As a book designer it’s up to me to create a book design that targets the demographic profile of your reader in an engaging manner with strong design that maximizes your book’s marketing potential.
Now that your self-published book it professionally designed and printed, it’s now time to promote your book. Whether you’ve opted to self-publish your book independently, or with a publisher, there are many successful methods that you can take to promote your new book. Below you’ll find a list of methods to put you on the path to effectively promote your book.
The internet has changed the way in which books are sold and has become one of the most effective ways to market a self published book. Personalized web pages contain information about the book and the author as well as a large image of the book cover. These pages contain keywords relevant to your book.
Call every bookstore and offer to do a book signing. Retailers love to have promotional events and book signings are an easy way for them to generate excitement in the store. Make it as easy and logical for the retailer as possible. Ask if your book signing can be promoted through their internal mailing list. For some of the smaller independent bookstores, you can even offer to produce the mailer for them if they will pay for the postage. Remember, their primary concern is to sell books, so make it clear that you will be promoting your appearance also. Work with them as a partner.
Radio programming covers many topics, and chances are good that someone is interested in covering you. Finding that person may be difficult though. Mail or fax to as many stations as you can find. Collect information over the phone, or, if your topic is particularly well suited to talk-radio or a specific format, you may want to consider purchasing a mailing list of all the stations that cover that format. Public broadcasters can be a very effective way to reach your potential market. Your local library will have most of the information on mailing lists and radio stations.
Newspapers are another good target. Again, it’s absolutely critical to send your press release to specific individuals rather than to “editor” or to no name at all. Don’t assume the book review editor will be the only person interested. Most newspapers have editors for almost every subject they cover (science, health, sports, lifestyle, travel, etc.) so find the right person. Always bear in mind that these are busy people who are much sought after. Although they may be interested in your work, timing is critical. Don’t be afraid to send a press release more than once.
Television can be the most powerful friend a writer has. Never assume you're too small for a national program. Contact the major networks and find the producers for shows such as Oprah, A Current Affair, Today, Good Morning America, and CNN and send them a press release. You never know what’s out there, so it’s worth checking out everything. With all forms of media, it’s important to pursue both the local and national shows as well as both public and private broadcasters. Local media is always happy to put the spotlight on a hometown author.
Web casting is basically, it’s radio broadcasting over the world wide web. In many cities, the radio dial can only hold a limited number of stations. But there’s virtually no limit on the web, so there are thousands of webcasts happening at any one time. There are two types of webcasts. Many large commercial stations simply simulcast their signal on the web, while others exist as Internet only stations. The Internet only stations range in programming from very narrow formats to very broad ones. There are a lot out there and more signing on every day, so chances are good that there is one suited to your genre. The beauty of Webcasting is that it’s possible to broadcast to a very small niche that may be geographically spread out. Seek out the webcasts that cater to your audience and make them aware of your book.
Your book is, or should be directed to a target market. Is it a book on parenting? A murder mystery? A self-help title? No matter what your topic is, there’s probably a magazine that targets the same audience. Seek out any magazine that targets the same market as your book and contact the people there. Don’t send your press release until you find out which editor or editors review books or cover the subject that you’ve written about. If our press release doesn’t hit the right person’s desk, it’s practically guaranteed to be thrown away. Getting reviewed in a niche publication is well worth the effort because people who read that magazine are predisposed to buy your book.
Article: Effectively Promoting Your Self-Published Book
Copyright © 2010 Art Bookbindery Inc.
