John Kremer knows more than 1001 tips which he has documented in his must-read book, “1001 Ways to market Your Books For Authors and Publishers.” Here are four tips he shared at the 21st Century Book Marketing Conference in San Diego this past weekend.
1. Speak. “80 percent of books are bought by word of mouth.” Start locally. Get comfortable and then move on to larger groups. Every book that became a best-seller (regardless of genre: business, spirituality, children’s, even poetry). If you write a children’s book, speak in schools. If you write poetry, speak at bookstores. People love buying books from the author.
2. Present as much content and inspiration as you can. The worst thing you can do is hold back info.
3. The essence of book marketing is creating relationships. Find good people to partner with.
4. Get on TV, especially national TV. TV sells books. Everyone knows about Oprah, but many people don’t realize that the Daily Show and The Colbert Report can help move a lot of books.
John is a legend in the book industry. I highly recommend his book and his ezine and his teleseminar series called “People You Should Know. Read more at http://www.bookmarket.com/tips.htm
The story ran in Women’s World, a national magazine serving my target market of women. Beyond the initial burst of book sales when the 2-page spread came out, for the next 6-8 months customers continued to tell me how they saw the article in waiting rooms, at beach houses, and in other places where such magazines have a long life. It featured food photos and recipes from my cookbook, a dramatic storyline about how my cooking method aided my return to health, and a large photo of yours truly in the kitchen. You can’t buy this kind of publicity!