Marketing Your Books: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

As your book review acquisition coordinator for TheNewBookReview  blog, I'd like to share a few of my thoughts on book marketing in today's competitive world.

Book Publishing Has Exploded. According to Bowker, over one million new books are now being published each year. On average, that means over 2,700 new titles are launched every day. That's a lot of new books!

How do we, as authors, get our books to stand out from the crowd? Getting a bunch of decent book reviews surely helps. That was my dream when I offered to initiate one of my several “Authors Helping Authors” projects, this one right here on Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s TheNewBookReview blog.  By inviting author/participants to submit an enticing teaser along with their request for book reviews, we would all be getting more of those coveted reviews . . . or so I thought. That hasn’t happened for many of us, has it? 

But being a Pollyanna at heart, I believe that just reaching out to help other authors can pay dividends. I know it has for me and it can work for you as well.

Here’s one case in point: I wrote a story about a man I always admired, whom I affectionately referred to as Unkie. Because I thought of him as such a special human being, I wanted to honor him in this way. I submitted my story to Newsday, knowing that if this hugely subscribed LI newspaper accepted it, it would get a lot of exposure. Then, because I’m not adverse to a little publicity, I added the words: Creator of Tales2Inspire to the credit line which asked for my name and town of residence..

Well Newsday loved the story, wanted to publish it, but alas, informed me that they couldn’t include the Tales2Inspire bit as part of the credit line. Then as a side note they commented,:“But we’d be interested in learning more about Tales2Inspire. Of course I jumped on the bandwagon, sent them a packet of information. Long story short, it took some time but Newsday contacted me again, this time wanting to interview me and several of my winning authors. They scheduled me in for two days of home based photo shoots, and bingo, my article was published on that following Sunday. And here it is, three full pages in their Sunday paper.

   

You can’t even buy publicity like this, and I got it for free. The point to my story is this: I want to encourage you all to think outside the box a bit. Although I still think writing a review for other authors is a great way to give yourself some credible exposure while lending a helping hand to your fellow authors, try also to think about other ways you might help yourself stand out from the crowd.

The point is, book marketing is a slow process these days, so while you persevere, remember,  the turtle, slow and steady wins the race.

Tales2inspire® was a kernel of an idea I initiated in 2012, growing in proportions even I didn’t dare to envision. My innate curiosity about potentially fascinating human interest stories was the spark that ignited this idea, but there was something more propelling me forward - my belief in the power of stories to shape our thinking. Famed biographer, Doris Kearns Goodwin has repeatedly written about this theme in relation to some of our greatest presidents, who recognized the power of stories and used their storytelling abilities to reach the people they were chosen to govern. Each of the non-fiction stories published in one of the Tales2inspire® books was selected similarly - not only for its artful writing, but for its skill in delivering an underlying message to inspire each of us to reach for the best within us. 

Learn more about Lois and her  Authors Helping Authors project/contest here. 

Try us out with a FREE Tales2Inspire® Sampler book here.

Visit Lois at the following media Marketing sites: 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tales2inspire2

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/tales2inspire

LinkedIn profile: http://tinyurl.com/odtw2wt

Tales2Inspire trailer: https://youtu.be/FuDgXkYMHvo

Blog: https:://www.tales2inspire/blog

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MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers including the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), now offered in its third edition by Modern History Press. Carolyn's latest is in the #HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. She has two booklets in the #HowToDoItFrugally Series, both in their second editions from Modern History Press. Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers (http://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII) and The Great First Impression Book Proposal (http://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) are career boosters in mini doses and both make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. The Frugal Editor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor), now in its second edition, is the winningest book in the series. Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques (http://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor (http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow for news on her new releases direct from Amazon at http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.