A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Regionalization as a Force Multiplier for Book Promotion

 

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic looks at how maximize the promotional value of writing an article related to a published book topic. Writing articles for magazines is a good one to promote a new book. The book provides the credibility for writing the article, and the article, in turn, ends up promoting the book even if the author does not mention the book itself in the article (it is listed in the author's bio).

Whether a book is a self-help idea, parenting advice, inspirational, or some other topic, there are at least two ways to use article writing to promote the book: stand-alone (national-level) articles and regionalized articles.

Single articles published at the national level are generic in nature. They get published once, but they are read by a lot of people. Yet, they take a lot of time to write, and the next article has to be a new one.

On the other hand, avoiding the national level (or in addition to it), reaching out to regional magazines can be an excellent way to promote a book. From one "stock" article, dozens of regional variations can be generated. They take far less time than writing a whole new article. The key is to regionalize them. If your topic is parenting, for example, a little research will show you what kinds of concerns parents in Florida have vs parents in Maine. Tweak to fit, and you quickly have another publication. Sometimes a magazine editor who likes the topic is willing to help shape the article for the local audience; let that happen and say thank you! Regionalization can let you use one basic article from which you could produce, with very little effort and time, 50 or more additional publications, all of which indirectly promote your book. 

It is a simple concept, but a very effective one. Regionalization serves as force multiplication.

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Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Economize your time and spread your reach at the same time. Think regional, not national. A little research will find a wealth of possibilities for selling/having published many articles from the one you start one.

 Read more posts about publishing HERE.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like to see addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experienced authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.