Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com NO MORE REJECTIONS

Get Published Today An insider's guide to publishing success!

Penny C. Sansevieri

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Table of Contents

Publishing Overview: The Business of Publishing ...... 3 Understanding Self-publishing ...... 7 Understanding How the Traditional Publishing Model Works...... 11 Determining the Best Time to Publish ...... 16 New Ways to Find a Publisher ...... 20 Different Ways to Publish...... 25 Deciding on Print-on-Demand ...... 27 Going Digital with eBooks ...... 44 Becoming a Publisher ...... 51 What’sanISBN?...... 54 Understanding Distribution ...... 55 Your Self-Publishing Checklist ...... 61 Taking Care of Business ...... 64 Protect Your Rights: Copyright, Trademark and Patents ...... 68 SmartBudgeting...... 77 Writing Right: The Importance of Editing ...... 80 Branding: The Secret to Selling More Books ...... 90 Success Stories...... 93 Defining Your Goals...... 101 Goals and Mission Statement ...... 104 APlacetoBelong...... 107 Determining Your Book Category ...... 109 What’s Your Book’s USP?...... 111 Book Marketing Analysis: Strengths vs. Weaknesses...... 114 Who’s Your Market? ...... 116 ReaderProfile...... 120 How to Identify Your Book’s Key Marketing Messages ...... 122 Associating the Perfect Keywords with your Book! ...... 123 Competing Title: Market Analysis ...... 125 Winning the Name Game...... 127 A Marketing Timeline ...... 130 How to Create an Amazing Author Platform ...... 133 Building Blocks of an Exceptional Author Platform ...... 135 Craft an Exceptional Elevator Pitch...... 137 Creating a Marketing Roadmap ...... 140 Getting Your Book into Bookstores ...... 156 Marketing Secrets of a Bookstore ...... 158 Getting Help to Market Your Book ...... 163 Can You Tell a Book by Its Cover? ...... 166 Back Cover Worksheet ...... 177 Benefits vs. Features ...... 182 Creating a Marketing Plan...... 185 Celebrity Endorsements ...... 200

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Marketing 101 ...... 205 Seven Secrets of Writing a Book that Sells ...... 211 GettingReviewed...... 215 How to Get Book Reviews...... 218 Crafting the Perfect Book Review Pitch ...... 225 From Book to Bestseller ...... 233 Inbound Marketing Rocks! Now what? ...... 237 How to Become a Powerhouse Blogger in just 15 Minutes! ...... 240 Book Awards ...... 246 How Foreign and Translation Rights Can Work for You ...... 251 The New Rules of Media ...... 260 Maximizing Media Leads ...... 265 Beyond ...... 269 12 Secrets to Selling More Books at Events ...... 274 Fifty Things Under $50 Bucks to Promote Your Book ...... 280 A Few Final Words ...... 286 Why (Some) Authors Fail ...... 292

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Publishing Overview: The Business of Publishing

Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. -Don Marquis

The truth is this: publishing is a business. It's not about TV appearances, bestseller lists, or Oprah. It starts and ends with the fact that it's business and, as such, a business needs a good product. Your book is that product. Now this might sound a bit cold to you, I mean after all, didn’t you spend hours and days working tirelessly on this book? Crafting chapter outlines, developing characters, maybe even digging into your own personal family history if this is a memoir? Yes, you did all those things, but understand first that in order to create a product that will sell, it must be viable. We'll get more into this and look at what sells and why in just a minute. For now, let's dig deeper into traditional publishing.

The Publishers

Publishing falls into two broad categories: traditional and independent (also referred to as self- publishing). The term "independent" can also encompass boutique publishers as well as print-on- demand, which we'll get into later.

New York and Books

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com When we think of publishing, we tend to default to the big six publishers in New York. There's a good reason for this: 90% of the books you see in bookstores come out of an island, which would be the island of . Also referred to as corporate, trade, or traditional publishing, the big six in New York have virtually owned the market on bestsellers, though a few bestsellers recently proved that even an independent title can garner attention.

When we speak of “traditional” publishing, we’re talking about publishers who pay for the right to publish your work. What that means is they pay you an advance and with that, they purchase all the rights to your work. This often includes foreign rights, movie rights, paperback rights, etc. What this also means is that you sign over any other “rights,” meaning creative license. In essence, once you sign with a publisher, they (the publisher) decide that your book needs a different ending, or that chapters need to get pulled or reorganized. Well, you get the picture. Sounds scary? Well, depending on who you ask, it can be. So why do most of us prefer this route of publishing? Because publishers absorb all the costs, right? Well, not really. These days, while publishers do pay for production, the cost of marketing is squarely on the authors’ shoulders. That’s right. Aside from national distribution, most publishers don’t offer a lot of support; especially in the way of marketing and publicity. We’ll talk about distribution and why it’s important later.

Facts about Trade Publishing

Here are some facts that might surprise you:

First, a book that sells 10,000 copies is considered a major success. Was this always the case? No. But with the amount of books filling the market, that's a significant number unless you are Stephen King.

Trade publishing is driven by hits. On average, 10% of new books generate 90% of their profits. What does this mean to you? Well, publishers go after "star" titles; big names that can carry the list. For example, Dan Brown's follow up to the Da Vinci Code was considered a star title and could carry an entire publishing house. If a publisher has 90% of so-so selling books but 10% of

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com major titles, they are considered a success. To further drill this down, if you are in the 90% of what they consider so-so titles, you might not get the lion's share of attention from their marketing department, if any at all. What do I mean by "so-so" title? This means that they may or may not sell well despite the work that's been done on the book and estimated market.

If a book needs work, editors don't have the time to devote to major revisions. What does this mean to you? It means that if you are submitting a book to a publisher, or even a book proposal to an agent, it must be clean. Get it edited, vetted, whatever you need to do to diminish the work that the agent/publisher/editor needs to do to get it to market. You might think your title is original, but for every book idea submitted, a hundred other similar titles are waiting to be approved, so despite the originality of the idea, the competition can still be fierce.

Publishers expect authors to participate in (if not run) their own marketing campaigns. Regardless of how you publish, you will be your own marketing department. Do not expect that a publishing house will take the reins of your campaign.

Book Facts

The average book sells 500 copies 1,500 new books are published daily Big publishers prefer big names (remember that 10% rule) 38% of books are now sold online 40% are sold out outside of bookstores

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Understanding Self-publishing

Publishing is a business. Writing may be art, but publishing, when all is said and done, comes down to dollars. -Nicholas Sparks

The future of self-publishing

In 2007, it was estimated that over 200,000 titles were self-published. In 2008 that number escalated to 325,000. Now, today, there are approximately 1,500 books published each day in the US and 80% of those titles are self-published. Much of this flood of content has come because of print-on-demand, which is, as the name implies, an on-demand way of printing books that many (many) authors have gravitated to. Though with all those titles, not all of them can be viably competitive, right? To be exact, around 1% of everything that’s self-published is considered to meet “industry editorial standards” – meaning the standards that reviewers impose on titles that will or won’t be considered for review. Bookstore standards fall into this category and well, you get the picture. If your book isn’t meeting these industry standards, it will likely never be able to meet your sales goals either.

William Young’s book, The Shack, was originally self-published and then co-published by a major New York company and went on to sell more than seven million copies. The book (and then later and Broadway Show) Legally Blond took an interesting turn after the

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com original manuscript was rejected by several publishers. The author decided to publish it on her own. It was first optioned for a movie, and then the book was republished by a New York House.

The point is this: sometimes New York has good reason for rejecting a book. Sometimes it’s not the right season or market, and other times there simply is no market for the book. But then there are those hidden gems that might otherwise get overlooked, and this is, in particular, where self- publishing comes in. Why? Because publishers like what other people like. If a book is self- published and selling well, a publisher knows two things. They know that they have found an author who knows how to market a book, and they've found a book that's selling. In the publishing world, that's about as close to a sure bet as you can get.

Defining your publishing goals

First and foremost, you must define your goals. We’ll go into more detail on this throughout the book, but first up it’s important to note that your goals should be identified early on and will often help define where and how you’ll publish. This goal-seeking exercise will also help you define how much you should invest in your book to get it to market, and then to market it to the audience. Let me explain. Let’s say you’ve written a book that’s tied to your business. Your goal for this book is to help you launch a successful new division for your firm, as well as help you grow or launch your speaking career. If this is your goal, then you will want to invest a lot in the different aspects of your book like pre-production, production, book cover design, printing, website development, etc. If, on the other hand, your book is a memoir and you really don’t care if anyone outside of your family reads it, then spending less might be prudent. Likely, however, your goal will fall somewhere in-between. Most of us aren’t ready for the big time, and we need the book as a stepping stone to build our writing career or associated business. If this is you, consider this. You will need to invest in your future. This means that though you might not be ready for the big time, you should invest as though you were. I’m not talking about spending money, though that is clearly a factor. Rather, I’m talking about doing your research, and creating the best book you possibly can.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com How do you know your book is ready to be published?

Most of us think that our book is done when we’ve put the last line on the page. But that’s really only the beginning. No, I’m not talking about marketing. This comes much sooner. First off, did you write a book that’s saleable? This might be an odd question to ask yourself after you’ve finished writing the book, but better to ask now than when you’re in the throes of marketing it, wondering what you did wrong because books aren’t selling.

The idea here is to make sure that you have a viable book and a viable market. Better to do this research prior to the launch. So, where do you begin? Well, first off you begin with doing bookstore research. And note this, if there isn’t a book out there on your topic, there might be a reason why. Ask the clerk at the bookstore if you’re not sure. You can bet they’ll know if there’s a book like yours. If there is, buy it or buy a few of them, or all of them. Get to know who else is writing in your space and before you turn your book over to an editor for editing and clean up, make sure that you’ve added all the pieces you need to add and addressed all of the issues related to this subject area. I find that doing this kind of research really helps me to craft an exceptional book. Knowing what’s out there is really important, and knowing what your reader wants and expects is vital to the success of your book. We’ll delve more into all of this as we dig through the pages of this book. However for now, know that it’s important to know your market inside and out.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Defining Your Goals

“For several days after my first book was published, I carried it about in my pocket and took surreptitious peeps at it to make sure the ink had not faded.” —Sir J.M. Barrie

When traveling cross country, you'd never think about driving from San Diego to New York without a map or GPS, so you should never consider planning your publishing process without a strong understanding of where you're going. Knowing your goals for publishing will go a long way to directing you to your correct destination. For some of us, publishing is about getting your stuff "out there." You want to see it in print for the sheer joy of getting it out of the manuscript stage. For others it's a bigger project, it's a life's dream and a chance at a possible new career. And in still other cases, your book is your business card, meaning that it's a way to gather more people to your store, business, or consultancy. Whatever your goal, it's best to define that early on. In order to determine how you will publish and then how much you'll spend on marketing, you want to know where you're going. For example, if your goal is to use the book to help build your business, then marketing to media might not be your goal. You might be better off gathering steam online and finding your audience and customers that way. If you've written a memoir that you want to share with your family only, then marketing is likely a waste of time, effort, and money. So figure out what it is you really want and then outline a plan accordingly. Here are a few questions to get you started:

Take a few moments to answer the following questions; these questions cover both goal issues as well as digging in deeper into your market and focus:

 Why do I want to write a book?  Am I writing for the fun of writing or for a greater goal?

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com  Who will buy my book?  Am I interested in doing speaking engagements?  Do I want to use this book to enhance my business?  Do I have a passion for my work and will others feel my passion?  Can I wear the many hats of an entrepreneur?  Can I engage others to help me produce and sell my books?  Am I too proud to ask for help?  Am I willing to spend years promoting my book?  How can I make my book different from others already published on my subject?  Can I set clear goals and follow a plan?

One of the best assets people can have is to know their limitations. Face it: We all have them. Knowing what they are and dealing with them in advance will put us a step ahead of the process. Not acknowledging them and not addressing them will take precious time and energy away from your project. Answering these questions will be a real eye-opener for most. Honest answers will indicate areas that you really need to focus on. This focus can help you get as much out of this book as you can. Then, when you’re done reading this book, go back and answer them again and see how you do. I’m certain that you’ll be amazed at your progress.

POD SUCCESS STORY Laurie Notaro published her first book, The Idiot Girls’ Action Adventure Club, through a POD publisher. After selling her book to Villard, the book made it onto ’ bestseller list without any major media endorsements to push it over the top.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Goals and Mission Statement

One of the signs of Napoleon's greatness is the fact that he once had a publisher shot. -Siegfried Unseld

Create Your Mission Statement

So you've written a book, great! But why did you write it? The first step in figuring out your goals is to articulate your mission. Try to find the words that best describe your reason for writing the book. ______

What Are Your Goals for the Book

Now that you know what your mission is, it's time to get even more specific. What are your goals? Goal setting helps you get focused and helps you focus in on the things that are significant to the book. When it comes to marketing, there's a lot you can be doing but not all of it will serve the greater purpose of your book. Before you launch into book publishing and then promotion, you need to

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com know why you're doing this. Is your book an extension of your business? Is it a memoir meant only for family to read? Do you plan to create other books? A series? First, let's start with your short-term goals. Anything that will reflect six months to a year's worth of work. ______

Now, it's time for the long-term goals. Where do you want this book to be five years from now? ______

Worksheet courtesy of Wheatmark, Inc.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Getting Your Book into Bookstores

A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking. -Jerry

If I gather ten authors in a room and ask them their highest goals for their books, the first is usually getting onto a bestseller list and the second is getting into bookstores. The tricky part though about bookstores is that the titles released each year continue to grow, but bookstore shelf space and bookstores in general, keep shrinking.

DID YOU KNOW? 7% of books published generate 87% of total retail sales 1187 titles sold 50,000 or more copies 93% of all books published sold less than 1,000 copies

The Realities of Shelf Space

So first, let's look at the realities of getting on the shelf. Keep in mind that these numbers are not meant to discourage you but rather to give you some insight into the competition that exists within the bookstore walls.

When a store opens, the average Barnes & Noble carries approximately 100,000 new titles. The average number of new titles that a Barnes & Noble buys a year is 25,000. This number might

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com seem high to you but when you factor in that the big six generate (on average) 24,150 new titles, this number seems quite small. Also, backlist is a big seller in bookstores. So much so that 75% of the inventory is backlist and represents 65% of sales.

So what does this mean for you? It means first and foremost that the opportunity to get into a store is limited by the fact that much of the shelf space in bookstores is bought and paid for by the New York publishers. By that I mean that endcaps, table displays, and the average book on the shelf are all intentionally placed there. Very little in a bookstore is accidental.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Marketing Secrets of a Bookstore

“I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose” -George Carlin

The first piece to launching a successful bookstore campaign is understanding that you need to learn how to turn your bookstore into a laboratory. What does this mean? It means that you want to use your bookstore for more than buying books. Instead, turn a visit to your local bookstore into a research project. It's one of the best lessons you'll ever get in book marketing. Here's how to break it down:

Know Your Market

First off, if you’ve written a book for which there is no market (read: there are no books that cater to this audience), you have a problem. Unless you are already a brand, meaning that you’re a published author with a significant following, it’s unlikely that you will be able to create such momentum for a yet unserved market that a publisher will consider you. If it hasn’t been written, there is likely a reason why. Now there are always exceptions of course, my other book: Red Hot Internet Publicity is not a title that I would have published in 1976, mostly because there was no Internet back then. So yes, new markets are developing all the time, but it’s key to wait till those markets emerge, otherwise you’re selling to an audience that doesn’t exist. This also goes to creating a new genre for your book. You should fit into an existing genre and find the best one for your market. This is also crucial as sometimes books can straddle different markets. A change in title can take your book for women wanting to succeed in business and move it from the business category into self-help and/or spirituality. Be clear on where your book belongs.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Remember a confused mind won’t make a choice, so if you confuse your potential reader, you’re likely to lose a sale.

Who Else is Sharing Your Shelf Space?

Understanding what your market is and who else is sharing your shelf space is essential. What are their books like and have you read them? This is all part of your market research: know your competition and know who shares your space. It is not just important to know other competing titles; this is key for marketing and media positioning. Also, you should take note of all other recent titles in your category and go visit their websites. If you’re really eager to watch your competition, you could also get Google Alerts on their name or book title to see how much traction they are getting. I will usually do this for any major author in my market as well as all of their book titles. Not only can you keep an eye on their hit rate, but these sites and media targets could be good for you as well.

Every Book Tells a Story

Each book in your genre will tell you a little something about the author and publisher. Now I’m not talking about the contents of the book itself. I’m talking about things like the cover, book jacket, book size (both dimensions and page count), as well as endorsements, back cover copy, etc. Getting bookstore shelf space isn’t easy. Generally bookstores won’t keep books on their shelves that aren’t selling, so getting to know books that are doing well in stores can really benefit your title as well. Learning from books that are already out there is a great way to position yours for success.

Books that make it onto a shelf in a bookstore need to “look” the part. Yes, your book may be the best out there, but if it doesn’t meet the needs of the genre, it simply won’t get shelved with the others. In order to play in the publishing sandbox, you must play by the rules. While it’s nice to be a maverick and to hear stories about authors who “bent the rules” and claimed success, if you read the backstory to any success, you’ll find that following the rules and playing to the market is

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com the key to success. There are 1,500 books published each day. Yes, you want to stand out, but you also want to look the part.

Bookstore checklist Here’s a checklist to get you started in your bookstore research. You’ll want to expand on this as you find more titles or more ideas to research. I suggest for example adding in URLs from the book jacket so you can research the author’s website, etc.  What genre does your book fall into?

 Is there a sub-genre and if so, what is it? (for example, my books fall into reference/writing, writing being the sub-genre)

 List the top five titles and authors in that market:

 What are the key points each book has in common? (for example, all cookbooks you noted had nutritional analysis on each page)

Reality Check: Getting your book carried locally

We once had an author who wanted his books carried in his local market. As it happened, he was self-published and his local market was a top 30 media market, making it even more challenging to get in.

After a few weeks and many, many calls, we were happy to report that he got his book carried in six stores, including one large and well-known independent store in his area. When I reported this to him, he was discouraged: "Only six??" he said, and to add insult to injury, some of the stores only carried two copies of his book. We talked for a while about the realities of bookstore placement, number of books published, etc. but candidly, when you're in the throes of "Why me?" none of this matters.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com So after listening to the author vent, I turned the tables on him and said "How about this, we know the odds. We wish you could have been in every store in your area, but the reality is you're not. At least not yet. So instead of looking at what you don't have, let's look at how we can maximize what you do have." I went on to recommend that he go to each bookstore, sign books and meet the staff who worked there (read: the people who could push his book). I also recommended that he meet the store manager as well. Why? Because, for most booksellers, books are just books, faceless and not connected to an author they will ever meet. But when you, the author, go into a store and shake their hand, sign books and take the time to get to know the bookstore staff, they might be inclined to push your book to the buying public, which is what happened in this case. The bookstores he went to got to know him and through that, helped him sell his book. Eventually the reorders came and other stores began picking up this title.

Sometimes good marketing is just a matter of the old adage: turning lemons into lemonade. The perception he could have walked away with was: no one wants this book. Instead, I helped him turn this around and consequently, he got what he wished for. Did it happen overnight? No, it did not, but it did happen, and in an age of everyone-can-publish, that's really something.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Celebrity Endorsements

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well-known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized. -Fred Allen

It’s a known fact that one complimentary nod from a famous face can launch even the most obscure product. Most advertising agencies pay a high price to have a celebrity take a swig of their soft drink or wear a pair of their running shoes. The good news is, if you can get an endorsement for your book, it probably won’t cost you a dime; except maybe time, patience, persistence, and oh, did I mention patience? It’s a long road to get an endorsement, but once traveled, it can prove very profitable to the sale of your book.

The first thing you have to remember is that when you’re trying to get a celebrity to endorse your book, they’re doing you a huge favor. Contact them in the way they wish to be contacted (mail, e-mail or fax) and follow their guidelines (or more than likely, the guidelines their agency dictates) to . Now, your celebrity endorsement might not be from the hottest celebrity. It might a radio personality, a local celebrity, or an author. Who you choose for your celebrities will likely depend on your book. First of all, you’re going to want to contact those celebs who have a vested interest in your topic – that will help to greatly increase your chances of getting a response. When you’re putting together your list of desired endorsements, start with a long list of people – say 20 or so. One by one, some of these celebs might fall off. “No interest” or “On location” are the two biggest reasons I encounter. So, let’s say that the target of your endorsement is an actor, you’ll want to start by contacting The Screen Actor’s Guild to get their current agent/publicist information. You can do this by calling (800) 503-6737 if the celeb you’re looking for is LA-based. If they’re not, visit www.sag.org for the current contact information for Sag’s New York office.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com If you’re trying to reach an author, your best bet will be to head on over to their website or Facebook Page, and get their contact info. In some cases you might have to contact the author through the publisher. Sometimes the publisher will filter these requests, and sometimes the author has a separate agent who will handle this. If you’re pursuing someone with obscure contact information, try sending your request to The Author’s Guild. If they’re a member, The Guild will have their current contact information. You can send an e-mail to [email protected] with your list of names. Once you’ve gotten contact information for all of your endorsement hopefuls, you’ll want to get your package ready to send to them. Some people may want to see a synopsis, outline or press release. Whatever they ask for, make sure it’s ready to send off to them right away. The last thing you need is a delay in getting information out to them. You will be requested to mail, e-mail or fax a synopsis and be asked to check back. You’ll want to wait a few days to confirm their receipt of this information. At that time, you might get a response “We’ll forward this on” or “Sorry, Mr. Such and Such doesn’t endorse this type of material.” At that point (or later if you’re asked to call back), you’ll be asked to send your packet. An endorsement package should include the following information: Book outline that would include an about the book page, full table of contents, and a few sample chapters. If you have it, send the cover as well. With this, you’ll also want to include a list of “sample endorsements,” these are pre-written endorsements that the celeb or author can choose from. You’ll want to have something they can circle and fax or mail back to you. Be sure to include your FedEx envelope or SASE. Your cover letter should be professional and appreciative. Remember, they don’t have to do this. It should also indicate that you will forward a copy of the final product once your book is printed and rolling off the presses. Once that package is sent, then it’s time to wait and wait and wait and sometimes re-send them a package if they can’t seem to locate it. Remember that while this process is long and arduous at times, it’s worth every letter, every call and every book mailed out. of the matter is that this is sometimes the least considered marketing aspect of an author’s campaign. In fact, most authors I work with never give any thought to celebrity endorsements, even those who have spent years in the business.

So, when you’re figuring out ways to market your book, give some consideration to celebrity endorsements. You might even know someone who knows someone who knows

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com someone, narrowing those six degrees of separation. If you don’t, then you’ll have to go about it the old fashioned way. In either case, getting even one famous face to acknowledge your work is often enough to get the most apprehensive buyer to give your book a second look. And in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about?

TIP! If you're trying to track down that celebrity to garner an endorsement, here is a resource for you: www.celebrity-addresses.com. You can try this site out for a fee of $4.95 for a three-day trial, after that it's $14.95 a month.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Section Three: To Market!

I don't care what they do with my book so long as the flippin check clears. -Chuck Palahniuk

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Marketing 101

“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” —Sam Ewig

Well, your book is finished. Now what? Well, now it’s time to market it. But how? There are a variety of ways you can market; what you do will depend on a few things. First and foremost, it will depend on the topic of your book and your target audience. Second, it will depend on how much time you have to market your book. Third, it will depend on how much money you have to invest in your writing future. All of these components, once put together, will help you begin to define your marketing plan.

Determining Your Goals As we discussed early on, before you launch into your marketing campaign, take a hard look at your goals for your book. Deciding what you wish to accomplish with it will go a long way toward helping you determine what type of marketing campaign you’ll need. If your book has major, national appeal, then a bigger, more elaborate campaign might be necessary to get your book into the hands of readers. Or let’s say you wrote a family memoir that very few people outside your immediate family will want to read. In this case, marketing isn’t something you’ll need to consider. If you want your memoir to be the next Angela’s Ashes, then you’ll need to market it. But if your book has a small, focused audience, then a national campaign probably isn’t a wise thing to consider. If you’ve written the book as an extension of your business, then marketing it might consist of writing a few articles for trade journals, maybe even some regular speaking engagements.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Your goals for your book might change as you move through a campaign. Things outside your control, such as personal life changes and world events, can alter your program— sometimes for the better. So keep an eye out for things that can benefit your campaign and take it in a new, and possibly more successful, direction. It’s important as you move through your campaign to define and then redefine your goals at appropriate intervals to keep the momentum going, or to determine how effective your campaign has been.

Thinking Outside the Book The term “book marketing” probably conjures images of your book filling a bookstore window, you sitting at a table with eager readers lined up outside the door, all waiting breathlessly for an autographed copy of your book. Well, let me be the first to tell you that book signings are boring and are the worst way to sell a book. Why? Because everyone does them. Your marketing campaign should be as unique as the book you wrote. That’s not to say that you can’t do a signing or two; it’s certainly every author’s right. But book signings alone won’t sell your book. In fact, with all the competition out there for that exclusive signing spot, book signings should be at the bottom of your list of book promotion activities. If you’re still not convinced, consider this: More than 195,000 titles are published each year in the United States alone. That amounts to about 500 titles released each day. Over 4 million books are in print or currently available. To display all of these books, a bookstore would need five miles of shelf space. When you consider that most bookstores stock 20,000 to 40,000 titles, how in the world are people going to know your book exists? After you do a signing, what will happen to your book? Will it sit on the bookstore shelf amid the other 40,000 titles? How in the world will people find it? To add to this, did you know that only 35 percent of the American public actually buys their books in a bookstore? So where, you might ask, do they get their books? Try gift shops, souvenir shops, specialty stores, Amazon.com, or your own website, just to name a few venues.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com TIP!

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Different Ways to Market Your Book There are about as many different marketing methods as there are books. We’re going to explore most of them in this section.

Media Campaign If your book has media appeal, then you might want to consider getting in front of a producer or editor and letting them know you have a great story to tell. Be careful with this, though: While the lure of the media may seem glamorous, and while you might think you have a book Oprah would die to feature on her show, there’s a lot of competition out there. A media campaign on its own often doesn’t do a whole lot for a book, but if it is combined with a few other effective strategies, it can help leverage your success greatly.

Speaking Engagements Getting up in front of a crowded room might seem like a terrifying proposition, but it’s a great way to sell a book. How many books have you bought after you were inspired by one speaker or another? Probably quite a few. Speaking is a great way to spread the message about your topic and your work.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com The Secret Formula to Selling More Books at Speaking Events

Speaking engagements are a very powerful way to sell books but sometimes it can be tricky to figure out what sells and what doesn’t. Here are a few tips to help you sell more at your next event!

Let your personality and passion for your topic sell your book. People love passion, so let it shine through. Enthusiasm is contagious Don’t sell your book, sell the stories or sell what your book can do for the audience. This goes back to what I always say: “Never, ever sell your book; sell what your book can do for the reader!” The first minute is very important, don’t waste the first impression your audience will get! This is very true—if you’re nervous about speaking, make sure you have a very strong opening for your session, people will often judge whether or not they want to buy your book based on your first few sentences. Never, ever read aloud from your book – at least not at first. Don’t start off your session by reading from your book. Instead, tell a little bit about yourself, why you wrote it, etc. Get sign ups. No matter what: have a mailing list. If you don’t sell people a book there, you’ll want to be able to contact them after your event to remind them of your fantastic book or product!

Internet Marketing If your audience trolls the Net, this might be a great place to start spreading the word about your book. Whether it’s through your own website or through a cooperative effort with several other sites on the Net, Internet marketing can be powerful and effective. Besides having your own website, which you can link to other similar sites, offer content for other websites or do an online chat. Internet marketing also includes things like e-mail campaigns, electronic newsletters (called e-zines) and even permission marketing.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Special or Premium Sales Special or premium sales involve selling your book in bulk to a corporation, organization, or association. It can also mean selling your book in bulk to catalogs. By “catalogs” we mean those same slick books you get in the mail (yes, you can sell your book there, too). It’s a great way to make sales, which can sometimes exceed 4,000 books for one catalog sale. We discuss this more in From Book to Bestseller, but, if your book ties into a corporate message, association, or would make a great product for a catalog sale, this is one avenue you might want to consider.

TIP! Too Much of a Good Thing So your book is done—finally! Well, maybe not. Before sending the finished product off to your publisher, ask if you have too much of a good thing. Let me explain. During the course of my job, I’m able to preview books in a variety of genres. Last summer, in fact, I had the opportunity to assist as a judge in a book publishing contest. Previewing those books taught me a great deal. First, as authors, our natural tendency is to fill the pages with as much information on a particular topic as possible. And while this is certainly admirable, it can be confusing to the reader. As I was going through the stack of books I needed to judge, I came upon a book about lost pets—how to find them if they’re lost and how to prevent pets from running away. The book was beautifully done and easy to read. Yet buried within the pages were chapters about traveling with pets as well as dealing with the death of a beloved pet. I’ve been a dog owner most of my life, but never had a dog run away. Still, I’ve often wondered about traveling with a pet and, like most pet owners, I’ve suffered the death of a pet. As I looked through this book, I was amazed at the wealth of information I found in it. I also realized that had I seen the book on the shelf at a book or pet store, I probably wouldn’t have been inclined to look at it because of the narrowness of the topic. I suggested the authors pull the sections out of the book that didn’t pertain to runaway pets and create a series of books instead. By offering each section as an individual title, they would not only increase their chances for a sale, but also expand their audience tenfold. Someone who isn’t interested in runaway pets might be interested in traveling with their pet, and so on.

Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com Take a look at the book you’ve just written. Do you have too much of a good thing in there? Is some of your valuable wisdom getting lost amid all the other topics you’re discussing? If that’s the case, start looking at what you might sift out for a series, and watch your product line expand!

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Excerpted from Get Published Today www.getpublishedtoday.com