Publishing Tips Newsletter
presented by Five Rainbows Services for Authors & Publishers
affordable solutions for writing and publishing projects

The Marketing of Books

------------

Be sure to try out our f*r*e*e How-to-Publish Quiz at FiveRainbows.com. The answer might surprise you! If you're still not sure exactly what you need, email mailto:Walt@FiveRainbows.com?subject=Initial Consultation or call toll-free 866-341-3705 to discuss your project. Initial consultations (email or phone) are always f*r*e*e.

-------------------

The Marketing of Books
excerpted by permission from
What Writers Need to Know About Publishing, Part 3
by Jerry D. Simmons
NothingBinding.com

Marketing is critical to the sale of your book and can be your key to becoming a successful author. Whether you are self-published, with a small press, or contracted to a big New York publisher, marketing to readers is competitive. Here you will discover how the major publishers market their product, which will provide you with insight into what you can do to be competitive and how to take advantage of their weaknesses.

If you do not learn how to market and make decisions about marketing, your chances of making valuable suggestions to your publisher are limited. Your book is the accumulation of years of hard work finally packaged and offered for sale to the reading public. You must understand your competition and how you can improve your chances of selling copies. The most talented writers in the world will not be successful unless the marketing of their book is focused on a specifically targeted market.

The person standing on a street corner holding a placard is marketing. Those annoying little signs you see staked at busy intersections announcing a new product or service is marketing. Junk mail enticing you to subscribe to a newspaper, newsletter or magazine is marketing. Newspaper articles written about authors and their books are a part of marketing, too. There are many forms of marketing, some simple and complex and some free and expensive; however, the important point to remember is that every book is different. There is no set formula you can plug a book into and presto, it's marketed. Successful books have a good marketing plan behind them and here we will take a look at how those plans are developed.

[Walt's Note: Be sure to get your copy of Jerry's book, What Writers Need to Know About Publishing, it's filled with useful information on how publishing really works and tips on how to succeed in this somewhat weird business.]

-------------------

You may forward this newsletter, in its entirety with all links included, to anyone you think might find it useful.

If you received this as a forwarded message and would like to sign up for your own f*r*e*e subscription, just send a blank email to 5rain@getresponse.com

-------------------

Four of our books are now available as immediate downloads in Adobe PDF format -- Backyard Bigfoot, Devil in the North Woods, Pilots and Normal People, and Flying for France. Buy and download them right now at our Slipdown Mountain Publications website!

Most of our books are also available for the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. Check them out on our website's Kindle page!

-------------------

>>View From the Publishing Trenches blog - Latest Posts

LCCN - Should You Bother?
Since I've discussed the ISBN and why you should care about what it is and how it should be used, I figured it's time to consider another important number in the book business in the US. Library of Congress Control Number (LCNN).
Read more...

April Book Sales Down...or Up?
Did book sales for April show an increase or a decrease? It sort of depends on what segment of the book business you're interested in.
Read more...

Outsourcing Editing Overseas - Dumb
Yesterday, I came across an AP report on the Business Week website titled "OC Register to outsource some editing to India." This brings immediately to mind to the old adage about being penny wise and pound foolish.
Read more...

How Much is a Kindle Worth to You?
There have been a number of polls and surveys recently that indicate there is some market resistance to the Amazon Kindle e-book reader based primarily on its price tag. Give us your opinion by taking our quick Kindle Price Poll.
Read more...

-------------------

To get a no-obligation quote for any of our publishing services visit the Five Rainbows Services website. We offer a full range of services - editing, book design and typesetting, cover design, indexing, mentoring, PCIP data, news release assistance, ghostwriting, and Kindle formatting (for the Amazon e-book reader).

And don't overlook our Penny-Pinching Options for those on tight budgets..

If you've missed some newsletters or only recently sign up, you can read the back issues of the Publishing Tips newsletter in the online archives.

-------------------

Be sure to visit our Slipdown Mountain Publications website to see our wide range of fiction and nonfiction books. You can also find our books at Amazon.com with many available in the new Kindle e-book format. And forget our downloadable PDF e-books.

[[pre signature]]