Book
publishers of all genres and sizes need a lot of help with branding – and it
can come from working more productively with their authors.
So
what is branding for a publisher?
I
had the opportunity to speak at the annual conference in Chicago for The
Independent Book Publishers Association on this very topic. By the way, they
are worth joining if you are not familiar with them. Here’s what I told their
members:
A
brand is your name, image, and voice.
It’s how others discover and perceive you. It shows in all that you do, say, and publish.
It is also your:
· Look and feel of your books..
·
Company
website content and appearance.
·
Social
media profiles and level of activity and engagement.
·
Business
cards.
·
Letterhead (digital and print)
·
Press
Releases.
·
Advertising.
·
Email
signature.
It appears:
·
In
your news media coverage.
·
When
you speak to groups.
·
Interact
with industry professionals.
It
is everywhere!
A brand is not just for:
·
Fortune
500 companies.
·
Pro
sports teams.
·
Hollywood
stars.
·
National
politicians.
Most
publishers stink at branding.
Many
consumers couldn’t distinguish the brand of one publisher from another.
But
some publishers do it right.
Wiley
puts its name on the front cover of all of its books. There’s a uniform look to their books and a
certain caliber of author and content is provided.
Morgan
James, a leading hybrid publisher, distinguishes its books with its charitable
ways. On the back of every book cover is
a reference to Habitat for Humanity, to which it donates a certain percentage
of proceeds to.
Some
authors and book series, are also good at branding – and have a recognizable image.
Publishers
must define their brand, first by knowing their why. Why do you publish books? What’s your mission? What standards do you employ for the books
that you publish? In what voice do you
speak in?
Publishers
need to ask of themselves:
What’s
unique, fresh, different, better, or first about the books I publish?
You
need to identify what your books promise to do for readers. What ties your books together?
A good publishing brand:
·
Sells
more books.
·
Earns
you media coverage.
·
Helps
recruit quality authors to publish with you.
·
Gets
you noticed in the book industry.
So,
Rule #1 – Brand Your Books!
·
Develop
a consistent look for your books.
·
Put
in an introductory message into every book.
·
Place
an ad in each book to highlight your website.
·
Publish
a certain caliber of author.
Next, develop a tagline for your company.
·
What
do you promise to offer readers?
·
What
makes your book distinguishable?
Post
the tagline everywhere. It becomes your
mantra.
Social Media
To brand via social media makes a lot of sense – but choose your platforms wisely. You can’t be everywhere, all the time, so don’t try to be.
Professionally,
a publisher’s president/owner should be on Linked In. The publishing company should have a Facebook
page, Twitter handle, and You Tube channel.
If you or your books are visual and attractive, consider using Instagram
or Pinterest.
Have
a posting schedule. It can’t be random, haphazard,
or infrequent. Consistency is key. Frequency should follow industry norms and
what benefits you – but don’t obsess and live online 24/7.
Authors
must do the same with social media. You,
as the publisher, should be connected online with all of your authors. Repost each other’s stuff. Don’t be too salesy in your posts. Use visuals, like graphs, photos, or drawings
to get attention.
When it comes to blogs, publishers should:
·
Have one.
·
Set
an editorial calendar of 1-2 posts per week.
·
Let
authors contribute to your blog.
·
Interview
people for your blog.
·
A
blog post can be used for your social media.
What can a publisher blog about?
·
What’s
new or coming out soon.
·
Authors
in the news.
·
Comments
on book industry.
·
Spotting
trends on books.
·
Celebrating
backlist milestones or anniversaries.
Publisher websites
·
They
should be easy to read and navigate.
·
Updated it regularly.
·
Have
author websites link to your site.
What should a publisher’s site include?
·
Catalog
of books.
·
Book
covers.
·
Descriptions
of books.
·
Book
reviews.
·
Media
coverage about books.
·
Testimonials
for each title.
·
Chapter
examples.
·
Price/order
info/buy button.
·
Logo
·
Blog.
·
Contact
page with social media links.
·
About
the company
·
Highlight
successes
·
Share
vision and philosophy.
·
About
your company.
·
News
about you.
·
Your
bio.
·
Q&A
with you.
List
of upcoming events for company/authors.
·
Link
to a charity if you support one.
·
A
page outlining your manuscript submission guidelines and policies.
Don’t
just use words.
Focus on fonts, colors, images, audio, and video.
Author websites
Should
be created six months prior to a publication date.
They should have:
·
About
the book.
·
About
the author.
·
Summary
of past books.
·
Short
excerpts for upcoming book.
·
Free
downloadable chapter and table of contents.
·
Testimonials.
·
Media
scheduled or links to past media.
·
Scheduled
or list of past speaker appearances.
·
Press
release.
·
Author
Q&A.
·
Blog
or newsletter.
·
Something
free that people can sign up for.
·
Charity
connection page.
·
Facts/stats
related to the book.
·
Buy
button/pre-orders.
·
Contact
page and social media links.
Vary
the content – photos, videos, and audio to complement the wordy text.
How can authors market and promote
themselves?
·
Schedule
speaking appearances and bookstore signings.
·
Social
media activity.
·
Getting
traditional media exposure.
·
Securing
digital media coverage.
·
Book
giveaways.
·
Advertising.
·
Paid
reviews.
·
Setting
up affiliate sales.
Authors
must put together a press kit for the media, which should include: a press release,
author bio, suggested interview questions, excerpts, testimonials, and several
story-ready pieces that touch on themes from your book.
Contact Targeted Media
Authors
will need to send out advance review copies of their book to book reviewers and
long lead media four months prior to publication date.
Two
months prior to pub date – and continuing for 3-4 months post-publication date,
authors must contact off-the-book-page media (people who will do something
other than a book review). Contact:
·
Local
and national TV shows.
·
Bloggers.
·
Podcasting.
·
Local
and national radio shows.
·
Magazines.
·
Daily
and weekly newspapers.
·
Trade
publications.
·
Newsletter.
·
Major
media websites.
·
Dot.coms
of traditional media.
·
Online
book reviews.
You should seek out.
·
Interviews.
·
Feature
stories.
·
Quotes
in a story.
·
Guest
posts.
·
Byline
articles.
·
Book
excerpts.
Publishers need media coverage
They
should contact writer magazines, book industry trades and digital media that
covers books and publishing. Contact
media that covers an industry, too. For
instance, contact parenting publications if you publish children’s books or contact business
media if you publish business books – not just book reviewers or those who cover
books.
Publishers can seek out stories that:
·
Center
on controversial books or topics.
·
Discuss
free speech, literacy, or reading trends.
·
Cover
the business of book publishing.
·
Tackle
a specific genre.
See
yourself as a thought leader and a voice in the world of book publishing.
What’s most effective?
·
Experiment
-- see what works.
·
Diversify
your approach like an investment portfolio.
·
Model
after similar, successful books.
·
Try
something new.
Teach authors a best-seller strategy
Authors
need to create a marketing matrix – who they know that they should list -- and who those people
know.
Help them start by listing:
·
Family
·
Friends.
·
Co-workers.
·
Neighbors.
·
Social
media connections.
·
Past
clients.
·
Temple/church
members.
·
School
alumni.
·
Sports
league, hobby, or other groups.
·
Community
– people you see at stores, restaurants, or Starbucks regularly.
·
Other
authors.
The author needs to draft a letter that
says:
·
A
new book is coming out.
·
What
it is about.
·
How
it will help others.
·
Tell people they
should buy the book on a specific date, such as pub date.
·
Offer
free gifts that can be sent digitally after they email you to confirm they
bought the book.
Send
the letter out a week before pub date.
Then
resend it two days prior to pub date.
Lastly,
send one on your book’s pub date.
So how
does one hit a best-seller list? By
generating, a concentration of sales from stores and websites that record sales
and report them to various lists.
There are many best-seller lists:
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
USA Today
Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
BN.com
Amazon
There
are other local and regional lists as well.
Hitting a best-seller list can generate more sales, gives the publisher
and author momentum and provide branding prestige for the long term.
The
freebies I mentioned should be something you can send via email once someone
sends proof of purchase. It should be
something of perceived value and could come from other people.
For
instance, perhaps you have a list of resources or content that’s not in your
book. Offer it up for free. Then get similar stuff from 5, 10 or 20 other
people. It can be anything – discounts
and coupons to non-book things, advice, resources, free access to various
websites, etc.
Find your biggest allies
An
author’s list of contacts has a few whales – those who have large social media
followings, big email lists, and influencer status. These people are your gold.
ID your key people
·
Call
them.
·
See
them in person.
·
Send
a personal email.
Woo
them. Beg for a favor or trade something
of value – or even pay them – to help you.
Ask them for:
·
A
bulk buy of your book (they can give as gifts or re-sell).
·
Their
help in sharing a sales letter to their lists.
·
An
introduction to a handful of key people.
·
A
free gift to provide your readers – it helps them, too.
Publishers,
ask all of your authors to help one another, and to send sales letter offers to each
other’s lists.
Additional steps publishers should take:
·
Provide
authors with resources and helpful information about marketing and publicity.
·
Set
expectations for each of them of what you want them to do.
·
Follow
up with them regularly and ask then to email a weekly update of outreach and
results (create a template for them).
· -Introduce your
authors to each other – maybe have backlist authors mentor the new ones.
Book Sales Require:
·
Crafting
ideas.
·
Planning to execute.
·
Knowledge
of how to market.
·
Skills
training to market books.
·
Awareness
of what could be done.
·
Connections
to media, bookstores, libraries, and organizations.
But
mostly, it demands time and money.
Authors must invest in themselves and really work at getting sales.
Encourage your authors to hire a PR consultant, or even better, a book
publicist. They should team-up to make sure everything that’s needed gets addressed.
There
should be time to brainstorm, dream, and plan – but then it’s time to focus on
execution.
Reconsider what and who you publish:
·
Recruit
authors who support your brand and mission.
·
Take
on promotable books.
·
Work
with authors who are committed to help and be active.
·
Find
authors willing to invest funds into a PR campaign.
·
Seek
out marketing-minded authors.
·
Look
for writers with a decent platform.
Screen your writers:
·
They
must be qualified to write on the topic of their book.
·
They
need to have a relevant book that is well written.
·
They
should have a built-in way to tie the book into a holiday, season, anniversary,
honorary day, upcoming event, the news cycle, or something popular.
Your brand grows when you:
·
Publish
books people want or need.
·
Publish
established authors.
·
Publish
books by promotable authors.
Push your authors:
Formulate
materials that will help your authors, including:
·
Checklists
of do’s and don’ts.
·
Lists
of resources.
·
Timeline
of activity.
·
Media
coaching.
·
Website
models.
·
Schedule
brainstorming calls.
·
Set
deadlines and monitor activities.
Address their challenges, fears, needs.
Address their challenges, fears, needs.
·
Play
to their strengths and passions – but encourage them to do what’s needed even
if they aren’t interested.
·
Set
goals and define metrics for success.
·
Craft
training videos and tutorials on speaking, social media, getting reviews, and other
key areas.
What
you do as a publisher, is important.
Books matter. You got into book
publishing, most likely, not for the money but because you want to follow your
passions, call upon your skills, and support books and the many voices that
need to be shared. You treasure reading,
writing, and publishing. You believe in
free speech and literacy for all. You
believe books can shape and/or inform, inspire, educate, enlighten or comfort
us. You may even think we can change the
world, one book at a time.
Well,
this is how you fulfill your promise, your mission. Work with your authors – often and closely –
to ensure a successful partnership that will yield fruit to you, your authors, your
readers, and society at large.
Good
luck on our journey.
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-- FREE
Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and
interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of
his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2019. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in
Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of the best book marketing
blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the
top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best
resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America.
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