Are you constantly in research mode? If you are a freelance writer or journalist, you most certainly are. How else would you come up with enough ideas for articles to bring in those paychecks?
But as authors who are promoting our books, we must also be in research mode all the time. Here’s what I mean:
• You should be always on the look-out for new book promotion opportunities. You might read in the newspaper that a new kitchen store has opened in the next community—see about signing your cookbook in conjunction with their grand opening. You notice that there will be an upscale flea market in the spring—contact the organizer and secure a booth. You read in SPAWNews that SPAWN has a booth at a major Southern California book festival where members can sell their books—you’ll be in California that week, time to make a call. (This is true—read the January edition of SPAWNews after January 1, 2012 here: http://www.spawn.org
• Watch for news in your industry. You heard on a news station that there has been a possible breakthrough or changes in regulations related to the theme of your book. Find out more about this so you can give a report to your newsletter subscribers and live audiences. Aspects of your industry are in major transition. You’ll want to follow this news and share it in a follow-up book or at your blog.
• Become aware of new concepts in your field or genre. It is important that you pass along current information and findings with regard to your book. Your readers will have more faith in a nonfiction author who keeps up with trends and a fiction writer who understands the genre.
Shifting into research mode is as easy as paying attention. But it requires effort. You must make it a habit to subscribe to and read pertinent material and to find ways to use it. Scour the Internet, including blogs on your topic/genre, the daily newspaper, nightly news, etc. Listen to talk radio when you are running errands in your car or delivering books to bookstores, etc. Attend lectures by your professional peers. Listen to teleseminars, podcasts and so forth. Read books by your colleagues and marketing experts.
If you are not doing these things, you are missing out on opportunities to expand your knowledge. If you can’t offer your audiences, blog followers and readers something fresh and pertinent on a regular basis, you are falling down on the job. And if you aren’t out there finding new and interesting ways to approach your readers, you could become one of the nearly eighty percent of authors who fail each year.
Here’s an idea: Order my newest book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author and step up your marketing efforts. If you use what you learn in this book, you could earn the cost of this book back 25, 50 or even 100 fold within the first few months.