How do you approach the task of book promotion? Do you have a method? A plan? Do you spend every day promoting or do you promote in between other duties? Perhaps you just promote when you feel like it—“I have a few minutes today, I’ll stop in at a local bookstore and see if they’ll carry my book,” or “I’ll look around for a speaking opportunity,” or “I’ll send a press release, post to my blog, etc.”
How’s that working for you?
I’d like to suggest that you take book promotion more seriously and participate more fully on a more regular basis. The following suggestions are NOT embraced by the 76 percent of authors who fail. If you don’t want to be among this statistic, pay attention:
1: Make a plan. List the book promotion activities you definitely can do and want to do. Below that, list those that you should be doing, could be doing, don’t particularly want to do. And then list those things you probably won’t ever get around to doing. But don’t label them as such. You may not want to do any public speaking. Write it down, anyway. You may get used to the idea and eventually give it a try. I highly recommend that you do, by the way. Remember, personality sells books.
2: Give these activities legs. In other words, prepare a loose schedule—promise to spend Monday mornings seeking out bookselling opportunities, take a few hours each week to research book reviewers, blog daily with regard to the topic or genre of your book, contact ten individuals or company/organization leaders every week with a soft pitch for your book, keep your finger on the pulse of your community—be open to the opportunities, for example.
3: Change something about your website every few weeks—offer something related to your book for free, create a challenge for web visitors, post a book trailer, etc.
4: Start some new method of communicating with your audience—through webinars or podcasts, a newsletter, an interactive blog, face-to-face workshops, and so forth.
5: Carry your book with you wherever you go and hand out promotional material.
6: Create spin-offs. That is, booklets, ebooklets, games or an item related to your book.
7: Devise a contest to bring attention to your book.
8: Seek out conferences in your topic of genre where you can give workshops.
9: Sign up for book festivals where you can promote your book.
10: Post comments at other blog sites, ask to be a guest blogger, launch a virtual blog tour.
Are you doing these things? When is the last time you did anything toward promoting your book? If you want to sell more copies this summer and fall, take a close look at these ten suggestions. Pick a few or several of them to pursue. Add to this list—there’s so much more you can be doing. Study books like mine: Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author, and you will sell more books.
This book is available at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. You can also purchase it at http://www.matilijapress.com