Written a book? Wishing to increase sales or leverage its value? What has worked for you?

[Paul Terlemezian]

What method works best in this era of Social Media?

Certainly being available on Amazon seems to make sense?
Does a small company have time (or the budget) to do book tours?
Can Twitter, LinkedIn or other Social Media methods be used effectively?

My perception of how to sell more books falls into the category of "operational excellence" as popularized by Treacy and Wiersema in their book - "The Discipline of Market Leaders." Low unit cost, high reach methods to find masses of people effectively.

This also follows the 20th century model popularized by Cross and Smith in their book - "Customer Bonding."

Awareness
Identity
Relationship
Community
Advocacy

Recently at SoCon09 (February 2009) I viewed a presentation by Chris Carfi or Cerrado ( A Social Media Marketing Agency). He presented the following model 21st century model:

Search
Shop
Support
Connect
Converse

Yesterday, I got an email from one of the members of this site and he introduced me to a new method that is intended to help people sell more books. I will be following up with the person that created this method and then posting the results of what I learn. Here is the essence of their method which I neither endorse nor condemn: "Color me curious"

1. Several (undetermined number) Authors agree to promote a "new book" with a particular theme and agree to provide something of value for free to anyone that purchases the new book (not their book)
2. These authors distribute an email to their existing distribution list with an email that contains links to information about the other authors.
3. Anyone that buys the "new book" is entitled to a freebie from all the other authors
4. As a result the originator sells books,the buyers get lots of freebies in addition to the book, the authors get visibility to people that open emails and buy a book

Would this help you? What would you change about it? What would you keep the same? What makes you want to avoid this? What makes you want to learn more about this?


What has worked for you? What methods are you interested in?

[Patrick Malone]

Paul,

Maybe I'm missing something but this doesn't feel very good to me. The book in question was written in 2007. The author has come up with a marketing scheme to promote the book. The author gets a bunch of people to give away some goods and/or services that are bundled for free with the cost of the book. So the author has a package valued at a couple hundred dollars that people buy for $19.99 (the price of the book). People buy the package and the author gets the money. The people who donated their goods and services get ___________________.

I like the idea if I'm the author who gets the money. I hate the idea if I'm the person who gave away their goods and/or services. Most of all I hate myself if I was dumb enough to buy into the idea that there is any value to the donor.

The carnival is in town.

[Paul Terlemezian]

I attend Product Camp in Atlanta on June 6 and saw this more traditional method. An event sponsor and "speaker" had a table set up where he was raffling a free book (business card drop.) He also had hard copy of chapter 1 that he was giving out for free. I saw people buying his book. I will follow up with him to see how this worked. (There were about 175 people at the event.)

[Paul Terlemezian]

This week, I have received three emails (so far) via LinkedIn from an individual promoting a book that their company is selling. The email referenced that we "shared" a LinkedIn Group which was why I was getting the email. This felt like SPAM to me and it also felt contradictory to the social media etiquette outlined in the Bradley Wills video (on You-Tube and also on this site in the videos section.) It may work if it gets sent to enough people but the premise of the book and the method seemed to be a contradiction. What do you think?

[Jennifer Kahnweiler]

Paul and others - I agree with Patrick about the "Spam" feeling. I am turned off by these offers. A couple of steps I did that are paying off in sales for my book. 1) Did research for the book on Linked In so started establishing my niche and "brand" there. 2) Built my list by collecting cards at events and diligently inputting them into my contact mgt. data base.
3) Started a blog before the book came out 4) Using Twitter and FB to share press about the topic

Anyone can feel free to contact me at [e-mail] for lessons learned and suggestions. I love using Social Media as a key part of my book selling strategy.
www.aboutyouinc.com

Paul Terlemezian said:

This week, I have received three emails (so far) via LinkedIn from an individual promoting a book that their company is selling. The email referenced that we "shared" a LinkedIn Group which was why I was getting the email. This felt like SPAM to me and it also felt contradictory to the social media etiquette outlined in the Bradley Wills video (on You-Tube and also on this site in the videos section.) It may work if it gets sent to enough people but the premise of the book and the method seemed to be a contradiction. What do you think?

[Paul Terlemezian]

I was recently introduced to Mark Satterfield - Founder (1992) and CEO of Gentle Rain Marketing. His knowledge, success, ability to articulate and ability to replicate success is notable. He wrote an article recently that is relevant to this conversation http://gentlerainmarketing.com/uncategorized/how-to-use-“trojan-horse”-marketing-to-attract-new-clients/

Here's the email that Mark wrote that induced me to read the blog - enjoy!

"An interesting short article in SalesForceExp magazine about “What Business Are You Really In?” It reminded me about the power of Trojan Horse Marketing. For example, on the surface one might think that your local cinema is in the movie business. But they’re not. The movie is just the “Trojan Horse” for their real business, which is selling popcorn and refreshments. As the article points out, “Cinemas are fast food businesses that happen to offer entertainment.”
So why is this worth thinking about? Because most services business use a straight ahead-direct-battering-ram approach when attempting to get new business. And there’s a much more effective way that achieves far better results. Let me explain…
Read the rest of the article on my blog HERE
Talk with you soon,
Mark"

Disclosure: There is no business relationship between Gentle Rain Marketing and iFive Alliances at this time. There might be since I believe that what Mark has to offer would benefit clients of iFive. At this point I am maintaining a conversation with him as a resource, partner or client.

[Larry Duckworth]

For my new book Primordial Leadership, I recently attended 101 Author University in Las Vegas. It is co-sponsored by my NY publisher Morgan James.

The major revelations were:

Give value to give value; all will flow from that

The website needs to give multiple types of value

Provide free resources as possible (e.g., book buyers at www.primordialeader.com get 40 free downloadable tools for leadership use)

Use Social Media (I'm just starting) LI: /in/larryduckworth; FB: larry.duckworth.10) (Paul is helping me)

Do seminars and webinars

Get on radio and TV. These need to have some dramatic aspect to get producers' attention (they get hundreds of requests per day, so stand out)

PR is a key tool (releases, panels, article, white papers, etc; all non-salesy)

Book signings are rare; especially first-time authors

Good publisher vs. self-authored to get more attention and distribution

Use Amazon tools, including Reviews and author profile

Use Google tools

Speaking engagements

Get good reviews. I.E.

• “Just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that this was one of the best seminars I've ever attended. “
• "The book is terrific.  Very helpful.  I'm looking forward to putting more of this into practice!"
• "Primordial Leadership is a gold mine of penetrating and practical leadership insights! Don't be surprised if a point stops you in your tracks...”
• “Thank you for presenting a first-rate webinar…I would like to make this webinar available to our CIO and have spoken with him about it.”