The Worst Kind of Book Marketing
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 23rd, 2009 | 3 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Marketing books is tough and there is no one method or formula that fits all titles. It depends on many pieces and parts, combined and mixed in a way that attempts to provide the author maximum exposure and opportunities to sell books. Think of book marketing as ingredients from a cookbook. There are many spices and food items that you have to combine in specific quantities to get the result you want, book marketing is the same.
There are overabundances of companies offering tons of marketing programs and services that tend to be a “one size fits all program.” These plans are minimally successful, at best. At worst you will spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars for “ingredients” that will not in the end provide you with what you want and that is sales. Combinations of these kinds of programs MIGHT be helpful and MAY be somewhat successful but there is much more to book marketing than what is being offered.
Through this web site I get a lot of emails that are solicitations for marketing programs of all varieties. When you step back and examine what they offer taking into account the bigger picture of book selling, you quickly realize they are not worth the money you pay. Here is a recent example: Offer your book to foreign rights buyers—special for this month—several thousand foreign rights buyers from over 100 countries, only $X, act now!
Foreign rights is a very lucrative business and can be a bonus for authors, however, listing your title in a catalog or display, among hundreds of other titles is not the way to receive foreign rights offers for your book. The business doesn’t operate that way! Legitimate foreign rights buyers are presented titles the same way books are presented to retailers such as B&N, Borders, Wal-Mart and Costco. They don’t “shop” from a catalog or display, they depend on their US agents and publishers to offer them viable titles from recognizable and reputable companies.
Do not be swayed by the sales pitch, and please save your money. Paying for this kind of program is a waste and I would certainly not recommend for any author.
Tags: Book Marketing, Booksellers, Self-Published Author
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