The reviews are coming in—check out Steve Dale’s comments about Catscapades, True Cat Tales here:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/pets/story/708A0506FF9111D68625771700053A81?OpenDocument
I had another three review copies requested yesterday. And a friend of a friend has placed an order for four copies. I notice books disappearing from the displays downtown. So is it time to relax, sit back and wait for things to really start popping? Absolutely not! It’s time to rev up my efforts now that I have begun to establish a pattern of reviews and sales.
As many of you know, I’m the executive director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). One of the perks we offer for members is a monthly teleseminar with key players in the world of publishing and book marketing. This week, we had Penny Sansevieri of A Marketing Expert. One thing she pointed out is how important exposure is to sales. And in the beginning weeks and months of a book’s life, the author’s focus should be on getting exposure. If you seek only sales, you will soon experience tremendous disappointment. For some authors, when sales don’t materialize at the volume they expect within a certain time period, they step off of the book promotion train and give up.
Selling copies of your book to people outside of your circle of friends, family and acquaintances, can take time and lots and lots of exposure. But each book project is different. Certainly, some take more time, effort and exposure than others. Sometimes we have misjudged our audiences. For example, I thought that members of the Cat Writers Association would clamor to get copies of my book of cat stories. But this has not been the case. Most of them have written cat books of their own.
I often tell authors something that I am, once again, experiencing myself: you must pretty much hand-sell each and every book, especially in the beginning, when you are establishing your audience and developing your array of exposure.
What is exposure, anyway? Your exposure is your coverage. Getting exposure means introducing your book to your audience. It means bringing it to light, making it known, getting publicity for it. And you can do this in any number of ways—depending on your particular book. Here are some basic methods of getting exposure for your book.
• Get book reviews in a variety of appropriate online and print publications.
• Write articles for or submit stories to publications read by your audience.
• Blog and Tweet about your book. Post at your Facebook page.
• Comment at other blog sites.
• Arrange for book signings, demonstrations and other presentations.
• Distribute promo material (postcards, flyers, announcements).
• Create and distribute spin offs such as related booklets, advertising items, etc.
How are you getting exposure for your book? Leave your comments.
In the meantime, be sure to check out the wide array of helpful tools I offer for authors. They include books, courses and tons of free articles and resources.
http://www.matilijapress.com