Savvy Book Marketing Secrets
52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books
Published in 2011 by
The Savvy Book Marketer, an imprint of Texana Publishing Consultants,
LLC
Smashwords Edition
Copyright Notice
Each article in this ebook is copyrighted by the author of the article. You may not reproduce any article without the prior written consent of the author of the article.
You are welcome to share this free ebook with others, but you may not sell it.
Disclaimer
This is an informational guide and is not intended as a substitute for legal or other professional services. Readers are urged to consult a variety of sources and educate themselves about the business of publishing and marketing. While every effort has been made to make this guide accurate, it may contain typographical and content errors.
The information expressed herein is the opinion of the author, and is not intended to reflect upon any particular person or company. The author and publisher shall have no responsibility or liability with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, by the information or application of the information contained in this guide.
Some links in this book are affiliate links, meaning that Texana Publishing Consultants, LLC, receives a commission on sales of other companies’ products and services sold as a result of clicking on the link.
Table of Contents
Getting
Endorsements for your Book
Who
Should You Be Promoting Your Book To?
Book
Marketing Lessons from the World of Retail – Finding Niche Markets
for Your Books
Confessions
of a Reluctant Marketer
The
Self-Confidence to Sell More Books
Building
Relationships Increases Readership
Habits
of Action: How Authors Can Get Things Done
Resources
Recipe
for a Book-Focused Home Page
Jazz
Up Your Web Site or Blog with Simple HTML
The
Right (and Wrong) Way to Comment on Blogs
Evaluating
Your Current Online Visibility
Book
Video Trailers: 11 Steps to Make Your Own
5
Steps to Create an Amazon Bestselling Book Campaign
Top
10 Ways to Maximize Book Sales on Amazon.com
Build
a Money Making Opt-In Subscriber List with One Simple Idea
Resources
Why
Social Networking is a Must for Authors
Turn
Your Facebook Profile into a Friend Magnet in 7 Easy Steps
Promoting
Your Book on LinkedIn: Do's and Don'ts
Book
Marketing with LinkedIn – Top Mistakes and Solutions
Promote
a Book with Twitter: Top 10 Strategies for Authors
Promote
Your Book with a Twitter World Tour
Resources
What
Do You Talk About On Your Blog If You Write Fiction?
Blog
Ideas for Fiction Authors
What
Novelists Can Learn About Marketing from Nonfiction Authors
Publicity for Books and Authors
Five
Tips to Create Publicity for Your Book
Anatomy
of a Successful Press Release for Book Promotion
Five
Tips for Writing a Strong Press Release
Use
a Benefit Funnel to Write Compelling Copy
Author
Branding: The You That Is Everywhere
How
to Build Your Author Platform
Perk
Up Your Bio
How
To Develop Key Messages and Get Them Across Quickly
Building
Author Platform by Pitching Yourself to the Media
Use
the Calendar to Promote Yourself and Your Book
Nine
Tips for Helping Your Publicist Do a Great Job
Blog
Talk Radio Offers Books Authors the Opportunity to Host Their Own
Shows
Best
Ways to Approach Radio and TV Talk Shows
Do
Book Reviews Matter?
Resources
12
Secrets to Selling More Books at Events
How
to Exhibit at Book Industry Tradeshows
Promote
Your Book by Becoming a Keynote Speaker
Resources
Promote
Your Book with a Virtual Book Tour
How
to Plan Your Virtual Book Tour
Blog
Tours for Authors – Do They Work?
Library, Educational and Corporate Sales
How
to Sell to Libraries – Top Ten Strategies for Independent Authors
and Publishers
How
to Market Children's Books in Schools
How
to Sell More Books to Corporations
Resources
How
to Get Started Writing Your Book
Why
Authors Need an Editor
Mistakes
of First-Time Authors
Drafting
Your Back Cover Sales Copy
How
to Craft Back Cover Copy that Sells Books by the Boatload
Judging
a Book by Its Cover
How
To Find A Literary Agent (When You’ve Self-Published)
The
Role of Retailers, Distributors and Wholesalers in the Book Trade
How
Do Books Get Stocked in Bookstores?
Ebooks and Information Products
How
to Publish an Ebook
Publishing
Content for Amazon's Kindle
How
to Make Your Books Available in Multiple Ebook Formats
Selling
Information: Competing In A World Where Information Is Free
From
Book to Multiple Streams of Income
The Savvy Book Marketer Guides
About this Book
Over the past couple of years, dozens of book marketing and publishing experts have enriched my Savvy Book Marketer blog at http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com with their guest posts.
I have learned much from these experts and I’m pleased to share a selection of their articles with you in this free ebook. I’ve added a few of my own articles and also included a list of resources in each chapter.
You are welcome to share this free ebook with others, but you may not sell it. If you’d like to let other authors know where to download a free copy of this ebook, here are some posts to use on social networks:
Authors, get book marketing tips from 52 top experts – free Savvy Book Marketing Secrets ebook at http://bit.ly/SavvySecrets #pubtip
Free ebook for authors - Savvy Book Marketing Secrets: 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books http://bit.ly/SavvySecrets
Please remember that each article in this ebook is copyrighted by its author and may not be reproduced without the author’s prior written consent.
I hope you find this ebook helpful in promoting your books. Get more book marketing tips and two more free ebooks when you sign up for my newsletter at http://www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.
To your success!
Dana Lynn Smith
The
Savvy Book Marketer
www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com
Book Marketing Strategy
Getting Endorsements for your Book
Have you ever seen a book cover where the name of the celebrity providing an endorsement for the book was larger than the author’s name? This little trick is used to catch a book buyer’s eye because publishers know that celebrity names sell books.
As an author, make pursuing endorsements for your book a priority. Why is seeking endorsements for a book so important? Endorsements lend credibility to a book and state a book has quality. A good endorsement can make the difference between a few sales and a multitude of sales.
1. Endorsements lend credibility to a book.
With so many books to choose from, most book buyers depend on name recognition when making purchase decisions. A new or unknown author has no reputation and thus little credibility with consumers. The best way to gain credibility in the consumer’s eye is to have your book endorsed by someone who already has credibility. When consumers trust the person endorsing your book, they trust that you are a credible author.
2. Endorsements state a book has quality.
Booksellers have limited shelf space from which to sell books. Distributors can only market a finite number of books and generally choose to represent those books they think have the greatest possibility of selling. Consumers have limited spending dollars on which to spend their hard-earned money as well as limited time in which to read. Each of these book buyers needs to be assured that the book they are considering purchasing is a quality book worth their money and time. Endorsements send this message.
It is best to secure endorsements for your book while it is still in manuscript form. That way, you can use the endorsers’ names on your book cover and in all your pre-release book review requests and marketing materials.
When requesting an endorsement, send a complete copy of your manuscript for the endorser to review. It is acceptable to provide endorsers with a list of names of other persons from whom you are requesting endorsements. Most celebrity endorsers will be pleased to be included in good company and those who are not celebrities will be excited to have their names printed with famous people.
Endorsements are
truly an essential ingredient in a good book marketing campaign.
About the Author
Sarah Bolme is an author, speaker, and Christian marketing coach. She is the author of the award-winning book Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace at http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com and director of the Christian Small Publishers Association at http://www.christianpublishers.net. For more information, read her Marketing Christian Books blog at http://marketingchristianbooks.wordpress.com.
Who Should You Be Promoting Your Book To?
by Dana Lynn Smith
A written book marketing plan is an essential tool in effectively promoting your book. One of the first priorities in developing a book marketing plan is to define the target audiences for your book.
Your audience may be wider than you think. A book marketing plan should include strategies for reaching several different target audiences, including:
1. Readers – These are people who buy the book to read. This is the most obvious category and it includes your primary audience (the "ideal customer" that the book was specifically written for) as well as secondary audiences who have an interest in your topic or genre.
2. Purchasers – Many book buyers purchase books for other people. For example, people buy books as gifts, parents and grandparents purchase books for children, and women buy men's health books. Companies and organizations buy books to give away to their customers, members and prospects. Who would be likely to purchase your book for someone else, and how can you reach those folks?
3. Influencers – Don't overlook the importance of people who communicate with your target customers and can let them know about your book. This includes bloggers, other writers in your genre, journalists, book reviewers, and other experts in your field.
In online book marketing, the influencers may be the most important category of all. Think about how much you can multiply your book promotion efforts when other people spread the word to their own readers and customers.
Other people who cater to your target customers can promote you and your book in several ways, including blog posts, links to your website or blog, Twittering, newsletter articles, and media sharing tools like Digg and StumbleUpon. It's important to develop relationships with these influencers, as part of your book marketing plan.
Traditional and online media are also important influencers. You can reach them through traditional publicity efforts as well as online press releases and article distribution.
Be sure your book
marketing plan includes strategies for promoting your book to all of
these important target audiences.
About the Author
Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides at www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For more book promotion tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.
Book Marketing Lessons from the World of Retail – Finding Niche Markets for Your Books
While writing fiction is my passion, I also have another side of life – an online retail business selling craft and hobby supplies. There are a number of lessons I’ve learned in my non-writing marketing efforts that can translate to marketing fiction, and I’ll share one with you in this post. If you’d like to read more, you can find a series of posts on the topic at http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/tracy-higley/.
One of the best things you can do to spread the word about your novel is to find a tightly focused group of people who would love it. In other words, a niche.
Entrepreneur magazine defines a niche as “A portion of a market that you've identified as having some special characteristic and that's worth marketing to.” Quite frankly, I have built my entire retail business on this principle. In this article, I’ll give examples from both my writing and my retail business, with links provided to give you a better feel for what I’m explaining. Here’s how niche marketing works, and how it can work for your books:
1. Identify a specific segment of people whom you think would be especially interested in your books. Be very specific. Don’t worry about “leaving out” a large portion of your readers from this niche. That’s the point. You’re going to market to this niche in special ways that don’t apply to all of your target readers.
Example: I started an online retail business several years ago by identifying niches in the craft supply business that weren’t being adequately supplied online. Our first two products, Perler Beads at http://www.koolstuff4kids.com/ and Quilling Supplies (not quilting, quilling is a paper craft) at http://www.quillingsuperstore.com/, are given a very small amount of shelf space in local craft stores. People who are interested in these products find the selection disappointing. They turn to the Internet, and they find us. I’ve built a successful business by identifying this very small niche in American crafters and offering them hundreds of products for their craft.
You can do this with your books. Brainstorm for niches. It’s a bit easier with non-fiction, but work to think of people in your novel who could relate to its theme, premise, setting, etc. Can you identify a very specific group who would be interested? For example, if your book’s theme were about juggling a career and a family, a niche might be “professional women having their first child after at least ten years in the corporate world.” Do you see how this small niche fits into your larger target market?
I write historical fiction. So do many other authors! How are my books unique, and what is a niche that I can identify? My Seven Wonders Novels at http://bit.ly/hzfBTL are historical suspense, fairly fast-paced, and set in ancient time periods like Egypt, Greece, and Rome. There are several niches I can identify, but the first one I am focusing on is this: homeschooling high school students and their mothers. Do you see how this fits? Homeschoolers are always looking for creative ways to approach history and literature in a combined way. They are likely to enjoy my fast-paced suspense that gives a glimpse into these ancient cultures. And they are likely to appreciate the faith element woven into my books.
2. I’ve already touched on the second step a little bit in the paragraph above. Once you’ve identified your niche, identify their needs. How can your books benefit this group of people?
In my retail business, the unique benefits I offer to my customers are wide selection and easy navigation. By creating entire websites at http://bit.ly/h6YutB for a single niche such as Quilling, Polymer Clay, or Origami, I am able to carry many products for that niche without bogging down the site navigation, and customers feel as though they’ve stumbled upon a specialized store that focuses only on them and their craft. A welcome discovery for most of them, after feeling that the local stores have largely ignored their needs!
Find the benefit you can offer your niche. It may require some extra work on your part. I am in the process of developing “bonus content” materials for homeschoolers that will complement my fiction. (As an aside, if you are a homeschooling family and this interests you, I would love for you to contact me at http://www.tlhigley.com/pages/Contact.php and give your input!)
3. Take the benefits you can offer your niche, and go forth and find those people! The Internet has greatly expanded our ability to connect with niches. There are places (online and offline) where you are likely to find my example of “professional women having their first child after at least ten years in the corporate world” or whatever your niche might be. Figure out where they are, who the influencers are, and how you can connect with them – either online or in person.
If you’re able to identify more than one niche for your books, or perhaps different niches for each book, all the better. Go after them systematically. Don’t be lured into the trap of saying, “but everyone should buy my books.” This mentality often leads to no one buying your books! Niche marketing is really an extension of the concept of branding. Once you’ve figured out your brand, identify the groups of people most likely to be interested and benefited, and then find ways to meet their needs.
Niche marketing works. I’ve watched it result in loyal customers over my years in retail, and it will work for your books if implemented well.
As a post-script,
niche marketing also gets you noticed. I was recently contacted by
the Martha Stewart Show to provide the audience giveaway for her
segment on Polymer Clay. As a result, Martha mentioned our store on
her show, and her website now links to my Polymer Clay Superstore at
http://www.polymerclaysuperstore.com/.
This free publicity would not have occurred without niche marketing!
About the Author
Tracy Higley is the author of a number of historical suspense novels, including the Seven Wonders Novels at http://www.tlhigley.com/pages/Readers.php. To check out her website and the way she incorporates marketing strategies there, visit www.TLHigley.com.
Confessions of a Reluctant Marketer
You may think that marketing your books is a scary prospect, but actually marketing is essential to your career as an author. And if you uncover your style of marketing, then ultimately you will sell more books.
When my first book came out in Spring 2008, Overcome Writer’s Block at http://www.overcomewritersblock.com/. I barely marketed it. When my second book came out July 2009, Writer’s Adventure Guide at http://www.writersadventureguide.com/, I did the minimum and quickly focused on other things, like earning a living. I was overwhelmed by all my book marketing options, and chose actions at random. Probably not the most effective.
Then, I attended a lecture by Patrick Swertdfeger, the author of Webify Your Business 2.0 at http://www.webifybook.com/, and learned about social networking. He made the tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.com seem like so much fun. I realized something. That marketing my books could be fun, if I did the things I liked. And what I liked was using social networking. These tools capitalized on my strengths: writing, connecting with others, and chatting.
So, I have a question for you. You know you need to get the word out about your books. So, what is fun for you about marketing?
Pick one tool of technique you’re passionate about and take one action on it right now. Today. And everyday. If it’s fun, you’ll stick with it. In addition to sticking with it, you’ll want to track your results. You know the mantra: “What we pay attention to grows”? Today you may have 50 Twitter followers. Next week you may have 60. Yippee! But you won’t be able to see your progress unless you track.
Find what is fun for
you, persist at it, track your results, and you will become a super
marketer.
About the Author
Copyright 2010 Beth Barany. Beth works with authors, speakers, coaches and consultants across US, Canada, and Europe, and helps them get their books completed and out into the world. Beth Barany is the author of The Writer's Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book. More at: http://www.bethbarany.com, and her blog, http://www.writersfunzone.com/blog.
The Self-Confidence to Sell More Books
What if a book’s success depends more on the author’s self-confidence, rather than what’s written on the page? After training over 200 authors, from beginners to bestsellers, an interesting pattern has caught my attention.
For example, I’ve noticed that my author clients with a high self-esteem tended to be more creative with their marketing plans and actually sold more books. In contrast, those with low self-esteems struggled to implement new marketing activities. Predictably, their book sales languished. I’m not saying there is a direct correlation, but there is definitely a pattern that bears attention.
The problem is that there are real consequences when an author allows low self-confidence to affect their book marketing efforts. For instance, he or she will tend to:
- Avoid building an
online or offline community of readers around them.
- Balk at
developing peer-to-peer relationships with influential leaders.
-
Avoid finding and contacting large reader groups who could buy books
in quantity.
- Ignore spur of the moment media opportunities, such
as tying into national headlines.
- Shun speaking engagements or
promoting their book to the audience.
- Lack consistency with key
marketing tactics, such as blogging or sending newsletters.
Global management consultant Alan Weiss says, "There is no music if you don’t blow your own horn." This statement is profoundly true for book marketing, at both the author and publisher levels. Writers, editors, and marketing staff must believe strongly enough in a message to promote that book above the noise of all the competition. Yet, this can only happen when there’s an ardent belief in a manuscript accompanied by the enthusiasm to tell people about it.
Oddly, self-confidence issues seem to especially plague the fiction and religious publishing communities. For example, I know novelists who are scared to appear in public. Likewise, I’ve met Christian authors who avoid marketing their books, because of the misguided notion to appear humble. They make pious statements, such as “It’s not godly to draw attention to myself.” But, these attitudes are usually a disguise for a low self-esteem. The reality is that they don’t want to draw attention to themselves, because they’re struggling to feel worthy – ironically before a God who loves them and fans who like their books.
Please don’t think that I’m advocating for writers to shamelessly plug their books. Some people go overboard and develop a negative reputation for being pushy. You probably know some of these individuals, and they’re a turn-off. On the contrary, my point is that readers appreciate authors who believe in their ability to provide answers, inspiration, or entertainment.
So, how can an author improve their confidence along with their book sales? Some self-esteem situations may truly require counseling. However, in most cases, one can be enlightened by dealing with the following questions:
1. Do you truly believe in your book’s own value? Has your message actually worked in your own life? If so, recite clear examples of results.
2. What makes you comfortable recommending a favorite restaurant or product to a friend? Can you mimic that same feeling to mention your book to someone else?
3. What’s the worst that could happen if you tell more people about your book?
If you’re a good
writer, don’t let self-confidence issues prevent your message from
helping the people who need it. Just because someone might say “no”
doesn’t mean you’re worthless or a bad person. Be proud of the
way you’re trying to help society. Toot your horn a little. What’s
the worst that could happen? You just might sell a lot more books.
About the Author
Rob Eagar is the founder of WildFire Marketing who helps authors and publishers sell more books through innovative marketing strategies. He has trained over 200 authors, from beginners to bestsellers. For more information, call 1-800-267-2045 or visit www.StartaWildFire.com.
Building Relationships Increases Readership
*The Key to Successful Marketing in 2010 is to Expand Your Network*
For an author, building an author platform that stands out from the rest worked in 2009 . . . but now an author will have to be MORE THAN GREAT. Don’t let this scare you away. Much of what you’re doing right now is good and is very close to being more than great. As authors, we have a built in, natural ability, to converse . . . and this is the major building block to forming relationships.
Marketing in the New Decade – What can we expect now? A successful blogger will have to be CONNECTED. Having friends and building relationships has never been so important. Now is the time to chain to your follows and build a trusting bond. How do we make friends and build relationships?
1. ACCEPT INVITATIONS
a. Post memorable
comments
b. Guest post
c. Participate in interviews
d.
Conduct interviews by asking intelligent questions and responding
graciously.
2. ATTEND CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
a. Contribute to
chat discussions
b. Whisper answers to individual participants
c.
Give positive encouragement.
*Sizzle with energy and play the part of being the ‘life of the party—your enthusiasm will be felt through the net-waves*
3. SPARK INTERACTIONS BY NETWORKING ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
a. Ask an
irresistible question.
b. Generate a discussion that others will
view with interest.
c. Keep the discussion active by Inviting the
lurkers to contribute, and
d. Show that ALL folks are important
regardless of who they are by—accept others by finding something in
their answer worth praise.
*Staying positive is the key*
4. JOIN PRIVATE GROUPS BASED AROUND YOUR NICHE
a. Supply clear and
concise answers to the questions
b. Back your answers with
credentials with prior written posts or quotes
c. If you don’t
have the answer, steer them in the right direction.
d. Discover a
balance between conversational writing style and formality.
*Coming across as being approachable with knowledge is very attractive*
5. RECIPROCITY
a. Supply others
with what they want
b. Search for relevant content and give
valuable content to create awesome posts.
c. If you don’t have
the answer, make a genuine effort to steer them in the right
direction. With time and constant persistence, lurkers will become
followers. Followers become fans. Yet…don’t forget to make the
time and effort to create the relationships.
*The best gift you can give is your time*
Appreciation goes a
long way. Friends bring along more readers. They will take you under
their wing and introduce you to other popular bloggers. These other
popular bloggers have their own following. Accept connection by
linking their blog to yours and vice versa. Continue doing favours,
expanding your network, and producing great content in your blog and
very soon—very, very soon, you’ll discover that YOU CAN CONQUER
ALL OBSTACLES.
About the Author
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen is the author of Premium Promotional Tips for Writers, featuring simple yet very effective techniques writers can implement into their marketing plans. Visit http://vandermeulen.laurusbooks.com/ to get more information about her book and get a FREE sneak-a-peek.
Habits of Action: How Authors Can Get Things Done
You know what you need to do. You know why you need to do it. You even know what steps you must take to get it done. But there’s one small problem: you can’t seem to get moving. It’s a common problem. Maybe it’s chronic procrastination or maybe you’re just so overwhelmed that you feel paralyzed. Either way, the task you must complete is just sitting there, gathering metaphorical (or perhaps literal) dust, and growing more ominous by the day.
A recent study by the Families and Work Institute found that a full third of Americans are overworked; more than 50 percent of those surveyed said they are either handling too many tasks at the same time or are frequently interrupted during the workday – or both. In short, we are overloaded. Is it any wonder, then, that we have trouble getting jobs started, keeping them going, or finishing them up?
As a consultant and coach over the past twenty five years I’ve observed that smart and savvy business women use three habits to get themselves to take action, even in tough times. These habits act as an inoculation against procrastination and feeling overwhelmed so that these busy women are ultimately able to press through and get things done.
Habit #1: Chunking Down: Focus on the Trees Not the Forest
In the computer world, chunking means to break things into bits. To chunk down is to move from a whole to its parts; to chunk up is to move from parts to a whole, or from the specific to the general. Chunking your projects and goals down into smaller pieces will help you take action more quickly and easily, while at the same time helping to combat the feeling of too much to do.
Habit #2: Take Energetic Credit for Completion
When we have a big goal or task to work on, many of us wait – unnecessarily and sometimes to our detriment – until the entire project is finished before we experience any sense of completion, satisfaction, or accomplishment.
Often, even though we’re achieving pieces of our projects and goals all the time, we don’t fully acknowledge them. The most productive people we know are in the habit of enthusiastically taking energetic credit for any action they complete, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant. These people know not to wait until the big item is 100 percent done before experiencing closure. Rather, they generate energy all along the way by recognizing each item they complete.
Habit #3: Time-Planning: Put a Stop to Putting It Off
Smart people are in the habit of using a time-plan to get beyond procrastination. A time-plan is a method of assigning blocks of time to those items you want to get done (but not a minute-by-minute description of your day!) To harvest the power of planning and create your own time-plan, follow these two easy steps:
Step #1: Identify your power times for different types of activities.
Everyone has high and low periods of energy, attention, and focus. By knowing and understanding your own energy patterns you can create a time-plan that takes advantage of your personal rhythms. Reflect on your own energy patterns. When are your power times? Use your power times to take on your most difficult items. Use your down time for more routine items and errands.
Step #2: Set aside blocks of time for getting certain things done.
Keeping in mind your power times, go through your calendar and schedule a specific day and period of time when you will work on an item. Time periods ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours are most effective. Every hour or so, schedule a ten minute break from your task; this will both keep your brain from getting tired and give it a chance to process any information, so that you can return to your project refreshed.
Lastly, don’t just plan your time in your head – write it down! Whether you use a PDA, a calendar contact program, or a plain old date book, keeping a written record of your time-plan is key.
This article is
excerpted from the book Time Management In An Instant: 60 Ways to
Make the Most of Your Day and is copyrighted by Karen Leland and
Keith Bailey. If you would like to reprint it on your blog or website
you are welcome to do so, provided you give credit and a live link
back to www.scgtraining.com.
About the Author
Karen Leland is the bestselling author of six books including Time Management In An Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day. She is the co-founder of Sterling Consulting Group at http://www.sterlingmarketinggroup.com/, which helps organizations and individuals learn how to fight distraction and find their focus in a wired world. For more information please contact: kleland@scgtraining.com.
Resources
The first step in marketing a book should be to develop a solid book marketing plan. For an outline of what to include in your marketing plan, go to www.CreateYourBookMarketingPlan.com.
Online Book Promotion
Recipe for a Book-Focused Home Page
Ingredients
- Clear purpose for
the landing page
- Image of the book
- Image of the author
-
Call to action
Directions
Clear purpose for the landing page
There are two goals that a good book-focused home page can have:
1. Sell copies of
the book
2. Start a relationship between reader and author
Before you design your book-focused home page, you need to be clear on which one of these goals you want to achieve. Having too many goals for a home or landing page can dilute its effectiveness, so clarity is key.
If your goal is to sell books, then the focal point of your landing page will be a sales letter, audio or video . . . something that emphasizes the benefits of purchasing a copy of the book. You’ll want a good strong headline supported by sub-heads and benefits focused sales copy.
If your goal is to start a relationship between the reader and the author, the focal point of the page will be the opt-in box. Selling the book will take second place to acquiring the name and email address of visitors to the page.
This means you'll need to have a compelling offer . . . an opt-in incentive that is related to the book and is something the ideal reader of your book would want to have and therefore be willing to pay for it with their name and email address. It is important that the opt-in incentive is related to the book, because it will now act as your first attempt to sell your book. After consuming your opt-in incentive, the visitor to your website should feel compelled to buy your book.
Image of the book
Since this is a book-focused landing page, it might seem obvious that there should be an image of the book on the page. But how you display that image is not necessarily so obvious.
If the goal of your page is to sell the book, the image should be up top, large and dominate the eye when first landing on the page. It should be obvious to the visitor of the page that it is all about the book. Everything else . . . from the author bio to related articles should be placed on other pages, not here.
However, if the goal of the landing page is to start a relationship with the visitor, the image should be much smaller or it will clash with the opt-in box graphics. Remember, a relationship-building home page is focused on getting that name and email address, so your compelling free offer is front and center . . . not your book.
Image of the author
An image of the author is optional . . . it all depends on the type of book and whether what the author looks like is integral to the goal of the page. If a secondary goal of the home page is to help establish the author as part of a brand, then an author image is important. However, you should be strategic about this decision. It might serve your needs better to save the author image for another page, perhaps the bio page or media room.
For example, let’s say you are creating a landing page for a James Bond book. Would you want to include an image of Ian Fleming? Or of James Bond? That all depends on if the goal is to get readers hooked on a series of books about the character . . . or all books by the author.
For another example, let's say you are creating a landing page for a weight loss book. Do you include an image of the author or of a woman on a scale looking happy because she's lost weight? Again, it depends on the goal of the landing page. If the goal were to sell one of a series of books by a well-known fitness expert (say Kathy Smith), then an image of the author would help sell the book. However, if the author is less known or writes about more than just this subject, the woman on the scale might be a better option.
Call to action
Every landing page needs a call to action. For a book-focused landing page your call to action should be one of these:
- Buy the book now
-
Subscribe to my list now
Make sure your call to action is clear and mentioned "above the fold" – before the visitor has to scroll down.
Also, notice that "now" is a key part of this call to action. If you encourage your visitor to think about it and come back later. . . chances are you’ll never see them again. Your home page needs to convince the visitor to make a positive decision now, before they leave. Memories are short and even if the visitor has every intention of returning, he or she may not remember where it was they wanted to return.
For a list of
standard pages for an author’s website, visit
http://www.wordpressforauthors.com/standard-pages/.
About the Author
Carma Spence-Pothitt helps creative professionals develop and nurture a thriving web presence, helping them create an online footprint that supports their career and business goals. Through April 1, Carma is throwing a virtual book launch party for her new book, Home Sweet Home Page: The 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers and Coaches Make with Their Website’s Home Page and How to Fix Them! at http://www.homesweethomepagebook.com/. Be sure to visit this creative website to check out all the goodies she has to offer and get inspiration for your own book promotions.
Jazz Up Your Web Site or Blog with Simple HTML
Most blogs and a few of the article directories allow you to jazz up your posts using special code known as HTML, which is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. It’s the type of code used to make Web site pages appear as you see them in your browser. Even if you won’t be programming your own site, knowing just a little bit about a few simple code tags can make your posts pop off the page.
The great news is that HTML is a very intuitive code language. It uses simple tags to tell text content how to appear on the page. For instance, the tag <b> is used to make text bold. Below we’ll cover the most common tags, what they do, and how to properly use them.
All HTML tags must be enclosed within these two symbols: < >. This alerts the browser that the characters inside the symbols are code tags and not content. To end the effect of the tag, a slash mark is used inside the symbols, like this: </>
Bold Fonts
There are two tags that make font characters bold. They are <b> and <strong>.
Here’s an example of the content: This word is bold.
Here’s an example of the code: This <b>word</b> is bold.
Any content between the <b> and </b> tags would appear in bold face.
Or you can use this code: This <strong>word</strong> is bold.
Italics
There are two tags to make fonts appear in italics. They are <i> and <em>. You’ll want to use this tag for the title of your book.
Example of content: All Just the FAQs books help you create an online presence.
Example of code: All <i>Just the FAQS</i> books help you create an online presence.
Or you can use this code: All <em>Just the FAQS</em> books help you create an online presence.
Using Multiple Tags
You can make the title of your book appear in both bold and italics by using nested tags. They are called nested due to the order of their placement. An easy way to remember this order is FILO, which stands for First In, Last Out.
Example of content: My book, Blogging for Riches, will be in print next year.
Example of code: My book, <b><i>Blogging for Riches</i></b>, will be in print next year.
Notice that the tags were closed in reverse order. The <i> tags are nested within the<b> tags. Most browsers will accept tags that are not closed in the proper order. But, to ensure that your content appears correctly in all browser types, it’s a good idea to cultivate the habit of using nested tags properly. You can nest any number of tags together, not just bold and italic.
Line Breaks
There are two tags that cause a line break in HTML. They are <br> for break, and <p> for new paragraph.
To simply add one line space, use the br tag.
Example of content:
This is line
one.
This is line two.
Example of code:
<p>This is
line one.<br>
This is line two.</p>
Using the <br> tag is a great way to control layout, especially if you are formatting poetry. It guarantees that the lines will break where you intend.
To add two line breaks and begin a new paragraph, use the <p> tag.
Example of content:
This is line one.
This is line two and a new paragraph.
Example of code:
<p>This is
line one.</p>
<p>This is line two and a new
paragraph.</p>
Notice that there is no extra line space between the lines of code. You can put one in if you like, for clarity, but the browser will do it for you when the content appears online.
Color and HEX Numbers
While creating your blog or Web site, you will likely be faced with choosing colors for different elements. While many blogs offer a simple color chart from which to choose, you may want to match a specific color of something, like your logo. To get exact colors, you’ll want to know the HEX code of the colors in your logo. HEX is simply a format used to count in binary (1s and 0s) in computer language. A HEX color code looks like this: #FFFFFF, which is the code for white. The HEX number #000000 is the color black. Notice that the # symbol always precedes the actual HEX code.
There are hundreds of sites on the Web that display full HEX color charts to help you choose the right colors for your site. Simply search the terms “hex color” or “hex code”.
Using Widgets
At some point you may want to incorporate a third party widget into your blog. Widgets are special features, like the book carousels offered by Shelfari and Amazon. These contain special code known as “scripts.” Sites that offer widgets often let you customize them and then auto-produce the special script code, sometimes called a “snippet”, for you to copy and paste into your site or blog. This code will have the tags <script> and </script> around it
Here’s a little keyboard shortcut for copying and pasting. Once you highlight the script code, hit the keys Cntl + C. That will copy the code to your clipboard. After you select the place you want to place the code, hit the keys Cntl + V to paste it.
Good to Go
With just a few
simple tags of HTML, you can jazz up your posts and make your text
outstanding. If you want to learn more about HTML tags, there are
wonderful free tutorials all over the Internet.
About the Author
MaAnna Stephenson’s BlogAid site at http://www.blogaid.net/ features a wealth of tips and resources for blog and website owners, along with books, classes, and site consulting that are specifically for non-geeks who are on a budget. Her experience as a web developer, professional engineer, nonfiction author and artist allow her to draw together the right mix of teaching skills, technical expertise, and online promotion techniques that are best suited to each site owner and their target audience. She specializes in working with creative folks like authors, artists and musicians.
The Right (and Wrong) Way to Comment on Blogs
Commenting on other people's blogs is a great way to get visibility, build relationships with bloggers, subtly promote your book, and get links back to your site (if the blog gives "do-follow" links). But you will only hurt your credibility if you go about it the wrong way. Here are some tips for successful blog commenting:
Actively look for relevant blogs to comment on. Subscribe to the feed of the most important blogs in your area of interest, and use tools like Google Alerts to keep an eye out for relevant posts on other blogs. You can also use Google Blog Search or blog directories like My Blog Log to find blogs that are a good fit.
Contribute to the conversation. Don't just drop by and say "great post." Instead, make a thoughtful comment that contributes something. You might offer an additional tip or real-life example, or expand on a point the blogger made. If you're commenting on a book review, explain why you enjoyed reading the book. Your comment doesn't have to be long, but you do need to say something useful and relevant. Do not give the impression that you are just there to promote your book or leave a link to your site.
Don't make inappropriate comments. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with a point that someone has made (and many bloggers encourage disparate views), but do so in a polite, respectful way. I'm amazed at some of the rude and tacky things people say on blogs and in online forums.
Don't be overtly promotional. Commenting on someone else's blog is not the place to blatantly promote your book or services. However, there are subtle ways to convey that you are an expert on the topic being discussed and encourage people to click on your name to visit your website.
You might work in a reference to your book related to the comment you are making. Here are some examples:
"Twitter is such an important tool for authors that I devoted an entire chapter in my book to promoting through Twitter."
"In researching my book, Selling Your Book to Libraries, I discovered that . . ."
"Because I write mystery novels myself, I really appreciated the way that the author . . ."
Depending on the topic under discussion, I sometimes sign my name with a tag line such as "Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer" or "Dana Lynn Smith, author of Facebook Guide for Authors." Some people include their website address in their signature, but many bloggers frown on this. Creating a signature that's several lines long and blatantly promotional is not appropriate. Some people think that including any type of signature or reference to your book is too promotional.
You will have to use
your judgment to determine what is appropriate, but you might look at
what other commenters on the blog are doing as a guideline. Just
remember that you are a guest on someone else's site and mind your
manners.
About the Author
Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides at www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For more book promotion tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.
Evaluating Your Current Online Visibility
The first step in marketing and promoting your book is to evaluate your current online visibility. Your ability to market and promote your book is based on your ability to promote yourself and your book online. Online visibility brings up the topic of your author platform.
What’s your platform like?
Your author platform refers to your ability to promote yourself and your book online -- where books are sold and product and service decisions are made. Your platform is a measure of the quality and quantity of your website presence plus your ability to keep in touch with clients, prospects, peers, and opinion-makers.
- Start by asking, What shows up when you enter your name, or your firm’s name, into a search engine like Google.com or Yahoo.com?
- Then, enter the keywords, or terms clients, prospects, or the media use when asking questions or searching for information about issues and topics in your field. Does your blog or website show up on the first page, or two, of results? Are there a lot of results, or just a few?
The stronger your platform, i.e., the more visibility you already have, the easier it will be to get your book published and into the hands of readers who you hope will turn into prospects and customers.
Questions to ask when evaluating your online platform
The best way to evaluate your online platform is to evaluate your current web presence by asking questions like the following:
1. When did you last update your website? Visitors and search engines like frequently updated websites, beginning with the home page. Just as you wouldn’t buy your daily newspaper if the front page always looked the same, your website needs to be constantly freshened with new content.
2. Can you update your website by yourself? Your ability to promote your book and your career is based on your ability to easily update your website yourself, without needing to contact and pay money to a webmaster or web designer.
3. Do you have a blog? Blogs are no longer fashionable options for sharing the details of your daily existence. Today, blogs are fundamental marketing tools that permit you to develop and share your expertise by easily and efficiently adding text and graphics by yourself, without incurring the costs and delays of paying someone else. In an age of WordPress blogs, there’s simply no excuse for a website you cannot edit and update yourself.
4. Does your site offer a sign-up incentive? It is essential that your website contains an incentive for visitors to sign-up for your email newsletter or tips. Unless you have a way of capturing your visitor’s e-mail address and permission to contact them via email, you’ll only get one chance to sell the visitor before they go elsewhere and forget about you and your site. Capture their e-mail address and permission, however, and you can convert that one-time visit into a long and profitable relationship.
5. How often do you send e-mail updates? Do you remember E.R. on television, the drama that took place in a hospital emergency room? Remember the oscilloscope displays tracking the heartbeats of the patients? Each time their heart beat, the trace rose to the top of the screen. But, it never stayed there. The rise to the top was quickly followed by a drop to the bottom of the screen. The same effect happens with your marketing. Each time you send out a tip or a newsletter, your visibility rises to the top of your prospect’s attention. But, the more time that goes by between your e-mail contacts, the more likely you won’t be visible when your prospect is ready to buy. Short, weekly e-mail updates are far more effective than monthly or quarterly contacts.
6. How often do web visits turn into sales? Are you able to track the conversions, or sales, that originate on your website? If you’re not able to track your website’s performance, how do you know what it’s contributing to your firm’s profitability? If you can’t track your website’s performance, you can’t test your offers, your prices, and your headlines? You’ll never know which keywords to include in your headlines and body copy. Websites and testing go hand in hand; making it easy to test each variable until it delivers maximum sales for each of your product and service offerings.
7. How helpful and relevant is your site’s content? If your website consists primarily of empty claims about how great you are, it’s probably not contributing much to your bottom line. Success today is based on sharing genuinely helpful information with clients and prospects. Givers get. The more information you share, the more you will be viewed as an expert in your field, paving the way to book sales and back-end product and service profits.
8. Is your site’s image unique and accurate? Content is king, but content, by itself, isn’t enough. The design of your website says a lot about you, pre-selling the importance of your words, projecting a distinct and appropriate look that differentiates your site from the competition and resonates with prospects, inviting repeat visits. If your website looks old and tired, however, your message will look old and tired.
9. How well are you using web audio and video? Are you taking appropriate advantage of streaming audio and video? It’s a mistake to think that everyone wants to read as much as you do; today’s world is dominated by iPods, podcasts, and online videos. If you’re not taking advantage of them, your profits will suffer. It’s imperative that you offer prospects their choice of message formats.
10. How regularly do you submit articles online? Your website is just one of your online marketing tools. Articles that you write and submit to article distribution sites like www.ezinearticles.com permit you to expand your search engine visibility and drive addition traffic to your website.
11. Are you taking advantage of social marketing? How effectively are you using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other specialized sites to cultivate relationships and referrals from clients, co-workers, friends, prospects, and subject area experts? It’s never been easier to create quality connections with others who share your interests or challenges and drive traffic to your blog or website.
Conclusion
Once you have realistically evaluated the effectiveness of your online presence and author platform, you’ll have a baseline, or starting point, for moving forward. You’ll be able to plan a realistic enhancement of your author platform and search engine visibility. This will pave the way to building your brand and selling more books by taking advantage of the historically unique combination of amazing technology and low cost online marketing opportunities currently available.
This article was
originally published on ActiveGarage.com and is reprinted with
permission.
About the Author
Roger C. Parker helps others write books that build brands. He’s written over 30 books, offers do-it-yourself resources at Published & Profitable (http://www.publishedandprofitable.com/) and shares writing tips each weekday at http://blog.publishedandprofitable.com. His latest book, Title Tweet! 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Article, Book, and Event Titles, is available at http://bit.ly/f5wKYU.
Book Video Trailers: 11 Steps to Make Your Own
by Joanna Penn
Book video trailers are videos posted online and distributed via video networking sites like YouTube. These can be big budget blockbuster movie clips, or budget MovieMaker slides to music.
You can make it an advert or a social media fun clip that people want to watch. It can be a human interest story made more like a documentary. It can be a cartoon. Essentially, it is anything you want it to be. Anything that catches people’s attention. You can get a professional to make you one or you can make your own for little or no money.
I made this book video trailer at http://bit.ly/f5wKYU with Windows Movie Maker (which is on most PCs). It took me several hours but was essentially free, and you don’t have to be too techy to make one too. Instructions after the movie! (comments and feedback welcome!)
1. Research other book video trailers that are similar to what you would like to do. Just search for book trailers on YouTube. Decide what you like and don’t like (and what is within your capacity and budget).
2. Write a brief script for the trailer so you can get it straight in your head and understand what images and text you will need (I just did this on Microsoft Word).
3. Find and download images to match your words. You can use your own or get free ones online by googling “royalty free photo”. I use iStockPhoto which I find easy to use with a variety of pictures and I did pay a small amount for some photos. You can also use movie clips (which I am still learning about!)
4. Import the pictures into Windows MovieMaker. (File -> Import Media)
5. Order the pictures. Drag them into the movie bar at the bottom of the screen in the order you want. Right click and Cut to remove again. Basic drag and drop functionality. Remember to save regularly!
6. Add script by clicking on the picture in the movie bar and then clicking Edit -> Titles and Credits. You can add text in various styles, colours and transition effects here. You can add text before, on top of or after your pictures.
7. Edit. Once you have got the basic pictures and text setup, see how long your movie is. Most book trailers are no longer than 1 minute 30 seconds. Edit as necessary by clicking and dragging the size of the boxes to shorten the time frame they show on the screen.
8. Find music to match the length of your movie (or cut to fit). I used SoundSnap.com but you can google “royalty free music” to find other sites. I searched on audio length within classical music and listened to a few before choosing.
9. Check you are happy with everything and then Publish your movie to your computer.
10. Find tags. Now you have a file you can publish it to the internet movie sites to get some viewers. You need to know what tags you want to add to your video when you upload it, so I suggest you also research what people are searching on in your genre. I use Google Keyword Search which has a number of tools and recommended related words.
11. Upload your video to appropriate sites. I have loaded mine to YouTube and Google Video so far. It takes some time per site, unless you use a video submission site like TubeMogul.com or TrafficGeyser, which is expensive and really only for companies with lots of video.
You can submit manually to sites like Revver, MySpaceTV, Metacafe, Yahoo Video, Book Trailers, AuthorsDen. No doubt there are many more! Remember to also use the embed links to post to your own website, blog and social networking sites.
Have you had any
promotional success with book video trailers? Where do you post them
online?
About the Author
Joanna Penn is an author and blogger at The Creative Penn: Writing, self-publishing, print-on-demand, internet sales and promotion . . .for your book at http://www.thecreativepenn.com/. For more information on how to use Web 2.0 to write, publish, sell and promote your books, get your FREE Author 2.0 Blueprint at http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1011191.
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