BookLocker Online Marketing

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This article was written specifically by Booklocker.com authors. It will not run in WritersWeekly.com.

by Rickey E. Pittman

Having successful book signings in today’s market is a difficult task for the POD author, but not an impossible one. I’ve been writing hard since 1994, and I have a great deal of battle experience. Booklocker was my first publisher with my novel, Red River Fever. Though I have three books now with a traditional publisher, I continue to market my Booklocker novel (as well as my ebooks with Booklocker). I’ve learned a great deal along the way that I want to share that will help you succeed as an author.

A POD author who wants to make a living, just like authors with traditional publishers, makes money from presentations, royalties, and the most profitable method–direct sales. In this article, I want to address the role of book signings and what chains you can set up successful signings with—even with a POD book.

First of all, realize that many of the perceived advantages of a traditional publisher over Booklocker (POD) are just that—perceived. Our royalties from online sales and certainly from our direct sales are much greater than the royalties writers receive from a traditional publisher. Traditional publishers will only pay 5-10% on the wholesale price! That means that if my traditional publisher had Red River Fever, I would make only fifty cents instead of the three to five dollars I make on online or personal sales. Quite a difference.

Regarding promotion: A traditional publisher will use a cookie cutter approach to promote your work, promotion that is almost always under-funded and inadequate. The fact is, whether you choose a POD or a traditional publisher—this is an author-driven business.

There are three markets I want to bring to your attention, markets that have proven themselves to be Booklocker friendly to my book, and if you play your cards right, they can be valuable allies to you too.

The Most Important Secret of Success in These Markets

While we have windows of opportunity in these markets below, it is important that we not ruin our POD future. In this case, a paradox is at work: Have the stores order small, and they will order more! You must work hard to make sure that every signing you do in these stores is a successful one—a sell-out.

Bookstore managers at all levels want and appreciate authors who will come to their stores and sell books. Selling books is their business. Sell-outs are important because what you’re dealing with is perception. A book signing that is a sell-out will cause you to be perceived as a successful author who has a book that people want—one that will sell. If you sell out, they will order more and have you back again for another signing. You will also feel great pride when you are able to tell another store manager or anyone else that your last book signing was a sell out—you sold every book of yours in the store.

Do not hurt your future business by pressuring the manager to order too many books, i.e., more than you can sell at the signing. Remember, the store will be stuck with them and if they have too many POD books that they can’t get rid of, they will quit ordering them, and certainly won’t order your next book. The manager will resent you when their supervisor criticizes him for having stock they can’t move, but will appreciate and like you if you sell out! It is better for your business in the long run to have the manager order ten and you sell them all than to order twenty and you sell only ten.

Finally, build relationships. Keep up with the managers. Obtain written blurbs or endorsements if you can. Utilize your blog/ezine/website and network contacts for publicity of your signings.

HASTINGS BOOKSTORES

This is a perfect store for the Booklocker author to get started with. Their stores are in medium-sized markets, they have great coffee (provided free to authors who do signings there usually), and there is a great atmosphere.

You can read about the Hastings store and locate stores near you at this link:
http://www.hastingsentertainment.com/catalog/

BORDERS & WALDENBOOKS

This mall-based chain has over 1,100 stores. Responses vary from store to store. Generally, the medium-sized markets are more receptive to POD authors than the larger cities.

You can find out more about Borders & Waldenbooks and locate stores near you here:
http://www.bordersstores.com/index.jsp

Independent Stores:

This is a market you should target at every available opportunity. Having successful signings at independent stores requires creativity, determination, and problem solving abilities. If your book is family friendly, you can easily work your way into a religious bookstore. You can also work your book into museum stores, used bookstores, craft stores, some Hallmark stores, and teacher/educational stores. These places are almost always operating under a tight budget, so you must pitch small orders (if they order from Ingram, etc.) so as to not make them feel pressure. Make it easy for them to say yes to your request for a signing and to place an order.

Here are a few links that may be of help to learn about and reach independent stores.

Go here (American Booksellers Organization) to find independent stores near you:
http://www.bookweb.org/index.html

Christian Booksellers Association:
http://www.cbaonline.org/

Independent Online Booksellers Association:
http://www.cbaonline.org/

Northern California Independent Booksellers Association:
http://www.nciba.com/

Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association:
http://www.mountainsplains.org/

Independent Mystery Booksellers Association:
http://www.mysterybooksellers.com/

New England Independent Booksellers Association:
http://www.newenglandbooks.org/

Go prepared with order forms in case they want to order directly from Booklocker. Your form should have the title of the book, the ISBN, and wholesale price. The Booklocker wholesale order form is here: https://secure.booklocker.com/booklocker/wholesale/order.php

The most important key to having successful signings is networking. Be sure and read my article, “Tricks of the Trade: Sell-out Signings!” (coming soon to WritersWeekly.com), for more ideas and specific guidelines. I wish you success in your work. If I can help you with advice, I will. Drop me a note at rickeyp - at - bayou.com.

Rickey E. Pittman, Grand Prize winner of the 1998 Ernest Hemingway Short Story Competition, writes fiction, plays, poetry, and non-fiction. He was added to the Louisiana Roster of Artists in 1998. Originally from Dallas, Texas, he now resides in Louisiana.

During Week I, we talked about sad assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

During Week V, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

During Week VI, we subtly marketed our book to online discussion groups.

During Week VII, we subtly promoted our book on other people’s blogs.

During Week VIII, we subtly promoted our book on major news sites.

During Week IX, we listed our ebook for sale at some ebookstores and also took advantage of a few of free ebook directories.

This week, we’re going to pitch ourselves as “Experts” or “Interview Sources” to journalists who write for news services/news syndicates, like the Associated Press.

Non-Fiction Authors

Most good non-fiction authors can and are considered experts on their book’s topic. “Experts” and other authors can be a great interview source for a journalist. For example, I have been invited to participate in interviews for stories about Vaginal Birth After Cesareans (VBACs) because I published DON’T CUT ME AGAIN! True Stories About Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC). I’ve been interviewed by journalists who were writing stories about divorce for different publications because they read about my divorce book. I’ve also been interviewed by numerous journalists over the years for stories relating to the publishing industry as a direct result of my books for freelance writers and book authors as well as the popularity of our websites.

Journalists are always looking for an expert or an intriguing subject to interview for their current assignment. Why shouldn’t you be that expert and why shouldn’t you get publicity for your book in exchange for your interview time? Put your name out there and make yourself available for expert interviews by everyone from journalists for major media to freelancers writing for obscure websites. The more you get your name out there, the more you’ll be recognized as “the expert” in your field.

You might also notice, after doing a few interviews, that reporters may start to contact you for their own stories after reading about you in someone else’s. This happened to Richard just the other day. A journalist writing for a major financial magazine contacted him after reading another article about our wireless travels. Richard did the interview and we even had to have new PR photos taken. The stories are a great boost for our website, WirelessTrips.com (http://www.wirelesstrips.com), which highlights how we take our business and young children on the road in our RV. (You can bet we’re turning our travel essays from WirelessTrips.com into books, too!)

Publicity definitely has a trickle effect. Take advantage of it!

Fiction Authors AND Non-Fiction Authors

You don’t have to be a non-fiction author to be considered an expert on one or more things. Whether your book is fiction or non-fiction, your areas of expertise don’t necessarily have to relate to your book to get publicity for your book.

On the flip-side, you might be considered an expert on one or more topics specifically because of your novel. Perhaps you did extensive research into a specific geographic area (for your romance novel), or researched historical figures who lived in the Fifteenth Century (for your historical novel), or spent months studying the tactics of scam artists (for your thriller), or examined a specific area of forensics (for your detective novel). I could go on and on, but by now you can see where I’m going. Everybody is an expert about something.

Your expert status doesn’t necessarily need to relate to your novel to have your book mentioned in the press. A romance novelist and mother of five could be considered an expert source for articles targeting Work at Home moms, or an expert on self-publishing (if she has successfully self-published), or an expert on belly dancing (if that is her hobby). You don’t need to be interviewed on a topic specifically dealing with your book to get your book mentioned. Any article that features you should also mention your website and/or your book (that’s the least the reporter can do to thank you for your time, right?) and you should always ask them to include the name of your book in their article. Don’t be shy! Readers may be so inspired by your “lunchbox assembly line” invention or your “potty-train your toddler in two days” secret that they will want to visit your website, learn more about you, and be so inspired by your ability to write a novel while being a full-time mom that they’ll want to buy your book.

Readers want to learn more about their favorite authors and about new authors whose books they’re considering buying. Introduce yourself to new readers through the press (by participating in interviews), and then invite them to your website. Be sure to include personal information on your website to satisfy a bit of their curiosity about you, and also be sure to heavily promote your book on your website, of course.

There used to be large directories and databases of experts online but the good ones all now cost a lot money to join. However, this shouldn’t stop you from contacting journalists that cover your topic’s/genre’s “beat” on a regular basis and offering yourself as a source for their future articles.

What you need to do is find those reporters.

You can search the newspapers listed in Part VIII of this series, or you can go a different route - like to a news service. News services, or news syndicates, distribute stories to multiple publications (they syndicate their content). If you get a mention in a news service article, you may find yourself in newspapers nationwide!

For my VBAC “expert status”, I went to associatedpress.com and searched for the word VBAC in their archives. Whoo hoo! Two articles popped up and they’re both written by the same reporter! That probably means he’s the go-to guy for these types of articles. I would then try to find his contact information by googling this from his article: Mike Stobbe Associated Press Writer

More articles pop up and I learned I was right. He’s an Associated Press MEDICAL WRITER. It took me about 10 seconds to find his blog. Bingo!

I would then send him an email that went something like this:

Of course, if you have a truly unique story idea for that reporter, by all means, pitch your idea! Why not be the main topic of one of his or her future feature articles? Journalists are always looking for new and unique story ideas!

Let’s do one more and then you’ll have a pretty good idea about how to offer yourself up as an “expert” or interview source.

I surfed over to Reuters and searched for VBAC. Only one result popped up so then I searched for “vaginal birth after cesarean” (ya gotta get creative sometimes to find what you’re looking for). Bingo! Tons of stories popped up. Some of these stories are from other publications (that syndicate their stories to others). But, I did find Megan Rauscher and Amy Norton, who both write for Reuters Health. I poked around a bit and found a form on their site where you can submit comments to their editors. I would send a note like the one above to Reuters Health editors using their online form, while also trying to find the direct contact information for their health reporters.

Bonus!
While surfing both associatedpress.com and reuters.com, I was taken to numerous articles and blogs that allowed the immediate posting of comments. If I wasn’t so busy writing this article series, I’d be on those sites right now, subtly promoting one or more of my books!

NEWS SERVICES

Associated Press

Copyley News Service

New York Times News Service

Reuters

Scripps Howard News Service

There is also a large list of news syndicates appearing here:
http://www.manta.com/mb_34_A417F_000/news_syndicates

There are news services targeting specific industries as well as news services that serve other countries so be sure to google “news service” along with some of your book’s main keywords/phrases to find more.

Angela Hoy is the co-owner of the ebook and print on demand publisher, Booklocker.com and the publisher of WritersWeekly.com.

During Week I, we talked about sad assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

During Week V, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

During Week VI, we subtly marketed our book to online discussion groups.

During Week VII, we subtly promoted our book on other people’s blogs.

During Week VIII, we subtly promoted our book on major news sites.

This week, we’re going to list our ebook for sale at some ebookstores and also take advantage of a few free ebook directories.

This activity is only going to work if you own the electronic rights to your book. If your book was traditionally published, your publisher may emit a loud guffaw if you ask them for permission to allow someone else to sell your ebook.

If you self-published your book and you now don’t own the electronic rights to your book, you chose a really bad and greedy publisher. Let’s face it. If you’re paying someone to publish your book, they don’t deserve to own ANY rights to YOUR book.

While working on my new book, which will hopefully be released in a month or two, I started researching ebookstores. I was pretty surprised to discover that many ebookstores that used to be free now charge a fee to list a book there. That was pretty disheartening.

HERE ARE THREE EBOOKSTORES THAT DON’T CHARGE SETUP FEES

Booklocker.com
http://publishing.booklocker.com/submit.php

BookLocker now lists and sells non-fiction **AND FICTION** ebooks for free, even if another company is printing the book for you! The process is fast and painless.

Royalties are 70% of the list price for ebooks priced $8.95 or higher and 50% of the list price for ebooks priced under $8.95. Booklocker pays authors monthly on accounts with a balance of $20 or more. NO ISBN REQUIRED and you can cancel at anytime! Simply submit your manuscript directly to Angela Hoy (me!) using this form: http://publishing.booklocker.com/submit.php

Amazon.com’s Kindle
http://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin
The Kindle is Amazon.com’s ebook reader, or “wireless reading device.” It’s too expensive and hasn’t received great reviews. However, while listing your ebook with them is a bit of a headache (okay, it’s a huge headache), it is free.

Pays 35% of the “suggested retail price” of your ebook 60 days after the last day of the calendar month when your account reaches $10. It looks like you can “unpublish” a book at anytime. However, like I said, the site is very confusing and cumbersome so you’ll really have to poke around to find your way in and out.

Mobipocket Ebookbase
http://www.mobipocket.com
“eBookBase is a secure wholesale and DRM distribution center for publishers seeking to sell their eBook through a growing network of Book and eBooksellers.”

The sign-up process is pretty cumbersome but the company does not charge a setup fee to list ebooks.

Pays 50% commission (40% on affiliate sales if you allow affiliates to list/sell your book). Pays quarterly on accounts with a balance of $150 or more. Requires 90 days notice to terminate.

Go to http://www.mobipocket.com. On the left-hand side, down toward the bottom, under Publishers, click the Welcome Page link and follow their instructions.

FREE EBOOK DIRECTORIES

There are specific directories online that feature ebooks and then lead potential buyers to the websites where the books can be purchased. List your ebook(s) at the sites below:

Ebooks on Web Index e-Book and POD Book Portal
http://www.ebookpalace.com/cgi-bin/search/add_url.cgi

Jogena’s Ebook Directory
http://www.jogena.com/ebookdir/ebookform.htm

eBook Index Directory from See-Search Engines
http://www.see-search.com/asp/urlsubebook1f.asp

Angela Hoy is the co-owner of the ebook and print on demand publisher, BookLocker.com, and the publisher of WritersWeekly.com.

During Week I, we talked about sad assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your free book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

During Week V, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

During Week VI, we subtly marketed our book to online discussion groups.

Last week, we subtly promoted our book on other people’s blogs.

This week, we’re going to subtly promote our book(s) while posting comments on major news sites.

I don’t know about you but I love reading Letters to the Editor in newspapers and magazines. The letters section is one of the first places I look when I’m reading a periodical.

The great news is, in increasing numbers, newspapers, magazines, and other news websites are allowing readers to post comments about articles, often instantly, on their websites, directly under each article.

You can find a list of the nation’s 100 largest newspapers right here:
http://nyjobsource.com/papers.html

That’s a pretty nifty page - but not all newspapers allow you to post comments online. So, let’s find the top five that do. They are:

USA Today
The Wall Street Journal
The New York Times
Los Angeles Times
The Denver Post / Rocky Mountain News

As in past articles in this series, I need to show you how to do this by example.

USA Today

To promote my book, The Emergency Divorce Handbook for Women, I went to the USA Today website and typed the word divorce into their search box there at the top of the homepage. I then had to sit through an incredibly boring ad (yawn), but then arrived at a page that lists their archives. Under “FROM THE ARCHIVES”, I found:

1. An excerpt from a book on divorce
2. A story about the Britney Spears custody battle
3. An article about Spain allowing fast-track divorces
4. An article about how caring for an aging parent can increase your chances of divorce
5. An article about how divorce increases your chances of foreclosure

That is just the tip of the information iceberg. There are hundreds to thousands of articles that I could post comments about…while subtly promoting my book at the same time. Luckily, the stories are arranged by date on that page so I can just post comments to the top 5 or 10 news stories.

The best part is, every single article allows readers to post comments underneath. Whoo hoo!

I would, of course, not blatantly promote my book to the masses because this might be considered spam. I would, instead, provide valuable and informative comments about each story and then post a “subtle signature” (my name, author, and book title) like this:

Angela Hoy
Author, The Emergency Divorce Handbook for Women

Anybody can find my book for sale online and can order it through their local bookstore so the title and my name are really all they need.

Okay, your turn. Go to http://www.usatoday.com and, using their search box at the top, search for the top keyword/phrase that describes your book. Find 5 to 10 articles that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each news story using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Next, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

The Wall Street Journal

Okay, again using my divorce book as an example, I surfed to wsj.com and typed divorce into the search box there at the right, near the top of their homepage. What popped up?

1. An article about emails being admitted as evidence in divorce cases. This is a blog on wsj.com that allows readers to post comments.
2. An article about the law of religion meeting the law of the state. This article also allows readers to post comments underneath it.

I’ll stop there but you get the picture. There are links to articles, blogs, and even moderated discussion lists managed by Wall Street Journal journalists and featuring discussions with their readers.

Go to wsj.com and, using their search box near the top (right-hand side), search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 articles/blogs/discussions that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each news story/blog/discussion using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Next, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

The New York Times

This website allows you to search specifically in their archives and in the New York Times blogs.

Go to http://www.nytimes.com and, using their search box near the top (right-hand side), search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 articles and/or blogs that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each news story/blog post using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Then, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times website features a link to their blogs page. However, you can simply use their search box at the top of their homepage to find their blog posts that may be attracting your book’s target readers. As with the other sites, yes, you can comment on the blog posts.

As of this writing, they don’t allow visitors to post comments about articles. However, that may change in the future. If you do see an article that interests you, you can write a letter to the journalist who wrote it. Chances are, they cover that topic on an ongoing basis and they may want to use you as a source in a future story.

Go to http://www.latimes.com and, using their search box at the top, search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 LA Times blog posts that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each one using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Then, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

The Denver Post

Oh goodie! Another news site that allow visitors to comment directly on articles!

Go to http://www.denverpost.com and, using their search box at the top, search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 articles that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each one using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Then, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

ONGOING

This should be considered an ongoing book marketing activity. You should never drop into a discussion and then disappear completely because somebody might step in and make a comment about what you wrote or somebody might ask you a question. In addition, there are new articles, blogs, and discussions being posted all day long, every single day. Stay on top of them and you’ll continue to sell books.

Don’t stop at just the top five news sites I featured here. There are many more newspapers, listed by size, at this site: http://nyjobsource.com/papers.html

Have fun helping others (posting comments/facts/opinions) while promoting your book!

Angela Hoy is the co-owner of the ebook and print on demand publisher, Booklocker.com and the publisher of WritersWeekly.com.