It
is becoming apparent there are several types of authors out there. Which one are you – and what type of approach
to book marketing should you take?
The
first way to look at authors is how they are published. Are they with a major traditional publisher,
a small press, university press, hybrid publisher, or self-publisher?
Another
way to look at authors is whether this is their first book or not. One also has to determine if they are writers
who hope to generate many books, or if they are not writers by trade but
merely consider this a hobby.
Do
authors see their book as:
Launching
a series and a writing career?
Having
true best-seller potential?
A
mere calling card for their business or profession?
A
one-time event to tell their story and legacy?
A
way to promote a movement or useful information?
Being
unique, amazing, first to say something, or newsworthy?
Depending
on how a writer views the purpose and potential of his book, one can then determine
an appropriate book marketing strategy and set a budget to reach certain goals.
Certainly
other factors play a role in what types of PR campaign you should execute,
including: timing, distribution, genre,
and competition.
When
I broke into book publicity nearly 30 years ago an old standard for book
publishers was to invest one dollar per book printed for book promotions. So if you
printed an initial run of 7,500 books, you spent 7,500 bucks on marketing that
book. But today’s metrics have changed.
Sales
are hard to predict, no matter who the publisher or author is. Many publishers overguess sales of an
anticipated blockbuster and end up pulping leftover copies, while other times
publishers need to scramble back to press to fill orders for books where they
didn’t predict such demand would exist.
However, one knows that publicity is needed to jumpstart sales and give
a book at least a chance at success.
So
how do you determine how much money and effort to put into a book? It comes down to this: Will you benefit from getting publicity, even
if the book doesn’t sell a ton of copies?
How do you put a value on marketing when the payoff may come through
other means?
For
instance, maybe the book publicity exposure allows you to get a better job,
launch a business or grow your consulting and speaking gigs? Maybe the
publicity helps change people’s lives and push forward a movement or agenda
that until now had been lacking? Perhaps the publicity helps you get a book
deal with a literary agent or publisher – or earns interest from movie houses?
When
it comes to setting a budget, you need to spend what it will take to get the
job done. You can’t half-repair a broken
car, can you?
You need to determine what types of job you want done. You don’t want to just throw money at something, thinking it just has to work – and you don’t want to shortchange a dream or a real opportunity at success.
You need to determine what types of job you want done. You don’t want to just throw money at something, thinking it just has to work – and you don’t want to shortchange a dream or a real opportunity at success.
Some
authors borrow money, find investors or determine to make financial sacrifices
in order to do what it takes to fund a strong book publicity campaign. I don’t recommend taking a second mortgage
out, but I do see the appeal in authors stretching their budget in order to
have a legitimate opportunity to break through and advance their careers.
It’s
not an easy decision. I get that. But if you are willing to write a book and
put your all into it, don’t stop supporting it.
Do what you can to give yourself true fulfilment.
DON”T MISS THESE!!!
5 Ways of
Bestseller Book Marketing
Know WHY you are marketing a book; then determine the how, why, when
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/know-why-you-are-marketing-book-then.html
Market your book using proven methods
from others
NEW! FREE! 2019 Book Publicity &
Marketing Toolkit
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training video from T J Walker
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