectiveness of your book marketing campaign lies on good planning and timely performance. The things you carry out, from writing the manuscript to launching your book could affect sales. Although there are other millions of reasons that could affect sales, not doing pre-marketing routines can bring down a campaign that has the potential of being successful.

This article will talk about the importance of strategically planned pre-publishing activities.

We can observe how free sampling booths make people fall in line (even long lines) at the supermarket. This is because introductions make people involved. Advancer treats make people long more for something that they have just experienced in small quantities.

The following information will help you plan and conduct broad publicity campaigns before and after your book is launched:

Formulate Small and Big Sparks. Getting the attention of the media is not about quantity. It doesn’t really matter how frequent you bug them to publish your book’s press release. The main point is to create win-win press relations. Let the media experience that they have the edge over others. Send them advance reading copies of your book. Simply tell the media what you can offer and what makes you extraordinary among the other millions of books that are being published. Moreover, separate yourself from your book. Create professional relations with bookstores, editors, reviewers, and the like.

Speak in Front of a Crowd. Doing speaking engagements will give you the opportunity to share personal insights that can persuade and inspire. It increases your visibility towards potential readers. Getting in front of your market will breed benefits for years to come.

Learn that Criticism is Normal. The act of marketing inevitably invites criticism. However, the fear of being critiqued should not stop you from marketing your books. You should not take criticisms personally. Learn to pick out constructive criticism from nonsense.

Get Your Right Mix of Marketing Options. Do not just focus on one media. A successful campaign is always a combination of a good media mix. Offer different kinds of marketing components. Remember that response rates from media outlets differ. That’s why it is equally significant for you to multitask. You cannot waste time. Keep a lot of things brewing, and in the end, you will realize how much you have accomplished.

Don’t impulsively Over-extend Publicity. Learn to pace yourself and stick to your financial plan. Cramming does not give long term results. Preparation and what you do in the first few months of your campaign are what really matters. Make sure you don’t blow up and go beyond your entire budget on the first six months of your marketing stint. Leave a budget to finance and sustain the first half of your campaign.

Premature Publicity is a Risk. Timing is a very significant part when doing publicity. If you get the media drawn in too early, like even before the book is finished, it will create high demand for something that is not even there yet. Should you consider advance publicity, you may want to have an author website to direct the media to for updates. Make sure that you do often update your author website though.

A self-published author should leave no room for inactive time once he decides to step up and cut through the reading market. Remember, you are not the only entity who is fishing for attention. For a successful book marketing campaign, it’s only important to plan out ahead, even before your book is launched. Advanced planning and alternative options always make it much easier.

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