I am an author and looking for great marketing, public relation, and book distribution ideas.?

Answer 1

Marilyn is only partially correct, as her opinion is coming solely from a pro-mainstream publishing angle.

I can rattle off the name of several authors who became BEST SELLERS on their SELF-PUBLISHED titles by following specific strategies. Also, some authors did not get a major publishing house to ever want to deal with them until after they published their own works and sold thousands of copies on their own.

Since you are saying you are an author, my guess is your work is published already - otherwise, you are not an author but are a writer who is an aspiring author. As an author, the things you are inquiring about should have been solidly researched before your book was published and should have been put into place the moment your title was released.

That said, I will only reveal a few things here since my business is self-publishing assistance and there are a few of Marilyn's myths I must debunk.

(1) Publishing deals have little to do with quality and a lot to do with status quo in regards to content and style - which is why your book has to "be in fitting with," "qualify for approval" or "be selected" for publishing based upon someone else deciding that "your writing is comparable to the types of works already published."

To submit your manuscript in hopes of getting a deal, you usually spend hundreds (printing letters, proposals and the full manuscript - plus paying for postage to mail the non-returnable package and including with it a self-addressed stamped envelope to each and every publisher who publishes your type of work).

While some may contend that spending upwards of $1k in hopes of getting a deal is fiscally responsible, I disagree and say that spending $500 to publish your book and $500 to do your first bit of marketing/advertising is a better use of your $1k.

(2) Self-published books that sell poorly do so because they are promoted poorly. No one can go and buy your book if they don't know it exists. Both the self-published author and people with traditional publishing deals have to promote and advertise their own works (just like a musician has to do concerts to boost sales and income, all authors have to take part in signings, book fairs, read-ins, seminars, forums, niche mixers, etc., to boost sales and income).

The big difference is, the author with the book deal gets assistance from the publisher when it comes to marketing / promotions / advertising. This is the reason why the author with the publishing deal gets paid less royalties than the self-published author (because the big publisher is taking portions of the royalties to reimburse itself for any advances paid to the author and to cover the cost of PR/ distribution/ marketing / advertising).

(3) The self-published author who gets an ISBN and bar code for his or her book already has distribution - because this is what allows your book to be ordered from virtually any book retailer (bricks-and-mortar and online).

To generate sales, the self-published author who has the self-discipline to mention their book title every chance they get to everyone they talk to, pull together an email list of people you know so you can market to them without worry about spam accusations, sell copies of the book from the trunk of the vehicle, as well as put together events and implement a marketing plan, advertising schedule and a budget to support renting space, placing ads and traveling back-and-forth will become a best seller for sure.

Truth be told, self-published authors will have those big houses beating down your door usually when you sell your first 5k copies (whether or not the deal they offer you is acceptable will be up to you at that point).

Answer 2

Most public forums (like Yahoo Answers and MySpace) have rules forbidding self-promotion, including self-published books. Depending on whether anyone reports spam, you can lose your posting privileges or account. So don't go that route.

Self-published books do poorly on ebay, the publisher’s website, and the author’s own website.

Marketing a pay-to-publish book is damned difficult. Many of the avenues open to traditionally published authors are not available. Chain bookstores won't host signings or carry copies (although they will order them for customers). Few locally-owned bookstores will, either. Newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio don't want your press releases and won't do interviews. The library system won't accept free copies. Writing- or book-related conventions won’t let you set up a sales or autograph table, don’t want you on their author panels, and forbid you giving away promotional material.

About the only marketing I've seen have any effect for self-published authors is active participation at forums and chats dealing with the subject of your book. Find your niche market and determine where online they hang out. Some sites may allow you to discuss your book *if someone asks about it* (but will ban you for bringing it up more than once). Some may allow a link to a point of sale in your profile, or to your blog or web-page which in turn links to a point of sale.

You'll sell a few more copies than you might have, but overall, like most self-published books, regardless of quality, total sales will probably remain below 100 copies. More often, the number hovers somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of your total number of friends and family members.

That's why it makes a lot more sense to hone your craft, spending money on instruction rather than self-publishing, until your book can compete with the other books at 'real' publishing houses, where all the marketing, PR, and distribution is done by professionals rather than the author herself.

Sorry not to have better news.

Answer 3

Hello go get youself a good PR agency to handle the matketing business. Nothing is for free lah.

Answer 4

That is great! What books have you actually written?

Answer 5

build a website, offer contests and giveaways, monthly emails