Book Marketing Tip of the Week
December 3, 2008: Heart Transplant Day, Bake a Biscuit Day, Day Without Crime, International Day of Disabled Persons, Love at First Sight Night, Telescope Birthday, Let's Hug DayDetails on these days — and 18,500 others! — can be found in
John Kremer's Celebrate Today Special Events Data Files.In this issue . . .
-- Author success story
-- Specialty retailers ... question
-- Video spokesperson on your website
-- Another author success story
-- Advertising on your website or blog
-- Another author success story
-- Free CD of John Kremer's Ten Million Eyeballs Teleseminar
-- Thank God I Amazon campaignAuthor success story
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The following story came from book publicist Denise Cassino of
http://www.wizardlywebdesigns.com:I recently got one of my young adult fantasy fiction authors a gig at a local grade school. She sent flyers a week in advance with purchase information. We set it for the last day before Thanksgiving break. There were 56 students and their parents there for a feast. Afterward, she did a book reading at which she offered a writing contest to the kids. Each student writes a story using her book's main characters. The teacher chooses the top 5 and sends them to the author who picks the best one. That winning student's name will be used for a character in her next book and will get to appear on the author's radio show! Way to keep the kids interested!
Specialty retailers ... question
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Reader Question: I have a dumb question. You often provide names and addresses of specialty retailers. What do you propose I do with them? Send a sample copy of my book? Something else?John's Answer: Sometimes I'm very naive. I expect my readers here to know what to do with the resources and leads that I provide here. That's because I assume that everyone here has read my book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. Obviously, a bad assumption.
First, if I had a book that would be a perfect match for one of the specialty retailers listed in this newsletter, I'd send them a flyer telling them why they should be stocking my book and how/where they can get it.
Second, if they didn't place an order within a few weeks, I'd send them
another letter or make a follow-up phone call.I would rarely send them a copy of the book. If they asked for one copy, I might send it, but I think a good flyer or letter does as good a job of selling a book as the book itself. Indeed, a well-written flyer or letter often does a better job of selling.
Video spokesperson on your website?
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If you've thought about having a video spokesperson on your website,
check out this sample to see the impact of a video person: http://www.
themediazoo.com/mediazoo/view.php?url=www.tenmillioneyeballs.comIf you like what you see, check out more: http://www.themediazoo.com
A similar company is Live Face on Web: http://www.livefaceonweb.com.
Or you could create your own video spokesperson like I did. You can view the welcome I created at http://www.bookmarket.com/eproducts.htm
Note that the video is a down and dirty video I just created today so it's certainly not perfect. But let me know how it works. I created this welcome message with a little javascript and a video player.
As an alternative, you could create an opt-in welcome message such as the one I created at http://www.bookmarket.com/bookpromotion.htm
Same down and dirty video, but the opt-in corner image and the hover over link was created using Corner Stay Ads. You can order this handy easy-to-use tool for only $37 by clicking on the graphic below or by going to: http://bookexpert.cornerstay.hop.clickbank.net
Another author success story
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The following story was sent to me by a reader, Jessica James, author of Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia:Every author trying to market a book has probably heard these words of advice: Tie your book to a current news event. If you write fiction, that is sometimes hard to do, but by no means impossible.
Historical fiction author Jessica James found a way to connect her Civil War novel with the hoopla surrounding the recent presidential election by conducting a poll on her website asking readers to choose the literary character they thought had the qualities to make a great president.
One of the characters from Shades of Gray ended up coming in third, but that was just icing on the cake. What mattered was that many newspapers ran portions of the press release and online sites linked back to Jessica's website for the full story. A few days after the election her historical fiction novel was in the top 10 on Amazon in the Romance/Historical category.
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird won her presidential poll by a wide margin. The full results of the poll are still listed at her website: http://www.jessicajamesbooks.com, and a full story can be found on her Civil War blog at http://www.jessicajamesblog.com.
Advertising on your website or blog
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If you'd like to run display or text ads on your website or blog to earn extra cash, check out the listing of such services at: http://www.bookmarket.com/blogads.htm.While I cannot speak for all of the services listed on this page, I know that most of them are well-regarded and reliable payers. I use a number of them to earn a little bit extra from the people who visit my website or blog. These can be especially useful for hobby websites like my http://www.celebratetoday.com & http://www.hottimescoolplaces.com.
Another author success story
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The following story was sent to me by a reader, Doreen Orion:I saw your newsletter note about the author in Hawaii. What I did on my book tour was contact hotels near my signing (as well as the one I was staying in, of course) and speak to the concierge. They are always being asked by their guests what there is to do in town. I told them about the signing and asked for their fax number. Then, I faxed them a flyer.
My book, Queen of the Road, went into 6th printing after only 3 months out. When I thanked my editor at Doubleday, she said, “I think you only have yourself to thank.”
John's comment: An active author is the greatest blessing a publisher can have. Active authors sell books.
Free CD of John Kremer's Ten Million Eyeballs Teleseminar
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To get a free copy of John Kremer's blockbuster CD, Attract 10 Million
Eyeballs to Your Website, plus five other great audios, check out
http://www.anniejenningspr.com/johnkremer.htm. Fill out the form there
and you'll get your free audio CDs plus immediate access to four mp3s.1. Attract 10 Million Eyeballs to Your Website cd by John Kremer
2. The Making of a Million Dollar Expert cd by Annie Jennings PR
3. How to Mega Launch Your New Book mp3
4. Share Your Message with Millions and Be a National Sensation mp3
5. How to Be a Socially Relevant Book Author or Expert mp3
6. How to Get Discovered by the Media mp3Thank God I Amazon campaign
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Looking for a wonderful holiday gift for under $20.00? A gift that your friends or family will love? Check out the following book offer at:
http://www.thankgodi.com/best-seller. Not only can you get a great gift for under $20, but you'll also receive many wonderful bonus gifts if you order Thank God I... on December 8th.Quotable Books
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Nice guys finish first. If you don’t know that,
you don’t know where the finish line is. — Gary Shandling, comedian
Click on the above book cover to order this great collection as a Word ebook for only $7.00.
More great quotes and quotable books at http://www.quotablebooks.com
Index: http://www.bookmarket.com/tipsindex.htm
Copyright © 2009 by book marketing expert John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571
