We have
been living through a mega-marketing revolution for authors and publishers over
the past 15 years. The 21st
century for book publishing requires a degree in technology as much as it does
in mass communications and English. It’s
a great time to promote a book, considering the number of opportunities and
tools available, but it’s also the worst time, as publicists and authors feel
overwhelmed by how man outlets they need to contact in order to do a lot of
activity that may not necessarily yield a lot of book sales. There’s more media than ever, but more
competition than ever for it.
I broke
into book publishing in 1989 when I went to work for a small, independent book
publisher. Back then the hot thing was
cable television, syndicated radio, and major print, from newspapers to
magazines. There was no Internet. The fax machine was big, as were Direct Mail
and telemarketing. In-person events and
road tours sold lots of books. People
barnstormed across the country to create media buzz and book sales. It took time and money, but it worked. Just 44,000 books were published that
year. Now, in the United States, that
many books are published every two weeks.
Fast-forward
a quarter century later. Now it’s 2015
and not only are there new media and marketing options, there are new book
forms – e-books, vooks, and downloadable audiobooks.
Today we
have the following tools to promote with:
Television
Radio
Newspapers
Magazines
Newswires
(Free & Paid)
Newsletters
Trade
Journals
Blogs
Online
reviewers
Podcasters
Webinars
Seminars
Telemarketing
Direct Mail
Mobile
Websites
Apps
Social Media
--Twitter
--YouTube
--Pinterest
--Instagram
--Facebook
--LinkedIn
--Google+
--Vine
Advertising, from display to search and pay-per click to product
placement.
It boggles
the mind – where does one start?
Authors
need to do what makes sense – find a way to reach your core readership. For each author and book a customized plan
needs to be mapped out. Rather than feel
burdened by all of the options to promote, just get tunnel vision and focus on
the areas you need to.
There are
no “have to do” lists here. Find what
works for you and keep doing it until it doesn’t work anymore. You can choose to ignore social media or
spend all of your time living on FB and twitter. You can do road tours or you can do
webinars. You can email the media – or
call, visit, or snail mail them. You
don’t have to adhere to a specific medium or format.
Most
authors don’t need to sell a million books to be successful. For some, selling 10,000 copies is huge. Find the media and means to reach it that
suits your strengths and passions.
Tons of
opportunity -- and competitors – await you.
Experiment, choose wisely and pound away. You can succeed at what you do without doing
everything.
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Don’t
say this to the media when promoting your book
Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email
him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in
the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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