Book Marketing Success Stories

[John Kremer]

This is a forum to allow people to showcase the things they've done that have worked well for them in marketing their books. Please share your stories here. Then we can all read them and learn from them. If we work together, we will all be much stronger and more successful in marketing our books.

[John Kremer]

I hope someone posts a good story here soon.

[Judi Lake]

I always tell authors I work with to budget their money for each phase of the project -- design and typesetting is a very important phase but should never saturate the budget for the most important phase: marketing. One author I had worked with literally had less than a shoe string budget but a huge desire -- We began a simple post card campaign for under $500.00 and it landed him on a major television show -- never underestimate the power of direct mail.

[BJ Binning]

I am very excited about the marketing process. I am marketing my book on my own because I think that no one knows the conteent of my book like I do. This is what I have done so far. I have made up press packets that include: A release campaign, a bio, any stories that have been done on the book, a flyer about the book, book signing dates, excerpt from the book a business card and a book mark. I have received great compliments and responses from it. I have also sent out post cards that I made, and I am being booked for many different events! It is very exciting!

[Dr. Amaal V.E. Tokars]

We are in the early stages of marketing the book I wrote, so this is yet to be proven as a total success story. Nonetheless, I do feel it is a positive piece to the total marketing effort. My husband and I decided to have business cards created (not your usual boring cards - but instead tied to the book branding). The primary use of the card was for when we met someone and spoke of the book we would give them a card. This, in our minds, built in a better chance that when they returned home and pulled out the card, they would go the the site listed on the card and possibly buy a book. Now we not only use them this way, but we carry them all the time and drop some off whereever we go (bulletin boards, air port terminals, coffee houses, etc...) Low cost, easy effort, portable and they look great! My husband has posted them at his work and they get taken.

[Kat R.]

This is interesting. By extension, one could produce magnets with the same product. Trying to visualize. Would you post a scan of the card you made?

[Dawn Nocera]

Why not the book cover as a business card with your bio or business information on the back! I have seen this done with magnets, but not as a business card. The visual is awesome and people can use your business card as a book mark. You can upload your image and type whatever you want for the back of the card. You can do this all online and have it finished and in your own hands in less than 2 weeks via Vistaprint.com. I use them for my business cards. Be warned that they do not edit anything unless you pay them to do it, so have an extra set of eyes edit your business cards before confirming your order.

[Robert Worstell]

Lulu has this option as they print business cards with your cover for you and a quote on the other side along with your data. Not too expensive. I got a kit that also came with bookmarks and postcards.

[Smitty]

This is a excellent idea and works very well. Creating a business card with your book cover on the front is very impressive. Make sure you put your name as author, the title, the ISBN number, your author media site or blog address and of course a phone number.

You might also incorporate matching book markers when you create and design your authors business card. This is very impressive when speaking with book store managers about book signing events. You leave them a copy of your book, your business card and a book marker. Of course creating a letter of introduction and mailing these items can also produce great results.

[Amanda Stephan]

Love this idea! I had also thought of a business card promotion, but was concerned with the 'throw-away' potential. So I'm considering having a pocket calendar put on the reverse side of the card.

[Robert Worstell]

And you don't have to get a lot of magnet-types made - there are small sets of business-card-sized magnets available which are self-adhesive. Make only as many as you need - as many as you will be able to actually use.

[Cheryl Kaye Tardif]

This post box is going wonky on me so I'll keep it short.

Creating an internet identity is often overlooked by authors, and it is vital to
marketing your book. If you Google your name (a vanity search) and nothing
comes up--you're in trouble!

Here are some ways to get noticed!

[jleland]

Interesting PDF, but you omit what I think is the best online press release distribution service, PRWeb.com. Yes, I know that they no longer have a free service, but they are the leaders in their space and I have had a lot of success for clients using them. We recently did our most successful release with them and got over 300,000 reads!