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I’m sorry, but sometimes I get exasperated with authors who make excuses for not promoting their books. Some of them are known for their aggressive marketing tactics. There are also those who had every intention, BEFORE they finished their book, of presenting a major and ongoing marketing campaign. And then, when opportunities arise to promote their books, they have nothing but excuses as to why they can’t/won’t participate. Wanna hear some of them?

• I don’t have any copies of my book right now. This one still has my head spinning. You should always have copies of your book to sell. How long does it take to get copies from your print-on-demand company or your publisher? Ten days? Two weeks? What were you thinking about when you looked at your box of books and it was getting low? Why didn’t you order books then—before you ran out?

• I had a bad experience last time I did that activity. (Well, what makes you think the same thing will happen again—that the same people will be there, that the stars will line up in exactly the same way? And what can you do to change what happened last time?)

• I don’t sell many books when I go there. (How many do you sell when you stay home?)

• I don’t like crowds. (Then, perhaps, you should have hypnosis to get over this phobia or look into another business—like being a mortician.)

• I’ll go out and speak only if they pay my expenses. (And you have earned your speaking credentials how?)

• I don’t like to get up in front of groups. (If your book is particularly conducive to live presentations and if you want to sell copies of your book, you’d better find ways to get comfortable with public speaking.)

• I don’t want to bother people on my email list with notices about my book award, new Kindle book, upcoming speaking engagement, etc. (Helllooooo, your address book should be made up of your readers—your audience—and they should be interested in an occasional notification from you.)

• I didn’t know it was up to me to promote my book and I didn’t know how hard it would be. (It’s never too late to study the publishing industry, which is what you should have done before you even started writing the book.)

Do you make excuses for why you cannot go out and speak, do book signings, sign up for book festivals and so forth? Are your excuses valid or are they just excuses designed to maintain your comfort zone? Think about this. And think about how many books you’ve sold in the last week, month, year. Do you see a correlation between your promotional activities (or lack of) and your book sales?

For additional tips, techniques, ideas and a swift kick in the pants that will surely increase your book sales, order your copy of Promote Your Book today. It is available at Amazon and most other online and downtown bookstores. Learn more about this book and the companion book (for those of you who are thinking about writing a book or in the process of writing a book), Publish Your Book. (Both books by Patricia Fry)

http://www.matilijapress.com

I hear people complain that their blog isn’t getting enough traffic—that no one is reading their posts. I assume they are basing this conclusion on the fact that they aren’t getting a lot of comments at their blog site.

If you are disappointed because you don’t get constant feedback with regard to your blog, perhaps I can help you to gain a more positive perspective.

First, I trust that you are posting what your readers want and can use. Presumably, you are an author or soon-to-be-author who is writing on the topic or genre of your book and you are addressing a large niche or general audience.

If you promote your blog everywhere—in your email signature, in your bio at the bottom of the articles/stories you submit for publication, on handouts when you give presentations, at your magnificent website, on your business cards and brochures, in your comments left at similar blog sites and so forth—you will attract visitors.

If you are also giving them what they want most—information and resources, interesting news and perspective on the topic, solutions and/or entertainment, for example—those who visit once will probably visit often.

Also, you want to post regularly and often, so frequent visitors will always find something new to view.

What makes you think no one is paying attention to your blog posts? Is it the fact that you get so few legitimate comments? I’d venture a guess that if you have 300 people stopping by your blog site each day only one or two are liable to comment. And those who do would do so only occasionally. Most people do not comment on blog posts, write letters to the editor, send congratulatory notes or write thank you letters (emails or texts).

What makes blogging worthwhile? Every once in a while you’ll get a quick comment via email (or at your blog site) or even while you’re attending a writers’ event, from someone who says they sure do appreciate your blog.

Multiply the number of people who do comment by 100 or so (those who generally do not comment) and you might get some idea of how many people are following your blog.

Or you could install a counter (but it probably also counts all of those visits from spammers). There are analytical programs you can install. Here are some links:

http://www.analytics.blogspot.com
http://whos.amung.us
http://www.website-hit-counters.com/website-statistics.html

Publishing is a business and your book is a product. In order to put your book into the hands of readers, you must stop dreaming and start thinking like a businesswo/man. You’ve heard people say, “Think before you speak.” Or “Think before you act.” Well, an author must think before s/he publishes. And your thoughts really should reach beyond the bookstore.

Try this exercise: Can you come up with five (5) ways to reach your target audience outside of the traditional bookstore? I’d love to hear your promotional ideas. Send them to me here.

Here are five of my ideas for promoting my writing/publishing-related books:

1: Write articles for writing-related magazines and newsletters. You could write articles for magazines and newsletters that your particular audience reads—regional publications or religious/spiritual, parenting, business, art, sports, health or travel magazines, for example. It’s a great way to let your audience know about your book and to dazzle them with your expertise.

2: Participate in writing/publishing online forums and groups. This is a good way to meet up with the movers and shakers in your field or genre and to keep abreast of trends.

3: Solicit book reviews and interviews in magazines and newsletters and blogs for freelance writers and authors. There are reviewers and blogs on every topic.

4: Seek out book festivals and writers conferences and offer to give workshops. You can sell practically any type of book at a book festival and there are conferences on every subject imaginable. Members of your audience attend conferences to learn from experts like you. Contact the conference leaders and get speaking gigs.

5: Keep adding to and improving my website so it continues to attract my target audience. I just sent my webmaster a list of changes to make at my website. I call it my spring cleaning.

If you need more book promotion ideas, help writing a query letter or book proposal, information about finding and working with a publisher, steps to self-publishing, hints for better writing, distribution and shipping info, resources or other information related to authorship, purchase my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. Also read Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author http://www.matilijapress.com

There is a new five-star review at this book’s Amazon page. Check it out!

What are you doing to promote your book(s)? Are you still trying to figure out a way to get them into bookstores?

I field a lot of questions for freelance writers and authors each week through SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network), through my web site and via links from some of my published articles. The majority of these questions relate to book promotion. Many of the authors want to know, “How can I get my book into bookstores?”

Typically, these authors have spent the last several years writing the book of their dreams and then they take just a few days to search for a publisher. They gleefully and gratefully sign up with the first fee-based publishing service (pay-to-publish company) that issues them a contract and assume that their book will be available in bookstores nationwide. Of course, they envision copies of their book flying off of bookstore shelves into the eager hands of thousands of readers. Their job now is to sit back and rake in the royalties, right? Not even.

Tell me now, at some point in the process of writing your book, did you ever look around a mega bookstore and consider the vast competition? Visualize your book in that bookstore. Think now, what would cause readers to find and purchase your book among the tens (or, in some cases, hundreds) of thousands of other books?

Few authors realize that booksellers rarely carry books produced through fee-based publishing services. I know, I know, this isn’t what the publisher told you. Likewise, booksellers avoid carrying self-published books (books you produced yourself). Some legitimate, traditional royalty publishers even have trouble getting books into bookstores. I’m telling you, the competition for space in the few bookstores that are left, is stiff. And books that are accepted by these mega booksellers had better fly off the shelf or else!

What happens to books that don’t sell well? They are promptly returned to the publisher for a refund and I mean promptly. You might only have a three to six month window of time to prove your book worthy of bookstore status. Unfortunately, this is true whether you have paid a publishing service to produce your book, you’ve self-published or you managed to land a major publisher.

You can prolong your book’s place on a bookstore shelf by bringing in customers. This does not mean soliciting your friends and family members to order the book over and over again. Publishers/authors who have been caught doing this sort of thing usually have their books banned from the bookstore thereafter. What I suggest is creating a buzz, getting exposure, establishing a name for yourself (your book), getting publicity… Do whatever it takes to attract customers to the bookstores that carry your books.

But don’t rely totally on bookstores to sell your books. Sure, pursue bookstores if you wish, but be aware that bookstores are not the be all, end all answer to book promotion. Upon your first inkling to become an author, start planning your book promotion strategy. There are many countless avenues for promotion outside of the bookstore. Discover them, study them and, if they are appropriate for your particular title, pursue them.

I will continue this post tomorrow. In the meantime, if you are an author, you are responsible for promoting your book. If you need help (and if you’re new at this or if your book isn’t selling, you do), order my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for Promoting Your Book. It’s at Amazon. It’s also here: http://www.matilijapress.com

Are you a published author? Are you out there soliciting peer, expert and reader reviews to post at your website, various other websites, magazines, newsletters and, especially, at Amazon.com?

Here are two blog posts from my archives that focus on getting book reviews. January 13, 2012 and August 21, 2011. If you’re an author or plan to be published soon, you really must know more about book reviews—how to get them, what they can accomplish for you, etc. So I recommend that you read these posts to familiarize yourself with what a book review is and the process of getting them.

In the meantime, I want to share with you a great review that just came in for my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author.

The heading is: A Superb Navigation Guide to Publishing. This review is written by Kathleen Ewing, freelance writer and budding novelist. Here’s what she had to say:

“With Publish Your Book, Patricia Fry provides a road map for publication, then holds our hands and walks us along the various routes to reach the desired destination. She explains what we can expect to experience with each leg of the itinerary–the speed bumps, hairpin turns and alluring dead-end detours inevitable in the publishing industry.

While Ms. Fry has published traditionally, she also has extensive experience with her own publishing company. Yet she makes no recommendations for one path over the other. Nor does she dictate which of the many forks in the road to take. She does explain the benefits and repercussions of following each of those forks so we can make our own informed decisions. Along the way, she liberally sprinkles additional resources, research options and reading materials as well as examples from her own and other authors’ experience.

By the final chapter of Publish Your Book, we feel as if we have completed a full semester in publishing orienteering with a master navigator. Unlike the majority of hopeful authors, we now recognize that the four-lane interstate freeway to authorship is, in fact, a narrow dirt road full of potholes, steep grades and potential ambushes. Thanks to Ms. Fry, we have maps, a compass and a realistic view of the destination. It is up to each of us to select, plot and negotiate our own best route to publication.”

Read this and the other 5-star reviews for Publish Your Book at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/review/REE36KOYHG259