BestSellerAuthors Book Marketing Blog

Archive for November, 2008

How a book is made from 1947

Most of the publishing world desperately hangs on to any thread of the old way of doing things. Many bookstores, publishers and many authors are convinced that Google and Amazon are out to put them out of business.

Read about the current lawsuit against Google

As part of the settlement, Google will not show any part of in-copyright books online that are not included under its new “partner program,” according to Google chief legal officer David Drummond.

At the same time, Drummond claims that the settlement will help to boost Google’s scanning of books, and allow it “to begin offering in-copyright, out-of-print books for preview and sale directly online,” MarketWatch wrote. Google has already made more than 7 million books available to Internet users, and Drummond said, “We’re just getting started.”

The settlement also tasks Google with creating the Book Rights Registry, an independent nonprofit service meant to “resolve outstanding claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees from class-action lawsuits against Google,” The Daily Telegraph reported.

I take a different point of view. Readers ultimately are the market. We want to get our information in whatever form we like, whenever and wherever we desire.

The market for books will not go away, but the institutions that cling to the past are doomed. I do hope the stores come up with a good reason for us to shop there.. I do like strolling through the shelves.. but the won’t survive if they just fight progressTechnorati Tags: book marketing, publishing future, bookstores

Whether you are writing, publishing, or promoting a book or e-book.. even if it’s just in the planning stages, there are many resources online to help you get started.

Get started now with our FREE course for authors teaches book marketing for anyone with an e-book or book.

Here’s another resource.. authors and publicists put up blogs, sharing their ideas on book marketing.

Jennifer Mattern, owner of JH Mattern Communication is one such blog:

All Book Marketing is a book marketing blog addressing book
publicity and promotion issues from getting media coverage for a new
book to overall author publicity and tactics for increasing book sales.

The blog is designed to be a marketing resource for authors of print
books (including self-published books) as well as e-books. All Book
Marketing will cover a variety of writing styles and genres, offering
book marketing tips for anything from nonfiction books to novels to
children’s books.

Take a look at her resource page for more book marketing ideas

I just received an email from an author hoping to drive his book to best seller status on Amazon.

This is a common question I get.. Authors learn that sales on one day can boost them to best seller status, the know that best seller on Amazon will add to their credibility and give them one more advantage in all the other promotion and marketing for their book.

Just how many books do I have to sell?

The simple answer comes from Amazon.. Sell one more book than the highest ranked book that didn’t make the list. #1 sells more than #2, which sells more that #3.

On some days, and in some categories, there are thousands of copies of a book sold. Others categories, especially over longer periods of time, result in less books sold, and the best sellers are books that continually promote.

If you book is not selling well, going to Amazon with some sales from one day will not make for a good marketing program. By itself, the rank won’t change your unseccessful book to a success.

You spend months, or years writing and getting to the point where you have a published book. Congratulations on that accomplishment. If that’s what your goal was, you should be proud that you have a published book.. most of the authors and writers I talk to are still stuggling to get to that point.

The real questions should be Why did you write the book? and What do you want to accomplish now that you’ve become an author?

If your goal is to say that you are a best seller.. Our best seller campaigns will get you that. But I suspect that when you think about it.. you really won’t be satisfied with that as your end goal. I suspect that you are like the clients I’ve worked with.. success as an author is not your primary goal life.. You want to get your message out to more people who need it, attract business leads from people you can help, and boost your career as an author.

Most authors never make money from their books.. especailly their first book. Most successful authos make more money, advance their careers and spread their message to wide audience by leveraging the process of becoming a best seller. They follow the advice of mega best seller Mark Victor Hansen of the Chicken Soup series:

“Getting the book published is 10% of the work an author does.. The other 90% is promoting the book and author”

To be a best seller, first look at book marketing and promotion as a means to an end. Getting to your real goal.

Our authors tell us that a best selling book is the best thing they ever did for their business. The payoff comes in many ways, but rarely in the form of a royalty check for books sold. The differnce is.. successful authors have a book marketing strategy

Think about your long term strategy?

Here’s a hint: If it’s “to sell as many books as possible” you may want to think beyond that. Decide what selling a lot of books would allow you to do. If that is anything other than “cash big checks and maybe write more books” you have a good chance of getting it.

Most authors today depend on Amazon for a large part of book sales.

You will sell more books when you have your book reviewed on Amazon. Here’s some tips.

Build your network on Amazon.

Set up a profile, add a blog, make sure you have a photo and links to your email and web site. The more people who know you, the more opportunities there are to cross promote and build readership. People don’t just buy or read one book, and the ones who buy the most are already networking with author authors like you.

Review other good books in your niche.
Add a review of books you read, expecially for authors you know. There is a link on each book page (Here’s the link for “Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online”). You need to be logged in to Amazon, then

1. Click that you are over 13 (I’ll assume you are, but answer truthfully)

2. Clcik on the number of stars you want to give the book. (I almost always choose 5 stars because I only pick books I love)
3. Enter a Title. This is the headline, so make it interesting. One key point, with keywords, or maybe a question
4. Write your review. You can upload a video. This have tons of “search engin cred”.. make sure you write to readers sharing an honest point or two about how the book will benefit them
5. If appropriate, put a link to your book, or any other product on Amazon. No hype, no sales pitch.. but a link will let people read more
6. Add Tags.. VERY IMPORTANT put the keywords that will help readers find this book, and the link to your profile

Amazon is talking about the Best Books of 2008 has an interesting list you may not have seen before.

The Best Cover Designs of 2008

Authors want to believe that the old adage “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” means that they can overcome a lousy cover with great content inside.

Of course it’s true that the best writing, best advice, compelling story and secrets to a great life may be in a book with a mediocre cover… it’s also true that many books never get read because of the cover.

We teach authors that the cover, the distribution plan and above all, the marketing and promotion done by the author will largely determine whether anyone ever gets to read the material inside the book.

As an author, reader and publisher, I wish I could tell you different. I wish that worthy books, with important messages got out despite being ignored by the market. Sorry, that’s usually not the case.

Many great books never sell well, but the good news is that many authors, especially those with a sound book marketing strategy and online promotion system in place tell us that a book is the best thing that ever happened to them

Technorati Tags: amazon, book cover, cover design, selling books