When the Book Marketing Campaign is Over

1.)   Follow-up! At then end of your campaign, your publicist should provide you with a summary of campaign activity that includes the contact information for all media who expressed interest in you and/or your book. This is a very important document! Follow-ups are key in book marketing, so you’ll want to send follow-up e-mails to all media who requested your book or information about you. If you don’t hear back from the producer or editor, follow-up again, but not too quickly. You don’t want to annoy media, yet you need to be persistent. (NOTE: Before engaging a book publicity firm, make sure they will provide this media contact information when their work concludes; not all agencies do!)

 

2.)   Utilize the media coverage you’ve received to get more coverage. Interviews and articles may have a limited lifespan when they actually air or appear in a print outlet, but these placements should work for you indefinitely. Publicity often begets publicity, because media often learn about authors and books the same way the rest of us do … by reading newspapers and magazines, listening to the radio, and watching TV.

After your publicity campaign is turned over to you, you should have copies or links to articles, radio and TV interviews, and other coverage. Use these for media contacts who may be “on the fence” and previously requested your book. Simply send a brief e-mail with a link to the article or interview. Previous media coverage gives you credibility, and also gives ideas to other producers and editors. Remember: Producers and editors typically have no problem “recycling” the topic of story or interview that ran somewhere else.

 

3.)   Use media coverage to secure other opportunities. Again, media coverage gives you credibility, and indicates to others that you are interesting, informative, controversial, newsworthy, etc. because others wrote about you and/or interviewed you. If you’re a non-fiction author, in particular, use your book and media coverage as a powerful addition to your marketing collateral to secure speaking opportunities, consulting jobs, etc.

4.)   Use the press materials your publicist created. The press releases your publicist developed are very valuable book marketing tools, and there’s no reason you can’t use them on your own to reach out to media. In addition, use any pitches your publicist created; these are the angles and “hooks” created to grab media attention and to persuade them to read your press release, request your book, etc.

 

The bottom line: There really should be no “end” to your book publicity campaign, even after the professionals step aside. You may not be a publicist, but a well-executed book marketing campaign gives you the tools you need to continue the effective work your publicist began.

Should Friends Request Your Book at Libraries?

Recently an author asked me if it would be helpful for her friends, family or networking circles to request her book from their local libraries, to encourage the libraries to order the book.

Maybe, but remember that librarians are aware of this tactic so having multiple people request a book may raise a red flag. This tactic may bring a book to a librarian's attention, but they may not order it unless they feel it's a quality product and meets a need in their community (and they have the budget for it.)

On the other hand, many libraries do try to fulfill patron requests. If you do ask people to request your book at their library, be sure to encourage them to check out the book once it's available!

Using the Before, During, and After Technique to Market Your Book

One of the biggest challenges facing every writer is knowing how and when to market their book.  Many new authors mistakenly wait too long to start marketing, thinking they can deal with the marketing after the book writing and publishing is completed.

That’s understandable.  Few of us have taken classes in how to become a successful author, so we simply don’t know what we don’t know.

In my eight years of publishing and working with authors, I’ve discovered that the best book marketing comes from a solid written marketing plan.  Here’s an exercise that will help you create a marketing plan for your book.

Grab a piece of paper and turn it lengthwise, or create a new document on your computer in landscape orientation.  Draw three columns and label them ‘Before, During and After’.

In the Before column, brainstorm all the things a potential reader needs to know before they decide to buy your book.  Consider things like:

• When the book is available
• Where it can be purchased
• Who you are
• What you offer
• Why the topic is important
• How the information is unique and fresh

In the During column list what people need to know while they are buying and reading your book. This list will cover all the information needed to purchase your book including:

• Where to purchase it
• Price
• A book description or back cover copy
• Format - print book, e-book or both

Finally, list all the things readers should know after they finish your book. Readers who love your message will want to know:

• If you’ve written other books
• Where to connect with you on social media sites
• If you write a blog
• How to learn more about you and your work
• If you provide any classes, workshops or special event related to your book

Now that you have your three lists, start with the Before column and create ways to provide that information to readers just as soon as possible.  Before your book is written, you want to reach as many people as possible and start to build a tribe of folks who are interested in your and your topic.

You can do this in several ways including:

• Facebook groups
• LinkedIn groups
• Blogging
• Writing and publishing articles
• Teleclasses or speaking

One of the most important things you can do in the before stage is to build an opt in email list so for all your efforts to introduce people to you and your future book, direct people to your website where you offer them a free gift in exchange for their name and email address. 

This list will become a valuable asset as it contains the people who are most likely to be the first buyers of your book.

Once you’ve decided on how you will reach people before your book is written, you can create some preliminary plans for the During and After stages of your book marketing. This Before, During and After exercise will help you streamline your book marketing and make it easier to plan it successfully. 

If you have already written your book, take time now to do this exercise and get your book marketing plans solidified before you go to print.  If you have already printed your book, you can still catch up. Just remember that this exercise is not about you writing your book, it focuses on what readers need before, during and after they buy it.

Remember, you can do this! You’ve planned the content of your book already.  Now you’re just going to plan how to tell people about it.

5 Tips for Healthy Living as a Writer

1. Do not expect to make money—Just don’t. You can try your hardest, but if you get your heart set on making money with your writing you will either end up heartbroken or resentful. Heartbroken because no one will pay you for your work. Resentful because you wrote what people will pay you for, got paid for it, and now feel used and unfulfilled.
2. Write smart—Find out what people will pay you to write and write it. Sounds simple, right? But the trick is to live with yourself during and after you write things for others. If you are not careful, that resentment can pop back up. To combat this, make sure your tone and style stay in everything you write. Do not change yourself to fit them; rather change them to fit you. 
3. Write from the heart—If you want to enjoy your writing and be proud of it when you are done, then you have to let your heart do the writing. You know what you are passionate about. You know what is on your heart and mind at this very moment. All you have to do is let it out. Your writing will go much faster, flow much better, and be something you will be proud of down the road. Even if your viewpoint changes later on, at least you can honestly say that is the way you thought and felt at the time you wrote it. 
4. Expose yourself—Every honest piece of writing is like a time machine, revealing a little part of your soul at the time that you wrote it. Though it may be fiction, there is always a kernel of truth in the words. What you feel, your secret and not so secret desires and dreams, are revealed in your writing. That is what helps readers to really connect with you. They are not seeing the pretty mask you wear, but rather the true you. The true human being that is experiencing the same struggles and victories they are. That is what makes writing real and powerful.
5. Have fun—Remember, if this is your true passion, you have to have fun doing it. Writing is just as creative and freeing as painting, sculpture, or music. You can hide or you can reveal. You can express or you can withhold. But you can always tell who is having fun and really pouring themselves into their work and who is just going through the motions. Do not be that guy. Do not type a splattering of words on a white screen. Make the words dance to your tune, make them work for you, chip away at them, blend them together, until you get something that really shows what you want it to.

Overcome Roadblocks to Successful Book Sales

Many authors consider book marketing a necessary evil – they would rather be writing! But of course it's essential to promote your book if you want to actually sell it.

Here are five common roadblocks to successful book sales: 

• Starting too late – Ideally, your marketing journey should begin the minute you decide to write a book. You want to consider whether there's a viable market for the book and also tailor the book to meet the needs of a specific audience. But wherever you are in your publishing journey, NOW is the time to get serious about marketing your book.

• Inertia – You can overcome inertia by setting goals and taking positive action each day to meet those goals.

• Lack of direction – Many authors just aren't sure how to promote a book or how to prioritize the numerous tasks involved in book promotion. Lots of authors feel overwhelmed or jump from one activity to another without any clear plan. A good book marketing plan gives you a blueprint for promoting your book.

• Lack of knowledge – Marketing requires a different still set from writing a book. Many authors have no background in marketing and they need to learn new skills. There are numerous books, blogs, podcasts, teleseminars and other resources available to authors. Many resources are free, but it's a good idea to invest in training in the areas you most need to learn about.

• Lack of time – Many authors are surprised at the amount of time and effort required to promote their books. This can be especially challenging for those who have full time jobs and family responsibilities on top of their writing and publishing venture. Having a good book marketing plan helps you to budget your time most effectively.

Book Marketing Plan = Success

As you can see, a book marketing plan will help you overcome the most common roadblocks to book promotion. But your plan must be:

• Well thought-out and in writing
• Customized for your book and your audience
• Reflect your own skills, budget and time constraints

Book marketing can seem daunting, but I guarantee that having a plan will make it less daunting!

Your book marketing plan will help to keep you from feeling overwhelmed or paralyzed. Just put one foot in front of the other – take at least one action every day, no matter how small, and you will make progress.

Better Marketing For Better Sales

There are three phases to making your writer's website resonate with your target audience: planning, site creation, and site promotion.

1. Planning

Ideally, before you begin your site, you will take the time to think about what it is and what you want to accomplish with it.

The first question is who is your target audience? It may seem obvious, or it may not. Many authors get stuck on that question and hamper their writing as well as their book marketing. You should have a clear idea of who your ideal reader is -- demographics, lifestyle and worldview.

If your book is already written, you probably had someone in mind as you wrote it. If you're just getting started, having your target audience in mind can propel the work forward, by giving the work unity and clarity.

If you need a resource to help you get a handle on your target audience, let me recommend a book that will help you get clear on that question: Target Marketing for Authors.

The second key question is what do you want your writer's website to do? Sell copies of your book? Direct readers to an online bookseller? Promote your speaking or other services? Collect names for an email list? This goal will be the "theme" of your site, not in a design sense, but like the central idea of a novel. Everything you do should support that central goal.

This will be your "call to action," the overriding message of your website, and the more you focus on this message, the more successful your site will be.

But if you have a site already functioning, it's not too late. In fact, it's important to keep revising your understanding of these crucial questions and allowing for the possibility that your audience may change with time.

2. Creation

Once you know who your target audience is and what you are calling them to do, you can make informed decisions about the design, language, and content of your site.

Writer's Website Design

Color will be an important choice in your website design. Color means different things in different cultures, but for everyone it has a strong emotional pull that most people don't even perceive on a conscious level.

Because of the way browsers handle fonts, you don't have a huge selection available for your site without using some off-the-beaten-track technology. But even making a basic choice between serif and san serif can make a difference in whether a site "feels" more breezy and modern (san serif) or more stable and established (serif). If you do take the trouble to use an unusual font, be careful about readability.

There are a number a basic structures you can use for your site: Blog, gallery, magazine, and so on. Knowing what you want your site to accomplish will help you pick the right structure. It makes no sense, for example, to use a site that's appropriate only for blogging if you don't intent to maintain a blog.

Language

The language you use will depend on who your reader is. You'll choose metaphors that fit the people you're talking to.

On Steven Pressfield's site -- he is the author of such books as Killing Rommel and Gates of Fire -- one of the bloggers described a weary book editor's look as being like a soldier's at the end of a long battle. If your audience is young moms, you might describe the same incident comparing the look to a mother with four small children pushing a cart full of groceries out of the grocery store.

Other factors are such things as formal versus informal language, jargon versus general-use language, and whether you tend to talk more about principles (tech-talk or how-to) or relationships (celebrities, family, office relationships). The goal is to speak the way your target reader speaks to herself.

Content

You'll also choose content to fit your target audience, as well as the goal for your writer's website. If you want to drive book sales, your site will feature reviews and other material to support your book sales. If you want to promote your services, then a planned content marketing campaign may be in order.

Throughout, though, you'll be thinking about where your audience is in the process of learning about your topic. If you're talking to people who are just starting to learn your topic, you'll present basic information in a clear and understandable way.

If you're at the top of your field and talking peer-to-peer, then your material will contain more jargon, both because jargon is valuable shorthand for those in the know and because for experts, the use of jargon shows that you're on top of the game.

If your readers are somewhere in the middle, adjust your content to fit where they are.

3. Promotion

For authors, promoting your writer's website is a means to promoting your book, whether it's a one-step process, such as if your site exists to sell your book, or more than one step, such as if your book is part of a larger business offering. Having a clear idea of your target audience will make your writer's website more successful in your promotion efforts.

Social Media

Not all social media are the same, obviously. For one thing, they come and go -- rise to the top and drop like a rock. But if you're thinking about adopting a new social media outlet, it's good to ask yourself what people use the social medium for and whether your target audience will be looking for you in that medium.

So, for example, even though Facebook has the population of a large nation, most of those people don't want to do business on Facebook. They're there for fun, conversations, relationships. A business-to-business author probably wouldn't do well to pick Facebook as a first social outlet. LinkedIn, by contrast, is much more business oriented, and that same book would probably make good connections there.

Study the social media outlet to determine if it's a good fit for your audience.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a great way to make contacts beyond your own site. It builds authority in the search engines' eyes, makes new contacts for you, and gives the site owner a break.

Inviting guest posters to your site can have benefits for you as well -- new insights for your readers, more status for you as host of a vigorous posting community, and more new contacts with readers as your guest posters link from their site to their post on your site.

Mailing List

Building a mailing list is one of the most important things you can do as an author. It keeps you in contact with your readers, gives them a sense that you're someone real who talks to them. You can tell them about new book releases and about book promotion events.

Most of the time, people join mailing lists in exchange for a giveaway of some kind. If you know your audience, you can make it something they really want in a way that doesn't cost you very much.

Your Writer's Website and Your Target Audience

Your audience is the lifeblood of your writing career. Without them, you're just talking to the paper. But if that's the case, then your website can be the heart of your writing career, because it's the core of where your readers move -- to learn more about you, more about your work, and to buy your books. Make sure that your writer's website "heart" matches your readers' "type."

More Marketing for Your Book

I find it extremely encouraging that so many authors are now embracing the reality of modern publishing, and acknowledging that they are responsible for creating the buzz around their books.

Those who publish their own books understand that the more publicity they can get, the more copies they will sell.

But even those looking for traditional book deals are starting to see the truth – that publishers now only pick authors who demonstrate they can help with promotion.

The problem is, most writers hide under the desk in terror at the thought of ‘marketing’, because their skill set is writing, not selling. The reality is that all writers need that elusive book publicity, but don’t want to become the literary equivalent of a used car salesman.

Nor can they afford to spend a fortune in the process.  What to do?

The Solution: Get Reviewed By High-Profile Book Bloggers

Book bloggers are high on the trust list for readers, which means they’re among the most influential connections we can make. These bloggers read a large number of books, and have an audience of readers collectively amounting to millions. Their subscribers trust their opinions and buy the books they recommend.

This makes them an incredibly powerful source for promotional help.  In fact, they can make an author famous, almost overnight sometimes. I’ll talk about that in a moment, but first, let’s look at a real life example of someone achieving incredible success from using this tactic…

Paranormal author Amanda Hocking is perhaps the most visible recipient of this ‘book blogger effect’.  She had written solidly since a teenager without stopping, but no agent or publisher would take the remotest interest in her books.

Resolute, she decided instead to self-publish the books herself on the Amazon Kindle.  But initially she only had the merest flicker of sales.

She was almost at her wits end when salvation suddenly appeared – in the form of book  bloggers.

Quoting from her site (abbreviated):

“… In May, I sold 624 books and made $362. Then in June, something truly magical happened.  I discovered book bloggers. I had no idea such people existed. These guys are my heroes. I asked several if they would be interested in reviewing my books, and most said yes, even if they didn’t generally review self-published work….    Then something surreal started happening. My books were selling. Like, really selling.  So, thanks in large part to book bloggers, June turned into a very good month. I sold 4258 copies of all three books combined, and I made a total of $3180. In July, I sold 3532 books and made $6527.  Here’s what August looks like for me: I’ve sold 4873 books this month (as of 12:50 am). I’m estimating that I’ll make over $9000 this month….”

The 26-year-old self-published author went on to sell over 450,000 copies of her ebooks in January of 2011 alone, for between 99 cents and $2.99. She’s since sold far beyond a million books, and belongs to the Kindle Million Seller club.

Do the math. She’s now a millionaire, and it was all set in motion by the book bloggers.

The takeaway lesson from her success is obvious – get as many high-profile book bloggers as possible to review your book.  But to achieve this, you need to approach it the right way…
 
How To Be Reviewed By Book Bloggers

Influential book bloggers now receive so many books from new authors, they end up swamped.  If your book is just another random novel ‘on the pile’, there’s a good chance they won’t ever read it.

Becoming known to a blogger before asking for the review can therefore make a difference.  If you’re known to them, then given a choice of too many books to review, they’re more likely to choose yours.  The solution is to open up a conversation about the genre in which you both are highly interested.

I’m talking about making them aware of you, and discussing things of joint interest, not becoming their ‘best friend’. Fortunately most book bloggers I’ve come across are very nice people, and I’d go so far as to say that they are the most helpful group of people I’ve come across online.

5 Tips For Approaching Book Bloggers

1.  Find book bloggers who ‘fit’ with your genre best and have a large readership

To find out how popular the blog is, type their blog address into the ‘site info’ box at Alexa.com.  If they are in the top 100,000, then they’re reasonably popular. Top 50,000 is even better.

You also need ensure that they’re the right fit for you.  So look for bloggers who have already reviewed other books in your genre.  Also check the general tone of their reviews – do they have a tendency to treat books harshly, and is this a risk for you?

2.  Check their availablity

Look into whether they actually accept books to review, or you’ll be wasting your time otherwise.

3.  Engage with them on Twitter

If you’re on Twitter, engage with them and cast opinion, and of course discuss the intrigue of genre – even argue the point if you don’t entirely agree.  The same applies to Facebook and G+.   Overall, you both have a fascination for books of this genre and the world around it , and that is the point.

4.  Canvas their ‘expert’ opinion

Ask for help on things you really do want to know about, by email, Twitter or Facebook.

5.  Engage with them on their blog

You can leave comments on their blog, again – all pertaining to things of interest in the genre, not your own book.

In sum, you gradually make yourself visible on your own terms. Taking a cynical or sycophantic approach won’t work either. There’s no point in artificially attempting to ‘be their friend’.    Instead, being yourself and conversing about the subject intelligently because you genuinely like it is the path.  Remember that bloggers are people too.  You are making yourself visible with a unique point of view and a fascination for the entire subject of the genre.

It takes time, so start early while still writing your book. Eventually, when you introduce your book for review you will not be an unfamiliar ‘door to door salesman’.  The book blogger will already be aware of who you are, and the door is more likely to open.

So why should you do your own virtual tour?

1. You will sell books during the tour and afterward as a result of the tour.

2. Virtual tours are less expensive and time consuming than traveling. Generally the only cost of a do-it-yourself tour is the cost of mailing your book to tour hosts.

3. Reach far more people and a more targeted audience with a virtual tour. In contrast, live author appearances by authors who aren't well known may to have low attendance.

4. The virtual tour provides quality, lasting links to your website. These links have search engine optimization value and may continue to bring new visitors for months or years to come.

5. Making a commitment to a tour gives you an incentive to get out there and promote your book and get content onto other websites.

6. If any of your tour hosts do a review of your book, you'll get the benefit of additional reviews.

7. Tours build buzz for your book and get people talking and sharing with others.

8. When others host you on their blog or show, there is an implied endorsement of you which enhances your author platform.

9. You have the chance to interact with readers and potential customers.

10. Getting a lot of book sales in short period of time pushes up the Amazon rank of your book.

11. You get the chance to develop relationships with bloggers and other key influencers in your field or genre.

12. The content of a virtual book tour gives potential book buyers an opportunity to sample your work.

13. Nonfiction authors can enhance their expert status by posting content on other venues.

14. You get exposure to new audiences you might not reach any other way.

15. Additional traffic to your website during the tour gives you the opportunity to build your mailing list and blog subscribers.

How to Fill a Room

One of the great pleasures of being an author is reading from and signing your book at a bookstore, library, or other community venue. But unless you’re famous, even a bookstore (in fact, especially a bookstore) is just an empty room – and it’s your job not the publishers job, to fill it.

Here’s my checklist for how to fill an empty room.

At least eight weeks ahead:

Set a goal. Given the size of the room, I set a goal of 40 attendees, of whom I hoped 15-25 would buy books. In the end, 100 people came – standing room only – and the store sold its entire stack of pre-ordered books.

Make your contact list. Wrack your brain for every single person you can think of. I haven’t lived in the area for decades, but I was able to draw up a list of 100 names, include, high school friends, old roommates, and former coworkers. It took me a couple of hours to sleuth out all their email addresses.

Send the venue your head-shot, cover photo, and a brief description of your book. I also sent (and later also brought with me, in big print) a one-paragraph introduction for the staff to use on the night of the event.

Arrange with your publisher, if possible, to “co-op” with the bookstore or other venue. The bookstore placed ads on local radio and in local newspapers, and my publisher helped with the cost. (Note, I also arranged to speak at a local university, which covered my travel expenses and paid an honorarium.)

Six weeks ahead:

Email a press release to local newspapers, radio, TV. I concentrated on the local newspaper, and instead of trying for a feature article, I sent an opinion article (including a notice about the talk), which ran close to the time of my reading.

Create a recruitment team. I picked out five likely people from my list of 100 contacts and asked if they would draw up their own lists of five or ten people to invite personally. (And I thanked them at the event.)

Add an after-talk gathering. On the Internet, I located a casual-seating restaurant near the bookstore where people could gather informally after the talk. My Team of Five and I invited our contacts to come to the talk and to join us afterwards for conversation. This added a warm note to the invitation. We asked for RSVP’s for the gathering, which gave people an opportunity to make a commitment (albeit non-binding) to come.

Design an e-mail invitation for use by yourself and your team. Include a brief description of the book, the time and place of the reading, and the restaurant invitation. Add: “If you can’t attend the reading, you can buy the book here,” with a link to your website, your publisher’s website, or a bookseller of your choice.

Notify organizations whose members will be interested in your talk. Email them a notice to post on their website or bulletin board. You can also track down the Facebook pages of organizations, “friend” them, and post a notice yourself.

Three weeks ahead:

Send email invitations. I sent to my list of 100, and my Team of Five sent to their lists. As RSVP’s began to trickle in, I kept a tally, so I could get a sense of whether there would be enough people or whether we needed to work harder. I also kept a list of those who sent regrets, so I could exclude them from the reminder email that went out just before the event.

Let EVERYONE know, even people who don’t live in the target area. They will tell friends who do. I posted on my Facebook, page, sent out a notice on Twitter, and wrote an “e-blast” to my full list of contacts.

One week ahead:

Send a reminder email, and ask your recruitment team to do likewise. (Send them a ready-to-go text, so they won’t have to compose one themselves.) Remember to exclude people who’ve already said they can’t come.

Understanding Your Target Markets

Just because a book is available for sale, doesn't mean that it will sell many copies. Book sales ultimately come down to this: is there a viable market of people and organizations who are willing to pay money for your book, and can you reach those people?

Most books actually have more than one target market, and it's important to understand who those potential customers are, why they buy books such as yours, and how to find them.

• Who is the primary target market that the book was specifically written for?

• What other readers have an interest in your topic or genre?

• Who would buy a book like yours to give to others?

• Who reaches these target markets and could help to spread the word about your book?

• How can you reach these people?

• What would motivate them to buy your book?

It's also helpful to put yourself in the buyers' shoes: How many books do you buy a month? Where do you hear about those books? How do you decide which books to buy? Why would someone buy your book?

One of The Biggest Mistakes Self-Published Authors Make

Failing to produce a high quality product.

There are more than 300,000 new books published in the U.S. each year (not counting the millions of existing titles that are still available for sale) so each book faces huge competition for readers.

If a book hasn't been properly edited or proofread and the cover looks like you did it yourself, it's not realistic to expect it to stack up favorably against the numerous other choices available to book buyers. It's also difficult to get reviews or the support of influencers who can spread the word about your book. If you want to sell books beyond your circle of family and friends, you'll need to write and produce a quality book.

If your book has already been published in ebook format, it's easy to edit the book file and upload a new cover. Revising printed books can more of a challenge, depending on exactly how the book was published, but you may want to explore your options if you think that improvements can be made.

Are any of the five issues outlined in this article series keeping your book from reaching its full potential? Now is the time take positive steps to give your book a chance to shine!

The Biggest Mistakes Authors Make

Waiting too late to think about marketing.
 

When should authors start thinking about marketing? Before they ever write the book!

Understand who you are writing to (your target markets) so that you can tailor the book to meet their needs and wants. How can your book be different or better than existing books or information sources on your topic? How can your book appeal to the readers of popular genres or authors? What hooks can you put in the storyline of a book that will allow you to promote it to niche markets?

Some types of books are more challenging to sell than others. Can you broaden the focus of your book to broaden the appeal, or narrow your focus to a very specific niche?

It's also critical to begin the process of building your expert reputation, social networks, blog followers, and connections with as many influence people as early as possible. These things take time, and you shouldn't wait until the book is available to start the process.

13 easy tips for virtual author book tour hosts

Virtual  book tours continue to grow in popularity with authors. From the comfort of their own computers, authors can tour the world, saving time and money while reaching a potentially large audience. Bloggers benefit as well since tours can drive new traffic to their sites. If you’d like to host a virtual author book tour on your blog, here are some quick and easy tips to ensure you are a good host.

1. Stick to book topics that will appeal directly to your blog readers.

2. Ask for a review copy of the author’s book and read it ahead of time.

3. Decide whether you’d like the author to do a guest post, answer interview questions, or post a book excerpt. Let the author know if you have a word limit.

4. If you go with interview questions, develop a list of questions that will allow the author to discuss their book but which will also provide valuable content for your blog readers. Make sure you get these questions to the author so he or she has plenty of time to provide compelling responses.

5. Ask the author to provide a head shot, photo of their book cover, and a brief bio.

6. Add the author’s blog to your blog roll.

7. Decide when you’ll post the author’s “appearance,” and make sure he or she will be available that day to answer questions or respond to comments your readers post.

8. Find out whether the author has a web page listing all the stops on their virtual author book tour, along with the topics they’ll be discussing. If he or she does, post the link to this page.

9. Include a link to the book’s Amazon.com page; or if you are an Amazon affiliate, add a buy link for the book.

10. Remind the author to be sure to blog about the visit on his or her own blog—with a link back to your blog, of course.

11. Publicize the blog post once it’s up via social media groups you belong to, including any forums, discussion groups, and ListServs. If you’ve got an ezine, include a link there as well.

12. It’s recommended that you put the post up early in the morning—shoot for prior to 8 am Eastern time.

13. Check the post regularly so you can respond to comments and answer questions. (Your author should be doing that as well!)

A few final notes: Remember to thank your author for including your blog on his or her virtual tour. It’s also nice if you post a review of the book on sites such as Amazon and GoodReads.

Target Your Customers

Few of us have the resources to market to the world at large, and it's much easier to sell a book to people who already have an interest in the subject or genre. Your book marketing plan should define several target audiences and outline strategies for reaching them.

Here are some examples target audiences:

* Readers -- people who buy the book to read. This includes your primary audience (the "ideal customer" that the book was written for) as well as secondary audiences who have an interest in your topic. For example, this article in Book Business Magazine demonstrates that a large percentage of "young adult" books that are bought and read by adults, rather than teens. 

* Purchasers -- people who buy the book for someone else. For example, people buy books as gifts, parents purchase books for children, and women buy men's health books. Who would be likely to purchase your book for someone else, and how can you reach those folks?

* Influencers -- people who communicate with your target customers and can let them know about your book. Think about how much you can multiply your book promotion efforts when other people like bloggers, reviewers and journalists spread the word to their own readers and customers.

Who are your target audiences, and how can you reach them with the message about your books? 

When book reviews go bad–or how to react when a reviewer hates your book

Back when I was in college, I had two English lit professors one semester who I would frequently see on campus lunching together, having coffee, and so forth. They were so different from each other, it was always kind of surprising to see them hanging out. Professor Uptight was always quite serious in his approach to his teaching and even his wardrobe since he wore a suit and tie each day; I disliked him on site—and apparently the feeling was mutual. Professor Flannel was much more laid back, both in his teaching methods and his choice of clothing, which amounted to jeans and flannel shirts. We had a great rapport, and he loved everything I wrote.

I was stuck in Professor Uptight’s class against my will. It was a mandatory class I needed to obtain my degree, I was in my second to the last semester before graduating, and the time it was going to be offered the following semester just didn’t work. So I couldn’t drop it like my instincts told me to after the first day of class when I suspected our personalities were not going to mesh well.

The class was a literary criticism class, which, as an English lit major, came pretty easy to me at this point in my college career. But regardless of what I wrote, Professor Uptight hated it and graded accordingly. When I made an appointment to discuss this with him–after all, this was my major and I could not afford a C or a (gasp!) D in the class–I will never forget the way he looked with disdain at my outfit (early glam rock circa 1985) and my Walkman (the cassette version, for those of you who even remember those) upon learning I was listening to Megadeth (he asked!). I kind of knew right then and there that I didn’t have a chance in his class.

My point after this long-winded narrative? As the old adage says, you just can’t please all of the people all of the time. Working for a publishing company now, I am learning that there are people who will criticize your work—some of them like to do it over and over again. They will have a list of reasons–some of them valid. So what to do when they tell the world about it?

You have two basic choices: You can ignore it. Or you can pay attention to it. (Well, I guess the third choice is to freak out about it, but I definitely don’t recommend that!)

I like to pay attention to it. I often agree with some of the criticism (books that are traditionally published, get some of the points of contention are about things that will be out of the hands of the author hands–a testament to one of the reasons why people are self-publishing), and I will generally mention that. Other points I will adamantly disagree with, and I like to say so. But I keep my tone professional, and I don’t bear a grudge against the reviewer. If you are going to put a book out there, you need to put on your big girl panties (er, big boy boxers?) and suck it up when someone doesn’t like it.

Another reason to listen to harsh criticism is because you can learn from it. Try to see your book from the reviewer’s point of view. There are probably areas you can work on in your next book. Essentially, a reviewer might be providing a valuable service in helping you improve your writing and your next book.
It’s tough not to take bad reviews personally. But it’s helpful to remember that the review is (usually) about the work not the person. You can’t be all things to all people, and neither can your book. Plus, reviews (like grades for literary criticism papers) are subjective. Repeat. Reviews are subjective. Just because one person doesn’t like your work doesn’t mean it’s bad or that everyone will dislike it.

Incidentally, I got a C in Professor Uptight’s class; it was the only C I got in any class in my major and brought down my entire college GPA. I got an A in Professor Flannel’s class. But I also learned a valuable life lesson beyond the course work: You cannot control a person’s perception of you, but you can control how you react to it.

How Front and Back Matter can Stimulate Book Sales

Most people wouldn’t think the front and back matter—those things that come before and after the main text in a book—would have much bearing on how it sells. Not so. This material can have a dramatic impact on your book’s success! Let’s first consider the front matter.

Face it: You want to stand out. Right? One of the more positive things you can do to accomplish that is to get a person widely recognized in the field to write a Foreword. (Notice it’s spelled “Foreword” not “Forward”!) Physicians, attorneys, and certain other professionals can be tapped for Forewords. They are often thrilled to get their names on book covers. And there may be an additional benefit for you; a doctor, for instance, will read your manuscript for accuracy as well because he or she would be embarrassed by errors.

Acknowledgments are another place to mention key names—not only those you genuinely wish to thank for their help, but also people you want to favor and impress. Sometimes they will be so flattered to be singled out they will buy your book and help with promotion by recommending it to others.

Have you ever gone to a bookstore and watched browsers? At first they look at the front cover. If the book still holds their attention, they turn it over and examine the back cover. The next thing they’ll usually do is flip through the pages, then turn to the Table of Contents and either decide to buy—or move on to another book.
Therein lies a profound revelation: The Table of Contents is one of your most valuable sales tools! Make it meaty. Exciting. Benefit-oriented. Include the subheads as well as the chapter titles. Tell potential buyers specifically what the book delivers, what problem it solves for them. Use punchy phraseology and active verbs.

If the book will be rolling off the press at the end of the year, use the next year in your copyright notice. It will seem fresh for a much longer time and have a better crack at ongoing reviews. It’s an industry standard to do this for any book coming out from September on.

Now let’s examine some of the ingredients that come after the main part of the book—the back matter—and can mean extra dollars in your pocket.

Fat Appendices pay big dividends. In fact, some people buy a book solely because of the unique reference information presented in the Appendix.

I had a client a few years back who had written an autobiographical expose decrying slipshod medical practices. Her topic lent itself to listings of various associations dealing with specific diseases, consumer medical advocacy groups, state medical policing agencies, and so forth. We counseled her to add these additional sources of information in the Appendix to increase the book’s worth. That way her autobiography became a “reference work” because it included a compendium of valuable resources not previously collected in one place.

Adding a Glossary can also be a smart move, especially if you use a lot of unfamiliar terms. Sometimes people who need to know the terminology of a certain industry will buy your book strictly for its Glossary.
A nonfiction book without an Index is like bread without butter. Readers want—and deserve—to be able to locate specific pieces of information quickly. The only way they can do that is through an Index. Librarians expect them; educational sales will be dampened for a book lacking one.

Last, but certainly not least, should be sales information. It is amazing how seldom books include this obvious sales opportunity. How often do you check out a library book, and subsequently want to purchase a personal copy? Or borrow a book from a friend, then want one yourself? Make it easy for people to buy your book by including information on where they can buy it. Remember to indicate that you offer a discount on quantity orders. (You do, don’t you?)

Keep in mind that all of these ideas should be done early in the writing or editing process. Good marketing planning begins when you first start thinking about the shape of a manuscript. By using these types of strategies at that early stage, you have a much better chance of stronger sales throughout the life of the work.

10 things to do before you publish

1. Get Educated. Immediately. Book publishing is a complex and tricky business. Work on building your own library of how-to and advice books and periodicals that explain the industry.

2. Get Advice. Make it a goal to obtain a minimum of seven to ten objective, in-depth critiques of your manuscript from competent experts. If the same suggestions for improvement are made by several people, take their advice and make the changes.

3. Get Focused. Define with precision the editorial niche your book fits into, and how the readership within it will be reached. Exhaust these opportunities.

4. Get Busy. Develop a marketing plan addressing packaging, promotion, direct mail, publicity, warehousing and distribution.

5. Get Humble. Concurrently circulate the publishing proposal to established publishers in the field not only as an alternative to self-publishing, but for free feedback.

6. Get Serious. Ask yourself what special credentials you have that would convince people to buy a book from you. Position yourself as an expert in the subject your book covers.

7. Get Out of the Clouds. There are sales experts in your field be it gardening, travel, politics or education. Ask them to help you develop realistic sales projections and sales forecasts for your book.

8. Get a Red Pen. Develop a profit/loss statement for your book based on projected costs and sales forecasts.

9. Get Real. From all your cost projections, figure out your total investment. Be prepared to lose that amount of money.

10.  Get Deductible. Investigate and understand the personal or corporate tax implications, particularly how production costs can be amortized and how unsold book inventory can be written off.

What the heck is SEO

Search engine optimization or “SEO” isn’t exactly the most riveting topic. I know; I did it for years for my day job before switching to writing full-time. It is something, however, that’s worth knowing a little about since it can help bring more visitors to your website and/or blog via the search engines. Eve better, some of those visitors might like what they see and go on to buy your books.

Sounds good, you say, but what the heck is SEO anyway?

Search Engine Optimization is the art of convincing Google and other search engines that your website/blog is particularly useful and important in your niche, thus meaning it should rank more highly in the search engine results than the sites of your competitors. (In other words, if someone types in “fantasy author” or “fantasy novel,” I want Google to list my site before the sites of all those other fantasy-writing folks!)

When people use search engines, they type in search terms or “keywords” (these can be single words but are usually combinations of words). The search engine attempts to deliver the most relevant results by looking at numerous factors, including:

• How often those keywords are used on a webpage or blog post (ie. you get more points if the keywords are used in the title, text, and the web address).
• The number and quality of links coming in from other sites, especially links that use those keywords in the “anchor text” (the underlined words people can click).
• Overall age, popularity, and “authority” of a site (it’s easier for more established sites to rank in the search results)

Are your eyes crossing yet? I hope not! The important thing is to start thinking about what terms people may type into the search engine to find you. For example, if you’re a historical romance author, people might enter “historical romance” or “historical romance novels.”

You can play around with the Adwords Keyword Tool to get an idea for which keywords are popular in your niche or genre. Once you decide which phrases would be applicable to you, consider making an effort to use them on your website or blog (just focus on one term per page or post). This alone will put you ahead of lots of other authors!

Building your author platform—Reputation

Your author platform determines your reach and influence in the market.

Your author reputation is a factor of how well known you are, what you are known for, and how credible you are. Consider these questions:

-Do you have a degree, special training or extensive experience in the topic that you’re writing about and/or in the craft of writing?

-Do you have (or can you obtain) a professional certification in your area of expertise?

-What awards or other recognition have you received?

-What kind of media experience do you have?

-How many people do you reach each month through speaking or interviews?

-How many people read your blog?

-How many articles have you written and posted or published in the past month?

-How well known are you and how much name recognition do you have?

-What leadership positions do you hold?

-Why should people listen to you or read your books?

Nonfiction authors can gain a reputation as an expert in their topic through such activities as writing books and articles, speaking and teaching, appearing on talk shows, being quoted in other people’s articles, and writing the foreword for other books.

Fiction authors may become known for their writing style and their expertise in writing in a specific genre (such as children’s, sci-fi, romance, or mystery) or for their niche within a particular genre (vampire stories, romantic adventure).

Your reputation and author platform can be enhanced by winning awards, receiving excellent book reviews, and getting testimonials and endorsements from celebrities and experts in your field.

What can you do to boost your author reputation and expert status and increase the number of people you reach? How can you highlight your credentials in your marketing materials?

Promoting your book by using your natural talents

When I talk with most authors, I find that writing their book isn’t the biggest challenge; marketing is. Many authors tend to be more introverted, so blatant promotion of their work makes them very uncomfortable. It’s disappointing when I see authors invest so much of themselves—emotionally and financially—into their book only to see their enthusiasm wane when they realize buyers are not flocking to the bookstores or to their website to purchase their book. They are often “stuck,” unable and unwilling to move forward.

I maintain that it isn’t the marketing authors don’t like, it’s many of the traditional tactics they think of when they hear the word “marketing.” They are uncomfortable at the thought of getting “out there” to “toot their own horn.” The best way to promote your book is to find marketing activities that capitalize on your natural talents and abilities, and that you enjoy. It’s more likely you’ll actually do these activities.

Since most authors have a natural propensity toward writing, it makes sense for them to blog. Becoming active in the blogosphere (blogging and commenting on other blogs) is a great way to interact with readers and reach out to potential readers. Yet I am still surprised at the number of authors who resist. Some are not tech savvy, so they assume they won’t be able to figure out bloggging software. Others are worried they won’t know what to write about. Blogging software today is simple to use—even for non-techies. And as far as what to write about, what about writing your next book?

If the thought of attending networking events or—gasp!—speaking in public leaves your mouth dry, try social media marketing. From the comfort and security of your own computer, you can interact with people—and potential readers—from all over the world. Social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are easy for even the novice to sign up for and maneuver. When resistant authors ultimately sign up and start interacting, I hear over and over how much fun it is and how surprised they are at how many connections they are making.
If you are comfortable talking with people on the phone or face-to-face, then by all means—capitalize on your ability to schmooze. Attending events and meetings or conducting seminars and workshops can be an excellent way to build a name for yourself and promote your book—especially nonfiction.

Of course there will be some level of discomfort for nearly everyone when it comes to promoting yourself. At some point you will likely be called upon to step outside of your comfort zone if you truly want to sell books. But intersperse these activities with those at which you excel. If you focus primarily on what comes naturally to you, your book marketing plan will contain less struggle and will generate more success.

Should you self-publish—or wait for a traditional deal?

I get asked this question a lot by authors who are looking for a simple, cut-and-dried answer. But deciding which might be the right option for a particular author depends on a number of things.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:

How long are you willing to wait to see your book in print?  Let’s skip right over the months and possibly years it might take you to find representation and assume you already have a finished manuscript and an agent. It may take some time for the agent to shop around and find the right place for your book. Let’s further assume the agent finds a publisher who is interested and offers a reasonable contract. You still might have to wait another 12 to 18 months to see your book in print.  Self-publishing can be done in a much shorter amount of time—usually just a couple of months if your manuscript is professionally edited and the book is professionally designed.

What are your reasons for wanting to be traditionally published?  A lot of authors today make the choice to self-publish rather than pursue a traditional deal. They believe they can better produce and market their books—and potentially make a lot more money. But in some circles there is still a certain amount of “prestige” in landing that trad contract. If it’s the so-called status of a traditional deal you crave, then self-publishing may not be right for you. If you simply want to get your work out there, then collecting rejection letters may just postpone the inevitable.

How much control are you willing to let go of? In general, when you sign a contract with a traditional publisher, you give up a certain amount of control over your project both editorially and creatively. The publisher will likely have final say over the content, the title, and the cover design. Most of the time, authors are satisfied with the results. However, having worked on the traditional side of publishing for a number of years as managing editor of a small press, I can think of a couple of different instances when authors were not happy with decisions we made regarding their books. They had no choice but to live with it. With self-publishing, you maintain full control over every aspect of the production process.

Do you have a sizeable author platform in place? You may not have a chance with a traditional publisher if you don’t have a large list of connections and potential buyers. The fact of the matter is that regardless of how good your book is, most trads expect you to have a large following before they will sign you on.  (Plus, you’ll still have to shoulder much of the marketing and promotions burden yourself.) Of course, author platform—and marketing and promotions— is equally important in terms of sales if you decide to self-publish.

Would you be self-publishing strictly out of frustration? Self-publishing is not as easy as simply uploading your Word document to CreateSpace. At least, it shouldn’t be. Care should be taken to ensure your content is top-notch (hire a good editor) and its presentation matches that of the trads (hire a book designer). There’s the also the little fact that you are now taking on the role of publisher in addition to author, which leads me to the next question.

Are you interested in becoming a publisher in addition to an author? This is a biggie because as a self-publisher, you are forced to take on that role. Even if you hire professionals to help put your project together, you’ll still have to make final editorial and design decisions. You’ll need to decide on a name for your publishing company and open up a bank account. You’ll have to obtain the appropriate numbers for your book. You’ll need to handle accounting and budgeting for the project. You’ll have to figure out distribution and fulfillment. Of course, there are companies that can help you with all that, but it’s definitely more involved than “just” being an author. It’s not for everyone. 

Do you have the budget to do it “right”? Sure, there are places where you can get your book published for “free,” but chances are your book will be immediately identifiable as “self-published” and disregarded by reviewers—or worse, trashed by them. I simply don’t believe there is any way around having your book professionally edited and designed. You don’t need to pay thousands for each, but you’ll probably have to pay something. And please make sure you have enough money to purchase your own ISBN. Never use one of the so-called “POD self-publishing” company’s ISBNS. Never. Make sure you are the publisher of record.

Do you truly have a quality manuscript with a unique message? Have you tried but failed to get a traditional deal because your manuscript is a piece of crap? Has no unique message? Is poorly written? Then self-publishing is not for you either; you’ll probably waste a lot of money and time on something that will not sell—and worse, could harm your reputation. If, however, you truly believe you’ve been rejected by the trads through no fault of your manuscript (it’s tough to land an agent, let alone a contract these days), self-publishing is probably your best bet. With a good book and a solid marketing plan, you will probably even be successful.

Why Book Marketing is Like Gardening

1. Work The Dirt.

Producing a fruitful garden starts before the seed is planted. The soil must be prepared by loosening and fertilizing. Even before the book is completed, the author should begin to prepare the way for the time it will face the light of day. The "soil" that surrounds it may be already rich with established recognition, irrigated with channels of contacts, and cleared of any obstacles that would shade it from the required exposure to sunlight. Or the "soil" may be fallow, an unprepared plot of ground previously unplanted. The latter is most often the case for the new author. Regardless, if the "book garden" is to grow, the groundwork must be laid.

I laid out a small garden this year. I had no idea how to begin, so I referred to and relied on experts, those who I knew to have green thumbs, those who had demonstrated success in the past. Armed with that knowledge, I dug in. I tilled and fertilized a small plot in a sunny spot, because that is the required preparation for producing, in this case vegetables. I could have hired someone to do it altogether, but that was not the option I chose for various reasons.

Likewise, as I finished my first book and decided to self-publish, I knew that marketing would fall largely to my efforts. Hiring a professional gardener, I mean marketer, was not a viable option. Still, I turned to professional advice to determine a strategy. I searched and researched blogs, books, self-published authors, and any source I could find on the steps for marketing my own book.(A partial list of sites appears at the end of this article.) There is a wealth of information out there. Most is free, some may require a monetary investment. All require an investment of time and labor—as does any garden.

2. It Takes Time.

I go out to my little garden every day. I stand and look down on the plants. They stand and look back at me (so to speak). I want to say, "What is taking you so long to grow? Can't you pick it up a little? I want to see some fruit." I imagine if they could, they would reply, "Look, Pal, Romaine wasn't built in a day. Keep your shirt on. This is a process. Just keep giving us a drink and taking care of the weeds." It is the same with the "growth" of book sales. There is a tendency to get frustrated with the slow results of marketing. It is rare that sales of a new book, especially from a new author, will jump skyward early on. Even with good preparation, growth requires cultivation. I can no more force the growth of the book sales than I can make the plant grow by grabbing hold and pulling on it. I have to trust to the process.

Pulling on the plant is at best a waste of effort and at worst will yank it up by the roots and kill it. It is the same as over watering or over fertilizing. You can not hope to achieve results by piling on the manure. That is perhaps an indelicate metaphor for the author who repeatedly self-promotes to the same audience in the absence or ignorance of the fundamental process. I'm referring to authors who flood their social media outlets with repeated appeals to, "Buy my book" with little or no effort to establish who they are or why a reader should be interested.

In most cases, the best promotion starts with cultivation of the readers' understanding of who the author is and how the author thinks, which leads the reader to buy the book based as much on that developed interest as on anything else. That author could be more effective by contributing to other authors' blogs or offering a newsletter, etc.

3. Growth Is Typically Not Linear.

As my little garden grows, I have noticed an amazing thing—the more the plants grow, the faster they grow. In layman's terms, plants get their energy to grow from the sun as the sunshine is absorbed by the leaves. It is called photosynthesis. As the leaves grow, the surface that can process the sunshine gets larger, which in turn promotes more growth. Growth promotes growth.

It is often the same in marketing a book. Efforts which yield sales often expand exposure. More exposure tends to generate more opportunity for sales, which generates more exposure. See the parallel? One of the main keys to marketing a book is to take full advantage of the exposure you have so that more exposure will result. Let the sun shine in. The successful gardener/author-marketer has to recognize first of all that he or she is not the sun. Secondly, he or she must recognize that the most effective extended exposure for the book comes from other sources that draw the sunlight to it.

To summarize, marketing a book takes effort that most writers would rather invest in writing, but someone must toil—accept the fact. It is a process that takes preparation, continued cultivation, and patience. Effort invested typically yields expanded results eventually. There are many who have sown and reaped already. Use their experience and expertise to get started. Don't be afraid to hire some of that help if you can.

Each gardener is going to do things a little differently than the next. Some try new things and reap a good harvest. Some are satisfied with tried and true methods. However it is approached, the harvest of the book plot is not unlike the harvest of the garden plot. Here's to fruitful results.

7 social media marketing mistakes made by authors

Social media marketing. Some call it a fad. Others call it a revolution. But most agree that in some form, it is here to stay. This is a very different type of marketing from the traditional methods, however, and it’s easy to make mistakes. Here are some of the most common:

1. Not using social media at all. All too often, authors assume social media is just a waste of time. But the fact is that authors who are not jumping on the social media bandwagon are missing out on a valuable aspect of building their platforms. Even large corporations are using social media as part of their marketing plans. The truth is, authors who want to sell books probably can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.

2. Not having a handle on your objectives and goals. Diving into social media without a plan can be counterproductive. Authors should decide in advance how much time they will spend on social media, what they want to accomplish, and how they can reach the most people in their target market.

3. Trying to do too much. There are hundreds (thousands?) of social media sites. Authors do not need to have profiles on every single one. It’s best to decide on a few and focus your time on those. Because social media is so dependent on relationship-building, you need to use it consistently (much like nurturing relationships “in real life”). Figure out how much time you’ll spend each day, then focus only on a few sites with that limited time. Investigate the third-party applications available (such as HooteSuite and TweetDeck) to help streamline your efforts.

4. Not doing enough. Related to the previous item, putting up social media profiles and then not staying active is useless. If you’ve got profiles on dozens of sites, you simply won’t be able to be an active participant. You need to be an integral part of the social media community if you are to reap any rewards. Posting infrequently makes it appear as if you are not engaged, and you will likely lose followers and friends, making your efforts indeed a waste of time.

5. Treating social media as a form of advertising. It’s pretty simple: Advertising is about selling; social media is about building relationships. And whereas advertising is often ignored, social media offers opportunities to showcase expertise and engage potential customers in more meaningful ways.

6. Not listening. Don’t spend all of your time on social media expounding about your message. Much like a face-to-face conversation, listening to others and responding to their needs is just as important.

7. Giving up too soon. All too often I speak with authors who have been giving social media marketing their best effort for a month or two or even six, finding they are disappointed with the results. It’s important to understand that social media is a commitment in the long-term. Even in traditional advertising, it is important to build TOMA (top of mind awareness) over a period of time; the same holds true in social media. Relationships must be built and nurtured—and this takes time.

Ultimately, there are no shortcuts to social media marketing success. Authors must be engaged and authentic, and they must contribute to the viral conversation if they are to enjoy the rewards.

Jump Start Your Book Sales

As the world of publishing becomes more and more competitive, smart authors and publishers start thinking “marketing” when they first begin a book project. Sound strange? Not really. There things you can include as you create and shape the manuscript that will furnish additional clout when it comes time to sell that book. There are also things you may want to omit (this will be discussed in subsequent posts).

Determining your USP

Every product—from soap to refrigerators to cars—has a unique selling proposition, or USP. Books need this differentiating element too. Some people call it “positioning.” It takes something common and makes it uncommon. So how do you make your books better, more unusual than the competition’s?

You need to know the competition. Authors tell me almost daily, “There’s no other book like this.” Chances are, that is not the case. They just don’t know about the other books because they haven’t done their homework. Stopping by a big chain store and checking the shelves for similar works is not the way you determine what else is available. That store, no matter how huge, only carries a fraction of all the books available.

Here’s how to really check out the competition: First, go online to www.amazon.com and bring up your subject area. Then study the information on the books that come up and note which ones you want to investigate further. Second, go to an independent bookstore. Chat with the owner or buyer about your project and ask their opinion for recommendations on the topic and why those books are good. Buy them. Devour them.

Third, contact your local library and find out if they have a subscription to the New Books in Print ® (launched in February 2011, it replaces all other Books in Print versions). If so, you should be able to log on for free as a patron to study relevant subjects. Check out the 10 top books you want to peruse. You can ask for an inter-library loan to obtain those not readily available.

Once you know the good books out there, you’re ready to determine how to tempt people to review, purchase, and read yours. After you’ve identified their strengths and weaknesses, you can position your book to outshine their weaknesses. Will you make yours shorter? Funnier? More complete? Will you add illustrations? Quizzes and checklists? Take a different approach?

That’s what the authors of What to Expect When You’re Expecting did. There were scores of guides on preparing for baby when they were writing their book. They added a new twist: taking readers through the process month by month. Did it work? That book has sold more than 14.5 million copies, has led to three companion volumes that are also racking up huge sales numbers—and there is even a movie coming out in May 2012.

Whatever you do, give your all. If you make the quality and research of your book a prime concern, then you’ll have a superior product to promote. Love your readers and make a passionate commitment to them. Tell your readers everything you know on the subject. And stretch yourself to learn more. By making content king you turn up the juice and blast out of the gate at a run instead of at a trot.

4 Rules To Help You

Most writers I speak to are quite passionate about the craft of writing. The business of publishing, however, is another story for many of them. But once you commit to publishing if you do it right—you are no longer just an author. You are running a business.

Here are four rules to follow that will go far in ensuring you are a success:

1. Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do. This applies to individual consumers, trade customers, publicity people—everyone, everywhere. Remove the roadblocks, and you’ll have better results.

2. Follow up. The squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease. It is constantly proven to us that we get results we never would have achieved because we continue to ask for the sale, stay visible, and be politely persistent about PR. There is a rule of seven in business. What this means is that people must hear about you seven times before they are moved to act. Calling a reviewer or a producer a couple of times then giving up is like ordering a beautiful steak dinner and walking out before it is served.

3. Apply the 80/20 rule. This says you’ll get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your efforts or customers. In essence, it means determine what’s working and focus on that priority. Don’t waste time on marginal paybacks. Spend 80 percent of your time pursuing the most profitable 20 percent.

4. Ask for what you want. This is perhaps the simplest rule yet the most ignored. A person will usually accommodate your wishes, assuming they are reasonable, and you let the person know what it is you want. So often we neglect to communicate our desires. Want a pleased customer to write a customer review on Amazon.com? Ask for it! Want to speak at the next annual convention of an association that parallels the topic of your book? Request to be on the program. You get the idea.

Promote Your Book with Book Awards

Book award contests can be a great promotion tool for authors. When your book wins an award, you can promote yourself as an "award-winning author" and the book as an "award-winning book."

In addition, the award organizers often promote the winners and they usually provide some kind of a graphic (such as the one shown here) that you can use for promotional purposes.

My book, How to Get Your Book Reviewed, recently won an Indie Excellence award. The award was for the paperback version, but the book is also available in PDF, Kindle, and e-pub formats. Here are some of the things that I'm doing to promote this award:

Write a blog post about book awards.

Write an article in my newsletter about my award.

Add the award graphic to the book's sales page and the media page on my website.

List the award in the book description on my website, on Amazon and on the Nook site.

Add the words "award-winning author" to my bio.

Post a press release about the award on a free press release site.

Award competitions are held throughout the year, but the major ones tend to have entry deadlines in the December to April time frame. This article lists some of the most popular contests. The entry fees can really add up, so you'll need to be selective about which contests you enter and read the eligibility rules carefully. For example, some book award competitions accept only books published in the current year, and some do not accept e-books.

Now is the time to start researching and planning for book award contests to enter. And if you have won any awards, be sure to get maximum promotional benefit from them!