A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: How Successful Self-Publishing Authors and Authors of Small Presses Market Their Books

 

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 is a never-ending one: how to market books, especially if you are a small press or a self-publishing author. The simple answer to that question is any way and every way you can, in small numbers and in larger quantities, over and over (keeping in mind the magic number of 22). Here are some ideas that have worked for MSI Press authors.

• Larry MacDonald, author of RV Oopsies, sells books nearly every day. He has a niche (travel humor), and nearly every day, his book turns up in the top 100 list of books of travel humor. What is he doing right? He built a following with his "dumb things RVers do" annual competition for several years before he published his book. He also has a website where he provides good advice to RVers. Then, of course, many RV shops also stock books -- and this one is a natural fit. 
• Gregg Bagdade, author of Mental Health Mayday, takes advantage of special sales -- direct sales to specialized markets. In his case, those markets are counseling programs and fire departments.
• Joanna Romer, author of ten books, worked at getting her books into libraries -- asking those who told her that her books made a difference in their lives to request copies for their local libraries so others could benefit as well; several of her ten books ended up in hundreds of libraries.
• Sula, parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, has a natural audience for her seven books (written by an amanuensis) in the Old Mission gift shop and a nearby retreat center gift shop -- and it seems like all 1000+ of her followers on Face Book have bought a copy of each book as it has come out. In addition, her amanuensis reached out to cat bloggers, especially those who reviewed books -- those bloggers expanded the range of sales. Additionally, the unique aspects of a cat writing books on serious spiritual topics intrigued a number of reporters, and Sula made it into magazines and, as a result, onto the Internet and into newspaper reports. All of these things helped book sales beyond the local gift shops.
• A number of MSI Press authors write columns for various publications, such as Huff Post, Psychology Today, and other publications, on a regular basis: Joanna Charnas, Susan Lewis, Kristin Wilcox, and others.
• Dennis Ortman writes about important psychological topics: depression, anxiety, anger, hope. As a practicing psychologist, his office makes a great bookstore for his award-winning books! In addition, he has a blog for which he writes posts regularly -- and shares the posts with the publisher (MSI Press) for re-publication on its various social media platforms.
• The late Boris Shekhtman won awards as a teacher of Russian and developed considerable fame as a teacher the US Department of State, where he trained diplomats, and then in his own language school, where he trained journalists from The New York Times and other papers. State Department as well as the Department of Defense and other government language training programs fell in love with Boris's books and continued to buy them even after he died. Then, an Influencer discovered one of them, and that one really took off even though Boris was no longer alive and the book was long in the tooth.

Bottom line: Don't give up if your book is not a bestseller right away; think of all the different ways that the authors listed above found to "advertise" their books. There is more to selling books than just print advertisement; there are all kinds of ways to build interest in your book(s).

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Be creative in how you go about trying to sell your book(s); use your special connections and the special nature of your book(s).

See more Publisher Conversations with authors HERE.

 Learn more about publishing from an acquisitions editor -- how to get your book proposal accepted, why proposals are turned down/accepted, and how to find the right publisher for your book. On special sale for $5 while inventory lasts at MSI Press webstore.

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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