First Word

  So, you’re ready to publish your book, but you’re not ready to promote it. You may not know what it takes. If you don’t want to promote yourself, you can hire an expert like myself (email me at info@3LPublishing.com ). If you don’t have a promotional budget, here are some things you can do on your own.   No. #1 – Join all applicable social media platforms well in advance of your book’s official release . You can set up your Instagram, Goodreads, Facebook or TikTok accounts long before your book releases. You can begin advanced promotion to attract readers who are ready to buy your book. You also want to ensure you’ve built your following ahead of time, too. Without a strong following, you won’t get the necessary exposure.   No. #2 – Create a blog and start using it . Blogger is free. Write related articles and content for your book’s promotion. It doesn’t have to be specifically about your book, and it probably shouldn’t be. You can highlight m...

I am available for more project work, and now is a good time. If you have a project you want to start for 2023, please contact me at info@3LPublishing.com and I’ll give you a 10% discount , which can add up to some significant dollars.   Today’s topic: Selling Books Off Your Author Website   A lot of authors have opted out of selling print books on Amazon. They use their author websites to promote and sell books. Privately selling your books has pros and cons. So, let’s explore it.   Amazon Advantage is no longer free. It costs $99 a year to have an Amazon Advantage account. In the big picture, $99 a year doesn’t seem like a lot of money. Now consider that your royalty from Amazon Advantage is 45 percent, plus the cost of postage and handling. A book sold for $19.95 receives $8.98 in royalties. Next consider postage. A typical book sent Media Mail costs about $3.50. Here’s the math:   Retail Price: $19.95 Gross Royalty: $8.98 Postage: $3.50 ...

I am intrigued and excited to discuss a major trend in book promotion: BookTok (aka TikTok). I already started building my TikTok platform. I recently read how BookTok is rapidly becoming a viable book promotion platform. According to the article “Publishing Trends: Predictions for the Book Industry in 2022” by Kaelyn Barron, “BookTok appears to be here to stay, with all trends indicating that even more authors will join the platform to market their books in 2022. So far, the hashtag #BookTok has garnered over 34.7 billion views on the platform. We’ve seen the impact of BookTok firsthand with one of our own authors, Maclen Stanley, who has accumulated over 424,000 followers and 6 million likes in just a few months since his book The Law Says What? debuted in July. Many reviewers on Amazon have commented that they bought the book specifically because they enjoyed his related TikTok videos. Book reviewers have also taken to the platform to share their thoughts on ...

An interesting discussion came up the other day with one of my new clients. We were talking about public relations for this new product line. He was saying he wanted to send a press release out a week to promote the product launch. I looked at him and said, “Public relations isn’t about press releases and how many you can send out to get attention.” I’ve noticed sometimes people mistake advertising and marketing with public relations. I thought I would take a moment to clarify it. Public relations is designed to raise awareness about your company, product or service . It puts your name out in the public domain and promotes your message. Problem is that some people confuse “message” with product promotion. Media doesn’t want to receive weekly notices about your product launch. Media wants headlines and news. When it comes to book promotion they want human interest and material that will spark discussions. Remember, media is in the business of “information” not ad...

What about those blog tours for book promotion? I wonder about those tours and whether or not they lead to any kind of success. The authors I know who have done them have not seen a demonstrative increase in book sales. If you have done one and it helped your sales I would love to hear your story. The most success I’ve seen when it comes to book sales has been in nationwide exposure. So, let me share what I’ve seen work. Nationwide exposure in one key media can make a best seller . The word here is key media. I’ve seen books enjoy national exposure in some major media, but if that media outlet doesn’t reflect the right demographic for your book, it will generate only a small handful of sales. A book promoted to the right media that reached the “sweet spot” of your demographic can produce in a single promotion a best seller. So a national spot in and of itself won’t necessarily produce results. It has to be the right media placement to the right audience. ...

I often respond to Help a Reporter Out (HARO) queries to promote and market 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com). I read today a question: How has the digital age changed your PR strategies? Good question and relevant to the overall transition from print-based services going to e-services. Here is my hands-on experience with the digital evolution of public relations and marketing: Media kits don't necessarily have to be printed anymore . When I was a magazine editor, we received all press promotion in the form of paper media kits. The print costs for the folders and content could be enormously expensive. The cost was naturally transferred to the client. A national media campaign just for print costs alone cost thousands of dollars. Now my best estimate is that a small minority of media still want print media kits sent. I do run into those outlets that want sample copies of print books to be included, but even these outlets are starting to accept the eBook version and e-media...

The funniest line of the California Capital Book Festival came from patrons who said, "I don't read books." The mystery and humor is they said it at a "book" festival. I think that's akin to going to the dog shelter and saying, "I don't like dogs." I'm not entirely sure why anyone who doesn't read books would wander around a book festival. In more interesting news, we sold a lot of copies of Vengeance is Now . Authors wondering how we managed to probably have one of the top-selling titles of the festival, I'll lend you some advice. Don't be afraid to sell. Get your flyers and your one-liners ready. Don't be afraid, period. Put your best smile on your face. Be charming and nice. Walk up to people. Ask them if they like the genre you're selling and ... sell! I will give serious props to the author Scott D. Roberts. His talent is the close. I pushed the prospects, and he sold the prospects. Give of yourself to others is...

Writing a book means more than words on paper and a cover to hold it together. One of the biggest mistakes I see writers and business people make is not understanding the most important point: a best-seller would be incredible but the book is really an opportunity to expand and do more. Books of any kind (fiction or nonfiction) will attract new opportunities. A book written though to support your business is the biggest opportunity of all. Books give authors credibility and position them as experts. Experts get called upon to speak or be featured in the media. Exposure and increased visibility as an expert attracts overall interest in either you as an author and your book or your business. More interest in your business and book spells out opportunities. The opportunity could be an invitation to speak somewhere else and sell more books. The opportunity could be to attract more customers or clients to your business. Either way if you realize your book opens doors to other things, which ...

Promo Sheet/Flyer --your promo sheet should be loaded with great quotes from reviews about your book. If you don't yet have professional reviews, use testimonials. Put an image of your book on the sheet. Use it to hand out to prospective readers. Stand near your sales area and direct those readers to your sales table for actual purchase. Bookmarks --nice bookmarks with brief information about your book. Bookmarks take the place of business cards and should have your URL and general contact information along with where to purchase the book. Large poster board of book cover image --an enlarged poster-size image of your book cover created on a cardboard of foam-core backing to protect it. Do not date anything on the image so it can be easily reused from event to event. Bring a sturdy stand to put it on.

Once in a while I open the door to my world and tell people about my adventures. Since I'm private overall, I don't really talk too much about where I've been, what I've done. Life is to be lived first and foremost. I don't get caught up in pretense. I recently got asked by a client, "Have you ever represented anyone famous?" I was startled by the question, because fame in many cases is of no consequence to me. I have always focused on the work. Celebrities are people -- nothing more nothing less. If you've worked around celebrity you'll truly become even less impressed. I remember going to the ladies room when I was working on a project on the Paramount lot and Ellen Barkin came in to use the facility. I just remember pretty much glancing at her and not thinking too much about it. Later I kind of chuckled and thought, "Everyone has the same business to do." LOL I was there to work. So Ellen Barkin wandering into the bathroom was the le...

In promoting numerous books over the years, here are a couple things that I've learned that "are what they are," so to speak. If the tipping point never arrives ... it just doesn't arrive and dumping more money and resources will not change that situation . I compare this to survey. If you survey 100 people and come up with an answer that is perhaps between 10-12 percent it doesn't matter if you survey another 1,000 people, your answer will still roughly be 10-12 percent. So if you're marketing and your book finally finds its place in the market and starts selling, it will continue to sell if you continue to promote. If you're marketing and your book has gotten 10 reviews with no momentum it's not very likely 20 reviews will be any different. The buying mood, the topic or story isn't resonating for whatever reason in the marketplace. When I have a book that has received more reviews than we can count and yet still sales remain overall flat (even ...

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 ...

I've watched many authors and recognize their fail points when it comes to marketing and promoting their books. Most authors are not businesspeople. So I can't fault them for not knowing what to do to spread the word about their books. First and foremost, authors need to recognize that in being an author it's one part writer one part businessperson . Authors who believe their "craft" should be enough to sell a book typically don't sell any books. Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, please know the rule remains the same: one part art one part business. As an author/businessperson what do you need at your basic foundation to the promote and sell your book? Publicist : do you know book promotion? I doubt you understand it. It's an entire profession. Seek a book publicist. It's the best investment you can make in your book. Your publicist will use media contacts and lists to promote your book to the book reviewer media. Marketing tools : your publi...

Are you an author? Are you trying to sell your books. I have some unconventional, hands-on tips for you today that come directly from our success at the Tucson Festival of Books . Author Scott D. Roberts whose book Vengeance is Now was being sold from the Author Pavilion - West joined me. We worked as a team to sell his book. All of the authors, who sold virtually nothing that day, all looked at Scott in amazement as he had lines of readers buying his book. Now you want to know what we did that the others didn't do? Here you go... One-Sheet Flyers : We made up one-sheets with reviewer quotes and Pavilion-signing information. Then we did two critical things with those one-sheets: 1) Scott and I got in line for the Scott Turreau signing (author of books like Presumed Innocent , which is also a thriller and in the same genre as Vengeance). Two important points: 1. the people in that particular line like thrillers (obviously) and 2. we had a captive audience of readers who were bor...

Want to know the no. #1 question I am consistently asked? Do you think my idea will sell? I honestly have no clue. When I get asked that question, I call it the million-dollar question. We're talking about a finicky market in which many, many factors come to bear. A book release literally can be derailed by a hurricane trumping the news. I kid you not. It depends on the market's attention on that day. It depends on tastes, interests and hobbies -- and what the public's favors on any given day, month or year is hard to predict. Is the public sick of vampires and werewolves yet? You think the interest has waned and then BAM! Some unique book on the subject hits the shelves and flies. Some people are really good at figuring it out, but even these people have some bombs, too. What do they say? You're only as good as your last movie ... it's true. You can have market cache one day and be the has-been the next. So when I'm asked that question, all I can say is this, ...

If you're trying to do public relations for your book (which I don't recommend), and you want to reach the media, here are some tips. If you have a publicist then he or she should know this information. Regional press is easier to get attention . Regional press usually generously consider talent in their own areas. It's easier overall to get the attention of media in the author's city of origin then to try and get national reviews, which doesn't mean national reviews won't happen; it's just easier to first start with the locals. News angles should focus on regional activities, partnerships or donations . A simple book release won't get the media's attention. Authors whenever possible should partner with for example a charity to promote along with their book. Give portions of proceeds to the charity. For example, the children's book Princess Josie partnered with Canine Companions and donated portions of profits to the group. The media is more ...

You can do some marketing and promotion for your book without spending a fortune. Here are three tips for promoting your book and building your marketing platform. Tip #1 Get the Maximum Mileage out of FREE Social Media I know time is money, right? Are you using social media to the fullest? If you're not on social media, you should get it moving. Social media doesn't cost money just time and effort. Have fun with it. Create a fan or personal page. Go on once in the morning and post and once in the evening and post. Make sure you're consistent and do it. Post links related to your book (e.g., book reviews and interviews) and keep building your community. The more exposure your book gets the more people will "follow" or connect with you, and the more people connect with you the more exposure for your promotional efforts. But with the price tag of free is simply the best and most economical way to promote your book. Tip #2 Start blogging and tie it to social med...

This strange change started happening with the book sales. We used to rarely get book sales through the 3L Publishing website vs. Amazon. Out of nowhere, sales for all books began to spike and add up. In order to give you a benchmark, we used to get 3L sales about once every two months when a major book wasn't in release. In the last two months, we get near-daily if not daily sales. Not just of one book in particular but across the board with the new books. What are we doing differently with marketing and sales? I actually can't say any one thing in particular. We do continual and habitual marketing through book promotion and PR. We blog, send out a weekly newsletter, and update social media on a regular basis. I haven't been out networking as often as in the past, but I'm finding that social media has replaced the need to network as habitually as I used to do. I will just say one thing: persistence. Make sure you keep your marketing activities persistent. I believe th...

Lots of great publicity going on for the 3L Publishing book Vengeance is Now . Author Scott D. Roberts just did a guest blog on Girls with Books , and this morning he is doing an interview on Conversations with Cyrus Webb. How are we getting good, consistent and steady exposure? Here are our promotional strategies that work. It's always who you know . Over the years of working in this industry, my company 3L Publishing has done a lot of media outreach. We have steadfast contacts in the book reviewer world, as well as mainstream media. We have also built a reputation for quality products. Many reviewers familiar with 3L products will immediately agree to look at our books. Steady, relentless pressure . We push and promote daily. We are working in tandem with the author to promote to media and book-related industry people. The author HAS to be working those front lines with us. Nothing sells a book better than the author . As the publisher, I do one thing a day to promote -- w...

If you're and author, you should realize that writing is only half the job. The other half is the true business end, which involves promoting and marketing the book. In my writers' group Writers Who Mean Business , I teach writers the "business" of writing not just the writing. While some writers' groups focus on craft, I focus on making the book do more than gather dust on the bookshelf. As a publisher , I feel that is my job. We are right in the middle of promoting the new book Vengeance is Now and my book California Girl Chronicles, Brea's Big Break . I want to break apart the media campaign so if you work in this business you might get some ideas. Please note: An effective promotional and marketing campaign should run at least six months to a year. Media and Book Reviewers -- this is the most popular promotional methodology. You promote the book to the mainstream book reviewers, which these days it's mostly bloggers. (When doesn't the Inter...