Promoting Your Book - A No BS Guide For Authors and Small Publishers

Blog Post Summary - Status on a few things that I have started and reported on already. It’s short ….

Update to email campaign effort - This took a lot of time to get together and whereas it did produce some sales (20 books) and another 40+ signups to my newsletter, the results were not consistent with the level of effort. I did however learn a lot as I had to figure out how get a video on the offer page, do some copywriting and a few other things. These will all come in handy later so it forced me to learn some new skills.

Tip on Press Releases - As reported in the last blog, I uploaded press/news releases to a number of sites. I was rejected from 3 sites. One was because my entry was not ecommerce related. OK … fine. The other two were because I have too many line breaks. DO NOT put any line breaks in anywhere besides the end of the paragraph. Specifically:

This is an example of a first paragraph followed directly by another paragraph…the CORRECT WAY. The next paragraph follows immediately with no open space. Promoting your book is good for you. Eat your vegetables. Buy low. Sell high. Never sleep where you throw up.
This is an example of a first paragraph followed directly by another paragraph…the CORRECT WAY. The next paragraph follows immediately with no open space. Promoting your book is good for you. Eat your vegetables. Buy low. Sell high. Never sleep where you throw up.

This is an example of a first paragraph followed by another paragraph and an additional line break…this is the INCORRECT WAY. Promoting your book is good for you. Eat your vegetables. Buy low. Sell high. Never sleep where you throw up.

This is an example of a first paragraph followed by another paragraph and an additional line break…this is the INCORRECT WAY. Promoting your book is good for you. Eat your vegetables. Buy low. Sell high. Never sleep where you throw up.

Just thought I would let you in on that one as I had to do them over to get accepted. There are, by the way, plenty of reasons they may reject you. Dont take it personally, just figure out what you did wrong and fix it.

Think like an entrepreneur - failure is not the opposite of success, it is a part of success.

Blog Post Summary: If you want to get an article, interview or review in the newspaper, start small.

I live in the boonies. A gated community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains NE of Sacramento on the way to Lake Tahoe. Gorgeous out here. Also far from any major city.

This can, of course, be a good thing.

There are a couple of smaller local papers: I doubt the combined circulation is 6000. So I called the senior editor/general manager of both papers. They both answered their own phones.

Me: Hi <editor’s name>, my name is ~ and I saw on your website that if had anything I thought was newsworthy to give you a call…do you have a few minutes

Editor: Sure, what’s up?

Me: I am a local author and I have just written a book on generating lifestyle-based income…having your quality of life drive the type of job and income you want to create in your life and not the other way around. There is a lot in the book about how I believe that everyone should be a bit more entrepreneurial (I go on a bit more about troublesome economy, housing crisis, retiring baby boomers, lack of adequate funds for retirement, etc).

Editor: Sound interesting, I’ll have a reporter call you. Can you send (some info - blurb on the book, cover graphic, contact information, etc)?

Me: Sure … I’ll send it right over.

The two conversations were similar with a few variations but the results were the same: they liked what I had to say and agreed to follow up. So, some pointers:

1. Do your research. Start at the top if you think it will work. Know who covers the topic area where your book would fit (e.g., lifestyle or business would have been my choices).
2. Make it interesting to them: why do they care … or more importantly, why do their READERS care.
3. I can say that my topic is pretty compelling to start with but I also tied it into current events, and that makes it news.

Something, in theory, the newspapers are in business for reporting. My first interview is in two days.

I’ll get back to you then.

Summary of this Blog: Doing your own single webpage promo site and sending out to your mailing list is worth it. Include the fact that your book is on amazon.com (if it is of course). Apologize in advance to anyone who may think you are spamming them.

I promised I would start providing a summary of the blog at the top in case I get over infatuated with my ramblings and lose you. That way you will have got the important part.

What I have done … it seems like it took two weeks … is collect up every email address I have in many different email accounts to send a notice about my new book, The Wealth Manifesto. Each group of addresses typically comes from one thing or the other that I have been a part of over the last 5+ years or, in a few cases, a group of people that had their email addresses collected up for me.

I have an opt in list that I started not too long ago - 100 plus names. These others are lists of whatever emails I have from … whatever!

For example, I have lists for: my 30th year HS reunion, a reunion for another company I worked for 15 years ago, a list of all the people I have ever dealt with in the real estate world (I am a RE broker and investor), a list of the people on this huge program I worked for as a satellite systems consultant with Lockheed (I am an electrical engineer as well), etc.

I have composed a general email that I then tailor just a tiny bit to each group to reflect how I know them, how long its been, what’s up, etc.

The emails all link to the obligatory splash page I set up with the sales copy, headlines and subheadlines, offer, bonuses, testimonials, guarantees. If you create or buy any info products you will recognize the drill.

You can see my recent book promotion efforts on the special offer site here. Go ahead … buy a book (make my day!)

Technically, I dont think I am spamming all these people (even YOU may have received an email from me OH MY!). I am only going to send it once and I make this real clear in the email (”… not sure of some of addresses, please accept my apologies in advance, will never receive anything from me again, etc. etc.”).

I suppose that could be open to interpretation. I sent the emails out this morning and have sold a modest 5 books … probably only 150 addresses so far (have not done the two big ones with 1000+ each). I have also posted the note to several online groups although one moderator blocked it as ‘a commercial.’

Who asked him anyway? You may want to consider bribing a moderator with a free copy if you get stuck in this predicament. Dont be a pain it the butt; tell them what you got, what you are doing and let em tell you what they think.

Dont know if it will work but what the heck.

Yeah … Ok.. that WAS a bit of the ‘man bites dog’ type title.

Yeah? So what? It’s my blog anyway. The new policy and approach part is true though. Sorry to disappoint you budding first time authors who belong to greenpeace. You were probably thinking you really found something.

Rule 1: Dont write stuff in your blog that you can find elsewhere on the Internet. A few posts ago, I went on and on about amazon.com bestseller campaigns. You can learn about that elsewhere. The WHOLE point of this blog is to let you in on what I am doing and the results a real live normal guy (OK .. that may be a push) is experiencing in book promotion. After all, most blogs are a bunch of mental masturbation anyway … all of us typing away for our own self aggrandizement.

NEver has so much been written by so many and read by so few …

Rule 2: At the beginning of the blog, I will put in the one or two sentence summary of just what exactly is useful about the blog you are about to read. That way, once I get all enamored with my own verbal blathering, you can bail out having got the important stuff right off the top.

Unless you are heading off to somewhere useless (the odds are good for that) and then you might as well read what I have to say. I’m not boring.

Sound good? OK … we’ll start with the next entry

1) Buy John Kremer’s “1001 Ways To Market Your Books” (that’s 1001)
2) Get signed up for John Kremer’s newsletter that adds to what is in the book with newer (usually) online-based things to market your book (up to a 1002)
3) Read this blog to follow someone who is REALLY wading through all the recommendations, hype and crap and find out what is really working. (there, 1003 ways!)

Seriously, Kremer is probably the best authority out there. I get his newsletter and go through it each week (or whenever he sends it) and DO WHATEVER IS IN THERE that day (if at all possible) in terms of marketing actions for The Wealth Manifesto….where it applies and I agree with it.

Today he mentioned the new social networking service that Google is doing (http://www.google.com/friendconnect.). Google is always doing cool stuff - they are going to take over the online world (in a benign, Do No Evil way of course). I’m signed up.

He has a blurb in there about Ladies Home Journal and why you may want to work with them (not my demographic for this go around). I’m not interested.

The rest of today’s newletter is promoting other people’s products and programs. I dont begrudge John his affiliate commissions but today’s letter is a little thin on new and unique advice.

You decide what works for you … it is worth reading for sure

Hi, Mark T. Rafter here. I am an author and publisher of information products. I just finished my first book The Wealth Manifesto: Transforming Your Life from Survive to Thrive and am in the first phase of marketing and promotion.  Also in the beginning of planning my publishing empire.

So, I thought I would share. There is SO much info out there on what you should and could be doing to promote your book, I thought I would put something together that was a real guy (that’s me) actually implementing some subset of the advice that all the pundits are recommending.

I will pull no punches, not show favoritism, tell it like it is … like the title says … NO BS.

This is happening in real time. I have some catching up to do but I will be doing some kind of promotion activity nearly everyday and certainly multiple activities on many days. I will post it here for 2 reasons. One was already mentioned - I think it will be useful for people to see what one (reasonably resourceful) person is REALLY doing and the results that are achieved.  There are more ideas out there than any one person can do so I would love it too when people start commenting and adding their lessons learned to what I have experienced.

The other reason was that I found myself making tons of notes about who I sent books to, what I was waiting for from this person or that service. This was to know what I did this time so I could be repeating it for the next book (and the next and the next etc.)

I start with where I am now (what has been done, what I was thinking about during the last year when the book was written and the promotion begun.  Then I’ll do the individual things completed to date (I’ll catch up on that quickly) and then you will get the blow by blow … everyday in the trenches and what is really happening.

Hope you enjoy it.