Promotion can be a silent and lonely activity. As an author with a book to sell, you spend quite a bit of time each day/week trying to find readers. (If you aren’t doing this, you should be.) You are building an emailing list; writing and rewriting press releases and other promotional material; searching for appropriate newspapers, magazines and websites to solicit; mailing free copies of your book to reviewers; sending out press releases; blogging; promoting at your social media sites and so forth.
But sometimes it feels as though you are all alone searching the vast earth for another human being. You are out there shouting accolades for your book and no one seems to hear you. Yes, promotion can be lonely work.
I speak to a lot of lonely authors throughout the year. All they want is a little feedback and some sales. They need to know that there’s someone at the other end of their efforts. Maybe it’s time that we change our promotional tactics. Maybe we should get back to the dreaded COLD CALL—go face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice with potential customers.
Our neighborhood, like many in America, is representative of the historic cottage industry era. One neighbor sells jewelry from home and another one makes tamales to sell. Another neighbor does quilting for customers in her garage. There’s a bookkeeper up the street, a dog trainer and a part-time realtor who all work from home. But the most successful woman in our neighborhood is the one who makes cold calls.
This neighbor designs unique completely organic tee shirts with garden themes. And she sells thousands of dollars in product each month mainly through cold calls and by doing gift shows and harvest festivals. She talks to at least a dozen people each day and she gets orders. She says that almost everyone she speaks with is interested in her product line and wants to see it.
Have you tried the cold call, lately? I think we’ve all become fairly comfortable communicating through the Internet. Most of us don’t want to bother trying to reach people by phone or in person, anymore. But I maintain that it is more difficult for someone to ignore you when you have a solid voice. They might receive your email and click you into the trashcan. But if you reach them by phone or stop in at their storefront, they will listen to what you have to say.
Let’s make 2014 the year we take our voice back and became more visible. This may just be a unique and effective way to increase our book sales.
Yesterday, I walked up to get my haircut. On the way, I stopped at the local water company, where I step in and pay my bill in person each month; a quicky mart, where I buy my gas; the local hardware store I frequent; a unique linen store; a new bookstore and a couple of other places and I handed out bookmarks advertising my latest two novels to the employees. This is a simple activity and one you still have time to pursue before Christmas. Go for it.
Leave a stack of bookmarks at your library and hand them to the clerks at your bank, cashiers at the grocery store you frequent, your dry cleaners, your veterinarian’s office, the hospital lobby, your doctor’s and dentist’s office… You get the idea.
Happy last minute marketing.