You may have heard the term “Special Sales.” Do you know what this means? It represents sales outside of the traditional bookstores. Although this seems to be a new term, it certainly isn’t a new concept. Authors have been generating sales through specialty stores, presentations, book festivals, online marketing, article-writing and so forth for years and years. In fact anyone who has been promoting a book for more than a few months is aware that he or she must reach outside their old, familiar haunts in order to sell copies of their books.
Bookselling has become personal. It used to be that the author was some mysterious figure in the background of any book. To readers, an author was a name—nothing more—no face, particularly no presence or personality. That was when you’d walk into a bookstore to purchase a book—there were no Internet sales; no bookracks in delis, veterinarians’ offices, local airports, sporting goods stores, bakeries, etc. and few author presentations.
Now, readers know what their favorite author eats for breakfast, how many children they have, the names of their pets and the brand of hair coloring they use. Readers have the opportunity to meet authors at book festivals, at their club meetings, at church, at conferences and other events. Authors are more visible. We must be if we want to sell books.
As an author, we need a strong online presence, as well. Readers who want to know more about us will conduct Internet searches and we’d better be easy to locate. In other words, we must have a website; we should manage one or more active blogs; be involved in social media and solicit interviews, guests posts, reviews and so forth.
Go where your audience is. Give them what they want. Provide them with the information or entertainment they require or desire. It is all up to you. It is between you and your reader. Keep this in mind and you will succeed.
For additional help promoting your book, read Promote Your Book by Patricia Fry. It’s available here: http://www.matilijapress.com/PromoteYourBook.html and at Amazon in print, audio and for Kindle.