Author Archives: Deborah H. Bateman

Book Marketing Secrets – Sell More Books With These Easy Book Marketing Tips

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This article will provide you with easy, free, and cheap book marketing, promotion and publicity tips to get you headed in the right direction fast. You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will buy it; publicity, promotion, marketing and a focus on selling more books should now be a big part of your daily life. Self publishers need to have a good marketing plan to sell books and should be written prior to writing your book and in place a year prior to publishing your book.

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. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ 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.

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 at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month.

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. Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories.

Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book’s topic to drive customers to your website. 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. 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.

Place free ads periodically for your book’s website on Craigslist in different categories to drive even more traffic to your website.

Make five telephone calls a day that relate to marketing your book. 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.

I’ve not found that book signings sell many books for publishers and are often a waste of time; better to spend it elsewhere. Contact non-bookstore booksellers and offer to leave books on consignment. You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition.

Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic. Offer to trade writing a monthly column in a trade publication in your books’ genre, in trade for display ads on the same page. 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.

Make sure to promote and market your book each and every day, both online and offline. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed. Every day it’s important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets.

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. Now promote, promote, and promote your book some more! Make sure to test, test, and test some more before you lay out large sums of money.

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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How to Finish Your Self-Published Book Fast

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Started a book and then got bogged down? Like many of my bookcoaching clients do you say, “I have so many other demands, I just can’t get to the book.”

This isn’t procrastination or fear. Most writers get stuck when they don’t know how to move forward, finish, publish and sell their unique, useful book to audiences just waiting for it to come out. Let me share two ways to speed up your process.

One. Take One or More High Level Action Each Day

Another to do, you groan? Not really. If you don’t make your book one of the top three priorities in your life, it won’t finish it.

Get real. How many hours can you give to your book a week?
If not ten, I say you may never get your book out. Clients get so discouraged when they don’t do their fieldwork for our coaching calls, so I came up with one solution of doing one High Level Activity or more each day for five days a week. (HLAs) Go ahead; take the weekend off like I do.

Some HLA steps include:

– Write on a chapter that you have passion for first.

– Write 2-3 pages a day on just one chapter.

– Finish one chapter before you move on.

– Write 3-6 questions you need to answer for your audience for each chapter before you write a word.

– Read a book on how to put a chapter together the fast way

– Write in your organizer each day the specific HLAs you will do

– Contact a book coach who has low-cost teleclasses, small group coaching groups, or writes books on the topic you need help on.

– Write a sample chapter introduction with a hook and thesis to direct your reader to the meat.

-Write compelling copy so your reader will turn all the pages and recommend your book to others.

Sample Organizer Page

Write your intention: I finish this book (name the title) by (name date and year)

Affirm: I stay on track every day with my HLA’s.

Take Action: My HLAs for Wednesday, date, year

1. Contact a cover person for my how to book

2. Answer three questions for chapter 6. For example,

– Can I write print or eBook at the same time?

– What’s the best eBook format for my book’s purpose and me?

– How much will it cost to self- publish? (A lot less than you think)

– Add front and back material to sell more copies

Think of the Payoffs.

The trick is to finish these three HLAs or even one before you go to bed that day. If you finish fully, you’ll feel confident and your guilt will disappear.

Two. Write Fast-Forward, Well-Organized, Easy-to-Read Chapters

Do you try to use past research for your chapters? This is not necessary. All you need to do is answer your reader’s concerns and questions.

Your reader wants your to solve his problem or challenge, whether it be to make more money, save more money, create better relationships, connect with their inner self, or to communicate better.

If you don’t answer these in each chapter, your reader will say “ho hum” or “I’m confused, what’s the point of this chapter? They will put your book down and not recommend it to others.

One common mistake writers make with their books:

They don’t complete one chapter with all its parts including the sizzling hook and introduction, the middle with stories or how tos with engaging headlines, and the ending that inspires the writer to keep going to the next chapter.

When you sidetrack, you get off focus, and that’s also a big challenge for book writers. When you focus, you write so much faster, and with a little professional help, get to market so much sooner. Results? More cash flow so you can market and promote properly.

Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The BookCoach Says…,” “Business Tip of the Month,” blog Q & A at [http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml] and over 170 free articles.

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Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com. Phone: 619/466-0622 — Orders: 866/200-9743

Author: Judy Cullins
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Prof. Servan-Schreiber’s Moving Story on Fighting Cancer

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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