GET MEDIA ATTENTION FOR YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK

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The ugly truth about getting a book published is the difficulty of finding an audience, no matter how good your book is. This is why it greatly helps for a self-published author to get media people to write about his/her book. Many ‘self-pubbed’ authors still find it a major challenge, though.

Here are some tips on how you can effectively pitch your self-published book to media people and get them to write about it:

Link in to the news. The simplest way to get media attention for your self-published book is to link your topic with current events. For instance, you can get your book on climate change into a journalist’s piece on global warming.

Nonfiction books naturally have news links built in. Yet, tying in to the news does not just apply to nonfiction books, as this can be even more advantageous for fiction books well. You might want to incorporate something into your book that relates to a hobby or any field of interest, putting media focus on that. Doing this allows you to link in to similar topics for media appearances.

Be brief. Considering a media person’s (or anyone else’s) time, media people just do not have the patience with a pitch that is just too long. Keep your pitch simple and concise as much as possible, otherwise your effort may just be dumped into the trash. It is safe to maintain your pitch to at most 5-6 sentences. Anything longer than that may no longer be pitch-worthy.

Another thing to keep in mind aside from avoiding a lengthy pitch is to observe proper conduct when sending your material to media persons. Follow proper email etiquette – make sure that your subject line is informative and avoid sending attachments.

Be suggestive. As stated earlier, media persons just do not have the luxury of time devoting an entire story to your book alone. In this case, you might want to do your part at determining how your book affects a movement. You can prove yourself to be helpful by pitching other important sources that media persons can use. This makes you even more worthy of getting coverage.

Go local. Never forget that a local angle may just be all you need to get national media attention. So if you are aiming to pitch on the national scope, try incorporating your sources with local information. Doing so may even get you more media attention.

KNOW WHICH MARKETING PLAN IS RIGHT FOR YOUR BOOK.
RECEIVE THIS FREE BOOK MARKETING GUIDE. 
 

MARKETING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK

Marketing can help you reach your target audience and boost its market exposure.

When marketing your self-published book, you need to know what it is you really want. Perhaps the toughest part of publishing a book is marketing; and not having a publishing house to assist you can be an uphill struggle on your end.

Now that your book is ‘publication-complete’, you may want to come up with things to help you get your book out.

Here are some ways:

1. Be heard. Podcasting is a great option for self-published authors to talk about their book. A type of audio blog, a podcast allows authors to further expand their audience and gain more following. It enables you to successfully create a series of your books, inform about your latest events and upcoming activities and foster a deeper and more personal relationship with your listener.

2. Be seen. Create a video. A booktrailer is a compelling medium that turns words  into motion graphics, leaving a lasting impression on viewers. If you are on a budget, however, you can make a YouTube video using photos as still frames for less than $30. Make sure to get a license from website/s where you will be getting your photos and music from.

3. Schedule appearances early. If possible, schedule bookstore appearances in your area three months before date of publication and start of sales, at the very least. Keep in mind that marketing is the toughest part in publishing. This is especially helpful for new authors coming out with their book placements. Bookstore returnability is important, so be prepared to take the risk of returns whenever you sell a given number of books to a bookstore. Compel readers to buy your book at that store.

4. Establish connections. Joining networks and other organizations that promote books of your genre can be very helpful – way before you even think of publishing. These groups can be a great avenue where you and other struggling authors can get the support to make it in your respective publishing endeavors.

POD publishers offer a wide range of marketing services, of which many authors spend a fortune on high-end packages to boost their book’s marketability. Remember though, to be extra careful with how you spend your money on these products. Just because you can do it does not always mean that you should do it. If you cannot master the trend, self-publishing may not be a feasible option for you.

These are just the basics to ‘putting your book to bed’, by yourself. Self-publishing entails the ability to adapt to new skills, broaden your horizons and deal with other people who still have flak against self-publishing. (Let’s face it: There are, and there will still be people who will pass judgment based on the assumption that any self-published book is not worth reading, which isn’t always necessarily true.)

You may not know it, but a good, well-prepared self-published book can actually go through the same marketing trouble as a traditionally published book by a new author. The only difference though, is that when you self-publish, you are entirely responsible for each and every step – gains, losses and all. Set achievable goals and then do what is best for your book.

Publishing is a tough world, but hey, who ever said it was easy?

A GOOD BOOK SHOULD GO WITH THE RIGHT MARKETING PLAN.
RECEIVE YOUR FREE BOOK MARKETING GUIDE AND PAVE YOUR WAY TO PUBLISHING SUCCESS.

DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET FOR YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK

 

As a published author, you may feel that there is cutthroat competition when promoting your book. You may find that there are too many authors and too many books vying for attention. In fact, it has been predicted that competition will be tougher in future time, thus, a need fo trickier book promotion campaigns.

 This is why it is important to learn, if not, master the ropes of book promotion so that you can get ahead and create a successful book marketing campaign, when other authors are struggling to promote their books.

 One factor in which many authors find themselves caught up in a tricky spot is defining their target market. Because they fear that targeting only a narrow audience cannot generate decent book sales, they try to reach out to everyone all at once. You might want to start promoting your book to an enthusiastic few and then create conditions by which your word can spread.

 For instance, if you wrote a book about makeup, you would not want to limit its promotion to makeup artists. You can broaden your audience by reaching out to makeup enthusiasts, makeup sellers or those who want to learn about makeup. A little can go a long way. Set achievable goals and be realistic about it.

 By laying the groundwork right, you will definitely reap sweet rewards later. 

OPTIMIZE YOUR BOOK WITH THE RIGHT MARKETING PLAN.
RECEIVE YOUR FREE BOOK MARKETING GUIDE.

PROMOTE YOUR BOOK THROUGH SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) may not be the first thing in mind when promoting your book. However, SEO is a highly important tool especially if you have a website (which you ought to, by the way). By maximizing your book’s search engine rankings, more people will know you are an author and be able to find details about your book when they Google you.

Just how is SEO important in optimizing your book? Simple. Even if you promote your website somewhere else, your potential market will still look you up in Google to know more about you, your book and other key details. After all, it is easier for people to read more about you in search engines than jotting down your URL.

This makes it really important to boost your presence in search engines. Know what keywords and phrases people are more likely to type into search engines when looking for topics that your book tackles. Your rankings should go up there – your book information should go towards the top of Google’s first page and that is where it should be.

You can try getting other websites to link back to your own site. You may offer bylined articles to other sites which they can use as content and encourage a link back to your site in return. This is perhaps the easiest and most effective way to maximize your presence in search engines.

FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN OPTIMIZE YOUR BOOK
RECEIVE THIS FREE BOOK MARKETING GUIDE.

PROMOTING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK SUCCESSFULLY

While many people think that self-publishing sucks in terms of book marketing and promotion, one needs to really dig deeper. You may find that the idea of promoting your self-published book by yourself can come with more benefits.

Not to mention the higher rate of royalties you can get with self-publishing, your ability to spread the word about your self-published book essentially depends on your commitment to market your book.

Self-published book authors, even those aspiring to get their book published, find it ugly a truth how hard it is for self-published books to reach bookstores, if at all, bookstores ever get to notice them. Whether booksellers simply just want to stick by the book or are still not ready to adapt to the changing tides of the publishing biz, we don’t really know. This is why it is especially important for self-published authors to aggressively market their books online.

For instance, putting up a website that includes your book’s information and order details allows online users to come across your book when they search using different keywords. You can combine this with social media marketing and you may just experience a significant difference with your book marketing and promotional campaign.

Of course, it would not hurt to get trusty assistance from professional book marketing services provider. While it may come with a price, you just need to open yourself to a plethora of possibilities. The rewards you reap can be sweeter.

KNOW WHICH MARKETING PLAN IS RIGHT FOR YOUR BOOK.
RECEIVE THIS BOOK MARKETING GUIDE FOR FREE.

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: HELPING YOU REACH YOUR AUDIENCE

Aside from being a published author is to be able to reach every major worldwide publisher and give your book the recognition it deserves.

Publisher’s Weekly gives you an opportunity to do that.

With more than 130 years in circulation, Publishers Weekly is the leading publication serving all segments involved in the creation, production, marketing and sale of the written word. The prime source of comprehensive news and unique industry data, including bestsellers by multiple categories, book industry statistics, news and more than 7,500 critical book reviews annually, Publishers Weekly has long been recognized as the industry’s publication of record.

Reaching more than 30,000 paid subscribers in bookstores, libraries and publishing, as well as media and literary agents, and movie and studio executives – more than any other publication – Publishers Weekly delivers a total audience of nearly 100,000 of the biggest players in the publishing industry.

When you publish your book, you can take advantage of the Publishers Weekly Marketing Packages, which allow you to access this invaluable market, and make sure your book is put before some of the most important people in the publishing and book industry.

More importantly, you can specifically target the niche market your book is in with exposure in the Christian, children, cooking and comic book genres.

Receive this FREE Marketing guide to learn more about Publishers Weekly Marketing or to find out which marketing plan is best for your book.

XLIBRIS LAUNCHES PODCAST MARKETING SERVICE FOR SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS

Be interviewed. Be recorded. Be heard on iTunes. The leader in the self-publishing industry introduces its Podcast Marketing Packages.

Podcasts have become a major tool used by musicians in promoting their music online, movie critics for airing their film reviews, technology enthusiasts for sharing instructional videos on the latest tech gadgets and, more recently, as a way for authors to talk about their books.

Xlibris, the leader in the independent publishing industry, introduces their Podcast Marketing Packages. This marketing tool enables them to promote their books while sharing their vision as a writer and the purpose of their work.

With the Xlibris Podcast Marketing Packages, a recorded interview with the author will be spliced into five episodes. These interviews will be saved as MP3 files, which can easily be share with friends, family and the rest of their network.

These podcasts will also be published one episode at a time on a weekly basis on the Xlibris Podcast website at www.xlibrispodcasts.com and distributed to leading podcast sites like iTunes, Zune, Podcast Alley, Odeo and Podcast.com.

Authors can choose from three optimized Xlibris Podcast Marketing Packages that suit their particular book marketing and promotional needs.

For more information about the Podcast Marketing Package, click here.

HOW TO GET REVIEWS

“A remarkable literary achievement.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Makes all other novels laughable and obsolete.”
—The New York Times Book Review

The reason authors and publishers seek reviews is simple: Reviews get attention. A good review is the best form of free advertising any author could hope for, and in the case of a less-than-favorable review, well … bad publicity is still publicity.

But reviews are difficult to obtain, even for publicists promoting recognized authors. By modifying and applying some of the techniques publishers use, authors can greatly improve their chances of getting reviewed, becoming their own publicist.

Publicity departments of large publishing houses have the resources and staff to send out press releases, bound galleys, and multiple copies of completed books to various reviewers and reviewing journals. Smaller houses and self-publishers, however, don’t have that luxury.

Rather than sending out hundreds of dollars’ worth of books in the hopes of getting reviewed, authors acting as their own publicists should concentrate their efforts on sending press releases to any and all appropriate reviewing outlets.

The press release should describe your book and highlight any factors that sets it apart, making it worthy of review.

Most importantly, the press release should let the reviewers you solicit know who you are, where you can be reached, and how quickly you can get them a manuscript should they request it.

When acting as your own publicist, be prepared to do some research and choose your reviewers carefully. Contact your local newspaper, ask if they review books, and get the name of the appropriate editor.

Many alternative weekly newspapers, special interest publications, literary magazines, newsletters, and websites also feature book reviews.

The Literary Market Place contains listings and information on many periodicals and is a great resource for authors.

Once the press release is written and mailed to carefully chosen reviewers, there exists either one of two possibilities: Your book will be reviewed or it won’t. Most books do not get reviewed so don’t be discouraged. If, however, the planets align and your book is reviewed, there is more work to be done.

Excerpt the most complimentary parts of the review, which can be a word, sentence, or entire paragraph, and use this blurb to promote your book and get the attention of your local bookstore, other reviewers, and publishers.

Simply put, if you don’t promote your book, it won’t get promoted. It’s worth taking the time to write an accurate, informative press release, and send it to those reviewers you believe would be most interested in writing about your book.

Your ultimate goal as publicist is to let the world know your book is available, and having your book reviewed is a very important part of the process.

KNOW WHICH MARKETING PLAN IS RIGHT FOR YOU.
RECEIVE YOUR FREE MARKETING GUIDE.

BE FEATURED IN iTUNES

Podcasting has become an exciting avenue for authors to promote their book. It allows your published book to become talked about in a fun, new way. What’s more, your podcast can be accessed by millions of subscribers all over the world in iTunes.

Everyone knows just how popular a portal iTunes is. With more Internet users turning to iTunes, you wouldn’t want to miss out on making your podcast accessible through it. With podcast marketing, you can become among the featured authors in iTunes. Many are listed but only a few make it among the new and notable. This way, you get to stir the attention of more subscribers. And the more awareness there is for your book, the better it is for you.

Click here to know more about optimizing your book’s exposure and sales with podcast marketing.

PROMOTE YOUR BOOK THROUGH PODCASTS

Authors these days now have so many options to promote their book. A new yet equally important tool under the book marketing belt is podcasting.

A type of audio blog, a podcast allows authors to further expand their audience and gain more following. It enables you to successfully create a series of your books, inform about your latest events and upcoming activities and foster a deeper and more personal relationship with your listener.

Through podcasting, you open up an entirely new dimension of potential listeners where you can rouse their interest in your book through your compelling content. Podcasting is the same as blogging – you update regularly to keep your listeners/readers tuned in.  You may choose to have your podcast simply in audio, or have a video with it. Incorporate excerpts from your book, personalize yourself and answer questions from listeners.

Depending on the level of tech interest and the amount of time and money you are willing to invest to your podcast, podcasting can be simple to sophisticated. You can simply plug a microphone into your PC, record your voice and convert your file to MP3 format. There are also free sites that record audio files, which you can upload to your own website. Another option is to get a podcasting service. Check out xlibrispodcasts.com.

Make good use of what a podcast has to offer:  a greater opportunity to build a fellowship with a wider audience for your book.

Click to learn more about podcasts.