Assuming you're a self publisher or book publisher and you've already published your book, you need to immediately implement a strong, no-holds barred, book marketing and promotion strategy to sell your books fast. Your book selling, book marketing, and book promotion planning should begin before the manuscript is completed. Self publishers need to have a good marketing plan to sell books and should be written prior to writing your book and in place a year prior to publishing your book.
Your book press release should not be written as you would a sales letter or flier, it should be written for the editor and tell about your book in a factual way, no opinion or glowing remarks. Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media. Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly.
Make sure you have at least one good press release, written in AP style, which you can send out for the lifetime of your book. Send out the same press release to the editor of your local daily newspaper every week until you are called for an interview or are written up. When picked up by wire services, a press release can easily end up generating hundreds of mentions for your book.
Mail a press release to all the trade journals in your field over and over again; you can use the same release. Don't underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales.
When you get a nice write up or feature about you and/or your book, have it laminated and set it up on an easel at trade shows. Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your website. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don't assume it's already listed.
Get as many testimonials about your book, as possible, from experts in the field relating to your title, not customers; use on your fliers and back of books. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets. If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way.
Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic. Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book's topic to drive customers to your website. It's important to publish a website that focuses on your title; you'll be able to refer editors and customers and all interested parties to your book information with the click of a mouse.
Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book. Every day it's important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. Offer to trade writing a monthly column in a trade publication in your books' genre, in trade for display ads on the same page.
Local radio shows and television appearances are good but are often forgotten within hours of the broadcast; make sure to make or get a copy of any television broadcast for future promotions. Make five telephone calls a day that relate to marketing your book.
Print and online publications provide longevity to your marketing campaign in terms of having something tangible for people to reference ongoing. Make sure your sales letter or flier is first class; this is your formal presentation of your title to the prospective buyer.
Make sure to test, test, and test some more before you lay out large sums of money. The success of any book marketing effort depends on a good book and just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too. I hope this article has provided you with helpful tips to accelerate your book marketing and book promotion efforts.
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