Self Marketing by Mike Hartner

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Congrats! You’re published. In today’s world, in many cases, it won’t matter whether you are self-published, or published by one of the Big Six. You will need marketing.

Marketing. Yes, that ugly word. What, you mean my book doesn’t sell itself? Nope. Sorry to disappoint, but you are one of nearly a million people who have self-published this past year. Finding your book, for any but the most diligent (read: friends and relatives) is going to be a crapshoot. So how do you make your odds better?

1. Blog tours. Orangeberry.com has them. Pumpupyourbook.com has them. And there are others out there. They schedule you on blogs that work with them, and then send you a list of material they want. Some material that they like to use includes: Chapters, for chapter reveals; character interviews, to get a better feel for the characters; author interviews, in which you answer questions about yourself and your book and your publishing journey; top ten lists by you; and a plethora of other information. Blog tours are the 21st century equivalent to book store tours. Except you are doing them in cyber-space. And they can be fun. So go out and enjoy them.

2. Reviews. This falls into several time frames. To do this properly, there are things you need to be setting up PRIOR to the release of the book.

• Netgalley.com - $350 set up. Six months. It gives newspapers, book sellers, etc... a chance to look at your book before they decide to stock or review it. Sometimes it can lead to reviews.

• Newspapers - ARCs of the book should be given to media 3-4 months in advance of the release to give them a chance to read it and respond. Remember, they have busy lives too.

• Internet book reviewers (book bloggers) - There are lists out there. They are genre specific, and will definitely help you contact reviewers who will look at your book. Like newspaper columnists, though, they are VERY busy. Many of them need to be booked four months in advance. Not all. But, if you give them four months, they are guaranteed to appreciate your efforts even more, regardless of whether they agree to help you.

• Amazon book reviewers - Amazon has lists that include their top ten reviewers. And if you pick through these one at a time, and contact them, then some will help and others will not. But give them a time frame.... the more leeway the better. They, too, are busy.

3. Contests/Awards. You can enter all sorts of contests for your book. Make sure that you’re in the right genre, though.

• Chanticleer Book Reviews - This site has a contest for every genre.

• IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) has the Ben Franklin Awards.

• Other independent book contests are out there. Google them.

• Local book awards - Every state and province has book awards for local authors. You can’t win if you don’t play.

4. Associations. There are many associations, including Independent Book Publishers Association. Membership in them will give you discounts for participation in some of the contests and services like: Netgalley, LightningSource, trade shows, etc... I HIGHLY recommend IBPA. But, look around. If they’re not right for you, some one else will be.

5. Trade Shows. Throughout the year, there are trade shows all over the world:

• London Book Show -- April
• BookExpoAmerica (BEA) - May
• Beijing (usually September)
• Frankfurt (October)
• There are others in your state or province.
• American Library Association (ALA)
• National Educators Association (NEA)
• NewYork State Library Association
• California State Library Association...
• This list is endless.

Two points about trade shows. 

• They are OPTIONAL. They get exposure to your book out there, but don’t stress if you can’t afford to go to every one of them. 

• Pick your conventions wisely. You may decide to go to the ALA without going to the NEA. That’s okay. There’s some member overlap, but not a lot.

6. Free Sites. IF you join Kindle Direct Program (KDP) they will allow you to have free days -- up to five across three months -- as promotion days. There are hundreds of spots around the internet that advertise to kindle users, e-readers, etc.. that will help you to publicize FREE days, provided you give them reasonable notice. By reasonable, I think minimum two weeks.

7. Social media. Put up a Facebook author’s page, a Twitter feed, your own website, Pinterest pictures, etc. Look into badredheadmedia.com to find Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC), a social media guru, who can help you grow your brand.

8. Google Adwords. Theadwordsguy.com and JP help you to use Google Adwords and landing sites to generate interest. You pay per click, but it helps to show you which genres and keywords resonate interest with your book.

9. Reader websites. Goodkindle.net is one example. These are websites dedicated to individuals who read e-books. There are plenty of them, and for a small fee, you can be a part of their book list on their site.


This list is by no means comprehensive, but it describes most of the areas that I have delved into to help promote my book. You don’t have to do them all at once. Pick and choose according to your whims. But get out there and try something to improve your exposure to the massive number of readers out there. Now go out there and market!

Also, don’t forget that "FRONTLIST sells backlist." In short, the best way to sell this book... is to write the next one. So don’t get hung up in the promotions area for too long.

And, if you’re getting overwhelmed with it all, ask for help from an author’s assistant like Kate Tilton.

About the Author:

Mike Hartner was born in Miami in 1965. He’s traveled much of the continental United States. He has several years post secondary education, and experience teaching and tutoring young adults. Hartner has owned and run a computer firm for more than twenty-five years. He now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with his wife and child. They share the neighborhood and their son with his maternal grandparents. You can visit Mike at his website.

Why Authors Should Consider Crowdfunding by Justine Schofield of Pubslush

As writers, we know the biggest qualm about self-publishing is the out of pocket expenses and subsequent financial risk and burden on the writer. Many writers have to skimp on must-have publishing services because they don’t have the funds to pay for them. Sadly, it’s true. Most people will judge a book by its cover and as a result, self-published books have developed the stigma of being of a lesser quality.

Good news, though. Self-publishing authors now have the means to raise funds pre-publication in order to lessen the financial burden and to help their book live up to its potential. Crowdfunding is quickly becoming the newest tool in the self-publishers toolbox that can help writers practice more informed and successful publishing.

So, what exactly is crowdfunding? Crowdfunding is a new technology that allows people to collect many small financial pledges from their extended network and audience to fund a creative project or business venture. Let’s break crowdfunding down into real terms.

Say you’re a writer and you’ve just finished writing your very first book. You really put a lot of time and effort into your book and you want to share it with the world. Self-publishing seems to be the way to go. You won’t have to hassle with finding an agent or publisher, you’ll have more creative control, and your book will be published in a timely manner. Plus, you have a pretty large network that you know will buy your book. The only issue is coming up with the funds for all the costly publishing services you’ll need.

You decide to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for your publishing project. You find the platform that’s right for you (a very important first step!) and setup your campaign. Then, when your campaign goes live, you reach out to your network—family, friends, colleagues, your book audience—and ask them to make a financial pledge to your crowdfunding campaign. The pledges add up and by the end of your campaign, you’ll have enough (or at least more than before) funds to publish your book.

Okay, so this is a very simplified version of crowdfunding, but it’s just to give you an idea of how it works. There are a few very important things to keep in mind, though.

First, people are not donating to help publish your book. Crowdfunding is rewards based, which means as the campaign creator you would develop different reward levels to entice your supporters. The reward levels can range anywhere from $1 to $100 to $1,000 and above, and everywhere in between. As the dollar amount increases the rewards get better. No matter what, your supporters are receiving something in return for their financial pledge. Often times, writers will offer a copy of their book as a reward, so they are actually able to collect preorders during their crowdfunding campaign, too.

Second, crowdfunding is a lot of work. Sure, it sounded pretty easy in my simplified version of the process, but in order to be successful the writer must be 100% committed and ready and willing to promote and market their campaign. Having a marketing plan, a pre-established network and knowing your audience are all very important factors to the success of a campaign.

Lastly, you must be willing to ask for support. A majority of the support for your campaign, especially in the beginning while you’re building momentum, will come from your own network. People won’t know about your campaign if you don’t tell them. Just as in the publishing world, you are your own biggest advocate and it’s up to you to make the initial connections and build a buzz around your book.

Crowdfunding requires the same marketing necessary to finding success in the book publishing world, but it allows you to raise funds pre-publication, which can overall ensure more success in the future. As I mentioned, crowdfunding is not a venture to be taken lightly. A lot of hard work and commitment is required, but a lot of hard work and commitment was required to write your book, too. So doesn’t your book deserve to be the best it can be when it’s presented to the world? At Pubslush, we think so.

About the Author:

Justine Schofield is the development director of Pubslush, a global crowdfunding platform only for books. Authors can raise funds and gauge initial market viability for their book projects. Justine graduated from Emerson College in Boston, MA with a degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing and is currently enrolled at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, earning her MFA in Creative Writing. She specializes in social media and public relations and in the past she has worked with growing companies to develop their online presence. Justine has become a prominent industry voice for educating authors and publishers about crowdfunding and her work has been featured on many online publications.

What's Next by Mike Hartner

So, you’re e-book is out, and you’ve put your paperback up for sale... Congrats! You’re published. Whether self or otherwise, your work is now out in the world waiting for others to read it, and review it. It’s now in the realm of eighty percent of the book readers.

Wait. Eighty percent? What happened to the other twenty?

This is the twenty percent that can’t read. No, they’re not illiterate. They’re actually very intelligent and highly educated in a lot of cases. They’re people who have trouble with the sense of sight. Some are blind, others partially. Some from glaucoma. Some from detached retinas. And for many, this change came in the later years of their life.

And now, they wait patiently. They wait for someone to read audio to them. Or record a novel in audio format. Any audio format. Any novel.

And they wait.

So, here is the easiest way you can help this twenty percent to enjoy your book: Record it. Go to ACX.com. It is THE Audiobook Creation eXchange. Want to read your own book? Great! Record it and send it to them. They’ll help with the formatting, and they’ll help open it to audible.com and iTunes.com, as well as track most of the sales. Prefer to have someone else read it? Great! That option is open, too. And if you are on a shoestring budget and prefer not to pay for the whole thing at once, then there’s a possibility of revenue sharing with the producer. Hey! It’s an option, and a pretty good one at that. You get to specify the dialects and accents of the people reading your story, and you get to review that selection by listening to these people audition for your book. Go for it. Capture that extra twenty percent of the market.

About the Author:

Mike Hartner was born in Miami in 1965. He’s traveled much of the continental United States. He has several years post secondary education, and experience teaching and tutoring young adults. Hartner has owned and run a computer firm for more than twenty-five years. He now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with his wife and child. They share the neighborhood and their son with his maternal grandparents. You can visit Mike at his website.

Bookcards, a neat marketing idea by Alicia Kat Vancil

Hello my little samurai kitties!

So what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think book promotion? I can bet about 90% of you just thought of bookmarks. And for the most part, bookmarks are great. They are easy to produce, fairly inexpensive, and are the only bit of marketing that is associated directly with books. They are both nice to look at and functional. There’s just one problem; if you don’t have a book to immediately place that bookmark in, they can be a bit awkward and cumbersome. Enter the Bookcard, an idea I came up with after about two years of carrying bookmarks around in my purse. What’s a Bookcard? A Bookcard is like a small bookmark and business card for your book all in one. They fit easily into pockets, card holders, and the like, and can still be used to mark your place in a book. Nifty, right? Additionally, they can hold roughly the same information as a bookmark and most people are used to handling them. So let’s look at a few instances where Bookcards are a great thing to have.

Scenario One: Say you’re at an industry gala event (like I was a few weeks ago), and you get into a conversation with another attendee. Through the course of the conversation they ask, “what do you do?” After explaining that you are a writer, the next thing you will probably be asked is,  “what do you write?” If you have a Bookcard, you will have something shiny to hand them as you give a short (emphasis on short!) explanation of your work. Why is this visual aid important? Because numerous studies have shown that people respond better to, and remember, information that is presented to them along with a visual aid.

Scenario Two: Say you’re at a live event (conference, convention, festival etc.), and an attendee is interested in your book. However, they have a Kindle or other eReader device that they prefer to read books on instead of paper copies. Instead of telling them the name of your book—and hoping they remember it long enough to actually go download a copy—you can simply hand them a Bookcard. Now they have something pretty to remind them they were interested in said book, and you are much more likely to gain a new reader.

Scenario Three: Say you’re at a live event (conference, convention, festival etc.), and you’ve just made your short pitch to the potential reader. They aren’t ready to purchase your book at the moment because they’ve either spent all their money already, are running off to a panel or lunch, or you are standing somewhere other than at your table/booth. Instead of just letting them walk away, you can hand them a Bookcard as a parting gift, and they will be much more likely to get your book when they are able than if you just let them walk away cardless.

Elements of a successful Bookcard

Now that you have a few reasons why Bookcards are an awesome addition to your book marketing arsenal, let’s talk about the Bookcards themselves. Bookcards are a double-sided standard business card and contain the following:

Cover image

Author name

Author website url

Quote (20 words or less)

Title page font graphic or Series logo (optional)

Series name & Book number  (optional)

The Front Side

The cover image is arguably the most important part and can be presented in two different ways. You can have the image fill the entire space of the card which will usually cause a bit of it to be cut off. Or you can add black or white bars to the bottom and top similarly to how they present non-anamorphic widescreen movies on a TV. Due to the nature of the cover design for Daemons in the Mist and The Storm behind Your Eyes, I went for the colored bars option.

The Back Side

The back side of your Bookcard should at the very least have the title of the book, your name, your author website URL, and a short quote from the book. Optionally, you can also include the title page font graphic or series logo, and the series/trilogy name and book number. My book trilogy, The Marked Ones, has a graphic that represents the trilogy and appears behind the book’s name on the internal title page, so I used that graphic on the back of my Bookcards. Below it I also included the trilogy name, and what number book it was. Why do this? Because the visual helps break up the wall of text on the back, and is also more visually stimulating. Don’t have a series graphic? Don’t worry, you can use font size, color, and spacing to help break up the text.

Picking Your Quotes

Do you have a tagline for your book, like this one I have for Daemons in the Mist? “Accidentally marrying a beautiful stranger—what’s the worst that could happen?” Yes? Then use it. Don’t have a tagline? Then chose a few good lines from your book. Mind you, don’t just choose a phrase you like—that you think sounds good—pick something important. Because you only have 20 words or less and you gotta make them count. 

When choosing a good line for your Bookcards make sure it either:

• Reflects the story as a whole.
• Gives a tantalizing taste of the narrative.
• Gives us an insight into the way the main character thinks.

A few common questions I’m asked about Bookcards

I have a series/trilogy, how many cards do I make?

However many cards you decide to make, make the most of book one. Why? Because unless you are super famous like JK Rowling, or the event is dedicated just to you, chances are most people at the event will have never heard of you or your books. So unless the attendee thinks your Bookcards are really pretty (and if you or your designer do a great job they probably will), they will usually only pick up a card for the first book. Thus you want the most cards of book one.

I have a few books out but they are stand alones, what do I do?

Do you have a table/booth at an event? Yes? Then make one Bookcard for each book and place them near/in front of said book. No? Then pick one. Yes, one, and make that the Bookcard you hand out. Why? Because just as bookmarks are cumbersome, so are an abundance of cards. Especially when you are not at an event, but a casual setting like a Starbucks line. How do you know which one to pick? Well, you can either pick your first book, your newest book, or the one that already sells the best. Really, as long as you have a great short pitch for the book, any of those will do as a first impression. Because the person can just learn about your other books on your author website.

How many different card variations should I make?

I would say 2 or 3 for starters. I made 5 for each of my books the first time around. However, I have also  been doing events for many years, and know how many cards I go though at a big con or festival.

Who did you use to print yours?

I used Overnight Prints for my Bookcards, and I chose the Value Cards with UV gloss on both sides.  I ordered 50-100 of each design since I was making 10 different designs. Factoring in cost, current sales discounts, and shipping, and each Bookcard will run you between 10-15 cents. Not too bad I think.

*Note: If you want to be able to sign the cards or write on them at all, do NOT choose the UV coating. If you have to write on the UV coating, then the only thing that works is Sharpie...kinda.

So there you are my fine feline friends, a little bit about Bookcards, their usefulness, and a few pointers for easily increasing your readership.

About the Author

Alicia Kat Vancil grew up in the heart of Silicon Valley where she amused herself by telling stories to anyone around her—her family, her friends...random strangers. Eventually she actually started writing those stories down instead of just spending hours hanging out in fake Ikea living rooms and telling her friends about them. Somewhere amongst all the character-torturing and epic explosions she managed to get a BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art University and open a graphics studio (Multi-tasking for the win!).

Kat still lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two very crazy studio cats, and nine overfull bookcases. And when not running a muck in the imaginary worlds within her head, Kat can usually be found performing, watching anime, or hanging out in Twitter chats.

You can catch Kat on Twitter, G+, or visit her website.

How to Create a Unique Book Marketing Plan by Bryan Cohen

Today on the blog we have Bryan Cohen here to talk about creating a unique marketing plan for your book! Do you have a marketing plan for your book? If you don't, are you inspired to make one now?

___________

It feels easier when you have a formula. When coming up with a marketing plan, we like to know what's come before so we have evidence that it will work. We want to crunch numbers and look at charts and see what the best use of our limited funds will be. We want to hear stories about how so-and-so sold 10,000 books in a week with this idea and how what's-her-face became an Amazon best-seller with that idea. There's just one problem. Nothing works as well the second time you do it.

The first blog tours were extremely successful. The first author to hold a Kindle Fire giveaway tied up with the sale of his or her books probably turned a significant profit. The authors who use the data from these once new ideas can't help but get diminishing returns from these secondhand marketing plans. They can't help it. Do you think the second magazine or television advertisement of all time was anywhere near as successful as the first? It just doesn't work like that.

To be as successful as possible, you need to try to come up with an idea that's never been done before. As a peddler of creative writing prompts, I'd like to give you some prompts to ask yourself as you're creating your new marketing campaign.

1. What are five ideas to target my desired audience and why will they work?

It's easy to come up with a general marketing plan. A few guest posts, an advertisement or two and a giveaway. Can you be sure, however, that this plan will reach your target readers? List at least five different ideas and evaluate whether or not the ideas will reach your ideal readers.

2. How do I make these ideas cheaper?

We love the idea of doing these big giveaways of merchandise and hardcover books. If we spend all of our money on one marketing plan, however, we may not be able to diversify and reach the highest number of people possible. Spend time, as opposed to money, and consider giving out or trading services to make your marketing plan less expensive.

3. How much time will these marketing plans require and how will I be able to put in the necessary hours?

Many authors shortchange their marketing plans because they don't put in the necessary time to help the plan flourish. Just as sacrifices must be made to create the time necessary to write the book, sacrifices must be made to free up the time needed for a marketing plan. Come up with ways to set aside that time and your marketing plan will be much more successful.

4. What are five marketing ideas that have never been done before?

It's always better to come up with multiple ideas than it is to think of one. Once you come up with the ideas, look them up to make sure you haven't reinvented the wheel. It's also never a bad idea to run these ideas by a few trustworthy author friends. 

5. How are you going to market the marketing plan?

The first blog tours and giveaways were successful because readers and authors found out about them. You can have the most amazing contest in the world, but if people don't find out about it, your plan won't be worth the website it's printed on.

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The marketing plan you create needs to be an extension of your art. If you've got a book that people will actually want to read, it means you've created art. You must use your artistic abilities to make a marketing plan that is just as unique and exciting as your book.

About the Author

In honor of his new book, Cohen is hosting the “1,000 Prompts, 1,000 Dollars" Writing Contest on his website. Click the link to find out how to enter!

Bryan Cohen is an author, a creativity coach and an actor. His new book, 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, Volume 2: More Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More is now available on Amazon in digital and paperback format. His other books include 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, The Post-College Guide to Happiness, and Ted Saves the World. He has published over 30 books, which have sold more than 20,000 copies in total. Connect with him on his website, Build Creative Writing Ideas, on Facebook or on Twitter.