It’s the first day of November. You don’t have much time to generate book sale for the holidays. What can you do at this late date to help increase sales this season?
• If you have books in stores around town, make sure they have a good supply for the holidays. If you don’t have books in local independent bookstores and appropriate specialty stores, spend a few days showing booksellers and other merchants your book and negotiating for a space in their stores. This might include children’s clothing and toy stores, gift shops, boutiques, spas, pet stores, craft and hobby shops, grocery stores, bakeries, pharmacies, nurseries…use your imagination. Where will your audience shop for gifts this year?
• Get interviewed in the local newspapers and let readers know where your books can be purchased. In order to land an interview, you must have something of interest to talk about other than the fact that you’ve written a book. Find a way to make news.
• Offer to write guest blogs at some key sites. In the meantime, leave comments at popular sites related to the theme/genre of your book.
• There might be time to arrange for a reading or another program that would give your book special recognition within your community.
• Run a special on your book at your website to attract new readers. Announce this in appropriate ezines and related websites. You may have to pay for small ads in some ezines—others publish announcements for free.
• Post notices about your book as a great gift or announcing your special price at your daily blog and in all of your membership organization newsletters.
• Place announcements at the discussion groups and forums you belong to related to the theme/genre of your book.
What else do you plan this month in order to bring attention to your book as a great gift for the holidays? Post your ideas as a comment.
Do yourself a favor and order your print or Kindle version of my book on book promotion. Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia This book will give you hundreds of additional book promotion ideas to use now and after the holidays.
Patricia Fry in the News
Read Susan Daffron’s interview with me at her site, The Book Consultant. Susan is the President of and webmaster for SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). Because the work we do within SPAWN is pretty much volunteer work (she gets a small stipend for handling the website), we all run businesses outside of this organization. And Susan has quite a professional website showcasing the work she does with authors. Check it out at http://www.thebookconsultant.com
To learn more about me and my professional background and my work, go to
http://www.thebookconsultant.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=324