There are several thousand ways to successfully publicize a book that I’m aware of, and some are more effective than others. For example, you can promote your book by selling it back-of-room during speaking engagements, and you may actually make thousands of sales this way. The problem with this approach is that your own involvement limits the number of sales you can make, as the opportunities to speak are scarce… as is your time. This “scarcity principle” applies other marketing tactics I’ve seen authors use – not just public speaking engagements.
Imagine how much more effective your marketing efforts will be when you invest your time instead of spending it. Think of the activities you can do that will offer you leverage. Using traditional media such as radio, TV and print can give you massive leverage.
By putting your book in the hands of other people who can reach a large audience for you, you are leveraging their audience. Imagine sitting down for an interview with a radio talk show host. How many people can you reach in one 10-minute chat? What would audiences for your book look like if a dozen radio shows picked up a press release you distributed? How might your book launch change if your interview became syndicated? What would a stint on Good Morning America do for your sales?
Traditional Publicity Doesn’t Have To Mean Boring
Using traditional media such as radio, television, newsprint and magazine exposure for your book can make or break your sales numbers. This is anything but boring. By distributing your book through channels that will automatically publicize your work to large groups of people, you are investing your time and resources wisely. Let’s take a look at how you can apply this kind of leverage to your Book Marketing Plan.
Whether you’re looking for a burst of heat from your initial book launch, or your topic is evergreen and you’ve got your eye on long tail sales, publicity can give you the leverage you need to put your book into the hands of readers. Social media and other interactive types of publicity are great for this.
Yet for most authors who take the time to draft a Book Marketing Plan, somehow traditional publicity keeps getting lost in the mix. Despite the prevalence of social media in our daily lives, traditional media is still not only an effective publicity generator, it’s often the most effective way to sell pallets of your published book.
The three months surrounding your book launch are a time of intense activity. With the right chemical mix of traditional publicity and social media, you can be sure that your book continues to make sales long after the launch is over.
A Media Kit Is Rocket Fuel for Your Book Launch
A media kit helps establish your credibility and enhances your reputation before you even start your marketing campaign. This means buying resistance to your books will be much lower. People will be more inclined to believe in you when you have a solid reputation.
A media kit is a branded set of marketing materials that’s rich with content, not hype. It includes collateral material for journalists, book reviewers, talk show hosts, bloggers and consumers. Frequently a time-starved journalist won’t take a minute to look into the media kit to make their decision about whether to cover you. They’ll rely on the summary you provide. If your information is complete and looks professional, they will simply use the material you have given them.
People in the media don’t have time to read your book, so make it easy for them to understand your work. If you are considerate of their needs, they are more inclined to cover the story of you and your book.
Include sample interview questions in your media kit. Radio and TV personalities especially love these. Journalists love to see list of tips that they can reprint in connection with your book. All media people love to use quotes and sound bites, so feed them what they want.
Above all, make sure you provide your contact information right up front. In fact it should be on every part of your media kit and every page of your website. No one should ever have to guess how to reach you.
Do you have questions about what to include in your book media kit? Click here for the 5 essential elements of a book media kit.
By leveraging traditional media, you can launch your book to stellar status join – maybe even join the galaxy of published superstars. The only question that remains is, how high do you want to go?
Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with bestselling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.