Customer Reviews

Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Around 100,000 titles are published each year in the U.S. That amounts to nearly 300 per day. Over 1.3 million books are "in print" or currently available. To display them all, a bookstore would need five miles of shelf space. Most stores stock 40,000 to 80,000 titles. Will Anyone know your book is available?

It does not matter whether you sell out to a large publisher or self-publish, the author must do the promotion. Everyone in the book industry has a role: authors write, publishers publish, printers print, authors promote, and bookstores sell. Authors promote? They must because no one else does.

The contract you receive from your publisher guarantees you a percentage of the price of every book sold. No one guarantees the number of books that will end up in the hands of buyers.

Do not be lulled into a false sense of security by thinking your publisher will promote your book. Your publisher will get your book into bookstores but you must get the buyers into the stores. Your book will be on the shelf for just four months. If it does not sell well, it will be pulled off and replaced with another front list book.

Just as a parent's responsibilities do not end with giving birth, an author's do not end with publication. The child must be raised and the book must be promoted. Fortunately, your book is not a twenty-year commitment and you do not have to send it to college.

"My experience has been that the big NY publishers do next to nothing to promote their books. I asked an editor at Berkeley what they did to market their 200 books a month and she said `Nothing'. Then she added, `Well, we list them in our catalog.'" -Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale, author.

Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book is a goldmine of promotion ideas, encouragement and leads. Try just one each day and your book will be a success.

Patricia Fry is the author of ten books on a variety of subjects. Over the years, she has collected the no- and low-cost promotion ideas she shares here.

As a publisher, author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles, I recommend this fascinating book to authors everywhere. DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.

As a new author ("The Petit Appetit Cookbook") I was unaware how much I would have to do once the book was published. I wish I had the book before publication. The author does a good job of telling potential authors and publishers how much work will be needed after the book is written. The ideas are quick and to the point. However I would like more explanation as to how to do some of the tips such as "Arrange Book Signings". There's lots of advice for whom to invite and how to bring poeple to the event. But who should you speak with inially to set up the signing? How best do you offer your services? I understand the book is brief, but just a little bit more help in the execution of the idea would've been better.

The most obnoxious complaint I hear from writers is "my publisher doesn't do enough to promote my book." Every time someone voices this complaint, I ask what they are doing to promote their book themselves. I am usually met with a shocked stare. Writers write, why should they promote? Not only why, but how writers can promote their work is answered in Patricia Fry's OVER 75 GOOD IDEAS FOR PROMOTING YOUR BOOK.

Fry has been marketing her own books for over twenty years. From the basics of book promotion, to mailing lists and web sites, Fry presents clear concise techniques for any author to find comfortable, successful methods for publicizing their books. Indeed, tips on topics such as book signings and promotional displays will motivate the most disheartened author to sell their work.

One of the most successful methods that Fry describes, that of writing a column, I have observed first hand. Several authors have joined WordWeaving over this past year for permanent or temporary columns, allowing them to increase their name recognition exponentially.

OVER 75 GOOD IDEAS FOR PROMOTING YOUR BOOK is an immensely practical guide filled with useful suggestions and tips that authors will find themselves returning to again and again. Fry's seasoned advice, crisp presentation, and practical approach wins my high recommendation.

Patricia Fry's Over 75 Good Ideas For Promoting Your Book is a splendid 71-page compendium of sound, practical, applicable, and effective suggestions for the self-published author, small press publisher, or independent book publicist to effectively promote and publicize any book, whether it is a work of fiction or non-fiction, intended for and adult or juvenile readership. From compiling mailing lists, soliciting promotional testimonials, sending complimentary copies to key people, or writing magazine articles, to publishing a newsletter, creating a website, tapping into the library market, offering a book as a premium, selling books on the road, appearing on radio and television, or designing a market plan, Over 75 Good Ideas For Promoting Your Book is invaluable, sales improving, money saving, anxiety relieving, and very highly recommended for writers and publishers in today's highly competitive book selling marketplace.

"Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book" is not the most original title for a book, but it's certainly an accurate one.

This how-to booklet (it's only 72 pages) is filled to the brim with tips and tricks for getting your newly published book covered in the media and read by the masses. Each tip is highlighted in bold, with an easy-to-follow explanation underneath. Side-bars provide extra insight into promoting your work; instead of just saying to write a press release, this book shows you how. Within these pages, you'll learn how to make a commercial, how to get your book into bookstores and how to give testimonials.

Patricia L. Fry is the author of 10 books, so clearly she's had practice in promoting her books. Though most of her tips seem like common sense, they're presented in a straight, no-nonsense fashion that anyone can follow.

If you've just finished writing your latest nonfiction book or novel, start preparing your partials and query letters. Once you've mailed them, immediately buy this book and map out your promotion strategy.

When I published my first novel, Genesis Beach, I realized the work had just begun. This book gave me tons of creative ideas for getting the book in the public eye. I have been overwhelmed by the responses to my book, and thank Fry for her assistance to a new writer.

Being an author myself, I was very excited to read this book. I've been on the promotional trail for almost three years now and needed a bit of a "kick in the tush" to get out there and sell more books. Patricia's book gave me some very fresh new ideas and has motivated me. There is so much packed into 65 or so pages. It's a must for any author who needs a jump start.

Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book by Patricia L. Fry is a valuable resource for authors who want to succeed at book promotion. Patricia offers so much information that the reader will never run dry of promotional ideas again. She provides what only someone who has been in the trenches of book promotion for over 30 years can; unique promotional ideas that work and sale books...

Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book by Patricia L. Fry, Matilija Press, PMB 123, 323 E. Matilija St., Ste 110, Ojai, CA 93023

Book Review by Maryanne Raphael

Author Patricia L. Fry begins by telling us that, no matter who their publisher may be, most authors have to spend as much time promoting their work as they did writing it. She then gives us a step-by-step description of ways to promote a book suggesting we study them and choose those best suited for our own marketing plan. She reminds us we begin by deciding exactly who our audience is and how they will learn about our book. Having marketed her books for over 20 years while networking with other authors and publishers, Patricia has much valuable information to offer. One lesson she shares with us is the fact that promoting a book is a continuous job. If we are to succeed we need to spend a certain amount of time at it each day or to accomplish a certain amount of work for once we stop promoting a book chances are the sales will decline. The description of a Book Proposal is one of the best I've ever seen. And no where else have I read such excellent instructions on how to have a successful book signing. The book lives up to its title, offering over 75 excellent ideas for promoting your book.

The end

This book may be a little dated (2000) but it still holds a lot of great information. For example, the author, Patricia Fry, makes a great analogy, "Creating a book is not unlike creating life." When a baby is born, the parents must continue to care for the child. Writing a book is the same. The author of a book must continue to work hard and promote it and continue to do so well after it's published. In theory, this sounds simple but as the author says, it is not. However, Patricia Fry gives over 75 good ideas how to make is more manageable.

Some of the ideas are no brainers like sending press releases but some ideas are rather ingenious. For example, Patricia Fry gives ideas on how to conduct a book signing. However, I would like to see more information on book signing. Maybe she could in a future edition (Hint hint).

I highly recommend this easy and fast read (Only 72 pages) for anyone that is interested in selling more books (even albums, I guess). I have already used many of Patricia Fry's ideas for my book. Unfortunately, my book is still at the publishers and I haven't been able to test all the ideas yet. Nevertheless, I am sure that the small investment ($6.50-Amazon.com) is worth it.

Don't be fooled by this small book, this 72 page book is filled with 1000 pages worth of ideas.

Arthur M Mills Jr
Author: The Empty Lot Next Door