What Works Best to Market Your Book?
What is the best way to market your book? A very good question that doesn't have a one-note answer. Like many products on the market, the best way to market something often depends on:
1. The buying mood of the public.
2. The way to reach the right audience.
3. Experimentation
4. Timing
5. Know when to hold or fold
How do you determine the answers to those five things? The no. #3 ... experimentation. With each book (or product for that matter) you have to try different avenues to see what sparks sales. For some books TV appearances generate sales and for others nothing. Book reviews generate sales -- sometimes. Feature stories create interest -- sometimes. To create what we call in marketing "the snowball effect" you have try different things. And sometimes it's not just one thing (a book review and a TV appearance) it's several things combined to create that perfect storm to spark interest. Then there is the last problem of no. #4 -- timing. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do or how you do it, the time is not right and the public is not interested. In the case of timing, it might mean revisiting the project later on. This idea applies when a book is clearly a winner (it wins awards and accolades), but the sales have no followed. Finally no. #5 you have to recognize when you should hold and keep trying or pack it in and move to the next project. The decision to move on can be a disappointment; but at the end of the day you can chose to hold and try again, too. One of our books in the 3L catalog is about to sell its TV and film rights. Had that author folded too soon this fateful and profitable opportunity might not have come round.
1. The buying mood of the public.
2. The way to reach the right audience.
3. Experimentation
4. Timing
5. Know when to hold or fold
How do you determine the answers to those five things? The no. #3 ... experimentation. With each book (or product for that matter) you have to try different avenues to see what sparks sales. For some books TV appearances generate sales and for others nothing. Book reviews generate sales -- sometimes. Feature stories create interest -- sometimes. To create what we call in marketing "the snowball effect" you have try different things. And sometimes it's not just one thing (a book review and a TV appearance) it's several things combined to create that perfect storm to spark interest. Then there is the last problem of no. #4 -- timing. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do or how you do it, the time is not right and the public is not interested. In the case of timing, it might mean revisiting the project later on. This idea applies when a book is clearly a winner (it wins awards and accolades), but the sales have no followed. Finally no. #5 you have to recognize when you should hold and keep trying or pack it in and move to the next project. The decision to move on can be a disappointment; but at the end of the day you can chose to hold and try again, too. One of our books in the 3L catalog is about to sell its TV and film rights. Had that author folded too soon this fateful and profitable opportunity might not have come round.
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