Marketing your book "isn't always about sales figures"

Today's special guest is debut novelist Eileen Schuh. Today she's going to share some of what she's learned about marketing books. Take it away, Eileen!

Measuring the effectiveness of promotional efforts

One can’t measure the success of one’s promotional efforts simply by sales—although one wouldn’t want to put a lot of money and effort into publicity activities that don’t net sales, results are often far from direct and take time to appear. 

I started my publicity campaign back before I even had a book to sell.  With the help of Cheryl Kaye Tardif’s book marketing services, I established a strong cyberspace presence with a blog, a website, and Facebook and twitter accounts.  I joined writers’ groups, participated in online discussions and forums, posted book reviews, and researched all aspects and angles of the writing and publishing industry.

Even before that, though, I was campaigning.  I was always actively engaged in multiple facets of family, education, and community life.  I travelled, joined sports teams, engaged in activities with my children and their friends (and the parents of those friends.)  I volunteered. 

Specific to marketing The Traz, in addition to my social networking notices, I sent out press releases about THE TRAZ.  I spent the time to locate the contact information for the media in my home town and my former home towns.

The very next day, the local radio station emailed me for a phone interview.  What a wonderful bit of free advertising that was!

Perhaps a week later, I was asked to read the book written by an infamous serial killer’s defence lawyer and interview the author—not sure how that happened.  Crime fiction is what I write.  True Crime is what I read and this was a great opportunity to get my name associated with important people in the industry—especially when the book proved to be well-written, interesting, and unique. 

I forwarded Smashwords coupons for free copies of THE TRAZ to those I’d met during my community sojourns who also happen to work with at-risk-children (including the commanding officer of the local RCMP detachment.  A little brazen, perhaps, but he’d expressed interest in my career when I’d handed him my business card in regards to a totally different matter.)  

Through my Special Education contact, I found out the local school is instituting a learning e-café and wrangled an invitation to slounge there come September and read passages from my books.  What a wonderful chance to not only promote my book sales but to meet my other goal of directly helping kids-at-risk and the adults in their lives.

My municipal library contacts have assured me of purchases and will advertise a reading and signing event once the paper editions of my books are released.  I’ve been tentatively invited to participate in sci-fi conferences (one in Denver) to promote Schrodinger’s Cat.  These opportunities may seem to have come along for free, but they are in actuality the results of my promotional efforts—personal efforts, paid efforts, and professional efforts.

I’m one to try new things and when I connected on Twitter with Pauline Barclay, an author blogger in the UK http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com , we decided to swap guest blogs and attempt to tap into each other’s overseas markets—a promotional strategy that will cost us nothing (but time) and has the possibility of rewarding us greatly.

Another thing I did was forward coupons for free copies of THE TRAZ to authors and reviewers well-known in their fields.  These Smashwords coupons don’t cost me anything, so they’re DEFINITELY my kind of promo!  I’ve been astounded at the positive blurbs and reviews that I’m receiving.  Again, having my name and work associated with others who are successful in this career is a bonus.

Promotion is time consuming.  It’s a slow process.  Results are slow to appear.  But the most unexpected and wonderful opportunities can and do at times rapidly appear. 

The radio station’s news director interviewing me?  Me interviewing a serial killer’s lawyer? A guest blog in Europe?  Doing a reading to teens from a lounger in an e-café?

Can life get any better?

p.s. I take my coffee black.

Eileen Schuh

Author of THE TRAZ and SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT

http://www.eileenschuh.com 

http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com

To sample/buy THE TRAZ:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005199RFE

http://smashwords.com/b/60190

Recipe for a Bestselling Novel

Wouldn't it be great if there was a recipe for making a bestselling novel and if all a writer had to do was gather the ingredients and mix them in, and voila!―a bestselling novel is created? The reality is there are combinations of ingredients that can either get your name on a bestseller's list or fall flatter than an airless cheese soufflé. However, there are some common ingredients that have helped authors achieve bestseller status.

Common Ingredients for a Bestseller:

·       1 cup of well written novel

·       1 cup of professional editing

·       1 cup of professional layout and interior design

·       2 cups of professional book cover, including gripping back cover text

·       1 cup of decent distribution via major online retailers

·       2 cups of book launch, tours and other events, plus advertising

·       3 cups of contests and giveaways by author, publisher or both

·       Countless hours of organization and time

·       Dash of excitement

Method:

Take the well written novel and beat in professional editing until light and readable. Add professional layout and interior design, then stir in professional cover art and back cover text until well combined. Sprinkle in decent distribution until coated and roll mixture out with book launch, tours and events. Top with contests and giveaways, and fold in countless hours of organization and time before adding the finishing touch―a huge dash of excitement. Share with everyone and enjoy!

Reality Check:

While the recipe above may seem kind of silly, these ingredients can lead to a bestselling novel. I know because I've used them all successfully. My novels have made bestsellers lists multiple times on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Some made multiple lists on each in a single day. 

I've also sold over 5000 copies of Whale Song, which in Canada makes it a national bestseller.

So how did I do it? I created an exciting day-long event―a "Bestseller Day"―that had enough goodies to draw people in. It was held on my 44th birthday and I gave away 44 prizes.

There are three main ways to get prizes to offer:

1.) Pay for them (I don't recommend this.)

 2.) Get others to donate them.

3.) Find someone to sponsor the event or the prizes. They pay for something you want to give away and get something in return, whether it's free advertising, a mention in your next book, or some other benefit.

The Benefits:

The first benefit of reaching this "status" is obvious. You can use "bestselling author" when describing yourself. 

The next obvious benefit is that you're selling more books, which means you're earning more. 

Another benefit you may not have thought about is exposure. When people look for a book on Amazon, they'll often search using keywords. If your thriller is in the top 10-20 of books listed under "techno-thriller", for instance, you have a much better chance of being noticed. While on those bestsellers lists, more people will come across your name and your book. The more times people see you and your book online, the better the chance is that they'll buy your book.

Becoming a bestselling author takes persistence, creativity and good organization. Follow this recipe for success and you'll rise like a soufflé. Just don't forget that last ingredient―excitement!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a bestselling Canadian author whose critically acclaimed, award-winning novels have inspired much film interest. She's appeared on television and radio, and in newspapers and magazines. Cheryl has also presented at writers' conferences in Canada and the US, mainly on topics of marketing and promotion. She's helped many authors achieve success and does so as a book marketing coach, with Bestseller Days, Virtual Book/Blog Tours and Sponsorships her top 3 most requested topics.

http://www.shamelessbookpromoter.com 

http://www.cherylktardif.com