Category: Book Promotion

Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Cheri Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Self-Publishing

How to Get Your Self-Published Book in a Library

You have an ISBN. You have a LCCN. So libraries should be able to find your book, and therefore, will purchase your book, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, libraries rarely “order” self-published books. This doesn’t mean they don’t house self-published books and that they won’t stock your book. It simply means you need to do a little work to get on their radar. Here are a few ways to get your book in a library.

  • Donate a copy (or several copies) of your book to the library. Be sure to go through the proper donation channels.
  • Host a book reading at your library. This will not only introduce the library to your book but also introduce your book to potential readers.
  • If your book is geared towards children, give a school presentation on your book’s subject. School libraries are always looking for new books.
  • Connect with librarians via social networks. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are powerful ways to network.
  • Send promotional materials such as flyers and letters to local libraries. Be sure to include of the essential information about your book such as subject, genre, audience and purchasing information.
  • Try to get a book review in a local publication. This will bring positive attention to your book and encourage libraries to buy it.

Libraries are a powerful part of your book promotion strategy. Creative marketing tactics can increase your chances of a library stocking your book. They can also lead to great relationships with librarians and readers. The best way to find out what your local library wants is to talk to the librarians. Work on building an honest relationship, and you may just find one your book’s best promoters.

Cheri Breeding ABOUT CHERI BREEDING:
Since 2005 Cheri Breeding has been working as the Director of Production for Outskirts Press. In that time, she has been an instrumental component of every aspect of the Production Department, performing the roles of an Author Representative, Book Designer, Customer Service Representative, Title Production Supervisor, Production Manager and, Director of Production. She brings all that experience and knowledge, along with an unparalleled customer-service focus, to help self-publishing authors reach high-quality book publication more efficiently, professionally, and affordably.
Book Design, Book Promotion, Cheri Speaks, Self-Publishing

The Importance of Illustrations

They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Don’t think that is true? Ask yourself, “Would A.A. Milne’s children’s classic, Winnie-the-Pooh, be just as charming without the illustrations from Ernest Shepard?” Maybe, but the beautiful illustrations have brought the world of the Hundred Acre Woods to life. Award-winning illustrations are often the difference between a good book and a GREAT one.

Finding the Right Illustrator

The illustrations in your book help communicate your book’s value to readers and buyers. As a children’s author, you must remember that children are you audience but adults are your buyers. You need to produce a book that is appealing to both children and adults. One of the ways to do this is by combining your story with great pictures.

When choosing an artist, make sure their style meshes your vision of the book. There are a wide range of illustration styles, so it is essential that you choose one that helps convey your message. Self-publishing companies such as Outskirts Press allow you to choose the artist who best fits your needs.

How Illustrators Are Paid

Payment arrangements typically include a flat fee or royalties and usually depend on where you find your illustrator. Self-publishing companies are a good place to look for an illustrator. Some companies such as Outskirts Press don’t require you to publish your book with their companies to use their illustrators but offer a discount on services if you do publish with their company. When considering a self-publishing company, be sure to read all of the fine print.

Another option is to hire a freelance illustrator without going through a middle man. This can be done by searching sites such as www.guru.com and www.elance.com. You can also talk to other writers to find out which illustrators they recommend.

Before hiring an illustrator, make sure you look at sample work. Ask yourself, is this how I want my illustrations to look? If not, keep searching. There is an illustrator out there whose style will complement your story.

Beyond Picture Books

Illustrations aren’t just for children’s books. Pictures can enhance any book. Whether you are in need of a book cover, an interior image, or a full series of illustrations, there is an illustrator you can bring your book to life.

Cheri Breeding ABOUT CHERI BREEDING:
Since 2005 Cheri Breeding has been working as the Director of Production for Outskirts Press. In that time, she has been an instrumental component of every aspect of the Production Department, performing the roles of an Author Representative, Book Designer, Customer Service Representative, Title Production Supervisor, Production Manager and, Director of Production. She brings all that experience and knowledge, along with an unparalleled customer-service focus, to help self-publishing authors reach high-quality book publication more efficiently, professionally, and affordably.
Book Promotion

Google Self Publishing Promotion

When you are a self published author, sometimes book promotion is about who you know. Other times it is simply about having the time to devote. 

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a fast way to find the people or places that were right for your book? Knowing how to conduct an advanced Internet search that yields applicable results is very important. Luckily, it’s also very easy, and in case you don’t know how, I’m going to show you. Go to the Google website at google.com but instead of simply entering a term, use the “Advanced Search” by clicking on the link that says “Advanced Search” in small type next to the “Search” button. You will find a page that enables you to fine-tune your search. By conducting smarter searches, you will find places to promote your book faster.

You can promote your books on Google for free. You’d sell a lot more books if a lot more people knew about them. Google can help make that happen.

  • Help users discover your books: By matching the content in your books with user searches, Google Book Search connects your books with the users who are most interested in buying them.
  • Keep your content protected: Users are able to preview a limited number of pages to determine whether they’ve found what they’re looking for.
  • Drive book sales: Links to bookstores, online retailers, and your website make it easy for users to go from browsing to buying — with new ways to buy and access your books coming soon.

Learn more at: https://books.google.com/partner/

Good luck and have fun!

Book Promotion

How Authors (and Others) Can Use Klout to Check Their BRAND

A few months ago, we discussed the importance of building a BRAND that has SWAG. We defined BRAND as:

B oldness (You have to be able to say things others are afraid to.)

R elevance (Are you talking about the things your audience wants to hear about?)

A nd

N otable (Are you saying things that are “newsworthy”?)

D edication (Are you dedicated to yourself and your audience?)

There are many tools available to check your BRAND. One of the most popular is Klout. You can use this to check your relevancy to your audience. Once you enter your Twitter account information, you will get a profile that will begin with something like this:

The top portion of your profile shows your Klout score (which is a number between 1 and 100). The higher the number, the greater influence you have on your audience. You are also able to see important information from your Twitter profile, top topics you in your realm of influence, and how many people you influence. You can learn even more about the Klout scoring system HERE.

As you scroll down the profile page, you are able to see your score broken down even further to show how many people have retweeted (or shared) your information, how many direct replies you get, etc. Ideally, it shows how much people care about what you say on Twitter. You can use this as a report card to see what areas you need to improve in social networking and can also add your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for a more accurate score.

If you’re on Twitter, check your Klout score today (if you’re not on Twitter, you should sign up for the party). What’s your score? What does this say about how you interact with the online community? Could you improve?

If you aren’t satisfied with your score, it’s OK. Just make sure that you are adhering to “guidelines” for BRAND spelled out above. After a couple of weeks or so, re-check your score and see if you’ve improved.

Book Promotion

New Conference Alert: AFTA Book Exhibit

The American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) is hosting a book exhibit at their conference this June, and if you have written a related book, you may be interested in attending.

They are interested in books with stories in the following categories (taken directly from their entry form):

  • Health
  • Economics
  • History
  • Recreation
  • Religious Life
  • Generations
  • Psychology
  • Therapy
  • Law
  • Relationships
  • Life Education
  • Demographics
  • Planning
  • Violence
  • Social Work
  • Sexuality
  • Bibliographies
  • Surveys/Studies
  • Kinship
  • Marriage
  • Multicultural Issues
  • Child Abuse/Neglect
  • International Families
  • Structure/Socialization
  • Clinical Assessment
  • Policy Making
  • Dependency Studies
  • Women’s Issues
  • Reference
  • Textbooks

The entry fee is $99 for 1 title and $25 for each extra title. They also have packages for multiple title entries.

You can download the entry form by visiting this link: http://bookexhibit.com/Announcements/2ndQtr11/AFTA.pdf.

Are there any other interesting conferences, etc. coming up that self-publishing authors should attend?