Stone In The Surf Press

When I worked as a rental CFO one of my clients, Third Voice, was developing an intelligent search engine.  As part of an Investor presentation, I showed some amazing statistics.  To these I’m adding some information that is directly associated with publishing.

100 years BC the Great Library of Alexandria contained all the wisdom of mankind.  It has been estimated that at its peak, the library contained some 700,000 manuscripts.  Considering that each one of these was hand scribed on papyrus is amazing. 

Almost 2,000 years later, in 1815 the US Library of Congress opened with a mere 6,487 books.  Today the library contains more than 29,000,000 books. 

More than 170,000 new books are published each year in the US and an additional 200,000 new books are published in UK each year.

There are more than 20,000,000,000 web pages with thousands more being added every day.

Mark Twain once made the observation, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.”  Unfortunately no matter how you cut the numbers, your pride and joy, in some cases your hard work, perhaps a life time effort, is only one of hundreds of thousands of such works to be created each year.

Time to give up and walk away?  No way!  Just as it is becoming easier to create a finished work, so has it become increasingly easy to let the world know.  The trick at being successful when the rules change, is to think outside the box.  This section is only intended to give you a few ideas about where to begin.  The art of marketing and what you may or may not find that works would fill volumes of books.

There are a few fundamental basics you will need.  Just as every book is unique, so will be your marketing plan.  For your plan to succeed it must be built upon a very strong foundation.

The core of the new world of internet marketing is a website.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, or full of flash graphics.  A single page with all the necessary information for people to learn about you and a “Buy Now” link is all you need.  You can register with any number of companies for a domain name, many of these will also host your page and provide simple email services as well.  Like anything, shop around and learn all you can about web hosting. 

A domain name is the address that allows people to find your website.  It should be easy for someone to figure out and some how relate to you or your book title.  www.stoneinthesurf.com is easy for someone to remember.  www.independentpublishingbyamiddleagedaccountantfromburbank.com might not be the best choice.  With so many sites out there, you may need to be a bit creative.  Finding a good domain name can be a lot like creating a personalized license plate.  

Having just launched my first self-built website, do not under estimate the effort involved.  It may sound simple, building one from scratch is a significant undertaking.  There are a lot of places you can get good help.  If programming html code or concatenated style sheets sound intimidating, investing in someone who can help will be well worth your time, and stomach lining.  Thank God I had David as a mentor.  Remember the KISS principle (Keep It Simple).  When I proposed my new site to David he laughed at me and told me I had a choice, spend thousands of dollars on design or … learn how to do it myself.  No problem, right?  That was six weeks ago.  Start with a one page site.  There will be plenty of time to expand it later.

Another aspect of websites are what are called “key words” and “meta tags”.  These are the crucial bits of information that will allow the search engines to find you amongst the 20 billion pages out there.  They use tools called “robots” and “spiders”.  It’s important to know how they work and how to maximize your site with them.  This isn’t science fiction or something bizarre that Adrian Smith might encounter on some strange planet.  These are the new industry tools that will help you to get your story to the world.  See my section below on Marketing Don’ts.

The next crucial element is to be very clear about the story you want to tell the world.  You want to tell your story, not your book’s story.  What people want to know is who you are.  Your story will get people interested in your book.  Consider this, my book is a love story about a millionaire who falls in love with a librarian.  OK maybe if that’s the only book on the rack you haven’t read.  Now consider this. 

“Jane Summerfield is a single mother of four in Hayes, Kansas.  She used to find her escape by reading romance novels after tucking her kids into bed.  Two years ago she decided to write her own based on her daydreams and experiences as the county librarian.  She borrowed a friend’s computer and began to write.  Three months later she had finished her first novel.  The story was well received by friends and a professor of English Literature at Kansas State University, Steven Trout.  Unfortunately her work was rejected by all of the major Romance Novel Publishers.  She was about to give up when a friend showed her an inspiring website about people who had become independent publishers.  She raised the money by selling hand made copies of her book.  Last month she launched her own publishing company 831.  Her first book, Over Due, is about a millionaire who falls in love with a librarian.  The book is available on her website, libraries and Amazon.com.” 

I’m not a reader of Romance Novels, but I just might pick this one up.  Not because of the subject, but I’m now curious about Jane and her book.  A good friend of mine is an multi-Emmy winning producer for Cox broadcasting.  He made an interesting observation a while back.   The media world is starved for content.  People who provide content are going to be the survivors in this changing world.  You and your story are content.  The story of how your book came to be, can be as interesting to the world if not more so than your book.  Take the time to develop your story.

Collateral is the tangible things you will need to support your marketing campaign.  My gosh this sounds like a lot.  It’s not really.  Some people get carried away with this and spend far too much money.  I’m a bit of a tightwad and tend to make the most of what I can on a thin budget.  You will need at least a business card and possible post cards or bookmarks. 

Business cards are still the essential tool of any business person.  When it comes to publishing, I suggest that your card has the cover of your book on one side and all of the information to contact you on the other.  Always carry a good supply of these with you.  Hand them out to everyone.  They are cheap, don’t scrimp, and don’t be shy.  Drop one in every “win a free lunch” fish bowl.  It’s ok to err on the side of shameless self promotion, just don’t be rude or annoying about it.  The contact information should include;

Your company name,

Your name,

Address,

Phone number,

Email address,

Website address,

Name of your book,

ISBN of your book,

And

Where your book can be purchased (usually your fulfillment house)

Bookmarks and postcards should do the same, just in a larger format.  There’s no need to spend a lot on these.  Many web based printers will do these at a very reasonable cost, often times throwing in the business cards for free.  I like psPrint from a price and quality stand point.  You can get the blank forms from any office supply store, but I have found that the cost, time and effort often times far exceeds what it would have taken if I had sent the work out. 

Know who your customer is.  Take the time to understand who would be interested in your book.  This will help to narrow down the way you create your collateral and who you will target your marketing to.  When I completed The Chronicles of Adrian Smith, my POD company sent out press releases.  While that was a great service, I’m not sure that a Chinese-American radio station in San Francisco would be interested in a historic science fiction romance novel. 

Identifying your customers will take time and a lot of research.  The internet is perfect for this.  You don’t need to spend a lot of money on mailing lists or research firms if you have time and persistence.  If your book is about drug awareness, you can find many libraries and groups who would be interested in your book.  Start building your own contact list and mailing list.  This can be as simple as an excel spread sheet or any one of the off the self software packages.  If you buy a package, make sure it has the ability to print labels.

Find out who the local radio and television stations are.  Find out who the local news paper and magazines are.  These people are hungry for content.  Your story and your book are interesting to their audience.  I developed my pitch for Charlie’s Treasures and then sent personalized letters and a copy of the book to radio and TV stations in the San Francisco bay area.  I wound up with a ½ hour interview during prime time commute with a major radio DJ.  She hadn’t read the book, but was fascinated with my story.

Remember that there are lots of people doing the same thing and there is limited air time.  If you don’t hear from them, it’s not a reflection of your story or your book.  You may have the most interesting story to tell, but a fight between two parents at a local soccer game can get you bumped. 

Every time you have a book signing or your book gets on the shelf of a book store or you snag a few moments of media time, let the world know.  Put out a quick press release to the local news papers, radio stations, etc.  Local author, Jane Summerfield will be on Traffic Talk, KRASH 1670 AM at 4:30 pm Friday the 30^th discussing her new book, Over Due. 

Once your story is polished and your book is ready, I suggest spending a few bucks and sending out a real press release.  I use PRWeb and have been very successful with it.  This will help to populate the web with news worthy information about you and your book.  Other news services and information websites pick up this information as well.  You’d be surprised where I find my stuff.  This is a very useful tool in getting your story into the main stream.  PRWeb now grades your press release and will even help you fine tune it.

Other web based tools that will help are Froogle.com (now Google Base) and google.books.com. Both are very useful in making your book and your website the top result when someone is looking for you.  Let’s face it Google is one of the biggest search engines out there.  If you’re registered with them, it can only help.

Now it’s time to pound pavement.  Always carry copies of your book with you and where ever you go, allow a few minutes to stop at the local book store.  I even take books with me on vacation.  You never know who you might run into.  With Charlie’s Treasures I figured on about 1,000 books as marketing give aways.  When I stop in at bookstore, I usually can get them to take a half dozen or so on consignment.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get paid for those, but now the book is on the shelf of a brick and mortar real honest to gosh store.  That exposure can’t hurt.  I also will give signed copies to people I meet.  The hopes is that they will show it to friends and family and they will want to buy copies for themselves.  I’ve even been known to send them to telemarketers and customer service people.  If the subject matter of your book is appropriate, consider donating a few to local fund raisers.  You’ll notice on my site I donate books in support of several non-profit organizations.  I’m always pleasantly surprised when my book will sell for $60 or more at auction. 

One last bit of advice, be careful when spending your money.  Many companies will offer to place an ad for your book in their catalog or as part of a bigger ad in the New York Times, etc.  My POD had such an offering a while back.  I think it was $1,200 for a partial ad (1/20^th) in the New York Times.  Sounds great until you consider that I would have to sell 1,500 copies of the book just to break even.  What’s the likely hood that that would happen?  Now if the ad were in a program book for a The World Science Fiction convention – I could see that as a distinct possibility.  Never be afraid to ask their circulation and never be afraid to ask for better positioning.  The same is true for firms that offer to market your book.  It’s sad, but there are a lot of people out there who making their living off of charging you a lot and return nothing.  Know your customer, know your book, ask lots of tough questions and spend your money wisely.

Finally Rich’s Pet Peeve "Don’ts of Marketing"

When it comes to websites, don’t use key words or meta tags that have nothing to do with you or your book.  The robots are smarter now and if they find this stuff – you can actually get banned.  And don’t put text on your page that is hidden in the back ground.  The old white text on a white background  will also get pegged by the spiders and robots.  Don’t do it.

Don’t overly pre-sell your book.  This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves.  If you are writing your book, tell the world.  If your book will be available in the Fall tell the world.  Don’t sell copies of your book before it’s ready to ship.  Not print, but ship.  Not only has the FTC-Federal Trade Commission deemed this illegal, Pay Pal and the credit cards forbidden it, it’s down right smarmy.  Wait until you know the books are on the truck from the printer to your fulfillment house, then open the doors.  What you can do is create a reservation list of people who would be interested in purchasing the book when it is printed.  This should have a no obligation to buy attached to it.  You can offer them an early discount, etc, etc, but do not sell the book and take money for something you don’t have.

The world is smart, don’t lie.  In marketing puffery is ok.  “My mom says this is the best book she’s ever read.”  That’s ok she probably did.  Telling the world, you’re going to sell a million copies will only get you laughed at.  In this day of lies and profusion of miss-information, a little honesty goes a long way.