Three Reasons Why You Need A Book Marketing Plan 14 Dec 2021, 2:25 am

 A book marketing plan is a critical component to success as a published author.

Yet many authors tend to skimp on taking the time to put one together.

For one, they may feel that putting together a marketing plan for their book is time-consuming.

Or, they may simply find the process too confusing.

In this article, you will learn three reasons why you need a book marketing plan if you plan to succeed as an author.

Book marketing is important in crafting a strategy to getting your books in front of the right readers. It is important to know exactly how you plan to get your books read.

1. A smart marketing strategy will help you to define opportunities that are available to you in your chosen book niche. You will be able to identify these opportunities because you will have to do research while crafting your plan. This research may include locating book clubs that read books in your niche, finding magazines that you could possibly advertise your book in, and so forth.

2. A book marketing plan will help you get clear on your target audience. Your target audience is out there; and they are just waiting to read your book. Your job is to find that audience, and get in front of them. Putting together a marketing plan will help you to find out just who that target audience is, by causing you to do market research. Market research helps you to create a customer avatar. A customer avatar is a fictional person you create that symbolizes the type of person you see yourself working with, or in this case; who you want to sell your books to.

Being clear on your ideal audience, aka, your readers, will help you to have laser focus on how and what it is that you need to do in order to reach them.

3. Your book marketing plan will help you stay focused on marketing. Yes, you read that right. Your marketing plan will help you to stay focused on task at hand; and that is marketing your book. Marketing is very important. If you don't learn how to market your book, you will not sell any books, and that is the truth.

Most authors just want to simply focus on writing the book, and not on how they will market it. That is a costly mistake that far too many authors make.

Craft your plan to focus on reaching the people who are really looking for your books, and you will see an increase in your book sales.

Take the time to work on your plan, and if necessary, get with a marketing professional to ensure that you are addressing every possible outlet that is available, so that you can reach as many readers as necessary.

A book marketing plan may indeed take work to put together; however, taking the time to actually put one together will prove to be one of the best decisions you could ever make in your career as an author.

Sandra N. Peoples is an author and publisher with a business brain. Over the years, her amassed skill set has allowed her to be able to train countless authors & entrepreneurs on how to use books as a business tool to get clients. An award winning blogger and author, Sandra has been featured in Publishing World Magazine, brass Magazine, BlogTalk Radio, AAMBC, The Flint Journal & NBC25 News. She is also a Platinum Expert Author with Ezine Articles and was a Shorty Award nominee for her content.

Two Things Self-Publishing Authors Must Do 14 Dec 2021, 2:22 am

 Think back to the last time you were in a bookstore. How did you choose a book to read? Sure you have your favorite sections, but chances are you looked at the front cover, back cover, and (if you are the thorough type) inside the jacket. If you look around the store, you will see everybody else choosing books the same way. The whole process takes two to five seconds.

If you are self publishing, you may be tempted to skimp on some parts of the book publishing process. The way people choose books to read in a bookstore teaches self-publishers something very important. There are two areas in self publishing that does not pay to do cheaply; the cover art and the title.

Devote some time to finding the right cover artist for your book. If you do an internet search for "book cover design" you will get a host of websites and freelancers that offer professional cover design services. Spend some time looking at their galleries and any previous work they've published. After you've decided who you would like to work with, find their contact information from their website and ask about their availability. Avoid any "self-publishing company" that offers cover design as part of a package. Many of those are based off pre-designed templates. You're putting your heart and soul into this work. You and your book deserve better.

If you want your book to be commercially viable, then your title has to be commercially viable. Many well-known and highly successful books started out with other titles.

According to Dan Poynter, the father of self-publishing:

• Tomorrow is Another Day became Gone with the Wind.

• Blossom and the Flower became Peyton Place.

• The Rainbow Book became Free Stuff For Kids.

• The Squash Book became the Zucchini Book.

• John Thomas and Lady Jane became Lady Chatterly's Lover.

• Trimalchio in West Egg became Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

• Something that Happened became Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

• Catch 18 became Catch 22

Being a self-publisher, you probably don't have the resources to do the market testing that large publishers do for their titles. So, until you are in a position that you can afford market testing, here are some tips:

The shorter, the better; Very few titles are complex. Did you notice how the titles above use four words or less?

The title should please the ear. Did you notice how four of the titles listed above use alliteration?

The tiles above also help you create a mental image or a mood.

Reviews For Other Authors 14 Dec 2021, 2:21 am

 If you're writing non-fiction books, you should be reading non-fiction books. Why? You might ask, and you know I'm going to tell you... If you're writing non-fiction, you'll want to read in the area you're writing, to make sure your content is fresh, different, and valuable.

Don't copy their books. That's NEVER a good idea.

But do use their books for inspiration, for publication style, concept delivery, and comparison. Other writers in your industry are a direct link and connection to other readers in your industry. Connect, and befriend writers who actively promote information in the industry! They will be your best assets.

Review Their Books -

Did you know that writers read every review? They do. They may say they don't, or tell you they don't care about bad reviews, but they do. And even moreso, they read and remember good reviews - and good reviewers. They'll think about the words and thoughts from a good reviewer, and quite often even mention them on their blog. But THAT isn't why you're writing the review.

The reason you should write reviews for other writers in your industry is to improve your ability to recognize and understand good information. The better the information in their book, the better your review should be. I would even encourage you to not write a bad review - even if the book is really bad - but to find something good to write about. If it's really bad, you can focus on the good part and mention that you found some parts to be redundant or overwritten, etc. but find and point out the GOOD first. Be sure your review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble includes at least a 100 words - seriously, you're a writer, you should be able to write at least 100 words about ANYTHING.

Visit Their Blogs -

Does this writer have a blog? Or a discussion going on Amazon? Visit their blog, add comments to blog posts, mention that you've read their books, and add to the conversation on the blogs. Ask questions. Do you have any experience with other writers in this genre? Do you recommend other writers? Is there one thing you'd do differently now that your book is published? Find a quantifiable question and ask it.

Hopefully, they'll respond to your comment, maybe even visit your blog! Interacting builds connection, and you could make a new friend.

Invite Them to Review Your Books and Visit Your Blogs -

Remember the basis for your interest? Building connections. Growing relationships. Doing whatever it takes to build an audience in your industry means actually connecting with other writers. Don't slack off...

Are you looking for places to post your book reviews, beyond the book store, or your blog? There are many places to post reviews. Visit Refreshing Reads [http://refreshingreads.com], for our reviews, and [http://www.janverhoeff.com] for more information about writing your own story. Let's do coffee!