Your Book is Not An Engagement Ring

After 30 years in marketing and publishing, I've learned a lot of things that fly in the face of conventional wisdom.  Like, for example, a line (surprisingly!) doesn't start forming at the bookstore with your first tap on the keyboard... Or "you're not legitimately published unless a New York house publishes your book." Or a mention in Redbook, complete with cover graphic of your book, will result in 1,000s of sales. Yes, these ideas tend to disappoint...

But the most insidious thinking in book marketing is the 

show-stopping, money-gobbling, time-wasting constant FEAR OF COMPETITION.  

In my experienced, but humble, opinion, the only real competition in publishing is SUBSTITUTION. Are your prospective readers buying something other than a book to fill whatever the need warrants?  Is Jane Doe buying a book to learn how to plant a garden or is she taking a class?  Is John buying a book for entertainment on his trip or is he buying new sunglasses and a travel Scrabble set? Substitution is the only insurmountable competition because it's virtually impossible to predict and market to.

What's the fix? You can sell a lot of books by looking at who bought another book like yours.  Think about it for a minute. What's your favorite kind of book to read?  Memoir? Romance? Self Help? Adventure? Parenting? Do you just have ONE book that fills all your entertainment, educational, information-gathering needs?  Hell no. You probably have dozens, if not hundreds in the same or a very close genre.  People tend to gravitate to a certain type of reading to fit their mood at that moment.  They get one nugget from a business book, or four days of entertainment from each novel, or one new strategy to try with their kids. Each book only has to offer that one nugget that brings value to the reader.  That leaves a lot of room for everyone else!

Now, if you were in the engagement ring business, you could only hope to sell one engagement ring to that one customer (except in Hollywood, of course).  That's cut-throat competition.  Which one retailer, which one ring will win the honor of residing on that bride's finger for the rest of her life.  Luckily, book marketing is the exact opposite.

What should you do now?  The first person I call when we get a book to market is another author marketing to the same type of reader. You can coop marketing with them to cut your costs in so many ways.  You can ask for endorsements. You can cross market.  Get to know other authors in your genre and I vow that it will benefit you!  

EVENT: If you are in or near Omaha and you would like to share marketing ideas with other published (or nearly published) authors, join us Wednesday, November 5th for the first monthly Book Marketing Summit.  It will be at Swanson Library from 6-8 pm.  Can't make this one?  We'll have one each month, so like my page on Facebook for notifications of times and places. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/760336264038625/

Focus Pocus!

There is an old saying that the urgent often wins over the important.  

Are you spending so much time flitting about chasing after every little thing that comes up that you are missing the biggest opportunities?  Your overriding goals in publishing should help you focus on the things that matter.  Set your goals realistically, measurably and reachable so you have a way to tell if your goals are being met.  

I recently helped an author retrieve her publishing rights from a POD "self publisher". There were some legal documents she had to sign and some files she needed to get from the publisher. There was also the not-so-small detail of being paid the royalties she was overdue prior to cancelling. Rather than waiting until all the "I"s were dotted and "T"s were crossed as I recommended, she proceeded to cancel the contract ahead of the other items. Suddenly there were no royalties for that whole quarter in question. Trouble was, I could see through my own channels that there indeed were over $10,000 in ebook sales for that quarter.  How much the royalty should have been was not clear in any of her paperwork, but I assure you that it was not "nothing." Now, with auditors, attorneys and accountants, everything is delayed for her, and her book is time sensitive.  

Another author told me that she had already printed 3,000 of her hardcover book through Lightning Source because she knew there would be sales. Now she was in my office requesting help to sell the six-month-old book.  So she has a garage full of books -- 2,920 of them!  She had concentrated on getting a low unit cost for a book that had no readers or buyers, no distribution, no customers, no website, no marketing materials, no nothing. The list in the prior sentence should illustrate a few things she should have done prior to printing all those books. 

Bottom line, really look at what you are doing now, what you are doing next, where you want to be a year or two from today, all while looking back at you did yesterday to see what worked. Are you focusing on the tasks that will bring you big sales today and in the future? Are you truly supporting your book? Are you focusing on building and strengthening the hive or just flitting around to smell the flower of the day?  

Marketing - Day 2 - Describe Your Book

You'll need to provide descriptions of your book for various purposes. You'll need it for your back cover, your sell sheet, descriptions for your wholesaler, book sellers, catalog listings, press materials, and your verbal explanation of your book (we'll handle your elevator speech later).

Here's the different types of descriptions we write for each and every book (because experience tells us that these lengths are most frequently requested):

  Length    Common Usage (but many other uses present themselves)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  30 words - For those occasions when someone asks for 1 or 2 sentences about your book
  50 words - Very common length for catalogs and newspapers announcing your book
  75 words - Common for wholesalers and bookstores
100 words - Newsletter announcements, short descriptions for websites and bloggers
150 words - Pretty common length for back cover copy, but not set in stone
300 words - Longer descriptions when a website leads a buyer to "read more"

Craft this copy carefully. Every word is relevant and all of these words should provide separate and powerful tools for online searches. Google the keywords that you are considering for your copy to see what results come up. Remember that this copy is not the place to be vague or to use "puffery" like "the best book" or "the only book." Tell the reader exactly what they will get from reading your book, what your book brings to the table that other books don't provide, and don't play games with the buyer. Appreciate the moment the person has taken to read about your book by providing meticulously-written copy that illustrates your promise.

File a master file with all of these descriptions at the ready. Make sure if you change a relevant word that you change the word in all of your descriptions for consistency.

Save each description you send with it's own file name. For example, Your_book_030213_Amazon_100

How to Market Your Book - Day 1 - What is Success?

It's the first day of March, the beginning of Small Press Month. Take a vow with me to make marketing your book a priority this month. Do something every day.

TODAY:  Write down what YOUR definition of success is in publishing.

It's not the same for everyone. Really examine what you are trying to achieve.

Hint:  It is probably not all about selling books!

If you are willing to share, let us know what your definition of success is.  Thanks!

The Contract Between the Writer and the Reader

As I was listening to the 15th of 25 hours of the Steve Jobs Biography by Walter Issacson audiobook, I realized the depth of the promise the writer must make to the reader, and the trust the reader gives the writer. It doesn't have anything to do with the retail price, or how I downloaded the book, or how pretty the cover is -- those are publishing issues. Who in their right mind would choose to listen to 25 hours of an author reading his book? Who has 25 hours to listen to any audiobook?  What is the "reader" going to get out of this book?  At that moment, I thought this book better deliver what it promises for that much of my time.

We ask all new authors:  What is your intended goal? What do you want the reader to come away with from your writing?  Then we use that stated goal as our Reader Contract for all decisions throughout the publishing process.  If something about the book does not fit within the stated goal, it needs to be changed, added to or deleted.

Walter Issacson's work is nothing short of genius in this contract, and I appreciate that he never wavers from his promise that each reader is experiencing his books in a way that he has visualized.

Are you visualizing your reader while you are writing your book?  What do you want your reader to get from your book?

Self Publishing Resources -- From Those Who Practice What They Preach

Purchase and READ these books while you are writing yours:

John Kremer – 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
Dan Poynter – The Self Publishing Manual
Judith Applebaum – How to Get Happily Published
Brian Jud – Beyond the Bookstore
Susan Friedman – Riches in Niches

If you are using a “Self Publishing” or “Print on Demand” company such as Author Solutions, LuLu, BookHouse, or any number of others, purchase this book:
Mark Levine – The Fine Print of Self Publishing for an unbiased comparison of all of these companies and how to choose one.