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How do you promote an ebook? How do you promote a novel? How do you promote a children’s book?

What many new authors don’t get is that book promotion is book promotion. In other words, there are no strict rules for and major differences in the way fiction or nonfiction print or ebooks, can be promoted. It’s a matter of knowing who your audience is, where they are and finding ways to address that audience.

I believe that some authors of fiction feel so unnatural in the role of book marketer that they simply don’t recognize (or they close their eyes to) even obvious book promotion opportunities. Some authors produce ebooks in hopes that they won’t have to promote them. How do you promote something that is rather intangible? I mean, you can’t hand it to someone to examine. Or can you?

Yesterday’s post focused on ebook promotion resources. I hope that, if you have an ebook in the works or for sale, you will open your mind about the book promotion possibilities for an ebook and run with some of them. Download my FREE ebooklet now: 50 Ways to Promote an Ebook. http://www.patriciafry.com

Are you marketing an ebook? I’d love to hear how you promote it—what is your most effective book promotion idea? I’m particularly interested in promoting ebooks in more traditional ways—similar to how you would promote a print book, for example: getting reviews, taking a booth at a book festival, submitting articles or stories related to the theme/genre of your ebook to attract attention and so forth. For example, do you have a Quick Response code on your promotional handout so someone can download your ebook on the spot?

Comment here:

I hope you enjoyed Nancy Barnes’ guest blog yesterday on her expertise, memoir-writing. There are more guest blogs to come. Tuesday, Sandra Beckwith of Build Book Buzz will talk about four of the tools you need in your book promotion toolbox.

Have you noticed that there’s being more written about promoting ebooks? I just reviewed an ebook focused on this topic. Check it out at Amazon. It’s Sell More Ebooks by Lucinda Crosby and Laura Dobbins. This ebook focuses on increasing sales through Kindle Direct Publishing. If you don’t know what this is and if you want some information and tons of resources to help with the promotion of your ebook, do take a look at this ebook.

You can also download my free ebooklet, 50 Ways to Promote Your eBook. http://www.patriciafry.com Most people are surprised at some of the ideas I present.

Here are additional links with information about marketing ebooks:
http://www.sellingbooks.com/promote-a-self-published-ebook

19 more ways to promote an ebook:
http://denisewakeman.com/marketing-trends/19-ways-promote-ebook

This site offers a list of free sites where you can promote your ebook: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/free-ebook-promotion_b52130

Here’s a site that gives you a list of directories through which you can promote your ebook:
http://www.ebooksubmit.com/ebookdirectories.html

7 ways to promote your ebook on Facebook.
http://www.ebookauthoracademy.com/public/eBook_Marketing_Tips__7_Ways_to_Promote_Your_eBook_on_Facebook.cfm

Well that ought to keep you busy over the weekend.

Whether you are promoting an ebook or a print book, if you are new to the concept or if you are struggling to sell your book, order my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. You’ll finally gain a full understanding of book promotion, what it takes to promote in this competitive publishing climate, why you should be thinking about promotion even before you start writing the book and, of course, oodles of book promotion ideas for the bold and the bashful author. Order the book through Amazon.com or any online or downtown bookstore. Also available here: http://www.matilijapress.com

Have you taken advantage of bookselling opportunities this summer? Do you recognize when an opportunity comes up and do you follow through with a sales pitch? Or are you oblivious to the bookselling openings that occur throughout your day?

Let me ask you this: Is there a sample chapter or two packaged with your amazing book cover and ordering information in the company lounge and/or lobby where you work? When you are chatting with people at the gym, the local coffee shop, your children’s karate lessons, the PTO meeting or at the reception after a concert or theater production, do you watch for openings to mention your book?

Do you strike up conversations with people on the topic or theme of your book while traveling? Better yet, did you set up a couple of book signings in appropriate specialty stores or libraries ahead of your travel dates?

While the kids are playing at a neighborhood playground, or your dogs are happily socializing at the dog park, find ways to chat about your book topic with other parents/dog owners. Likewise, without monopolizing the conversation during barbecues, camping trips and other social outings, certainly you should tell others about your book. Whether it is a novel, a memoir or a book featuring the history of churches in your area, facts about circuses, Indian feather headdresses, the Edsel, gardening in the Northwest or bird watching, someone is going to be interested or know someone who is.

If you have a children’s book, offer to read it to a group of children at the park, during a camping trip with other families, neighborhood gatherings and so forth.

Who have you talked to in the past few weeks without mentioning your book? Your mailman, plumber, the janitor at your children’s school, several clerks at the mall, your children’s day care provider, an old school chum, the gals in your genealogy club, members of a civic committee you belong to, customers at work? Just look at all of those lost opportunities.

If you’d spoken up, you may have made a sale or several. Perhaps the manager of a store would like to carry your book. Someone you didn’t speak to may have a connection with a newspaper reporter or radio show host. You never know—that is, until you ask.

Today—don’t delay—go out (or go on the computer) and order new business cards. Yes, you might have personal business cards. That’s fabulous. But now I want you to order business-size cards with the cover of your book on one side and ordering information on the other. Order 500 or 1,000 and strive to hand out (and leave in strategic places) at least 250 of them by September 1—more if you’ve reserved a booth at a local flea market or book festival.

You’ll find many more book promotion ideas in my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. This book is available at amazon.com in print and Kindle as well as at most other online and downtown bookstores. You can learn more about it and order it here, as well: http://www.matilijapress.com

This post appeared in October of 2007. I thought it was worth repeating.

Do you write articles to promote your nonfiction book? If you don’t, you’re really missing out on an opportunity to strut your stuff. Your informative, educational articles help to position you as an expert in your field. Each article can also serve as a vehicle to promote you, your book and your services.

What if your book is a memoir or a novel? You can still write articles and stories designed to promote it. Here are some suggestions:

1: Offer book excerpts to appropriate magazines, newsletters and websites. Be sure to represent your material as an excerpt when you submit it. You may need to do a minor rewrite so that the piece has a beginning, middle and end.

2: Write new stories related to your topic/genre. For example, if your memoir or novel takes place in Nashville, come up with an article about a recent occurrence in that city or one featuring a little-known aspect of Nashville history. Maybe your memoir or novel features struggles with MS. Write a new story or an article with this theme.

3: Multiply your ideas. You will be amazed at how one idea, theme or topic can grow into hundreds once you get the hang of this concept. Let’s say that your story involves an eccentric woman with lots of cats, publicize your book through articles and stories on many aspects of cats: caring for a cat, unusual cat stories, how a cat colony works, profiles of cat people. Now take each of those topics and watch your list of article/story ideas grow: Under caring for a cat, there’s how to prepare when bringing a new cat home, cat-proofing a home, introducing the new cat to the resident pets, traveling with your cat, grooming the cat, the aging cat and so forth. You should be able to come up with at least a dozen article/story ideas related to your theme or sub-themes in just one attempt.

4: Look for ideas everywhere. Here’s where your observational skills will come in handy. Did you notice a cat wandering through the aisles at your local independent bookstore? Interview the bookseller about his shop cat. Maybe you saw someone walking a cat on a leash. Hey, there’s an idea to research and write about. I met a woman at a cat show once who had her cat dressed up in a little coat, hat, glasses and she was even carrying a cat-size purse. Wouldn’t cat lovers be interested in an article or even a fictionalized story about playing dress-up with your cat?

5: If you are promoting a novel, you probably have drawers full of short stories that you’ve written over the years. Dig them out, polish them up and start sending them to appropriate magazines.

Remember, the reason that you are writing these articles and stories is to position yourself as an expert in your field, gain credibility in your topic or genre and generate a following (readers) for your book. Make it your goal to write highly informative and/or entertaining articles or stories. And then include information about your book and yourself in the bio at the bottom of the article.

For details on submitting articles and stories for publication, read pages 217-219 in my book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author and on pages 112-114 in Publish Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Available at Amazon.com in print and Kindle as well as other online and downtown bookstores.

Are you writing a book? Do you know how to promote it? What is the most effective book marketing activity for your particular book? Which of your skills should you rely on to promote your book? What skills do you need to hone or develop? How can you best reach your readers? What promotional tactics will your reading audience most likely respond to?

These are all questions you should be asking yourself even before your book is a book. Not only will the answers help you to be more well-prepared for the major, major task of promoting your book, but they will guide you in writing a more viable book for a more realistic audience.

Perhaps you have a published book that is going nowhere. How many copies of your fiction or nonfiction book have you sold in the last month? When is the last time you promoted your book? When did you last go out and speak about it, mention it to someone in passing, write an article or story to submit to a publication read by your audience, send a message about an aspect of your book to your emailing list, sign up for a book festival, do a signing, requested a review…? If you are not doing any of these things, no wonder you aren’t selling books.

Sign up today for my online Book Promotion Workshop and let me help you establish a more effective book promotion program. Sure, your book may be on Amazon. It might be at a couple of bookstores and specialty stores in your neighborhood. You have your own website showcasing your book. These are good moves. But if it isn’t selling, there is much more that you can and should be doing. Let me show you the way.

http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Read the course outline here. Sign up today!

How do you approach the task of book promotion? Do you have a method? A plan? Do you spend every day promoting or do you promote in between other duties? Perhaps you just promote when you feel like it—“I have a few minutes today, I’ll stop in at a local bookstore and see if they’ll carry my book,” or “I’ll look around for a speaking opportunity,” or “I’ll send a press release, post to my blog, etc.”

How’s that working for you?

I’d like to suggest that you take book promotion more seriously and participate more fully on a more regular basis. The following suggestions are NOT embraced by the 76 percent of authors who fail. If you don’t want to be among this statistic, pay attention:

1: Make a plan. List the book promotion activities you definitely can do and want to do. Below that, list those that you should be doing, could be doing, don’t particularly want to do. And then list those things you probably won’t ever get around to doing. But don’t label them as such. You may not want to do any public speaking. Write it down, anyway. You may get used to the idea and eventually give it a try. I highly recommend that you do, by the way. Remember, personality sells books.

2: Give these activities legs. In other words, prepare a loose schedule—promise to spend Monday mornings seeking out bookselling opportunities, take a few hours each week to research book reviewers, blog daily with regard to the topic or genre of your book, contact ten individuals or company/organization leaders every week with a soft pitch for your book, keep your finger on the pulse of your community—be open to the opportunities, for example.

3: Change something about your website every few weeks—offer something related to your book for free, create a challenge for web visitors, post a book trailer, etc.

4: Start some new method of communicating with your audience—through webinars or podcasts, a newsletter, an interactive blog, face-to-face workshops, and so forth.

5: Carry your book with you wherever you go and hand out promotional material.

6: Create spin-offs. That is, booklets, ebooklets, games or an item related to your book.

7: Devise a contest to bring attention to your book.

8: Seek out conferences in your topic of genre where you can give workshops.

9: Sign up for book festivals where you can promote your book.

10: Post comments at other blog sites, ask to be a guest blogger, launch a virtual blog tour.

Are you doing these things? When is the last time you did anything toward promoting your book? If you want to sell more copies this summer and fall, take a close look at these ten suggestions. Pick a few or several of them to pursue. Add to this list—there’s so much more you can be doing. Study books like mine: Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author, and you will sell more books.

This book is available at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. You can also purchase it at http://www.matilijapress.com