Marketing Strategy 10: It's all about YOU

Do you want to know the secret weapon to selling your book?

You.

Not the answer you wanted to hear? It reminds me of a parenting class I took many years ago. I couldn't wait! I was going to hear an expert's advice about how to "train" my children to be the obedient, little angels I always hoped they would become. The first words were, "Parents in order to have obedient children, you need to change yourself and the way you think about discipline."

Not what I wanted to hear!

As an author you too have to change your frame of mind. Your wonderful book isn't going to jump off the shelf into the hands of an eager reader unless you are enthusiastic about the product, topic or consider yourself an important element in the mix. Words have the power to do many things but without the author they are a set of letters with no order or reason.

You are the person who can not only put those words on paper to craft a story or teach about a topic, but to inform others about your work. How do you feel about your topic or story-line? Are you excited? Are you passionate? Do you want to shout from the rooftops (or at the very least send out 100-tweets) that your book is nearing completion? (Please do not do this, it is a joke!)

If you are not passionate about your work then no one else will be, either. If you are passionate, discern the reason. As an author you need to sell, sell, sell. Perhaps you mistakenly thought an author needs to write—write—write! You do, but that is half the job, as any editor or publishing house will tell you. It is a partnership, you and the publisher. Maybe you want to self-publish? If that is so, then it is all up to you.

Today’s reader is savvy and now with ebooks and ebook readers finally coming of age the market is going to explode. So much so that mainstream publishers are jumping on the vanity publisher band-wagon and creating a branch of their publishing arms to print books that authors pay to have created. Authors make money when books are sold and publishers are taking a gamble by investing their money into not only the literary work but the author. If the author has an online presence with a blog following or other social media contacts, this will work in the author’s favor if it is between two similar works.

Writer's often are not the most gregarious bunch. Really good authors spend time researching, studying, and writing their books. That doesn't leave much time for social networking, in person or online. Still, somehow, you need to convey your enthusiasm for your work and let everyone know. One easy and low cost way is through calling cards.

I create cards for the books I author as well as those I publish. This example gives you an idea of how an enthusiastic author can give out her card, leave it with a tip at a restaurant, and let everyone know about an upcoming title. http://www.mediaangels.com/secretcodetime


Regardless of the work you have done in creating your masterpiece, the work is not over until you have eager readers purchasing your products. This can only come about with a well laid out marketing plan. Do you have any insights that have worked in marketing your book? Any promotions like the one above? Please share your ideas with me.

Publishers and Printers

Experts come in every shape and size. Some make you feel like you don't know very much and require their far superior information. Others explain way more than you'd ever want to know and make you wish you had never asked. And then there are the ones that are life-savers and are so helpful that you don't know what you'd do without them. Well, to a self published author a good printer is the life-saver, the one that makes us look good that can tweak, fudge and sends us back the manuscript for layout revisions if need be...or fix it on the spot with their pre-flight genius. (Pre-flight refers to the process a book goes through before it is printed.)

In the early days of my publishing career, I used the local printing shops to print up my books. I brought in a high quality laser copy. The company photo copied the pages. They were bulky, comb bound and I couldn't be more proud if the book had leather cover and gilded lettering. They were mine. I had sweated through the process, worked hard and ultimately finished after many, many setbacks. But, here it was in my hand and ready to be purchased by an eager reader, I was sure. The book retailed for $7.95 and was the first edition of "Teaching Science and Having Fun." My first official book speaking tour began with a conference in the Florida panhandle. I learned through a friend, that I had been chose as a Keynote speaker!

Armed with hundreds of books, the family trekked up the state to sell them. I am glad I listened to my husband and only printed 300. I had many books to trek back home. The conference was very well attended but many came to look and purchase at a later date. Questions came like a flock of geese heading south for the winter:

 "Do you ship?"

"How much does it cost to ship?"

"Do you sell wholesale?"

"How much do you discount?"

Shipping? Wholesale? Discounting? What was all that? All I wanted to do was write a book and publish it not become a one-man storefront. I soon learned the process after much help from very kind people, like the lady who took about 50 books off of my hands to sell, and others who followed suit. The first bit of advice I received was to leave the price off the back cover of the book and raise the price to at least $12.95 so I could wholesale it at 40-50 percent discount. (Wow, that much! Little did I know that other larger wholesalers required 55-60% discount.)

Well, I'm still in business, the book in question now retails for $16.95 and is in it's 5th edition, and was selected as on of the top 100 Homeschool Curriculum. It has been used in Christian schools by educators, in co-ops and right here in my own home. In fact, I'll use it in the morning to reference the best place to purchase slowing agent for our upcoming Biology co-op.

I am especially thankful to my printer, now an offset printing company that prints the books in larger runs. The books are digitized and I can upload them with a click of a button from my computer to the company's website. The book sports a 4-color cover these days and nice quality paper on the inside. This definitely is a much improved version. It really helps to have a printer that can answer questions and works with me on upcoming projects.

I will be interviewing an expert, Mike McCoy who has lots of experience in the field of book printing, both commercial and with self-published authors. He offers personalized service and consultations on projects no matter how large or how small! Remember my husband's advice? Keep that first print-run small unless you have pre-sold books and know how you will discount and ship them! Better to be safe than in debt! Besides, you can always print a larger run the next time.

Book Signings: Joel N. Cobbs

by Joel N. Cobbs

· DO NOT be afraid of talking to people. Go to a bookstore, talk to the manager (preferably the General Manager) and set up an appointment.

· DO NOT give up! If a bookstore doesn't want to carry your book, just move on to the next one. If you decide to try the same chain, only do it once more or you'll be "flagged" and will have a hard time getting a signing there later on.

· DO NOT throw tantrums. Sure, this SOUNDS silly, but you'd be amazed. Having several friends in the business, I've heard many a tale about rude customers, but I've also heard some interesting ones about self-published authors.

· (EXAMPLE) A lady went into a Huntsville bookstore with a book she'd self-published. She didn't have the buyback guarantee and the store was unable to carry her book. She left in a huff, making a scene and attracting a lot of attention to herself and the people around her (INCLUDING THE GENERAL MANAGER.) Believe it or not, word travels fast between bookstores, almost as fast as Vegas casinos. If you throw a fit in one store, I promise another will hear about it within a few minutes, probably before you can get there. (How do you think I heard about it?)

· DO go the extra mile. For me, the best experience I had with author signings was with Rick & Bubba. They were scheduled to be at our store at 3 in the afternoon and leave at 6 (yes, only three hours.) So how long did they stay? Until EVERY CUSTOMER LEFT! (Which ran right up to the time we closed.) They even stayed a few minutes after the customers left so the employees could meet them and sign autographs. See? Because of that incident, when I think of author signings they IMMEDIATELY come to mind. Think of it this way, these are the people who are buying your books and telling others to buy them. You want every experience they have with you to be the best and one they'll never forget (in the good way, of course.)

· DO get your name out there. Email the local paper and ask them (say "please") to put a small something about your book signing. Email the contact person at the local news station and tell them about it. Tell your friends and family and ASK them to tell their friends and family.

· And once again, be nice. Realize that times are tough, bad things happen, etc. etc., and just swallow it like a mature adult and move on.