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Fame,
Fortune, and Your Name in Print
By Debbie Allen, All
Rights Reserved
The
saddest words of tongue or pen are these four words “it might have
been.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Quit
saying, “Someday I’m going to write a book.”
If you are a truly shameless self promoter--or strive to be
one--you need to write a book! This
is where the truly shameless shine. Having
the title of “author” gives you a great deal of credibility.
A
few years after I wrote my first book, the excitement of being an author
had worn off. I decided it
was time to write book number two. I
worked on the second book, See
through Your Customers’ Eyes,
for
three years. (Don’t rush
out to buy it, since that one has not yet been completed.)
Then a funny thing happened. I
started listening to what other authors had told me for years; “Don’t
write a book until it’s burning passionately inside of you.”
Those words made me shift focus from my current book project to a
new idea.
At
the National Speakers Convention in the summer of 2000, the idea for Confessions
of Shameless Self Promoters™
hit
me. The passion flamed. I
couldn’t wait to get on my computer and put the idea into printed words.
In fact, it burned so brightly that I shelved the other book and
went full steam ahead with Confessions.
That passion helped me to complete this book in just six months.
It can be done when you have a winning concept and a strong
commitment to getting it down.
Wendy
Keller, a book agent, says that the key to getting your book written is
“Butt in chair!” You just
have to keep at it everyday and put hours and hours in that chair to make
it happen. Some of the best
books and winning concepts.
did
not take years and years to write. They
came in the form of information, passion, and a commitment to share your
thoughts and words with the world. So if you have that book idea burning
inside of you, sit down and get writing.
When
you are done writing, the real work begins.
Get out of that chair and market that book.
It doesn’t matter how great your book is, if you don’t market
it, the world will never know about it.
The book marketing experts in this chapter will show you the way.
Five Promotions a
Day by co-author John Kremer
After
I wrote 1,001
Ways to Market Your Books,
people kept coming up to me to thank me for writing a wonderful book. They
would then make excuses for why they hadn’t followed up on any of my
suggestions. Well, don’t even think about coming up with your own
excuses now. I’m going to give you the rule that forbids excuses. I call
it “the rule of five.” The
rule says that all it takes is five promotions a day. Really, that’s all
it takes. Mail a letter. Send
out a news release. Phone someone. Take an editor to lunch. Contact the
media. It need not take much time--15 to 20 minutes is enough--but it can
make a world of difference on how well your book sells.
Essential
Points for Pursuing Media Exposure
75 to 80 percent of all news
is planted. That means, most of the news you read in newspapers and
magazines has come out of news releases sent to the media by businesses,
associations, government offices, and other organizations or individuals
with something interesting to say.
-
If you
can provide real news for the media, they will be glad to feature your
book. That’s why you
should keep refining your news hooks until you find one that really
meets a need. Don’t send out a press release announcing any book
until you can show that the book provides at least one benefit for
potential readers--whether entertainment, information, instruction, or
enlightenment.
-
Publicity
begets more publicity. Once you get the ball rolling, it will often go
on by itself. Local news features are picked up by the wire services
and spread across the country. Local radio and TV shows can lead to
bookings on network shows. One or two features in the major review
media, and soon every newspaper in the country is calling to ask for a
review copy (or simply reprinting the review from one of the major
sources).
-
If at
first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Persistence, above all, is
the key to success in generating favorable publicity for your book.
Believe in your book, keep on plugging away, and the reviews
will come.
No
more excuses! If your book hasn’t sold, there is only one reason
(provided the book has any merit at all). And that reason is: You’re
just plain lazy. If you spend just twenty minutes a day, every day on
every book you publish, you will generate an incredible momentum for your
book.
There
is no reason why any book should die after six weeks in the marketplace.
Books, like diamonds, are forever--provided you are willing to put a
little elbow grease behind their promotion and you use those ten minutes a
day wisely.
Now
get off your rear end and start doing your ten minutes a day right now.
Don’t wait. I mean it. Don’t wait.
[bio]
John Kremer is the author of a number of books on publishing and
marketing. His best-selling 1,001
Ways to Market Your Books
has made him the nation’s top book marketing guru. John’s marketing
tools, seminars, and books have helped thousands of authors and
publishers. Contact John at 641-472-6130 or view his website www.bookmarket.com.
Bright Ideas Turn
Around Author’s Reviews by co-author Dan Poynter
Editor’s
note: Dan Poynter's The
Self Publishing Manual
was
the victim of cyber-terrorism. I
got Dan to confess his story.
A
very negative one-star review was posted at Amazon.com
and went so far as to recommend another book instead. Then, the perps went
back and said they found the first "review" useful--25 times!
There was also a three-star, unsigned review that appeared to be from a
disgruntled typesetter. Anonymous attacks by those who refuse to sign
their work are cyber-terrorism.
Dan
called a friend for advice. The friend told Dan that he tracks his Amazon
sales very carefully. He received some negative reviews by the author of a
competing book and his sales dropped precipitously. Dan got scared.
Dan
contacted Amazon.com
about unsigned negative reviews that are obviously designed to promote
another book. Amazon’s
position is that these comments are legitimate customer assessments. (They
probably feel that negative review-wars build site traffic.)
There
were 21 reviews (one heck of a lot) of The
Self Publishing Manual
on
the Amazon.com
site; 19 had five stars. The two negative reviews dropped the overall
rating to 4.5 stars.
Dan
called one the authors of the other referenced book, told her the nasty
one-star review of his book referenced her and made her look bad. He
suggested she contact Amazon.com
to have the review pulled. She apparently knew about the review. She
thought over Dan's suggestion and emailed him that she would not take
action.
So,
Dan went to Plan B.
First,
he came out with a new edition of his book. He printed out the online
listing page and edited it for Amazon.com.
He asked them to make the normal reference at the end of the
offending reviews; "This review refers to an earlier edition."
To
further build credibility for the new edition, Dan sent Amazon.com
a lot of new promotional material. He sent the table of contents, back
covers copy, testimonials, and a free read of two to four pages from EACH
chapter.
Next,
he went on the Pub-Forum Listserv and asked for advice. Dozens of
publishers came to his rescue with sympathy and advice. Five posted
reviews immediately at Amazon.com,
which was enough to move the nasty review off the first page. About 25
publishers asked for review copies and promised to write reviews. Dan sent
books to them immediately.
Then
another idea struck: Dan wrote a (five-star) review of the offending book
and posted it at Amazon.com.
Between his call to the author and this review he hoped to telegraph that
he would not slug it out in the gutter.
There is a higher road. (Of course, he signed the review “Dan
Poynter, author of The
Self-Publishing Manual.
DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.”)
Dan
sincerely believes there are a lot of good books on self-publishing. He
supports them. Almost all of them have a testimonial from Dan on the
cover, or he wrote the foreword. People new to publishing need all the
books, tapes, courses, and other education they can get. Buying a few more
resources is cheaper than making a mistake.
Learning
from this experience, Dan wrote 21 more Amazon.com
reviews for books on writing, publishing, self-publishing,
and book promotion. Each one is labeled "Reviewer: Dan Poynter,
Author, The
Self-Publishing Manual.”
Now his name and the title of his book are near the top of each
listing page.
Sometimes
the best way to fight cyber-terrorism is to take the high road and lead by
example.
If
at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
-
Dan
Poynter
Word
count 1,594
Bio: Debbie
Allen is one of the world’s leading authorities on sales and marketing.
She is the author of five books including
Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters
and Skyrocketing Sales.
Debbie has helped thousands of people around the world attract customers
like crazy with her innovative, no-cost marketing strategies and secrets
to sales success. Her expertise has been featured in
Entrepreneur,
Selling Power and
Sales & Marketing Excellence.
Sign up for her FREE 6-week e-Course
Business Success Secrets Revealed ($97 value) and take the
online business card quiz to rate your marketing online now at
www.DebbieAllen.com. |
