A few years ago, I wrote a review for “Digging to America,” by Ann Tyler. Shortly after, I received a sweet letter from two ladies in the East Coast, who conducted a book discussion group. Prior to their upcoming session involving this book, they had decided that since the novel included Iranian characters, they should look into a review by an Iranian and that had led them to my article.

Their flattering remarks on my review overwhelmed me. Learning that I was working on a novel, they requested to be informed of its release. I promised to be in touch. However, a few years later, I became so absorbed in my work that I almost forgot my promise. Two weeks into the launch of my novel, Turquoise Books received the following e-mail:

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing on behalf of a new indie bookstore in Cedarhurst, NY. I have just finished Sky of Red Poppies and would like to know how to go about ordering copies to sell at our store. I’ve read articles by this author and am familiar with her work. I loved the new novel and would be honored to sell it!

Many thanks,

Mrs. ……………..

Blue Door Books

Recognizing the NJ lady’s name, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve never met her and therefore can’t put a face or voice to the name, but given a chance, I would give her an angelic image and a heavenly voice to match! Overwhelmed with such unsolicited support, I contacted the store immediately, sent them the requested copies and prayed that they’d have no trouble selling.

To date, The Blue Door Books has sold more copies of my novel than any other vendor- excluding Amazon. New orders come in regularly and now I wouldn’t be surprised if people in Cedarhurst NY know me better than San Diegans do! Her encouraging words continue to pour in, telling me my success matters to them.

“… we need ten more books please. We’re down to one and getting great feedback. A lady wants to use the book for her discussion group.”

On one of her E-mails, a picture was attached, showing copies of my novel on their shelf. No doubt she knew how happy that would make me! But that’s not what this article is about. Beyond all publicity, it thrills me that we hold hands across the miles.

No matter how well one may write, it is ultimately readers who help a book to thrive. We need to make friends along the way and if the words come from the heart, they will be sure to touch another. Readers don’t reach out because they know you and in fact some of your biggest support may come from the least likely sources.

Meanwhile, if you should happen to pass through Cedarhurst NY, stop by The Blue Door Books and visit the people who don’t just provide books, but deeply care about their clients. Good recommendations are why we all became readers and receiving such unique care is what makes independent bookstores irreplaceable.

Zohreh Ghahremani (Zoe) is the author of Sky of Red Poppies. Over a hundred of her essays, poems and short stories have appeared in ethnic magazines and American publications. When not writing, she loves to paint.

Movie trailers probably work best when they include footage of a film star that we all want to see in a movie. We may not even care what the movie is about because the film looks like good entertainment and all that is required of us is to sit in a dark theater and watch the film.

Yet, when using book trailers to motivate people to buy books, we need to consider what we are asking these people to do. We are asking them to spend more money than the price of a movie ticket and work at reading the book because, yes, it is work to read a book even if you love reading.

And on top of that these book trailers don’t have any film stars to entice us to the movie theater. There’s usually not even the added bonus of the familiarity of a sequel.

Then should book authors abandon making book trailers? Should they focus their book marketing on other venues and leave the trailers to the film industry?

Hold on! Isn’t there another way that uploading videos to YouTube and other free online video sites can be utilized to promote books?

Here’s an alternative approach:

Book authors can make short videos (three minutes maximum) of topics in their nonfiction books and related subjects in their fiction books.

Let’s imagine that Valerie has written the mystery “Jonas in Mexico City.” In her mystery she features a great deal of the ancient and modern culture of that sprawling metropolis. What if she makes a short video on preparing a Mexican dish that her protagonist eats in the book?

The video should be entertaining and informative, and it should feature Valerie herself talking about the recipe. At the end of her description of the recipe, she adds that the protagonist in her book “Jonas in Mexico City” enjoys this dish very much. Doesn’t this sound like a more interesting video that watching pictures and film clips of Mexico City while a voiceover talks about the plot of “Jonas in Mexico City”?

Now let’s imagine Melvin has written the nonfiction book “Cacti of the American Southwest.” Instead of a video describing what the book is about, what if Melvin is filmed in his cacti garden sharing fascinating tidbits about these plants. And at the end, of course, he mentions that, if you want to learn more, get a copy of his book “Cacti of the American Southwest.”

These are only two examples of the kinds of “book trailers” that can get your creative juices flowing. If you’re a writer, you should be able to come up with a series of videos that entertain, inform and pitch your book.

Leave the clips and voiceovers to movie trailers. You use the visual medium to create a personal bond with potential readers of your book while providing them with information of value. Then upload your newest masterpieces to the internet and who knows? Maybe your innovative book trailers will go viral.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company www.MillerMosaicPowerMarketing.com and you can see her example of a book video at http://www.mrslieutenant.com/book-discussion-questions/

You’re a book author and you want to promote your book. You have a website where you have downloads of your first chapter or chapters. Have you also made available discussion questions for book clubs to use?

Book groups can be a good target market for your book, especially if it’s fiction. But given how busy people are, it’s helpful for readers to know that if they suggest a book to their reading group they won’t have to struggle to come up with questions. All the work has already been done for them by the author!

If you haven’t yet provided downloadable questions off your website, do so now.

Here are 6 tips for creating these discussion questions:

• Direct your questions at the appropriate age level for your book. If you’ve written a children’s fiction or non-fiction book, questions should be targeted at the reading level of your book’s market.

• Questions for adult fiction or non-fiction books should include a range of questions so that different levels of book groups can find questions that appeal to their groups.

• For fiction books, are there any current or historic events that impact the story you’ve told? If so, create questions based on these events

• As people often read discussion questions before reading the book, be careful about accidentally revealing a fiction book’s surprise plot points in the questions. With careful consideration, you will usually be able to find a way to discuss a question topic without revealing these plot points.

• Before making available your discussion questions, test them on friends who haven’t read the book yet. Check that the questions mean to others what these questions mean to you.

• Offer the questions to anyone who might be interested besides making the questions available as a free download on your website or other author platforms.

By making available good discussion questions for your book, you’re providing book clubs with the resources for a better discussion. And, with any luck, the better the discussion the more buzz will be created.

For an example of book discussion questions, check out the questions at http://www.mrslieutenant.com

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company www.MillerMosaicPowerMarketing.com as well as the author of the novel “Mrs. Lieutenant.”

Anyone can throw a Virtual Party for any reason and the set up is fun and free.

CREATE A PARTY WEBSITE

Do this at least two months in advance. It takes information time to travel throughout the web. Create a party website that’s attached to your author website. Build a party blog for the sole purpose of hosting daily or weekly party updates. If you are a multiple book author, keep the blog for all of your parties and invite current party goers to review your scrapbook of previous parties.

Plan out your weekly prizes, posts related to the book or guest, give tidbits about the book and your guest. Even spotlight like works from other authors.

Keep the party going and post monthly games, prizes, post related to your up and coming works. You can always point folks back to your party site and if you keep it going people will always want to return.

PARTY MUST HAVES

Offer party favors weekly(these are gifts given prior to the release day of the party), music, video interview of the author, video interview of guest, book trailer, gifts, contest, book excerpts, chat room, guest book, cover art, book reviews, email box, and anything you would think would improve the fun.

PARTY PROMOTIONS

To promote your party you could do the following; press release, tweet it, facebook it, newsletter, email it, tell everyone in the forums you visit and ask people to pass the word on.

Another author friend of mine used a service to offer up over $1000 in prizes for her Amazon Book Launch Party. She went on a week campaign of countdown advertising and prize offers with games. She updated her blog, sent email newsletters, tweeted, facebook, myspace, evite and the word spread. She’d moved up the ranks in the Amazon ranking system from the millions to around 20K. Not bad for a first party attempt.

COMPLIMENTS TO THE PARTY

Have a real party too! You can have a small local launch party and invite guest to log into the Virtual After Party while they are at the small local party. Sign the online guest book and do videos and pictures that will be posted on the Virtual Party site. After the local party, post pictures on the PARTY BLOG and kick off the next virtual party.

LM Preston is the author of The Pack and Explorer X – Alpha www.lmpreston.com and http://lmpreston.blogspot.com

Well, that’s two, but many writers balk at attempting to play publisher.  If they only knew it’s not as hard as they think it is, not to mention all the profits are theirs, I feel more writers would be comfortable to take on a project like this.  Not only is self-publishing eBooks a profitable venture, but it also can be used as a valuable tool to gain expert status.  Plus, eBooks are really simple to promote as long as you take a no-nonsense guerilla approach to marketing.

As long as you have a market, and have a quality eBook that is free of errors, your eBook can become a success, thus give you that added income. You won’t be sharing the profits with anyone. There is no overhead except for website expenses, which you should already have if you’ve been published before.  If you haven’t been published before and don’t want to set up a whole website for this, use one of the free blogging platforms such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com to talk about your new money-making e-Book.

I have successfully promoted several eBooks for myself getting those eBooks into the #1 position in the search engines.

How?

That’s where your guerrilla marketing plan comes in.

Here are a few simple ways I have used to promote my eBooks and get them to the top of the search engines:

• Using key search words throughout my selling page and on every single piece of promotional literature I send out.
• Using free press release sites frequently, keeping in mind to use those key search words not only in the title, but also throughout the release.
• Using free content ezines as vehicles to get my selling page’s link on hundreds upon hundreds of websites (being careful to put the title of your article into google alerts so your article doesn’t get reworded like this to make it sound like another business wrote YOUR article).
• Using online storefronts (this is a suggestion; a search in google will find you more) who will list my eBook for free.
• Using writer forums and websites that will let you announce your eBook.
• Using blogs to announce your eBook and promote it.
• Using virtual book tours, thus using other people’s blogs to promote your book.

The secret to selling self-published eBooks (or any kind of eBook or print book, for that matter) is to get your link on as many websites and blogs as you can (an added bonus to this is that it raises your PR ranking in the process).

You have to remember, you have an electronic book. You can’t go on book signings so you have to rely on the Internet to get the word out. But, by following those seven examples above, I’ll guarantee you’ll get the sales you need if you have a market for your book.

So what if you’ve done everything above, and your eBook still isn’t selling?

Where some authors go wrong is that they fail to remember the most important thing you need in order to sell any kind of books—a market.

No amount of promotion is going to do you any good unless you have an audience who is willing to fork out the money.

Before you even put down that first word, you have to ask yourself these following questions:

• Who is going to buy my eBook?
• Why is my eBook any different than Joe Blow’s eBook on the same subject?
• What will my audience gain from my eBook?
• Can they already find this information readily on the Internet?
• Will my buyers gain something from my eBook, or is it simply to entertain?
• Pique your potential buyer’s interest.
• Post an excerpt on your website so they can judge for themselves whether your eBook will be something they need.

Once you get into the mindset of your buyer, things start falling in place, and you’ll get those sales you want.

Zero in on your market, do the steps I’ve outlined above, and I’ll guarantee you’ll be selling ebooks like flies on to honey.

Happy promoting to you!

Dorothy Thompson is CEO/Founder of Pump Up Your Book, an innovative public relations firm specializing in online book promotion and virtual book tours for authors who want maximum exposure online.  Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

The good news in all of this was that the publisher was responsible for marketing the book once it was published. All the author had to do was wait for the royalty checks to come in the mail. Some authors, especially those who had already experienced significant book sales, might be sent on a book tour to meet their fans and sign books.

Publishing is very different now. Authors do not have to wait for a publisher to accept their books, they can publish themselves. There has been another important change, too: Whether self-published or published by a traditional publisher, authors are responsible for marketing their own books. That means that they have to set up events, get blurbs and endorsements, and promote their novels any way they can.

When you self publish a novel, your marketing starts before the book is printed. Carefully proof and edit the book to make sure it is free of errors. Hire an editor to review your book, because you may be too close to your story to see where it needs work.

Choose a professional cover designer who can provide the attractive cover your novel deserves. Do not skimp on this! As much as people say not to “judge a book by its cover,” everyone does.

Get your book reviewed and talked about in the media. Major reviewers have specific requirements regarding the books they review. For example, some only want to review pre-publication copies, such as Advance Reading Copies or galleys. Others will accept finished books. Most will want to receive a review copy at least a few months before the publication date. The chances of getting a review in a major publication are slim, but a single review can sell thousands of copies.

You may have more success in getting publicity for your book, especially in local media. Although most media will not think it is news that a book has been published, local media may want to report on the new author in the area.

Set up a website for your book, do a blog tour and look for opportunities to promote your book everywhere you can. Set up talks and book signings at local book stores and libraries, and with community organizations.

You may wish to hire a publicist or marketing professional to help promote your novel, but remember that you know your book better than anyone else, so you are the perfect one to market it. Use traditional marketing methods as well as new media to create buzz about your book and generate sales of your novel.

Learn more about writing and publishing novels and selling books here at SellingBooks.com.

If you have a good hook, a press release can get you coverage in the media. Also, distributing press releases online allows you to get around the media gatekeepers and take your story directly to readers. Use some of the angles listed below.

And don’t forget about the bloggers! You may be able to get written about (or get reviews) on blogs that are visited by your potential readers. Some authors do blog tours, where they do interviews on several blogs over the course of a week or two.

Another possibility for a blog tour is to offer posts to bloggers. That way they don’t have to write anything. It creates some work for you, but it can be great exposure. Or just make it easy for bloggers to write about you by providing a good summary of your book, suggested questions they can ask in an interview, etc.

You may be able to find bloggers interested in your book through http://BloggerLinkUp.com/. You can offer guest posts to bloggers, or review copies of your book, or work with bloggers to set up a blog tour. It’s free.

Tie your book to the news. Can you relate your novel to a hot news story? One client had a novel set in the oil industry that came out right when gas prices were spiking. He used that as a hook to land lots of radio interviews and create interest in his book.

Promote to people like your characters. What is the career of your heroine? Does she have a hobby? Are there other characteristics she shares with groups of people? People like to read about people like themselves, so the people who share her career, hobby or other interests and characteristics will want to read your book. Reach out to groups and websites where they congregate, and send media releases to the publications they read.

Use geographic ties. Media in your area will be interested in the fact that you are a local author. Where is your book set? People love to read books set in their town. Where is your hero from? People there might want to know about your book.

Create a survey or poll. During the 2008 presidential campaign, author Jessica James promoted her historical romance by creating a poll about which literary character best exemplifies the qualities of a U.S. President. (The winner was Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird.) You could take the poll via your website, blog or Facebook. Then send out the results in press releases. You can find information about Jessica James and her poll at http://morganmandelbooks.ning.com/profile/JessicaJames. According to her, the publicity drove a lot of book sales. Note that Jessica didn’t tie the poll directly to her book. She just used the poll about historical literary characters to bring attention to her historical novel. It doesn’t have to be exactly about the subject of your novel, just something that grabs attention.

Talk about the process of writing. It seems that everyone dreams of being a writer, and they are fascinated by what writers do. Write articles about how you research, a typical writing day, how you got published, etc. and publish them in print and online.

And don’t forget the tried-and-true. Promote your events. If you will be speaking, reading, signing or making any kind of appearance, let the media and your fans know with press releases and online announcements.

So what do you think? What non-fiction promotional techniques have you used to promote your novel?

Cathy Stucker writes about marketing, blogging, publishing and more at IdeaLady.com and CathyStucker.com. Sign up for her free IdeaLady Insider newsletter at http://IdeaLady.com/article/newsletter.

Here are some tips for making the most of your character’s presence in social media:

Use a drawing or photo of the character as an avatar if you can. Otherwise, use the book cover or other image to represent them. (Note: Be careful if using a photo of a real person as your character. Make sure you have permission. Take a photo of a friend or model, and get a signed release.)

Make it clear that the account belongs to a fictional character. The purpose is not to deceive anyone, but just to do something interesting to readers and have fun with the characters.

Here are a few places to put your characters:

Although fictional characters can not have Facebook profiles, they can have fan pages. Set up a fan page for your character and let your followers know about it. Use the fan page to keep readers up to date on new books, events, etc., and also about what is happening in the life of your character between books (or after the book in which they appeared ended).

Anyone can have a Twitter account, even if they only exist in your imagination. Drop clues about the latest case your amateur sleuth is involved in, or tweet about the romantic evening your romance heroine enjoyed. Of course, your characters can also mention your upcoming book signings and other events.

Set up a Ning.com network around your books, where your characters can interact with readers.

If you really want to go all out, set up a blog for the character. Or create a blog for all of the characters in your latest book and let them take turns posting. You may find that too much to maintain (along with your own blog, oh, and writing books!) so instead just have a character do an occasional guest post on your blog. Be sure to announce the post via Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

Have your characters guest post on other people’s blogs. This could be part of a blog tour, where your character appears instead of you, or be done on its own. To find blogs where you and your characters can guest post, join http://BloggerLinkUp.com/ (free) and submit your offer of guest posts.

Don’t go overboard with this. You probably do not want to do all of these things. Choose one or two and have fun with them. This can be a new way to engage your current readers and attract new fans.

Cathy Stucker writes about marketing, blogging, publishing and more at IdeaLady.com and CathyStucker.com. Sign up for her free IdeaLady Insider newsletter at http://IdeaLady.com/article/newsletter.

The answer usually starts with a giggle and “Oh my gosh…” thrown in here and there.  It’s uncomfortable for both the speaker and the listener. By the time the last syllable comes out of the author’s mouth, the listener has grown tired of nodding politely and usually walks away thoroughly exhausted from the experience with no intention of running home and buying the book from their favorite online provider.

Do not fear your book’s description.  Embrace it by defining it. Remember, not every subplot, secondary theme, and character motivation is necessary when describing your book to a potential reader. You should take the time to carefully craft a concise description. Tackle the task of describing your book in four phases.

First, sit down and write a one page description of your book. Allow yourself to include all of your plot points in this incarnation of your description. In fact, if it goes over a page don’t beat yourself up because no one is going to see it. This is for you and you alone.

Second, read through your one page description five times. Have a red pen handy because you are going to slash through every nonessential theme. Keep in mind; if it’s not your main theme, it’s nonessential. Be warned, this is going to be painful. All those things you thought were important to the structure of your book don’t matter here.  If you decide after four reads that you’ve cut enough, read it again. You can never cut too much.

Third, from your now heavily edited one page synopsis, create a one paragraph description. Keep it to the basic three sentence structure. Once you’ve completed it, set it aside for a day or two. Give yourself some time to think about it and absorb it.

Finally, take your one paragraph description and create a one sentence description from it. This is all about the hook. What is the one main theme of your book? What is your genre? This one sentence description will help you overcome the fear of having to describe your book to someone who asks. You’ll deliver it with confidence. You’ll pique some one’s curiosity. You’ll sell books.

R.W. Ridley is an Author Marketing Specialist for BookSurge Publishing in addition to being the self-published author of four award winning books. His one sentence description for his first book is “The Takers is a young adult horror novel about a 13-year-old boy who wakes up to discover he is responsible for the end of the world.”

THE DESTINATION SHOPPING CENTER

A destination shopping center is almost always a strip shopping center where all of the stores are entered from the outside, facing the parking lot.

If you’re interested in appearing at a local store that meets this description, sit in the parking lot for awhile and observe.

Destination means people know where they want to go. They drive to the shopping center, park as close to the door as possible, go into the store, shop, and come right back out, get in their car and leave. They don’t wander up or down the sidewalk. They don’t window shop. They don’t browse.

This is fine, as long as the book store is their intended destination.

There’s nothing wrong with appearing at a destination shopping center, but you have to go into it knowing that more marketing and publicity will be needed on your part. They will not just happen upon you. You have to make yourself their destination.

The best destination stores are the ones who have already invested a lot in promotion and marketing and who have already established a reputation as the place to go for buying books.

MALLS

Shoppers go to malls to browse. The doors at mall stores are extra wide, giving the appearance that shoppers are all in one giant store. They don’t walk through the center of the mall with their heads straight ahead; they walk with them cocked to the side, looking at everything they happen to pass.

Mall buyers are browsers. They are more likely to be impulse buyers, because they’re more likely to see things they didn’t intentionally come to the mall to buy.

The best times for appearances at a mall store are during the holiday season or weekends. The best malls are those who are riding a growth cycle.

Some towns have quaint areas where shopping and restaurants are intermingled throughout whole city blocks, such as the Inner Harbor in Baltimore or the Riverwalk in Wilmington. Shoppers in these areas behave the same way mall shoppers do. The area is the attraction; it’s designed for browsing and whiling away an afternoon or evening.

This article is an excerpt from Take the Mystery out of Promoting Your Book by p.m.terrell (Palari Books, October 2006). Terrell is a successful author of 9 published books, including suspense/thrillers, non-fiction, and how-to books. Visit www.mysterypromotion.com for more tips and information.