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I am a product marketing guy, but book launching and marketing is different. Many of the tricks of the trade that are used in physical product marketing don't apply to book marketing, and many successful strategies for book publication don't apply to the physical products industries.
I tasked one of my employees with some research specifically on book marketing and launch strategies. Entire books have been written on the subject (a few years ago I sent @Red a copy of Guerilla Marketing for Writers, for example.)
I listened to a few hours of discussion yesterday that resulted from the research I had commissioned.
The bottom line is in order to get uncommon results, you have to do things in an uncommon fashion.
Here's what that means :
1. I have a friend that is a program director at a radio station. He gets dozens of unsolicited requests from authors for air time on his major market radio station. They answer virtually zero of them. Your book proposal to him is common. Not newsworthy.
2. A press release? You might be one of several thousand books "published" this week. Nobody cares about your press release, as your press release is common.
3. Stick the book on an ePublishing platform and hope that your keyword indexing drives sales? Common. You didn't work on your book for a year to just stick it out there and hope somebody finds it. Common way to go to market.
4. Build a social media following? This might generate some sales, but only if the people are interested in YOU before you publish the book. Common strategy.
So what does uncommon look like? A catalyst. An event. A reason. How do you put a topic into the national thought stream? Organic growth is slow growth. You need a driver. People aren't looking for your book. You need a movement. You need people to get excited enough about what your book is about that they become evangelists for your book. Your message. Your cause.
Kickstarter is the EASY example of a catalyst event, but Kickstarter is becoming common. Here's a somewhat dated article on launching a book on Kickstarter. 10 Things To Know About Kickstarting a Book | The Huffington Post
Think BIGGER. I don't want to call Fox News and try and get on there. I need a reason for Fox News to CALL ME and ASK ME to come on there.
You can use social media to backfill and reinforce your story after you have a story to tell. Meaning, Facebook is NOT a launch strategy. Facebook is how you increase visibility to something you have already made newsworthy.
I don't want my book on an eBookShelf. I want a book that has potential to be in every bookstore in America. But first... I have to give America a reason to look for it.
All of the research I had done boils down to a simple proven fact. If you do things the way everyone else does, you're going to get the same results everyone else gets.
A few selected statistics from this web site : (10 Awful Truths About Publishing - Berrett-Koehler Publishers)
I am working on a few things that I hope will break the curve for an upcoming children's book that I am launching in June. I can cheat the system a bit, or at least stack the odds more in my favor than some by throwing some additional financial resources at it that some might not be able to. I still though have to find a reason for the public to award me with critical mass. I know we can solve a problem, but I have to break into the public consciousness to convince them they even care. You don't get on the NYT best seller list by clicking "publish" on CreateSpace. That's the START for some, but not the finish line.
I will share the results with you all, win or lose... but I am not playing to lose. I believe enough in the message that I took the time to write the book. I don't plan to rest until I have broken the curve. The book has been a year in the making, and I owe it to myself and those that have supported the project to give it everything I can give it.
I tasked one of my employees with some research specifically on book marketing and launch strategies. Entire books have been written on the subject (a few years ago I sent @Red a copy of Guerilla Marketing for Writers, for example.)
I listened to a few hours of discussion yesterday that resulted from the research I had commissioned.
The bottom line is in order to get uncommon results, you have to do things in an uncommon fashion.
Here's what that means :
1. I have a friend that is a program director at a radio station. He gets dozens of unsolicited requests from authors for air time on his major market radio station. They answer virtually zero of them. Your book proposal to him is common. Not newsworthy.
2. A press release? You might be one of several thousand books "published" this week. Nobody cares about your press release, as your press release is common.
3. Stick the book on an ePublishing platform and hope that your keyword indexing drives sales? Common. You didn't work on your book for a year to just stick it out there and hope somebody finds it. Common way to go to market.
4. Build a social media following? This might generate some sales, but only if the people are interested in YOU before you publish the book. Common strategy.
So what does uncommon look like? A catalyst. An event. A reason. How do you put a topic into the national thought stream? Organic growth is slow growth. You need a driver. People aren't looking for your book. You need a movement. You need people to get excited enough about what your book is about that they become evangelists for your book. Your message. Your cause.
Kickstarter is the EASY example of a catalyst event, but Kickstarter is becoming common. Here's a somewhat dated article on launching a book on Kickstarter. 10 Things To Know About Kickstarting a Book | The Huffington Post
Think BIGGER. I don't want to call Fox News and try and get on there. I need a reason for Fox News to CALL ME and ASK ME to come on there.
You can use social media to backfill and reinforce your story after you have a story to tell. Meaning, Facebook is NOT a launch strategy. Facebook is how you increase visibility to something you have already made newsworthy.
I don't want my book on an eBookShelf. I want a book that has potential to be in every bookstore in America. But first... I have to give America a reason to look for it.
All of the research I had done boils down to a simple proven fact. If you do things the way everyone else does, you're going to get the same results everyone else gets.
A few selected statistics from this web site : (10 Awful Truths About Publishing - Berrett-Koehler Publishers)
- According to the latest Bowker Report (September 7, 2016), more than 700,000 books were self-published in the U.S. in 2015, which is an incredible increase of 375% since 2010.
- Book industry sales are stagnant, despite the explosion of books published.
- A book has far less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore.
I am working on a few things that I hope will break the curve for an upcoming children's book that I am launching in June. I can cheat the system a bit, or at least stack the odds more in my favor than some by throwing some additional financial resources at it that some might not be able to. I still though have to find a reason for the public to award me with critical mass. I know we can solve a problem, but I have to break into the public consciousness to convince them they even care. You don't get on the NYT best seller list by clicking "publish" on CreateSpace. That's the START for some, but not the finish line.
I will share the results with you all, win or lose... but I am not playing to lose. I believe enough in the message that I took the time to write the book. I don't plan to rest until I have broken the curve. The book has been a year in the making, and I owe it to myself and those that have supported the project to give it everything I can give it.
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