Book Marketing Requires Seeing the Big Picture

Or are they just a log of work? When you've spent your Saturday sitting behind a table being ignored by passerby's, you probably chalk the day and event up to a total waste of time.

What you might not have considered: Those passerby's, even though they didn't speak to you, they saw you. If your poster boards or the banner behind you has your name, your face and a couple of your book covers, they now have an image of you in their brain.

On a local level, you're face has planted a seed within the memory of the person who looked your way. How do you plant another seed? You keep bringing your banner, your table and chair and your stack of books to that event. You make friends with the vendors around you. They begin to discover you're more than the lonely writer they've stared at for months. 

Over time, people will recognize you and be comfortable talking to you. And if your book is interesting to them, they'll buy it.

But did you pick up on it - the time commitment involved? Months. And you might not ever sell one book. But you've put your face, your work and your self out there. People are beginning to know you.

Going this route can mean a lot of Saturdays or Thursday evenings, or both, being booked up. Your car might become a full time travel wagon, hauling your goods from fair to market to event. 

There has to be another way!

When self publishing first became available, it was viewed as the "non-authors path to publishing." Having self published meant the author and their work were some how "less than" a traditionally published author. The rivalry was more about the fear traditional publishing houses were facing as the rug was pulled right out from under what had been a very tightly locked door.

Even authors who had gone the route of vanity publishing - the author paid a publisher to produce their book - looked down their noses at self published authors. 

Self publishing meant first and foremost: Your book was available to the masses. Well, at first, not necessarily the masses, as distribution channels were just beginning to form and policies had to be created to protect the interests of all parties involved. 

But then it created a need for promotion for these renegade authors. Established reviewers and traditional media outlets stuck by their bread and butter publishing houses. Bloggers held self-published authors to higher standards and easily dismissed a review requests, only wanting to host "real" authors on their sites.

Page Readers on Blog Talk Radio was created for the Indie Author. These people had worked just as hard, and in some cases even harder, to get their manuscript from desk top to book shelf. And in my mind, they deserved a moment in the spotlight.

But I didn't stop at the Indie Author. I also interviewed people who were also in the business of supporting the Indie Author with website design, how to create a book campaign and help growing their social media networks and audiences. 

Because the point of all this is: To Sell Books!

In this episode of Page Readers on Blog Talk Radio, I talked with Sandra Beckwith, creator of Building Book Buzz, a series of books and courses designed to help any author learn how to build their network and promote their work.

Sharing several tips, the first one is to start early - way before the book is published. Begin by knowing who your audience will be, once the book is done, and where that audience spends their time online. Sandra shares several ways on how to do this in simple steps.

She also shared a few "unheard of" ways of connecting your book to people you might not thought of as being your target audience. Learn these methods and you'll have a massive audience to pre-order your book!

If you're working on your manuscript right now, stop. Take a big step back and see if you're doing the right work to create the success you're dreaming about.

Make sure you've got a good plan in place and more importantly - make sure you're working that plan on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Are you really working your network or just scrolling through Facebook? Use your time wisely!

And be consistent! While it's okay to take a break from it now and then, we all should, it's not okay to abandon your audience and then expect them to shell out dollars when you suddenly reappear with a new book! Keep them in the loop - they deserve it!

Not sure where to begin or if you're going in the right direction? There are people like Sandra Beckwith and myself who are here for you and ready to help you get your plan together and take action. Just ask!