Book Marketing Tip of the Week
June 27, 2007: National HIV Testing Day
and Hum a Tune Day

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In this issue . . .
-- The Word of Mouth Marketing Manifesto
-- Promo magazine
-- YourGenie: A Neat Referral Service
-- John Kremer's Creating Amazing Friends Course
-- BookEnds Media List Service
-- The Cartoon Bank
-- Book Marketing Network
-- SponsorFest Event Marketing
-- BookMarket.com updates

The Word of Mouth Marketing Manifesto
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In its June 2007 issue, Promo magazine featured a story on how the diet book Skinny Bitch became a bestseller. As the New York Times noted: "Word traveled among vegans and college students, however, and it became a Los Angeles Times bestseller."

In that same issue, Promo excerpted from Andy Sernovitz's Word of Mouth Marketing. As CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Sernovitz excerpted the association's manifesto. Here it is:

1. Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.

2. Marketing is easy. Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free.

3. Ethics and good service come first.

4. You are the user experience (not what your ads say you are).

5. Negative word of mouth is an opportunity. Listen and learn.

6. People are already talking. Your only option is to join the conversation.

7. Be interesting, or be invisible.

8. If it's not worth talking about, it's not worth doing.

9. Make the story of your company a good one.

10. It is more fun to work at a company that people want to talk about.

11. Use the power of word of mouth to make business treat people better.

12. Honest marketing makes more money.

Now, those are some great rules to heed when planning your own marketing campaigns and building your company.

Promo magazine
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Besides excerpting Sernovitz's book, Promo also featured a long story about Scholastic's Bratz books. This monthly magazine covers all areas of product promotion, from in-store advertising to licensing to direct response. Contact them at Promo Magazine, 11 Riverbend Drive South, Stamford, CT 06907-0225; 203-358-9900; Fax: 203-358-5834. Email: promo.mag@penton.com. Web: http://www.promomagazine.com.

YourGenie: A Neat Referral Service
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I recently stumbled across a fascinating new service called YourGenie. Yeah, genie as in the genie in the bottle. Great name, but the concept is what got me: “Where Google stops, YourGenie starts: Stop searching, start finding.” I love finding things, hate searching.

Now if you are as frustrated as I am with the search-and-sift syndrome of having to spend hours sorting through Google’s results to find the needle in the haystack, then you’ll understand why I was intrigued. Google is great for finding information, but it is just not suited to finding meaningful answers to practical problems or challenges.

YourGenie, however, promises to find on-target, practical solutions for your wishes. As in “Where can I get the best handmade chocolates?” or “What can I do to bond with my 13 year old daughter?” or “Find me an ideal vacation for my family with highly diverse interests.”

YourGenie insists it is not a search engine -- they call themselves a time-saving referral service. They claim to have a way to deliver personalized solutions to your searches (or “wishes” in YourGenie-speak). I was so intrigued, I got in touch with the founders and they agreed to give my readers (that's you!) a free sneak preview. Just click here for the free 30-day preview. Let me know what you think.

Note: The link has a tracking code in it so they can begin figuring out what people like and don't like. Here is the code in raw form: http://www.yourgenie.com/yg-member-sell/1.vm?source=bookmarketblog.

John Kremer's Creating Amazing Friends Course
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On June 19th, I presented a teleseminar on how to Create Amazing Friends — real and lasting friendships with top media, key book-selling contacts, and other people who matter. If you know anything about marketing, you know that the key lies in building relationships that count.

The Create Amazing Friends course includes full documentation and an additional webinar where you will learn the secrets on how to become a friend — not just a name in the news — with top media people as well as other essential contacts (booksellers, wholesalers, catalog directors, movie producers, bloggers, website owners, or whomever else you want to know).

You will be amazed at how easy it can be to create friends in all the right places in as little as a few hours.

If you missed the teleseminar on June 19th, you can still sign up for the seminar and listen to it at your leisure. Plus you'll still be able to attend the webinar in July and get the full documentation that lays out everything in a clean step-by-step, easy-to-follow program.

To sign up for this course, click here: Create Amazing Friends Course

Here's my love-it-or-leave-it guarantee. If you don't think the first teleseminar is worth $97 all by itself (without the follow-up webinar and bonus documentation), then I'll refund your money right away the next day! No questions asked. I know you're going to like this program.

BookEnds Media List Service
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While I was presenting one of the sessions at PMA-U several weeks ago, a few publishers asked me how to build their media lists economically and accurately. Another question that popped up was how they could get an updated syndicate directory.

I recently discovered that Jennifer Stein of BookEnds Consulting is offering a personalized media list service to publishers. She has access to detailed information on hundreds of thousands of reporters, columnists, book reviewers, syndicated writers, journalists, TV and radio producers, hosts, and much more!

Each contact name costs only $1 with a $200 minimum order. Between June 25 and July 10, Jen has reduced the minimum order by more than 50%, and you may order 100 names for only $99. Tell her that I sent you and she'll take another 5% off your order. Okay, that's only $5.00 saved, but every penny counts. For more information, contact her at http://www.bookendsconsulting.com.

The Cartoon Bank
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If you'd like to use New Yorker cartoons in one of your books, you can now do it easily by checking out the Cartoon Bank. You can also license their cartoons for your website or newsletter. The bank features more than 85,000 cartoons. Contact the Cartoon Bank at 800-897-8666. Web: http://www.cartoonbank.com.

Book Marketing Network
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There are now 332 members of the Book Marketing Network, a free social networking website for authors and publishers. Check it out. Join it if you want. You can blog there, add videos, network with other authors, join forums, create new forums, etc. Lots of good people there. Check it out here: http://bookmarket.ning.com.

When I search for my name (John Kremer) on Google, my Ning page (#29) shows up before my MySpace page (#45). That's another reason why you should join this Book Marketing Network. Google notices.

SponsorFest Event Marketing
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SponsorFest helps you locate any of more than 40,000 community festivals that best fit your marketing needs. You send a request for a quote, and Festival Media presents you with events and quotes meeting your requirements. For info, check out Festival Media Corporation, 2033 Sixth Avenue #810, Seattle WA 98164; 206-381-5200. Email: sponsorship@festmedia.com. Web: http://www.festmedia.com.

BookMarket.com Updates
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If you don't check out BookMarket.com on a regular basis, you are missing out on a lot of new stuff.

http://www.bookmarket.com/onlinearticles.htm -- a list of websites where you can promote your free articles and get more exposure.

http://www.bookmarket.com/onlinepr.htm -- a list of websites where you can distribute online news releases and get more exposure.

http://www.bookmarket.com/socialnetworks.htm -- Features online social networks, wikis, blogging sites, video-sharing sites, content management systems, knowledge-sharing sites, widgets, and more.

http://www.bookmarket.com/statistics6.htm -- The latest statistics on book publishing, Internet marketing, etc.

http://www.bookmarket.com/files.htm -- John Kremer's rolodex of key contacts for printers, cover designers, PR firms, marketers, and much, much more.

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The day you really want to end all hunger, there will be no more hunger. — Neale Donald Walsch, bestselling author, Conversations with God

More great quotes at http://www.quotablebooks.com.

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Index: http://www.bookmarket.com/tipsindex.htm

Next: Big River Distribution / Q&A: marketing a POD book
great book trailer / IPPL News / Q&A: literary agents
blog book reviewer / Southwest Spirit

Copyright © 2008 by John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com

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