Book Marketing
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Want to Sell More Books? Try Organizations and Associations!
When looking around the marketplace, it may be hard to see that there are still untapped markets for book sellers. Given the right topic, authors can be very successful in selling their books to associations. In case you haven’t noticed, in today’s world, there is an association for everything.
Don’t think so? How about the International Chewing Gum Association (www.icga.com) or the American Association of Teachers of French (www.frenchteachers.org)? So, the chances are pretty good that the topic of your book has an association out there dedicated to it.
Of course, the bigger the association, the better results you can achieve. Try and find one that has both national and local chapters. Become a member and get involved! The thing to remember is that associations are always looking for ways to provide more value to their members. You can help with that. Here are a few suggestions:
- Offer an excerpt from your book or an original article for their monthly newsletter
- Offer a percentage of book sales or profits to the association in exchange for putting their logo on the cover
- Offer to speak at their annual conference – you can barter your speaking fee for exhibit space
- Volunteer to serve on a committee
Look at it this way, you already have an audience interested in your subject matter – the association’s membership. Instead of just approaching them with the idea of selling your book, you can offer yourself as an asset that can be used to their advantage. And then sell them your book!
Written by Tricia Martin, Customer Service Manager for New Shelves Distribution. For more information, contact Tricia at info@newshelves.com
Beauty and Joy
Going to veer off of the typical New Shelves article here. I have been thinking lately a lot about what I find beautiful. Those thoughts have lead me to question what brings me joy. I assumed that they would be connected.
Nope.
Here is a partial list of what I find beautiful:
- Small town main streets
- Water flowing over rocks
- Mountains
- Old buildings
- Willow trees
- Florence, Italy
Now…. here is a partial list of what brings me joy:
- Drive-in movie theaters
- That deep, wet, cool, green smell that comes from shady roads
- Singing with other people
- Board or Card games
- Boats, convertibles, motorcycles, tilt-a-whirl rides…. Anything that puts the wind in my face. So…. I guess wind brings me joy
- Contact with animals. Any animals.
I have always believed that beauty brings happiness. How surprising to learn that what I find beautiful does not translate automatically into joy. However, everything that brings joy is painfully beautiful to me.
What do you find beautiful? What brings you joy?
Do You Have a Book Distributor? Are You Sure?
I had so much fun talking with the authors and indy publishers at AuthorU earlier this month. Here is a snippet that explains in detail the difference between Wholesalers, Distributors and Fulfillment Houses.
Too often I get calls from authors/small press owners who tell me that they “have a distributor”… then they mention Ingram or Baker & Taylor. CLOSE! But no…. check out this 2 minute video to see why:
Book Distribution vs. Book Wholesalers
Prepare and Budget for the ENTIRE Life of Your Book
Most authors budget their time,money, and energy for the life of their book, but they forget that the book’s life span does not end when the book is printed… that is when it starts. A book’s life starts at it’s birth (the launch) and needs to be budgeted for.
Here is a video of my most recent talk on the Life of Your Book. We will be covering this in more detail on Mentoring Mondays with Judith Briles starting June 3th.
Author U Extravaganza and Book Distribution for Self Published Authors
So much information, so little time…
I just got back from Author U Extravaganza in Denver. This author educational workshop event takes place the first weekend of May every year. I go to a lot of conventions and workshops each year and this one was, hands down,my favorite.
The presenters did wonderful, thought-provoking presentations on SEO, social media, book marketing, and many other topics that independent authors need. Guy Kawasaki was there for the Keynote and his speech made me a believer! I am now a huge fan. He knows his stuff.
I am not sure how I was included in this rarified list of amazing presenters, but I was asked to do a talk on Book Distribution and improving your book sales. I called the talk. “Are You Ready For the Marketplace?” Maybe because I own a book distribution company? Well.. I had a blast.
There is a video of the talk. (I’m watching it now and cringing a little at my lipstick color choice) But overall, I like what came across. I will be posting snippets from that video over the next week in a series called “Are You Ready”?
Thank you SO much to Judith Briles of www.authoru.org and to all the lovely authors I met. I look forward to seeing you all soon!
New Customer Service Manager
New Shelves Publishing Services is pleased to announce that Tricia Martin has joined NSPS as our Customer Service Manager.
Tricia comes to us from her previous jobs as Project Coordinator and Office Manager in the technology industry.
Tricia’s attention to detail and organizational skills have impressed us greatly. She has already come up with several key ideas to save us time and allow us to be more helpful to our clients.
Nicole Riley will still be handling all of the sales functions for New Shelves (and now she will have a lot more time to do so!) and Amy is always available if you need anything, but we are very excited about Tricia’s new position.
If you need reports, want to order shipments, if you have questions about anything, or need corrections/changes in our databases, please email Tricia at tricia@newshelves.com or feel free to call her at our main number: 518-261-1300.
Your First Day as a Publisher.
The book is done. Congratulations! You have put your whole back into the huge task of writing, editing, polishing and finishing the book that has been your life’s work for ages.
Send the manuscript to the designer and pour yourself a well-deserved glass of ginger-ale.
Done.
Now, welcome to your new job as Publisher. (You may have the nagging feeling that you should have started this job months ago, but better late than never! Let’s get started!)
Now that you are no longer a writer, you can dedicate yourself fulltime as a publisher, marketer, sales rep, publicist and social media specialist. These jobs with all of their various elements and duties will take up the next year or more of your life.
So, how do you get started? What do you do first?
Here is a partial list of essential-do-not-skip job duties that every Publisher has:
1. Choose a Publisher name. Don’t make it anything that connects to your name or the title of the book. The publishing house name/imprint should be independent and professional sounding (example: Democracy Publications). There are many reasons to publish under your own imprint name:
a. Your book will be taken more seriously than if it is listed in all the databases as published by a vanity press or CreateSpace.
b. Bookstores will be much more likely to consider stocking your book if they do not have to purchase it from their biggest competitor, Amazon/CreateSpace.
c. You can control the costs and pricing and save money.
d. Reviewers will give your book a more serious consideration.
2. Sign your publisher name up with Bowker at www.myidentifiers.com. Name, address, phone, email, website (if you have one)
3. Buy set of ISBNs (Don’t buy one. You will need more than one soon and they are inexpensive in groups of 10) from www.myindentifiers.com.
4. Pull all of your book data into the ISBN management section: title, subtitle, price, ISBN, eBook ISBN, eBook price, trim size, page count, word count, category, age group– into book ISBN fields at www.myidentifiers.com (this will start the process of getting your book’s data out to the world and make it easier for the sales to be tracked.) Do not skip this!
5. Find at least 5 books that compete for your same readers and learn why your book is similar to them and why your book is better. You will need this when you are selling your book to stores or doing research or writing a cover letter to a reviewer. These 5 books will help you in numerous ways. Take your time with it and ask for help if needed.
6. Decide if you want to be in bookstores and libraries. (REALLY research what it takes to be in those venues… it is not as easy an answer as you would think) Do the math… how much money will you make per book after printing, distribution and shipping costs?
7. Decide how you are going to print and distribute your book. Should you use a Print on Demand service such as Lightning Source or CreateSpace? (there is nothing wrong with USING CreateSpace, I just recommend not putting their name all over your book.) So… POD or would it be better to print a few thousand copies and sell through a distributor? Look at the numbers, ask your local bookstore, find out everything you can.
8. However you decide to proceed , sign up with the POD company, distribution, or fulfillment company and provide them with your book data.
9. Get endorsements and marketing plan and executable PR program together.
10. Spend as much time in bookstores and online learning everything you can about your market and your book category.
This is by no means a complete list, but these are some ESSENTIAL items that should be completed as soon as you decide to take on the job of publisher.
All of these items should be completed before you are done writing the book.
What Are Book Store Buyers LOOKING For?
A client recently asked me. What the %$#@! are book buyers looking for? He went on to say “My book is priced right, well-designed and exactly what older American’s are needing… what more can I do?”
I thought I would share my answer in the hopes that it might answer other questions out there.
If the book is well written, has a topic and message that will appeal to their customers, and is well designed, it has a good shot of getting a test order from a bookstore book buyer.
Keep in mind, there are more books published each year than could fit in 7 totally empty bookstores. (And as you know, bookstores are not empty!) Because of this, the buyers can only take a teeny fraction of what is presented to them. Also, the buyers are judged (read: get to keep their jobs) by how many times their section “turns” a year. The sales rate of their choices is closely monitored. So they will pick books that they feel have the best chance to selling off the shelf several times a year.
That is where demand and platform comes in. If an author has a good platform, is reaching out to thousands, or tens of thousands of readers, is showing sales online (seen in Nielsen Bookscan reports) and has a strong PR plan with potential for a lot of media – the buyer will be far more likely to take the book in.
If the book does NOT have all of those things, then the buyer needs to see some other proof that the well-designed, beautifully-edited, fantastically-written, much-needed book won’t just sit on their shelves. There is a chance that someone will see your title on the spine on a crowded bookshelf and pick it up. If they pick it up, there is a good chance that they might buy it. (If they need or want a book like yours). But a book buyer would much rather sweeten the chances of a “turn” by stocking books that will have browse-friendly qualities AND great press. There are enough books out there that have great demand AND are great books to choose from.
Does your book have everything it needs PLUS good PR? Is your book “All That” AND a bag of chips?
D5 Creation