Book Marketing Tip of the Week
July 7, 2008: Comic Book Birthday, Chocolate in Europe Day, American Saint Day, Hoover Dam Birthday, Lucky Triple DayDetails on these days — and 18,500 others! — can be found in
John Kremer's Celebrate Today Special Events Data Files.In this issue . . .
-- John Kremer's Free Q&A Teleseminars in July
-- A golden nugget
-- Free teleseminar on becoming a speaker
-- Wabi-Sabi Gifts
-- News Release WireJohn Kremer's Free Q&A Teleseminars: July
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My next free Q&A call-in (to answer all your questions on marketing and publishing books) will be on Tuesday, July 8th, at 3:00 pm Eastern, Noon Pacific time. You can log-in to listen via the web at: http://www.InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3491994Unlike other months, I'll be doing another free Q&A call-in on Thursday, July 17th, at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time. Log-in to listen via the web at: http://www.InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3492057.
After the events, you can go back to listen to them at any time by going to the URLs listed above.
Phone number to dial for both calls: 218-486-3696
Use this conference ID for both calls: 2092800#Note: I do these free call-in days as a service. They replace the free consulting I've done in the past answering questions over the phone or via email. Use these times to ask book marketing and book publishing questions of me rather than calling me or emailing me with questions (unless, of course, you want a consulting session). For details on my consulting services, see http://www.bookmarket.com/consulting.htm.
A golden nugget
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On BookMarket.com, I've recently added a key contact that helped one self-publisher sell thousands of copies of her book. This company sells proven how-to mass appeal books to catalogs, home shopping networks, mass-market chains such as Sams, Home Depot, etc.I have promised my contact that I would only send a small group of targeted publishers to submit books to the above company. There are two ways you can access this information: 1. Pay me as a consultant for a one-hour consultation. Or 2. Find the information. It's available for public consumption if you happen to stumble upon it or if you figure out where I might have placed this golden nugget on BookMarket.com. Think of it as a treasure hunt.
Reader feedback . . .
I appreciate all of the information you give us in this newsletter. I even paid $300 to go to your book marketing seminar in Washington, DC at BEA 2007, and it was worth every penny. But I must tell you, I resent the tone of your golden nugget post. To access this information we either have to 1) find it ourselves or 2) pay you as a consultant for an hour. We all have to make a living and there's no such thing as a free lunch, but this tone of “pay me or good luck finding this important information” just rubs me the wrong way for some reason.
John responds . . .
I figured I'd be in trouble with that item. I just couldn't figure out how to word it, but I did want to make the info available. This contact, however, is so, so important and could possibly have an incredible impact on a few, very few select books. I promised the person who gave me the contact that I would only share it with a few select people. And, even if I hadn't promised that, I would want to ensure that the company not get inundated because if they did, no one would get a deal with them. I've seen it happen before.
To answer the above objection, I'm withdrawing my offer to share the contact info in a consulting session. I'm not trying to make money on this contact. I'm simply trying to ensure that they not be inundated because then no one wins.
Please also note that any print-on-demand book would not be appropriate for this market or most mass-market outlets (the quantity and margins required for mass-market distribution do not permit POD). That doesn't mean your book is wrong for the market, only that the method of printing is wrong for the market.
The Marine Corps buyer I listed several issues ago got so inundated, she stopped answering anyone. The problem was exacerbated by some people's unrealistic view of the potential for their book in that market. I really encourage you to visit chain stores, get copies of catalogs, read magazines, watch TV shows, etc. before you approach them with your book so you really know that your book fits into their market and their current needs. Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels.
I know you all love your books and believe everyone should have a copy. I believe the same about my books. But the fact is that most books only fit into a few select marketplaces, media, etc. Trying to push your book into marketplaces where it really doesn't fit hurts the rest of us who might have a book that fits that marketplace. That's one reason so many media and marketplaces are built up walls to make it hard for you to reach them or talk to them. Sadly, it hurts those of us who take time to do our research and make sure out books fit a market. It makes us work doubly or triply harder because too many people don't take the time to do the research but just scattershot to any listing they find.
That's one reason I've said over and over again for the past five years that the best thing you can do for your book is to focus on 100 key media and marketing contacts and then build relationships with them. That means: Do your research. Get to know their audiences, their customers, their needs, the way they want to be approached, what they need from you, etc. Then and only then, contact them telling them how your book fits their needs and the needs of their customers or audience.
Free teleseminar on becoming a speaker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to get paid to give speeches? Many authors I know make a lot more from speaking than they do from their books.
To discover how to get started as a paid professional speaker, listen in on a free teleseminar my friend Steve Harrison is offering on Thursday, July 10th on "What You Need To Know To Make $2,500.00 a Day (Or More) as a Public Speaker without Being Famous." To register for this very informative teleseminar, click below:http://www.SpeakerTrainingTeleseminar.com/?10005
Wabi-Sabi Gifts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wabi-Sabi is a local gift shop in Taos, New Mexico that features gifts for the spirit. The only books I saw them feature, however, were on origami and paper creations. But they also sell Buddhist and meditation gifts, so they might also be interested in related books. Send info to Wabi-Sabi, Cassandra and David Bates, 216A Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos NM 87571; 575-758-7801; Fax: 575-758-8531. Web: http://www.wabisabi.biz.News Release Wire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Send 52 news releases a year, without per-release charges with News Release Wire and get a profile about you and your book in the printed Yearbook of Experts. All you do is load news releases into the system which then sends them out to Lexis, Google News, and other Internet news services. Save $100, when you click from this special discount link: http://www.ExpertClick.com/discount/John_Kremer.Quotable Books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. — Henry Miller, novelist
More great quotes at http://www.quotablebooks.com
Index: http://www.bookmarket.com/tipsindex.htm
Copyright © 2008 by John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571