Who cares about your book as much as you do? The answer is, no one. That’s why you are the best person to represent your book to your audience. Sure, you can pay someone to promote your book—money causes people to care.
Your main job, however, is to get your potential readers to care. It really is personal. If there isn’t something in or about your book that will benefit your readers, why should they buy your book? Why would they?
Are the benefits to your readers blatantly evident to those who see your book? Does your promotional material address the “you” factor in your book enough to entice readers to buy it?
They say that some of the main enticement triggers that should appear in some obvious or subtle way, when promoting anything, are money, success, happiness and health. As promoters, we must show or indicate that our book will make the reader happier, healthier, more successful and/or wealthier. They might want to know how to solve a problem they are having. If a potential customer has a goal or a desire and he or she believes that your book will help them to attain it, certainly, they will buy it. Maybe they want to more effectively discipline their unruly children, get along better with their spouse, earn more money, become more creative, do better in the stock market or become more organized. If your book can promise this—and if you make these promises in your promotional material, your sales might increase dramatically.
You’ve heard (read) me preach about the importance of knowing your target audience and keeping them in mind throughout the writing process. Maybe you are finally beginning to see the value in this message.
If you can’t define your audience, you won’t be able to locate them.
If you can’t locate them, your promotion won’t be very effective.
What about fiction? What need are you attempting to fill with a historical novel, romance, western adventure, fantasy, thriller, mystery, etc? That would be our need for entertainment—our desire to dive into a book and lose ourselves or to, perhaps, tickle our intellectual prowess or to simply enjoy a good story. Your promotional tactics are important for fiction, as well. There’s a lot of competition for good books. What can you do to make yours stand out, entice readers, grab them and cause them to purchase your book?
What stops you when you are seeking out a particular type of book? What catches your eye and attention even when you are not looking for a book? Your responses to these questions might give you some important insight that will help you create promotional hooks in your book as you write it, to present a more attractive product and to write better promotional copy.
If you are struggling to sell copies of your fiction or nonfiction book and if you are interested in reviving it, order a copy of my newest book—Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.
http://www.matilijapress.com/promoteyourbook.html or at amazon.com http://amzn.to/oe56Ia
If you are still working on your book and plan to bring it out within the next several months, order a copy of this book and begin to familiarize yourself with the huge task of book promotion. This is your key to publishing success. This book could very well make the difference between your success and your failure as a published author. Remember, over seventy-six percent of all books fail in the marketplace every year. Which books do you think sell? Those by authors who take the initiative to understand the world of publishing, book marketing and their target audience. Promote Your Book is your education and could be your salvation in the highly competitive world of bookselling and promotion.
Make sure you are on the right path with your book or your book idea. Sign up for my FREE booklet, “50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book,” at http://www.patriciafry.com