Book Promotion Opportunities Missed Are Sales Lost
by Patricia Fry
Don't discount those marketing opportunities that are right under your nose. Several weeks ago, we started a new department in SPAWNews, SPAWN's monthly newsletter which goes out to around 1,500 writers, authors, artists and small publishers. (That's Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network—http://www.spawn.org.) Each month, we feature a member's Web site. We put out a call to members—"We will showcase YOUR Web site in SPAWNews—for FREE." And we gave the contact information. No one came forward. NO ONE!! I wondered, don't our members have Web sites for their writing/graphics businesses? Aren't they selling books through their own Web sites? So I went in search of member sites.
My first stop was the SPAWN Member Directory. While virtually all members are listed there, few of them had their Web sites listed. Somehow, they neglected to put their Web site address on their member application. So I began contacting members to ask if they had a Web site and if they would like to have it featured in SPAWNews. BINGO! Almost all of the ten-or-so members I randomly contacted said, "Yes, I have a Web site and I'd love to have it featured in SPAWNews." So why didn't they come forward to take advantage of this promotional opportunity on their own? Why didn't they at least make sure their Web site was listed in the SPAWN Directory?
I began evaluating my own marketing techniques and realized that there are opportunities I miss, too. We stay so busy trying to make a living, keeping up with our contacts, processing (physically and mentally) the enormous volume of materials we receive each day, coming up with new marketing ideas for our books and trying to maintain some order in our personal lives, we're overloaded.. No wonder we either miss or just don't get around to pursuing some of the opportunities that are right under out noses.
I vowed to pay more attention to those opportunities that come up. When I read about a marketing opportunity that takes little time and effort, I'll drop what I'm doing and take advantage right then. If I hear about a potential market for one of my books, I'll make a note of it and slip it into a file folder which I promise to open at least once a week. My day for this work is Sunday afternoon. I spend another half day every few weeks pursuing new markets for one of my books—sending out press releases to libraries across the U.S., coming up with new ideas for newspaper press releases—that new angle that will grab an editor even in Boulder, CO or Jacksonville, FL.
I suggest to everyone reading this—pay attention to the opportunities that come before you and act on them now, either by direct action or by filing the idea in a hot file to pursue in the near future.
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