What's Your Biggest Challenge with Your Book?

[Bill Frank]

I'd be interested to learn what authors/publishers on this network think their biggest challenges are with their book. I wonder if there's any common, pervasive challenge we all face.

[Philip Nork]

I am getting many responses of this sort, so I have started following women blogs or mom blogs, but many don't talk about this situation. I have sent a few copies of my book to doctors and child physcologists (?) hoping they may see the benefit in the first 10 lessons I talk about. The rest of the book is how my main character choose to use these lessons which leads to even more interesting stories. I haven't been able to find many "how divorce affects children" blogs...anyone know of any?

[Donna McDine]

I don't know at this point what will be my biggest challenge since my book doesn't come out until March 2010. I'm enjoying reading the rest of this exchange. Great topic, thanks!

[John Kremer]

I'm glad so many people are active in this discussion forum. People are really sharing and providing user-experience. That makes it possible to gauge how the same promotion might work for you.

This discussion forum is why I started this Book Marketing Network.

John Kremer, founder
http://www.bookmarket.com

[Charlotte Babb]

I am not new to the internet, and I am a web designer, but my challenge is how to think of the audience market, and why they would be attracted to my book--which isn't published yet. So I guess my primary challenge is getting published, but I want to start the marketing process now.

[Paradise]

Charlotte,
You are right to start early, you might have mentioned the title of your book in your comment, that would be a beginning. You will find that marketing is a full time job, much harder than writing the book in the first place. We face a new dawn in publishing and the key word is self, that word is now added to every facet of the process from writing to sale. I have not clicked on your name, but if I do, will I find some information about your book? My point is; put your book information everywhere that readers can see it. What was the old Sunday school song about putting your talents under a basket? You will find the process fun, exciting and a gathering of friends and supporters. Good luck to you and don't be shy about letting us know about your progress, because some of us here can and do read books written by others. Dr McGinnis (The Paradise Series) See what I mean? Paradise Series, get it? Let us know.

[Constance Lawrence]

My biggest challenge is trying to promote my book. I really don't know where to begin.
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/AreMenReallyDogs.html

[Sara L Stein MD]

with that title I would just start going on boards and starting discussions. Yes No Maybe, not sure! Great title!

[Sara L Stein MD]

I'm currently working through the distribution process - I used Lightning Source and thru Ingram easily got onto amazon, B&N, powells, Jos Beth, books a million. But where oh where is Borders via Baker & Taylor? How long does B&T take?

The other interesting part are the turn downs for distribution - Charles Levy (Target). B&N in store. ("This type of book sells better on the internet"). Do you go back to ppl? if so, when? And how?

Now starting the process of marketing to non-retail thru a professional. I'll let you know how that goes.

Re PR - had one press release with underwhelming results. Anybody else have good results? With whom? Is there a grouping of radio shows to start with? or is it just one-by-one? How do you find out what kind of audience they have?

I know there are many wonderful answers out there - John's site in particular.

Thanks,
Sara

Sara L Stein MD
Author, Obese From The Heart: A Fat Psychiatrist Discloses
http://obesefromtheheart.com

[Steve Miller]

Dr. Stein,

Your book and mine are similar in several ways, so that if you follow some of my marketing efforts (I self-published through my own press in March, using BookSurge), you should find that I've saved you a lot of time in trying to find what works and what doesn't. Mine's on helping people with their personal finance; yours on helping people deal with their weight problems. Both of these are subjects that are continually in the news and that there are thousands of newsletters, blogs, sites, etc., dedicated to the subject that have to come up with new angles all the time.

The distributors I contacted turned me down and I've since decided that bookstores aren't the best places to sell my book. And since they charge about 70% of the retail, I was probably going to lose money at the price I had my book at. (If you do get a distributor, you might be able to argue for keeping your Amazon royalties for yourself, so that you don't lose most of your profit there.) Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to market books.

Here's an extensive outline of my recommendations on marketing books - particularly books like ours: http://wisdomcreekpress.com/how-to-market-your-books.htm

Many points link to posts on my blog that expand upon the subject.

Would love to follow you in your marketing efforts. Keep asking questions and reporting back on this forum. We'd all love to learn from your experiences!

Also, I'm trying to compare BookSurge and Lightning Source on Amazon sales. Can you tell me exactly how much money you get from an Amazon sale? Do you have to subtract anything from that, like shipping costs or anything? I have a discussion going on about this in a list serve and people are disagreeing.

You'll probably want to enter your book in some contests before the end of the year. They have lots of categories, so that you have a decent chance of winning a category, and a great chance of being a finalist. I've listed the contests I sent mine to in my blog. I won the "personal finance" category in the "All Books" contest, which allows me to put a nice star on my book saying, "Best Books Award Winner, USA Book News." A good way to separate yourself out from the hordes of books in your field.

[Sara L Stein MD]

Steve,
this is fantastic information. Thank you so much.

You are right, I market with trepidation partially because it is new to me, partially because it is uncomfortable. But in medicine we say see one, do one, teach one.

You are teaching well!

I took the standard 55% trade discount with return/destroy (that means no return shipping cost) through Lightning Source. I'm not sure who is paying for shipping initially, I couldnt find it on the FAQ just now. My book is retail 11.98 and I am earning over $2 per book after printing/shipping (it varies a bit because the printing costs change with quantity orders).

The non-retail vendor takes 60% no returns, they pay the shipping. volume sales to military, hospitals, etc. www.premiumbookcompany.com Just getting started.

How many books did you send out in the first year?

Do you use press releases?

Thank you again for such comprehensive information - I look forward to learning more from you!

Best,

Sara

Sara L Stein, MD
Author, Obese From The Heart: A Fat Psychiatrist Discloses
http://obesefromtheheart.com

[Steve Miller]

Sara,

I did an initial press release about my book on about 4 free press release sites, and got no response at all. (I really didn't expect anything, since so many books are published, announcing a new book isn't really news, unless I'm a presidential candidate.

But then I did a paid release through Bostick ( http://www.bostickcommunications.com/custom4.html ), and within an hour I had about 20 responses, including one from TV and two from radio. I got a good radio interview out of it. Apparently, members of the press don't have time to look at all the free stuff, but listen to these more targeted press releases from places like Bostick, which they trust.

See my experiences under "i-1" of my outline.

So does your relationship with Amazon happen automatically through Lightning Source, or do you have to order from Lightning Source and set up your own account with Amazon? And you're netting about $2 per book sold on Amazon. Right?

J. Steve Miller
Author of Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It
http://wisdomcreekpress.com/press_kits.html

[Sara L Stein MD]

Lightning source lists automatically with Ingram, B&T, and a number of other distributors including amazon. My book was up on amazon within a week.
The distributors have the right to refuse a book even if Lightning Source prints it.
I'm making about $2.30 right now per book, but they're buying in low numbers (about 10-25 at a time) so the printing costs are higher.


I'm definitely going to check out Bostick - thanks for the referral.

I'm a very poor hurry up and wait person. I started out in surgery. We like to get things done. This is totally opposite me!
Best, Sara

Sara L Stein MD
Author, Obese From The Heart: A Fat Psychiatrist Discloses
http://obesefromtheheart.com