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.

[Kathleen Gage]

A very successful campaign I did on my book , 101 Ways to Get Your Foot in the
Door, was to host a live event for the actual launch of the book going to market.
I was living in Salt Lake City at the time and very well positioned in the business
community. We sold seats into a presentation based on the book's content and the
price in was the cost of the book. Not only did we sell nearly $10,000 worth of
books, I was also able to sell several thousand dollars worth of product back
of the room.

[Linda LeBlanc]

I registered with google.com and requested a daily alert to any news or blogs about Everest or Sherpas. When the alerts arrive, I click on the links. Often there is a place to post a comment. I then thell them about my book about Sherpas. Sales on amazon go up in direct proportion to my efforts here. it works!

[jleland]

Great work, Linda. Google Alerts works. I agree, everyone should be using it, and doing the kind of footwork you are doing. Kudos!

[Peggy Collins]

Thanks for this great tip!! I utilize Google to get the info out there about my book, Help Is NOT a Four-Letter Word, but had not thought to do related alerts. You're brilliant!

Peggy Collins, author of
Help Is NOT a Four-Letter Word: Why Doing It All Is Doing You In

[XoXo Publishing(TM)]

what an awesome idea!

(i did my job search this way, but got a job somewhere before this strategy paid off.. but promoting by keywords - this is awesome!)

[Kevin Noa]

The most sucessful way I have found to market my book is by speaking engagements. Since one of the audience's Two Princesses is senior citizen women. I do a great deal of women's clubs, women's high teas and assisted living facilities.

You have to have the right genre to do this, but many qualify. You have to keep your fees of no more than one hundred dollars, but I love it. It's fun and I always get many compliments.

I'm not giving up my day job, but then, who is?

Kevin Noa

[shirley dicks]

what do you do, call up the women's clubs and ask if they'd like a speaker on the subject of your book. What kind of subjects would be of interest to these clubs. I've never thought of talking to those. I know schools and colleges have speakers in. My book is my life story, I wonder if that would be of interest to a womans club....anyone know what subjects would interest them...

[Revvell]

You can add networking meeting and Chamber of Commerce's to this list as well.

[Kevin Noa]

Yes, that's exactly what you do. I've done many Rotary and Liond Clubs. You can get listing of assisted living facilites right on the web. Also, I always look in my local newspapers for events by groups.

The great thing about this that I learned; go where the crowd is already gathered. That's half the battle.

Kevin

[Ariadne Green]

I like to write so I find that getting as many articles as possible published on related topics can give readers a good sample of my book's topic and therefore, boost book sales. I have been published in New Age Journal, Religion and Spirituality.com and recently got a contract with iVillage. One article on Soulmate Dreams was republished in a wide variety of spiritual publications.
Be prepared to change your article length, as all publications seem to have their own criteria and guidelines. If you are interested in reading some of my articles visit my website at http://www.ariadnegreen.com
Bless everyone,
Ariadne Green
author of Divine Complement and Ariadne's Book of Dreams

[Fallen Sky]

Some great ideas here!
What about MySpace pages? Its a great way to get infront of your target audience.
It can be a bit of a time suck though. But definitely worth doing.

I agree with Cheryl, If you don't have a website already, get one. I'll take it one-step
further and say if you don't have a blog attached to your website, add one!

[Lorne Epstein]

What has worked for me by Lorne Epstein 8)
1. My website rocks. It cost me 1500 or so, but it rocks. I have been interviewed by the Chicago Tribune and a Womans daily because the reporters found me via google (only Lorne Epstein) and my site.
2. I tell everyone I wrote a book on how to interview. I recently drove back from NY to DC and stopped to get gas, same place as always. The pump guy recognized my licence plates (URHIRED) from the last time I was there and said "You're the interview guy!" So I gave him a copy of my book and his buddies all gathered around as I left to check it out.
3. I speak at Colleges and Universities.
4. One side of my business card is the color cover of my book. Vistaprint.com $50 for a bunch.
There maybe other forces at work that I am not aware of, but I can attribute sales of my book to these things. I am thinking of direct mail, though the cost seams high for now. I pray, but I can't tell you how many books that helps me sell. I have a myspace account, but Fallen Sky is right, it takes a good deal of time. When I am selling a few hundred a month I will come back with a better answer. Cheers everyone.