It often comes as a surprise to many authors that books do not promote themselves. And don’t expect your conventional publisher to do that for you either. The cold had truth is you have to promote it yourself. And while that may be a shock at first, you are by far and away the best person on this planet to promote your a course in miracles teachers.
Just follow the recommendations in this article to build the elements of your book promotion strategy.
What is Book Promotion?
It’s raising the profile of your book in your target audience’s eyes. Firstly you have to identify clearly what niche your book satisfies. And then you have to bring it to their attention.
Specifically the aim of book promotion is to take your book from being unheard of through to being a must-buy.
Here is a list of media and strategies that you should consider when creating a book promotion strategy.
- Press Releases
- Book Exhibitions
- Media Interviews – Radio and TV
- Influential Reviewers
- Promotional Video
- Webinars and Teleseminars
- Internet Marketing
- Membership Sites
- Social Media
- Product Launches
- Conventional Advertising
Press Releases
Press releases are official statements issued to newspapers giving information about a particular topic.
To promote your book, write and issue a press release that gives details of your book. Assuming this is of interest to their readers, the release may get published verbatim, or lightly edited.
Press releases follow a standard format, and adhering to this makes it more likely yours will be adopted. You can obtain suitable templates by searching online for “press release template”.
As many journalists rely on online pr sites for their material, being present on these sites makes it very likely that your release will be picked up.
The material you supply does need to be newsworthy, of course. Sales pitches masquerading as press releases are likely to be ignored.
If you are writing about a hot topic, just an announcement of the book may be sufficient. Otherwise you may need to be creative and present controversial views or refer to current hot topics for your release to be picked up.
Book Exhibitions
The advantage of these exhibitions is that those attending are typically interested in publishing or promoting your book. Don’t expect those attending to be your target market. These are recommenders, and your job is to find those recommenders that are relevant to your market and your book.
Try to obtain a list of exhibitors beforehand, and identify those organisations to talk to. Take a stock of business cards with you.
Media Interviews – Radio and TV
For books with wide appeal this can be a great way of getting your message out. It’s a good idea to get some media coaching so that you know what to expect, and are able to get your points across succinctly in what can be a very short interview!
On radio and TV, don’t expect to get more than three minutes at most. Your answers must be focused and to the point with no waffling.
At the very least write down the top seven points you want to get across. Prepare a sheet of sample questions and answers. The interviewer may not use these, but if they do, you have confidence that you can answer them.