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Cheap And Easy Book Marketing – A Self Publishers Quick Guide

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It’s one thing to write a book, but an entirely different thing to write one that’s saleable, viable, and marketable. Assuming you’re a self publisher or book publisher and you’ve already published your book, you need to immediately implement a strong, no-holds barred, book marketing and promotion strategy to sell your books fast. Your book selling, book marketing, and book promotion planning should begin before the manuscript is completed.

Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media.

Make sure you have at least one good press release, written in AP style, which you can send out for the lifetime of your book. Mail a press release to all the trade journals in your field over and over again; you can use the same release. Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords.

Mail a press release to at least 1000 print and broadcast contacts just prior to publishing your title and again and again after you publish; you can never send too many. Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book’s website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases.

Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets. I’ve seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don’t advise it in the beginning — get your feet wet first so you know what you’re doing. Make five telephone calls a day that relate to marketing your book.

If your book solves a problem, focus on this in your marketing. Every day it’s important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way.

Print and online publications provide longevity to your marketing campaign in terms of having something tangible for people to reference ongoing. Offer to trade writing a monthly column in a trade publication in your books’ genre, in trade for display ads on the same page. Place free ads periodically for your book’s website on Craigslist in different categories to drive even more traffic to your website.

I’ve not found that book signings sell many books for publishers and are often a waste of time; better to spend it elsewhere. Get as many testimonials about your book, as possible, from experts in the field relating to your title, not customers; use on your fliers and back of books. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed.

Arrange to speak at local, regional and national events that relate to your book topic; bring books along and have an associate sell them at the back of the room. Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs.

Local radio shows and television appearances are good but are often forgotten within hours of the broadcast; make sure to make or get a copy of any television broadcast for future promotions. Make sure to promote and market your book each and every day, both online and offline.

The success of any book marketing effort depends on a good book and just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too. With well chosen book marketing and book promotion, online and offline, you will reap the profits you deserve for your efforts by way of the Internet and in your mailbox. Don’t delay another day if you’ve fallen by the wayside; make sure to focus on promoting, selling and marketing your book each and every day.

For more information on book marketing tips and selling more books go to http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com founded in 1982, specializing in help for authors, self publishers, ebook and book publishers with tips, advice and resources, including information on media, library and other mailing lists, and press releases – online, wire service and offline distribution

Author: Helen Hecker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The 10 Commandments of Becoming A Financially Successful Self-Publisher

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1. Publish Ebook First: Start with an ebook (pdf and epub) first. This is the easiest and fastest way to get started. Creating an ebook first will also allow you to get some feed-back from your readers, and make adjustments to your book accordingly. After you get your ebook online and get all the kinks worked out, then add a print-on-demand paperback edition.

2. Stick To Your Niche: Your book should be directly aligned with your market niche. For many self-publishers, success comes from focusing their book, and their marketing, at their particular niche. Part of sticking to your niche is that you must learn about and understand the subject of branding.

3. Design A Great Cover: Spend a lot of time developing and designing a great cover. Design many sample covers for your book. Especially look at books that have a similar topic as your does. If you are not creative, and have the money, pay a professional to do the cover design for you.

4. Perfect the Contents: Spend a lot of time perfecting and editing the contents of your book. Make improvements and corrections even after it is published.

5. Get Testimonials: Make great efforts to get testimonials and endorsements. You must never stop asking other guru’s in your industry and celebrities to write them for you. Keep adding them to your book and to your book’s blog. Convince one of these guru’s or celebrities to write your book’s foreword.

6. Set-up Blog: Set-up a blog to support your book. This is not difficult or expensive. By far the best way to do this is to set up a blog with a big company like WordPress. These blogs are specifically designed to be user friendly. They are also designed to work very well with search engines like Google.

7. Max-Out Third-Party Websites: Max-out your use of every website that lists your book. Many websites, such as Amazon, allow you to add a large amount of information about yourself and your book. Doing this will be like giving your book another website devoted to you and your book. Take advantage of everything Amazon has to offer.

8. Avoid Bookstores: Do not put your book into the bookstores by using a wholesaler or distributor. This step is for much more advance publishers, and self-publishers with big bank accounts. Bookstores sell very few books – especially by self-publishers that are not big-name celebrities.

9. Use All Major Online Retailers: Get your book into every major outlet such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, Scribd, etc. – just to mention the major ones. Using services like SmashWords, BookBaby, and Lightning Source, will get you into the big-name ebook outlets. Also, some professional organizations allow their members to list their book in the organization’s catalog.

10. Market, Market, Market: Getting your book online is the easy part. Making your book financially successful is the time-consuming part. But now, because of the internet, it is not difficult. The more effort you put into marketing and promotion, the more financial success your book will have. Even if you are not a business-minded person, you will find that marketing and promotion is a very interesting process.

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. is an author, publisher, educator, business manager, and entrepreneur. Life-long love affair with books and reading. Very excited about being part of the new media movement. Known for casual, easy-to-read writing style and ability to explain complex topics in an understandable way. “If you are serious about your work you should self-publish. Retain creative control. Retain the profits. Enjoy the satisfaction and status that comes with being published.” Visit Kunz’s website about all aspects of self-publishing at http://www.KunzOnPublishing.com/, for an insider’s guide to becoming a financially successful and happy self-publisher, and sign-up for his free newsletter.

Author: Joseph C Kunz, Jr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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eBook, PDF, and EPUB: What Is The Difference? A Guide for Self-Publishers

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What is an eBook?
Ebook is short for “electronic book”. An eBook is simply a book that has been formatted so that it can be read on a screen. Until recently, eBooks were typically limited to being read on computer screens and the larger reading devices. Now, more than ever before, eBooks are being developed exclusively for the screen, and not for print. But now, the term eBook is being used as a generic term for any electronic book, whether it is in the PDF format or EPUB format. The term “eBook” will remain with us even after the EPUB format becomes the standard for the publishing industry.

Open Format Vs. Closed Format
You must understand the difference between “open format” and “closed format”. “Open format” means that a wide range of reading devices can display the publication. Most reading devices use an open format – such as the eReading device from Barnes & Noble. “Closed format” means that the publication can only be read on the device that it was downloaded onto. Amazon’s Kindle uses a closed format, which means that publications purchased for the Kindle cannot be read on any device other than the Kindle.

What is PDF?
PDF is short for “portable document format”. It is a computer program that formats a document to make it easier for computers to share the documents while still retaining the original formatting (fonts, text, images, etc.) – almost like a photocopy of the original document. PDF is the default format for static documents. The PDF document is indifferent to the device that it is displayed on or the operating system (Apple/Microsoft) that is used. It is the standard way for people (businesses, colleagues, clients, students, etc.) to share electronic documents – and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Until recently, exporting a publication to PDF was the traditional way to create eBooks. The problem with eBooks created with PDF is that they can be difficult to read on a small screen, such as on a cell phone, because the text and images don’t flow gracefully enough to be read on a small screen.

What is EPUB?
An EPUB is short for “electronic publication format”. It is a computer program that formats a document to make it easier for computers and small-screen devices to display readable text – it makes the text adapt to every screen size. It can do this because it is similar to a web page; and an eBook reader is similar to a web browser. EPUB is the default format for re-flowable documents. The EPUB format is quickly replacing PDF as the standard for eBooks. PDF will remain the standard for document sharing for MS Word and Excel documents, for example. EPUB is becoming the publishing industry standard because it was designed to make a book’s content “reflowable” irrespective of the size of the screen of the eBook reader, portable/mobile device, or computer screen. The most important point is that EPUB is becoming the standard “open format” for the publishing industry and quickly becoming the standard for most reading devices.

What Does This Mean For a Self-Publisher?
As a small publisher it is essential that you prepare all of your publications for print and screen. You will need to be very familiar with both PDF and the EPUB format. Fortunately, there is only a very small learning curve to become familiar with each format. With a little effort it shouldn’t be too hard to learn about, understand, and use both formats. But learn them you must, because PDF is essential to running your publishing business, and EPUB is becoming the standard format for eBooks within the publishing industry.

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. is an author, publisher, educator, business manager, and entrepreneur. Life-long love affair with books and reading. Very excited about being part of the new media movement. Known for casual, easy-to-read writing style and ability to explain complex topics in an understandable way. “If you are serious about your work you should self-publish. Retain creative control. Retain the profits. Enjoy the satisfaction and status that comes with being published.” Visit Kunz’s blog at http://KunzOnPublishing.com/ an insider’s guide to becoming a financially successful and happy self-publisher.

Author: Joseph C Kunz, Jr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Cheap And Easy Book Marketing And Promotion Tips For Self Publishers

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It’s one thing to write a book, but an entirely different thing to write one that’s saleable, viable, and marketable. With careful planning you can market, promote, and get (free) publicity (publicity is always free) on a limited budget; you can take the cheap and easy way. Assuming you’re a self publisher or book publisher and you’ve already published your book, you need to immediately implement a strong, no-holds barred, book marketing and promotion strategy to sell your books fast.

Don’t underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales. Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media. Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories.

Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ Send out at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month. Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly.

Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book’s website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases. Send out the same press release to the editor of your local daily newspaper every week until you are called for an interview or are written up.

I’ve not found that book signings sell many books for publishers and are often a waste of time; better to spend it elsewhere. Find a non-exclusive distributor with a good reputation to carry your book for the book store trade, as well as for other retailers. Women buy more books then men; see how you can fit your book into the womens’ market.

I’ve seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don’t advise it in the beginning — get your feet wet first so you know what you’re doing. Print and online publications provide longevity to your marketing campaign in terms of having something tangible for people to reference ongoing. Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book.

It’s important to publish a website that focuses on your title; you’ll be able to refer editors and customers and all interested parties to your book information with the click of a mouse. Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your website. Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs.

Local radio shows and television appearances are good but are often forgotten within hours of the broadcast; make sure to make or get a copy of any television broadcast for future promotions. You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition. Get as many testimonials about your book, as possible, from experts in the field relating to your title, not customers; use on your fliers and back of books.

If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way. Your sales letter or flier should include an eye-grabbing headline, the benefits to the buyer, the book features, book sales information and testimonials.

Every day it’s important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. When you get a nice write up or feature about you and/or your book, have it laminated and set it up on an easel at trade shows.

Make sure to test, test, and test some more before you lay out large sums of money. Use your book promotion and book marketing dollars wisely; go after the free and cheap resources daily. One of the biggest problems self publishers and book publishers tell me about is the hundreds of books they have in inventory they haven’t set up a marketing plan for; don’t let this happen to you — get prepared now.

For more information on book marketing tips and selling more books go to http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com founded in 1982, specializing in help for authors, self publishers, ebook and book publishers with tips, advice and resources, including information on media, library and other mailing lists, and press releases – online, wire service and offline distribution

Author: Helen Hecker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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