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Have you ever taken your book to a show? This might be a book festival or expo… I’m not crazy about book expos—they’re usually big and expensive to participate in. But I attend a lot of book festivals of all sizes and I generally recommend that most other authors use this mode of promotion, too.

Book festivals are generally held outdoors in spring and fall, however I’ve also attended indoor book fairs in all climates.

You’ll find book festivals in many cities throughout the U.S. I’ve attended huge ones and small ones in dozens of cities throughout California as well as in Tucson, Dallas, Atlanta and St. Louis. If you do an Internet search, you’ll probably find a book festival or book fair within 50 or 100 miles of your home town or a city you plan to visit. You might pay as little as $10 for a bare table set up on a blocked-off street or a thousand dollars for a table inside a canvas booth on the lovely grounds of a university. There might be as few as 15 “booths” or as many as 300. I did a book fair once inside where there were only five booksellers.

What do you do at a book festival? You set up a display of your books and maybe a poster to attract people from across the room. Some booksellers bring in flowers or a display of photos depicting some aspect of their book’s topic. You’ll also want to have something to give visitors to your booth—bookmarks depicting your book, a brochure describing all of your books and services, pens, buttons, candy… Give a tote bag with the purchase of a book. Have a puzzle or a paint-by-number project for visitors to participate in. You can be as elaborate or simplistic as you choose. Just think about what would attract people to your booth. What would draw their interest? You want to be noticed and you want to be visited.

The purpose of reserving a booth at a book festival is to sell books. And if you are personable, if you have a book people want, if you have a good sales pitch, you will sell books. But there’s another very important reason for taking your book to the show and that’s exposure. I’m going to talk about the value of exposure in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, purchase the Kindle, print or audio version of Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More. $19.95 at Amazon and most other online and downtown bookstores. Or order it from me, Patricia Fry, the author http://www.matilijapress.com/TalkUpYourBook.html

A week from tomorrow, I’ll hit a blogging milestone—a big one. How many blog posts do you think I’ve written? Guess correctly and you’ll win a prize. All next week I’ll be giving away prizes. Either comment here with your guess or email me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com. The first 3 correct answers to today’s question will win a prize.

What am I giving away? Manuscript evaluations, books for authors and for pleasure, courses for authors…

If you live in or will be visiting the Southern California area during the week of April 12-13, 2014 and you’d like to sell your book from a booth at the huge Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, contact me. PLFry620@yahoo.com. SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) has two booths and we’re inviting members to sell books from our booth for $203 per day, a savings of about $300 per day, if you were to reserve a booth of your own.

When you’re out and about, do you talk to people? Do you chat with someone while in line at the grocery store or post office? Do you speak to neighbors when you’re out walking? Do you mingle at social events? Do you strike up a conversation with your hairdresser and others in the beauty shop? I consider these opportunities to spread the word about my books.

When I was promoting only my books for authors, my audience was relatively small. These are niche books, as would be books on quilting, aviation, dog grooming and so forth. But once you produce a mystery, your audience grows and so do your opportunities.

I took my mother to the doctor this week and saw a woman with one of those new Kindle readers. I asked her about it and she was more than thrilled to show it off. One thing quickly led to another and I discovered that she reads mysteries and she loves cats, so I told her about my new Kindle mysteries involving cats. I gave her a bookmark (not that you would use a bookmark for a Kindle, but it is a nice marketing tool).

A few days ago while out shopping, I ran into a young woman wearing a tee shirt with a cat on the front. I said, “Oh, do you like cats?”

She said, “I love them!”

I asked if she liked to read about cats. She said “Yeah.” So I handed her a bookmark promoting my two Kindle cozy mysteries, Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness.

Today, I’m going on a bird hike. I enjoy hiking and I like photographing birds, so I’m taking my camera rather than binoculars. I’m also packing a handful of bookmarks just in case the conversation turns to, “What are you writing now?” or “What do you do?”

If you are the author of a novel, it might behoove you to become more friendly when traveling, while waiting your turn at the veterinary clinic, in the hospital lobby when visiting a friend, while out eating lunch, at work, when visiting your tax preparer, at church and so forth. Personality sells books.

Seek out books for authors by Patricia Fry and be sure to read my first two novels. They’re both on Kindle.

Recently, a client asked me for a recommendation. He wants to publish through a pay-to-publish company (erroneously referred to self-publishing companies) that will also do a good job of marketing his book. I told him that I do not know of any such a company.

The articles and books I’ve read, the forums I’ve visited and the authors I’ve spoken with on the subject, agree that no matter how much you pay for marketing help from a pay-to-publish company, you will not have a satisfactory result.

So what do I recommend? I always suggest that the author take the reins and develop his/her own marketing program AND implement it. Either as an alternative or once the author has pretty much done everything he knows to do, THEN consider hiring a company that specializes in book marketing.

There are many in this publishing climate. They are easy to locate. Here are my recommendations for choosing one:

• Check out the website for each company you are considering. What is your initial impression? What types of books do they most successfully promote?
• Do an Internet search to find out if there are any complaints against this company.
• Make contact with someone at the company and discuss your project, your needs and your expectations.
• With some of the publicity companies you can expect to be kept busy making public appearances. If this is not your desire, choose a different company.
• Expect to pay somewhere around $3,000-$5,000 for a basic publicity package—more if you want to retain their services for an extended period.

If you are in the beginning stages of writing a book for publication, please stop and consider all of your responsibilities and obligations before you go to the trouble. Books do not sell themselves. They must be promoted. No one is going to buy a book they don’t know exists. And the best person to promote a book is the author. No one else knows the book as well as the author does and no one else cares as much about it. So my best advice is to educate yourself about the publishing industry, learn everything you can about book promotion, take as much responsibility as you can and know when to hire help.

For a wider education about book promotion, buy my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon.com in print, on Kindle and audio as well as at many other online and downtown bookstores. Also available here: http://www.matilijapress.com/PromoteYourBook.html

Who is Patricia Fry? I’ve been writing for publication for over 40 years and have 41 books to my credit. Mostly, I write nonfiction—I supported myself for years writing articles for magazines. Last year, I published my first work of fiction and am preparing to publish the third in my Klepto Cat Mystery series on Kindle. Check out Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness. Watch for Sleight of Paw coming soon. Visit the Klepto Cat Mystery Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/kleptocatmystery

This week I’m sharing links to directories that authors can use to promote their books. Here are a few more that are listed in my book Promote Your Book.

Magazine Directories

http://www.writersmarket.com

http://www.woodenhorsepub.com

Newsletter Directories

http://www.newsletteraccess.com

http://www.ezinehub.com

http://www.ezinelocater.com

Newspaper Directories

Http://www.newspapers.com

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com

http://www.thepaperboy.com

http://www.50states.com/news

How would I recommend using these links?

• Locate publications that post book reviews.
• Send a press release announcing your book.
• Submit articles or stories designed to promote your book.

For hundreds more links, ideas and tips for promoting your amazing book, order your copy of Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. I’m Patricia Fry, the author. You can order this book in print, Kindle or audio at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

For years, I’ve been advising authors to promote their books through articles. This is highly recommended for nonfiction authors. What better way to get your name out there in front of your potential readers and to become known in your field or topic. Whether your expertise is quilting, gardening, cat behavior, storytelling, baking, investing, animal rescue, photography, technology, decorating, marketing or communication, you can gain additional credibility in your field by writing articles for magazines, newsletters, the web and so forth. And don’t you know, that credibility will mean sales.

I’ve also advised fiction authors to use their writing skills to promote their novels and children’s books. How? Here are a few ideas:

• For a children’s book, submit articles or stories related to the theme of your book—kindness to animals, sleepovers with friends, understanding money issues, etc., in magazines or on websites for children. You can also write informational articles for publications read by parents, grandparents and educators—the importance of teaching kids money-awareness, for example, or how to monitor a sleepover for kids of various ages, or tips for bringing a pet into the home where there are small children, or how to dole out and manage responsibilities for caring for a pet.
• For a novel, write about your experiences writing the novel, what goes into the research for a novel like yours, etc.
• Expand on some of the events, eras and places you’ve used in your novel to create interesting educational/informational articles for your potential readers.
• Write short stories for literary and other magazines and websites to get your name out as the author of books in this genre.
• Establish a blog and post often. Use some of the ideas above to create fresh material. Perhaps write your next novel through blog posts—let your readers help you write it. Run a contest to determine the name of a new character for your series, for example.

One author I know keeps readers interested by sharing little known facts about the people and the times depicted in her western novels. As the author of a mystery, write short mysteries for readers to solve—audience participation.

As you know, I am now writing novels after 40 years of writing nothing but nonfiction. I’ve done many things to promote my novels so far—perhaps I’ll share some of them in a future post. One promotional activity is writing articles. I’ve come up with about half dozen articles so far for writers. And, as we all know, writers are also readers. So not only am I, perhaps, helping writers in some way, I am also promoting my revved up cozy mysteries, Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness.

If you’ve written a novel and you want to write more of them, you absolutely must embrace the huge task of promotion. Unless you promote, promote, promote, your novel will likely stay very private. No one will know about it, so no one will buy it. What a waste of a brilliant piece of work.

I’m Patricia Fry and I’m the author of several books for authors, including Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Is this book designed for novelists as well as nonfiction authors? Absolutely!!! Order your copy at Amazon.com. It’s in print, Kindle and audio. Also available at most other online and downtown bookstores for $19.95.

Promotion can be a silent and lonely activity. As an author with a book to sell, you spend quite a bit of time each day/week trying to find readers. (If you aren’t doing this, you should be.) You are building an emailing list; writing and rewriting press releases and other promotional material; searching for appropriate newspapers, magazines and websites to solicit; mailing free copies of your book to reviewers; sending out press releases; blogging; promoting at your social media sites and so forth.

But sometimes it feels as though you are all alone searching the vast earth for another human being. You are out there shouting accolades for your book and no one seems to hear you. Yes, promotion can be lonely work.

I speak to a lot of lonely authors throughout the year. All they want is a little feedback and some sales. They need to know that there’s someone at the other end of their efforts. Maybe it’s time that we change our promotional tactics. Maybe we should get back to the dreaded COLD CALL—go face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice with potential customers.

Our neighborhood, like many in America, is representative of the historic cottage industry era. One neighbor sells jewelry from home and another one makes tamales to sell. Another neighbor does quilting for customers in her garage. There’s a bookkeeper up the street, a dog trainer and a part-time realtor who all work from home. But the most successful woman in our neighborhood is the one who makes cold calls.

This neighbor designs unique completely organic tee shirts with garden themes. And she sells thousands of dollars in product each month mainly through cold calls and by doing gift shows and harvest festivals. She talks to at least a dozen people each day and she gets orders. She says that almost everyone she speaks with is interested in her product line and wants to see it.

Have you tried the cold call, lately? I think we’ve all become fairly comfortable communicating through the Internet. Most of us don’t want to bother trying to reach people by phone or in person, anymore. But I maintain that it is more difficult for someone to ignore you when you have a solid voice. They might receive your email and click you into the trashcan. But if you reach them by phone or stop in at their storefront, they will listen to what you have to say.

Let’s make 2014 the year we take our voice back and became more visible. This may just be a unique and effective way to increase our book sales.

Yesterday, I walked up to get my haircut. On the way, I stopped at the local water company, where I step in and pay my bill in person each month; a quicky mart, where I buy my gas; the local hardware store I frequent; a unique linen store; a new bookstore and a couple of other places and I handed out bookmarks advertising my latest two novels to the employees. This is a simple activity and one you still have time to pursue before Christmas. Go for it.

Leave a stack of bookmarks at your library and hand them to the clerks at your bank, cashiers at the grocery store you frequent, your dry cleaners, your veterinarian’s office, the hospital lobby, your doctor’s and dentist’s office… You get the idea.

Happy last minute marketing.

I’m wearing my big girl pants today. That’s what I say when I have to tackle something I’d rather not—something that makes me a little (or a lot) uncomfortable—something that confuses me, that I don’t understand all that well or that I just despise doing. Today, I have to deal with the State Franchise Board with regard to filing a form for SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). I keep filing it and they keep writing to say I  haven’t filed it. Sigh! Government and other types of filings and forms are outside my comfort zone. Neither do I like discussing finances, investments or taxes. These things complicate my world and I’d rather avoid them.

When you are an author, however, you’re in business and forms, contracts and finances are part of the equation. This is also true if you run a nonprofit organization for authors.

Some authors don’t consider authorship a business and they miss the opportunity to create a successful book project because of it. There are still authors who work hard to write and produce a book and then walk away. They don’t understand that, if they want a successful product, they still have work to do—a lot of work. In order to sell copies of their books, they must get heavily involved in the promotion.

Many authors know at an intellectual level that it is up to the author to promote his or her books. But they don’t understand what goes into successful book marketing. Or they have an inkling, but they prefer not to go out of their way to promote their books. They find it so distasteful that they choose to toss their books to the wind and hope for the best.

We’d all like to stay within our self-imposed comfort zones. But there always comes a time when you have to—simply must—are forced to—take a big step into the unknown, frightening, intimidating, overwhelming world you work hard to avoid. And when you do, it is never as bad as you thought it might be. At least that’s what I’m hoping as I approach my challenge today.

Before I sign off for the day, I’d like to present you with a challenge. What have you done to promote your book so far this month? Have you done any speaking gigs or planned any? Have you promoted to your mailing list? Have you contacted book reviewers? Have you established or added to a blog? Have you actively promoted your book through your social media accounts? Have you designed promotional material and started sending/handing it out? Have you signed up to sell your book at a local book festival or one in another state where you will be visiting?

You can sign up today to sell your book at the LA Times Festival of Books April 12/13, 2014 for only $203 per day, as opposed to $1,000 for a booth of your own. Here’s the link where you can get more information. http://www.spawn.org/latfb.htm. If you’re not a SPAWN member, join here: http://www.spawn.org. Click on join/renew. It’s $65/year.

We’ve been talking about book marketing in this blog, lately. I even touched on piggyback marketing in my last post. But today, I’d like to focus on reciprocal piggyback marketing. This means that you help another author promote his/her book and they help you promote yours. No money changes hands—you just use your marketing channels to promote their book right along with yours and he or she does the same.

The first step to entering into a piggyback marketing agreement is to choose the right book to promote alongside your own. It should not compete with your book, but compliment it. Your audience should also be the audience for this book.

You might be the author of a book on healthy living for young mothers. A good accompanying book might be a children’s book on brushing your teeth or eating your veggies, for example. Your historical novel set in Delaware might pair well with a book on the history of a city in this state. My cozy mysteries involving cats might be a good marketing match for a book of cat stories, another mystery or even a cat how-to book.

Once you’ve found your promotional pal, here are some ideas for promoting both books.

1: When you speak before a group and do back of room sales, offer the other author’s book for sale, as well. Have a stack of their promo material.

2: Take the book to book festivals where you have reserved booths.

3: When someone orders your book, slip a bookmark or postcard promoting the other book in when you ship.

4: Add the book to your website.

5: Promote it occasionally at your social media sites.

6: Create a place in your newsletter and other mailings where you mention this book.

7: Devote an entire blog post to the book occasionally.

8: Interview the other author at your blog site.

9: If your book is in bookstores or specialty shops, arrange for space for the other book, if the author agrees.

10: Carry promo material for the other book everywhere you go along with your own.

What will you get out of this effort? A similar promotional effort toward your book. Yes, the agreement is that the other author will take your book to his/her speaking engagements and book festivals, will promote it at their sites, etc. So both of you are getting double the exposure and, most likely, double the sales.

Some authors pay to have another author promote in these ways. The author might get a percentage of sales. Or he might purchase so many books outright at a discount and he keeps the profits. There are a number of creative ways piggyback marketing can be handled. And I have to tell you that sometimes, a book you’re piggybacking with can be instrumental in selling your own book. A reader might be more interested in the other book, but see your book and purchase it, too.

For additional book promotion ideas—over 250 of them, as a matter of fact—order your copy of Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon in print, Kindle and audio and at most other online and downtown bookstores, as well. Or order it here: http://www.matilijapress.com

Sunday, we talked about hiring people to help us out with our writing businesses—and if you are writing a book for publication, you are in business. Many authors also hire people to help them promote the book. Book promotion is a huge time and energy commitment. But there are numbers of tasks you can hire out. Here are some ideas:

1: Hire someone to help you design and create promotional materials to hand out and send out. You always want to leave someone with something to remind them of your book.

2: Ask friends and acquaintances with blogs that address your book’s audience to interview you for their blogs or feature your book.

3: Ask friends in other parts of the US to approach booksellers and specialty store merchants in their area about carrying your book in their stores. Pay a commission.

4: Hire a publicist. This could be an experienced publicist or a friend with time on his/her hands or who is extremely organized and accomplished and has a knack for promotion and marketing.

5: Brainstorm with other authors and marketing people over wine about how to promote this book.

6: Ask a friend or acquaintance to put up a display of your books in their store on a trial basis.

7: Purchase space in other authors’ mailings and emailings.

8: Hire someone to sell your book at book festivals in communities outside yours.

As you can see, there are many scenarios where you can hire someone to help with your book promotion. And there are a lot of people seeking extra work. I’d like you to share some of those you have used successfully.

For more book promotion help, read Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Available at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio and most other online and downtown bookstores.