I'm a published author – now what?
Unless your name is James Patterson, Agatha Christie, Danielle Steel, Harold Robbins, J.K. Rowling or one of the many other best-selling authors, getting published is the first step and only the first step (after the work has been written and edited of course). It is, however an extremely important first step – one that only a minority of the hundreds of the thousands if wannabe writers ever achieve. The problem is, that if no one buys it, it's a waste of paper or bandwidth in the case of e-books.
Authors do things backwards in the marketing world. Generally with other products, an entrepreneur will come up with an idea, research it, and if there's a market for it, manufacture it and sell it. Most authors do not look at the market first and then write a book that they think will sell to that market. They write the book, all their friends tell them it's "awesome" and then they try to sell it.
It's true that artistic people really balk at the idea of promoting themselves but, nevertheless, in the final analysis, promoting a book is really the author's responsibility.
In this series we've been following the work of D.T. Mann. a romance fiction writer who is newly published and now fighting her way through the labyrinth of marketing and promotion. Her second book "Escape from Evil" will be released January 18th on Amazon. We thank her for allowing us to use her information.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of books out there that will tell you how to promote and market your book. The Cheers author Frederick Shelton takes dead aim at the world of self-help gurus and his facetious well thought out article also applies to books on how to sell your book.
From one site, I downloaded a guide called 101 Brilliant business tips. It's great. The tips are good (if a bit obvious) but to the neophyte, they represent a bewildering array of actions that a writer who can turn out a killer novel is totally lost in this laundry list of "Effective techniques".
Probably the most important "Brilliant Business Idea" is the action call. What do you want the person receiving your brilliant me3ssage to do after they receive it? The answer is obvious- right?
BUY MY BOOK!!!
T'aint quite that simple. There has to be a why in there someplace. Why should someone buy your book? You have to tell them why they can't afford to be without it. And you have to get the message to them.
Our test case, D.T. Mann has gone the Facebook, web-site, marketing route. These are free, but may not be as effective as paid advertising. That's for you to decide. How you get the message out there is vitally important, perhaps as important as the message itself.
Right up there on the important list is "What is your market?" Who is most likely to read your book?
The Neilson Company has an excellent web-site filled with marketing information. A couple of hours cruising this type of site will yield all kinds of valuable information as to the ages and lifestyles of those who are most likely to read your book.
Summary
- What is your market?
- How do you reach it?
- How do you appeal to that market once you've decided how to connect?
- And one more thing – how are you going to measure your success? This is especially important if your using a mix of media in your promotion.
Congratulations on being published and good luck with your marketing. We hope this article has been of some help.
Unless your name is James Patterson, Agatha Christie, Danielle Steel, Harold Robbins, J.K. Rowling or one of the many other best-selling authors, getting published is the first step and only the first step (after the work has been written and edited of course). It is, however an extremely important first step – one that only a minority of the hundreds of the thousands if wannabe writers ever achieve. The problem is, that if no one buys it, it's a waste of paper or bandwidth in the case of e-books.
Authors do things backwards in the marketing world. Generally with other products, an entrepreneur will come up with an idea, research it, and if there's a market for it, manufacture it and sell it. Most authors do not look at the market first and then write a book that they think will sell to that market. They write the book, all their friends tell them it's "awesome" and then they try to sell it.
It's true that artistic people really balk at the idea of promoting themselves but, nevertheless, in the final analysis, promoting a book is really the author's responsibility.
In this series we've been following the work of D.T. Mann. a romance fiction writer who is newly published and now fighting her way through the labyrinth of marketing and promotion. Her second book "Escape from Evil" will be released January 18th on Amazon. We thank her for allowing us to use her information.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of books out there that will tell you how to promote and market your book. The Cheers author Frederick Shelton takes dead aim at the world of self-help gurus and his facetious well thought out article also applies to books on how to sell your book.
From one site, I downloaded a guide called 101 Brilliant business tips. It's great. The tips are good (if a bit obvious) but to the neophyte, they represent a bewildering array of actions that a writer who can turn out a killer novel is totally lost in this laundry list of "Effective techniques".
Probably the most important "Brilliant Business Idea" is the action call. What do you want the person receiving your brilliant me3ssage to do after they receive it? The answer is obvious- right?
BUY MY BOOK!!!
T'aint quite that simple. There has to be a why in there someplace. Why should someone buy your book? You have to tell them why they can't afford to be without it. And you have to get the message to them.
Our test case, D.T. Mann has gone the Facebook, web-site, marketing route. These are free, but may not be as effective as paid advertising. That's for you to decide. How you get the message out there is vitally important, perhaps as important as the message itself.
Right up there on the important list is "What is your market?" Who is most likely to read your book?
The Neilson Company has an excellent web-site filled with marketing information. A couple of hours cruising this type of site will yield all kinds of valuable information as to the ages and lifestyles of those who are most likely to read your book.
Summary
- What is your market?
- How do you reach it?
- How do you appeal to that market once you've decided how to connect?
- And one more thing – how are you going to measure your success? This is especially important if your using a mix of media in your promotion.
Congratulations on being published and good luck with your marketing. We hope this article has been of some help.
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