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Nowadays it’s no longer a
matter of whether or not an author should promote his or
her book, but how aggressively one should go about it. The
sad truth is that publishers often fail to promote books,
and if we, the authors, don't promote your own book then
it may be destined to a lifespan between that of butter
and yogurt, to paraphrase Calvin Trillan. The author's
extra efforts may make all the difference between a book
becoming a long-lived seller, and being recycled so that
some other author can take advantage of the paper.
What to do then? One cannot
concoct a general rule for promoting books. This method
obviously has drawbacks, because every book is different
and requires its own special approach. So, the primary
thing to do is consider your target audience.
And that's a good place to
start--your audience. Presumably, your book is aimed at a
particular market or markets. Perhaps it is nutrition,
parenting, health, travel, mystery fans, or nature. The
first thing you should do is to track down the magazines
that are read by the people who will be reading your book.
But before sending a press
release to the publication, take time out to find the
editor who reviews books or who covers the subject that
you've written about.
Here are some ways to
self-promote your book:
- Create Your Website
- Arranging for an Author
Interview
- Trade Shows
- Teaching
- Email Newsletters
- Consulting/Training
- Reviewers
- Magazine Articles
- Discussion
Groups/NewsGroups
- Other PR Resources
A large part of promoting
your book is promoting yourself and making sure your name
is recognizable to your target audience. While you may not
reach cult status, you can go a long way to establish
yourself as an expert on your subject matter by becoming
heavily involved in the community for which you write. To
Brand yourself and your work do the following:
Create Your Website
Websites have become
crucial marketing tools for authors and are a great
calling card. Create a website that provides value to your
audience and lets them get to know you and your work. Give
people extra tips and tricks they won't find in the book,
update any outdated information and provide news and
reviews of your books and news that you know of in the
community. If you are really ambitious you can create your
own community around your website.
Arranging for an Author
Interview
Many publishers have done
marketing studies showing that authors who provide
comments on their books or participates in author
interviews on the online bookstores sell more books
online. This is a no-brainer as it doesn't take much of
your time and is perceived as an added value for your
reader. Large websites, such as Borders.com, make a
practice of interviewing authors.
Trade Shows
Trade Shows are a fantastic
place to promote your book. Every attendee and speaker is
a possible book-buyer. Try to arrange with your publisher
to do a book signing either at their booth or at the trade
show bookstore. Many authors sell thousands of their books
at a single trade show. If you can find a chance to speak
at a trade show or are invited to speak on one of the
panels, the best bet to opt for. Aside from being great
book publicity, it's another way to get your name out
there in the community.
Teaching
Teaching is a great way to
develop your pedagogy. It's also a great way to understand
how people learn the technology, what their frequently
asked questions are, and how you can best improve your
books so that they are most easily understood. If you are
not interested in teaching at the local university or
community college, you might want to consider teaching
online courses. There are numerous online education
companies looking for authors to help teach their courses.
Most authors find online teaching to be enjoyable,
lucrative, and something that can be done almost
simultaneously with writing books.
Email Newsletters
Email newsletters are a
great direct marketing tool. Though a lot of work, if done
right they can lead to huge name recognition and royalty
checks from book sales. Several authors have had
tremendous success with their email newsletters to the
tune of thousands of subscribers. A good example is the
Kabalarian Philosophy Electronic Newsletter.
Consulting/Training
Many publishers look first
for trainers or consultants to author books on certain
topics. To become known as an expert in the community, you
need to stay abreast with what is latest in the technology
field. It's good to diversify if you can -- if you
concentrate only on writing books you can become out of
touch with the latest advances. Consulting will keep you
on the cutting edge. Also, if you're lucky, the company or
companies for which you consult will want to buy a copy of
your book for the entire staff.
Reviewers
Positive book reviews are
always a great way to sell books. Keep an eye out for
bylines of reviewers in magazines and journals particular
to your book topic and coordinate with your publisher to
make sure that the reviewer receives an early copy of your
book. Trumped up reviews on Amazon are easily seen through
and don't do much for an author's reputation, but if you
get a genuine email from a reader with positive specific
comments you might want to ask him or her to post their
comments on Amazon.
Magazine Articles
Article bylines have long
been good book promoters. Research the major trade
journals on your subject matter both in print and online
and pitch article ideas tangential to your book topic.
Also, you should consider writing for some major websites
that serve your topic area. You can often attach excerpts
from your books (ask your publisher for permission) to
contribute to popular sites, which promotes your book at
the same time.
Discussion Groups &
Newsgroups
Discussion Groups are a
huge part of any community these days. By participating
online you are getting your name out in the community,
staying current with all of the latest developments, and
making crucial contacts that can include book reviewers,
magazine editors, book editors and the real gurus of
technology.
Newsgroups on the Web,
including chat and message forums on proprietary services
like AOL and Compuserve, are great places to make yourself
known and promote your books, your website, and your
career. Many authors have gained prominence on the
newsgroups, particularly in the web scripting and
programming area. It's important to be helpful, answer
questions, and make yourself available without pushing
your books too obviously or obnoxiously. If you spam the
newsgroups or forums it won't serve you in the long run.
Amazon Corrections
If you have a book listed
on Amazon.com and wish to correct erroneous information on
their site, here is the person to contact. They respond
quickly to author requests to correct information.
Albert Rodriguez, Catalog
Department: catalog-dept@amazon.com
Other PR Resources
You can find more
information about marketing and promoting your book from
John Kremer's Book Market website. John is the author of
1001 Ways to Promote Your Book.
A great resource for adding
advertising to online publications is Art.com. They offer
free banners and you can add them to your site.
Advertisers pay per click, and you receive a percentage of
what the advertiser pays. It's an excellent way to create
extra income from your out-of-print books or supplementary
material on your site.
An interesting way to
promote your book is to put your website in search engines
like Yahoo! Yahoo generally takes a day to update newly
added sites, but there is no absolute surety that your
site would be listed.
You can also sign up as an
Expert in About.com, which provides a wonderful way to
promote your work.
Last but not the least,
become a bit philanthropic and with a large heart give
away your books for free among critics, friends and
family. Also add your website URL in all your outgoing
e-mails and correspondence. More mails obviously means
more views for your book!
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About
The Author
Nithya
K is a India-based writer who specializes
in writing fiction and has tremendous
interest in writing non-fiction related to
science, technology and other genre. She
is also experienced in creating technical
documentation. Basically a BE graduate
with an MBA degree, her main focus is
still writing. Nithya is also interested
in Ghost writing of books and articles in
the areas of business writing, technical
writing, science and technology writing
and fiction.
The author
can be contacted at tutor19us@yahoo.com
and also invites readers to visit her
webpage at www.geocities.com/tutor19us/index.html |
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