Your book selling, a course in miracles marketing, and book promotion planning should begin before the manuscript is completed. Assuming you’re a self publisher or book publisher and you’ve already published your book, you need to immediately implement a strong, no-holds barred, book marketing and promotion strategy to sell your books fast. You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will buy it; publicity, promotion, marketing and a focus on selling more books should now be a big part of your daily life.
Don’t underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales. When picked up by wire services, a press release can easily end up generating hundreds of mentions for your book. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’
Send out at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month. Send out the same press release to the editor of your local daily newspaper every week until you are called for an interview or are written up. Make sure you have at least one good press release, written in AP style, which you can send out for the lifetime of your book.
Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media. Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly.
Your sales letter or flier should include an eye-grabbing headline, the benefits to the buyer, the book features, book sales information and testimonials. Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your website. Find a non-exclusive distributor with a good reputation to carry your book for the book store trade, as well as for other retailers.
Get as many testimonials about your book, as possible, from experts in the field relating to your title, not customers; use on your fliers and back of books. Make sure to promote and market your book each and every day, both online and offline. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets.
Every day it’s important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book’s topic to drive customers to your website. Print and online publications provide longevity to your marketing campaign in terms of having something tangible for people to reference ongoing.
When you get a nice write up or feature about you and/or your book, have it laminated and set it up on an easel at trade shows. Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic. Women buy more books then men; see how you can fit your book into the women’s market.
