Nevertheless, it is (unfortunately) equally true that most people—again, not me, just so we’re clear—get their books from Bezos, Inc. So if you happen to have a book coming out soon and don’t want to see that dreaded “Temporarily out of stock” or “Usually arrives within 1–2 months” message on its Amazon page come pub date, you must launch a pre-order campaign.

So, what the hell are pre-order campaigns? In the simplest terms, it’s a promotional campaign that you launch 6–8 weeks prior to the book’s release date to drum up sales so that online retailers place orders and don’t run out of inventory right out of the gate. THAT’S when the dreaded “temporarily out of stock” message appears, which will almost certainly cost you sales. Amazon has trained people to prize convenience over everything else, so waiting 2–3 weeks for a book is a non-starter. (Why it doesn’t occur to these people to drive to a fucking bookstore is a separate tirade, but WHY DOESN’T IT??)

So what kinds of things should you actually be doing in order to run a successful pre-order campaign?

• • Run a giveaway for signed copies! People love free shit. How many times have you eaten a free sample of some food at Costco you don’t really like just because it’s free? I rest my case.
  • Create pretty quote cards using pithy quotes from your book to share on social media. There are tons of free programs you can find to make these. (I heartily recommend Canva, because you get a ton of very attractive photos FOR FREE, and it’s incredibly intuitive and easy, even for someone like me, whose crowning artistic achievements are probably the photos I took on a trip to Paris a few years ago which all prominently feature my thumb.) Of all the marketing content I create, quote cards are BY FAR the most successful in terms of engagement.
  • Conduct Facebook Live streams where you answer questions about the book and take comments, or put out a call for questions on Instagram and answer them in your Instagram Stories.
  • Share photos and videos of anything and everything book-related. Did you get galleys in the mail from your publisher? Create an unboxing video. Have you (or your publisher) just decided on the final cover for the book? Take a picture and show everyone! Did you have some postcards created to hand out at an event? Take some pictures of those babies. Visual content—video, especially—does VERY well on social media, so keep that in mind and crank it out accordingly.

One thing to keep in mind while you’re posting content is to always remember to include a call to action to pre-order the book and always, always, always include a link. The fewer steps it takes someone to get to your book page, the more book sales you’ll have, and the happier everyone will be.

The post Pre-Order Campaigns and Why You Need One first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Pre-Order Campaigns and Why You Need One appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

There are lots of factors that contribute to the decision to buy or a book or not—the cover, the reviews, the price—but something that’s just as important as any of those are endorsements. Also known as blurbs, these are declarations of praise from people you know, or don’t know but are influential in your subject, about how your book will change lives or save the world (or something equally hyperbolic that’s not really provable but sure sounds good). A good blurb from the right person gives you an air of authority and prestige. And that shit sells books.

Soliciting endorsements—like promoting—can be excruciating for authors who a) are very, very, very shy or b) feel like they’re imposing, which they’re not. Either way, it’s a very necessary piece of the marketing puzzle that can lead directly to a sale, and, if it’s the right endorser, lots of sales! You’ll want to start the process of brainstorming endorsers very early on, preferably as soon as you’ve signed your contract and are still riding high, before the inevitable panic about deadlines sets in. Hopefully you’ll have some authors in mind right off the bat—ones who’ve had some measure of success in the same genre as yours if you’re writing fiction or well-known experts in your book’s subject area if you’re writing nonfiction. But you should also be thinking about genre-adjacent folks that may not be the first people who’d jump to mind. For example, if you’ve written a crime novel that centers around technology, of course you’re going to think first of James Patterson or Dennis Lehane, but consider also someone like Alec Ross, a successful author who also happens to be a technology policy expert.

Dial down your inner critic.

The most important thing to remember when you’re drawing up your endorser wish list is this: THINK BIG. There’s a tendency for most writers to undersell themselves and their talent, like, “Oh, who am I, who cares about my little book anyway, etc.” If you want ANYONE to give a shit about your book, now is the time to stop thinking like that. In the legendary Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott coins an expression for your inner critic that still haunts me–in a good way–to this day: a radio station called KFKD (or K-Fucked).

Out of the left speaker will be the rap songs of self-loathing, the lists of all the things one doesn’t do well, of all the mistakes one has made today and over an entire lifetime, the doubt, the assertion that everything one touches turns to shit, that one doesn’t do relationships well, that one is in every way a fraud, incapable of selfless love, that one has no talent or insight, and on and on and on.

You’re gonna need to turn that speaker off—or better yet, just throw the goddamn thing away—in order to reach out to writers whose work you admire.

Once you have that wish list, the investigations begin. Especially if you’re trying to reach a celebrity or a very high-profile author, you’re going to have to wade through websites, social media channels, and, most likely, an agent or a publicist. Admittedly, this can take a huge chunk of time, but it’s worth its weight in gold if you do end up securing a blurb.

Personalize your request—but in the right way.

Keep the letter brief, but also, make sure that it’s personalized. Ask me how much I hate it when someone sends me an email that begins “Dear Connie” or “Dear Corrine” or “Dear Karen.” IT DRIVES ME UP THE FUCKING WALL BECAUSE NONE OF THOSE ARE MY NAME. So I can only imagine how infuriating it problably is for Roxane Gay to get emails that begin “Dear Roxanne.” Yes, I know, it’s one letter off, but it shows a lack of attention to a very simple thing to get right, and could very well cost you an incredibly powerful endorsement.

Also, make sure you draw some personal connection between you and the person you’re asking for the endorsement. Don’t just say “I’m a big fan of your writing,” or “Your book changed my life,” because you can bet they’ve heard that at every book signing they’ve ever been to. Think deeply about why their work matters so much to you; cite a personal experience if you think it’s warranted. The big names get more requests for endorsements than they’d ever have time to answer, but relating on a personal level is an easy way to get yours to stand out from the crowd.

Make it easy for authors to blurb your book.

And finally, do some of the work for them. Send them a synopsis, a summary, a few chapters–even a handful of blurbs you’ve written yourself from which they can choose, or augment in some way. Every little bit of work you do gets you one step closer to an endorsement that could mean a sale.

So, with these tips in mind, go forth and email with reckless abandon! Not every big-time author remembers what it was like to be one of the little people, but you’d be surprised at how many do.

The post How And Why to Solicit Book Endorsements first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post How And Why to Solicit Book Endorsements appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

So you’ve written a book. Congrats!

The easy part is over! Now it’s time to take your baby into the marketplace and sell, sell, sell!

Most authors are less than enthused about this part, usually because they don’t want to seem like they’re bragging or too excited. Heaven forbid you be proud of the fact that you’ve spent YEARS laboring to get the story in your head onto paper and that a publisher liked it enough to put it out in the world for readers to consume. But you know what? You SHOULD be proud! You should be screaming it from the rooftops! Or from Twitter, at the very least.

So, in an effort to help authors market their book as effective as possible, may I present the following tips on what NOT to do (and one thing that you definitely should do that many authors—bafflingly—do not):

Number 1: Don’t piss off your publicist by emailing her every day to ask if she’s gotten you onto The Today Show yet.

Believe me, your publicist wants your book to succeed. She wants you to be happy. But by writing her every day to ask if she’s pitched THIS outlet or THIS outlet or hey, what about THIS outlet??—you’re not helping, and probably just making her sigh heavily every time your name shows up in her inbox. Odds are she’s already pitched all the outlets you mentioned, followed up with them, followed up with them again, and probably one more time for good measure. She’s been told that they’re not interested, or the book doesn’t fit with any upcoming articles/segments, whatever. And she’s probably bummed about it too.

But one thing you SHOULD know is that just because an outlet might not be interested at this very moment, that doesn’t mean that a journalist/producer/blogger won’t hold on to the pitch and look it up again when they DO have a need for it. All is not lost! And if you see an outlet/read a story in a publication that seems tailored made to feature you/your book, absolutely tell her. Just not every day. (Can you tell I used to be a publicist?) And, whatever you do, do NOT sic your agent on her. (This actually happened to me! And the agent was very mean! And made me cry! So. Don’t do that.)

Number 2: Don’t have completely unrealistic expectations for your book, aka Harry Potter Syndrome.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint” is the truest cliché of any to describe book promotion. You know who sprints? Stephen King. James Patterson. Nicholas Sparks, as much as it pains me to write that. And I guarantee that, for at least their first few books, their marketing manager was sharing the same cliché with them. So take every opportunity you’re offered graciously, whether it’s from a blogger who has 10 regular readers or an event that has only a handful of attendees. Every little bit helps, and word of mouth is an incredibly powerful tool in the book-selling arsenal.

Number 3: Don’t be allergic to social media.

Ideally, you’ll have a decent following by the time your book comes out, but if you find the pub date inching closer and you’re still just overwhelmed by the mere thought of the Twittersphere and so just go about your business and pretend like it doesn’t exist, take heart. You do NOT need to be an expert at any social media channels to be effective on them, so don’t feel like you need to be perfect! Just start. It really is one of those things that becomes second nature much sooner than you’d think. Book Twitter especially can be a very welcoming place for new writers.

However—DO ask everyone you know or have ever met on the planet to review your book!

Yes, this feels sort of disingenuous. I know, and your family and friends will PROBABLY leave glowing reviews, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. Reviews can absolutely make or break a potential sale, and the more five-star ones readers see on Amazon or Goodreads, etc, the closer you are to earning out that advance.

In conclusion: Holy shit, you wrote a fucking book! And then someone published it! BE PROUD OF YOURSELF AND TELL THE WORLD!

The post How Not to Market Your Book—Wisdom from 15 Years of Book Marketing and Publicity first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post How Not to Market Your Book—Wisdom from 15 Years of Book Marketing and Publicity appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.