Marketing

For many authors, checking their Amazon ranking is an addictive daily activity.

For others, it’s a confusing statistic they don’t understand (which is probably why they have time to do things like shower. When you understand it, it can become an obsessive hobby that causes you to forsake all other daily activities).

So here it is, the meaning of your Amazon rank, plain and simple:

Your rank is how many books on Amazon are selling more copies than yours.

Let’s break what this means down a bit.

Your book is ranked 14,000.
This means that there are 14,000 other titles on Amazon that have sold more copies than you.

But is that a good number?
Absolutely. There are a bajillion titles on Amazon and there are more and more listings added every day. If there are only 14,000 titles selling more copies than you, that’s a gold star for you!

How can other books have the same rank as […]

Brick-and-mortar bookstores are the obvious place to start selling your book, right? Wrong!  On top of the problems that publishers bemoan, including heavy discounts, substantial returns, lack of pricing flexibility, and stiff on-shelf competition, brick-and-mortar bookstores are a shrinking sales channel.  Brick-and-mortar bookstores now account for less than half of all books sold.  And each year sees a further decline in their share of the total book market, a trend which is accelerating!

Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities in other, growing, sales channels.  We at Wheatmark recommend that you, the independent author, focus all of your marketing efforts on these channels, particularly the online bookstore channel.  Each year online bookstores grab a larger share of the total book market.  And, online bookstores are perfect for the independently published book.  They offer a level playing field—your book gets equal “shelf placement” with the titles from major publishers.  Many publishing houses are […]

Many self-published authors fret over not having endorsements for their book. Do you really need endorsements for your book to sell?

It depends.

An endorsement is only as good as the person who wrote it. If the endorsement is from your neighbor whose only claim to fame is the endorsement on your book, it won’t provide the goals of the endorsement.

The goals of endorsements are three-fold.

First off, they establish credibility to buyers saying, “Someone else has read this book.”

Secondly, they offer insight into the quality of the book. For example, one Wheatmark title, The Big Gamble: Are You Investing or Speculating has an endorsement by Donald Trump. Yes, that Donald Trump. If The Donald likes it and thinks the book is of value, there is a pretty safe bet that you will not be taking a gamble purchasing it.

Finally, an endorsement is great for comparing your taste to someone else’s. Wheatmark recently […]

When you publish your book you are entering a conversation with your readers. Because you are starting a conversation, your readers–your conversation partners–will want to get in touch with you and provide you with valuable feedback that will move this conversation along.

You should add your author contact info to your book so your readers could get in touch with you!

We as book publishers receive lots of requests from readers to pass messages on to our authors, which we do as a courtesy to you. This is proof that your readers need to be able to contact you, otherwise it’s just a one-way conversation.

What should you include as contact info?

The single most important contact information you should include in your book is the link to your website. For example, you could say, “To contact Jane Doe, visit her website at http://www.author-janedoe.info.” Naturally, the website would list either phone, email address (email […]

Guest article by James A. Cox

I’ve been a book reviewer and a keenly interested observer of the publishing industry since the fall of 1976. My more than 20 years of experience as a reviewer, an editor of a monthly book review newsletter, a producer of radio and television weekly book review programs, and editor-in-chief of the Midwest Book Review (supervising the work of 37 volunteer book reviewers across the United States and Canada) has taught me a great deal about reviewing books, editing the reviews of others, and recognizing the needs and problems of the independent small press publisher with respect to being reviewed.

The main reason for a publisher to seek reviews is to collect quotes that can be used in publicity and promotional materials, which could result in increased sales for the book. The principal hazards facing the publisher with respect to reviews are being panned by an honest […]

Guest article by Patricia Fry

If you’ve been poking around at writing and publishing sites, attending writers’ conferences and reading about authorship, you’ve heard/read the term platform. You may even know what it means. It’s your way of attracting readers for your book. It’s your following, your level of notoriety and the power of your personal and professional contacts. The extent of your platform can be the defining factor in landing a publisher for your memoir, novel or self-help book. But the scope of your platform will also determine your book’s ultimate success.

You hear experts say, “The best time to start establishing your platform is before your book is ready to make the rounds of agents and/or publishers.” I maintain that hopeful authors should start building a platform before they write the book. Here’s how:

1. Build promotion into your book before it is a book. For fiction, choose your setting carefully. […]

Guest article by Tami DePalma and Kim Dushinski

Work with the bookstore. Your book signing coordinator, often called a community resource coordinator, has probably conducted many more book signings than you have. They usually have a good idea of what works and what flops in organizing an event. Rely on their expertise to get more people to your event and to buy books when they get there.

Tell the book signing coordinator what marketing efforts you are putting forth to attract people into their bookstore. Ask them what advertising and publicity they will do to get people to the event. Make sure that between the two of you, you’ve found ways to reach your targeted audience repeatedly. Ask to see the materials they distribute, and check for accuracy.

When sending releases to the media, remember, the media likes free events, especially when the event directly applies to their audiences. They don’t like what […]

Guest article by James A. Cox

A good review placed in the hands of the reading public by a competent reviewer is the most effective and least expensive publicity/promotion instrument available to the independent publisher. But the chances of getting your book reviewed can be drastically reduced if you do not understand what you are up against and do not take steps to improve your odds.

The Midwest Book Review receives approximately 50 books a day, Monday through Saturday. That works out to around 1,500 titles a month. I encourage PMA members to identify themselves as such when they submit their titles for review because Midwest Book Review has a policy of bumping small presses and PMA members to the top of the review list – a significant step when the line is 1,500 titles long!

Other book review publications or programs (with the possible exception of The Independent Publisher) do not have […]