Print on demand publishing is an easy, fast and inexpensive way to publish your own book. However, unless you promote it is unlikely that you will sell more than a few copies. Heather Wallace can help you to sell more books, with the helpful information in her book, POD Publicity – How to Take a Print on Demand Book from Obscurity to Profitability.
In POD Publicity, Wallace takes authors step-by-step through the process of publishing and promoting a print on demand book. She recommends reading the book from beginning to end, rather than skipping around, and doing so provides a sequenced plan to effectively publishing and marketing your book.
After a foreword by publishing guru Dan Poynter, Wallace explains why POD is the right choice. She starts her how-to right at the beginning, addressing issues such as cover design and title choice. Your book’s image will play a big role in any promotions, so design and title should not be taken lightly.
In the chapter on Building Your Web Presence, Wallace discusses blogging and provides a checklist of what should be included in your online media kit.
Because online sales are so important in selling your print on demand book, Wallace gives many suggestions for effectively presenting your book on Amazon.com. Amazon wants you to sell books, and they provide many tools to do so. POD Publicity shows how to make use of the easy and free ways to promote your book on Amazon.
The largest section of the book covers publicity. Wallace explains how to go beyond the press release to use the Internet to pursue publicity opportunities, including finding and approaching book reviewers, article marketing, writing guest posts for blogs, and more.
In the Networking Works chapter, Wallace suggests several ways to use social media to promote your book. And in Alternate Formats, she offers how to make your book available for Kindle, as an ebook and as an audiobook.
POD Publicity is not the most comprehensive book on book promotion. However, it is an approachable, easy to read guide with actionable steps that will not overwhelm the new author. Anyone considering producing a print on demand book will get useful information that will help them to make their book successful and profitable. A small investment in this book can save you from making costly mistakes, and help you sell more books.
It sounds like a useful and interesting book. Here are two reasons I won’t buy it:
(1) For $29 I expect a real bound book that I can read anywhere, not a file downloaded to my PC.
(2) When I buy books, I expect to either order online at Amazon for next-day or two-day delivery, or to drive five minutes to B&N.
Publishers should make books available through the sales channels that readers want to use.
Michael N. Marcus
http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com
http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
I understand that–everyone has their preferences. Making books available in different formats allows each reader to decide how they want to access the information.
Many people prefer ebooks because they are instantly available–you don’t even have to drive (or wait) five minutes to get them. ;o) They are searchable, you can easily take lots of them on a trip without any extra weight, and they do not take up space on a bookshelf.
I buy a lot of ebooks, but I do not plan to ever stop buying print books. Both have their place, and your point about making them available in multiple formats is a good one for publishers to remember.