Comprehensive book marketing guide will pull you out of a slump

Are you looking for a book marketing guide that will take your book to the next level? Read my review of the book "From Book to Best Seller."

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Penny Sansevieri has created the book marketing guide that I wish I had the time to write.

This is good news for me — I can stop feeling guilty about not writing my own guide. It’s even better news for you. Penny’s From Book to Best Seller: The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Promotion, Smart Branding, and Longterm Success will take your book to the next level.

Note that this is not a “book marketing basics” book, though. As Penny writes in the introduction, “If you want some basic book marketing ideas, From Book to Best Seller isn’t for you. But if you’re ready to up level your marketing, then you’ve come to the right place.”

So who is Penny Sansevieri?

What you need to know about the author

I continually refer authors to veteran book publicist Penny Sansevieri, founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., because Penny is very good at what she does.

She’s more than competent, though. Penny is an innovator who tests, measures, and tests some more before bringing new book promotion ideas to her clients.

Just one example: When I ran into Penny at a conference several years ago, she showed me the new book character trading cards she created to help promote a client’s novel. They were colorful, fun, and unique. They were popular, too.

From Book to Best Seller highlights

Penny has written the most comprehensive, here’s-how-to-do-it guide for next-level book marketing that I’ve seen. Here are a few highlights, starting with the table of contents.

How many nonfiction tables of content have you seen with nonspecific and uninspired chapter titles? Nothing turns me off quicker.

Chapter titles within the three parts of From Book to Best Seller include “Key Ways to Make Sure Your Website is Helping You Sell More Books” and “Being Obsessed With Your Reader Will Help You Sell More Books.” Each is loaded with what you need to know and instruction on how to use it or take action.

Here are just a handful of the specifics in this book marketing guide that resonated with me on your behalf:

• Social media engagement is more important than the number of followers; you’ll learn best practices for generating that engagement.
• If you read nothing else, read the website chapter mentioned above, and take note of how you need a goal for your site.
• While many authors say they need to find more readers, Penny points out that authors don’t find readers – readers find books. Your goal is to get your book discovered by the right readers.
• Authors need super fans. How do you create super fans? It starts with a book that’s so good that people rave about and recommend it.
• Will book clubs be interested in your book? Learn how to make that happen.
• The chapter on bookstagrammers will help those struggling with Instagram figure out how to make things happen there.
• Need video ideas? They’re here, near the end of the book.
• The “Bonus Resources” offered at the end of the book are a good example of how to use your book to get email subscribers. I hope they inspire you.

Buy this book marketing guide, but pace yourself

There’s potential for overwhelm because of the volume of information and the level of detail. That’s a good thing, though. Just pace yourself.

But, please, please, don’t skip to the topic that interests you the most before reading all of Part One: Setting the Stage for Success. Without that information, the material in Parts Two and Three are almost useless.

I highly recommend From Book to Best Seller: The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Promotion, Smart Branding, and Longterm Success. Whether your sales are lackluster or you’re just ready to move to the next level, you’ll find what you need in this book.

Have you read From Book to Best Seller? What did you think about it? Please tell us in a comment.