Book Marketing Tip of the Week
June 21, 2010: Dr. Pepper's Birthday, First Nations Day, Lighten Up American Day, World Peace and Prayer Day, Neolithic New Year, Flag-Burning Day, Vegan World DayDetails on these days — and 18,800 others! — can be found in
John Kremer's Celebrate Today Special Events Data Files.In this issue . . .
- Knock-your-socks-off questions that draw readers in
- Real Fast Book Marketing
- BlogWire's SheBlogs.org and HealthyBlogging.net
- Tweets you can use
- Author success story
- OffTheBookshelf.comKnock-your-socks-off questions that draw readers in
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A reader asked the following question: Could you give me an example of what you would call a knock-your-socks-off question that would draw readers in?Here are a few great leads that I think worked well. These leads can work for press releases, back cover copy, catalog copy, etc.
Have you ever wanted to tell God to go to hell?
Imagine if you will a novel that combines the fashion savvy of Sex and the City with the brassy British sense of humor in Bridget Jones's Diary. Now, just for fun, throw in an Agatha Christie mystery, a Rough Guide travel book, and a steamy romantic passage or two from a Barbara Cartland novel. The result? Backpack by Emily Barr.
Would you like to live to be 100? It's your choice: Live to be 60 with a 100-year-old body or live to be 100 with the body of a 40-year-old. All you have to do is change how you feed and care for your body.
In most people's minds, life in the military does not seem very poetic. Where in the world of drill instructors, sharpshooters, and grunts is the stuff of poems?
Are you tired of not being heard? Would you like to inspire your fellow workers to greater success? Do you want to be known as the leader who gets things done? Then learn how to tell stories. If you know how to tell stories, you can communicate with anyone. And that is the key ingredient to success in any business.
Have you ever wondered how the story would have ended if the three little pigs were real? Would they have had loved ones to watch over them? What sort of home would they have had? Would they have been saved from the big bad wolf?
How did the guy who calls himself the laziest, most unemployable man in America start two companies that were both featured on Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing companies - one of them listed twice and ranked #2, and the other growing from a one-man operation to $300 million in sales and 1100 employees? [John's note: This question is too long. I'd probably have broken it down into a few questions.]
How are your news releases? Do they ask good questions? Do they tell great stories? Do they draw editors and readers into your pitch?
Would you like John Kremer to critique your news release or promotional copy? Check out http://www.newsreleasecritiques.com for more info.
Real Fast Book Marketing
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Last Tuesday, I did a webinar with Daniel Hall on how to publish your books fast and then market them within two weeks. For the marketing section of this webinar, I had three criteria on the six actions you could take to market your book fast:1. It must be doable in two weeks or less.
2. It must be capable of selling 100 or more copies of your book.
3. It must be something a novice author can carry out.
You can watch the replay of the Real Fast Book Publishing and Real Fast Book Marketing webinar at http://www.realfastbook.com/johnreplay.html
BlogWire's SheBlogs.org and HealthyBlogging.net
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BlogWire powers 2 websites that connect companies and organizations with bloggers. One is called SheBlogs at http://www.sheblogs.org (featuring women's blogs); the other is called HealthyBlogging at http://www.healthyblogging.net (featuring health-care and green blogs).These are paid services that help you to connect to 250 health bloggers and 2,500 female bloggers (that reach 30 million unique visitors every month.
BlogWire uses a four-touch approach to outreach for the blogging community they service – utilizing a community Website, weekly newsletter, Twitter and Facebook outreach to maximize non-invasive press outreach. Among the features BlogWire offers, PR pros can:
* Distribute press releases – much the same way that they would issue media alerts and releases through a traditional wire service – but to a targeted market of bloggers
* List their companies in the SheBlogs.org Blog-Friendly Company Directory – where companies can feature corporate information, stock images, and press contact information for bloggers
* Announce contests and giveaways targeted at the blogging community
* Participate in themed guides that range from holiday gift guides to spring cleaning and car buying guides
Tweets you can use
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Here are a few more tweets from John Kremer you might find of value:=> @JohnKremer Quick poll: How'd you rank most effective media for selling books: national TV, NPR, local radio & newspapers, social media, etc? -- question sent to me from @KevinHeisler
=> My answer: @KevinHeisler Me: National TV has the greatest impact. Then Internet marketing by creating relationships with high-traffic targeted websites.
=> I teach how to create relationships with high-traffic targeted websites in lesson one of http://www.tenmillioneyeballs.com
=> Don't ever scale back your dreams. And don't ever set limits on what you can achieve. - Michelle Obama
=> Want to engage people? Run a poll via http://twtpoll.com. Or create a top 10 list at http://toptentopten.com and ask for feedback.
=> http://twtpoll.com is a great tool. Running two polls now: http://twtpoll.com/mdx2ny and http://twtpoll.com/26bl4k. Thanks for
the great comments.=> For some great book cover designers, check out:
http://www.bookmarket.com/101des.htm=> A Facebook fan is worth $71.84. Details here: http://bit.ly/cPsDaS.
I wonder what a Twitter follower is worth?=> Real Fast Book Publishing and Real Fast Book Marketing - Watch webinar replay at: http://www.realfastbook.com/johnreplay.html
=> RT @steverubel How to Audit Your Social Media Efforts: 20+ Questions to Ask Yourself http://j.mp/agnhPc
=> Men are rich only as they give. He who gives great service gets great
rewards. - Elbert Hubbard #quotableFollow more of John's tweets at http://twitter.com/johnkremer
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2010 NAUTILUS AWARD WINNERS NOW POSTED. For a listing of SILVER
and GOLD Nautilus Award winners, go to http://www.nautilusbookawards.com.
The 2011 Nautilus Book & Audio Book program will be accepting submissions
in July. Please read this newsletter for an announcement. For more
information or to join our mailing list, email marilyn@nautilusbookawards.com- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Author success story
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I received the following email from a reader of this newsletter. It tells about her success as an author:Wanted to send a quick note to thank you for the inspiration that you have provided me the past two years, as a result of your book and e-newsletters.
Thanks to your tips and a lot of hard work, my book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, has sold almost 15,000 copies. I am so excited that it is getting ready to go into its second printing!
The book has been credited with helping save the lives of two families (http://www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com/saves), has been mentioned on the floor of Congress and in a Senate meeting, as well as being mentioned in several national magazines.
I have worked hard to develop some creative partnerships utilizing many of your tips and can't wait to share those with you someday. Those creative partnerships are what have helped me not only sell more books, but keep more children and their caregivers fire safe.
- Dayna Hilton, author, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog
Sparkles has his own blog: http://sparklesthefiresafetydog.blogspot.com
OffTheBookshelf.com
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A friend sent me a link to this site, which allows authors to create epub versions of their book (for the Apple ipad), and do it for free. Also allows your book to be converted to an Mp3 audiobook. Looks interesting. You might want to check it out: http://www.offthebookshelf.com. Note:
audiobook coversion costs $10 to $20 per thousand words.It is a free community where authors (published and unpublished) can set up their own bookstore, market themselves, sell books at the price they want, connect with like-minded writers, create their own cover art, and convert their books to epub FOR FREE!
Quotable Books
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Maybe you feel like your destiny was written the day you were born, and you ought to just rein in your hopes and scale back your dreams. But if any of you are thinking that way, I'm here to tell you, stop it. Don't ever scale back your dreams. And don't ever set limits on what you can achieve. And don't think for one single moment that your destiny is out of your hands, because no one's in control of your destiny but you. — Michelle Obama, first lady
More great quotes and quotable books at http://www.quotablebooks.com
Index: http://www.bookmarket.com/tipsindex.htm
Copyright © 2010 by book promotion expert John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571