Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Marketing Ideas For A Newly Published Book

Posted by heidibisbee on 12/1/2009 at 8:41 PM ET 250 Points
I am delving in to new waters! I own a Marketing Agency and have been contacted by a friend in need of marketing her husbands newly published book. I have yet to take on Marketing in this manner, but am interested in the task!

At this point I do not know a whole lot about the book, but before talking to the potential client wanted to get some insight on how I could help, or decide rather that it would not be the ideal undertaking. I would love some expertise on how to correctly market a book and author. I am assuming I will have to set up book signings, but also not sure the best way to get my foot in the door.

Like I said, I may be crazy, but I love a challenge. Let me know if you have any questions - I will have more detail in the next couple of days I'm sure.

Thanks in advance,

Heidi Bisbee
Bizzybee Marketing
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted on 12/1/2009 at 9:04 PM Accepted
    I've been through this a few times, both as author and marketing consultant. There are a couple of things you have to do:

    1. Get and read carefully two books:

    The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, by Tom and Marilyn Ross. Don't let the "self-publishing" part throw you; the book is as much about marketing books as anything else.

    1001 Ways to Market Your Book, by John Kremer. Lots of basic marketing stuff, but tailored to the specific quirks of the book business.

    2. Make sure you and the author understand what success looks like and how much the author and publisher are prepared to invest to make sure the book achieves its objectives. Marketing for most books never reaches breakeven. Just be sure they're ready for that before you find yourself putting out money for things you'll never recover.

    And if they really are prepared to invest, you probably ought to work with a book publicist who knows the drill. I can recommend one, if you like. There are a lot of peculiarities in book marketing that are not obvious until you're deeply into it.
  • Posted by Gail@PUBLISIDE on 12/1/2009 at 9:35 PM Accepted
    Dan Poynter is also another good source for everything publishing, especially marketing. Hi website is parapbublishing.com.

    Marketing a book is much more than book signings. In fact, I steer my authors away from them unless they're a big name in said area. If it's a current topic, people enjoy discussion groups around which you can subliminally market your book.

    Engage in targeted social media to reach out to potential interested readers.

    There are a lot of nuances to book marketing. Read and act on as many as your schedule will allow, the latter only if it meets your audience's needs.
  • Posted by heidibisbee on 12/1/2009 at 10:41 PM Author
    Thank you mgoodman and gail for your input. They currently have a publicist, however he has shared that he is not familiar with the Marketing portion, so the book suggestions may be very helpful, especially given the tight budget. I also have some more information on the book...

    "Kerry's latest is a glimpse of the future, both frightening and wonderful. Entitled A Star Curiously Singing, it stretches the boundaries of allegory, rewrites the rules of prose and takes you to a place that is definitively outside the map."

    His website is www.neitz.com for any of you who wish to get a glimpse. It might be helpful with the target market.

    I welcome any further recommendations/suggestions. Hope this helps!

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 12/2/2009 at 9:09 AM Accepted
    I believe you provided the wrong URL (the one you provided is for sale). Could it be: https://www.nietz.com/ ?

    Since there's a tight budget, first identify the target market. The people who enjoyed this book, what other books/authors do readers have in common? Can you send the client's book to these authors, and have them provide testimonials/interviews? The co-marketing would greatly help your effort.

    Can you create a website just for the book? Right now the website is a jumble. Make the focus the book first and author second.

    Can you provide information for book clubs to use for their discussions?
  • Posted by heidibisbee on 12/2/2009 at 8:47 PM Author
    You are correct, the correct website is www.nietz.com

    I do also agree with the website and have played with the idea as well.

    To answer some of your questions, the target market is men and women. It really is a unique book in that it is a Christian book, however not of the norm. In other words, you don't find many "Sci-Fi" Christian stories out there. We are finding that even though it is Sci-Fi, it is appealing to both men and women, not to say that women can't like Sci-Fi!

    We do have some reviews from authors, one including the author of "Fireproof."

    Also, could you elaborate on the book clubs? Again I am not too familiar in dealing with promoting books, so if you could be a little more specific I would greatly appreciate it!

    Thanks!
  • Posted on 12/3/2009 at 3:05 PM Moderator
    Your target audience isn't very "targeted."

    "Men and women" includes several billion people, speaking hundreds of languages and some not even literate. Suggest narrowing that to something under 1 million; 10,000 would be even better. (It costs less to reach 10,000 people than it does to reach 1 million.) Most books don't sell more than 1,000 copies anyway, so even if this one does 10x the average, you'll be under 10,000.

    As you know, you are almost always better off getting a large share of a small market than a small share of an enormous market.
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Advertising/PR)