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Do you need help promoting your book? Are you not sure what aspects of your book to talk up when conversing with a potential customer? While you may have written the book with a particular audience in mind and you believe that your book fills a specific niche, people might buy it for entirely different reasons than you imagined. Your readers may be getting something other than what you intended out of it.

Could it be that your young adult novel also appeals to senior readers? Are seasoned gardeners and nursery owners buying your beginner’s book on tips for nurturing a successful garden? Maybe your book of spiritual prompts is being noticed, not only by readers of your faith, but those who are seeking.

So how does one appropriately determine or define his audience and promote to that group? By listening to what they have to say.

Go to your book’s page on Amazon and study what your readers are saying. Pay attention to what your readers tell you in person or via email. Ask questions to further understand how your book is helping or otherwise affecting them. Incorporate those things you feel are valid in your promotional material.

Certainly, you are going to read and hear the positive things your fans say. But also listen to the criticism—and if you are promoting a book, you are bound to get some criticism.

I recently discovered some heavy criticism from an author with regard to one of my books at one of my Amazon pages. This woman was so dissatisfied after reading the first chapter, that she would like to get her money back. I attempted to contact her, so I could find out how much she paid and where to send the money, but she is one of those who is impossible to locate. I even went to her pay-to-publish company website and they have no record of her or her book. This company seemed much more interested in signing up new authors than in helping someone locate one of the authors who has already used their services and has a book for sale in their catalog.

Okay, I got a bit off subject there. But I did learn something about the sensitivities of a segment of my audience and now know that, for some authors reading this book for the first time, I need to do some handholding and encouraging to get them past the first chapter, which is full of truths that some of them simply can’t take.

The point is, you have many potential readers with a wide variety of views, idiosyncrasies, belief systems, former experiences, knowledge, needs, etc. And an author must attempt to be sensitive to this when promoting books. And when someone is generous enough to comment on our books, we should consider this a gift and use it to assist in our future promotional efforts.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

I am continually amazed and thrilled to see what comes of activities such as networking and conducting research. This week a SPAWN member shared something in the SPAWN discussion group that I haven’t heard of before—blog carnivals.

Evidently, these are sites where they list collections of blogs on various topics. You can go to the site, click on your topic of choice and view blog posts on these subjects. You can also submit posts from your blog to share with others who are interested in writing, book promotion, eldercare, health, income, pets, household DIY projects and much, much more. It’s sort of like a blog community. Here is a place to start your tour of blog carnivals: http://blogcarnival.com

Also, if you like to get out and talk to your audience, I suggest that you start checking out conferences in your book’s topic. The organizers for those being held throughout the country in late winter and early spring are firming up their programs now. Directors of those presented in summer and fall are beginning the search for speakers. Use http://www.allconferences.com and http://shawguides.com

In the meantime, if you belong to an authors group or organization, participate in the discussion groups and forums. Read the newsletters. Attend meetings. This is how you learn and grow.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

SPAWN is Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. http://www.spawn.org

Do you know what a tip sheet is? It is a short list of tips. You could create a tip sheet from practically any topic and the editors of some publications and e-publications love them. Whether you write on weight loss, pet care, volunteering, health issues, fitness, showing rabbits, traveling, how to write poetry, sibling rivalry or hoarding, you should be able to come up with many different tip sheets. Use them to position yourself as an expert in your field and/or to promote your book.

What are the types of tips you could list on a tip sheet? Let’s use volunteering in our example. You could list:
• Resources for volunteer opportunities
• Types of volunteering people do
• Attributes of the best volunteers
• Types of volunteer opportunities
• How volunteering serves the community
• How volunteering serves the individual
• Trouble-shooting for volunteers
• How to choose your volunteering match
• How to work with others in a volunteer situation
• 10 of the best ways to help your community

For the traveling topic you might create tip sheets on the following:
• Popular destinations
• Current airline regulations for passengers
• Packing tips
• Unique travel styles
• Tips for traveling with kids
• Ten ways to entertain kids on a plane
• Tips for choosing the right luggage
• RV travel tips
• Tips for traveling abroad
• Tips for taking a cruise vacation

Sell your tip sheets (with your brief bio attached) to publications related to the topic of your tips and tweak them to fit regional (they relate to a specific geographic area), general (write them for a more general audience), religious (give them a spiritual edge), senior, parenting and other types of magazines.

As an example of how to tweak your tips sheets: volunteering for seniors, volunteering for residents of the Midwest states, tips for traveling with your pet, tips for keeping the faith while traveling, how to get a teaching job on a cruise ship and so forth.

Contact me if you need help getting your freelance article-writing business started, writing your book proposal, promoting your book or if you are looking for a book editor. I just learned that a client whose query letter I edited and helped her rewrite, has caught the attention of a major publisher. I’ll make a more detailed announcement if and when the contract comes forth.

PLFry620@yahoo.com

Visit my websites: http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

Do you submit articles or short stories as a method of promoting your nonfiction book or novel?

Of course, the point of having your articles or stories published is to bring news of your book to your potential audience. It is a method of making your audience aware that your book exists and that you are a worthy author of this particular book. If they like your stories or trust your expertise, they may be interested in reading your book.

If it is nonfiction, you should be writing nonfiction articles for the very publications that your readers peruse—parenting, pet care, elder care or car repair, for example. If your book is fiction, you should be placing stories in the same genre as your book in publications and at websites read by your audience—those who love science fiction, romance novels, young adult fantasies or thrillers, for example.

But you may have additional opportunities that you haven’t even thought of. Once you have begun to infiltrate the publications appropriate to the theme and genre of your book—after you’ve had numerous articles or stories published—then you might start along a different path.

For example, let’s say that your book is designed to raise awareness about the diminishing rain forests throughout the world. Certainly, you might pick up some readers by submitting short stories focusing on this theme to many literary, general and other magazines that publish fiction. Try it.

For a novel featuring bank fraud, you may find potential readers among serious investors, bankers and others who subscribe to business magazines. So see if you can get an article past the editors of these publications.

Maybe you could promote your book on foods that cure depression or recipes for pet food through short stories on similar topics submitted to a variety of magazines. It’s worth a try.

But before you start playing around outside of your genre, get serious about promoting your book to your specific audience through appropriate publications and websites.

Visit my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

I had a good time at the Central Coast Book and Author Festival yesterday. I was able to pull off my speech—written the day before. I thought I covered all of the main points and the feedback was excellent. I always enjoy meeting authors and hopeful authors at these events. I met one man who has been in publishing as long as I have. We enjoyed comparing notes and reminiscing about the good old days when a well-written book on a topic of interest to a fairly sizable niche audience was fairly easy to sell—when publishers wrote personal notes of rejection (or acceptance). Sigh!

While womanning my booth, I met some of my “neighbors.” One was new to bookselling and admitted that she had no idea how to engage visitors and how to sell her book. I don’t think she sold any books yesterday. But she got a lesson in what to do next time. I overheard another author coaching her on how to represent her book.

It occurred to me that many authors don’t know how to talk about their books. They didn’t read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book before diving into the publishing arena, so they missed the important lesson about devising a 30-second commercial or the one about coming up with a one or two-line description of the book.

Do try this at home—or at work, on the bus/plane, while watching your kids at soccer practice. Once you are able to describe your book—your story—succinctly, you will have an easier time talking about it to potential readers.

For nonfiction, what is the main premise of your book? What is the purpose? Who is it for—how will it serve that audience?

Without these guidelines, you might describe your book on stargazing as, “A book about the stars and planets.” With the guidelines above, you might now say, “This is an astrology project book designed to bring kids and their parents together under the stars. It includes quizzes and games for hours of fun while learning more about astrology.”

You might say that your book is a travel memoir. Or describe it as, “An exciting account of Greece as seen through the eyes of a retiree with a flair for adventure.”

Your lesson for this week, whether you are just starting to write a book or you are already marketing one: write a one or two sentence description and share it with us.

I understand that the link I gave you for the article on how to work a book proposal so it works for you, didn’t, in fact, work! So sorry. Let’s try this again: http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/promo_bookfestival.htm

Visit my websites—sign up for a FREE gift here:
http://www.patriciafry.com

Here’s my book showcase plus articles galore, resources, etc.
http://www.matilijapress.com

I met an author recently who expressed a problem some of you might have. She said that she knows marketing. She understands how to promote a book or anything else. But she can’t bring herself to talk up her own book.

Does this describe you? Are you hesitant to toot your own horn—to tell people about your marvelous book?

I give advice about publishing and book marketing all day long, but this problem has me stumped. The only thing I can think of is to suggest hiring someone to promote your book. Sure, it’s done all the time—authors hire publicists to get the marketing ball rolling. The only thing is, some of the marketing efforts bring the focus back on the author who must make appearances and talk about his/her books. I guess you could limit your promotion strictly to online efforts, that is, if you are okay with typing promotional material.

Or you could even hire a qualified friend who could use some extra money. If, by chance you were to meet someone just like you—someone who finds it rather pushy to tout his/her own book or another product—you could trade products and responsibilities. The other author could promote your book and you could promote his/her product.

The only other obvious suggestions are to forget about publishing a book or going into any business where you must market yourself or your product, or you could seek help. There must be some sort of mindset going on that, with work, could be changed.

I’d like to hear from others with this hang-up and learn how you have overcome it. Leave your comment here.

Visit my websites and get your free gift:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

I talk a lot about the importance of getting book reviews. Yet, this seems to be an area of book promotion that is sorely neglected by authors. Perhaps it is because they don’t understand what I mean by book reviews. Another very real possibility is that they can’t afford to send out review copies.

Those of you who publish with a pay-to-publish company and some of you who self-publish have invested a lot of money in your books. All you see at the onset of your career as an author is the money flying out the window and your lifestyle (such as it is) in jeopardy due to your silly idea that you should become a published author. What were you thinking? Now, here you are facing more and more expenses and with no sign that you’ll ever get even a minimal return on your investment.

The idea of sending out 100 or even 10 review copies seems like a huge expense with no guarantees. You figure it could cost you anywhere from $100 to $1,000 or more in expenses and losses. Perhaps you had a review at a friend’s website and saw little benefit. So you are gun shy when it comes to getting more reviews.

The other problem I mentioned is more of a stigma. Authors don’t look beyond the concept of prepublication reviews in the prestigious Library Journal, etc. But that isn’t what I am proposing to you—not at all.

Do you subscribe to publications (magazines, newsletters, etc.) within a particular niche? If your book is nonfiction and related to a specific field, you are most likely familiar with several publications on that topic. I mean, the scope of magazines and newsletters is HUGE. If you write fiction, you probably subscribe to magazines that either publish works in that genre or that discuss the genre. Do these magazines/newsletters ever publish book reviews? Most likely some of them do. If they do, so do the myriad of others in this category—those you aren’t even aware of. And many of them care not whether the book (if it is a decent book) was published by a traditional royalty, name publisher or if it was created on a farm out of cornhusks.

I’ve had my publishing/book promotion books reviewed in dozens of niche publications over the years. And I believe that the expense of sending books for reviews was definitely offset by sales because of the reviews. But reviews aren’t only about sales. They are also about exposure—having your book, the title and your name before your audience—your potential readers.

Certainly, book reviews are not the only activity you should pursue, but it is important piece to the gigantic promotional puzzle that you must start working as soon as you become a published author.

Book Promotion Opportunity
I have a promotional opportunity for an author who is currently pursuing or who has in the past pursued reviews in their niche for their books. I’m in the process of interviewing authors for my upcoming book on book promotion. I need those who pursue book reviews. I’d also like to talk to authors who are doing affiliate marketing and others with unique promotional activities going on. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

People are still amazed that I post to my blog every single day. But it isn’t very different from those people who post to Facebook and Twitter every day, is it? In fact, some consider a blog an aspect of social media.

Few of the authors I meet online or in person even blog at all. Some are not on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or the myriad of others. Sadly, they are missing out on amazing promotional opportunities we did not have twenty or even ten years ago. And, because of this, they may be missing out on sales.

I’m not saying that an active blog or frequent posts at the most popular social media sites will result in immediate and continuous sales. But these activities afford the author exposure they cannot get any other way. Social media and an active blog should be part of your author’s promotional toolbox.

Have you even established a toolbox, yet? Some authors have an entire tool chest full of promotional ideas and activities they pursue. Others might simply rely on the tools that will fit into a simple tool belt. But I meet authors often who have not collected any tools or who have only a few scattered here and there.

Do you have a marketing plan? Builders work from blueprints. Landscapers draw up a plan before starting to plant. Authors without a marketing plan are often at a loss for how to proceed.

Many authors neglect to even think about their book’s future—they focus only on writing it and then finding the cheapest way to produce it. Once their book is in hand, they may contact their friends and family, tell their fellow parishioners about it, announce their book at the next meeting of their genealogy, garden, investment or RV club. Hey wait, there’s going to be a flea market in town. So they sign up for a booth and offer their books for sale there. And then they wonder, “Now what?” They discover that their tool belt is empty.

Your book is not going to sell by some magic that occurs just because this book exists. And, you should know that, book promotion is not a one-time proposition. In order to sell copies of your book, you’re going to have to tell people about it—lots and lots of people. Your book needs all of the exposure it can get. You must begin the process of branding yourself—becoming known as the author of this book—perhaps, an expert in your field. And this takes constant exposure.

That’s why I urge you to get involved in social media. Start blogging and be consistent. If you are blogging regularly on topics related to your book topic or genre, Google will bring people to your blog site. If you are speaking at conferences related to the theme of your book, giving talks at a variety of organization meetings, presenting workshops on your own, contributing articles/stories for publication, commenting or posting on other blogs, you have a presence at various social media sites, you have a great website and advertise it widely, you attend book festivals with your book and pursue other activities designed to capture the attention of your audience, you have an impressive author’s toolbox and you will sell books.

Visit my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com