The secret to selling more books like Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Here are five ways to promote your books nonstop, following the bookselling successes of Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, authors of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series.
1. Believe in your book even when no one else does.
It’s always fun to look back after success and smile with satisfaction. The difficulty is keeping up that smile in the beginning when victory is nowhere in sight. Holding a mental picture in your mind of what success will look like is one of the things that Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen used to keep them going. They actually took a cover of their own book, clipped off a New York Times bestseller image from another book, and pasted it on their own book cover. This simple “magic” trick of illusion implemented strongly in their mind a vision of success.
You can do the same. Before you lose hope with your own book’s success, visualize what success would look like. Paste it not only in the mental hallways of your mind but on the walls and mirrors of your home.
2. Promote your book at every opportunity, no matter how small.
One of the ways that both Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen pursued success was to take every opportunity for promotion that presented itself. Many times they would talk on tiny radio stations out in the cornfields of Iowa or the potato acres of Idaho. Size was nice but they didn’t restrict themselves with that. They used radio extensively in the beginning and continued to use it throughout. They also came up with innovative ideas to promote books. How to sell more books was almost a daily, ongoing mantra that they practiced as a religion. It became a single driving obsession. One that cultivated in massive book sales.
3. Push your book consistently.
With the success of their first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, they quickly did a second. Then another and another; each book built upon the platform of the first and each sequential book added more and more numbers to the next book’s success. Stopping promotion was never part of the game plan. They were relentless in 24/7 book promotion.
John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, gave them a bit of advice, and that was to do five things every day to promote their books. They grabbed onto that idea and ran with it as if it were a message sent from heaven. Never a day passed in which they didn’t find five promotional things to do. Sometimes they’d do five radio interviews; sometimes it would be a combination of bookstore visits, media blasts, and anything they could think of. It didn’t have to be five major things to do but it did have to be five.
Ask yourself that question: What five things could I do every day to promote my book?
4. Team up with a book partner who is as determined for success as you are.
Having a partner in your book marketing promotion is a huge help in staying with your program. Whether this person is a spouse, a friend, or a book publisher, it can mean the difference in continuing through the slow days of building a momentum or quitting. Having a partner who not only believes in what you’re doing but also is committed to be on your team, to push through with high energy, creative thinking, and passionate implementation, will propel you over the bar to reach for the stars.
5. Continue to raise the bar for success
What happens when you reach your goal? Celebrate. Definitely. But then if you’re like Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen you’ll create a new goal that’s bigger and better. Success is the best motivator for more success.
Start of by creating a goal that is big enough to be exciting but small enough so you can reach it with concentrated effort. Don’t make your first goal impossibly difficult, or one that will take a long time to achieve. Or else if you do, make smaller goals that become stepping-stones to the big one.
Are you ready to step into the book marketing challenge? Here are three tips: Keep it fun. Keep it simple. Keep doing it over and over. If you do that, your book too can have a great chance for success.
19 Pinterest board topics for authors
More and more authors, libraries, and publishers are finding creative ways to use Pinterest to draw in new readers. Even the big players like Random House and Scholastic have pin boards that are actively pinned and promoted.
This got me thinking about different board topics that authors might use to promote themselves. I decided to create a small list of topics that would give authors newly jumping onto the Pinterest platform a source of ideas.
Once I got started, I found that there were more topics than I ever dreamed of. Dozens and dozens of creative ways that authors were pinning themselves with reckless delight and abandon for book promotion. Most of these authors, libraries, or publishers have 30, 40, or 50 boards each, so I’m only including a few boards that struck me the most. Specifically, those that closely tie into book promotion.
This list then is a brief sampling to provide a springboard of ideas for your own Pinterest book promotion. And since Pinterest is all about link sharing, I am including the links to each board I found. Please feel free to add your own Pinterest author boards in the comments!
From Mandy Boles, the Well-Read Wife:
1. Books I love
2. Clothing accessories 4 book lovers
3. Beautiful library spaces
4. Cakes for book lovers
Note: Mandy has a Directory of 200 (and growing) book bloggers on Pinterest that will give you tons more ideas.
From Priscilla Warner – New York Times bestselling author:
From the Watertown Public Library:
6. Fun with books
7. Literary Lingo
8. Edible books
9. Creative bookmarks
From Jennifer Weiner:
10. Author photos
11. Judging my books by their covers
From Sarah Dessen:
12. Inspiration
13. Well said
14. What I’m reading
15. New paperback covers
From Stacy Millican:
16. Fun stuff for book lovers
17. Libraries, bookshelves and indies I adore
18. Books worth reading
From Allison’s bookmarks:
That’s it for now. I end this with a list of 88 authors of Young Adult fiction on Pinterest that I am sure will spur you on with even more pinning ideas.
Make Goodreads a part of your book marketing strategy for 2013
I had a friend once who carefully and patronizingly explained to me that if you want to catch fish you have to go where the fish are. The more fish, he stated, the easier it is to get a nibble and make a catch. As an author, if you want more readers you had better follow this same advice, pack up your book tackle and head on over to Goodreads and lay down some hooks.
If you’re not experienced with Goodreads you’re in for a surprise. It’s sort of like the super mall of the universe for readers. It was created in December of 2006 by Otis Chandler as a privately run cataloging site for books. One year later it had over 650,000 members and over 10,000,000 books in its system. Now, five years later, the numbers are astounding. 330 million books have been rated. It has almost ten million readers and attracts twenty million (that’s right, 20 million) visits a month.
Whoa. So it’s not surprising that you will also find that there are over 58,000 card-carrying, registered authors as well. James Patterson leads the list with 13 books, 395 friends, 13,938 fans and 2,481,373 member reviews. How would you like those numbers on your contact list?
If these statistics are not enough to convince you that you should be spending some quality time at Goodreads, I don’t quite know what else to say. Ellen Lee, of the San Francisco Chronicle had an interview with Otis Chandler in July of this year. In probably one of the biggest understatements of the year he casually stated that, “Goodreads is fast becoming the best way on the Internet to find a book to read. Everything we do is pretty much centered around helping users find books, discuss books and share books with their friends.”
As an author it doesn’t get much clearer than this. If you want to find new readers and get your books off the shelf and into the hands of readers, definitely make Goodreads a part of your book marketing strategy for 2013.
9 book marketing tips for introverts
Surprisingly, some of the best book marketing done today is done by introverts. It’s not how loud you shout your message but how well you spread it. Here are nine tips to get the word out about your book without appearing before a camera, holding a microphone, or standing on a stage.
1. Create a book marketing strategy that you will enjoy the most. If it’s interesting and fun, you’ll do it.
2. Pick a marketing project that is within your comfort zone. I know there’s a lot of self-help advice that says if you don’t get out of your comfort zone you won’t get ahead. Well, that’s one bit of advice. Here’s another just as powerful: Better to do something than nothing.
3. Create a blog. Most introverts have no problem writing and sharing in print. If this is you, then blogging is the perfect medium to get the word out. Many think of blogs as public personal diaries, which is not a comfortable thought for introverts. Instead, make your blog about your book, other people’s books, writing tips, a hobby, pets, any niche subject that interests you and is popular enough to get online traffic.
4. Get other book bloggers to blog about your book. Here’s a site that lists over 1,200 book blogs by book topic. Visit author and book sites that match your book topic and offer to send them a free book for possible review. Not all of them will do it and some will be swamped, but this is a wonderful way to build exposure and get backlinks to your own site to increase page ranking and popularity.
5. Use a social media tool that you feel comfortable with. Pick a topic to discuss that pertains to your book. That way the message is not about you but about your topic. Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and Tumblr are good starting points. Don’t do them all, select one or two that fits your personality and interest.
6. Enter your book in book and writing contests. If you win this can bring you not only recognition, get your work noticed by agents and editors, but you can mention your award on your book cover, news releases, and all publicity material. Many literary contests charge an entrance free so select only those that are perfect matches for your book and only compete when your book is at its absolute best. John Kremer offers a list of 50+ book and author award programs.
7. Send out news releases. There are literally hundreds of places to send out news releases to. Create a list of news sites, blogs, newspapers, and magazines that matches your book topic and audience. Send each of them a release every other month. If you have a big enough list this can keep you busy! See our five-part series on How to sell more books with news releases.
8. Get your book or ebook reviewed. The bigger reviewers such as New York Times Books, Amazon Readers Views, Book Reporter all receive hundreds of books a day to review, so only the cream of the crop will get selected. Yahoo Directory lists twenty sites of major book reviewers that will help you get started. I also recommend you submit your book to Midwest Book Review.
9. Send out a newsletter. Building a mailing list is the number one strategy for all book marketing whether one is an introvert or an extrovert. It’s the easiest and best way to stay connected with your reader. The letter does not have to be big, fancy, or even professional looking. What it does need to do is be consistent (send the same day every week, bi-weekly, or monthly), be friendly and offer something of value.
It’s the End of the Publishing World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
I’m sure most of you are aware of the popular theory that the ancient Mayan calendar predicts the world will end on December 21 of this year—yes, that all life on earth may be extinct shortly.
I’ll make a bold prediction: the Mayans got it wrong . . . or people are misinterpreting their calendar!
I will tell you what is going the way of the dodo, however: big traditional publishing houses. (Could the Mayan calendar be predicting their demise?)
In October, Penguin and Random House announced that they will merge, bringing the number of large global publishing houses from six to five. Give it a couple more years and that number will likely drop even lower as a result of further mergers and acquisitions.
What does this have to do with authors? Nothing if you’ve self-published your book or plan to do so. But if you’re holding out for a call from that elusive agent with connections at a traditional publishing house, be advised that this consolidation means that there will be fewer potential traditional publishing deals out there. And time is running out—the world is ending in a few weeks!
Whether you self-publish or are looking to get published by one of the “Big Six” (soon to be “Big Five,” and counting), your own platform as an author is the key to connecting with readers and customers, and not reliance on any publisher’s existing or nonexistent marketing plans. That’s why we’re going to focus on online author platform building in the Authors Academy in 2013. We’re also raising the membership fees (for new members only) from $17 to $37 on January 1, so now is the time to join and lock in the low charter membership rates. To sign up risk-free, visit http://authorsacademy.com/authors/
Free photo images for your author website
Are you wondering whether it’s worth the trouble to add photo images to your author blog posts? You don’t have to wonder any more. The results are in. A recent study by Skyword revealed that a relevant photograph or infographic added to a published article increased total views by 94%.
Have you noticed how shared photos on Facebook receive a lot more comments and likes than just a text status update?
With that kind of information in your back pocket it’s a total no-brainer that adding images is a “must do” task for any blog post you write.
Here’s a list of free great photo resources.
10 Free Photo Image Sites
Morguefile.com: “The morgue file contains free high resolution digital stock photographs and reference images for either corporate or public use.” Plus, you “are allowed to copy, distribute, transmit the work and to adapt the work. Attribution is not required. You are prohibited from using this work in a stand alone manner.” It doesn’t get much better than this.
Foter.com: Great site. Lots of images. You are asked to give photo credit for each picture used and they provide an easy link to do so.
Stock.xchng: Lots of images of high quality. The images are free to use on websites but you must get permission from the photographer for print or commercial use. Must register with site to download images.
FreerangeStock.com: Must register with site. Lots of great photos. The top row of photos on each page are from Shutterstock and are not free, so watch out for that. You can use the free photos for commercial use.
ImageAfter.com: Not a lot of “great” professional-type images. To me they seemed to be more of the home photo variety but that will work just great some blog posts. You’re allowed to modify the images for personal or commercial use and can even sell them if they’re part of a printed works such as a book cover, poster, etc. You don’t have to register or give credit.
RGPStock.com: Must register and asked to give credit to the photographer. Lots of great photos.
Stockfreeimages: Must register and provide author attribution and a link back to the site. Lots of good pictures, impressive variety. Images can be used and modified and can use up to 10,000 printed copies for free. The top row and bottom two rows of images on each page are not free so stay in the middle for the free ones.
BigFoto.com: Beautiful high-resolution photos of geographic areas/cities. Free for personal use but must provide a photo link to BigFoto with each image. Paid options available for commercial use. Not a lot of images.
StockPhotoForFree: Must register. Lots of photos but the images are taken from video clips so the resolution is not always sharp. One interesting feature is that you can search by categories.
Canva: Canva has millions of high-quality stock photos to use for all your design needs. Our collection includes both premium and free stock photos, and you can find the latter here: https://www.canva.com/photos/t
If you still haven’t found your perfect free photo, this page has a list of 73 free photo sites that offer some interesting options: 2yi.net. Not all the sites are working and some take forever to open (a few never did) but you can explore sites from NASA, the National Forest Service, US Dept. of Agriculture and even a site dedicated totally to insect photos. Interesting.
Use these resources to spice up your author blog posts with great-looking images. However, you wouldn’t want to ruin your book cover with cheap images or unprofessional design. For truly professional-grade stock photography, such as images for the cover of your book you’re going to publish, it’s best to go with a more professional stock photography service such as ThinkStock or iStockPhoto.
Zig Ziglar and “See you at the top”
Zig Ziglar made the final ascent to the “top” when he passed away on November 28. He has left behind a legacy to millions of people who were touched by his messages during his lifetime and to millions more who will continue to follow his books, talks, and life for many years down the road.
Ziglar’s first book, See You at the Top, was rejected by thirty publishers before it was published by Pelican in 1975, when he was 49 years old. The book went on to sell 250,000 copies. His thirtieth book was published this year, at age 86.
Thousands upon thousands have changed their lives through the messages of Zig Ziglar. Whether it was through his books, live events, or media stories around the globe, he touched, encouraged, and sparked an almost irresistible motivation to succeed.
There’s no way to know just how many times his words were quoted but he certainly must have been one of the most quoted people (at least by those in selling and business) during his lifetime. Forbes magazine announced his passage with an article headline, “Zig Ziglar 10 quotes that can change your life.” And Goodreads lists an amazing 75 power quotes that have been treasured and held on to by many.
Zig Ziglar is certainly positive proof of the power of using books (he called books on tape your “automobile university”) to further not only your business and your career, but your life itself.
How to sell more books during the Christmas season
Christmas is a wonderful time to gift someone with a book. It’s also a wonderful time to encourage others to give books to their friends and family. Below are 15 ideas for how to sell more books during the holiday season.
1. Mention that your book will make a great holiday gift idea on your blog, twitter, or ezine.
2. Offer to autograph books for Christmas giving.
3. Have a Christmas contest and give away a free book for Christmas.
4. Offer free Christmas gift-wrapping for your books that you sell from your website.
5. Sell your books at Christmas bazaars and events. Give a share of the proceeds to the cause.
6. Partner with two or more authors to promote each other’s books at Christmas with a special e-message. Each author sends the book promotion to his or her list for added exposure.
7. Offer special Christmas bonus with your book: free report, audio, a special Christmas story, etc.
8. Have a “12 Days of Christmas” promotion and share a special Christmas message from your book for each of the twelve days.
9. Include a book in a Christmas basket; partner with florists, local gift basket places.
10. Send out a Christmas postcard or greeting card with a quote or inspirational message from your book, if applicable.
11. If you send out a Christmas letter to family and friends, include news about your book.
12. Use the “dead news time” period, which is just before Christmas, to send out a news release about your book. Tie it into something local, the season, or tips for holiday shoppers. The few days before, after, and on Christmas Day, are slow news days, and those who are left running the press or the show will be more likely to give your book a plug if you can tie it into the season.
13. Link up with your favorite charity and give a portion of your proceeds for every book sold. If the charity is local and your donation percentage is big enough, ask if they will promote it to their list.
14. Offer to give a book as a door prize for a Christmas party. If the party is for a school, church, or organization, ask them to mention your book in the flyer or mailing that they send out.
15. Finally, give your book to someone you think will like your book for a Christmas present. Who knows, they may tell a friend or two how great it is and encourage their friends to support you by buying a copy for themselves. People who love your book may also think it’s a great idea to buy for their family or friends.
Many booksellers plan months in advance how they can sell and market their books during the holidays. It’s the best book gifting time of the year. Put on your Santa hat, load up your books in a big, red bag and hit the streets. Ho! Ho! Ho!
28 press release sites for authors
Getting media coverage is all about developing relationships. This is why when sending out press releases or news releases it is usually best to start with your local media. You will have a much better chance of making a connection. To get started, make a list of all the top TV stations, news radio stations and newspapers in your city. You can use newslink.org to find a state and national listing of US newspapers, radio and TV.
Once you have targeted a media website to send a release, look for a link such as “Contact us,” “News tips,” or “Submit press release.” If you can’t find a link or an email, call the news department and ask who you can email or fax a press release to directly. Many news sites have forms that you can paste your press release into and and submit it. Once you have a basic release written, tweak it for each site to make it as relevant and personal as possible.
The media is always looking for news. If your story is newsworthy, they will be glad to run it. The paper wants people to send them press releases, this is how they get new information! Make sure you include a local angle to the story, naming real people and places. If your book does not take place in that geographic area, include personal information on how you came to write it, where you are having a book signing, etc.
Although there are press release services that send to hundreds of news outlets (see list below), it is hard to get results from mass submissions. It’s much better to target each media organization individually and send a release with a small 2-3-sentence personal note to the editor or producer.
Follow up is important and you can only do follow up if you have sent out an individual release with a personal message. Most professional publicity firms know that it often takes seven or more tries to get a story printed, but even one news story can do a lot for your book! Not only will you get the immediate coverage, you can use that publicity over and over again with a link from your website, in future sales letters and even as a referral for getting media coverage on a national level.
There are times when using a press release service is a good choice. Depending how important your release is you may decide to use a paid service. A good rule of thumb is to use the free services for smaller releases and use a paid service for major stories about your book.
Here are some occasions when you might send a widespread release.
Your story covers headline international issues
You have a firsthand experience or eyewitness account of demonstrations or progressive actions.
Your story involves a major celebrity or newsworthy event beyond the local level
The following sources will help you to get started. Be sure to read the submission guidelines for each service.
Radio
NPR
Free Press Release services (links point to the register/get started pages)
1. 1888 press release
2. 24-7pressrelease.com
3. cgidir.com
4. FreePressIndex.com
5. i-newswire.com
6. newswiretoday.com
7. onlineprnews.com
8. openpr.com
9. pr.com
10. pressexposure.com
11. pressmethod.com
12. pr-inside.com
13. prlog.org
14. prurgent.com
15. przoom.com
16. sanepr.com
17. sbwire.com
18. theopenpress.com
Paid Press Release services
1. businesswire.com
2. clickpress.com
3. ereleases.com
4. internetnewsbureau.com
5. marketwire.com
6. pressbox.co.uk
7. prleap.com
8. prnewswire.com
9. prweb.com
10. send2press.com
Author news release headlines that get noticed
The purpose of this article is to help writers create news release headlines for their books. This is part three of the series ‘Sell more books with news releases.’
A news release to a media outlet is not a sales letter to promote your book. It’s a one-page presentation to get an interview or share something newsworthy. Your headline should deliver the message that you have something of value that the editor will want.
Your mission is not to sell books at this point but to help the editor, reporter, or blogger with a story, message, helpful tip or information that their followers will be interested in.
Editors will often get a hundred or more news releases a day. They barely have time to scan the headlines. If a headline is interesting enough they will move on to the first sentence and, if that is intriguing enough, take in the whole paragraph.
A headline that doesn’t make it past the quick glance stage gets deleted. No second chances!
So how can you get your news release headline noticed? How can you make your headline interesting enough to draw your targeted audience (the reporter) onto the next line?
A man who’s dying of thirst in the desert won’t be interested in a new car or a new way to make a killing on the stock market. He will be very interested in a cup of water. So don’t mess around. Find out what your editor wants and give it to him or her.
To do this you must do some research. Many writers skip this step or skim over it. They create sizzling headlines that sell steak when steak isn’t what’s wanted. Put the editor, blogger, or news person’s need, desire, and want as the focus of your headline.
Use your most important keyword in the first 65 characters of your headline, if it makes sense. If your news release goes out to hundreds or thousands of news sources than that keyword will make the difference in being found or not.
Current events is the top leading factor for making a direct hit with most editors. Everyone wants to stay at the top of their game and that means zooming in on what is hot.
There is a lot of information out there. A ton of breaking news, celebrity announcements, break-ups, and breakdowns. The economy is improving one minute and it’s going down the tube the next. Scientific breakthroughs; scientific exposures. It’s all there: the good, bad and ugly. How can you link all these to your book in an intriguing way?
Focus on finding an interesting story, a compelling fact, breakthrough information, or must-read tale of adventure, and then figure out how to connect with it. Tie in a celebrity or known figure with your message for a little extra pizazz (you don’t have to ask their permission, if done correctly.)
Copyblogger did it with their headline, Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips for Writing Well. Amanda DiSilvestro in her article, “How to create a catchy title in 2012 shared two examples: “Why Justin Bieber Wins Klout” or “Why John Mayer Doesn’t Understand SEO.” She went on to say that, “Even if the article is not entirely about the celebrity, just putting their name in the title and then tying them into the article will help get people excited about the piece.”
Another good way to come up with a title that connects for your news release is to look at the most popular headlines on leading websites in your niche. Study them carefully and use them as a starting point for creating your headline.
Business Headline Examples
Inc magazine (a magazine for entrepreneurs and business owners) has these popular titles:
5 Things That Really Smart People Do
8 Things Remarkably Successful People Do
Freshii Founder’s 5-Point Leadership Manifesto
Health Headline Examples
The New York Times’ Well – Tara Parker-Pope (a popular health blog on health) has these popular articles:
The Not-So-Hidden Calories From Alcohol
The ‘Love Hormone’ as Sports Enhancer
Younger Students More Likely to Get A.D.H.D. Drugs
If you want to see what other authors and book publishers are using for headlines, check out the press pages on these leading publisher sites:
Simon & Schuster
Scholastic
Hachette
Wiley
Leading copywriters will spend hours, if not days, on finding the perfect headline. Once you put yourself into the headline mode you will find tons of examples as well as many different “headline” articles. It’s a critical, if not the most important, part of creating your news release.
Keep learning and practicing headlines. Here are 3 more great tutorials on headlines to help you:
How to write magnetic headlines
7 Headline Writing Links That Will Revolutionize Your Content Marketing
10 powerful headline formulas
At Wheatmark, our work with authors does not stop once their books are published. In fact that is just the beginning. That is why we place an emphasis on educating our authors about book marketing.