Market Your Book - Publicity And Promotion

By Annie M. Jennings

There are many book titles that you see on the shelves of bookstores and in libraries. They may have some of the best information, or tell the best stories that have ever been written. However, if the author was not marketed by a well known publisher or did not have the tools and ideas to show that book promotion and publicity market your book.

If have any creative challenges when it comes to promotion, you can get help online. However, be cautious. There are many companies that offer seminars and other ways to market your creation. However, you may find that they are more interested in you buying their books than them helping you promote yours. Many of the methods that have been successful are really just common sense marketing and can done on your own. Just take the time to be prepared to do them.

Listen to the radio in your local market. You will likely find at least one station that has some talk show host that discusses similar topics as what you have written about. In every case, these hosts are always interested in having entertaining guests on their shows. It helps them develop a larger audience and you will get some good exposure. They are easy to contact and if you are local and have a good story to tell, they will love having you on their program.

Depending on the topic, there will likely be a local radio station that covers a similar topic. They are always looking for interesting guests and topics that may make their listeners more interested. Listen to your local stations and find someone that is normally discussing a topic at least somewhat similar to what you written. Give them a call or send them an email with a biography of you and the book. You will likely hear back from them and you may be on your way. If the topic is more mainstream, use the same process to your local television stations. Again, with the plethora of local programming, you may be able to get a slot on a local morning show or again, a show discussing similar topics.

If you live in a small town, you may need to take a short road trip. Find as many bookstores as you can and contact them. Explain the topic of your publication, why you have written it and how you think it will assist or interest readers. You will likely find several stores that will allow you to promote a book signing event. Most stores are interested in any ways to get customers to come in and with the proper marketing, in this process, you may get to do some live performances, in the form of a discussion group, to explain why they should buy your book. You will need fliers, posters and copies of the book, so get prepared and head out to the shops.

Every city has multiple Networking meetings. It is the newest way to expose your business to other business owners. They have developed into legitimate marketing opportunities and you may meet some people that can assist you in other marketing areas, as well. Just by meeting and discussing the reasons that you wrote your book and what you expect the readers to get out of it, will likely generate some sales and at least start a bit of a buzz, when used in conjunction with your other marketing efforts.

Please remember that these are public events. You will need to take some time to get prepared. The perception of the quality of your book will go hand in hand with your personality in promoting it. The better prepared you are to discuss the topic, the purpose, your motivation for writing it etc., the better it will be received.

Lastly, if you are not a gregarious person and find these suggestions a tad scary, you can resort to just using the Internet. You can start a blog or launch a website to promote you and the book, but this can be more costly, time consuming and still will not guarantee that people find you. Unless you have been published by a known publishing house, your personal contact will be the most successful to get your product into circulation. Just as when you composed your work of art, spend some quality time to promote it. You will find that personal contact will be a great way to get you selling copies, meeting the readers and earning money, while sharing your experiences. - 31963

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here