Book Sales Getting Musty?

Adapted from the multi award - winning Frugal Book Promoter
(www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo)

In the world of publishing as in life, persistence counts. Of course,
there is no way to keep a book at the top of the charts forever, but if
you keep reviving it, you might hold a classic in your hands. Or your
marketing efforts for one book may propel your next one to greater
heights.

I can't tell you how often I've seen authors who measure their
success by
book sales give up on their book (and sometimes on writing) just about
the
time their careers are about ready to take off. I tell my students and
clients to fight the it's - too - late - urge.

Publicity is like the little waves you make when you toss pebbles into a
lake. The waves travel, travel, travel and eventually come back to you.
If
you stop lobbing little stones, you lose momentum. It's never too
late and
it's never too early to promote. Rearrange your thinking. Marketing
isn't
about a single book. It's about building a career. And new books can
build
on the momentum created by an earlier book, if you keep the faith.
Review
the marketing ideas in this book, rearrange your schedule and priorities
a
bit, and keep at it.

Here are a few keep - at - it ideas from the second edition of The
Frugal
Book Promoter:

 Run a contest on your Web site, on Twitter, or in your
newsletter. Use your books for prizes or get cross - promotion benefits
by
asking other authors for books; many will donate one to you in trade for
the exposure. Watch the 99 Cent Stores for suitable favors to go with
them.

Hint: Any promotion you do including a contest is more powerful when you
call on your friends to tell their blog visitors or Facebook pals about
it.

 Barter your books or your services for exposure on other
authors'
Web sites.

 Post your flier, brochure, or business card on bulletin
boards
everywhere: In grocery stores, coffee shops, Laundromats, car washes,
and
bookstores.

 Offer classes in writing to your local high school, college,
or
library system. Publicizing them is easy and free. When appropriate, use
your own book as suggested reading. The organization you are helping
will
pitch in by promoting your class. The network you build with them and
your
students is invaluable. Use this experience in your media kit to show
you
have teaching and presentation skills.

 Slip automailers into each book you sell or give away for
publicity. Automailers are envelopes that are pre - stamped, ready to
go.
Your auto mailer asks the recipient to recommend your book to someone
else. Your mailer includes a brief synopsis of your book, a picture of
the
cover of your book, your book's ISBN, ordering information, a couple
of
your most powerful blurbs, and a space for the reader to add her
handwritten, personal recommendation. Make it clear in the directions
that
the reader should fill out the form, address the envelope, and mail it
to
a friend. You may offer a gift for helping out, but don't make
getting the
freebie too tough. Proof - of - purchase type schemes discourage your
audience from participating.

 Send notes to your friends and readers asking them to
recommend
your book to others. Or offer them a perk like free shipping, gift wrap,
or small gift if they purchase your book for a friend. That's an
ideal way
to use those contact lists you've been building.

 While you're working on the suggestion above, put on your
thinking cap. What directories have you neglected to incorporate into
your
contact list? Have you joined any new groups since your book was
published? Did you ask your grown children for lists of their friends?
Did
you include lists of old classmates?

 Though it may be a bit more expensive than some ideas in this
book, learn more about Google's AdWords and AdSense and Facebook's
ad
program. Many authors of niche nonfiction or fiction that can be
identified with often - searched - for keywords find this advertising
program effective.

 Check out ad programs like Amazon's Vine review service.
You
agree to provide a certain number of books to Amazon and pay them a fee
for the service. Amazon arranges the reviews for you. It's
expensive, but
it gets your book exposed to Amazon's select cadre of reviewers who
not
only write reviews for your Amazon sales page but also may start (or
restart!) a buzz about your book.

 Some of your reviews (both others' reviews of your book
and
reviews you've written about others' books) have begun to age
from disuse.
Start posting them (with permission from the reviewer) on Web sites that
allow you to do so. Check the guidelines for my free review service blog
at www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com.

 Connect and reconnect. Start reading blogs and newsletters
you
once subscribed to again. Subscribe to a new one. Join a writers'
group or
organization related to the subject of your book.

 Record a playful message about your book on your answering
machine.

 When you ship signed copies of your book, include a coupon
for
the purchase of another copy for a friend—signed and
dedicated—or for one
of your other books. Some distributors insert fliers or coupons into
your
books when they ship them for a fee.

 Adjust the idea above to a cross - promotional effort with a
friend who writes in the same genre as you. He puts a coupon for your
book
in his shipments; you do the same for him in yours.

LATEST FROM PUBLISHER'S LUNCH

Another Steep Drop in Sales at HarperCollins; Borders Braces for Depressed Spending
Sales at HarperCollins dropped by nearly 20 percent in their fiscal third quarter through the end of March, falling by $59 million to $243 million for the period. The unit swung from adjusting operating income of $29 million a year ago to a $38 million loss this quarter, including a $30 million restructuring charge due to the layoffs earlier this year. The drop in sales is only modestly better than the 25 percent drop-off last quarter.

The publisher is showing an operating loss for the three quarters of this fiscal year of $12 million (compared to profits of $132 million at this point last year.) Revenues for the past nine months of $863 million are 17 percent below the $1.038 billion recorded for the same period in the previous fiscal year.

Overall, operating earnings at parent News Corp. fell by more than half, with results "directly reflect the continuing weakness of the global economic climate."

Elsewhere, new Borders ceo Ron Marshall told a conference in Barcelona that US consumer spending "may be many, many years before we regain the spending levels we enjoyed just last year."

He added, "Our view increasingly is that in certain discretionary categories the total market has shifted down -- depending on the category, by between 15 and 25 percent."

He says Borders is trying to prepare itself for smaller business: "We've worked very, very hard to reduce our permanent cost structure and improve our financial structure so that we could be profitable at that lower level (of consumer activity).
Reuters

ONCE AGAIN-LOOK TO THE INTERNET FOR SALES-SPENDING A LOT OF TIME TRYING TO GET BOOKS INTO STORES IS NOT THE BEST MARKETING PLOY UNDER CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES-IT MAY NEVER GO BACK TO 'NORMAL!'