Book promotion is a lot of things. Let’s see how many descriptive words I can come up with: It is hard work, energy-draining, time-consuming, on-going and it takes some level of creativity. There’s a lot of competition out there for authors who are marketing books.
Different authors view book promotion from a variety of perspectives, including unnecessary, intimidating, confusing, fun (but only for a while), overwhelming, all-consuming, too darn much work, and/or a big waste of time.
Some authors roll up their sleeves and get busy promoting once their books are published. They may even devise a long-range marketing plan. Others jump in with both feet, engaging in a few ambitious promotional activities right away and then go back to whatever they were doing before they became an author. Still others never even devise a plan or launch any activities to speak of. They just sit back and watch their books die, along with approximately 78 percent of all other new books.
What is your attitude about book promotion? What is your mindset? Have you done enough studying to understand how successful books become successful? Are you open to learning, not only how to write a book and how to get one published, but also how to introduce it to the public, how to elicit sales—in other words, how to promote your book to your particular audience?
Beware. If you haven’t written the best book you can, if you haven’t hired a good book editor and become educated about the business of publishing and marketing, your publishing experience may not be as exciting as you hoped. You must also be willing to give your book the push it needs in order to be noticed.
Book promotion is not an option for authors who want a successful publishing experience. It is a necessity. And the earlier you start your education, the more potential you’ll have for success.
So start your training today, no matter where you are in the writing, publishing or book promotion process.
If you were to start a new job in an industry you weren’t familiar with, the first course of action would be training, right? You would be trained to understand the scope of the job and to handle the various tasks involved. Well, authorship is a business. Think of it any other way and you are doing yourself a huge disservice. I often tell authors they should consider themselves the CEO of their book from day one.
There are many places where you can get an education in book promotion. Most professionals recommend that authors learn from several teachers and train in a variety of arenas. Here are a couple of places to start. Read these books:
Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author
Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author
Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.
All of these books by Patricia Fry (Allworth Press) are available at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio as well as at my website: http://www.matilijapress.com