Book Marketing Secrets:  Sell More Books With These Easy Book Marketing Tips

by Helen Hecker

This article will provide you with easy, free, and cheap book marketing, promotion and publicity tips to get you headed in the right direction fast. You may 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. Self publishers need to have a good marketing plan to sell books and should be written prior to writing your book and in place a year prior to publishing your book.

Mail a press release to at least 1000 print and broadcast contacts just prior to publishing your title and again and again after you publish; you can never send too many. Make sure your press release spells out the 'who, what, where, when, and why.' 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.

Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly. Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book's website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases. Send out at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month.

Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories.

Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book's topic to drive customers to your website. If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way. Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book.

Place free ads periodically for your book's website on Craigslist in different categories to drive even more traffic to your website.

Make five telephone calls a day that relate to marketing your book. I've seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don't advise it in the beginning -- get your feet wet first so you know what you're doing.

I've not found that book signings sell many books for publishers and are often a waste of time; better to spend it elsewhere. Contact non-bookstore booksellers and offer to leave books on consignment. You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition.

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. Offer to trade writing a monthly column in a trade publication in your books' genre, in trade for display ads on the same page. Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs.

Make sure to promote and market your book each and every day, both online and offline. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed. Every day it's important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets.

The success of any book marketing effort depends on a good book and just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too. Now promote, promote, and promote your book some more! Make sure to test, test, and test some more before you lay out large sums of money.

copyright©2007 Helen Hecker All rights reserved.