Marketing - Day 4 - Think Engagement

What do you want your consumer to DO?  Is buying your book the end of the transaction for you, the author/publisher?  If you are like most of our authors, you want your reader to actually do something, change something, learn something, tell someone, be happier, be better, be inspired, or be entertained. 

We look to the back of the book for an opportunity to engage our customers. We add things that the reader might want to know, do or purchase as a result of loving whatever book we are talking about:

• About the author - Do you invite your readers to engage in conversations with you about characters, ideas and content?
• How to buy more - Perhaps your reader would like to purchase a case for her employees. Make it easy for her by providing information in the back of your book.
• Speaker Information - If you are a speaker or presenter, put information in the back of your book that will enable a reader to find you easily to hire you for an event.
• Bibliography or Suggested Reading - Do you provide ideas for additional reading? 
• Facebook Page or Blog - Engage your readers by allowing them a forum to discuss your book with you and other readers.
• Design philosophy - Does your book have special features, fonts, design elements that have special significance?  Many readers look in the book to find why something is the way it is.  
• Index - Indexes come in many forms. Does your book detail people and places? Customize it for that purpose.
• Glossary - Glossaries help the reader understand the terminology within your book
• Discussion Questions -Book clubs, schools and other groups appreciate discussions questions to get them started.  Having discussion questions in the back of your book is something to advertise on the outside of your book and in your marketing materials.

When you get your reader involved with you, your book, and other readers, it helps you spread the word about your book and you. Engage your reader in conversation and help them do what you set out to do when you wrote your book in the first place.