Savvy Book Marketing Secrets 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books Published in 2011 by The Savvy Book Marketer, an imprint of Texana Publishing Consultants, LLC Smashwords Edition www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com Copyright Notice Each article in this ebook is copyrighted by the author of the article. You may not reproduce any article without the prior written consent of the author of the article. You are welcome to share this free ebook with others, but you may not sell it. Disclaimer This is an informational guide and is not intended as a substitute for legal or other professional services. Readers are urged to consult a variety of sources and educate themselves about the business of publishing and marketing. While every effort has been made to make this guide accurate, it may contain typographical and content errors. The information expressed herein is the opinion of the author, and is not intended to reflect upon any particular person or company. The author and publisher shall have no responsibility or liability with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, by the information or application of the information contained in this guide. Some links in this book are affiliate links, meaning that Texana Publishing Consultants, LLC, receives a commission on sales of other companies’ products and services sold as a result of clicking on the link. Table of Contents About this Book Book Marketing Strategy Getting Endorsements for your Book Who Should You Be Promoting Your Book To? Book Marketing Lessons from the World of Retail – Finding Niche Markets for Your Books Confessions of a Reluctant Marketer The Self-Confidence to Sell More Books Building Relationships Increases Readership Habits of Action: How Authors Can Get Things Done Resources Online Book Promotion Recipe for a Book-Focused Home Page Jazz Up Your Web Site or Blog with Simple HTML The Right (and Wrong) Way to Comment on Blogs Evaluating Your Current Online Visibility Book Video Trailers: 11 Steps to Make Your Own 5 Steps to Create an Amazon Bestselling Book Campaign Top 10 Ways to Maximize Book Sales on Amazon.com Build a Money Making Opt-In Subscriber List with One Simple Idea Resources Social Media Marketing Why Social Networking is a Must for Authors Turn Your Facebook Profile into a Friend Magnet in 7 Easy Steps Promoting Your Book on LinkedIn: Do's and Don'ts Book Marketing with LinkedIn – Top Mistakes and Solutions Promote a Book with Twitter: Top 10 Strategies for Authors Promote Your Book with a Twitter World Tour Resources Fiction Marketing What Do You Talk About On Your Blog If You Write Fiction? Blog Ideas for Fiction Authors What Novelists Can Learn About Marketing from Nonfiction Authors Publicity for Books and Authors Five Tips to Create Publicity for Your Book Anatomy of a Successful Press Release for Book Promotion Five Tips for Writing a Strong Press Release Use a Benefit Funnel to Write Compelling Copy Author Branding: The You That Is Everywhere How to Build Your Author Platform Perk Up Your Bio How To Develop Key Messages and Get Them Across Quickly Building Author Platform by Pitching Yourself to the Media Use the Calendar to Promote Yourself and Your Book Nine Tips for Helping Your Publicist Do a Great Job Blog Talk Radio Offers Books Authors the Opportunity to Host Their Own Shows Best Ways to Approach Radio and TV Talk Shows Do Book Reviews Matter? Resources Speaking and Events 12 Secrets to Selling More Books at Events How to Exhibit at Book Industry Tradeshows Promote Your Book by Becoming a Keynote Speaker Resources Virtual Book Tours Promote Your Book with a Virtual Book Tour How to Plan Your Virtual Book Tour Blog Tours for Authors – Do They Work? Library, Educational and Corporate Sales How to Sell to Libraries – Top Ten Strategies for Independent Authors and Publishers How to Market Children's Books in Schools How to Sell More Books to Corporations Resources Publishing and Distribution How to Get Started Writing Your Book Why Authors Need an Editor Mistakes of First-Time Authors Drafting Your Back Cover Sales Copy How to Craft Back Cover Copy that Sells Books by the Boatload Judging a Book by Its Cover How To Find A Literary Agent (When You’ve Self-Published) The Role of Retailers, Distributors and Wholesalers in the Book Trade How Do Books Get Stocked in Bookstores? Ebooks and Information Products How to Publish an Ebook Publishing Content for Amazon's Kindle How to Make Your Books Available in Multiple Ebook Formats Selling Information: Competing In A World Where Information Is Free From Book to Multiple Streams of Income About The Savvy Book Marketer The Savvy Book Marketer Guides About this Book Over the past couple of years, dozens of book marketing and publishing experts have enriched my Savvy Book Marketer blog at http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com with their guest posts. I have learned much from these experts and I’m pleased to share a selection of their articles with you in this free ebook. I’ve added a few of my own articles and also included a list of resources in each chapter. You are welcome to share this free ebook with others, but you may not sell it. If you’d like to let other authors know where to download a free copy of this ebook, here are some posts to use on social networks: Authors, get book marketing tips from 52 top experts – free Savvy Book Marketing Secrets ebook at http://bit.ly/SavvySecrets #pubtip Free ebook for authors - Savvy Book Marketing Secrets: 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books http://bit.ly/SavvySecrets Please remember that each article in this ebook is copyrighted by its author and may not be reproduced without the author’s prior written consent. I hope you find this ebook helpful in promoting your books. Get more book marketing tips and two more free ebooks when you sign up for my newsletter at http://www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com. To your success! Dana Lynn Smith The Savvy Book Marketer www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com Back to top Book Marketing Strategy Getting Endorsements for your Book by Sarah Bolme Have you ever seen a book cover where the name of the celebrity providing an endorsement for the book was larger than the author’s name? This little trick is used to catch a book buyer’s eye because publishers know that celebrity names sell books. As an author, make pursuing endorsements for your book a priority. Why is seeking endorsements for a book so important? Endorsements lend credibility to a book and state a book has quality. A good endorsement can make the difference between a few sales and a multitude of sales. 1. Endorsements lend credibility to a book. With so many books to choose from, most book buyers depend on name recognition when making purchase decisions. A new or unknown author has no reputation and thus little credibility with consumers. The best way to gain credibility in the consumer’s eye is to have your book endorsed by someone who already has credibility. When consumers trust the person endorsing your book, they trust that you are a credible author. 2. Endorsements state a book has quality. Booksellers have limited shelf space from which to sell books. Distributors can only market a finite number of books and generally choose to represent those books they think have the greatest possibility of selling. Consumers have limited spending dollars on which to spend their hard-earned money as well as limited time in which to read. Each of these book buyers needs to be assured that the book they are considering purchasing is a quality book worth their money and time. Endorsements send this message. It is best to secure endorsements for your book while it is still in manuscript form. That way, you can use the endorsers’ names on your book cover and in all your pre-release book review requests and marketing materials. When requesting an endorsement, send a complete copy of your manuscript for the endorser to review. It is acceptable to provide endorsers with a list of names of other persons from whom you are requesting endorsements. Most celebrity endorsers will be pleased to be included in good company and those who are not celebrities will be excited to have their names printed with famous people. Endorsements are truly an essential ingredient in a good book marketing campaign. About the Author Sarah Bolme is an author, speaker, and Christian marketing coach. She is the author of the award-winning book Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace at http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com and director of the Christian Small Publishers Association at http://www.christianpublishers.net. For more information, read her Marketing Christian Books blog at http://marketingchristianbooks.wordpress.com. Back to top Who Should You Be Promoting Your Book To? by Dana Lynn Smith A written book marketing plan is an essential tool in effectively promoting your book. One of the first priorities in developing a book marketing plan is to define the target audiences for your book. Your audience may be wider than you think. A book marketing plan should include strategies for reaching several different target audiences, including: 1. Readers – These are people who buy the book to read. This is the most obvious category and it includes your primary audience (the "ideal customer" that the book was specifically written for) as well as secondary audiences who have an interest in your topic or genre. 2. Purchasers – Many book buyers purchase books for other people. For example, people buy books as gifts, parents and grandparents purchase books for children, and women buy men's health books. Companies and organizations buy books to give away to their customers, members and prospects. Who would be likely to purchase your book for someone else, and how can you reach those folks? 3. Influencers – Don't overlook the importance of people who communicate with your target customers and can let them know about your book. This includes bloggers, other writers in your genre, journalists, book reviewers, and other experts in your field. In online book marketing, the influencers may be the most important category of all. Think about how much you can multiply your book promotion efforts when other people spread the word to their own readers and customers. Other people who cater to your target customers can promote you and your book in several ways, including blog posts, links to your website or blog, Twittering, newsletter articles, and media sharing tools like Digg and StumbleUpon. It's important to develop relationships with these influencers, as part of your book marketing plan. Traditional and online media are also important influencers. You can reach them through traditional publicity efforts as well as online press releases and article distribution. Be sure your book marketing plan includes strategies for promoting your book to all of these important target audiences. About the Author Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides at www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For more book promotion tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com. Back to top Book Marketing Lessons from the World of Retail – Finding Niche Markets for Your Books by Tracy Higley While writing fiction is my passion, I also have another side of life – an online retail business selling craft and hobby supplies. There are a number of lessons I’ve learned in my non-writing marketing efforts that can translate to marketing fiction, and I’ll share one with you in this post. If you’d like to read more, you can find a series of posts on the topic at http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/tracy-higley/. One of the best things you can do to spread the word about your novel is to find a tightly focused group of people who would love it. In other words, a niche. Entrepreneur magazine defines a niche as “A portion of a market that you've identified as having some special characteristic and that's worth marketing to.” Quite frankly, I have built my entire retail business on this principle. In this article, I’ll give examples from both my writing and my retail business, with links provided to give you a better feel for what I’m explaining. Here’s how niche marketing works, and how it can work for your books: 1. Identify a specific segment of people whom you think would be especially interested in your books. Be very specific. Don’t worry about “leaving out” a large portion of your readers from this niche. That’s the point. You’re going to market to this niche in special ways that don’t apply to all of your target readers. Example: I started an online retail business several years ago by identifying niches in the craft supply business that weren’t being adequately supplied online. Our first two products, Perler Beads at http://www.koolstuff4kids.com/ and Quilling Supplies (not quilting, quilling is a paper craft) at http://www.quillingsuperstore.com/, are given a very small amount of shelf space in local craft stores. People who are interested in these products find the selection disappointing. They turn to the Internet, and they find us. I’ve built a successful business by identifying this very small niche in American crafters and offering them hundreds of products for their craft. You can do this with your books. Brainstorm for niches. It’s a bit easier with non-fiction, but work to think of people in your novel who could relate to its theme, premise, setting, etc. Can you identify a very specific group who would be interested? For example, if your book’s theme were about juggling a career and a family, a niche might be “professional women having their first child after at least ten years in the corporate world.” Do you see how this small niche fits into your larger target market? I write historical fiction. So do many other authors! How are my books unique, and what is a niche that I can identify? My Seven Wonders Novels at http://bit.ly/hzfBTL are historical suspense, fairly fast-paced, and set in ancient time periods like Egypt, Greece, and Rome. There are several niches I can identify, but the first one I am focusing on is this: homeschooling high school students and their mothers. Do you see how this fits? Homeschoolers are always looking for creative ways to approach history and literature in a combined way. They are likely to enjoy my fast-paced suspense that gives a glimpse into these ancient cultures. And they are likely to appreciate the faith element woven into my books. 2. I’ve already touched on the second step a little bit in the paragraph above. Once you’ve identified your niche, identify their needs. How can your books benefit this group of people? In my retail business, the unique benefits I offer to my customers are wide selection and easy navigation. By creating entire websites at http://bit.ly/h6YutB for a single niche such as Quilling, Polymer Clay, or Origami, I am able to carry many products for that niche without bogging down the site navigation, and customers feel as though they’ve stumbled upon a specialized store that focuses only on them and their craft. A welcome discovery for most of them, after feeling that the local stores have largely ignored their needs! Find the benefit you can offer your niche. It may require some extra work on your part. I am in the process of developing “bonus content” materials for homeschoolers that will complement my fiction. (As an aside, if you are a homeschooling family and this interests you, I would love for you to contact me at http://www.tlhigley.com/pages/Contact.php and give your input!) 3. Take the benefits you can offer your niche, and go forth and find those people! The Internet has greatly expanded our ability to connect with niches. There are places (online and offline) where you are likely to find my example of “professional women having their first child after at least ten years in the corporate world” or whatever your niche might be. Figure out where they are, who the influencers are, and how you can connect with them – either online or in person. If you’re able to identify more than one niche for your books, or perhaps different niches for each book, all the better. Go after them systematically. Don’t be lured into the trap of saying, “but everyone should buy my books.” This mentality often leads to no one buying your books! Niche marketing is really an extension of the concept of branding. Once you’ve figured out your brand, identify the groups of people most likely to be interested and benefited, and then find ways to meet their needs. Niche marketing works. I’ve watched it result in loyal customers over my years in retail, and it will work for your books if implemented well. As a post-script, niche marketing also gets you noticed. I was recently contacted by the Martha Stewart Show to provide the audience giveaway for her segment on Polymer Clay. As a result, Martha mentioned our store on her show, and her website now links to my Polymer Clay Superstore at http://www.polymerclaysuperstore.com/. This free publicity would not have occurred without niche marketing! About the Author Tracy Higley is the author of a number of historical suspense novels, including the Seven Wonders Novels at http://www.tlhigley.com/pages/Readers.php. To check out her website and the way she incorporates marketing strategies there, visit www.TLHigley.com. Back to top Confessions of a Reluctant Marketer by Beth Barany You may think that marketing your books is a scary prospect, but actually marketing is essential to your career as an author. And if you uncover your style of marketing, then ultimately you will sell more books. When my first book came out in Spring 2008, Overcome Writer’s Block at http://www.overcomewritersblock.com/. I barely marketed it. When my second book came out July 2009, Writer’s Adventure Guide at http://www.writersadventureguide.com/, I did the minimum and quickly focused on other things, like earning a living. I was overwhelmed by all my book marketing options, and chose actions at random. Probably not the most effective. Then, I attended a lecture by Patrick Swertdfeger, the author of Webify Your Business 2.0 at http://www.webifybook.com/, and learned about social networking. He made the tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.com seem like so much fun. I realized something. That marketing my books could be fun, if I did the things I liked. And what I liked was using social networking. These tools capitalized on my strengths: writing, connecting with others, and chatting. So, I have a question for you. You know you need to get the word out about your books. So, what is fun for you about marketing? Pick one tool of technique you’re passionate about and take one action on it right now. Today. And everyday. If it’s fun, you’ll stick with it. In addition to sticking with it, you’ll want to track your results. You know the mantra: “What we pay attention to grows”? Today you may have 50 Twitter followers. Next week you may have 60. Yippee! But you won’t be able to see your progress unless you track. Find what is fun for you, persist at it, track your results, and you will become a super marketer. About the Author Copyright 2010 Beth Barany. Beth works with authors, speakers, coaches and consultants across US, Canada, and Europe, and helps them get their books completed and out into the world. Beth Barany is the author of The Writer's Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book. More at: http://www.bethbarany.com, and her blog, http:// www.writersfunzone.com/blog. Back to top The Self-Confidence to Sell More Books by Rob Eagar What if a book’s success depends more on the author’s self-confidence, rather than what’s written on the page? After training over 200 authors, from beginners to bestsellers, an interesting pattern has caught my attention. For example, I’ve noticed that my author clients with a high self-esteem tended to be more creative with their marketing plans and actually sold more books. In contrast, those with low self-esteems struggled to implement new marketing activities. Predictably, their book sales languished. I’m not saying there is a direct correlation, but there is definitely a pattern that bears attention. The problem is that there are real consequences when an author allows low self- confidence to affect their book marketing efforts. For instance, he or she will tend to: [...]... manners About the Author Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides at www.SavvyBookMarketer.com For more book promotion tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com Back to top Evaluating... who share your interests If you haven't already jumped onboard, get started today! About the Author Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and the author of several book marketing guides, including The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing, available at www.SavvyBookMarketer.com For more book promotion tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com,... step in marketing a book should be to develop a solid book marketing plan For an outline of what to include in your marketing plan, go to www.CreateYourBookMarketingPlan.com Back to top Online Book Promotion Recipe for a Book- Focused Home Page by Carma Spence-Pothitt Ingredients - Clear purpose for the landing page - Image of the book - Image of the author - Call to action Directions Clear purpose for. .. your book on Amazon You can sign up for the Associates program here, https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ but residents of some states may not be eligible due to sales tax issues in their state About the Author Learn more about profiting from Amazon.com in Dana Lynn Smith's ebook, How to Sell More Books on Amazon, available in both PDF and Kindle format at http://bit.ly/AmazonEbook For more book marketing. .. your horn a little What’s the worst that could happen? You just might sell a lot more books About the Author Rob Eagar is the founder of WildFire Marketing who helps authors and publishers sell more books through innovative marketing strategies He has trained over 200 authors, from beginners to bestsellers For more information, call 1-800-267-2045 or visit www.StartaWildFire.com Back to top Building... Books on Amazon, available in both PDF and Kindle format at http://bit.ly/AmazonEbook For more book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bookmarketer and get Dana's free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog at http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com Back to top Build a Money Making Opt-In Subscriber List with One Simple Idea by Kathleen... Resources Learn how to make your books stand out from the huge number of competing books on Amazon and turn shoppers into buyers, with How to Sell More Books on Amazon, available in PDF and Kindle format at http://bit.ly/AmazonEbook BlogAid at www.BlogAid.net offers a wealth of free information about blogs and websites, along with WordPress training 31 Days to a Better Blog, an ebook by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger,... for your book at http://www.thecreativepenn.com/ For more information on how to use Web 2.0 to write, publish, sell and promote your books, get your FREE Author 2.0 Blueprint at http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1011191 Back to top 5 Steps to Create an Amazon Bestselling Book Campaign by Lynn Serafinn Many people hire me to create and manage their Amazon book campaigns, or to support them as a book. .. www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com Back to top Turn Your Facebook Profile into a Friend Magnet in 7 Easy Steps by Janice Curran More and more writers—both the pros and the aspiring—are turning to social networking services such as Facebook to promote their brands But if "everybody’s doing... first step in marketing and promoting your book is to evaluate your current online visibility Your ability to market and promote your book is based on your ability to promote yourself and your book online Online visibility brings up the topic of your author platform What’s your platform like? Your author platform refers to your ability to promote yourself and your book online -where books are sold . http://bit.ly/SavvySecrets #pubtip Free ebook for authors - Savvy Book Marketing Secrets: 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books http://bit.ly/SavvySecrets Please. Savvy Book Marketing Secrets 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books Published in 2011 by The Savvy Book Marketer, an imprint