6 Ways Watching Real Housewives of New York Can Help You Market Your Book

July 27, 2011

Elise L. Connors Alternative Marketing Methods, Marketing Your Self-Published Book , , , , 3 Comments

Do you watch Real Housewives of New York? If not, surely you’ve seen all the press about the show. Did you know that you can learn a lot about how to market your book and build your author brand by watching it? Here are just a few of the lessons to be learned when watching the show for any period of time (some old and some new):

  • Follow trends: Take note from Ramona and her jumping on the “renew your vows” trend. Sure, it is a good idea to be unique most of the time, but sometimes you have to “do the stuff everyone else is doing” in order to get your momentum going. After all – it works well for everyone else – isn’t it at least worth a “try”?
  • Defend the grapes: Bethenny offered to “stomp the grapes” to make wine. Not if Kelly had anything to do with it – she planned to eat those grapes. If you take a stand on some issue or cause that you really believe in and make this public knowledge, that’s a good way to network and build demand for you and your book.
  • Start your own team: It works for the Twilight saga (remember “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob”?) and is even working for RHONY with the “Team Blonde” and “Team Brunette” fiasco. Have you considered starting “teams” for the main characters in your book? This will build audience excitement for sure because people love to choose sides.
  • Refer to yourself in the third person: Did you see how Sonja referred to herself in the third person on the recent reunion show? Well, don’t do it that way, but this is a great way to write an effective author bio that will stand out amongst the crowd. Author bios should never be written in first person (neither should social media profiles and the like).
  • Toss modesty to the wind: Also in the recent reunion show, Kelly mentioned that Cosmo rated her as one of the Five Nicest Celebrities. Why can’t you do the same as an author? Naturally, you don’t want to tout your achievements at inappropriate times, but don’t be afraid to brag a little – especially when it comes to your bestselling author status.
  • Wear cream to the wedding: This is not the best thing to do in “real life”, but it can be very effective when promoting a book. Don’t allow other authors in your genre to get all of the spotlight. It’s OK to steal the show just a bit for yourself.

Many newly-published authors are faced with the question of: “How do I market my book?” Believe it or not, your answer could be as close as your nearest TV set.

Alternative Marketing Methods at BEA

May 26, 2011

Elise L. Connors Alternative Marketing Methods , , , , , , 1 Comment

Yesterday, one of the events at BEA was “Surprising Marketing Practices from Around the World and What We Can Learn from Them“. We have been discussing these for the past two weeks with our Alternative Marketing Methods Series. Learning about each of these methods will help you and your book stand out from the crowd.

Though I didn’t attend BEA this year, I do want to share some interesting marketing methods that we will be discussing over the coming weeks:

  • Post an ad on Craigslist. Craigslist is a fairly under-utilized marketing tool available to authors. Posting an ad is relatively simple, free, and gives you quality exposure to potential readers.
  • “Host” a YouTube reading/signing. You can read your book in a brief video and post it to YouTube. You can then put up a PayPal link so that readers can purchase the book for a discounted price. You can send them a signed copy of the book when they order.
  • Host a Webinar. Everyone is an expert at something. Why not share your expertise with the world and gently guide them to purchasing your book? These can be planned for and hosted at any time. There are many free webinar services available that can be found using a Google search.
  • Have a Twitter party for your book. If you are active on Twitter, this is a fun and creative way to promote yourself and your book. Pick a #hashtag, plan the time/date, and tweet away!

Do you know of any other creative book marketing strategies? Did you attend the BEA and get information about new strategies that you are focusing on implementing? Please feel free to share them in the comments.

Alternative Book Marketing Methods Series: Non-Profit Marketing

May 18, 2011

Elise L. Connors Alternative Marketing Methods Leave a comment

Last time, we talked about partnering with a local bookstore to offer a Groupon. This week, we’re adding another notch to your “alternative marketing” belt — non-profit marketing.

What do you mean non-profit marketing? I’m a career author, and I’m in this to make a sustainable income! This may be true, but you can still benefit from marketing your book in a way that is not profit-driven. What if you could use your book to change the world? Okay, thinking more reasonably – what if you could make a difference in a few people’s lives? What if you sold more books while you were doing it?

Before we get into the details, I have a confession. This technique isn’t actually anything new. Companies have been doing this for years, decades, and possibly even centuries. The good news is, though, that this type of marketing is not “the norm” for book authors. So, by using this to market your book, you may be a few steps ahead of the curve.

Imagine for a moment that you are back in high school (stay with me here). You want to go to college, but you don’t think you can afford it. What do you do? A smart student will turn to scouring all available resources for scholarships, grants, and possibly loans. While searching for scholarships, you find one that requires you to read a book and write a brief essay on your opinion of the book and how you can use the advice provided in that book to improve your life. You decide to enter, so you buy the book and enter. A few months later you find out you’ve won $1,000 to help you with school and related expenses. Wouldn’t that leave a mark on your life? That extra $1,000 can help you pay for books, food, etc.

Now step back into your author shoes — how amazing it is that you sold a book to this student, and they were rewarded with a $1,000 scholarship. But I don’t have $1,000 for a scholarship! That’s fine. A good way to finance this is to take a portion from your book sales. Say for instance, you make $2.50 for every book sold. If you set aside $0.50 for every person who buys your book during the scholarship and you get 200 sales during that time, you can offer a reward as small as $100. Of course, if you can take more from your sales, you can invest even more into the scholarship.

This will not only build buzz about your book, but it will also allow you to make a difference, and you may even be able to deduct the scholarship monies when tax time comes (be sure to ask a tax professional about this).

More good news is that offering a scholarship is not the only way to sell books using non-profit marketing. There are many other creative spins you can take on this, and you can find even more ideas by looking around your community and seeing what people need and figuring out how you can help fulfill that need while also selling books.

Have you ever used non-profit marketing to sell books? What results have you seen from implementing such strategies?

Happy Marketing!

Alternative Book Marketing Methods Series: Partnering with Local Bookstores to Offer Groupon/Local Offer

May 11, 2011

Elise L. Connors Alternative Marketing Methods, Book Promotion Strategy , 1 Comment

There are many ways authors can market their books. Some of these include planning virtual book tours, scheduling book signings, distributing a press release, etc. However, many authors do these things. How can you reach an untapped market? How can you stand out from the crowd?

That’s why we decided to offer you the Alternative Book Marketing Methods Series. The goal of this series is to reveal and discuss possible success rates of marketing ideas that are a bit “different”. While there may be some authors that are already implementing these methods as a part of their overall book promotion strategy, these are not widely used and often can make the author stand out in the crowd.

Today’s tactic involves partnering with local bookstores to offer a deal for buyers of your book. There are several local deal sites out there, but the most popular is Groupon. Have you ever heard of them? On their website, they describe themselves as: “…an easy way to get huge discounts while discovering fun activities in your city. Our daily deals consist of restaurants, spas, massages, theaters, hotels, and a whole lot more, in dozens of cities across the country.”

Here’s a sample Groupon:

Groupon Example

How’s this for an idea? You contact a local independent bookstore and ask them about listing your book on consignment. In exchange, you can partner with them (split the cost) of offering a Groupon. A few ideas for the offer can be:

  • Save 50% on your purchase when you buy _______ (insert the title of your book here). You can vary the percentage to you and the store owner/manager’s liking.
  • Get _____ (the name of a popular book) for $5 when you buy _____ (insert the title of your book here). You can vary the money savings to you and the store owner/manager’s liking.
  • Get a gift certificate for $10 off your next purchase of $15 or more when you buy _______ (insert the title of your book here). You can vary the gift certificate amount to you and the store owner/manager’s liking.

These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. Be creative, think up some more creative ideas, and (most importantly), share them with us here. Happy marketing!

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