Knowledge is power with book marketing

In an online book marketing group discussion recently, I was crushed – absolutely crushed – to learn how an author in the group responded to a marketing company solicitation.

She posted that she was “flattered” to have been selected for a promotion that would cost her $1,500. The promoter had convinced her that being selected for the “opportunity” was a privilege she had earned. She believed him, too naive to know how it really works.

How does it work?

Some sales people will take as much money as they can from anybody.

As soon as you say “Yes!” to $1,500, they tell you that you’ve qualified for a Super Duper Gold Star package that they are only offering to Super Duper Gold Star Authors — you! It costs $500 more, but you will be among the most elite of all authors when you take advantage of this amazing opportunity to showcase your book!

The next thing you know, your credit card is charged for more than you should spend for a promotion of questionable value.

Fortunately, the hive mind revealed that the sales person was re-selling an opportunity that the originator was offering for just over $300 to anybody with a book – no screening, no “your book is so special” B.S., no hard sell. Just pay the fee and you’re in.

Oh, you flatter me

Flattery will get you anywhere, right?

(I hope you answered, “Wrong.”)

And yet, there are some promotions that are worth their cost. For example, I know of one virtual book tour service that charges a fair fee for good work for fiction. And Facebook advertising is both smart and affordable when you have the right pieces in place before spending the money.

To be successful at selling books on social media, authors need to be able to answer these questions:

• How do you assess the value of an online book promotion opportunity? (Did you know there’s a tool for that?)
• Where will you find the readers for your books? (You don’t want to be spending your time on the wrong network as so many are.)
• At what point should you consider paying for opportunities to get your book discovered by the right readers, especially when it comes to Facebook ads?
• What can you do online to sell books without spending anything?

How to do it the right way

I’ve asked social media expert Chris Syme, who has advised hundreds of fiction and nonfiction authors, to answer those questions and many more in a webinar titled, “How to Sell More Books With Social Media.” It’s a live training event, but we’ll send the replay link to anyone who registers, so go to the information page now to see what you’ll learn and to register.

What you learn could save you thousands of dollars while it generates thousands in book sales. (And, you’ll get that promotion evaluation tool I mentioned above!) How can you lose? Get the details now and register here so you don’t miss out.

What question would you like to ask social media expert Chris Syme about how to sell more books with social media?

Tip of the Month

I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

My friend Amy Collins at book distribution consultant New Shelves Books clued me in to this month’s, “Adobe Voice.” It’s an easy-to-use free app that lets you create a short video using your iPhone or iPad’s microphone and Adobe’s clip art, photos (or your photos!), or text.

To show you how it works, I created this little video in just five minutes as soon as I downloaded the app. I can’t wait to play with this great tool some more, but in the meantime, here’s my very first video:

Pretty cool, right? Imagine how much fun you could have creating short messages to share with your social networks! Sharing icons built into the app make that process super easy.

If you know other authors who will find this tool handy, be sure to share the link to this blog post with them. Tips help everyone and I’m so glad Amy shared this one with me!