Time
Is a book tour a good investment of your time? Depends. If your are an attorney charging $450 an hour, maybe not. When did John Grisham quit his day job? Touring establishes your credibility especially among the booksellers and your publisher (Read future publisher if your current publisher did not pay for your book tour!).
If your are planning an extensive regional or national tour you can try and plan your book tour around vacation time. This is easier for writers without large families. Though I know one author who took his family with him on book tour and survived!
Your Budget?
What type of campaign you plan will depend on how much time you have or want to dedicate to your campaign and most important your budget.
Travel: Calculate hotel, gas and food. If you go on an extended book tour. I targeted
states and cities where I had friends and family who would gladly put me up for a night.
They also came to the events assuring a lively crowd.
Telephone. Depending on your campaign if it is out of area then this can be the largest
expense. Think of a national calling plan with a fixed fee and unlimited anytime minutes.
Plans change so swiftly check with all the instate and out-of-state carriers.
Postage. As you found out while sending out manuscripts this is another major expense.
Stationary. Necessary. You can print, like I do, stationary from your computer.
Printing. Hopefully one time costs. Example, 6,000 postcards for $450.00
Your Time: If you haven’t quite your day job, which I highly recommend you do not do,
remember your time is valuable.
It is said calculate your promotion budget as 10% of your advance. If your advance was as small as mine then you could only afford a half dozen telephone calls. Spend only what you can afford. Though take into consideration this might be your only shot at proving you are a saleable author. I spent my advance plus.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for your royalty check.
Remember generally you will not get any royalties until months after the end of the year to allow for return calculations. Except for your advance, your royalty checks will not help finance you publicity campaign.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
CHAPTER II BLOG POST # 11
A media blitz takes a lot of coordination and planning.
The ideal publicity campaign will begin with a bang the moment your book makes it to the bookstores shelves. There will be lots of ink, radio and TV spots. While the biggest push will be in the first three months, a well planned campaign should last an entire year. Success in the first three months will keep you book on the shelves hopefully for years to come.
FYI: The eternal paradox. To keep your books on bookstore shelves you have to move them off the shelves.
Decide What Type of Promotional Campaign is Right for You
If you have targeted your core readers then this should be easy. What type of publicity campaign is best for your book? A local interest book on Fishing the Back Lakes of Polk County, Florida would not merit a national publicity campaign but it would a regional campaign. A book on global warming would be, well, global.
Budget, time, drive and audience identification will determine which campaign is best for your book.
The three types of promotion campaigns:
1. Local.
Your regional city and the outlying towns. Your county even your state. In most areas you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bookstores, libraries and schools are within a two hour drive; and how many daily and weekly newspapers there are.
2. Regional.
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest. Prairie states, the Northwest. Be sensitive to seasonal migrations. New York and Boston empty in the summer and most book signings and media appearances can be a waste of time.
3. National.
From sea to shining sea and beyond. A national book tour may include a few selected national cities or an ambitious cross county undertaking The major houses have identified certain cities that are ‘book buying’ cities, like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C. (Especially for geopolitical stories) and areas like the Southeast. There are the second tier cities Boston, St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and seasonal areas such as Florida in the winter, and Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore in the summer. Book well in advance especially for seasonally sensitive areas.
FYI: For Florida writers. There is a curious demand for Florida novels in the Los Angeles and New York markets.
The ideal publicity campaign will begin with a bang the moment your book makes it to the bookstores shelves. There will be lots of ink, radio and TV spots. While the biggest push will be in the first three months, a well planned campaign should last an entire year. Success in the first three months will keep you book on the shelves hopefully for years to come.
FYI: The eternal paradox. To keep your books on bookstore shelves you have to move them off the shelves.
Decide What Type of Promotional Campaign is Right for You
If you have targeted your core readers then this should be easy. What type of publicity campaign is best for your book? A local interest book on Fishing the Back Lakes of Polk County, Florida would not merit a national publicity campaign but it would a regional campaign. A book on global warming would be, well, global.
Budget, time, drive and audience identification will determine which campaign is best for your book.
The three types of promotion campaigns:
1. Local.
Your regional city and the outlying towns. Your county even your state. In most areas you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bookstores, libraries and schools are within a two hour drive; and how many daily and weekly newspapers there are.
2. Regional.
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest. Prairie states, the Northwest. Be sensitive to seasonal migrations. New York and Boston empty in the summer and most book signings and media appearances can be a waste of time.
3. National.
From sea to shining sea and beyond. A national book tour may include a few selected national cities or an ambitious cross county undertaking The major houses have identified certain cities that are ‘book buying’ cities, like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C. (Especially for geopolitical stories) and areas like the Southeast. There are the second tier cities Boston, St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and seasonal areas such as Florida in the winter, and Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore in the summer. Book well in advance especially for seasonally sensitive areas.
FYI: For Florida writers. There is a curious demand for Florida novels in the Los Angeles and New York markets.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
CHAPTER II Post # 10
THE BUSINESS PLAN
Every successful self-promotion campaign begins with a plan. You are the general of this campaign. You have to attack the markets with military precession.
FYI: Plan early.
A plan should include scheduling, budget, time and desire.
First decide what you want to do with your book. This might seem like a rhetorical question however most of us do not think of exactly what are our expectations for our book.
I don’t think there is anyone who would not love to see their book on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Do you want to make selling your book a life long hobby?
I know one author who says she will be selling her book for the rest of her life.
Do you want to soft sell over a couple of years?
For those of us who have a full time job this might be the only option. Promoting on the weekends. Better still coordinate an extended vacation around the publishing date of your book.
Self-published or Print-On-Demand (POD) authors have that luxury.
If you have a brick and mortar publisher, like Dell, Random House or Simon & Schuster or any of the medium or smaller publishers your options will be limited. You will not have the luxury of a leisurely campaign. You have to start off with a big bang, a media blitz. You want to create what we affectionately call a BUZZ. Why? Because a book has a life span. Usually three months. If a book does not have legs, if it does not move off the shelves after three months it will be sent back to the publisher to make room for newer books. These books are the returns slated for the remainder pile. Returns are the ban of all authors. For authors and publishers there is no sight as sad as a box of their books with their covers ripped off heading back to the warehouse destined for the recycle bin. If there are no books in the bookstores then even an appearance on Good Morning America or Oprah will be for nought.
FYI: A book has the shelf-life of a banana.
Walk into any bookstore and look at all the books they are trying to sell. As important as you book is to you it is only one to the bookseller. You want to make them more aware of your book. Enroll them into helping you sell your book. Local and regional campaigns can be very successful at enrolling.
Every successful self-promotion campaign begins with a plan. You are the general of this campaign. You have to attack the markets with military precession.
FYI: Plan early.
A plan should include scheduling, budget, time and desire.
First decide what you want to do with your book. This might seem like a rhetorical question however most of us do not think of exactly what are our expectations for our book.
I don’t think there is anyone who would not love to see their book on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Do you want to make selling your book a life long hobby?
I know one author who says she will be selling her book for the rest of her life.
Do you want to soft sell over a couple of years?
For those of us who have a full time job this might be the only option. Promoting on the weekends. Better still coordinate an extended vacation around the publishing date of your book.
Self-published or Print-On-Demand (POD) authors have that luxury.
If you have a brick and mortar publisher, like Dell, Random House or Simon & Schuster or any of the medium or smaller publishers your options will be limited. You will not have the luxury of a leisurely campaign. You have to start off with a big bang, a media blitz. You want to create what we affectionately call a BUZZ. Why? Because a book has a life span. Usually three months. If a book does not have legs, if it does not move off the shelves after three months it will be sent back to the publisher to make room for newer books. These books are the returns slated for the remainder pile. Returns are the ban of all authors. For authors and publishers there is no sight as sad as a box of their books with their covers ripped off heading back to the warehouse destined for the recycle bin. If there are no books in the bookstores then even an appearance on Good Morning America or Oprah will be for nought.
FYI: A book has the shelf-life of a banana.
Walk into any bookstore and look at all the books they are trying to sell. As important as you book is to you it is only one to the bookseller. You want to make them more aware of your book. Enroll them into helping you sell your book. Local and regional campaigns can be very successful at enrolling.
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