Author: Kelly Schuknecht

Kelly Schuknecht is a marketer with a background in the publishing industry. She is passionate about all things related to books and loves helping authors navigate the world of social media for book promotion. She recently launched the course Marketing Your Book on TikTok.
Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

5 Ways to Promote Your Book in July

Summer is here and temperatures are high!  While you’re sitting by the pool or at the beach, don’t forget about the importance of marketing your book.  Here are five ideas for promoting your book this month:

  1. Fourth of July.  If your book is about America, patriotism, US government or a similar topic, you may have lots of opportunities to promote your book to people over this holiday weekend.  Get involved in a local parade or book fair.  Check your newspaper for local events.
  2. Speaking of local, do you have a niche book?  Think about local shops whose clientele might be interested in your book.  Can you put a copy in their waiting area?  Would they be interested in selling copies in their shop?  Prepare a pitch and contact them.  You’ll never know until you ask.
  3. Going on vacation this month?  Be sure to carry business cards with you at all times so you can hand them out when you meet new people and have an opportunity to mention your book.
  4. Create a Facebook Page for your book.  You can do this in 6 easy steps.
  5. Start thinking about the Beijing and Frankfurt Book Fairs coming up.  Now is the time to register.

DISCUSSION: How are you planning to promote YOUR book this month?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Vice President of Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

Should authors thank reviewers for reviewing their book?

What do you do when you receive a good review for your book?  Do you thank the reviewer?

Authors often ask me if this is something they should do.  Most reviewers don’t write reviews for anything in return, so they wouldn’t be surprised by not receiving anything in return.  However, if you really appreciated their review and want to take them by surprise, thank them.

I recently reviewed Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal.  Just like the other 40 or so books I have reviewed on Amazon, I didn’t expect any thank you or acknowledgement from the author.  But to my surprise, a few days later, I received this message on my Facebook account:

Was I surprised?  Absolutely!  The personal thank you from the author made me feel a connection with him.  I’m glad I read the book and I’m glad I wrote a review.  If Satyal publishes another book someday, you can be sure I will read and review it!  That is the power of connecting with your readers.

DISCUSSION: Do you typically thank readers for reviewing your book?  If so, how do you do it?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

5 Ways to Increase Book Sales by Giving Away the First Chapter

I love Amazon!  I frequently search for books on Amazon.  I pay attention to what Amazon recommends for me.  I have a Kindle and often check Amazon’s list of “Top 100 Free” Kindle Ebooks.  As a reader, the choices for “what to read next” are endless.  My “to read” list is never under 25 books.  Readers have so many choices these days, so, as an author, how do you convince readers to choose your book to read next?

One idea is to give away the first chapter of your book.  Everyone likes getting something for free, right?  The first chapter will give the reader a taste of the book and will entice them to want to read more.  There are a few ways you can get your first chapter into the hands (or onto the screens) of your potential readers:

  1. Add a message in your email signature asking your contacts to let you know if they would like to receive a copy of the first chapter of your book.  For those who reply, send them a PDF copy of the first chapter and let them know where to buy the hardcopy if they like it and want to read more.
  2. Put an ad in your local newspaper with a short (1-2 sentence) synopsis of your book, inviting potential readers to email you for a PDF copy of the first chapter for free.  When you email the file to these contacts, let them know where to buy the hardcopy if they like it and want to read more.
  3. Similarly, put an ad on Craigslist (in the “free” section) with a short synopsis of your book, inviting potential readers to contact you for a free PDF copy of the first chapter.  And – you guessed it! – when you send it to them, let them know where to buy the hardcopy if they like it and want to read more.
  4. First Chapter Plus publishes and distributes a monthly e-catalog, which includes the first chapters of print and digital books, and mp3 clips of audio books to over 35,000 opt-in subscribers.  This listing will include the necessary details for where potential readers can find and purchase a copy of your book.
  5. If you’re a blogger, publish the first chapter of your book in a blog post or link to a PDF file where your readers can open the first chapter and read it.  Be sure to let readers know where to buy the book once they’ve read the first chapter and want more.  Author Ian Lurie actually allows his viewers to read the entire contents of his book, Conversation Marketing, online.  See how he does this here: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/internet-marketing-book/

DISCUSSION: What are some other ways that you might distribute the first chapter of your book to potential readers?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

5 Ways to Promote Your Book in June

Summer has begun, but don’t forget to do something every day to promote your book!  Here are five ideas for promoting a book in June:

  1. Flag Day is June14th.  From now until July 4th it’s a perfect time to promote books about America, patriotism, US government or similar topics.
  2. Set up a Twitter account and start networking.  Learn about which hashtags to use and watch in this post: 10 Twitter Hashtags for Self-Publishing Book Marketing.
  3. The Annual Conference of the American Library Association (ALA) is taking place June 23-28 in New Orleans.  To learn more about the ALA, visit www.ala.org.
  4. Father’s Day is June 19th.  If your book is about parenting, fatherhood, family or a related topic, now is a good time to promote your book as a Father’s Day gift idea.
  5. Write a pitch letter to a radio or television producer following these tips: 1) Keep your letter short.  2) Include a “hook” to grab their attention. 3) Use bullet points. 4) Tell the producer what’s in it for them. 5) Be available to respond to his/her interest immediately.  Find contact information for your local radio stations here: http://www.radio-locator.com/

DISCUSSION: How are you planning to promote YOUR book in June?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Book Reviews, Kelly Speaks

Why are book reviews important for self-publishing authors?

Customers searching online for books will often glance at book reviews when deciding whether or not to purchase a book.  They may compare the review information for one book with a similar book to decide between the two which they want to purchase.  Doing a quick search on Amazon for “book marketing,” for example, brings up 201,642 results.  A customer has to narrow it down somehow, so they may glance through some of the books and look at things like the cover, publish date and reviews among other things.  Comparing the two following books from this category, which would you be more likely to purchase?

#1 – A total of 3 reviews (in 5 years) with an average rating of about 3.5 stars.

#2 – A total of 187 reviews with an average rating of about 5 stars.

There may be other factors involved for a customer comparing these two.  For instance, #1 is priced much lower.  Sure, pricing is important, and the lower the better to encourage sales, but is a lower price more important than really great feedback from other readers?  Customers probably won’t think so.

I wrote a few weeks ago about paying for book reviews.  If it isn’t in your marketing budget to pay for reviews or you simply want to pursue free review services, here are a few places to start:

http://www.bookpleasures.com
http://www.bookreviewsrus.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/
http://readersfavorite.com/
http://readerviews.com

* To read my review of Plug Your Book! by Steve Weber, visit: http://goo.gl/EkTYv 

DISCUSSION: Do you know of other great FREE book review services our readers should know about?  Post them in the comments below.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for Outskirts Press.  In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.