The single most effective marketing method for book sales remains the power of a personal recommendation. It’s advertising you just can’t buy. Hence so much focus on reviews and endorsements for your book. This also explains the current appeal of social media marketing in an author’s marketing toolkit. If your friend on Facebook likes a book, you might too. Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, and Twitter are sexy new ways to gain exposure for you and your book. LinkedIn and especially GoodReads rely on the sales principle of recommendations for books through your professional networks and social circles. But authors shouldn’t be distracted by bright shiny objects over the power of personalized email messages. Publicity is one thing. Sales are another. A personal email closes a book sales deal better than social media. Converting hits into sales is most effective with email. Email is effective because it’s permission-based. Sending out unsolicited emails is called spam. An author needs to start building a list of email contacts who opt-in to receive messages about you and your writing projects. People on your email list have given you a green light. They’ve already bought into your project and are invested in its success. Authors need to invite visitors to their website and blog to subscribe by email. All those contacts are potential customers and you and your publisher will work together toward getting your book into the hands of these readers. One of the most effective ways of converting contacts into book buyers is…
Everyday my email is flooded with a rush of correspondence. There’s a seemingly endless stream of messages all day, every day. Yours, too? Do you sometimes wonder whether your message disappeared into cyberspace because you did not receive a response? Did they end up in a spam folder? Is no response a “no”? How are the email messages you send handled by recipients who are… [Read More]
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More than 75 years ago, Richard Halliburton set sail in a Chinese junk, “The Sea Dragon,” hoping to arrive in time for the San Francisco Golden Gate International Expo. Instead, he vanished without a trace when his craft sank in March 1939. Halliburton had been a household name since 1930, known for his bestselling books published by Bobbs-Merrill. The first biography written about this nearly… [Read More]
Contemporary poetry strays from traditional ideas of a poem: rigid structure, definitive rhyme scheme, commonly about nature or love. Poetry exemplifies and dissects certain internal states, tracing racial, political, and gendered themes of universality and solitude. At my university, I’m currently enrolled in a class dedicated to Contemporary American Poetry where we discuss the complexities of this genre. I’ve found studying poetry makes me a… [Read More]
This past Saturday, May 14, Jill Swenson and I attended the Lakefly Writers Conference in Oshkosh, WI. This was my first time attending a literary conference and I experienced the joy of participating in a community of Wisconsin writers. Sponsored by the Friends of the Oshkosh Public Library, the Lakefly Writers Conference is named after the insects which annually appear briefly in early May along… [Read More]
Who should you send a query letter to? Agents – If you are writing fiction, memoir, or a children’s books, you must have an agent who will represent your work to publishers. Publishers – If you are writing nonfiction or poetry, you can query the publisher. TIP: Research the agency or publisher. Visit their website and check their submission guidelines. How do I find… [Read More]