Tag Archives: publishing

Apr 28 2013

Inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/hitchcock/

Last night, I watched the recent movie, Hitchcock. Don’t worry: I won’t spoil the plot for you.

In this movie, I saw many parallels with the art and business of self-publishing:

  • The name Alfred Hitchcock was very well branded. The movie, while it may have a little more Hollywood style and a little less reality, provided some insight into his character as a movie maker. You can guess how his distinctive personality and specific talents helped with his branding.
  • The silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock was also very well branded. It wasn’t just a logo. Remember how he used to walk into the position where the silhouette would form? This technique really helped brand his image.
  • The movie revealed a few marketing tactics. He was not only renowned for creating suspense, but he was even effective at utilizing suspense in his marketing tactics.
  • At a stage where he may have been expected to retire, he dared to take a new direction with his filmmaking. He didn’t have the backing of the film industry (i.e. the big money) – at least, not to exercise his creativity and pursue this new direction his own way. So he was very much like an indie filmmaker. Of course, he had financial resources of his own, but he took a huge risk.
  • He abandoned the rules of what works and pursued his own ideals. Authors have long had traditional publishers telling us what works, not wishing to deviate more than about 10% from this established path. We now have the opportunity to pursue something different on our own. There is a great risk, as very often these new paths don’t succeed. But the door is now open.
  • Back in his day, censorship was fairly heavy. We have a great deal of freedom to write as we please these days, but a few authors still push the boundaries further. There will always be critics and lawmakers strongly involved in this.
  • Hitchcock didn’t just film a movie. You could get a sense for how much editing and formatting was involved afterward, and how important this was for the movie’s success. Similarly, there is much more to selling books than just writing them. The importance of editing and formatting cannot be overlooked.
  • In making a movie, there is a large production team involved with many people working on different tasks. These days, there are many indie authors trying to do the writing, editing, formatting, cover design, marketing, and public relations all on their own. At least, collaborating with others to share skills or ideas would help a little with teamwork.
  • It wasn’t just the movie idea that led to its success. You could see how the marketing ingenuity and seemingly little things like sound effects could play a very significant role. People skills and developing contacts are important, too. The same is true with publishing books.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (Volume 2 now available)

Apr 27 2013

Murphy’s Laws of Writing

Writing

(1) You are more likely to be interrupted when you’re in the middle of a very deep thought. Silencing your phone, sending the kids out, and disabling the doorbell simply inspire Murphy’s creativity.

(2) Your muse will abandon you whenever you need her the most. But don’t worry: She’ll return as soon as you become too preoccupied to write.

(3) Your best ideas are most likely to come when you don’t have anything to write with or to write on. You’re also likely to be frequently interrupted between your moment of inspiration and the moment you’re able to jot it down.

(4) Whenever you correct a set of typos, you introduce some new ones.

(5) The fewer words you write, the greater the chances that there will be a glaring typo.

(6) Your worst typos are most likely to occur in the most prominent places, such as the first paragraph of the book or the book description.

(7) It’s much easier to see somebody else’s mistakes than it is to find your own.

(8) Not checking your preview or proof is like waving a large red flag with Murphy’s name on it.

(9) If you’re not sure about something that you’re writing, but don’t take the time to check, it will probably be wrong. However, if you do take the time to check, it will probably be right.

(10) The more people who read your writing, the greater the chances that there will be an embarrassing mistake in it. Presenting it to a large audience via PowerPoint improves the odds.

(11) After submitting revisions, if you quickly thumb through your book, your eye is very likely to spot a typo.

(12) The more frequently you check your sales report, the more likely you are to be disappointed.

(13) The more frequently you check your book reviews, the more likely you are to be disappointed.

(14) You’re much more unlikely to see a sale post on your report while you’re spending money.

(15) A good review is 100 times more likely to disappear than a bad review.

(16) One stupid comment that you make in the most remote corners of the internet is far more likely to generate publicity than anything else that you do.

(17) If you only have one copy of your file, this improves the chances that the file will become corrupt. The closer the book is to completion, the greater the odds.

(18) If all of the versions of your file are stored on the same computer, this improves the chances that the hard drive will crash.

(19) If you download a program to help with your book without paying attention to where the file is saved, it will be buried in the least obvious place.

(20) If you need to revise your book, but didn’t keep track of the location and name of the most recent file, you’re more likely to reintroduce old typos when you correct new ones.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (Volume 2 now available)

Apr 26 2013

Stages of Branding

A brand is a name that people in the target audience recognize. It’s not necessarily the name of the product, like Levi’s. Names of people can be branded, too, like Michael Jackson. Even an image can be branded, such as a logo or cover art.

Sometimes, branding the person’s name is more effective than branding the name of the product. This is especially true for singers, writers, and artists of all kinds. For example, it’s much easier to remember Stephen King than it is to remember the titles of all of his books.

Branding occurs when members of the target audience see or hear the name of the product or person or see the image repeatedly over a period of time.

Companies that have money to invest and products or services for which there is a wide target audience may achieve this, in part, through advertisements on television, radio, magazines, billboards, websites, etc.

Advertisements aren’t always effective for all products. For example, a book at first seems to have a wide possible audience because millions of people read. However, there are twenty million books to choose from; even in a specific genre, there are thousands of competitors. Compare this to toilet paper: There are a dozen or so brands of toilet paper in a store, not millions to choose from. Compared to artistic works like books, products like toilet paper have a much large target audience and much less competition.

Fortunately, advertising isn’t the only way to brand a name or image. There are many ways to market a name, product, or image through branding. The goal is to have the name, product, or image seen or heard among the target audience.

For artistic goods and services, such as books, cd’s, editing, and cover art design, getting discovered or providing valuable content is often far more effective than self-promotion. The idea of self-promotion is like shouting, “Here I am! Look at me!” Discovery is about getting noticed through personal interaction. For example, a potential customer may discover that a person is a singer or real estate agent when asking, “What do you do for a living?” The self-promotion equivalent is walking into a room and saying, “I just released a new album.” For online interactions, discovery can occur by posting information in an online profile, whereas self-promotion posts this information clearly out in the open.

How the information is conveyed is also important. It should relate to the target audience and make it clear what the product or service is. It should convey this in a way that the target audience will respond positively. Generally, it should generate interest, convey passion, and sound confident, but should not seem boastful.

Providing valuable content geared toward the target audience, especially for free, is another way to get discovered. Sending a press release package to local media can help with this, too. Creating buzz for a newly released product is another common tactic.

Another way for branding to occur is through reviews, such as in magazines or on websites, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Companies sometimes give away free samples or accessories, hold contests, or mail out advance review copies with the hope that some customers who appreciate the product or service will tell their friends and family members.

These are some ways that a product, name, or image can become branded. Branding occurs in various stages. It can take several months for branding efforts to achieve a full effect. First, people in the target audience must be exposed to the branding efforts. This must occur not just once, but on multiple occasions (but not so frequently that it gets tuned out) over an extended period of time. Once they buy the product or service, it may be a while before it is used, and used enough for them to judge the quality. If they are pleased with it, it takes even more time to recommend it to others.

Branding isn’t about achieving instant sales. It’s about the potential for long-term success. Branding requires patience.

Stage 1: Recognition

When people in the target audience see the name or image, they recognize it. People tend to favor products that they have heard of before.

Stage 2: Awareness

People think of the name of the brand when they consider shopping for that product or service. At this stage, people search for the product or service, rather than simply recognizing it in a store or directory.

Stage 3: Backing

People have heard good things about a product or service. This may have come from a recommendation or a review, for example. At this stage, the prospective customer feels some measure of confidence about the purchase decision.

Stage 4: Association

Potential customers associate the brand with a favorable attribute. For example, Wal-Mart is regarded for low prices and Sony is regarded for high quality. At this stage, customers have a particular expectation for a product or service. In some cases, such as high quality, customers may be willing to pay extra for this distinction.

Stage 5: Experience

Customers have used the product or service and they enjoyed it. At this stage, they are likely to invest in the same brand in the future.

Stage 6: Charm

A personal interaction with an artist, agent, or representative, for example, made the customer feel special. The personal touch can go a long way beyond just the product or service.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles on publishing and marketing by clicking one of the following links:

Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 26 2013

A Humble Little Book

Part 1

She worked from 9 to 5. It was a boring job, but it paid the bills.

From 6 to 10, she sat at her computer, typing a book. This was very fun, but just a hobby.

Several months later, her book was finished, but not yet complete. She spent a few more months reading, revising, proofreading, editing, perfecting.

Then it was time to share her work. She viewed her writing as a hobby, not as a profession. So she opted to self-publish.

Specifications. Formatting. Googling computer skills. Researching. PDF conversion. Formatting problems. Asking for help. Reformatting. Not the fun part of her hobby, but at the same time, she was growing anxious. So thrilling and nervous at the same time!

She thought about hiring an editor to help revise and format her book. She considered hiring a cover designer. But as this was just a hobby, should would settle for a humble little book. However, she did proofread it carefully again, and even sought help from friends.

The description was the hardest part to write. All in all, she wrote a dozen descriptions, and the last didn’t remotely resemble the first. It wasn’t a killer blurb, but she researched descriptions of similar books and sought advice from friends. It would suffice.

The biography was a stumper, too. Qualifications? Experience? Skills? Background? Then she realized that she wasn’t writing a resume. Writing was her hobby, not her profession. Readers might be interested in her life experience, not her writing career.

Author photo… (she was a little shy). But her writing was very personal, and she was sharing that. So she would share her photo, too. Not glamorous, but much better than the DMV.

Approve Proof. Click! Ta-da! Celebration coming on!

There it is on Amazon. Check that out. She showed her friends and family. Some pats on the back. A show of support. A little unexpected criticism.

Way down the search results. No reviews. Occasional sales. Well, she wasn’t a bestselling author; not bad for a hobby. Wrote and published a book: Quite an accomplishment!

Part 2

He saw the thumbnail. Not a Picasso. Not eye-popping. But there was something about it. So he clicked the link.

Didn’t sound like the popular books. But it was intriguing. So he looked inside.

Wasn’t fancy. But it was nice enough. And the story caught his interest. So he bought it.

Wasn’t flawless. A few typos. An occasional formatting mistake. But not enough to detract from the story. So he read it.

Wasn’t a nail-biter. Not a page-turner. Yet he enjoyed the story. So he finished it.

He even left a review and told a few friends.

Part 3

It wasn’t a bestseller. But it sold occasionally.

She didn’t market avidly. Yet many (to her) people read her book and truly enjoyed the story. She touched their minds. They shared experiences and emotions that she created. And they appreciated this.

She continued her hobby.

It was a humble little book. Yet it was a success.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (Volume 2 now available)

Apr 25 2013

Common Blurb Mistakes

For online bookstores, the cover, title, blurb, and sample are the book’s only salesmen at the point-of-sale. A great blurb can help motivate purchases, whereas a lousy blurb tends to deter them.

(1) Summarizing the book.

The blurb’s number one priority is to create interest in the book, not to summarize it. Summaries often don’t sound interesting and provide too much information.

(2) Giving too much information away.

An effective blurb arouses the reader’s curiosity. Rather than answering all of the reader’s questions about the book, ask some questions – either explicitly or implicitly. A customer who wants to know something about the story has to read it to find out, unless the blurb answers the question.

However, nonfiction books should make the content clear.

(3) Building suspense.

Customers tend to be impatient. If the blurb (or sample) starts out slow, some customers will walk away without reaching the main part of the blurb. Start out by creating interest to capture the reader’s attention.

(4) Sending mixed messages.

The title, cover, blurb, and sample should send a unified message regarding the genre and content. The message should be clear in each component. Confused buyers look for other products that aren’t confusing. If the cover looks like fantasy, but the blurb sounds like science fiction, for example, then the audience that is drawn to the book won’t buy the book.

(5) Spelling and grammar mistakes.

If the hundred or so words in the blurb have any spelling or grammar mistakes, the tens of thousands of words in the book itself must be plagued with editing problems. At least, this is what potential customers will expect.

(6) Too long.

Buyers tend to have short attention spans. If a buyer becomes bored while reading the blurb, the buyer will check out a different book. The longer the blurb, the more difficult it is to hold the buyer’s attention throughout.

A long blurb also looks intimidating to some readers. There are customers who immediately return to the previous page when a blurb looks too long. This depends in part on the target audience, and is a bigger concern for fiction than for nonfiction.

(7) Overselling.

If the blurb makes the book sound far better than it actually is, the blurb will backfire as soon as customer reviews reflect this disparity. Also, when a book sounds too good, many customers will be skeptical.

(8) Bragging.

Boasting tends to deter sales. Avoid comments like, “This Book is much better than That Book.” However, stating that a book is similar to a well-known book or movie – without making it sound better – can help potential buyers understand what to expect. Compare this comment with the previous one: “This Book is similar to That Book,” or, “This Book is a cross between Book A and Book B.”

(9) Telling readers what to think.

If a book is funny, for example, there is no reason to come right out and say this. Let customers form their own opinions. Most people don’t like to be told what to think. Saying that the book is a comedy may be helpful, whereas saying, “You will laugh your pants off,” tells readers what they will do.

(10) Poor formatting.

Insert a linespace to separate paragraphs. Break large paragraphs into smaller ones. Don’t use returns to force text onto a new line in mid-sentence. Don’t format each sentence on a separate line (unless using bullets). Boldface, italics, linebreaks, and bullets are available through AuthorCentral for Amazon book descriptions.

(11) Not giving readers a good idea of what to expect.

While it’s important not to reveal too much information, it’s also necessary to provide a general idea of what type of book to expect. Nonfiction should also make the content clear. The blurb should attract the right target audience for the book. Otherwise, customers are likely to express negative feedback in customer reviews.

(12) Lack of feedback.

Share the blurb with several people from the book’s intended target audience prior to publishing. Discover how they react to the blurb – especially, what they do and don’t like about it.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (Volume 2 now available)

Apr 22 2013

Rush, Rush, Rush to Self-Publish!

Day 0:

Think, think, think. Think. Think… think.

Idea!

Day 1:

Type, type, type. Type. Type. Type, type, type.

Day 14:

Type, type, type.

Day 30:

Writer’s block.

Day 35:

Type, type, type.

Day 60:

T. Y. P. E.

Day 90:

Ta-da!

Day 91:

Proofread, proofread, proofread.

Day 92:

P. R. O. O. F. R. E. A. D.

Day 100:

Research publishing options.

Day 101:

Decide to self-publish.

Sign up for an account.

Day 102:

Learn about formatting.

Day 103:

Format, format, format.

Day 104:

F. O. R. M. A. T.

Day 110:

Upload.

Day 111:

Check digital proof.

Day 112:

Ask for help on the community forum.

Day 113:

Implement formatting changes.

Day 114:

Re-upload.

Day 115:

Publish!

Day 116:

Celebrate!

Day 117:

Encounter Look Inside issues.

Day 118:

Post question on community help forum.

Day 119:

Reformat.

Day 120:

Republish.

Day 121:

Find book way down in search results.

Day 122:

Still no sales rank.

Day 123:

No activity.

Day 130:

Request feedback on community help forum.

Day 131:

Look for cover designer and editor.

Day 191:

Republish.

Day 200:

Sales still infrequent.

Day 201:

Look into marketing.

Day 210:

Why was I in such a rush to publish my book?

* * *

If only there were a better way, like:

  • Researching the book idea before writing.
  • Perfecting the craft of writing.
  • Reading bestsellers in the genre to learn what works.
  • Checking out covers of top sellers in the genre to see what readers expect.
  • Reading blurbs of best sellers in the genre to learn how to draw interest.
  • Getting the book edited before publishing.
  • Seeking feedback on the cover and blurb before publishing.
  • Learning how to create buzz for an upcoming book.
  • Learning about marketing before the book is published.
  • Marketing before the book is published.
  • Coming up with an effective promotion plan.
  • More marketing after the book is published.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (Volume 2 now available)

Apr 16 2013

Cost-Benefit Analysis for Marketing Books

When trying to decide if a book marketing strategy is worth doing, consider this in terms of a cost-benefit analysis. What you hope to determine is whether the costs are worth the prospective benefits.

Even if the marketing technique is free, it still costs time. Time is money. You don’t want to spend several hours per week doing marketing work that yields very little in return. So you must factor both money and time into the costs.

Benefits very often aren’t measured in immediate sales. Marketing that helps new members of your target audience discover your book or which improves or furthers your branding efforts has value, too. Some sales from continued branding efforts may not come for months.

There are also other possible costs (besides money and time) and benefits (besides sales, discovery, and branding).

For example, a marketing strategy that places books into the hands of people outside of your target audience might be more likely to draw negative reviews, since these readers may not really appreciate and understand the genre. Similarly, giving your book away for free might draw a negative review from a customer who didn’t take time to read the description and therefore didn’t get what was expected. A few negative reviews help to provide balance and sometimes have a positive effect on sales, but too many negative reviews can deter sales.

On the other hand, some marketing strategies may be likely to result in positive reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations. The more customers who read your book and like it, the more good reviews and word-of-mouth sales you may receive. When the readers are in your target audience or are bloggers who frequently review books in your genre on their blogs, for example, this improves these prospects.

Another thing to factor into cost-benefit analysis is the quality of the product and packaging. The packaging includes the title, blurb, Look Inside, and customer reviews. The better the packaging looks, the more this will help to magnify the benefits of effective marketing; the worse the packaging looks, the fewer benefits any marketing will reap. Similarly, a better book is more likely to receive good reviews and recommendations, while a poor book that receives many low-star reviews will inhibit sales.

Even a seemingly small thing like the title can impact this. A title that’s short and easy to remember is more likely to earn word-of-mouth sales. Just imagine this: “Oh, that reminds me of a great book that I read once. Oh, too bad I can’t remember the title of it.”

Realize that some marketing strategies may be reaching the same members of your target audience. Very often this is okay because it takes repetition for branding to become effective, but it’s still something to consider.

When you’re thinking about costs, you should be thinking:

  • How much money will you need to spend on this marketing strategy?
  • How much time will you need to spend doing this marketing?
    • What impact will this have on your author image? Anything you might do to brand yourself with a negative image can be a hefty cost.
    • Might this cause people to buy the book without realizing what they’re getting? For a free book promotion, for example, this could be the case. If so, these customers are more likely to express frustration if the book doesn’t meet their (sometimes unreasonable) expectations.
    • Is there any reason for customers to feel that the book is unprofessional? Poor editing, formatting, or storyline, for example, may result in bad reviews.

For benefits, you can’t calculate how many sales you will derive. Many of the sales may not be realized for several months. Instead, you should be thinking:

  • How many new members of my target audience will this reach? Don’t waste your time with marketing efforts that aren’t geared toward your target audience.
  • Will the interaction be personal or impersonal? Will it be engaging, or momentary? Personal, engaging interactions make a much stronger, lasting impression. Impersonal and momentary interactions are only worthwhile in very large numbers.
  • Does this come across as self-promotion, advertising, or salesmanship, or does this work like discovery and branding? Most people have an aversion to the former, but respond well to the latter.
  • Is this likely to generate thoughtful reviews from members of your target audience or bloggers in your genre?
  • Are you putting the book in the hands of highly social people in your target audience who may, if they like the book, spread the word in person or on Facebook or Twitter?
  • How strongly do you believe in your book? The better your book is cover to cover, the more it enhances these benefits through possible reviews and recommendations.
  • Have you written a series where the book is good enough to induce purchases in subsequent volumes? If so, prospective sales of the later volumes can significantly enhance the benefits.

Example 1. Should you invest in professional cover design?

Costs: How much will you pay for the service? Divide the financial cost by the per-book royalty to see how many copies you must sell just to break even. How much time will you invest looking for a designer and then interacting with the designer throughout the process?

Benefits: How much will the cover improve over what you could do yourself? Will you sell most of your books in person or at Amazon? Your cover is far more important at Amazon. Will the cover attract your target audience? How well will the cover stand out among other thumbnails in your genre? Are the blurb and Look Inside effective enough to seal the deal? Will the book live up to the expectations? Is there a large market for your book idea? You can search for other books similar to yours and see how well they are selling.

Example 2. Should you invest in bookmarks?

Costs: How much will you pay for the bookmarks? How much time will you invest looking for a company to make them, developing a design, and distributing them?

Benefits: Will they be appealing enough for people to use them? If they look like advertisements, no; if they only mention your title and name, but mostly have appealing images, yes. Will they be distributed primarily among new members of your target audience? Seeking feedback on the bookmark design may be helpful.

Example 3. Should you give your book away for free?

Costs: Every book that you give away is a royalty that you won’t earn. If you give away paperbacks, it also costs you money to print the books.

Benefits: Are most of the recipients in your target audience? What are your prospects for word-of-mouth sales? Do you have other books that may interest the customers if they enjoy your book? Giving away the first book of a series may help to sell subsequent books in the series, provided that the first book is very good.

Example 4. Should you write an article that relates to the content of your book?

Costs: How much time will it take to research magazines, newspapers, and websites that are a good fit for your target audience? How long will it take to write the article? How much time will you spend on submissions? What are the prospects for having your article accepted? If you have relevant expertise and experience with the subject matter, this greatly improves your chances. Also, there are very many websites online. Finally, in the worst-case scenario, you can always post the article on your own blog or other website.

Benefits: What is the circulation of the magazine or newspaper, or the frequency of site views of the website? What percentage of this audience is a good fit for your book? Will your name and the title of your book be visible at the bottom of your article? This helps with discovery and branding.

* * *

For each marketing strategy that you consider, make two lists – one for costs and another for benefits. Is this geared mainly toward your target audience? That should be one of your main questions. Remember that discovery and branding among your target audience are very helpful long-term benefits. Another main question is: Will this seem more like advertising or discovery? A marketing strategy is worth adopting when benefits outweigh the costs (and not just slightly).

Let me mention one more important benefit. For many authors, this may outweigh many of the other benefits. It’s not just about sales, is it? Many of us write for other reasons besides money. Even if we didn’t write for money, we still appreciate those royalty checks. (You might ask, if you’re not in it for the money, why not give it away for free? Maybe we want our work to be valued. If we give it away for free, many people who may have read our books might feel that if it’s free, it isn’t worth reading.)

If money isn’t your only motivation, there are some other benefits to consider. There is the benefit of sharing your work with others, telling your story, having your work appreciated, spreading knowledge, etc. But if you think about it, these really amount to the same thing as sales: The more books you sell, the more your work is shared with others, the more knowledge you spread, etc.

What I had in mind is a benefit that doesn’t correlate with sales. That’s the benefit of the marketing endeavor itself. For example, blogging is something that all writers should do even if a cost-benefit analysis says that it’s not worth doing. As writers, blogging is a useful creative outlet. We can explore new techniques, try a different voice, develop a new character, receive feedback, reduce stress by getting stuff off our chests (but beware that what you say could negatively impact your author branding), etc. There are many positive benefits of blogging that make it worthwhile even if this effort doesn’t result in a single new sale.

Another example is performing community service. If you write a self-help book, you may be able to get discovered by members of your target audience through your involvement in related community service. Even if this doesn’t make sense from a cost-benefit analysis in terms of sales, though, there are many other benefits of community service that may make it worthwhile.

For other marketing strategies, you might also consider if there are valuable benefits other than just sales that may make it outweigh the costs.

Don’t market for the sales. Be passionate about your writing and market to share your passion. Don’t market just to share your passion. Be passionate about the marketing strategy itself – e.g. be passionate about blogging, writing an article, or doing a book reading. When others indirectly see your passion, it has a positive impact on sales (but don’t be boastful, overconfident, or talk about your book too frequently, as these things deter sales).

Chris McMullen, author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 14 2013

Effective Book Marketing – Part 3

(5) Strive to generate word-of-mouth sales.

Word-of-mouth sales are among the best sales that your book can get, yet are also the most challenging to achieve. There are a few things that you can do to help garnish these valuable sales.

Try to create buzz for your upcoming book. Don’t simply publish the book and wait to see how little it gets noticed. Instead, strive to get people talking about your book prior to its release:

  • Solicit feedback on your cover, title, and blurb. Post these on your blog and Facebook, requesting comments. Show these in person. Have these with you and show them to people (especially, those in your target audience). You get valuable feedback and might help to create a little buzz at the same time.
  • Don’t keep your book writing a secret. People ask, “What have you been up to lately?” Let them know how your book is coming along. This is more effective when they inquire about your book, and less effective when you volunteer it. You’ll get tuned out if you’re always talking about your book.
  • Join a critique group, see if a book club is interested in your draft (if you’re already a member, this is far more likely), start a focus group, and find people who can read your book (in whole or in part) and offer feedback. The more people who know about your book, the greater the chances that some people will like it and talk about its upcoming release. You want people to be saying, “Did you know that So-n-so wrote a romance novel and it’s coming out this June?” You can’t tell people what to say, but you can create the opportunities.
  • Send out advance review copies. Search for bloggers who have a following among your target audience who occasionally review books and see if they would be interested in reading a free copy of your book for possible review on their blog (if you’ve already been a long-time, active follower, that may help). You can also search for book review websites. Keep in mind that the most popular bloggers and sites will already have numerous requests.
  • Arrange for book readings and signings. Develop a one-sentence strapline that will help generate interest in your book. When you interact with people (in general) or do a book reading, this is the thought that you want to leave them with.
  • Seek local press coverage from the media. Prepare a professional press release package. Local newspapers may have column inches to fill and like to feature local authors. Similarly, local radio shows may have minutes to fill; even try local television stations. Start local, then look for media that specifically relates to your target audience; when they’re trying to catch the same target audience, featuring you may be a good fit. Even if they can’t cover you on the air, they may be willing to post a brief note about you on their major website.

Realize that your book is a marketing tool in itself:

  • An eye-catching cover helps to attract interest in your book.
  • A cover, title, and blurb that send a unified message about the genre and content help to catch members from your target audience.
  • A cover that features one image and a title with two to three words are easy to remember and help with your branding efforts. This also makes your book easier to describe, which helps with buzz and word-of-mouth sales.
  • An effective, well-written blurb and captivating, well-written and well-formatted Look Inside help to sell your book. This is your only salesperson at the point-of-sale online.
  • The quality of the book significantly impacts your prospects for word-of-mouth sales. Editing or formatting mistakes detract from this. Memorable characters and great stories that evoke strong emotions for fiction, and helpful and clear explanations for nonfiction, improve your chances. These things similarly affect customer reviews.

(6) Be diligent, consistent, and persistent in your marketing efforts.

It can take a year of diligent marketing before your marketing efforts are fully realized. Trying for a short period and giving up prematurely is a common mistake. We like to see instant satisfaction, but marketing just doesn’t work that way. There aren’t any shortcuts. You can’t just throw money at it (like paying for advertisements) to reap instant rewards.

Be patient. Branding and discovery take time. People won’t rush out to buy your book the second they hear about it. It may take months until readers from your target audience have come across you and your book enough times for branding to take effect. Then it can take additional weeks before they’re shopping for their next book. It may take months to read your book. So it can easily be a year before they recommend it to others.

If you stop marketing prematurely, your branding effort will be incomplete.

Many marketing strategies actually have indirect benefits. So even if they don’t reap immediate sales, all of your marketing strategies that specifically reach your target audience may have long-term benefits. Don’t give up.

(7) Choose strategies based on a cost-benefit analysis.

Most authors decide which marketing strategies to adopt based on what’s easiest for them to do, what they feel most comfortable doing, what they perceive is popular among other authors, what they’ve heard other authors recommend, and especially what does or doesn’t seem to be providing immediate results.

What you really want to know is which marketing strategies will be most effective for your unique book.

Decide which strategies to employ based on a cost-benefit analysis.

Even if the marketing tool is free, it still costs you time. Therefore, every marketing strategy that you apply has cost, whether in money, time, or both.

Ideally, you want to reap the most rewards with the least cost. For each marketing strategy that you consider, make a list of the probable costs and benefits (and remember, time is money, so the time that you must invest is a cost, too).

Click here to view an article on cost-benefit analysis: https://chrismcmullen.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/cost-benefit-analysis-for-marketing-books/.

Chris McMullen, author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 13 2013

Effective Book Marketing – Part 2

If you missed Part 1, you can find it here:

https://chrismcmullen.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/effective-book-marketing-part-1/

(3) Promote your book indirectly through discovery and branding.

Consider these questions for a moment:

  • When you’re walking down the sidewalk, do you like it when someone stops you to give you a sales pitch?
  • Suppose that an acquaintance tells you that you should come to his shop and buy a product first thing every time that you meet him. Would you appreciate this?
  • Do you believe it when somebody tells you that their product is the best ever?
  • If a stranger tells you out of the blue that you should buy a particular product, will you go to the store and purchase it?
  • Don’t you love it when a televised movie breaks to commercials just before the climax?

Most people have an aversion to advertising and salesmanship. You won’t sell many books through self-promotion and direct advertising of an unknown book by an unknown author with an unknown publisher.

Bragging also tends to be ineffective. It’s important to show confidence and passion for your own work, without coming across as boastful.

If you post online just to promote your new book, most people will ignore it. If you frequently advertise your book, most people will tune you out.

Now consider these questions:

  • When you see people wearing outfits that you like, do you ever ask where they bought them?
  • Suppose that you’re having a conversation with an acquaintance. You ask what he does and learn that he’s a singer who has just released a new CD. Would you be interested in buying a song from someone you’ve actually met?
  • If you’re buying a product in the store, do you ever choose one that you’ve heard of over one that you don’t recognize?
  • Do you enjoy seeing an artist’s passion for her work?

When people discover that you’ve written a book (rather than have you thrust this information upon them) they are much more likely to develop interest in it. If people recognize your book, your cover, your author photo, or your name from your indirect branding efforts (not from direct advertising or salesmanship), they are more likely to buy your book. When people see that you are passionate about your book, but not boastful, this tends to increase their interest in it.

The indirect techniques of discovery and branding tend to be far more effective than self-promotion or direct advertising.

Interact with your target audience in such a way that if they enjoy the interaction, they can discover that you’re an author and inquire about your book. Gear your marketing efforts toward increasing your visibility among your target audience in order to brand your book.

Personal interactions tend to be more effective. People like to read books by authors they’ve actually met. Mingle with your target audience. Let them discover that you’re an author, rather than volunteering this information. If you ask what they do for a living, they might ask the same of you, for example.

Of course, there is a limit to how many people you can interact with in person, so you must also interact with your target audience online. If they enjoy their interaction with you, they may check out your online profile and discover that you’ve written a book.

Where relevant, some authors end their posts with Your Name, Author of Your Book (in an online forum, it’s best if you have a very short title – two to three words). Don’t list several books and services at the bottom of your post, since this will look like your post is mostly about advertising and sales.

Branding entails more than just getting your book and name out there. Your image is at stake. Brand your book or your name in a negative way and it can greatly deter sales. You want to come across as professional, confident (but not boastful), trustworthy, credible as an author in your genre, respectful of others, knowledgeable, and as a model for how authors should behave.

Never behave defensively, avoid complaining, don’t say bad things about any customers or reviewers, refrain from asking for reviews, and so on.

(4) Attract a following by providing valuable content.

Blogging about yourself and tweeting about your book, for example, aren’t likely to attract new readers. You can provide more information about yourself on a fan page, but this just entertains a few of your current fans – it doesn’t gain you new readers. A fan page might help you spread the word of subsequent books. But what you really want to do is attract new customers.

What you want to do is provide valuable content that may attract your target audience. Get valuable content where your target audience is likely to see it.

When you blog, provide helpful nonfiction material that relates to your book (without duplicating the content). Blog because you’re passionate about the subject and wish to share it with others (don’t blog because you’re trying to sell books), and your articles are likely to be more valuable. When you tweet, focus on using the limited space to offer useful information to your target audience – often through a link (that doesn’t go to your own book or websites). Use tags and hashtags to help reach your target audience.

No more than 10% of your posts should be about you or your book. If people appreciate the content that you provide, they may check out your profile and discover that you’ve written a book.

Look for other ways to provide valuable content. Meet bloggers who are a good fit for your target audience: They might feature you on a guest interview (or review your book on their blogs), for example (something you can also do for others). Write an article and try to publish it online (the very large number of websites out there gives you reasonable chances of achieving this in a modest traffic zone), where the website is a good fit for your target audience and your knowledge and expertise. At the bottom of your article, you want it to list Your Name, Author of Your Book.

Passing out flyers generally isn’t effective because they just look like advertisements. Passing out bookmarks is much better because bookmarks serve a function – it has value to the recipient, especially if it doesn’t look like an advertisement for your book (it might feature images from your cover and mention no more than the title and author). Especially, distributing appealing bookmarks among your target audience can be helpful.

In every marketing strategy that you consider, think about the following:

  • Is this mainly reaching my target audience?
  • Does this provide valuable content to my target audience?
  • How will this affect my image as an author?
  • Will people view this as advertising or discovery?
  • Is it helping to establish your brand?

Click here to view part 3: https://chrismcmullen.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/effective-book-marketing-part-3/.

Chris McMullen, author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Apr 6 2013

Self-Publishing Success?

A few self-published authors have been highly successful, which shows that indie success is possible. But the odds are very long, as the vast majority of self-published books don’t even sell a copy per day on average.

What have the top indie authors done differently? Is it just dumb luck?

No!

Self-publishing isn’t like buying a lottery ticket where the odds are incredible. With the lottery, every ticket has the same odds. But all self-published books are not all equal.

Not every book has a chance of winning the self-publishing lottery.

The top selling indie authors have some things in common:

(1) They followed good business models. Some authors, like Amanda Hocking, actually researched business strategies in their traditional publishing pursuits.

Most self-published authors do one or both of the following:

  • They get an idea, carry it out, and publish it. Business-minded authors won’t write and publish any idea; they will develop the idea as an integral part of the business strategy.
  • They want to do something significantly different than what is traditional. This is great for authors who want to write as artists and aren’t concerned about lack of success. The problem from a business perspective is that the existing readership has well-defined expectations in each genre and the vast majority of books that they purchase meet those expectations. More of these readers will explore something significantly different if the author first publishes a couple of traditional books and then attempts something new after building an audience.

Some authors genuinely prefer to write as artists, knowing full well that sales might be considerably less than what they may be if they approach writing from a business perspective. There is much to be said for the writing artist. It’s just very challenging to get noticed this way and to establish a large readership.

I’m not saying that you should write for money and not write as an artist. Rather, since highly successful self-published authors follow good business models, let’s follow the logic behind business-minded book development and see where it leads. In the end, I will explain how an author might write as an artist – not for money – and yet benefit from some of the same logic.

A business-minded writer doesn’t just write a book, but develops the book idea as part of a business strategy:

  • Start out considering possible subjects and genres. Of those genres which are a best fit for your writing, which are most popular? What experience or expertise do you have? What needs are there on the market?
  • Research each of these possible book ideas. What books already on the market are most similar to each of these book ideas? Look at their sales ranks. What are the best books like these that don’t have a big-name author or publisher? The business-minded author chooses a book idea with the best potential in a genre or subject that he/she is most qualified to write.
  • Research the top books in the genre similar to the book in mind. Can you compete with the writing in these books? Read these books to learn the unspoken rules of the genre. For example, the business-minded author won’t allow the protagonist to act in a way that will upset much of the potential readership and will create an ending that will please the target audience. The business-minded author develops an idea and writes a book geared toward the largest possible target audience that he/she is likely to attract with his/her writing skills.
  • The business-minded author is thinking about marketing throughout the writing process. This author is seeking input on the cover, title, and blurb for two reasons: to help generate “buzz” about the upcoming book and to see what features please or upset the target audience. (In contrast, too many indie authors disregard important criticism that they receive and focus mostly on feedback that coincides with what they wanted to hear.) They develop a great cover – often hiring a great cover designer – knowing how important this is to marketing. They wrote their blurbs and first chapters to be captivating, knowing how strongly this affects sales.
  • Pinpoint the target audience and discover where to find them and how to reach them. The business-minded author is thinking long and hard what marketing strategies will be most effective for them. Those who have a knack for business tend to be the most diligent, motivated marketers. They also know how to use price, discounts, giveaways, and series to their advantage. Everything from the cover to writing to marketing is part of an overall business strategy.

We’ll return to writing artists at the end.

(2) Most tried diligently to get traditionally published, but didn’t succeed in this until after becoming successful as indies.

Although they didn’t get traditionally published (before they broke through), they were doing all the right things toward achieving this, which helped them develop the skills that they ultimately used to thrive on their own.

  • They tried to improve their writing to get traditionally published.
  • They spent much time studying readerships in an effort to identify their target audience, since publishers are very interested in this.
  • They researched business plans to develop book ideas and write proposals that would help them get traditionally published.
  • They learned about marketing in order to convince publishers that their books would succeed.
  • They attempted to meet people who might help them with their writing careers.

These are all valuable skills that any authors can benefit from, self-published or not. In the last point, they also developed handy contacts.

(3) They were highly motivated to become successful writers. You have to be highly motivated to learn about business strategies when your initial goal is becoming an author. All those rejection letters from traditional publishers fueled their motivation. The best place for those letters is a bedroom ceiling or bathroom wall that you’ll see every morning.

Never give up. Constantly strive to improve.

***

Back to my earlier point: You don’t necessarily have to write for money to be successful.

You can be a writing artist and succeed.

The pure businessman who develops the perfect business strategy to write and market a book is highly motivated to do the marketing, but must find the passion to put into the writing and learn to write well.

The pure writer who writes for art’s sake naturally writes well and puts the passion into the writing, but must find the passion to do the marketing in order to be successful.

There is a limitation from the pure business perspective – i.e. how well can you write, how well can you tell a story?

The limitation for the writing artist is that not all book ideas are good ideas, not all stories have a potential readership.

Almost nobody is a pure business person or pure writing artist.

Determine which side you’re on – those are your strengths. The more you’re willing to improve your weaknesses, the more balanced you’ll become as a self-publisher, which will increase your chances of success.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (Volume 2 coming in mid-April)