95 Ways to Market Your Nonfiction Book

1.Sell book on Web site and amazon.com.

2. Write arti­cles

a. Have copy edited.

b. Set up article page on Web site.

c. Submit articles to on-line sites.

3. Increase presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.

4. Maximize presence on Amazon.

a. Post customer reviews on other people’s books.

b. End them with a blurb about your book.

c. Set up a reviewer’s profile.

d. Investigate Amazon Web 2.0 Interactivity.

e. Make friends on Amazon.

f. Sell products on Amazon’s WebStore.

g. Establish yourself as a true author presence.

5. Blogging

a. Visit blog di­rectories and check out the top-ranked blogs.

b. Check out blogs on writing.

c. Comment; let the blogger know you have done so.

d. Answer questions you have been asked in the past.

e. Give brief reviews and recommend competitive titles on your subject or books you are reading now.

6. Internet marketing

a. Build list of contacts, and keep in touch with them.

b. Keep adding to Web site.

c. Make contact information obvious.

d. Include name, e-mail address, and phone number.

e. Make sure content is high quality and provides a benefit to readers.

f. Inform, educate, inspire, motivate.

g. Include lots of ways to do things associated with topic.

h. Don’t lecture or proselytize.

i. Be generous. Give stuff away, particularly informa­tion.

j. Demonstrate expertise.

k. Show, don’t tell, that you know your subject.

l. Iden­tify your target market; if you have more than one, you need more than one Web site. Buy several domain names.

m. Hire a Web-marketing consultant.

n. Research and register with directories and search engines.

o. Create new links to your Web site by link building.

p. Use different delivery mechanisms for different audi­ences—blog, newsletter, e-zine, Podcasts.

q. Stay active in Twitter, Yahoo, Gath­er, Facebook, LinkedIn

r. Create name recognition by submitting articles on your subject to multiple article sites.

s. Be clear but subtle about having something to sell.

t. Make it easy for people to buy and pay for your book.

u. Set up a store through shopsite.com or some other shopping cart service; sign up for PayPal or get a merchant’s account.

v. Set up a media page. Include a press release that an­nounces your book in a copyable format (Word or a text file), links to previous interviews in print and on-line.

6. Send Advance Readers Copies (uncorrected galley proofs) stamped “reader’s copy” to reviewers at trade magazines within the book industry.

7. See Literary Market Place in the reference room for magazine and newspaper book reviewers, book review syndicates, columnists, radio and television stations, book clubs.

8. Advertise in inexpensive newsletters and Writers’ Digest and The Writer.

9. Bookstores

a. Compile a list of local bookstores and visit them, book in hand.

b. Offer to do a workshop, a presentation, or a signing.

c. Help with promotion of the event,

d. Cooperate with the community relations person in any way you can.

10. Book clubs: Go to each Web site, and download guidelines for submission.

11. Elevator speech: be able to tell someone what your book is about between floors in an elevator: “My book is about (main point) in order to help the reader (main benefit).”

12. Articles

a. Make a list of print and Web publications that address writing.

b. Research writers’ guidelines.

c. Query the editors about writing free articles.

d. Learn what the editor is looking for to address the publication’s reader.

e. Use keywords so it will be found. Link to the appropriate page on your Web site.

13. Direct marketing

a. Consider hiring a knowledgeable professional to help you.

b. Develop a plan what you want to achieve, your target audience, the list, what you will offer, and designer; establish criteria for your target audience.

c. Build or buy a list of people who meet those criteria.

d. If possible, call those listed to determine if list is up to date.

e. Keep culling list; when a piece of mail comes back, remove the address from the list.

f. Track and measure results.

g. If necessary, mail to the same list several times.

h. Ask yourself: (1) what is the average order you will receive? (2) What will it cost you to mail each piece? (3) Can you generate enough money to pay for your mailing? (4) Will you make a profit? If the answers to questions (3) and (4) are no, rethink this as a method of reaching customers.

15. Networking

a. Join appropriate associa­tions for self-publishers, marketers, professional speakers, and those that cater to people interested in your topic.

b. Get involved in the organization, talk about your book.

c. Network on-line.

16. Nontraditional sales

a. Think beyond the bookstore. Other places are called “nontraditional sales.”

b. Consider spin-off products.

c. Sell not just your book, but your message as well.

d. Send free books as review copies, three-dimensional business cards, gifts, or marketing materials to asso­ciations, organizations, meetings of any kind, and li­braries.

e. Submit book for inclusion in catalogs.

f. Attend book fairs and special events (note prior caution).

g. Sell books in the back of the room when you give presentations or workshops.

17. Public relations

a. Prepare a professional-looking press kit. Paste the cover of book on the front of the pocket folder. Inside, put a press release, an information sheet about your book, an author’s bio and photo, talking points to be used in interviews, and contact and ordering information.

b. Give away premiums that display book’s cover.

c. Create your own audience.

18. Speaking engagements

a. Position yourself as an expert.

b. Line up speaking engage­ments at no charge.

19. Specialty retailers

a. Ask yourself how you will sell this kind of book? Where?

b. Research & visit stores and sites that sell special-interest books and related products.

c. Bring your own point-of-purchase displays.

20. Last thoughts

a. Go where the audience is. Network.

b. Be a walking/talking commercial for your book.

c. Remember, life is a marketing call.

Wearing My “Entrepreneur” Hat

Let’s say I’m comfortable with two of my three hats as a small business owner: technician and manager. After all these years, I have a pretty firm hold on the creative side of my business. I love writing, editing, coaching, and teaching; and I think I’ve gotten pretty good at them. While my least favorite hat is that of manager, if I’m going to stay in business, I have to wear it and master all that it implies. I continue to work hard on getting that hat to fit. That leaves Hat #3 — entrepreneur.

David E. Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited, describes the entrepreneur as the visionary, the dreamer, and the catalyst for change. In other words, this is the part of us that grows our businesses and sees opportunities. That sounds great, but what does it mean? Well, the “growing the business” part is fairly straightforward. When I’m finished with the project I’m working on, if I haven’t filled the pipeline, I won’t have another project to do. Of course, there is always the element of luck or fate or whatever makes the phone ring when I haven’t done a thing to make it ring.

That happened a lot in the beginning, and I never really knew why. Someone would call and offer me a freelance opportunity. The good news was I had lots of work; the bad news was I didn’t understand what it took to find that work. The magic word was marketing, which, to me, was mysterious and scary.

Like so many small business owners, I muddled through for years until I met a marketing expert who sat me down and taught me the basics … and I mean basics. My friend and marketing guru, Bobette Kyle, has years of experience and a master’s degree in marketing. If she talked nonstop for a year, she couldn’t begin to tell me what she knows; but she has told me enough to make me downright happy to wear my entrepreneur hat. What I once approached with trepidation, I now enjoy and look forward to doing.

What about the “seeing opportunities” part? I would also describe that as the ability to reinvent oneself when necessary. I’ve had to do that many times in the past two decades. When I first started freelancing, I wrote a great many articles for corporate publications. That was an extension of what I had been doing for years and probably would have continued doing if all those corporate magazines and newsletters in St. Louis hadn’t ceased publication. OK, if I didn’t write articles, what would I do? Well, if I put on my entrepreneur hat, I would ask myself what are the needs in the market? And what are the opportunities? The answers determine how I would reinvent myself this time.

If you don’t like change, this idea will not have much appeal. In that case, you aren’t going to like wearing the entrepreneur hat. Fortunately, that hat fits me very well these days.

Biz Basics for Writers

I just found some notes from a presentation I did a while ago for a group of aspiring writers. I shared the stage with my accountant, Jonathan Becker, CPA. The notes, taken in my particular brand of shorthand, are filled with great advice for owners of “creative” small businesses. That definitely includes freelance writers. The suggestions are still relevant, so I’m going to pass them along without embellishment.

• Bill by the hour. Bill for every single hour you put into your business.
• If a client isn’t willing to pay you for what you do, you probably don’t want that client anyway.
• When you raise your rates, don’t grandfather your old clients. If you do, you will begin the resent them.
• There’s a rule in accounting that every three years you should dump the bottom 20 percent of your client list.
• When you figure your hourly rate make it three times your expected or hoped-for income. Add to that 40 percent for what it costs to run the business. Divide that figure by 2,080 hours (working hours in a year), and that is what your hourly rate should be.
• Set up your books. Get help from your accountant if you need it.
• Creative people need to know how to reconcile a checkbook.
• Creative people should have a feel for what’s going on inside your business.
• If you’ve been business for two or three years and are going nowhere, it may be time to look for a job.

How to set up your business entity:

• Sole proprietor (on your own and doing business)
• LLC (Limited Liability Corporation limits your personal and family exposure) Set up your LLC with an attorney, and register with the Missouri Dept. of Revenue.
• Add umbrella protection to your homeowner’s policy.

Income tax:

• Fifty percent of incomes goes to taxes.
  
• Deduct anything that pertains to your business: Internet access, website, magazine subscriptions, supplies, equipment, consultants, accountants, attorneys, and so on.
• Any items deducted reduce taxes by 50 percent.
  
• Work with your accountant on what to deduct.
  
• The IRS does very little auditing at the small business level.

Marketing:

• Get on TV or radio to talk about what you know.
• Follow up on every lead.
• Return phone calls that day.
• Respond to e-mails.
• Identify your market. Network. Join groups.

Basic? Yes? Important to your financial success? Also yes.

To Blog or to FAQ?

Meet our guest blogger, Anne Wallingford, as she shares her musings on whether to launch a blog (She has at www.permissionsplease.today.com) or focus on frequently asked questions about the business of freelancing (She has done that, too, at www.aw-wrdsmth.com/faq.html). Anne is an experienced freelancer and an expert in permissions editing who integrates information from many sources into one viable marketing tool. She works with various publishers, development houses, and businesses to write and edit a wide range of material, including science articles, catalog copy, permissions, and journals.

My thanks to Bobbi for inviting me to write a guest blog. I’m fairly new to the blogging world; I’d put off undertaking this ‘new’ computer skill because, as I kept telling myself, I didn’t have the time. But once I caught up on my work and met my deadlines, I ran out of excuses for procrastinating. Except for one excuse that I think is still valid—my own web site.

I’ve had my own web site for several years now, and I’m proud of the fact that my site covers many different aspects of my life, from career through personal. There is one common thread though, that connects all the pages of my site, and that’s my love for writing. Which brings me back to my dilemma of blog or FAQ?

One section of my site is called Freelancer’s FAQ, and I’ve spent a lot of time and energy over the past few years in creating this page. My goal was to address many of the questions fellow freelancers have asked me, and topics include writing contracts & proposals, setting rates, and other issues related to the business side of freelancing.

Within the past year, though, I’ve had several colleagues say to me, “You should write a book” when I’ve told them stories about my work in permissions editing. Write a book? That sounds like too much work. Besides, would the people I wanted to reach ever buy the book? And this is when I started to think seriously about starting a blog.

With a blog, I could share my stories as well as important information about copyright and permissions. Since blogs are popular these days I could also tell colleagues about my blog and they would be more willing to browse to it for a look-see. My hope was that if I wrote something worthwhile about this topic, word would get around to others working in the copyright/permissions field and my blog would accomplish my goal of instructing while entertaining.

And that brings me to what I’ve found to be the biggest difference between writing my blog and writing FAQs for my web site. Writing a blog, for me, is like talking to someone, and offers a chance for immediate feedback. Writing a FAQ is definitely more ‘third person writing.’ So for now I’ll keep both my blog and my FAQ page. Hope to see you around at one of them!

Stop the Background Music

My father used to dislike the word “bored.” So, just to be contrary, I had my boyfriend paint a sign that said in huge, mock-typewriter letters, “I am bored.” Today, as I was going on and on about my latest project — a PowerPoint presentation — my sister remarked, “Well, at least you’ll never be bored.” I guess as long as there are new subjects to write and new ways to write about them, she is right. I won’t be.

I fall into bed at night, or rather escape into it, just to stop working. Not that all those words on my computer screen are necessarily work related. Many of them are just busy-ness that pass for work but are really play. If I billed for every hour I sit there, hunched over my keyboard until my muscles scream, I would be a wealthy woman. The question is what do I actually write?

Well, there are e-mails; blog posts; “tweets” and postings to various other social networking sites; responses to comments on my blogs or website; articles for online article sites; other marketing-related “stuff”; replies to requests for information on coaching, editing, and ghostwriting; plans and handouts for teaching; some volunteer efforts; and notes to go with mailing labels for my books. Of course, none of that includes anything to do with my other life (what other life?). If there is time left over, I do actual work.

There is something amiss here. Once upon a time in another life, my husband walked in the front door of our apartment and was bowled over by a blaring stereo. “Bobbi,” he remarked (at the top of his lungs), “don’t you think the background music is a little too loud?” Well, yes, it was, and it is. All the things I spend prime time on (did I mention addictive reading?), added together, comprise the background music of my life. And they are taking a considerable chunk out of my waking hours.

Of course, they are not all a waste of time. One must market, and many of those activities are part of marketing. But many are not. If I can design something, even if it’s totally unnecessary, I’ll spend hours designing it. I will play on Photoshop. I will illustrate things that could well remain un-illustrated. You get the idea.

This begs the question: Why? I’ve been pondering the answer all evening, and I think I have figured it out. If I don’t keep my fingers and mind occupied every single moment, I’m afraid I’ll be bored.

I wonder if I should send this to my sister, who is unlikely to stumble on it if I don’t. But, first I have to proof it; then, I have to find some clip art to illustrate it; then, I have to post it on my blog; then, I have to send it. Whoops!

Social Networking for Novices

Somewhere on one of my earlier marketing plans, I had a goal (or a strategy or a tactic — can’t remember which) of getting my name out there in cyberspace through social networking. I had help with the marketing plan but absolutely no clue what I was getting into with social networking. “Well, you know,” my marketing guru explained. "It’s sites like FaceBook and MySpace and Yahoo 360.” I really didn’t know, but I think I nodded anyway.

So, off I went to all these strange sites, where I filled out forms and invented passwords and created long, detailed, personal profiles. One the early ones I found was Gather, which was fun. I met a lot of nice people and posted book reviews and photos. I loved Gather until the powers that be changed it completely. I never figured out why they would take something that worked and break it; maybe it was part of their business plan.

MySpace was still pretty much for kids, so I skipped it. I did sign up for FaceBook, but never really got the hang of writing on people’s walls. On Yahoo 360, I started a blog, which is now languishing, since I have “The Writing Life” on my own website. Someone invited me to join LinkedIn, which I have found to be one of the best sites for making professional contacts. And. lately, I have learned to Twitter.

For my generation, I would have to say, Twittering is as strange and mysterious as text messaging in undecipherable code. It has its own version of Twitter terminology, which I printed out, and LOL (laughed out loud), it was so goofy.

Try translating this:
UR Tweet wos GR8, but I wld rather do V2V w/ U. RU up 4 that? If so, I’ll ttyl. FYI, 2nite is good 4me. TIA, BL

For the uninitiated, it means:
Your tweet (short, 140 character instant message or mini-blog post) was great, but I would rather do voice-to-voice (talk on the phone) with you. Are you up for that? If so, I’ll talk to you later. For your information, tonight is good for me. Thanks in advance, Bobbi Linkemer

People “follow” me, and I follow them on Twitter. It gets a little overwhelming, especially when I can’t remember exactly who they are or why I started following them in the first place. Their little messages — some of which are stream-of-consciousness accounts of every move they make — pop up on my TwitterDeck (downloads the tweets into different categories), always with links to someone else’s Twitter page/site/whatever.

In addition to just plain Twitter, there are TwitterPacks (a Wiki that lists Twitter members by category, geography, etc.); TwitterFeed.com (connects my blogs to Twitter and tweets them automatically); Twellow.com (where you find people to follow); myvidoop.com (where I signed up for TwitterFeed); TwitterBuzz (quick tips for business tweets); Tweeple (people who tweet, or is it twitter, from LinkedIn); and tinyurl.com (which I haven’t figured out yet).

I know I could easily make social networking (especially Twittering) my life’s work if I don’t get a handle on it immediately. I know that because it would appear that others are making it theirs. I can picture them, staring bleary-eyed into their computers, cell phones, Blackberries, and other tiny screens, texting, twittering, e-mailing, and slowly going blind and bonkers. It’s not a pretty picture.

It Takes a (Virtual) Team

In my dream of being a freelance writer, I could picture myself conducting interesting interviews, attending stimulating meetings, and sitting alone at my computer for many hours, doing what I love most. That was as far as my dream went. If I ever gave a thought to how I would manage finances, client relationships, or the myriad details of operating a one-person business, I don’t remember those things being part of my fantasy.

I confess that I made the same mistake many creative people make: I believed that if I could earn a living as a writer working for someone else, I could do the same thing working for myself. It’s a flawed concept in that writers and artists and people who bake the best cookies in the world may be masters of our respective crafts, but that is only one-third of the equation.

If I had taken courses in how to run a small business, I might have learned that earlier, but, alas, I did not. I just plunged in and began without having any idea of what I was doing. At first, I was very lucky, landing great corporate clients an earning nice fees. It was a heady experience, proving that I had made the right decision.

It is 20 years later (amazing!), and here is what I have learned, with the help of a dog-eared little book called The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Berger. The E myth is exactly what I believed when I began: if I could do something well, I could run a business doing it. I was, and am, what Berger calls a “technician” — not too glamorous a label. To be a successful businessperson, I also had to be a manager (to run the business) and an entrepreneur (to dream big dreams and grow the business). In other words, every one-woman band really has to be a three-woman band. If I’m not strong in all three roles (and who is?), I must hire people who are. Right. At those times when I was barely scraping by, hiring two other people wasn’t a very realistic idea.

Fortunately, one learns or one perishes. Some years are better than others; some things are more fun to learn than others. I will never like accounting or collecting money. On the other hand, I have grown to love marketing, especially Internet marketing. I have continued to expand the other two sides of my virtual team because I know that, while I’m busy turning out prose, someone has to let the world know I’m here, buy stamps, send out invoices, file the endless reams of paper I generate, and dream those big dreams.