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.  

Marketing - Day 3 - Think Commitment

In our publishing classes each quarter, I discuss the commitments a buyer makes versus the commitments a reader makes to you (the author). It's an important distinction because so many of you are choosing to publish your own work, and the behavior of book consumers is the same as it has always been no matter what formats you choose to offer: People buy books for themselves to read. People buy books to give to other people.

While I hear many authors ask virtually anyone in their path to "buy my book;" what most don't recognize, is that there is a much bigger commitment at work. Take a few moments to consider what you are really asking of your consumers; and remember that your buyer and your reader may or may not be the same person.

The commitment from the buyer is simple: You sell me a book, I'll commit $20 for it, and you deliver it to me in any form I want.  Done and done.

The commitment from the reader is complicated:  I'll commit the time to read it and think about what you say. I may also commit a portion of my self to actually making a change you recommend, or furthering an idea you suggest. In some cases, I may even change my life. You tell me I'll be either entertained, informed or educated and I'll commit the time to see if you deliver.  

Make certain that your book does deliver what you promise in your marketing, and be thankful for the valuable commitment your customer has made to you.