Tag: book marketing

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Writing and Publishing

What’s More Important, Your Book or Your Platform?

Most writers, myself included, would prefer just to write. We don’t want to pitch, sell, or market our book or ourselves. Some may not even want to blog, develop a social media following, or build a platform. Yet, the reality is writers need a platform, a vantage from which to gain a following and move books.

Sadly, in most cases, the platform is more important than writing. Really.

A person with a great platform and a not so great book is in a better position than a person with an excellent book and a small platform. Really.

If a writer’s best work still needs more work before publication, help is available. Editors, collaborators, and even ghostwriters can come in and rescue a needy manuscript. If that author has the means to promote and move books, a publisher will go to the trouble and expense to shore up their weak writing.

However, a well-written book by an author with no platform will seldom receive much attention from a publisher. Even if the writing is great, they will still be reluctant to publish it; the risk of losing money is too high if the author doesn’t have the means to move books.

Though it pains me to say it, if you want a book deal from a traditional publisher, focus on the platform first, and then worry about writing. Really.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Capture Email Addresses

A key to using your website as a book-selling, platform-building tool is to capture email addresses. You will use these email addresses to regularly communicate with your followers, such as through a monthly newsletter. Keep them up-to-date on your writing and share interesting or helpful content. Then, when your book is ready, let them know. They will be more likely to read your email because you have been in regular contact with them.

Offer Them Something: You can just ask for email addresses, but most people won’t share this information without receiving something in return, such as a free e-book or a subscription to your newsletter.

Provide Assurance: For those who may waiver, assure them you won’t misuse their email address. Let them know you will not share it in any way with anyone else, that you will not spam them with irrelevant content, and that they can unsubscribe at any time.

Follow Through: Provide what you promised (a free book or newsletter), when you promised (either right away or each month), and do what you promised (don’t share their email address or spam them; honor unsubscribes).

Logistics: When they give you their email address, have them sign up directly through your email platform. (I use MailChimp.) It will automatically handle the verification (that is, the double opt-in procedure), handle unsubscribes, and maintain the database. Use the final step in the sign-up process to provide a link to your e-book or incentive.

Example: You may have noticed, that I’m not following my own advice on this site, but I am doing it on my main website and blog. So check that out as an example – and feel free to sign-up for my newsletter and get my free e-book!

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

The Third Key of Book Publishing is Marketing

There are three facets of book publishing: writing the book, producing the book, and promoting the book. This final step of marketing is one that most authors would just as soon skip. But if people are to read what we write, we must promote our work.

Here are some articles about marketing to help with the task of book promotion. Though these offer generic marketing instructions, the principles are applicable to authors and publishers. As you read them, think about your book as a business.

This list is just a start, but it will help us to just that: get started.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Six Pointers about Book Promotion

The new reality in book publishing is that authors need to promote their own books. This is true for both self-published and traditionally published authors. Yes, traditional publishers may make some efforts to market your book, but the bulk of the work falls to the author; publishers expect this, and writers need to accept this.

Here are some thoughts about book marketing and promotion:

1) You Must Promote: As I covered in the introduction, authors must promote their books if they are to realize any degree of success. Accept this reality, and embrace it. Now the issue becomes how.

2) Follow What Others Have Done: Seek out other authors like you: others writing in your genre and at the same point in their career. Look at what worked for them, and emulate it. These things may also work for you. However, keep in mind two thoughts: 1) Only copy what worked; don’t copy what didn’t (it’s amazing how often people actually do this); 2) Don’t mimic an author who writes in a different genre or who is better known than you; their techniques may not apply to your situation.

3) Beware Wary of Courses: We gravitate towards success. When a best-selling author offers to share with you—often for a price—the exact steps he or she took to promote their book, ask two questions: 1) Is their situation the same as yours? 2) Have they done this more than once? This isn’t to imply that all book promotion courses are bad, but if the instructor hasn’t done this over and over for multiple authors, it’s more likely that their experience is more a factor of fate and not something that you can replicate. There are exceptions – but not often.

4) Make a Plan: As the saying goes, “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” When it comes to marketing your book, don’t wing it. You must have a plan and you must execute it with precision.

5) Follow Your Heart: Sometimes you need to do what’s right for you and not follow conventional advice. If one method of book promotion will suck the life out of you, then avoid it. Don’t pursue a mismatched marketing plan that will leave you dry and wanting to abandon your art. Though this may mean fewer sales, it will also make for a happier you.

6) Individual Results May Vary: What worked for one author in one situation will work differently for you. Promoting books can be turned into a formula but success cannot. Success is a part effort, part plan, part circumstances, and part providence.

By approaching the marketing of your book with an informed perspective and realistic expectations, promoting your book can be less taxing and more productive.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.