Want to sell more books? Many writers focus on the media to sell their books. They send out press releases to newspapers, magazines and radio stations.
This is a scatter gun approach. You’re aiming your marketing at everyone who reads or listens to that particular media outlet.
If you want to sell more books, then you need to target your publicity at the exact people who are most likely to read your book. This is precision target marketing.
If you really want to make a successful career as a writer, you need to think about ‘joint ventures’ to sell or promote your book. Don’t be put off by the business jargon – this just means looking for business people who can help publicize your book.
So, for example, if you’ve written a book about travel, are there any professionals who could promote you to their list of clients? If you’ve written a book about cars, are there online clubs or experts who could promote your book to their members or customers?
Importantly these clients are already interested in your subject matter – therefore they are much more likely to buy your book. What would you prefer? Promoting your book to 100 thousand people who aren’t remotely interested or to one thousand people who are passionate about the same thing?
You might wonder why businesses would help you. The answer is simple. If your book ties in with their service, and helps their clients, why wouldn’t they do it?
Here’s the important thing – some businesses have hugs ‘lists’ with hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of people on their database. On the other hand, many many publishers are happy if they sell five thousand books – this is thought of as a ‘successful’ print run!
Are you feeling nervous or a little intimidated? Good. If your goals aren’t making you even a little nervous, you’re probably not setting yourself big enough goals!
Breaking through this ‘fear barrier’ is what separate out the winners from the rest.
Even if 100 business owners say ‘no’, and 10 say ‘yes’ this could make an enormous difference to your book sales.
Is this book your passion? Do you want to get your message out there? Go on, make a list of 50 potential joint venture partners today. It’s a simple but incredibly effective strategy. Try it.
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