It is fairly easy to market your book to locals. Or it should be. I present ideas in this blog, articles and books regularly about promoting locally. For example, join local groups and organizations, in particular, those with networking opportunities. Go out and speak to your audience. Get interviewed for local newspapers. Place your book in local stores. Teach workshops. Set up signings. Attend book festivals and other events where you can promote your book.
Most authors also have potential readers in other areas. You attempt to reach them through your magnificent website—and, authors, if you have a book, no matter who published it, you should also have your own website. Still, I go in search of authors in an attempt to connect with them in some way and cannot find contact information for them. They do not have their own websites.
Some of us travel outside our communities to meet our readers. But there are other ways to reach larger numbers of your specific readers more often. How? If your book is nonfiction, write and submit useful articles to club and association newsletters in other regions.
Certainly, write informational articles about the theme of your book for national magazines, newsletters, ezines and newspapers. But don’t overlook the more intimate publications produced each month (or quarter) by small groups representing your audience, whether it be farmers, accountants, writers, recovering alcoholics, alumni or church association members, artists, secretaries, businessmen/women, young parents, quilters, photographers, fly fishermen or pilots, for example.
The thing is, if you have an audience, they probably congregate either in person or virtually. They find ways to connect with like-minded people. And many, many of those groups produce bulletins, newsletters, ezines, etc.
I write for writers and authors. I do an Internet search every so often and I constantly keep my eyes open for new groups forming that might have newsletters. I scour the Internet and other ezines for new or obscure magazines and newsletters for my audience. I find out the name of the publication, whether editors use outside articles, who to contact, when to submit, how many words, etc. And I keep this information in a binder here on my desk. What do I do with this information? I constantly write articles and submit them to a variety of regional publications in an attempt to educate and inform my audiences, gain more name recognition for myself and get exposure for my related books.
This is something you should be doing, as well. This is a great way to introduce yourself and your books to new members of your audience and to become known to that audience. Perhaps you will be invited to present a program around the theme of your book at some point in Neah Bay, Washington; Nashville, Tennessee; Oakland, California; St. Louis, Missouri; Canton, Ohio or White Plains, New York, for example. If you’ve been submitting articles to publications in that region, you will already have name recognition and a measure of credibility with your readers.
If you need a more realistic perspective on and additional information about the world of publishing and your role within it, read my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author (Allworth Press, 2012). For additional book promotion ideas, read Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author (Allworth Press, 2011). Both are available at Amazon.com and other online and downtown bookstores, at the publisher’s website and at my website. They are also on Kindle and Nook.