TWENTY-FIVE WAYS TO MARKET
YOUR BOOK WHILE RIDING A BLUE FROG
The book is written. You are no longer objective about
whether it is "good" or "bad." Now, you have to promote it.
If you are me, you have to promote it by yourself, using only
your own creative ideas and your own chutzpah. (I stalked
Dave Barry through the Iowa caucuses, to get a "celebrity endorsement," but he escaped, even though I found his lair at the Des Moines Marriott.)
I had published my first book the traditional way. It was a scholarly book about teaching, and was to be the company Bible. They took care of distribution, advertising, etc.
My second book of previously-published pieces that were mostly short humor began as a glorified Christmas card and a therapeutic way to overcome depression stemming from the deaths of six close friends or family members in six months. I got out the old humor columns that I had written and began typing. Anything that had ever "sold" (and still stood the test of time) made the book. I was just going to send it to my family and friends, originally, but it soon took on a life of its own, and I began thinking that it deserved its moment in the sun.
Now: how to promote? Here are 25 suggestions, which have been serving me
well, to date.
When coupled with the money I originally made selling the pieces, I will (at
the very least) "break even" on the $1,700 spent bringing the book in to the world:
1) Have a large blow-up of the cover made at Kinko's. This will cost around $80, but, if you use it 8 times, you are money ahead. You will also "stand out" at any book signing where other authors are involved. I attended one with about 10 authors, and I was the only one of the group who sold a single book. (I sold 3 in 3 hours; hardly a landslide.) You might want to also have some smaller ones made (@ $20 a pop) that you can put on windows the day of your book signing(s).
2) If you have ever won a large loving cup the size of your head for your poetry, (as I have), which you have absolutely no (other) use for, fill it with candy. People love free food.
3) Work the network of people you know who can get you or give you "free" air
time. In my case, I appeared on the CBS affiliate (Channel 4) for one-half hour on a current affairs program and on a live NBC program (Channel 6) called "Paula Sands, Live!" which airs every day at 4:00 p.m. In one day, that appearance "moved" 6 books (of the 10 on Border's shelves). Paula is the Oprah of book-selling in our community.
4) Don't be discouraged by poor sales at book signings. Don't believe anyone
who says, "This is a bad book." BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! BELIEVE IN YOUR BOOK! Your book is (at least) as deserving and as "good" as anybody else's. (Just think of the tripe you have paid good money for at bookstores, over the years!)
5) DON'T try dressing up as the Cat-in-the-Hat and reading that story to children, to be followed by a book signing. (By the time I got the make-up off, everyone had split. Besides, one kid ran screaming from the room, refusing to pose with "the Cat." And it's hard to drive with a large stuffed tea-pot on your head. You have to recline the chair of your car and lean to the left. Very risky.)
6) Are you political? The Mayor of East Moline named me a GEM.. ."Great East Moliner".. .and we timed that to coincide with my book signing, complete with a press release from his office suggesting that a profile be done, which it was.. .because of his press release.
7) So... .(see #6)... a profile was done (thanks to the Mayor), in the Illinois ("Daily Dispatch") paper. The Iowa paper ("The Quad City Times") had done one on December 6th, which was very nice and gratifying, but not very well-timed. Great article. Should have waited to ask for it till closer to the date of the book signing. REMEMBER: TIMING, in life, IS EVERYTHING! (Howard Dean has found this out the hard way.)
8) When you appear on a local show (as mentioned above), which I did on February 6th on the morning B100 radio show, take gifts and a "thank you" note. You can take whatever you want as a gift (doughnuts, whatever), but I had small "mini" bottles of zinfandel made up with my own label on them, and they are quite popular. I have been using them for the TV appearances (in a gift bag), as well. I will take a couple to the Border's store manager(s) to thank them for their efforts, as well. If you really bomb, you can always go
home, get some out and drink them. I find them great for travel, cheering up, and for gifts. There is a message on the side about wishing the recipient "Health, Wealth and Happiness." What they really want is a drink. And you have just provided it!
9) If you teach at a college, (as I do), offer your students Bonus Points to show
up to cheer you on. Remember: it isn't just whether they buy your book. It's whether you pack the store. You are the "loss leader." If you can bring in 75 people to the store, as I did, the store will have you back for your NEXT book signing. Nearly all of my students showed up; they were not required to buy the book, just to show up.
10) Enlist girlfriends in your old hometown to help you get publicity. Thanks to their efforts, my book signing in Independence, Iowa, came complete with a front-page story in our hometown newspaper and I sold beaucoup books. (And I had not been home in 44 years, except to bury my parents!) I even had to have "runners" taking books to the local nursing homes, which tells you something about my audience. And me. (Now I'm depressing myself again.)
11) If you are really shameless, and your book title happens to be a song title as
mine is ("Both Sides Now"), and you know how to play one, take the accordion you inherited from your dying cousin and play "Both Sides Now" to the amusement and edification of the troops. It will definitely draw a crowd! (Your students will come for the humiliation factor alone).
12) Give each of your (college) students 5 flyers to distribute. Tell them that they
can just put them on bulletin boards in the building, should they not wish to have to run around town doing this.
13) Take your own (home-made) flyers with you and ask each merchant with
whom you do business if you can post one. What's the worst thing that can happen? They say no and you move on. (I got a new hair-dresser after my old one said "no," but I like the new one better, anyway).
14) Use any e-mail addresses you have. I had those of Delta Kappa Gamma, EWG
Women's Golf League, all my colleagues at six area colleges, my country club, all my former customers at the Sylvan Learning Center over 16 years in business, and the Dean-iacs. If you go to a conference where you have a table or booth, (as I did to Poetry.com in Washington, D.C., when I won an award for a poem in the book), put a notebook out and collect the e-mail addresses of people who would like to be notified when the book is "out." I did have business cards and book marks to give them at that time, but the book was not
ready yet. Then, contact them by e-mail, which is free.
15) Near the day of your book signing, use voice-mail to call any of the teaching colleagues you actually "know." (Heck! If you have time, call the ones you DON'T know.) I called the President of the College; he didn't come.
16) Get permission, but put flyers in the mail boxes of all your teaching colleagues.
17) If bookstores shut you out, find another venue. For me, banks and libraries worked. In fact, the book signing I have at MetroBank, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, is tied in with their awarding of a $2,500 Travel Voucher if you come in the store. In this way, we are "cross marketing," as I mentioned MetroBank's 100th birthday on every radio or TV show on which I appeared.
18) Do something outrageous when at the book signing, such as (at Xmas time)
wearing reindeer antlers that light up, or, likewise, shamrocks that light up. (This is for humor writers; if you just wrote "War and Peace," stop and think about it.)
19) Try to get someone to review it who is a well-known celebrity-type person in
your area. Only do this if the review is going to be good.
20) Pay for what you can afford. After I appeared "live" on a morning radio show, we cut commercials to run the day before and the day of the book signing event. They were $10 a spot. When I do the book signing in the bank lobby, we will split the cost of about $200 of spots. (20 spots)
21) Ask all your former staffers to distribute flyers wherever they may go. Do this
at a get-together that you host.
22) Always have books (and flyers) with you.
23) Purchase the professionally-produced post cards and send them to anyone in
your Christmas card list or address book, telling them when you will be where, and try to get this information in the regular papers, as well, for free.
24) Be creative! My last "ad " will feature me atop a 300 Ib. Big Blue frog, with the slogan, "Hop on down to MetroBank to get your copy of "Both Sides Now" autographed by Connie Corcoran Wilson and register to win a $2,500 Travel Voucher." This will run in a local magazine that my former customers at the Sylvan Learning Center always read. Somehow, I think they will notice this color picture, even though it is small. (After all, how many people OWN a 300 Ib. Blue Frog?)
25) If there is a regional newspaper with lower rates that is devoted to "Entertainment News," as there is in our area, use it to place small ads just before the event, and get on their "Community Calendar," which is free.
Those are my (most recent) "Twenty-Five Ways to Market Your Book While Riding a Frog." If you have a Chicago cow, instead, try that!
Author: "Both Sides Now"
Faculty: Eastern Iowa Community College
www. ConnieCorcoranWilson.com
