A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: The Two Best-Kept Secrets of Book Marketing & Promotion

 


It is Tuesday. 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 suggests that the two best-kept secrets to effective book marketing, in our experience and opinion, are word of mouth and repetition.

Word of mouth. This is not your (the author's) word of mouth, but, of course, it starts there. And you may need to restart the conversation, again and again. It is everyone else talking about your book, which is why things like media/podcast appearances help – even presentations for your local library or Rotary Club or wherever people in your community gather for whatever. Word of mouth can take some time, and it can move on to other things, if someone (or someones) do not keep the talk going. 

Repetition. Professional marketers tell you that a one-time ad is generally ineffective; multiple iterations of an ad is required for people to notice, think about, and take action on almost anything. That can get expensive! The good news is that just as repetition is the mother of learning (as Russian aphorisms go), repetition is a very important key to getting your book noticed—and purchased. A good website together with an active social media platform costs little. You can build your own website for free on Wix and other places; even having a web designer do it (which is way better if you are not an expert, can be fairly inexpensive if you find the right one). Now, the website is just the staid, steady place that confirms your credibility, but some kind of repetitive social media activity, which can be completely free of financial cost and can take a very modest amount of time, is needed to draw folks to your website. You do not have to be the world’s next wizard for repetition to work for you, but you do have to be consistent. Weekly blog posts work will build followers if you cannot do daily ones. Irregular blogposts, though, undermine the concept of repetition and are not likely to help nearly as much. A daily one-liner from your book without comment and with a link to your book, podcast, blog, or whatever platform you are using can be more effective than more elaborate and expensive efforts. Daily is the key word. You build day by day. You can build week by week. Month by month and upon occasion tends to undermine your platform and your credibility rather than help it. Just remember the axiom of advertisers: potential buyers need to see an ad, or in your case, a social media post (both can be in various formats) over and over and over again before they find something comfortable (“Oh, I know that,” “I’ve seen that before”) and decide to test it or purchase it.

Bottom line: Book marketing is not a one-shot advertisement. It is telling the story of the book over and over until it becomes part of the general conversation of the day -- and even then, it may need to be restarted. 

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Repetition is the mother of learning (Russian proverb) is something to remember when it comes to word of mouth (and any form of advertisement). 





 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 that you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

                             

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