Why did you write your book? The answer is very important - it is your motivation (your purpose or passion) -- and that will influence your marketing mix.
Each author's reasons for writing are unique. Some want to change the behavior of others (possibly by teaching the reader about health or religion or politics). The simple desire to entertain is the motivating force for some writers, while many others feel compelled to record memories of a time and place they cherish. A book can be an essential tool to build a consulting or public speaking career. It could be the proud unveiling of a lifelong compulsion to create poetry or invent a sci-fi series. Some people use the independent (self-) publishing process as a market test, hoping to attract the attention of a film producer or impress the acquisitions editor at a major publishing house. Your motives may have some urgency, or may have the long-term time frame of introducing a romance trilogy or series of thrillers. A few writers blatantly proclaim their quest for fame and fortune, while others value their privacy and time too much to thrust themselves 100% into promotional efforts. All are valid reasons, none better than others.
PLANNING THE MARKETING MIX
At its most basic, if you have a simple marketing plan, you'll be way ahead of most other self-promoting authors and many industry pros because you'll have a clear overview and can focus on those factors you've decided to emphasize. As important, you'll have decided, and are comfortable with the decision, on what not to do.
Here's a delicious story to illustrate how to concoct a great marketing mix.
THE GREAT TASTE OF MARKETING SUCCESS!
Back in 1981, Joan Bidinosti and Marilyn Wearring, two women living in rural Ontario, decided to create and market "the best book we could. We did a lot of research and really thought things out," Joan told me. "We wanted to make a book that we liked. We wanted to be proud of it, then hoped other people would like it. Making money really didn't enter into it." They ignored conventional wisdom in the publishing trade and created a book on a single theme: muffins. Muffins: A Cookbook [ISBN 0969134509] didn't have photographs (another no-no), nor a hard cover. Instead they created a quite small, handy, coil-bound book. They tested every recipe thoroughly, had only one recipe per page and the page number clearly visible in large type. Directions were numbered and simply explained. The oven temperature and baking time were at the top.
Baking tips were printed on a colored sheet of paper inserted at the book's center - this helped cooks navigate by remembering if a favorite recipe was before or after the middle. Joan's daughter, Susan, created whimsical drawings for the cover and insides.
They knew the ideal gift price: $4.95, and found a printer who could work within their budget. One thousand copies were printed, a few letters sent to the local media, and the two authors took the first copies to a gift store and a book store. Marilyn sold copies to her friends at the curling rink and exercise class, who came back to buy more copies for their friends. Within a week, the local TV news program ran a short item, which prompted the newspaper to run a full-page story.
From that point on, the two authors had a tiger by the tail. During the next decade, they sold over 200,000 copies of Muffins: A Cookbook, plus 60,000 copies of a sequel called Salads: A Cookbook.
Looking back, Joan can reminisce about dozens of successful marketing initiatives. The authors made hundreds of personal sales appearances in department stores, bookstores, gift shops, trade shows ... always passing out delicious samples and always selling large quantities of books.
There was a sheet on the last page of the book, providing an address for ordering more copies, with a discount for ordering 5 or more. "It was word-of-mouth through friends who liked everything about it that sold our book," Joan believes. "We'd get lovely letters with the mail orders."
What was Joan and Marilyn's marketing mix? They had a clear purpose which led them to create - often at odds with expert advice - a remarkably useful and likeable product at an ideal price point. With that solid foundation, any and all promotions worked well. "Luck follows hard work," says Joan about the research they did in advance. By careful attention to the purpose, product and price factors in their marketing mix, these authors had a winning recipe, and achieved spectacular results.
The preceding marketing advice is an excerpt from Book Marketing DeMystified by Bruce Batchelor [ISBN 978-1-897435-00-7]. It will help any author, whether you have a contract with a mainstream publisher, or are an independent ('indie') author publishing all on your own or with the assistance of a publishing service.
Bruce Batchelor is the inventor of print-on-demand publishing (POD publishing) and author of Book Marketing DeMystified: Enjoy Discovering the Optimal Way to Sell Your Self-Published Book [ISBN 978-1-897435-00-7]. He is the CEO at Agio Publishing House (http://www.agiopublishing.com) and a presenter at writers conferences.
http://www.marketingsource.com/articles/searchcat/Marketing%20Basics
Each author's reasons for writing are unique. Some want to change the behavior of others (possibly by teaching the reader about health or religion or politics). The simple desire to entertain is the motivating force for some writers, while many others feel compelled to record memories of a time and place they cherish. A book can be an essential tool to build a consulting or public speaking career. It could be the proud unveiling of a lifelong compulsion to create poetry or invent a sci-fi series. Some people use the independent (self-) publishing process as a market test, hoping to attract the attention of a film producer or impress the acquisitions editor at a major publishing house. Your motives may have some urgency, or may have the long-term time frame of introducing a romance trilogy or series of thrillers. A few writers blatantly proclaim their quest for fame and fortune, while others value their privacy and time too much to thrust themselves 100% into promotional efforts. All are valid reasons, none better than others.
PLANNING THE MARKETING MIX
At its most basic, if you have a simple marketing plan, you'll be way ahead of most other self-promoting authors and many industry pros because you'll have a clear overview and can focus on those factors you've decided to emphasize. As important, you'll have decided, and are comfortable with the decision, on what not to do.
Here's a delicious story to illustrate how to concoct a great marketing mix.
THE GREAT TASTE OF MARKETING SUCCESS!
Back in 1981, Joan Bidinosti and Marilyn Wearring, two women living in rural Ontario, decided to create and market "the best book we could. We did a lot of research and really thought things out," Joan told me. "We wanted to make a book that we liked. We wanted to be proud of it, then hoped other people would like it. Making money really didn't enter into it." They ignored conventional wisdom in the publishing trade and created a book on a single theme: muffins. Muffins: A Cookbook [ISBN 0969134509] didn't have photographs (another no-no), nor a hard cover. Instead they created a quite small, handy, coil-bound book. They tested every recipe thoroughly, had only one recipe per page and the page number clearly visible in large type. Directions were numbered and simply explained. The oven temperature and baking time were at the top.
Baking tips were printed on a colored sheet of paper inserted at the book's center - this helped cooks navigate by remembering if a favorite recipe was before or after the middle. Joan's daughter, Susan, created whimsical drawings for the cover and insides.
They knew the ideal gift price: $4.95, and found a printer who could work within their budget. One thousand copies were printed, a few letters sent to the local media, and the two authors took the first copies to a gift store and a book store. Marilyn sold copies to her friends at the curling rink and exercise class, who came back to buy more copies for their friends. Within a week, the local TV news program ran a short item, which prompted the newspaper to run a full-page story.
From that point on, the two authors had a tiger by the tail. During the next decade, they sold over 200,000 copies of Muffins: A Cookbook, plus 60,000 copies of a sequel called Salads: A Cookbook.
Looking back, Joan can reminisce about dozens of successful marketing initiatives. The authors made hundreds of personal sales appearances in department stores, bookstores, gift shops, trade shows ... always passing out delicious samples and always selling large quantities of books.
There was a sheet on the last page of the book, providing an address for ordering more copies, with a discount for ordering 5 or more. "It was word-of-mouth through friends who liked everything about it that sold our book," Joan believes. "We'd get lovely letters with the mail orders."
What was Joan and Marilyn's marketing mix? They had a clear purpose which led them to create - often at odds with expert advice - a remarkably useful and likeable product at an ideal price point. With that solid foundation, any and all promotions worked well. "Luck follows hard work," says Joan about the research they did in advance. By careful attention to the purpose, product and price factors in their marketing mix, these authors had a winning recipe, and achieved spectacular results.
The preceding marketing advice is an excerpt from Book Marketing DeMystified by Bruce Batchelor [ISBN 978-1-897435-00-7]. It will help any author, whether you have a contract with a mainstream publisher, or are an independent ('indie') author publishing all on your own or with the assistance of a publishing service.
Bruce Batchelor is the inventor of print-on-demand publishing (POD publishing) and author of Book Marketing DeMystified: Enjoy Discovering the Optimal Way to Sell Your Self-Published Book [ISBN 978-1-897435-00-7]. He is the CEO at Agio Publishing House (http://www.agiopublishing.com) and a presenter at writers conferences.
http://www.marketingsource.com/articles/searchcat/Marketing%20Basics
0 comments:
Post a Comment