Self Publishing - Media Promotion
Promote your book through the media by sending a press release to your local papers and any
magazines likely to be interested in reviewing it.
Keep your press release short, no longer than one page. In it announce your book and briefly
explain what it is about. Offer to send a free copy for review purposes.
Don't forget to send a release to your local radio. You may
get a free mention or even an interview out of it.
Other marketing opportunities you should try and exploit
include:
Selling Books by Mail
The total number of books sold by small, part time mail order entrepreneurs is growing each year.
Total sales each year for the past five years have increased by 50 per cent over the previous year's sales.
Two "new angles" have greatly contributed to this phenomenal growth in total sales.
One is the practice of offering a wide selection of books via "mini catalogues".
The other "angle" is the practice of sending these "mini catalogues" to prospective buyers as "inserts" in printed
materials the prospect has already ordered.
Mini catalogues are usually printed on A4 sheets of paper, then
folded in half along the length and simply slipped inside the covers of a magazine or the folds of a newspaper.
Often a mini catalogue is folded and sent out as a self mailer.
Both of these methods of obtaining circulation are very profitable.
A book-selling "mini catalogue" is made up of a "full page Commercial" on the front page.
This is your main sales thrust, or primary attempt to sell a "featured" book with each of your mailings.
The second, third, and half of the last page of the mini catalogue should be two columns of listings of other books you
have to offer.
Each listing should consist of the title of the book offered, followed by a short description of either the book itself, or
how the book can benefit the buyer.
This is then followed by the catalogue number of the book, and the price.
The bottom half of the last page of your mini catalogue should be devoted to your customer order coupon.
The mini catalogue should be typeset, and printed on a different colour paper for each mailing.
Recent sales analysis indicate that the better quality paper your mini catalogue is printed on, the more sales it brings in
for you.
Once you've got a mini catalogue with which to advertise your
books, you must bring all your efforts to bear on the problem of obtaining maximum circulation of your mini-catalogue among the
prospective book buyers.
The easiest and least expensive method is as follows: Check at your area newspaper offices for a listing of all their
distributors.
Contact these people and ask them to give you a price they would charge to include one of your mini catalogues with each paper
they sell or deliver.
Determine how many "mini catalogues" you'll need for this kind of distribution, have that number printed, hand them out to your
contracted distributors and newspaper carriers, then sit back
and prepare to fill book orders.
It's simple and easy, but best of all it really results in big profits for your book-selling business!
Another simple method would be to line up students from different schools in your area, and pay them £10 per thousand to
deliver your mini catalogues door to door.
If you have school age children, this could be the easiest and least expensive method of distribution for you.
Most towns also have professional distributing services which deliver advertising material to the residents.
Check your local phone directories for their names and addresses. The orders which you develop through the local distribution
method can be filled by mail.
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