Lately, I’ve been seeing blog posts where writers are announcing that their book has just come out. They then go on to give an excerpt as to what the book is about. Whiel, this is okay, let’s not forget that some authors wait until after the book is done to announce it. For some, this is too little, too late.
Let’s review why:
When you wait until the very last minute to announce that you’ve written a book, you’ll find more chances than not that most people won’t care. Plenty of people write books and plenty more are published each year. The key is to market the book while you’re writing it.
How do you do that?
Tease your audience with Chapter excerpts, although I prefer the term-Chapter Previews. The last time I went to the movies, I spent 10 minutes watching previews, a few of those being movies that aren’t coming out until next year. The preview was so good that I can’t wait until they come out. The only problem? I need to keep coming to the movies to see the preview in order to remember those great movies. There’s no difference in book marketing.
In order for your book sales to do well, people have to remember you and be enticed by what you have to offer. You have to get your potential buyers to care, to follow, to remember, to need. If you wait until the last minute to do that, then you’ve waited too late. The truth is that when you tease people with your book, before the book comes out, they feel a bit special and honored and are more likely to buy your book because they’ve been made to feel like a part of the process. Waiting until after the book is published feels like a sales pitch, and nobody cares for a sales pitch.
Take a que from the movies industry and other famous authors. They don’t wait until the last minute to announce a new book. With online resources such as Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Ning, Linkedin, Gather, etc., there is no reason to wait until the last minute to discuss your book. I mean you can, but just remember: Sometimes, it’s too little, too late!
Until tomorrow!
ZLS Publishing
www.zlspublishing.com
Tag Archives: bad book marketing
Bad Book Marketing-Book Covers for the Visually Interested!
By now, we should all know that book covers sell books. Sadly, most writers still don’t get this fact and because of this, I’ve decided to provide the rules of Book Cover Design. These rules will decide whether a buyer picks up your book and turns it around or even decides to buy it.
Bad Myspace Book Marketing and other social networks
Okay, okay, I know what I’m about to say is going to make some people upset but I’ve noticed a trend and I have to say something about it. If you are a writer or an author you will be especially annoyed, especially if you have done this foolishness.
Not apologizing!
The writer has a book cover for their display picture. They also have the title of their book as the name of their page. You click on their name especially if either one or both interest you, you go look at the blog to see an excerpt of the book but there is none. You scroll down the page looking for some information about the book but see nothing more than a pretty cover. If you are lucky, they have left a video about their book on their page but if you are anything like me you have no desire to look at a video that is probably laced with bad video editing. You sigh to yourself and say, “Oh well, won’t be buying that one!”
Most writer’s use social networks like Myspace to do book marketing. If used correctly this is a great idea. The problem is that so many writer’s don’t use this correctly. It’s nice to have a pretty book cover, but darn it, I want to read an excerpt as well. You’ve just spent the last two seconds gaining my attention by your book cover, keep my attention by giving me something great to read. Reading your excerpt is going to go much faster than me waiting for your youtube video to download, that might not download, might skip or if I am lucky enough to view it, I might not understand the message or I may think it isn’t a good enough book for me to want to read.
Now, don’t get me wrong having a book trailer because that is the correct term for it, can be cool but what good is a book trailer without a book excerpt? You can’t have one without the other. Even movies have written excerpts about them. Let’s act like we want our book to sell and use any and all correct methods of marketing possible. Now, if you can’t write a good excerpt then you may want to look into paying your editor (granted you have one as some do not) or paying a service to write your excerpt for you.
Now let us say you don’t have a video on your page. There is nothing more irritating than to look for an excerpt of your book and find nothing. I don’t care how pretty you think your book is IF I CAN’T READ WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT I AM NOT GOING TO BUY IT! LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN: IF I CAN’T READ WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT I AM NOT GOING TO BUY IT! I also don’t care if you have pictures on your page with people holding your book and some of them are famous. I can pay anybody to hold my book, that still doesn’t tell me what your book is about.
If you are famous, have a few books under your belt, I’ve followed your writing, you may be able to get away with this foolishness, but for the most part most of you are not famous, I don’t know who you are (neither do my friends) and so because of this ridiculous oversight, you have just lost a customer. Not just one customer, but me, my friends, their friends, etc. Every lost customer is a lost sale. A lost sale is less money in your pocket because let’s be realistic here: Every dollar counts. You can say all day that you wrote just to get published but that is foolishness, you wrote to sell your book, to make money, to quit your day job, pay for your kids education, get out from under debt. You wrote to sell!
So let me say this one more time-WRITE A DAMN EXCERPT! LEAVE AN EXCERPT! LET THE READER READ WHAT YOUR BOOK IS ABOUT. I DON’T CARE HOW PRETTY YOUR BOOK COVER IS IF I CAN’T READ WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT-I AM NOT BUYING IT!
Are we clear? I hope so! I’m done venting for the day!
Signing out!
Lady Z!
Bad Book Marketing-The Stupidity of Not Having A Newsletter!
Okay, okay, I’m back with something else to say. If you are a writer or an author who does not have one of these, you are being especially foolish and you may not like what it is I have to say.
Not apologizing!
Contrary to popular belief, having a newsletter is a very important part of your Book Marketing plan. As a matter of fact, it should be in the top five of your book marketing plan. You can visit twenty different places, do all the book signings in the world, but if people don’t remember you or talk about you to their friends, you are marketing in vain. Every time you give out a book mark, a post card, or a business card, you should have a newsletter form too. Every time you do a book signing, you should have a newsletter form.
As the old saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.” Too many writers underestimate the value and effect of a newsletter. Sending your fans things about yourself, once a month or even once a week helps them remember you and reminds them to tell their friends. Everyone who has a newsletter will tell you that they have seen an increase in sales or in readership. As an author struggling to keep and build readership it is just not wise to not have a newsletter. Again, I will repeat the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind.”
Newsletters are the next biggest thing to word-of-mouth-marketing. People talk, they check email, and they are nosy. People like to know the latest happenings of everything that is going on. Don’t believe me? Look at Twitter and this proves my point. Keeping your fans up to date with what is going on with you makes them feel important, and it makes them feel like they are part of your process. People are busy and they have a lot going on in their lives. If you don’t make them remember you, they won’t. It’s like the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind.” Just thinking that because you wrote one book people will remember you is foolish. To think that just because you visited their city and did a book signing will make them remember you is also foolish. Without making them remember you, you will be a one-hit-wonder. Yes, those exist in the literary world.
As an author, you are constantly marketing yourself. One of the easiest ways to do that is through a newsletter. The cheapest way is an electronic newsletter known as an e-newsletter, although print newsletters are available. You can provide your fans with weekly updates or monthly updates, but you must provide them with some sort of update and it can’t be only when you have a new book coming out. Every little thing you do, every little place you go, you must let your fans know. Famous authors like James Patterson have a newsletter as they know that it helps keep their fans.
When deciding whether or not to have a newsletter, keep these three points in mind:
1) It’s cheap, you can pay someone like ZLS to do it for you.
2) It provides, protects and spreads your fan base.
3) Without it you are losing sales.
So let me say this one more time-GET YOURSELF A NEWSLETTER! WITHOUT ONE-IT’S DUMB BOOK MARKETING!
Also, read my Top 10 Reasons Why You Need A Newsletter!
Are we clear? I hope so! I’m done venting for the day!
Signing Out!
Lady Z
