I see authors frequently reject good opportunities to promote their books. Some of them simply neglect to see the opportunity for what it is. Others don’t want to take the time to respond to it or they don’t know how to follow up.
Here are some tips for shy, reticent, reluctant or overwhelmed authors:
1: You have been invited to participate in an interview to be published or aired soon. You don’t feel you have the time or you are insecure about responding to questions. Suck it up! Find the time—what better use of your time than to accept the opportunity to get publicity for your book? Remember that book promotion is ongoing for as long as you want your book to sell. And since addressing the public is such a huge part of successful book promotion, you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you will overcome your aversion to the limelight.
2: Your book was reviewed in a magazine. Don’t just gloat to a few friends and colleagues and then put the review in your scrapbook. Use this break to get additional exposure for your book. Write about it in your blog, announce it to your discussion group, send notices to the editors of newsletters for your membership organizations, post the review at your website and ask the reviewer to post it at your book’s Amazon page.
3: Someone you meet tells you how much they enjoyed your book. Don’t just enjoy the moment and then walk away. Ask this person to write his comments and send them to you for use in promotion. Or write them down yourself. With permission, post the testimonial at your website. Flaunt it in your blog. Use it in your promo material.
4: You’re invited to sit on a panel of experts in your field or genre or you’ve been asked to speak. If the very idea of public speaking is distasteful to you, do something about your fears. Either push through them and accept the opportunities or get some training. Join a Toastmasters’ Club, a storytelling group or take speaker training through your job.
5: You’ve been invited to participate in a booth at a book festival or flea market, but you’re afraid it won’t be worth your while. Hogwash! Any opportunity to get exposure for your book is worth your while. You may not sell a hundred (or even 10) copies at your local flea market, but your book is getting exposure that it would not be getting if you kept it locked up in your garage that weekend.
6: Someone you meet at a book festival or trade show or even a Chamber of Commerce social expresses an interest in your book and asks you to call him on Monday. Don’t blow this guy off thinking he doesn’t know anything about your book or bookselling in general. He may just be organizing a corporate convention locally and is looking for interesting things to purchase for a goody bag for attendees or he knows someone in the field represented by your book and he thinks he can get you a review in a prestigious magazine.
7: A neighbor or long-time friend wants you to bring copies of your book to a charity function he’s hosting. Take him seriously. He may be interested in buying a dozen and giving them away in gift baskets during the evening.
If your books aren’t selling well, maybe it is because you aren’t noticing or embracing the opportunities that are dropped in your lap or dangled over your head. Do you remember how important it was while you were writing your book to pay attention to detail—to be aware of material and information for your book? This awareness should be fostered into the book promotion phase of your project, as well. It is highly important that, as an author, you develop “opportunity radar” and that you open your mind to every book promotion possibility.
Rejection of opportunities will quickly result in failure.
Recognizing, considering and accepting opportunities is the surest path to publishing success.
I’m traveling this week—posts will be sporadic. So hang in there with me.
This is a great time for you to order and start studying my new book, Promote Your Book. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia
I offer something many professionals don’t—I make myself available to respond to your questions. And this is true especially if you purchase any of my useful books on publishing and book promotion. PLFry620@yahoo.com