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In the movie City Slickers, Curly (played by Jack Palance) tells Mitch Robbins (played by Billy Crystal) that he has to find the One thing. The dialogue goes as follows:
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest dont mean [nothin].
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: [smiles] Thats what *you* have to find out.
The One thing for a book to sell well is that it must generate Word of Mouth. The goal of every tactic you employ to sell books is to create Word of Mouth. Why does every author want to get on Oprah? Because shes the biggest Word of Mouth in the market. Look at the brief list below of tactics you can use to promote your book:
Podcasting
Book Trailers
Book signings
Razorpages.com
Websites
Landing Pages
Blogging
Book Reviews
Book Giveaways
Press Releases
TV interviews
Radio interviews
Newspaper interviews
The purpose of every one of these tactics is to create Word of Mouth. The Da Vinci code is, of course, a huge success, but I didnt read the Da Vinci code until a good friend of mine said he had read it and that he thought it was very provocative. Just about every book Ive ever read has been the direct result of Word of Mouth.
Generating Word of Mouth actually begins before we even write the book. If your book isnt interesting, it simply wont create Word of Mouth and selling it will be difficult. But once your book is written and you begin to employ the tactics listed above to promote the book, if you keep in mind that your primary objective is to generate Word of Mouth, it helps you choose how to deliver your message.
For example, I was coaching an author who had written his first novel and was conducting book readings nearly every month with little success. I asked him what sections he was reading from and then I told him that the sections he was reading were not the most interesting sections and gave him suggestions on which parts of the book I would read.
The same rule applies when conducting interviews. You should control the message of any PR message and any interview. Whats the hot spot of your message? That is the message that needs to be conveyed. You have very little time to get the word out on your book. Think like you are standing in an elevator and someone wants to know why she should buy your book. Youve got maybe 30 seconds to convince the potential buyer to buy your book. What would you say?
Remember Curlys advice and find the One thing that will create the buzz, the Word of Mouth, about your book. And once you find that One thing, use it in every marketing tactic you use.
About the Author
Phil Davis has been in the on-demand printing industry over twenty years and has been helping both corporations and individuals publish books. He is the majority owner of ZDocs zdocsonline.com. On his blog, howtopublishabookblog.com, Mr. Davis discusses the many ways authors can promote themselves both online and offline and also using Podcasts on www.razorpages.com.
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