Writers are not necessarily hotshot promoters\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand this goes for authors of nonfiction as well as fiction and children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s books. But we know that promotion is required if we want to sell books, so most of us make the effort. We reach out to our audiences in all of the most creative ways and attempt to entice buyers. Unfortunately, our promotional methods aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always as effective as they could be. Here are some common mistakes:<\/p>\n
Authors use vague promo babble terms<\/strong>. Recently, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been running a prepublication discount offer for books that are currently with a printer and aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t scheduled for publication until later this month. Several customers who ordered these books through my Web site became upset with me when they learned that the books wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t arrive within the usual week (or so). My attempt to explain the prepublication discount offer through my promo material and on my Web site ordering page seemed to fail about 30 percent of the time.<\/p>\n When I pitched these books and the prepublication discount offer in person, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get blank stares and few orders. So I stopped using the term that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d so carefully designed and I began stating simply, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Place your order for the revised edition of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book <\/em>and the new Author\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Workbook <\/em>by September 20, 2007 and get 25% off. All orders will be shipped after September 21.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n Be careful when you coin a catchy buzz phrase to use in promoting your book. It could just steer customers away rather than draw them in.<\/p>\n Authors promote features instead of benefits<\/strong>. Customers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care how many awards your book has won, the number of tips you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve included, the fact that your book was reviewed by five magazines. They want benefits. In other words, they want to know, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How will this book assist me; give me more quality of life, make me richer, thinner, prettier, stronger, healthier or happier?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re promoting a book on how to create greater curb appeal when selling your home. Instead of telling a potential customer, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m the expert who wrote this book. I mention Martha Stewart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideas for instant climbing porch plants.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Say instead, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Follow the guidelines in this book and you could earn an additional $5,000-$30,000 on your next home sale.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n For your romance novel, rather than saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is the story of two misfits who find themselves homeless and then fall in love,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you might say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you enjoy reading a touching story that requires a box of tissues nearby, this book is for you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do you like really feel-good stories?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n For a book of offbeat humor, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are 102 hilariously funny jokes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Use this approach, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Be the hit at the office Christmas party, when you hand out copies of this book to all of your co-workers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Authors tend to oversell their books<\/strong>. Give your spiel, answer some questions and then pause. Watch for an indication of how to proceed. If the potential customer lingers over your book, engage him or her in conversation. Ask what type of books they like reading or inquire as to their interest in the topic of the book. Let the customer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s responses lead you from there. Keep droning on for too long about the features and you may chase him away. <\/p>\n I watched an author lose a sale this way recently at a book festival. The customer had his checkbook out. Instead of giving him a total, the author kept going on and on about how wonderful her book was. Pretty soon, his wife came along and drug him away to look at something across the aisle. He got distracted and never came back.<\/p>\n Authors neglect to ask for the sale<\/strong>. This may sound elementary, but most of us tend to refrain from taking that one last step to actually making the sale. We assume that the customer knows the book is for sale and we figure that if he wants it, he will plunk down the cash. Not necessarily. I find that I sometimes miss out on sales unless I say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Would you like me to autograph it for you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Will that be check, cash or credit card?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How many copies would you like today?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sometimes the customer just needs that little nudge. Without it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier to just walk away intending to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153think it over.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153come back later in the day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Promotion is not usually a writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strong suit, but creativity is. Authors, I urge you to use that creative edge toward the huge task of promotion and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re bound to sell hundreds if not thousands more copies of your book.<\/p>\n