Surprisingly, book stores are not always your greatest source of book sales. Most authors and publishers do want their books to be available in all of the book stores, and rightly so. You want your book to be there, too, but you want to sell more books. You want your book to be a “household name” – a topic of conversation in coffee rooms and at dinner tables everywhere. Your publicity campaign is designed to create interest in your book, and to drive buyers to the book store market.

Unfortunately, those traditional book store sales aren’t always “sold”. The books might be returned over and over again. That’s the sad reality of the book retail industry.

Your book’s fame, however, can help you to acquire nonreturnable sales in the nontraditional market where a sale actually is a sale – where sales of 25,000 copies and more are not uncommon.

Here are 19 Book Marketing strategies that will help you acquire those sales:

1. Write your book for a very broad market – nonfiction works best.

2. Write a book that people will be happy to give as a gift.

3. Add as many photos and illustrations as you can afford.

4. Keep the topic light – avoid heavy social commentaries, controversial topics, scientific theories and other “heavy” subjects.

5. Have your book professionally designed.

6. Have your book professionally edited.

7. Give your book a catchy name – avoid boring titles such as How to Have a Happy, Fulfilling Life.

8. Make sure that the cover design is appealing, appears three dimensional and can compete with all of the major publishing houses. Hire a professional designer.

9. Sell the benefits of your book on the back cover. That is where you will sell buyers on the reasons why they just can’t live without your book.

10. Price the book competitively in your genre.

11. Make your book look like it is good value for the price – it’s all about perceived value in the minds of the buyers.

12. Don’t write for yourself – write for the end buyer. Fulfill a need for them or make them feel better.

13. Think of the corporate market when you are writing. Make a list of corporations that can benefit from your book, and then contact them.

14. Submit your book to the book clubs at least six months before you publish.

15. Find an agent who sells to the gift market.

16. Find an agent who sells foreign rights.

17. Find an agent who sells to the display market.

18. Don’t be afraid to offer large discounts on nonreturnable sales.

19. Seek licensing agreements – they are a great source of income for no work on your part.

A professionally designed book opens many doors while an amateurish appearance closes many doors. It is vitally important that you invest in your book at the beginning to create sales in the long term. Plan for publicity and marketing before you print your books – printing is not the final expense in your book marketing plan. It is the beginning. You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will buy it.

Create a book that buyers just can’t resist — and then create a book marketing plan that makes those buyers BUY.

Ink Tree Ltd. helps authors publish, market and sell books. We have all the tools you need to succeed in book publishing. Let us help you make your book a success. http://www.inktreemarketing.com

But, you say, you have no control over returns since Ingram and the bookstores return them at will without selling them. On the contrary, there are many things that we as publishers can do to eliminate returns.

The first thing to realize is that bookstores do not sell books — they display them. Any marketing they do involves promoting major titles or special events to entice people into their stores. It is up to the authors and publishers to create awareness of their specific titles. Similarly, most distributors utilize commissioned sales representatives whose income depends on selling books that are not returned, i.e., those promoted by publishers and authors. They understandably spend their time selling those titles.

Furthermore, marketing books is not simply a function of promotion. An integrated marketing mix also entails producing a saleable, properly priced product that is distributed to the right people at the right time.

Promotion is a multi-faceted marketing technique that is more complex than conducting a campaign of booksignings, media appearances and press releases. It involves finding and implementing the proper and timely balance of publicity, advertising, sales promotion and personal selling. When books are marketed properly, they remain sold.

A properly developed, non-returnable title is one that has a unique point of difference. That means it is demonstrably different from competitive titles in a way that is important to the marketplace. It is an adequately researched topic that meets an identifiable market need and is published with a good title, in the right size, with the most desirable binding and in the highest quality possible.

Of course, it must be competitively priced. Too often publishers base their title’s price on its cost. They multiply their printing cost by eight and round it off the next highest ” $ .95.” On the other hand, readers do not care what your costs are. They are looking for information or entertainment and will choose the lowest priced option (that may or may not be a book) that meets their needs. A non-returnable book is priced according to its value to the reader.

Appropriate distribution will reduce returns, too. Perhaps the most significant point to consider here is that books distributed to buyers outside the traditional bookstore markets are typically sold on a non-returnable basis. By marketing to these segments you can expend the same amount of effort to develop, price and promote a title but perhaps avoid the debilitating effect of returns.

What are these non-traditional markets? There are three major special-sales categories. The first is Special Distribution that entails selling to discount stores, book clubs and catalogs; not only the major clubs but also those dedicated to selling books in your genre. John Palmatary marketed his book It’s AboutTime to the club at http://www.christianbookclub.co.uk as did Victoria Kinnear with her children’s learning books to the club at http://www.kidsonlinebookclub.com. Jerry Labriola, author of Murders at Brent Institute, proved that fiction could be sold to libraries during his tour of New England.

A second segment is Commercial Sales. Marketing to this target involves selling books to corporations to use as premiums, gifts or incentives. For example, Rita Ippoliti approached parachute equipment manufacturers to use her book Falling Into Place as a premium. You might also consider selling your title to associations. Mark James (www.barronpublishing.com) is currently marketing his book Estate Planning Success(tm) for Pennsylvania Residents to the National Association of Financial and Estate Planners to resell in their bookstore.

The third classification is Niche Markets, or significant groups of people sharing a common interest in your title. Greg Drambour demonstrated an example of this technique by contacting spiritual centers and approaching targeted magazines and newsletters to review his book The Woodstock Bridge.

A common proverb says If it’s to be, it’s up to me, and this is especially true in book marketing. Authors and publishers cannot rely on anyone but themselves to market their books. If we do this properly we can reduce returns and at the same time increase our revenues and profits significantly.

Brian Jud is an author and creator of the Book Marketing Battle Plansä directories for special sales. Contact Brian at P. O. Box 715, Avon, CT 06001; (800) 562-4357; brianjud@bookmarketingworks.com or visit http://www.bookmarketingworks.com

In the past, most of the sales through these outlets were mass-market paperbacks, but today’s super stores carry a wide variety of books, cards and magazines. That is why the middlemen distributing to this market usually stock the shelves with both books and magazines.

“This is one area in which fiction outsells non-fiction,” says John Styron of Anderson News, a sister company to Anderson Merchandisers and one of the wholesalers reaching this niche. Other titles that sell well are those by local and regional authors and those about local and regional topics. There is less opportunity for hardcover titles, particularly in supermarkets.

Randy Yarbrough believes that sales to this segment “are very likely” for independent publishers. “We sell their titles all the time,” he notes. Steve Linville of The News Group holds an opposing view, saying, “There is not a lot of shelf space dedicated to the category.” He continues with, “It can be frustrating for a small publisher to break into the market, given the returns, discounts and dating required.”

Steve recounts the tale of one author who showed many retailers his book and asked how many they might purchase. Their responses added up to over 30,000 copies, so that is how many he printed. Unfortunately, when it came time to actually place the orders the numbers were significantly lower.

Randy and Steve agree that “supermarkets discount the list price up to 25%, so your pricing must allow for that to occur profitably.” The list price on books sold in drugstores should be $15.95 or lower, with a price below $10 the norm in supermarkets. However, the price could go up to $20.00 or more for a hardcover book sold in a supermarket. They also concur “that cookbooks, travel books and regional titles do well in supermarkets, but health-related topics move better in drugstores, particularly in the form of booklets.” Steve adds, “Children’s titles also seem to do well in supermarkets. Fiction remains he mainstay in these outlets.”

Authors may conduct booksignings at supermarkets and drugstores in which their books are being sold. “One of our authors recently sold 500 copies of her book during a recent booksigning at a Ralph’s supermarket in California,” says Mr. Yarbrough. Steve Linville cautions, “Cross-merchandising is not as easy as it may seem, because several different buyers may be involved.”

Author and consultant Eric Gelb has sold successfully to supermarkets. Eric said, “Some years back, I sold several hundred copies of my book, the Personal Budget Planner to a nearby supermarket chain. The company managed the bookracks in the supermarket. The sale was final and the exposure was valuable. Several months ago, our local Mail Boxes, Etc. store took copies of our Mastering Communication Through Technology on consignment. While small, this effort was profitable, and the store marketed no other books at that time. Once, we located a consumer buying service who purchased a quantity of our personal finance books to give away as a new member bonus.”

The competition in this segment is stiff, due to the limited shelf-space granted to books. The hot button for these stores is “profit per square foot.” If you can demonstrate that your promotional activities will help bring in new customers and profits, you will get their attention. You may submit your book and marketing package directly to the major supermarket chains, but they normally direct you to their wholesalers. Three major supermarket chains are:

Kroger Co, 1014 Vine St., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45202-1100; Tel: (513) 762-4000 http://www.kroger.com customers@kroger.com

Safeway Inc., Judy Russell – Book Buyer, 5918 Stoneridge Mall Rd., Pleasanton, California, 94588-3229; Tel: (925) 520-8000 (877) 723-3929 Fax: FX – USA (925) 467-3321 http://www.safeway.com

Stop and Shop Companies Inc., 1385 Hancock St., Quincy, Massachusetts, 02169-5510; Book Buyer: (617) 770-8743 http://www.stopandshop.com

Distributors to supermarkets include:

Anderson News Co. (Knoxville, TN), 6016 Brookvale Lane, Ste. 151, Knoxville, TN 37919; Tel: (865) 584-9765 Fax: (865) 584-9400 Magazines, books, videos and music to supermarkets, drugstores, airport stores and military exchanges.

Hudson News Co., 1 Meadowlands Piz. Ste. 902, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 07073; Tel: (201) 939-5050 (800) 326-7711 Fax: (201)939-6652 Willard Goldberger – Vice President, Merchandising http://www.hudsongroupusa.com

The News Group West services major retail chains in the West, with a dominant share of the Washington, Oregon and Alaska markets; 3400 D Industry Drive East, Fife, Washington, 98424; 253.922.8011 Fax: 253.896.5027 www.thenewsgroup.com

When you submit a title to these distributors, include a color sell sheet with all the pertinent information on your title. Include the price, author, case quantities, and a photo of any floor displays you could provide.

It is interesting to note that these buyers do not always wait for publishers to contact them. If they, or their sales people note your title in a local news story, in Publishers Weekly or at a trade show, they may seek it out according to its applicability. Again, it behooves you to seek as much exposure as possible for your titles.

Brian Jud is the author of Beyond the Bookstore (a Publishers Weekly book) and The Marketing Planning CD. He also wrote the series of booklets, Proven Tips for Publishing Success. Contact Brian at P. O. Box 715, Avon, CT 06001; (800) 562-4357; brianjud@bookmarketing.com or visit http://www.bookmarketing.com

Bookstores in most small airports have space constraints limiting the titles they stock to only the top fiction and non-fiction titles as well as the popular classics. But a title does not have to be a bestseller to find its way into the stores in large airports. These shops will carry titles by local and regional authors, as well as books pertaining to its specific locale and destination points. For example, the title Fenway: A Biography in Words and Pictures by Dan Shaughnessy and Stan Grossfeld, can be found in bookstores in Boston’s Logan Airport.

Titles for children tend to do well in these outlets, as do titles for business travelers who spend a good amount of time in airports. Also titles on management, investment, economics, business biography, personal finance and health work well in the airport setting.

Summertime is the peak travel period, and as you would expect, it is also the peak bookselling period. There is a bump in sales in the fourth-quarter holiday season, too. Softcover books seem to sell more units than casebound, and the typical size is 6” x 9”. Your book must have an ISBN, EAN bar code and its price printed on the rear cover, although some exceptions are made for non-book items.

The major airport bookstore chains are listed below, and you can reach buyers for these stores directly. When you submit your material to them, send a complete package with everything they need to make a favorable decision. “The more the better,” says Randy Yarbrough of Anderson News.”

Your package should contain a copy of your book, your terms, a summary marketing plan, reviews, sales history and newspaper articles. Include contact information for your distributor or wholesaler since airport stores place their orders through them, using them as both suppliers and warehousers. Call to learn their specific submission guidelines before sending your package.

HMS Host, Book Buyer; 6600 Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20817; 866 467-4671

Paradies Shops operates over 100 airport stores. Contact the National Book Buyer, 5950 Fulton Industrial Boulevard SW, P O Box 43485, Atlanta GA 30336; 404-344-7905; Fax: 404-349-7539. http://www.theparadiesshops.com.

W.H. Smith operates or owns 255 airport shops and 421 hotel stores under the names of WHSmith, WHSmith Booksellers, Waterstone’s Booksellers, WHSmith Books.com and Benjamin Books. In late 2003, The Hudson Group bought 180 airport stores, including a number of Waterstone’s bookstore outlets. Contact the National Book Buyer, 3200 Windy Hill Road #1500 W, Atlanta GA 30339; 770-952-0705; Fax: 770-951-1352.

The buyer will review your material to determine if there is a market for your title. If they deem that your title might be appropriate, you will be asked to complete a vendor questionnaire. Since most books are displayed cover out, the front cover design is critical to the title’s success. Airport stores rarely discount the books, so your list price is important, too. Sales are made on a returnable basis and standard wholesale terms are expected.

Most distributors and wholesalers will sell your books to airport stores. When you send your material to them, describe the number of books per carton and how many units were published. Also include information about who is providing sales, marketing and distribution services on your behalf.

You can generally expect to be paid 50% of the amount due you in 90 days and the balance in 180 days. The 50% unpaid balance is held as a reserve against returns. Once your book “takes off” you can usually negotiate different terms. Bookazine and Anderson News are two of the larger wholesalers to airport stores.

New Vendor Development Coordinator, Bookazine Co., Inc., 75 Hook Road, Bayonne, NJ 07002. Complete submission guidelines for Bookazine may be found at http://www.bookazine.com/customer_service/instructions.shtml.

Anderson News Co. (Knoxville, TN), Purchasing Division; 6016 Brookvale Lane, Ste. 151, Knoxville, TN, 37919; Tel: (865) 584-9765; Fax: (865)584-9400

Brian Jud is the author of Beyond the Bookstore (a Publishers Weekly book) and The Marketing Planning CD. He also wrote the series of booklets, Proven Tips for Publishing Success. Contact Brian at P. O. Box 715, Avon, CT 06001; (800) 562-4357; brianjud@bookmarketing.com or visit http://www.bookmarketing.com

In today’s corporate world, professional executives seek a win-win result, setting the stage for mutual profitability and long-term relationships. Both parties negotiate in good faith to get the best deal for their sides, but not at the expense of the other. Your job is to find the best package of product, terms and service that most increases the value for your prospect without sacrificing your needs.

Know your BNO
Good negotiating begins with preparation. Even though you cannot predict every verbal exchange, you can set parameters in advance within which you will deal. Before you enter into any negotiation, make a list of what you will give and take – and what you will not. That list is called your Best Negotiated Outcome (BNO), and it should include:

1. A list of all the outcomes that would be acceptable to you. This list might contain a high price, long delivery time, no customization, no returns and 30-day payment terms.

2. Which of these alternatives would be best for you? You may feel that “no returns” is your most-desirable option.

3. What are you willing to negotiate away in return for that outcome? You may barter for a better discount for a non-returnable purchase.

4. What are not you willing to negotiate away in return for that outcome? If cash flow is a concern you may choose not to extend your payment terms.

5. What is your bottom line? Know when to walk away from the deal. In negotiating terms this is called your BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement), your line in the sand beyond which you are not willing to make any concessions. Knowing that you can make a better deal elsewhere gives you the confidence to walk away from an unprofitable negotiation.

6. What is your final BNO? An equitable conclusion might be an acceptably lower price, feasible delivery time, a customized cover, no returns and 2/10, Net-30-day payment terms.

Hints for successful negotiations
1. Begin the negotiating stage by asking questions to learn as much as you can about the other side’s interests. Why did they not accept your initial proposal? How far apart are your positions? If close, can you split the difference? For specific negotiating scenarios see my article, Make Your Best Deal for Large-Quantity Orders in the October 2008 issue of the Independent.

2. If a personnel change is made midway through the negotiations process, you may be forced to begin again with the new incumbent. But it may benefit you if your previous contact was favorable to your position and was elevated on the decision-making ladder.

3. Don’t negotiate on price. Favorable economics are necessary but not sufficient parts of the negotiation. If you cave in on your price you may give the impression you are willing to bend on other issues. Instead, bargain with the variables you bring to the table that the customer might value. Offer to train their salespeople, ghostwrite the foreword for the CEO and contribute ideas for cross selling. If you focus on price, they may seek a less expensive alternative elsewhere. Do not be provocative or immovable, but remember that quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.

4. Focus on interests, not issues or positions. Most deals are 50% emotion (positions) and 50% economics (interests). The issue under discussion may be the value of using books in the next marketing campaign. Your prospect may have a position against using books in general. However, the underlying interests are profitability or employee productivity. Discuss how you can address their interests without sacrificing yours.

5. Take notes. People may not remember everything to which they agreed. After each meeting send a summary describing the areas of agreement as well as what needs to be done, and by whom.

6. Do not begin discussing the toughest issues. Instead, solve the easiest problems first.

7. Start high and concede slowly. Children know that if they want a hamster they first ask for a pony. If you have to make the first concession to keep the process alive, concede in small increments and get something in return.

8. Build trust first. Building rapport should have begun in the earlier stages as you proved yourself a consultant, helping them solve their problems. But in the negotiation phase your desire to close a large-quantity sale may overpower your need to be more open minded.

9. Don’t negotiate with a time limit. If your counterpart says, “I only have one hour. Let’s talk.” try to delay the negotiation until later. Self-imposed limits do not allow the relationship to unfold or permit time to discuss creative alternatives.

10. Get buy-in, not just cooperation. A solid agreement proceeds on parallel planes. One represents the economic contract and the other is the underlying social contract. Both parties must be committed to making the promotion work. Engage people as partners by asking questions such as, “What do you think? How might we do that? What else could we do? From your experience, how might we make that happen?” As you negotiate with authority, confidence and empathy you develop a sense of partnership with your prospects.

If you choose not to go through all this, you could employ the premium division of a larger publisher to sell your books for you. There are also sales-promotional agencies and premium rep groups that can sell your books. One such group is the Promotional Bookstore (1320 Toronita Street, York, PA 17402). This company has a network of commissioned salespeople who can personally present your titles to buyers in corporations, associations, schools, government agencies and negotiate the sale for you. You can join this network by contacting Guy Achtzehn at guy@msgpromo.com.

A successful negotiation is not the end; it’s the beginning. If you concentrate only on closing the deal you may lose sight of the real objectives, i.e., to create long-term relationships, reach the intended goals and get re-orders for your books. Once the negotiation is concluded successfully, perform as you promised and implement the agreement flawlessly. That is the topic of the next – and final – article in this series.

Brian Jud is the author of How to Make Real Money Selling Books and now offers commission-based sales of books to buyers in non-bookstore markets. For more information contact Brian at P. O. Box 715, Avon, CT 06001-0715; (860) 675-1344; Fax (860) 270-0343; brianjud@bookmarketing.com or www.premiumbookcompany.com twitter.com/bookmarketing

One way is to carry other books on the same subject, but you do not want to pay for them and a 40% discount is not enough. Instead, look for other books that compliment your book. Think: “If a person were to buy my book, shouldn’t they also buy this similar book?” Hopefully they realize it is cheaper to buy several books on a subject than to make a mistake.

Contact other (small) author-publishers (there are 86,000 to choose from) and offer to exchange a few cartons of books. Now you each have two offerings—at no additional investment. You traded your books for their books. Add the new title to your website, etc.

For example, I wrote The Expert Witness Handbook. Rosalie Hamilton wrote the Expert Witness Marketing Handbook. They are complimentary; they do not compete. Rosalie and I exchange several cartons of books at a time. See http://www.parapublishing.com/subsites/expertwitness/ and http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/witness/information/product2.cfm

Now here is a larger advantage: you can afford to wholesale the other title; you can give 40% or more off for quantity orders. One customer buys quantities of each book from us for their conference. You can give them a full discount on both books because each title cost you just the printing price. Think about that and consider carton exchanges. It is easier to trade cartons of books than to write another book.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2008

Imagine walking up to a director of marketing of some major corporation and simply saying something like ‘this book or booklet will help you sell more of your widgets.’ And the director of marketing agreed with you. And the person wanted to know the price and delivery time. Would you need a new oxygen supply to keep breathing or would you know what to do?

You have been used to operating in a particular-sized universe, selling a single copy of a single information product to a single user, or multiples through a traditional distributor, though not in those quantities. Imagine a major calendar company, for instance, that produces millions of calendars each and every year. And they want to include a copy of your tips booklet or your book with each calendar that they offer for sale, as a “value added” item to help them sell more of their calendars. Yes, that’s a real scenario.

How about a smaller amount? What about a catalog company who wants to license the specific rights to print a mere 250,000 copies of your book or booklet so they can offer it as a gift with any purchase in a particular issue of their catalog? That 250,000 copies can sound like a lot until you realize that the company distributed 17 million copies of their catalog that year. Your 250,000 copies was merely a test to see how the catalog’s customers and prospects would respond to the offer of your tips booklet, whether it would prompt more sales of the catalog’s products.

Connecting the dots between imagining, and making it so consists of educating yourself on who it is that’s a likely candidate, realizing what the production steps are, researching your costs so you can effectively price the product, and putting yourself into the position of having conversations with people who want what you’ve got. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

What are you imagining? What are you going to do about it? When? Or would you rather continue selling single copies, one at a time? Those choices are yours to imagine and take action.

Paulette Ensign teaches people worldwide how to surpass her results of selling well over a million copies of her own tips booklet, in 4 languages and various formats, without spending a penny on advertising. Start your million-copy book and booklet journey with her free gifts at www.tipsbooklets.com © 2009, Paulette Ensign

Sometime back I was at a mid-Atlantic Publisher’s Association Meeting and mentioned this to a small group I was sitting with at lunch. Most looked at me at if I had lost my mind or perhaps did not “get it” that I was suppose to sell the darn things. They began giving me a lot of reasons why I should be selling every copy I can, after all, I’m a publisher right? There is this tendency among small publishers to hold-on tightly to their books. Sometimes, I believe, to tightly. My suggestion is to loosen up and give your books away with joy and expectation. Holding on to tightly to your books will cost you potential sales in the long run.

When “Handbook to a Happier Life” was brand new, on a lark, I sent 20 copies to the presidents of several big network-marketing companies. The result was a glowing testimonial from the president from one of the companies, along with an order for 250 books. Was it worth the cost of giving away the 20? You bet it was!

At the Mid-Atlantic Publisher’s Luncheon, I asked the group at my table what they would do in the following situation: A newly signed distributor calls you and wants you to send them 400 copies of a book so that they can give them away free. What would you do? Everyone at the table, by now convinced I was a nut, said “No way!” “Make them buy them.” “You’re getting ripped-off!”

When I told them my experience, their position changed, you see, I said “Yes” to the 400 freebies. After all, they were at that time, taking up space in my garage, collecting dust. The net result was, that distributor, that year, sold 75,000 copies of “Handbook to a Happier Life.” I like to think giving away books is planting seeds, you never know which ones will spout or when.

Many professional speakers gladly give away their $12 paperback book (for the cost of a $1.50) and receive bookings worth thousands of dollars from it. Others obtain high price consulting contracts using the book as a door opener.

If you learn to loosen your grip on your books you may be pleasantly surprised at the result. It is a cosmic law that you cannot give without receiving. Plant your books wide and far and then watch them spout.

Jim Donovan is a successful author, speaker and book coach, who guides authors through the entire process of writing, publishing and selling their books and helps them achieve the success they desire.

This market can be lucrative, if you know how to sell to the buyers. This begins with an understanding of why they might use your books to improve their circumstances, to make their companies more profitable. An appeal to traditional buying motives may not work under these conditions.

The people with whom you will be negotiating are skilled professionals, used to dealing with knowledgeable, competent sales representatives. The buyer is probably not the Purchasing Agent for the companies, but perhaps the Human Resources Manager, Sales Manger or Brand Manager. The content of your book will determine the prospective decision maker.

Many of these businesspeople have never thought about using books as promotional tools. So if you come across as a consultant with ideas to help them, you are more likely to make the sale. If you know how they could use your titles to sell more of their products or services you will find a willing ear. Below are suggestions to fuel your discussion. Use this list to help plan how they might best use your titles.

1) Human Resource planning. If you have a concept that would help employees plan for their retirement, ask people in the Human Resources department if they could use your titles in their retirement-planning programs. They might also consider titles that would help them implement other parts of their benefit programs.

2) Training and motivation. According to Frank Fochetta (VP, Director of Special Sales and Custom Publishing at Simon & Schuster), “Companies such as Herbal Life and Amway buy motivational and business books to resell to their distributors.” In many other businesses, managers regularly seek new ways to train and motivate their employees, too. Your titles on leadership, motivation, self-help, selling techniques or new business topics could be useful to these executives.

3) Gift to customers. Fiction and nonfiction titles may be the perfect gift for customers, employees or to recognize unusual events or special marketing periods. Mark Resnick (partner in FRW Company) tells us, “Some cruise ship lines, give passengers a gift upon departing the ship. Sometimes they use a book about one of the destination ports as the souvenir.

4) Sell through their stores. If companies have stores for employees, either on the premises or online, they may purchase your books for resale. Majors Internet Company provides a service called . This is a business-to-business solution for selling books to employees of corporations. In effect, Majors puts a bookstore inside the corporation. Purchasing managers, Corporate Library Professionals, and Information Service Managers can link to a customized version of the company bookstore to offer employees access to a comprehensive database of titles.

Majors customizes The Company Bookstore for the corporate intranet, processes credit card transactions, picks, packs & ships, and provides management reports. Majors is a vendor for the corporate employee as well as for information centers, training and development, and research departments. J.A. Majors Company http://www.majors.com/corporations/corporations.htm

Books Are Fun, Ltd. (A Reader’s Digest Company) is a leading display marketer of books and gifts. They offer hardcover books, gifts, and educational products at savings of up to 80% off retail prices. Their book fairs and book displays supply innovative, premium quality products to corporations, schools, hospitals, and early learning centers throughout the United States and Canada. Books Are Fun serves over 60,000 schools, 12,000 corporations, 20,000 early learning centers, and many hospitals, universities, government offices and non-profit organizations in the United States and Canada through a variety of programs.

The Books Are Fun formula is simple. They buy huge, non-returnable quantities of books and gifts directly from publishers and manufacturers, and sell those products at deep discounts directly to end users through display marketing events. They typically donate a percentage of the proceeds in books or cash to the sponsoring organization or to a designated charity. Books submitted to Books Are Fun will not be returned. http://www.booksarefun.com/

5) Public relations. Companies may use books to establish, repair or improve their reputations. This may be accomplished by providing books to volunteer groups or by donating them to a worthy cause. Companies celebrating an anniversary may also use related books to help promote and celebrate the event.Charlene Costanzo sold her title, The Twelve Gifts of Birth, to children’s shelters to use as a fundraiser. But the image it created in the public’s mind was upbeat, creating positive word-of-mouth advertising for the shelters.

Companies may use books to maintain or create an image, too. Many hospitals do this when they give a package of products to the parents of babies delivered there. If your title has information that is important to the first years of a baby’s life, it might be included in this package.

6) An addition to the corporate library. Some businesses have an internal library. If so, show the company librarians how your title could be appropriate to their needs. If it is on an applicable topic — such as selling, industry information, motivation, or marketing — you might convince them to add your title to their collections.

7) Enhance other marketing campaigns. Laws and do-not-call lists limiting the activities of telemarketers will increase the use of direct mail to accomplish the same result. Businesses conducting direct-mail campaigns want recipients to open the envelopes immediately upon receiving them, and one way to do this is to offer a teaser on the envelope announcing a “free gift inside,” or an “offer for a free gift inside.” Statistics have proven this to be an excellent way to increase response rates, and your book or booklet may perform that function.

Sales promotional tools. Brand managers have bottom-line responsibility for their product line and are interested in increasing their sales. Show them how they could use your titles to make this happen and you will find an interested prospect.

Coupon. Manufacturers may offer a dollars-off, in-pack, on-pack, or near-pack coupon entitling the bearer to a discount on your product. For example, a pet food company might include a coupon in a bag of dog food (in-pack) for a discount on your video about dog care.The manufacturer may offer the same coupon on-pack, printed on the exterior of the package and visible to the consumer. Near-pack coupons are provided at the point of sale (perhaps as a peel-off coupon or in a “take-one” container) in close proximity to where the item is being sold. For example, a coupon for a book containing holiday recipes could be placed near a display of Pfaltzgraff plates with Christmas decor.

Coupons serve another function whenever the customer is required to send any information to you. Your company garners information to build its database, which can offset costs of the free items.

Premium. When used as a premium (an item given away to attract, retain or reward customers or to motivate employees), a product may be offered at a relatively low cost (or free) as an incentive to purchase a particular product. If the dog-food manufacturer mentioned above included your dog-care video inside the package — instead of a coupon for it — your product would be considered a premium.Attend or exhibit at appropriate trade shows. The Incentive Show (held in New York annually, http://www.piexpo.com/) is an excellent place to display your products for use as premiums. You may also find rep groups there willing to carry your titles.

Prize. A high-price or high-value book might be offered as a prize in a contest or sweepstakes.Samples. Businesses may use your items to give to customers or the general public at no charge in order to build goodwill, and traffic to their stores. They might place a sample chapter of your book on their website, offering the complete version as a self-liquidator.

Hammermill Paper Company purchased over 5000 copies of Paulette Ensign’s booklet 110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life as a premium for their sales representatives to leave behind with prospects after a sales call. The only change to which Paulette had to accede was to allow Hammermill to print the booklets on their paper to serve as a sample.

Self-liquidator. When a book is sold at a price low enough to entice buyers, but high enough to cover it’s cost, it is being used as a self-liquidator. Many supermarkets use this tactic to entice shoppers to buy more at their store. Here, buyers may purchase a book at a discounted price with a minimum purchase. Or shoppers may be offered a continuity series at a reduced price.

Once you know how a prospective customer might use your titles, the next step is to contact and negotiate with them.

Brian Jud is host of the National Special Sales Summit — sponsored by Simon & Schuster, Publishers Weekly and R. R. Bowker. Brian also conducts the Masters of Book Marketing seminars and the Book Marketing Monthly teleseminars. He is the author of Beyond the Bookstore (a Publishers Weekly book) and The Marketing Planning CD-ROM describing new ways to sell more books profitably to special-sales buyers. Brian is also the author of the new series of printed booklets published by R. R. Bowker with Proven Tips for Publishing Success. Brian is editor of the Book Marketing Matters special-sales newsletter, and creator of the Special-Sales Profit Center used by R. R. Bowker to sell other publishers’books to special markets. Contact Brian at P. O. Box 715, Avon, CT 06001; (800) 562-4357; brianjud@bookmarketing.com or visit http://www.bookmarketing.com/