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What would you do? Looking for online marketing strategies for paper back book...

by Irishman
12 replies
Hey warriors,

So I had lunch today with a newer friend of mine regarding Internet Marketing. He knows of my work with offline businesses so he was looking for an opportunity to talk online marketing.

Come to find out, he's a pretty gifted writer. He writes young adult fantasy books similar to Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia. He's won several awards and was the first place Gold Award winner for 2010 IPPY for Young Adult Fiction.

He's looking for an online marketing strategy to sell this physical paperback book, and I must admit, this is a new market for me not having a background in physical book marketing.

I have ideas, and thoughts, but thought who better to ask than fellow warriors? Any thoughts? What would your strategy be to create buzz and a following for future books in this series?

Thanks for thoughts,

Will
#back #book #marketing #online #paper #strategies
  • Profile picture of the author The Mysterious Marketer
    If you want to create traffic or exposure, then perhaps sell the physical book on ebay or amazon, then try to rank the sales pages in the search engines.

    Apart from that, you can create a review site and rank it highly for prominent keywords, such as "best books 2010" or something to that degree. Put a lot of testimonials for the book, and things that have been said by editors and critics.

    You want to create buzz or a following... then try creating a viral video that's related to the book, and do some video marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan UK
    Start a Facebook group and hopefully it may become popular and start a "snowballing" effect.

    I would also suggest it has an online presence in form of it's own official website. Do some SEO work on the website and some promotional work.

    The possibilities are endless.
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  • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
    Will

    A couple of resources for your writer friend - he could check out The Truth About Book Marketing - What Really Sells. This is more about building up a tribe for non fiction books - but your friend may some help there.

    Another good resource for your friend is Holly Lisle's web sites. She's a fantasy author that has a good online presence - although I know she's been ill recently with some kind of ear/balance problem.

    There's a Podcast called 'Ghost In The Machine' by Gail Z Martin - this is a fantasy related podcast and Gail Martin interviews new authors. Your friend could get some exposure there.

    Amazon is another good avenue. Your friend should explore setting up his profile properly, getting his book listed at Amazon, and doing some related reviews and recommendations (which are chances to link to his own product).

    HTH
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    • Profile picture of the author NicheMayhem
      I find this to be especially interesting, my mother just recently finished her murder mystery thriller novel. Who knew she was capable but nonetheless last time I talked to her she was asking about Amazon. I wrote her synopsis and helped her self publish. Does the author you speak of have a publisher?

      I have been planning to make some time to help her with marketing the book online. The above resources and ideas seem to be on point. Haven't put a ton of thought into it yet but I would think a themed site pertaining to the story would be a good way to boost awareness. Although Amazon is a great place for books my concern is the massive collection they have there and how tough it probably is to get any exposure. In theory the system at Amazon for reviews and cross referencing by leaving reviews and "tagging" other author's books sounds good but something tells me a single author can easily be lost in the sea of books they have available.

      I would suggest, and will soon be venturing into it myself, to create a themed site and begin ranking it for specific keywords that relate to the story. Create a draw for the readers based on the specific interest of the subject matter the book offers. This should prove especially worthwhile with a series. Create as many teaser trailers (videos) you can for the story as well, upload them to Youtube and host them on the site as well. A great way to utilize the videos is to structure them as only a tease with the rest of a specific part of the story (without giving it all away of course) only viewable on the site. Use the same keywords on Youtube that you do on the site and round and round she'll go.

      Just my .02 Best of luck! To the OP, feel free to PM me with any additional questions you may have, I actually have a few other little tricks up my sleeve I plan to look into developing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by paul wolfe View Post

      Another good resource for your friend is Holly Lisle's web sites.
      And a second vote for this as a good resource: there's a lot of interest there about writing and publishing.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Will, off the top of my head, I'd look at a combined online/offline strategy.

    > Official website, as was mentioned
    > Facebook page, as was mentioned
    > Twitter account, perhaps from one of the characters or the author

    > Press releases driving visitors to the official website
    > A radio "book tour", giving as many interviews as possible.
    > Video readings from the book on YouTube.

    Is there anything in the plot/characters that could stir up the kind of "Team Edward vs. Team Jacob" uproar the Twilight movies inspired?
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  • Profile picture of the author Irishman
    Many thanks everyone. Great ideas. He does have a fan page and a decent startup following. He does have a publisher (Finster) and he is actively doing speaking engagements at schools and libraries.

    One of the things that hadn't occurred to me that really piqued my interest was what John mentioned about having a twitter account in the main character's name. That is very cool thought process. I know books that have captured my imagination where I've come to the end and I was so sad it was finished... this would allow a "relationship" of sorts to continue between series with his fans.

    Paul - thanks for the resources and potential radio exposure. That's very helpful and will look into it.

    Nichemayhem - appreciate your thoughts and may be in contact to bounce some ideas back and forth as I put together an evolving plan.

    Grateful for everyone's thoughts!

    Best regards,

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author The Mysterious Marketer
    Another thing you could do is release a free ebook version of the book, maybe with just 10 to 20 pages from the starting of the book...

    And if readers enjoy it, at the end is a link directing them to a website where they can purchase the full book...
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    • Profile picture of the author Irishman
      Originally Posted by Illumination View Post

      Another thing you could do is release a free ebook version of the book, maybe with just 10 to 20 pages from the starting of the book...

      And if readers enjoy it, at the end is a link directing them to a website where they can purchase the full book...

      yeah . suggested something of this sort to get the reader hooked into the plot. Very good thought. Also recommended pdf download, and include a mailed copy of the paperback as a bonus (Seeing as there is no overhead on digital copies).

      Thanks Illumination.

      Will
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  • Profile picture of the author maggie2
    Hi,

    I've written and promoted several books, 2 of them being Canadian best-sellers. Your friend could do a ton of things online. Here are a few:

    1. Create a book trailer. These are like movie trailers, only you put them on YouTube. If he has a good trialer it can really drive traffic for him.
    2. If this is a young adult/kids book he probably should have a MySpace account in the character's name as MySpace is a great gathering place for younger people.
    3. He can go on a virtual book tour. This is where you visit blogs, sites, radio shows, podcasts and other sites and do an interview, guest post, etc. etc.
    4. He can contact all kinds of online book stores, not just Amazon. Just Google online bookstores and you'll find quite a few.
    5. Another avenue would be to create some press releases regarding the book...hooked into something current that is happening.
    6. There are several review sites online for books, and these include kids books. Send an email to see if he can get a review.
    7. He definitely needs a website.
    8. If he has specific characters that are pictured on the front cover of the book then he could give away line drawings of these to be downloaded and colored.
    9. He could have colored pictures of some of the characters and provide these as a download to promote the book.

    There are many other things that can be done to promote books online but these are probably the most profitable ideas. My brain is in park this evening so I hope I haven't missed anything important.
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    Marg

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    • Profile picture of the author Irishman
      Originally Posted by maggie2 View Post

      Hi,

      I've written and promoted several books, 2 of them being Canadian best-sellers. Your friend could do a ton of things online. Here are a few:

      1. Create a book trailer. These are like movie trailers, only you put them on YouTube. If he has a good trialer it can really drive traffic for him.
      2. If this is a young adult/kids book he probably should have a MySpace account in the character's name as MySpace is a great gathering place for younger people.
      3. He can go on a virtual book tour. This is where you visit blogs, sites, radio shows, podcasts and other sites and do an interview, guest post, etc. etc.
      4. He can contact all kinds of online book stores, not just Amazon. Just Google online bookstores and you'll find quite a few.
      5. Another avenue would be to create some press releases regarding the book...hooked into something current that is happening.
      6. There are several review sites online for books, and these include kids books. Send an email to see if he can get a review.
      7. He definitely needs a website.
      8. If he has specific characters that are pictured on the front cover of the book then he could give away line drawings of these to be downloaded and colored.
      9. He could have colored pictures of some of the characters and provide these as a download to promote the book.

      There are many other things that can be done to promote books online but these are probably the most profitable ideas. My brain is in park this evening so I hope I haven't missed anything important.

      Marg,

      Some great ideas here! Many thanks for taking the time to share. Any other thoughts come about, please let shoot me over a PM.

      Best regards,
      Will
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  • Profile picture of the author bestIMtools
    Look at the continuity factor of The Green Millionaire.

    It starts off as a free plus shipping offer and turns out to be a newsletter subscription. This ensures your client/friend is making money on the back end as well, a lot more than on the front end!
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