Make the Holidays a Success for Your Book

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Christmas.
Only a very short time until Christmas and Hanukkah… Holiday Gift Campaigns, Book Sales Campaigns, or the launch of a new book: I have seen it too many times, that an author decides one day to have a book sale from the next day on – and then expect it to be successful.  Or they hurry editing, formatting and slap a cover image together, in order to get the book on Amazon’s sales pages before Christmas.

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Always: Plan Well Ahead
You have about three months to promote a new print book (paperback or hardcover) before the bookstores clear their shelves for the next bestseller. Get enough pre-orders BEFORE the pub date, to kickstart your books success.  At Apple iBook, you can now offer pre-orders even 12 months before your book launch.  The more time you give your book to be listed on iBooks or Amazon and other online retailers BEFORE your publication date, the better.
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Write a FREE short e-Book About Your Book
Write several blogs posts, not only for your own website but also as many guest blogs as possible and to post them at e-zines. Include all the sales links and an author biography, and if you will participate in Amazon’s “Matchbox”, bundles of print and e-book, explain your potential readers their benefit of ordering a “bundle“.
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Create a Retweet Button in a Free eBook
Give away the first chapter of your book as an immediately accessible PDF on your web page or on Amazon.  Include a re-tweet button in several strategic locations in the chapter. This allows people who love what they read, to easily share with friends on Twitter.  When someone clicks on this re-tweet button, it shows a pre-crafted tweet that says: “I’m reading @……. new book: … Get the first chapter free here too: http://………” You get the idea?

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Book Sales Campaign Announcement
Cross promote your campaign: Always post and promote your event on your own website, blog and through your email newsletter as well, so that non-Facebook/Twitter/Google+ users can learn about it and share your book sales campaign event without having to use these social media sites.  What’s more: Use Twitter to generate buzz and use LinkedIn to leverage business communities and post the event to LinkedIn.

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Google+ Posts
Add your blogs about your book launch or your book sales campaign – not only on your own Google+ timeline and your author / book page, but also at the dozens of Google+ reader communities where you are (hopefully) a member.

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Tweets
At least one tweet per hour during your sales campaign, each one in a variety of text and accompanied by a cover image photo of your book or photographs from book scenes or areas where it takes place. Sign up to several Twitter accounts.  You can set up a maximum of five accounts. But don’t post the same tweets everywhere!  And schedule well in advance, using Hootsuite or any other free scheduling service to find the best times to post on Twitter.

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Announce the Campaign in Your Newsletter
It’s one of the reasons you ask your blog readers or website visitors to sign up for your newsletter: to inform them about specials and sales campaigns or book launches – beside giving them regularly useful and entertaining content.
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Create Book Bundles
You don’t have to be a multi-book author before you can start “bundling” your book.  One book needs only to be in print and digital format – and voilà! you have a bundle.  At Amazon it’s called “Kindle Match Book”.  Customers will also be able to buy inexpensive e-copies of books they have previously bought in hardcover or paperback. Find all the details here in this former blog post.

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Most Important: Announce Your Event/Campaign on Google+
Google+ offers a great tool to invite people to your upcoming event. Are you still thinking about joining? Or are you one of the more than 900 Million users of Google+ yet?
Announce the event or book sales campaign on Google+ and also on Goodreads at least three weeks before the date.  They both offer a free event function.  A site that is very easy and fast to set up.  Promote this event (can be real life or virtual) heavily on FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, your blog and to your email list.  And if your local newspaper, neighborhood paper etc. has an event page, or if they have an online version, get your event in!  Search the internet for events/websites in your area and announce it there too.
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Create a Photo Contest
It can be a fun and friendly competition to get people excited about your book. And there’s no better platform than Social Media sites to do just that.  You can call it the “Know my Book?” photo contest.  All participants need to do, is to take a creative photo with the words “Know my Book?” or “Help Me Launch.” The three best images might receive the book or you can offer an additional first prize for a Kindle or a digital camera.

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Again: Create Your Campaign Well in Advance!
Give your event promotion enough time to spare, this also gives you time to notify / invite the people who you know are most likely to attend.  With so many book sales to choose from, the key is to know your potential customers.  Create your invitations, posts, and tweets so as to reach as many interested readers as possible with your books’ info.

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If you would like to get a mentor and our support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer for three months all this and more for only $179 – or less than $2 per day!  Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting / Book Marketing for your success: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

To learn more about professional book marketing and publishing, please read also “Book Marketing on a Shoestring
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UAVL3LE

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