Saturday, I was part of a panel discussion on book marketing at the Ventura Book Festival. My assignment was to provide the 10 top marketing activities that every author should pursue in order to promote him\/herself and his\/her book. I thought you might like to see what I talked about. Here are the first 5 from my handout. (Numbers 6 \u2013 10 will appear in tomorrow\u2019s blog.)<\/p>\n
1: Build Promotion\/Additional Hooks Into Your Book<\/strong> \u2022\tGive a character a horse, a motorcycle, twins, a llama or a pilot\u2019s license for example, and then promote the book to this audience as well as to your general romance, historical fiction, thriller or mystery readers.<\/p>\n \u2022\tInclude someone with autism or diabetes or who has had lap-band surgery or a head injury, for example. If you present the illness\/affliction in a positive light, a related organization may team up with you in promoting your book. <\/p>\n For a Nonfiction Book<\/strong> \u2022\tList resources and recommended books. (These entities and authors will most likely purchase copies or your book and recommend it to others.)<\/p>\n \u2022\tAsk experts in your field to write testimonials for your book. (Testimonials by professionals in your field or genre have clout with your audience.)<\/p>\n \u2022\tInclude a bibliography and an index. (Librarians, the media and researchers love books with indexes and extensive bibliographies.)<\/p>\n 2: Engage in Public Speaking<\/strong> Directories of Conferences<\/strong> Hone Your Public Speaking Skills<\/strong> 3: Bu<\/strong>ild a Useful\/Meaningful Website<\/strong> 4: Connect With Your Audience<\/strong> \u2022\tCreate a newsletters designed to maintain a connection with your audience.<\/p>\n 5: Get Book Reviews <\/strong> Let me know if you have any questions or want me to flesh out any of these concepts for you. PLFry620@yahoo.com. Or leave a comment here. For additional information order a copy of my book, “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book” or sign up for one of my online courses: http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saturday, I was part of a panel discussion on book marketing at the Ventura Book Festival. My assignment was to provide the 10 top marketing activities that every author should pursue in order to promote him\/herself and his\/her book. I thought you might like to see what I talked about. Here are the first 5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nFor a Novel<\/strong>
\n\u2022\tChoose a setting (city or region) for your story that is conducive to promotional tours.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tInvolve a lot of people by interviewing them, quoting them and\/or listing them in your book. (Most of these people will purchase copies of your book, they\u2019ll promote it through their promotional channels and they\u2019ll tell their friends\/colleagues about it.)<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tContact the program directors for civic organizations.
\n\u2022\tArrange to speak to members of your affiliations (church, club, etc.)
\n\u2022\tApply to speak at appropriate conferences <\/p>\n
\n(Locate conferences in your book\u2019s subject where you can apply to speak or present workshops.)
\n\t http:\/\/www.allconferences.com<\/a>
\n http:\/\/www.bvents.com<\/a> <\/p>\n
\nJoin Toastmasters:
\n http:\/\/www.toastmasters.org<\/a> to find a club near you.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tShowcase your books attractively
\n\u2022\tProvide a buy button (either through a merchant account or Pay Pal or both)
\n\u2022\tOffer resources related to your book topic <\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tCompile a massive mailing and emailing list and use it to make announcements about upcoming book events, awards your book has won, etc.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tSolicit reviews in appropriate magazines, newsletters and websites.
\n\u2022\tStudy publications related to your field\/genre to see if they publish reviews.<\/p>\n