| Chapter Eleven: Marketing It |
Authors spend hours honing their writing skills, writing their manuscripts, and rewriting them many times so that the work is polished and ready. It isn’t easy to set those skills aside once the manuscript is headed for the press of a publishing house to bring other skills to bear, but it is absolutely necessary for an author to take a personal part in the marketing. It isn’t going to matter to the public how beautifully written the book is, or what an extraordinary plot it has, if they never discover it exists.
Receiving a book contract can be a moment of tremendous joy—a feeling of a sense of accomplishment culminated after leaping over hurdles of rejection from agents and publishers. Many authors heave a big sigh and sit back in anticipation of the first royalty check, while they bask in an imagined fame from an eager readership waiting for their "masterpiece" to be released. This is not the time for an author to go stagnant, or to assume the book contract is the final phase of the publishing journey, however.
Very few first authors receive much in the way of advances or marketing budgets even when a traditional publisher has released their books. Many authors are left entirely to their own resources beyond listing on and distribution through a book production company’s Web site. A few of the POD producers, for instance, do see that their titles are made available at online bookstores such as Amazon.com and others, but there is little chance that anyone—certainly not enough buyers to make the book profitable—will find any book listed there if it hasn’t already been brought to the attention of potential readers.
To understand the importance of marketing, all an author has to do is listen to commercials on radio and television and check out the numerous ads in written media. People try out new products as a direct result of advertising. Just getting a book on a bookstore shelf—as hard as that is to do—isn’t enough. The reader must be attracted to the book there or must have come to the bookstore specifically looking for that book because of what they had heard about it. A print book that fails to sell, especially in the first three months, could go out of print quickly, because a publisher cannot afford to produce a product that does not sell. This is a heartbreaking experience for many authors, and it is the primary reason an author needs to have a marketing plan in place and an absolute willingness to do his/her part in working with the publisher to set it in motion. (The marketing plan is discussed in chapter 5, "Submitting It: General Questions." For full discussion, see John Kremer’s 1001 Ways to Market Your Book. His web URL is http://www.bookmarket.com.)
This chapter provides tips and responds to questions on what an author can do over and above the promotion provided by the publisher for his/her book to help get the book into the hands of readers. For general discussion on book marketing, authors should take a good long look at the marketing Web sites of John Kremer and Dan Poynter, the marketing guru of self-publishing. Poynter’s marketing tips can be checked out at http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/. Both Poynter and John Kremer, who is mentioned in the preceding paragraph, are respected by the publishing industry for their marketing expertise. |
What is a press release, and what do I put in one if my publisher doesn’t provide one?
If the publisher doesn’t provide a press release, the first thing an author should do is to work up one her/himself. Usually, this is printed on a single side of a standard sheet of paper and includes several selling points about the book, the cover blurb on the book’s contents, a few (favorable) comments from reviewers (as and if you can collect them), the cover design, a brief bio, where the book can be bought—and at what bookstore discount, and how and where to contact the author for book signings, interviews, reviews, and other types of personal appearances. A press release is sent along with a cover letter to the appropriate managers at bookstores, to review editors, and to anyone the author wishes to approach to talk about or sell her/his book.
For a good list of booksellers in your target area—those that are members of the American Bookseller’s Association, you can go to the Web site at http://www.bookweb.org/bd-bin/browse_bd?Country=usa&State_Name=State Name, putting in the target state name in place of "State Name." For a fuller listing of booksellers in a targeted area, you can check with the online version of the Yellow Pages at http://yellowpages.com/sp/?_requestid=1556833. To connect with newspapers, radio stations, and television stations where you want to target your press releases, you can find their Web sites through Kidon Media at http://www.kidon.com/media-link/usa.shtml.
Below is a sample of a press release for a novel (minus the cover design). Names and title are made up.
Spoiled, Scheming, and Sinister—A Formula for Foul Play
Deadly Deceit
Charles Writer
"Working from a devilishly clever plot, the drama unfolds with twists and turns that only master storytellers could make believable."
~Clyde Stone, former executive editor of The Twisted Writer is the author of 12 books.
DEADLY DECEIT is a superbly crafted murder mystery filled with betrayals, jealousy, greed, and lies. - A gripping, tense thriller.
~The Elite Book Review
Easy credit and the desire to have everything now are temptations that catapult millions into an abyss called debt. Deadly Deceit delves into desperation and the extreme measures some people will take to escape it.
The discovery of a dead man, shot in an apparent suicide, sets the stage for a series of events that will leave a family in disarray. Lies, jealousy, and money all play a role in this mystifying whodunit punctuated by callous disregard of family and calculated murder.
It isn’t the obvious that leads Doctor Knoll to the trail of the perpetrators. It is his long-standing ability to read people and their behavior patterns that help him siphon the fallacies from the truth to discover who killed his friend.
Charles Writer has once again featured psychiatrist John Knoll as the amateur sleuth. Deadly Deceit is the third book in a suspense series set in Colorado. The first is Death by Duality and the second, Deadly Summer. The Charles Writer writing team—Charles Kirby and Randal Stark—has coauthored novels and short stories. Providing the stimulus for fiction is a wealth of experiences including being a reporter, proofreader, editor, publicist, radio trafficker, photographer and Vista volunteer. Hobbies include cross-country skiing, swimming, mountain hikes and writing.
Title: Deadly Deceit—October 2005—Trade paperback
Publisher: Twisted Press—520 Harbor Lane—Omaha, NE 00555-1234
ISBN: 000555444
Price: $14.95—229 pages; for bookseller discount rates, contact publisher
Author contact: Charles Kirby—Phone: 000 123 4567 E-mail: ckirb@mymail.com,
Randal Stark—Email: Randal@mymail.com
What can I send to newspapers and appropriate magazines to announce the release of my book?
Release announcements, book reviews, and/or chapter excerpts printed in widely read newspapers and magazines prior to a book’s release bring the book to the attention of and, the author can hope, injects an eager anticipation in the book’s potential readership. This publicity most certainly isn’t a given, but it is something an author should try to achieve (with the publisher’s concurrence, as this activity needs to be coordinated with the publisher’s own marketing plan), because the benefit will be rewarding to both the publisher and the author. The magazines you approach should be subject appropriate or you are wasting your time as well as the magazine staff members’ time.
Below is a sample of a cover letter to accompany the type of press release shown above when submitting publicity to a newspaper or magazine.
Charles Kirby
200 N. Pine Street
Village, NY
Email: ckirb@mymail.com
www.ckirb.writerhouse.com
November 2, 2005
Mr. Jerome Raven, Editor in Chief
Greenwood Review
010 Forest Drive
Village Stop, NC 53575
Dear Mr. Raven:
Thank you for the online workshop you conducted on October 24, 2005. It was informative and encouraging for newly published authors like myself to submit our books for review. It was one of the best I’ve attended.
Deadly Deceit is the third novel in the mystery/suspense category featuring the same amateur sleuth, Doctor John Knoll. Just released in October, the novel reflects somewhat on the very real problem of easy credit and the lack of responsibility shown by people that feel they must have everything now . . . whatever the cost. It shows the possible extremes that people faced with debt might take, including premeditated murder and total disregard for family. By contrast, the strength of family values is shown through Doctor Knoll’s family.
This book is coauthored. My partner is Randal Stark. We combined our talents to create the suspense writing team of Charles Writer. I handle all correspondence and web marketing.
Thank you for offering this opportunity.
Warm regards,
Charles Kirby
Enc. Press Release
Book: Deadly Deceit
How do I find appropriate book reviewers?Print magazines and newspapers will almost always provide names and addresses for their book review sections within their editions. The Internet also provides a wealth of information on who does book reviews and how you can contact them. Book reviews in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Barbados can be requested from the Reviewers International Organization at http://www.rio-reviewers.com/. Book Crossroads provides a directory of book reviewers at http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/book-reviewers.html and hyperlinks to Internet book review sites can be accessed at http://www.wblib.org/readerscorner/bookreview.html, GetBookReviews.com has established a Web site at http://www.GetBookReviews.com to bring authors together with book reviewers, and the Motown Writer’s Network provides guidelines on requesting book reviews and an index to book review Web sites at http://motownwriters.homestead.com/bookreviewers.html. Children’s book reviewers can be found at http://www.writing-world.com/children/reviewers.shtml. Women reviewers of women’s books can be found at http://home.cybergrrl.com/review/reviewers.html.
What goes into a good request for a book review?
Garnering reviews is perhaps the most important first step in marketing a book, because quotes from these can be used in so many ways to enhance advertising for a book whether from print or Web marketing or as a means to encourage book stores to order books and request book-signing events.
Book reviewers can be very busy people, and most receive far more requests for book reviews than they can satisfy. Therefore, material you send to them needs to be eye catching (but not to the point of garish and amateurish), succinct, and complete. A good press release must grab the editor’s eye instantly, because reviewers see many such releases on a daily basis. You should send them a cover letter describing your book project and requesting a review, a copy of the book’s press release, and a copy of the book, which will be in the form of a prepublication proof copy (known as an advance review copy, or ARC) if you are trying to garner reviews before the actual release of the book.
The ARCs are made from the proofs/galleys sent out to authors to approve before the manuscripts are sent to press and will be provided by the publisher by mutual agreement on how many you need and who will pay for them. Many, but not all publishers automatically send these out to various reputable reviewers. This is a crucial marketing step that should not be taken for granted by an author. Reviews, especially by reputable reviewers, can give an instant boost to a book.
Authors who must use their own resources in sending out press releases and proofs to reviewers can have the proofs bound at a commercial copier shop such as Kinkos. The cover and back cover should be plain white, with a centered title. In the lower left corner put the author’s name. Below that put the name of the publisher along with the publisher’s address, the name of the contact person at the publisher, and the date of book’s release. Fold the press release and brief cover letter in half and insert inside the front cover. A cover letter should include the e-mail address, if the author has one.
For a detailed discussion of what goes into a good book review and how the review system works, read "How the Book Review System Works" by Midwest Book Review editor in chief Jim Cox at http://midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/system.htm.
Under what circumstances would I need my own publicist for a book?
The use of publicists is based—as is the whole book publishing structure—on the human tendency to more quickly believe a product is worthwhile if someone other than the creator of the product endorses it and is promoting it. The buying public is much more likely to consider a book worth purchase if a traditional publisher has validated it by taking on the risk of publishing and promoting it than if the author has self-published it and is doing the promotion her/himself. If you have no such publisher backing for your book, however, or if you think you need a bigger publicity campaign than your publisher will underwrite, finding someone else other than yourself to promote your book is the next best option. This promotion can be taken on as cheaply as hiring a college student specializing in public relations on a part-time basis to send out fliers and pitch the great worth of your book to local newspapers and other media outlets or as expensively as hiring a national firm that specializes in promoting people through their books.
Professional publicists are mostly engaged to boost the profile of a person rather than a single book they have written—although boosting the profile of a book or two by a person is certainly a good way of making the person more public. Using a publicist for a book is something you more likely want to do if you had a nonfiction book to use as a base of a lecture tour or to promote your own particular theories or methods for doing something the public would likely connect with and that would generate significant attention and income—something like a new diet program or medical procedure. Thus, publicists would rarely be engaged to boost the sales of a book of fiction, unless, of course, the fiction was planned as a platform for commercial spin-off, such as a Star Trek-type of series or a children’s cartoon series with other products tied to it. And you would not want to engage a publicist for any book promotion project that did not have good potential for generating a significant amount of money, because in most cases publicists would be very expensive.
The most reputable association of professional PR specialists is the Public Relations Society of America (APSR). Its Web site can be found at http://www.prsa.org. The organization has a code of ethics, and you can usually count on fair treatment by engaging one of its members.
What do publicists do?
Publicists come in all "effort sizes." You could hire someone to handle on a part-time basis the basic promotion chores that the author develops and might otherwise expect to have to do him/herself, such as sending out promotional fliers, soliciting book reviews, getting material on the book posted on Web sites, setting up a book-launching event and book signings, trying to work to get the book onto bookstore shelves, and/or trying to arrange newspaper, radio, and television coverage. At the other end of the scale, the professional publicist could take the whole burden of developing the strategies and tactics of promotional activities from the shoulders of the author. Services at this level could include creating and distributing press materials; developing and handling media relations; developing and maintaining a Web site; providing a clipping service on all media coverage of the author and the book; researching, creating, and coordinating cross-promotional events (for instance, arranging for the book and the author to be used in an appropriate conference or program being presented by someone else); scheduling and monitoring book-signing tours; soliciting endorsements; arranging for printing of posters and bookmarks; soliciting book reviews; creating press coverage and arranging media interviews; and/or researching other promotional venues.
What do publicists charge?
Professional public relations services do not come cheaply. You could pay minimum wages to that public relations-major college student who is just taking some of the promotional burden off your shoulders, but a professional publicist could easily set you back thousands of dollars a month. In either case, don’t presume that your publisher is going to pay for an independent publicist beyond the marketing department they already provide. Whatever you pay will come out of your pocket. So, unless you anticipate that the publicist will give you and your book a national-level profile, you are probably talking about turning all of the profit from your book—plus some more money—into your publicity fund.
For guidance on what you should pay for advertising, copywriting, and public relations services, consult Lynn Wasnak’s "How Much Should I Charge" article chart at http://www.writersmarket.com/content/howmuch1.asp.
How do I find a publicist?
For basic help in following up on a book promotional plan that you have devised yourself, help may not be any further away than the business department at your local university, where you can probably find public relations or marketing students who would be eager for some hands-on experience in their field of endeavor and a little ready cash. For more substantial support, you’ll be more interested in hiring an experienced book publicist. There aren’t too many professional specialists in book promotion work, however. Most publicists are focused on promoting people or highly commercial products, and there usually isn’t enough money that can be generated by profits from an isolated book to support a professional publicist. However, you may be able to find a local public relations firm that would take on book promotion, and there are a few national-level companies that include book promotion in their specialties. These can be found in a careful and patient Internet search. Examples of such firms are Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists, which can be found at http://www.bookpros.com/, and Five Star Publications, which can be found at http://www.fivestarpublications.com/marketing.php.
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What can I do to help publicize my book-signing events?
Setting up newspaper announcements and radio and television interviews to coincide with a coming book-signing event will certainly entice a few people to peruse and possibly buy a book. Just in case such media coverage is not so easily attained or is not possible, there are things an author can do to advertise the book signing. If the publisher has not or cannot supply table posters for the book, something the author should seriously consider is to have posters printed by an inexpensive print shop such as Kinkos. One poster will do if the author remembers to retrieve it when the event is finished. The poster should show a color cover of the book along with much the same information as the press release provides. It should be eye catching. A bookstore can use it to set up a display that advertises the coming book signing. At the same time the poster is printed, some bookmarks can be printed showing the cover, Web site URL, publisher’s name, the book’s ISBN, and other pertinent information. Another thing an author can do if he/she has a computer and color printer is to make up flyers advertising the book signing. These should have a small cover graphic and should include the date, time, and place of the event. They can be mailed out to friends and acquaintances and can be placed in coffee shops, stores, and any place where people who are likely to be interested in reading a book of this genre gather. Bookmarks can be included along with the flyers. The bottom line is to get the word out so people will come. Combining the signing with another relevant event that would draw people in its own right can also maximize attendance at a book signing. Be sure to wear a smile and be willing to answer questions about you and your book. For the most comprehensive book-signing tips, go to the site of book-signing guru Larry James at http://www.celebratelove.com/booksigningtips.htm.
How should I try to arrange for radio or television interviews on my book?
To arrange for radio or television interviews for your book, send a synopsis of the book along with the press release and cover letter to the station program director. You can usually locate the name of the program director from the station’s Web site (which you can find through the Kidon Media Web site at http://www.kidon.com/media-link/usa.shtml) or by calling the station using telephone numbers you find in the telephone book (see http://yellowpages.com/Index.aspx). You should get better results by contacting someone who works with the station’s program directly rather than addressing your cover letter to the station manager. Let the individual know you are willing to be interviewed at his/her convenience. You can offer a list of questions for the interviewer to ask.
Are there some face-to-face venues in which I can talk about my book and promote it?
Speaking engagements, workshops, and readings are good ways for an author to market. Social Clubs are often open to special guests and speakers at their meetings. Libraries and bookstores are often looking for authors to make personal appearances to conduct writing workshops or readings. Schools are another potential outlet, especially if the work is appropriate for youths. Senior Center programs are a great venue if the book can at all be related to their interests. The bottom line is to get out and talk about the book. An author should be sure to take along a stack of books to sign and sell to potential readers.
How can I use the Internet to help promote my book?
Web marketing is critical in the age of the Internet and no less so in the world of books, where readers are bombarded with options but have a finite time to read. At the base, authors should have their own Web sites—containing content they themselves control—that advertises their book(s). This should be a place where potential customers can go and read an excerpt or reviews, learn more about the author, and order the book through a bookstore.
If an author isn’t well versed as a Webmaster—and has no inclination to learn what has become a fairly easy procedure—it would be worth the nominal monthly fee to pay a good Webmaster to design and host a Web site. Just having a Web site isn’t enough, however. The site will need to be listed on search engines and directories around the world. It will need keywords and site titles appropriate for the search engines to find the site. What an author can do is devote several hours a day searching for sites on the Web where he or she can place a link to the URL (Web site address) of his/her own Web site. These can include sites that specialize in the same subject matter as the book, review sites, reader sites, ad sites, and any other appropriate Web site that will allow a link. Check out author-friendly sites and write articles for e-zines, or post excerpts of your book where appropriate. Join online writer groups and message boards, and while on such message boards, exchange marketing tips and be willing to offer advice—and accept it gracefully and gratefully.
How can I directly promote my book without spending a lot of money?
Here are some techniques you can use to promote your book cheaply. What must be kept in mind, however, is that promotion techniques such as these will produce a limited number of sales; these suggestions are not appropriate for a national-level promotional campaign, which could not be accomplished without spending a large amount of money—unless, by some miracle (which happens occasionally) the book was picked up and spread by Internet/media buzz.
1. Take advantage of the "six degrees of separation" concept—make a list of everyone you know who could conceivably be interested in your book and/or help in its promotion some way and make sure they know about the book and that any help they can give you will be appreciated. (If some of them will just call the local big box bookstore and order their copies of your book; that will help.)
2. If you belong to a church or other community organization and your book is appropriate for those folks, make sure they know about your book and have an easy way to buy it—either a bit cheaper from you (and signed and personally inscribed) than retailed or at a church or other charity fundraiser, where you can share profit—or give all your profits—to a worthy project.
3. This is the time to join a writer’s group and to do a reading there and talk up your book.
4. Have a copy of the book under your arm wherever you go—keep a box of books in your car trunk. Without crossing the pest line, be prepared to talk about and talk up your book in any venue.
5. An M. J. Rose (her books, which are particularly helpful, are listed on the resource list below) favorite—go onto the chat boards and show interest in other people and in what they are doing. At some point, they’ll start showing interest in you and in what you are doing. And guess what you are doing? (Selling your book.)
6. Find out what Web sites will let you plug your book for free and list it there.
7. Exposure of the book cover is very important. Get someone with a good color printer to provide multiple copies of a blowup of the book cover and pin it to public bulletin boards around the area (with, of course, clear instructions on where the book can be purchased.)
8. Find out what Web sites will review your book for free (e.g., http://www.scribesworld.com/index.htm—a list of such online book review services is provided in the Internet links resource section below) and apply for them to do so. (This, of course, isn’t free. Most of them require a nonreturnable print copy of the book.)
9. Explore how your book fits with local community and school programming and offer to do programs for free. Include contests that play off your book and give a book as a prize. (Again, not totally costless.) If the book is at all applicable to seniors, offer to do programming with a signing at senior centers and retirement communities.
10. If there’s any kind of book event going on in your vicinity, try your best to get on the program.
11. Do what you can to get an article on you and your book into your local newspaper. Make sure that if anything else you are doing is newsworthy enough to get into the paper that you manage to get your book plugged there in the process.
12. Get as many bookstore signings as possible.
13. Get on a local radio "drive-to-work" show. (Brehony and Jones, in Up the Bestseller List!, listed in the print resource list below, claim this is easier to do and more effective in sales than most people think.) Similarly, try to get a plug on your local TV station.
14. Although this too costs money, a new activity is to leave copies of the book lying around in public areas, as if they were dropped by accident. Supposedly this heightens the familiarity with the book. |
How do I get my book into bookstores?
The only assured way to get your book into bookstores is to get it published by a traditional publisher that has sales agents who promote books directly to bookstore chains and that has good store discount and returns policies. Bookstores normally take books to sell from publishers on what is more a consignment arrangement than direct purchase. They order books on a contracted returns policy with an understanding that they can return the book (often by returning only the cover and destroying the book contents) for full reimbursement if the book does not sell within a time frame chosen by the bookstore (and most bookstores just don’t pay their book purchase bills until/unless they already sold most of the books they’ve taken).
An author who self-publishes or who has a book produced by a POD production service can usually only get this book into a bricks and mortar bookstore by establishing such a returns policy and by personally negotiating with individual bookstores to carry the book (or by buying the bookstore). Such large chains as Barnes & Noble and Borders have very strict, centralized policies and procedures on book adoption that have to be negotiated by the single author who wants to get a single title directly stocked in an individual branch of the chain or a regional collection of bookstore branches. It thus becomes almost impossible for an author who is not published by a traditional publisher with book agents and an acceptable returns policy to get a book stocked beyond the highly localized area—and even then the local bookstore must be extremely author friendly to agree to stock the book.
I read that the publisher doesn’t promote its books anymore and now the author has to do this him/herself. What’s with this?
There are two parts to a response to this. It’s true that if you self-publish or have your book produced through a POD producer, you are largely on your own for the promotion of that book. It’s also true that when you are contracted with a traditional publisher, you will need to at least help promote your book and should consider what you can do to promote your book above what the publisher is doing. But that doesn’t mean that the publisher is doing nothing—or even that the publisher isn’t providing the objectively viewed level of promotion your book deserves in consideration of the book’s market potential. Of course, every author assumes her/his book is the only important one being promoted, but that isn’t a view the market is likely to share.
When a traditional publisher contracts your book, this becomes the publisher’s book just as much as yours. They have taken the risk and laid their financial future on the line on that book. It’s certainly true that the author has to join in the promotion, but to take the "author has to do it all" or "is doing it all" or even that the author "has to do most of it" route is just not objective. Good publishing houses, big and small, have marketing departments that are doing the bulk of the promotion no matter what individual effort the author puts into it—and are doing their jobs more or less in ways the author doesn’t come anywhere close to realizing—and apparently that the author doesn’t always appreciate.
Consider the following illustration of what a typical big publishing house is providing as a base of promotion for your book even before any charges are expensed to that book’s individual promotion account:
Say your book is published by Simon and Schuster. It says that on the spine.
Your book automatically gets into bookstores nationwide (and maybe beyond). You can fairly easily get the book reviewed. Your book is readily accepted as worthy of consideration. Your book gets into the catalog of a respected publisher, and that catalog, the base of bookstore ordering routines, travels far and wide. When the regional sales agents of S&S travel their routes, your book is in their cases and gets shown to buyers. Media outlets return calls. Simon and Schuster provides booths at major book shows; your book is sitting there on their table.
This is promotion. This all happens outside of the individual promotion budget assigned to your book. This level of promotion has happened without the author lifting a finger or writing a check. Simon and Schuster has paid for and expended the shoe leather on this promotion.
What are an ISBN and a barcode and why are those important in the marketing of my book?
The ISBN, or the International Standard Book Number, is a unique number issued to every form of book (print, electronic) for marketing identification purposes. ISBN numbers, which are marketed by a private company, R. R. Bowker, identify the language, publisher, and the title of each separate book so that book distributors and bookstores can quickly identify the specific book someone wishes to order and to aid sales record keeping. (Remember that titles can’t be copyrighted, so there could be two books with the same title and the same author name that only could be distinguished by their unique ISBN number.) Technically, Bowker only sells ISBNs to publishers, but if you are self-publishing your books, you can apply for unique ISBN numbers as a publisher. The current price is $225 for 10 ISBNs (the least number you can buy at a time) at the least fast service—plus you would have to register as a publisher at $14.95 for the 10 ISBNs. The R.R. Bowker Company can be contacted at 121 Charlan Road, New Providence, New Jersey, 07974, and you can apply for ISBNs on line at http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/index.asp.
A barcode is a lined price code found on the backs of books and is used to scan the price of the book into bookstore cashier systems. It shows the ISBN number transferred into a worldwide compatible optical character recognition (OCR) form that can either be printed directly on the back cover of the book or on a separate strip that is pasted on the back cover of the book. The scanned lines will identify the title, author, and publisher of the book, and the use of the barcode rather than just the marked retail price on the cover of the book allows the bookstore to scan the transaction into its automated records system as well as to change the actual sales price of the book in its record-keeping system as often as it wishes. There are innumerable printing services that will print bar code strips for you if one is not printed directly on your book cover.
Both the ISBN number and the barcode should be supplied by your publisher and need only be your concern if you are self-publishing. If you need to obtain barcode labels or barcode scanners yourself, there are multiple sources for these, which can be found with a simple Internet search. Although bookstores sometimes have their own barcode systems to substitute for the printed barcode, both the ISBN and barcode are considered necessary if you want your book to be able to be sold in bookstores, and you should ensure that your publisher provides these. Since the barcode translates the ISBN into unique lines that can be scanned, of course the ISBN would need to be obtained before the barcode was devised.
How do I get my book prominently displayed in bookstores?
Most visitors to bookstores assume that books are arranged purely by whim or on the basis of some book manager’s sense of aesthetics. But, for the most part, the display of books in bookstores is highly orchestrated—and is based largely on promotion money flowing from publishers to the bookstores. There are several devices for highlighting a book in a bookstore: book pyramids and/or posters in the store window, placement in front-cover-out display shelves, placing the front cover out on the general bookshelves, placement in racks at the ends of bookshelves, and/or inclusion in an "employee’s picks" bookshelf. Other than going around from bookstore to bookstore and arranging your own book cover out on the bookshelves—until some bookstore manager discovers the switch—or paying directly for highlighted display yourself, there is little that you, as an author, can do to get your book prominently displayed in a bookstore. If you arrange a book reading/signing in a bookstore far enough in advance, you might, of course, manage to have a poster and a display made of copies of your book in the bookstore window for a few days prior to the program. |
Print
Jodee Blanco, The Complete Guide to Book Publicity (Allworth Press, 2000)
Kathleen Brehony and Karen Jones, Up the Bestseller List!: A Hands-On Guide to Successful Book Promotion (Adams Media Corporation, 2001)
Tony C. Caputo, How to Self-Publish Your Own Comic Book (Watson-Guptill Pubns, 1997) (Includes sections on marketing and promotion)
David Cole, Complete Guide to Book Marketing (Allworth Press, 1999)
Jo Condill, From Book Signing to Best Seller: An Insider’s Guide to Conducting a Successful Low-Cost Book Signing Tour (GoalMinds, 2001)
Jacqueline Deval, Publicize Your Book (Perigee, 2003)
Rusty Fisher, Beyond the Bookstore: 101 Ways to Sell Your Self-Published Book (Bookbooters.com, 2003)
Rusty Fisher, Ebook Marketing Made Easy (Bookbooters.com, 2002)
Patricia L. Fry, Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book (Matilja Press, 2000)
Eric Gelb, Book Promotion Made Easy (Career Advancement Center, 2000)
John Kremer, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book (Open Horizons, 2000)
Carmen Leal and Sally E. Stuart, You Can Market Your Book (Acw Pr., 2003)
Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman, and Michael Larsen, Guerilla Marketing for Writers: 100 Weapons for Selling Your Work (Writer’s Digest Books, 2000)
Joseph Marich, Literary Publicity: The Final Chapter (Delmar Learning, 2001)
Mark Ortman, A Simple Guide to Marketing Your Book (Wise Owl Books, 1998)
Dan Poynter, The Self-Publishing Market: How to Write, Print & Sell Your Own Book (Para Publishing, 1998)
Linda Radke, Promote Like a Pro: Small Budge, Big Show (Five Star Pub, 2000)
M. J. Rose and Angela Adair-Hoy, How to Publish and Promote Online (Griffin Trade Paperbacks, 2001)
M. J. Rose and Douglas Clegg, Buzz Your Book (Pigeonhole Press, 2001) (PDF download)
Tom and Marilyn Ross, Jump Start Your Book Sales (Communication Creativity, 1999)
Internet Links
A comprehensive summary of all aspects of selling books can be found on the University of Tennessee Web site at http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/561_lec_sell.html.
Jim Cox (Midwest Book Review editor in chief), "How the Book Review System Works" at http://midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/system.htm.
Book reviewers can be accessed on the Internet at the following URLs:
Reviewers International Organization at http://www.rio-reviewers.com/
Book Crossroads provides a directory of book reviews at http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/book-reviewers.html
An index of and hyperlinks to Internet book review sites can be accessed at http://www.wblib.org/readerscorner/bookreview.html
GetBookReviews.com has established a Web site at http://www.GetBookReviews.com to bring authors together with book reviewers
Motown Writer’s Network provides guidelines on requesting book reviews and an index to book review Web sites at http://motownwriters.homestead.com/bookreviewers.html
Children’s book reviewers can be found at http://www.writing-world.com/children/reviewers.shtml
Women reviewers of women’s books can be found at http://home.cybergrrl.com/review/reviewers.html
Midwest Book Review at http://www.midwestbookreview.com/get_rev.htm
http://www.bookreview.com/$spindb.query.bottom.booknew
http://www.scribesworld.com/index.htm.
Addresses of members of the American Bookseller’s Association can be found at http://www.bookweb.org/bd-bin/browse_bd?Country=usa&State_Name=State Name, putting in the target state name in place of "State Name."
A full listing of booksellers in a targeted area can be located through the online version of the Yellow Pages at http://yellowpages.com.
To connect to the Web sites of newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, go through Kidon Media at http://www.kidon.com/media-link/usa.shtml.
For sources on general marketing tips, see John Kremer’s Web site at http://www.bookmarket.com.
For marketing tips on self-publishing, see Dan Poynter’s Web site at http://www.parapublishing.com/.
You can apply for ISBNs on line through the R. R. Bowker Company at http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/index.asp.
Public Relations firms can be found at the Public Relations Society of America’s Web site at http://www.prsa.org.
For examples of national-level book promotion firms, visit Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists at http://www.bookpros.com/ and Five Star Publications at http://www.fivestarpublications.com/marketing.php.
Guidance on costs of publicity services can be found in Lynn Wasnak’s "How Much Should I Charge" article chart at http://www.writersmarket.com/content/howmuch1.asp.
Comprehensive tips on book signings can be found on the Web site of book-signing guru Larry James at http://www.celebratelove.com/booksigningtips.htm.
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