How Book Design and Book Marketing Will Keep Your Book Alive

Too many authors spend all their time on writing, then scrimp on book design and book marketing. They hope that their publisher will handle all the details of book design and book marketing, so that they can just sit back and rake in the millions year after year.

Then, if these same authors decide to self-publish, they'll quickly get lost in the morass of print on demand publishers and the time and money sink hole of self-publishing. In fact, most authors would rather die than think about book marketing, or spend money on book design.

Facing your book marketing competition

In 2005, around 172,000 books were published with an ISBN number, according to Bowker, which compiles publishing statistics. An ISBN number will get you into Books in Print, and allows your book to be distributed to bookstores and online sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. According to some sources, nearly one quarter of these books were printed by Print on Demand (POD) companies.

I'd estimate that number to be much higher, as many small publishers are having their books printed by Lightning Source, which also provides printing for many of the larger POD companies.

Additionally, Lulu Press, who publishes over 1500 books per week, says that only about 5% of their books get an ISBN number. That's another 80,000 or so books circulating in the market each year, although most of Lulu's books are only sold through Lulu Press on their web site.

The definition of "Best Seller" has changed

It only takes 300 book sales to get on Lulu's all-time top 100 bestsellers list. 300 books! For some people, that can be attained simply by selling books to their extended family. While AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, and other big players in the POD market might print more books with ISBN numbers, their sales records aren't much better.

Some sources estimate that the average book sells no more than 150 copies, and other sources put that number at below fifty copies. In many cases, authors end up losing money on their books, which is why Lulu Press is so popular. At Lulu, you can upload your book interior and cover (you do all the design work), and have a book on your doorstep within days - all for the "cost of printing" (which is highly inflated, by the way).

The services and prices of POD companies vary widely, which is why we're in the final stages of creating a comprehensive guide on self-publishing. It can be a confusing morass of information and data, with many unsubstantiated claims. The truth shall be revealed.

Will you be one of the winners, or part of the majority?

Will your book be dead before it hits the streets? If you have any intention of selling more than 50 books, then you'll have to invest time - and money - into the production and marketing of your book. Here are the basic steps you'll have to consider:

1. Write a great book that's got an audience.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to assume that people will read their book just because it's "good." People will read a book if it is either applicable to their lives (non-fiction), or if it really is a damned good book (fiction). Even then, you'll have to market your book. "How to sell a book" or "How to market a book" are two of the top questions we get, and search engine analysis shows that these are frequent search terms. If you haven't written your book with an audience in mind, then you're down to three legs on your four-legged marketing stool.

2. Spend some money on book cover design and book editing.

The second leg of book marketing is the interior and exterior design of the book. People do judge a book by its cover, so if you're not spending some money on getting an outstanding cover, you're losing sales. Then, people will open the book and read the intro or first few pages. Is it well-written? Easy to read? Is the interior book design clean, consistent, and well-implemented. I've seen many POD books in which the margins were too small, the fonts poorly chosen, and the images fuzzy. Who's going to buy a book like that?

There are many great book cover designers. Then for editing, contact Charity at Mighty Pen Editing for your editing needs. Don't scrimp on the editing because you WILL make mistakes (trust me on this - there are probably a few in this article).

3. Choose a good quality publisher.

Lulu Press is great if you just want to print a few books for your friends, or create a low-cost galley to send to editors, agents, or distributors. You'll often be asked to send a "galley" of your book, which is simply a printed copy of your book with a blank cover. Lulu Press is great for creating galleys at minimal cost.

As we'll show you in our upcoming comprehensive guide to self-publishing, which POD company you choose depends on your intentions and desires. If you want to have your book professionally edited and the cover professionally designed by your publisher (instead of outsourcing to some unknown person), then companies like Cold Tree Press might be a good choice. Other companies offer a varied level of marketing packages. Personally, I'd rather stay away from having these publishers market my book, and instead go to a good book marketing expert or media specialist.

But, there are a few small publishers (like Cold Tree Press or Arbor Books) who have excellent book marketing packages, ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars (you get what you pay for!).

4. Take a "no holds barred" approach to book marketing.

If your book is your life, or is a major part of your business marketing plan, then spend some money on publicity and book marketing. Too many people, especially business people, write a book, put a page up on their web site (and on Amazon), and hope that they'll get some sales. Your book is like a 250 page business card, and it should be used accordingly.

If your book is your life story or a novel, you still need to spend some money on marketing, although your approach will be different. Definitely check out a media relations specialist (Marika Flatt at) or Book Marketing Specialist (Penny Sansevieri).

5. Use the Internet to market your book.

The old ways of marketing books, such as book tours, are dead and gone. Sure, you can still do them, but if you really want to sell books, you'll have to go online - and not quietly.

Use techniques such as blogs (blogging), Podcasting, and Videocasting (something like online infomercials). Be sure to check out the advanced book marketing teleseminar series at. You should also learn how to do a Virtual Book tour (a class Penny Sansevieri will be teaching through Write and Publish Your Book).

So, write a great book, find a good book cover designer and book editor, work with a quality publisher, market the heck out of your book, and use the Internet to market your book with podcasts, blogging (an author blog), videocasts, and virtual book tours.

Good luck. Good writing. Good selling.

If you're a writer or solo entrepreneur, then you need to visit the Publishing and Self-Publishing website. Tips & resources for writers; advice on publishing or self-publishing, and relatively unbiased media relations assistance. Check out our Avanced Marketing teleseminars on Podcasting, Self-Publishing, Publishing and Marketing for writers and solo entrepreneurs.

Secrets of How Authors Can Sell Books by the 1000s to Organizations for Incentive Programs

Are you an assistant-to-authors or a do-it-yourself author? Do you include selling books to business organizations in your marketing program? You should.

By getting outside of the bookstore channel, you will have the potential of selling not just one book at a time but 1000s of books at a time. You'll want to take advantage of these powerful strategies if you are...

    An assistant-to-authors, regardless of your title: Virtual Assistant, Virtual Authors Assistant, Book Coach, Book Shepherd, Online Business Manager, Author's Assistant
    A published author who desires to help more people through higher book sales
    A published coach, consultant, speaker or trainer who wants to catapult your reputation and open opportunities to sell other products and services
    A published author who wants to make serious money by selling books by the 1000s at a time
    A published author with disappointing book sales who wants to recover your financial investment in your book
    A self-published author who wants to leverage better sales into acquiring additional sales channels or a publishing house
    A published author who is ready to update an existing book but needs to sell the remaining inventory of the current version to help finance the update
    An aspiring author who is looking for direction about what kind of book will be attractive in the marketplace
    An aspiring author who knows you will be much more successful if you plan ahead about how and to whom you will market the book before and during the creation of it

Why Authors Get Frustrated with Book Sales: The Bookstore Trap - Boxes of Books with Nowhere to Go

If the author is like most, the process of writing and getting the book published was a painful experience, whether it was self-published, the author was able to get a traditional publisher or opted for a print-on-demand publisher. It took far longer and far more effort than was ever imagined it would.

Next the author may have experienced the "post-partum blues," the separation anxiety that comes with the book finally being "delivered," a vague empty feeling.

After the author got his or her life back to some semblance of normalcy, the day came when they fully confronted a realization. The books aren't selling in any significant numbers. The author has boxes of books sitting in the garage or basement, the office, a warehouse somewhere. Sure, a few books have been sold at events, or a dozen here and there at book signings and such. But at that pace, the author in the storage business more than she is in the practice-building business!

The author begins musing, "What is the point of creating a book to help people and to promote yourself if nobody ever sees it? What's the point of taking time away from my clients or other work to do book signings, only to sell a mere dozen or so books per event?"

Since the books aren't going to sell themselves, the author may have made some efforts to figure out the book marketing and distribution business to try to break into bookstores, only to find it all archaic, complex and frustrating. She may even have gotten into a bookstore or two. But the books didn't move, because nobody knows the books are there.

"I don't have time for this!" the author probably exclaimed at some point. "This is not how I want to spend my life!"

But the reality is, if book sales are to be, it's up to the author.

Welcome to the Bookstore Trap.

You're not alone. The vast majority of authors have a disappointing publishing experience. At The Book Standard Summit 2005, Nielsen Bookscan reported that 93% of the books sold at retail in 2004 sold less than 1000 copies!

Self-publishers don't do as well. Overall, the average self-published book sells around 250 copies! (Granted, it allowed them to get their book published when it probably wouldn't have been published otherwise. )

The problem is that most authors and independent publishers focus almost exclusively on trying to get their books into bookstores. Even if you're initially successful in passing muster, if your marketing efforts don't drive people to the bookstore to buy your book in significant numbers within the first 30 days or so, the books are going to be returned. Bookstores return some 60% of all books they order!!!

But There is Good News

Here's the fact that I'm asking you to focus on to break out of the less-than-1000-copies bookstore sales trap: According to a Feb 2005 report from the Association of American Publishers, of the $23.7 billion of books sold in 2004, only 45% were sold through bookstores, the most competitive and challenging-to-penetrate channel for selling books. That means that non-bookstore outlets account for more book sales than bookstores!!!

So, if you learn how NOT to be dependent on bookstores for sales, you're tapping into the majority of the book market (55%)!!!

So, What's the Answer?

One of the most powerful strategies for tapping into the non-bookstore market is selling large quantities of books to organizations for use as incentives, the billion-dollar book portion of the $46 billion business gifts and incentives market.

The what? The incentives marketplace is that part of non-bookstore sales comprised of organizations - corporations, associations, charities, etc. - that buy books to use as a incentive (gift ) for customers and prospects or as an incentive to employees or channel partners. (Some people use the term "premiums" to differentiate the merchandise portion of incentives. That is, to distinguish merchandise from cash, travel, etc.) When these organizations buy a book, they order it by the 1000's, the 10's of thousands, even the 100's of thousands.

A study conducted by the Incentive Marketing Association (IncentiveMarketing.org) among a broad spectrum of companies revealed that 82% of them used merchandise or travel as incentives. Even more significant, they reported an 80% success rate in achieving their goals.

Are Your Clients' Books or Your Book a Candidate for Incentive Sales?

If your non-fiction book provides quality how-to information, if it inspires or entertains, if it's well designed and put-together, it's a candidate. Any corporation, association or other non-profit which has target audiences that match those of your book, and whose management feels your book reflects positively on its brand values, are potential candidates.

How Big are Incentive Deals, Really?

    As an incentive for joining their condensed book club, Reader's Digest gave away 750,000 copies of Judith King's Greatest Gift Guide Ever.
    Grossett & Dunlap offered Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books as a self-liquidating (break-even) incentive on 20 million boxes of Post Raisin Bran cereal, resulting in the sale of over one million books!
    R.J. Reynolds distributed 1.5 million copies of the Great Trails Road Atlas as an on-pack (attached to the package) incentive offer on cartons of Marlboros to promote the image of the Marlboro Man.

Are all the deals that big?

No...

    U.S. West purchased 2,000 copies of Talking with Your Customers to demonstrate appreciation to their Yellow Pages advertisers
    Before the publish date, Kenneth Blanchard sent copies of Who Moved My Cheese to the CEOs of corporations. The Bank of Hawaii bought 4000, Mercedes Benz 7000, and Southwest Airlines 27,000.
    Judy Dugan sold 5,000 copies of her self-published book, Santa Barbara Highlights and History, to a Santa Barbara bank who gave a copy to every customer who came in to a new branch opening

The Average Size of Deals

According to MotivationShow.com, most of the sales of books as incentives start at a quantity of 5,000 books and goes up from there. That's at least 5,000 people benefiting from having your expertise in their hands and each of them telling probably 5+ other people about it.

And if you personally made a net profit - after production and shipping costs, which the buyer covers - of $2 a book, that's $10,000

$2 a book = $20,000

$4 a book = $40,000

And what if they wanted 30,000 copies of your book or more? Such deals are happening all year long.

So, Giving Things to Customers is Pretty Much How Organizations Use Incentives?

There's a real "whew" list of ways. In a 2003 study by Louisiana State University and Glenrich Business Studies, 2000 randomly selected promotional product distributors ranked usage of promotional products in different types of programs as follows:

RANK USAGE CATEGORY

    Business Gifts: Gifts to foster customer goodwill and retention
    Employee Relations & Events: Morale and motivation, corporate/employee events, employee orientation, organizational commitment/corporate identity, corporate communication, employee training (other than safety), employee referral programs
    Trade Shows: Trade-show traffic generation
    Brand Awareness: Promotion of brand awareness and brand loyalty
    Employee Service Awards: Anniversary recognition, service awards, etc.
    Dealer/Distributor Programs: Dealer incentives, co-op programs, company stores
    Public Relations: Corporate involvement with community, fundraising, sponsorship, school programs, media relations, corporate image
    New Customer/Account Generation: New customer or new account generation
    Internal Promotions: Sales incentive, TQM/quality programs, productivity, inventory reduction, error reduction, attendance improvement
    New Product/Service Introduction: New product or service introduction
    Safety Education/Incentive: Employee safety and education
    Not-For-Profit Programs: Not-for-profit use for fundraising, public awareness campaigns (health, environment, public safety, etc.)
    Customer Referral: Customer referral incentive programs
    Marketing Research: Marketing research, survey, and focus group participation programs

So, How Big are the Benefits to the Author of Selling to This Market?

You be the judge:

    It's likely to be the best thing you've ever done to promote your practice and other products and services. Success provides you greater exposure, credibility, pride and self-confidence
    Unlike bookstore channels, you have little or no competition! Because authors and independent publishers don't understand this market, organizations receive very few, if any, proposals. Present yourself professionally and persuasively (with the tools I'll give you) and you have a great chance at getting noticed and considered
    Selling to the incentives market is totally compatible with any other marketing or distribution program you're doing. And it doesn't matter if you self-published, used a traditional publisher or a POD publisher (more below).
    You can pursue the program even if your book isn't published yet. If fact, in some cases, that may even be an advantage
    By building a track record of book sales, you open the door to other opportunities - traditional publishers, literary agents, other sales channels, partners, clients. It only opens other doors for you, while closing none
    It has a high Return-on-Time-Invested (ROTI). For the amount of time you would invest in, say, setting up and conducting six book signings - where you might sell a few dozen books at most -you can create multiple opportunities to sell 1000's of books
    Unlike books sold to bookstores, books sold as incentives are non-returnable. You're not left wondering how many are going to come back, and especially in damaged condition
    Selling to the incentives market is fast pay. While bookstores typically pay in 90 days or so, most incentive sales not only call for a deposit of as much as 50% - which should cover your printing costs by the way, so you have no out of pocket costs for printing - and payment of the balance within 30 days of delivery. That not only allows you to recover your investment in publishing the book, it allows you to invest in all the other things you want to do to build your practice
    Once you have a sales agreement or purchase order in hand for a bulk sale, it can be bid out to an offset printer to get the cost of production way down. If you've self-published, that dramatically increases you profit. If you used a traditional publisher, that gets the publisher's cost down, so it may not make you more money, but it helps seal the deal because the lower printing cost allows you to offer a more attractive discount to the buyer
    While the offset printer is printing the books for your buyer, you can have him print additional copies you can use to fulfill orders from other sources. The much lower printing costs means you make more from every other book you sell to other sources

So with Many Benefits to Authors, and It Being Such a Big Market, Why Isn't the Market Better Known to Authors and Independent Publishers?

    First, it's because there isn't a formal, organized channel to bring buyers and sellers together. Yes, there are a few incentive trade shows where buyers and sellers link up, but few authors and independent publishers invest the time and money to set up a booth there
    Second, it's because independent publishers are primarily specialists in the traditional bookstore publishing business. It's what they know. Few know how to target, approach or talk the language of the marketing and human resources managers who implement incentive programs in organizations
    Third, although some book marketing experts talk in their books, etc. about the importance and advantages of this market for authors, it's typically a high-level overview amidst many other topics, not a specialized and detailed how-to program

Why Do Organizations Like Using Books as Incentives?

Lots of good reasons:

    Books, in general, have a much higher perceived value compared to most logo-imprinted products - things like notepads, paper weights, mouse pads, etc
    Books aren't thrown away. They have a lasting presence, which means they provide the organization that uses them visibility over a period of time - and they love that!
    A book, especially a non-fiction book, allows an organization to demonstrate a desire to help the recipient because it provides useful information. That reflects positively on the organization in a world where people have become pretty cynical about for-profit companies at least
    Each book is unique. Organizations like things that differentiate them from their competitors, that tie into their brand personality and values they want to convey
    Books are relatively easy and cheap to ship because they're small and lightweight. That saves the organization money over a lot of other options
    Last, but not least, books are customizable. Organizations do not just look at a book in its present form, but how it might be customized to accomplish their goals. It may be a sticker on the cover, a special offer loosely inserted, or a paper band around the book with a special message. But, for an order in the 1000's of books, it's definitely worth it to the self-publisher or publisher to customize it to suit their needs. Especially when the customer pays for the customization!

Are Incentives Sales Beneficial Regardless of How You Managed to Get Published?

Yes, with qualifications:

    If you are self-published (meaning it's under your ISBN number), you're in the best situation, because you'll make more money and have maximum flexibility. You can make any kind of deal you choose to make. And the difference between your sale price and the cost of producing the book is all yours. This includes using Lightning Source, the leading, digital, print-on-demand printer
    If you sell 5000 books at a discounted, bulk price of $7 each and it cost you $3 each to do a quantity, offset printing of the book (which even Lightning Source will broker for you), you make $4 on each book. That's $20,000
    Furthermore, you now have 5000 books out there building your reputation and driving customers to your practice for your other products and services
    If you used a traditional publisher, you'll make less money than a self-publisher because you're locked into whatever royalty structure that is in your publishing agreement

At that above bulk price of $7, you'd make an average of 10% of the $7.00 or $.70 per book. You'd make $3500 on the sale of the 5000 books. The publisher would keep the bulk of the profit.

Still, $3500 from that one deal is a whole lot more than the average author makes from his or her entire sales of a book. Plus you get the exposure.

If you used a digital, print-on-demand publisher (meaning it's under their ISBN number), it all depends on the discount and royalty arrangement that's in your publishing agreement. You're at a significant disadvantage because you're locked into the publisher's relatively high, one-off digital printing structure and a relatively small royalty or commission.

Typically, you can't offer as attractive a bulk discount price to the buyer because most POD publishing agreements don't anticipate bulk sales and don't offer deep discounts for high quantity printing. But again, you're making more money than you were, and you're getting exposure.

Note: check with your POD publisher. Some will broker quantity printing to an offset printer for you. But find out what they charge for same and if they'll make an exception to your royalty arrangement.

If You Employed an Outside Publisher Will He Go along with This Program?

Most publishers are absolutely giddy at the news of a quantity sale of books. In fact, want to know a secret? Independent publishers of non-fiction books are often interested in our book sales program for themselves! (You could even plant the seed.)

After all, on one knows better than they do that the average book sells only 200 - 300 copies or so. They want to recover their investment in your book and make some money.

If you publisher balks at you're doing this program for some strange reason, have him read this page or our FAQs. See what you can negotiate. If s/he still balks for some strange reason, look for a new publisher next time around.

What Are Your Options for Marketing to the Books-as-Incentives Marketplace?

    If you were published by a major publisher, their "special sales" department may take an interest in it
    You can have a booth at an incentives industry trade show where buyers are looking for incentive ideas. There is The Motivation Show nationally and state-by-state shows as well.
    You could advertise in incentive-buyer media
    The most realistic solution for most authors is doing a direct marketing program themselves. It takes minimal skills and a modest investment of time if you have the necessary knowledge and tools

One thing is for sure. Just one incentive program sale can pay the author big financial dividends and catapult his or her career like few other avenues can.

Written by Terry Roberts, Founder, http://incentivebooksforum.org/forum-subscription-benefits/what-are-business-gifts-incentives
"Where assistants-to-authors (and do-it-yourself authors) learn how to land large-quantity book orders from the $46 billion business gifts and incentives market."

Also founder of http://incentivebooks.com/authors_how_it_works.php, an online brokerage services connecting self-publishers with the business market.

Over 25 years in marketing, selling millions of dollars of products and services for over 250 companies, from Fortune 500 companies like Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark down to entrepreneurs with no employees. Executed hundreds of successful direct mail programs and dozens of incentive programs for clients.

Internet Marketing with E-books

E-books are one of the best and cheapest forms of merchandise available on the Internet today. We are now in the information age and everyone is reading books and using the internet for information, after all what is the internet for? Finding out the answers to questions and there is no better opportunity than providing these answers in the form of an e-book.

E-books have no overhead so you could sell over 10,000 books and all the revenue you generate is pure profit! It's nothing less than amazing - selling something which costs you nothing!

E-books with Resale Rights

E-books with resale rights are an excellent source of income. You can buy or acquire an e-book for free, there are a lot of websites that have promotions for free e-books, try doing a Google Search for free e-books, some sites will have whole sections for free, also try signing up for site news letters that offer you free e-books as a joining incentive (we will look at news letter generators later.) When you have your e-books you can sell them to others for 100% profit, that is the beauty of resale rights and digital products you can reproduce your stock as many times as you like for free (no overheads.)

A good step forward to generating profits is to own your own e-book website. Better still is having your own e-book website with your own written books available to buy. Writing and selling your own e-books is paramount to a successful e-book business. If you can think of a good idea for an e-book then do it! Sell it on after all you may be on for a winner and sell thousands.

If you look on e-bay now you will find e-books everywhere and because most of these have resale rights these books are being sold by more than one person. Most e-books are being sold by quite a few people you may notice that sellers are selling some e-books with the same titles. Someone wrote these books and every e-book sold is a link to the author whoever sells the e-book. These e-books are not just on eBay I have also seen them all over the internet. The beauty of it all is that this e-book links back to one place and one place only the authors links, so everyone that reads this e-book will be taken to a website/sales page where ultimately more sales are generated.

Writing your own e-book does take a little time and effort, however the results are well worth it for obvious reasons, links and money. First of all start with a simple word document like this one, write your e-book on your chosen subject then use a software converter. You can convert a word document into either.exe or PDF. Opinions vary on the format but I prefer PDF.

As I have explained writing your own e-book and having your own e-book website is a major step up the Internet marketing ladder. You can write an e-book on any subject you like because there is always someone who will read it, of course some topics sell better than others but once the e-book is written and has been sold it will be sold again and again (viral marketing) by others who wish to make a profit from selling e-books. This is where your website hyperlinks come into play! If you assume that your written e-book is being sold by 100 people/websites around the world and each of these people/websites has 10 sales a day that's another 1000 e-books sold per day that link back to your website. These links back to your website happen because in the contents of your e-book is a hyperlink to your website and if you advertise your link as something like "FREE E-BOOKS" the reader of your e-book will click on your link which will lead to more traffic and more sales from your website. The process then starts all over again because you have just sold an e-book which links back to your website, this also gives the buyer the opportunity to resell the e-book they have just purchased to others to make a return profit or give the e-book away. Whoever receives the e-book also clicks on the free e-books hyperlinks which links back to you website. So eventually the e-books you do sell will spread like a virus and will be passed from person to person and website to website all over the world.

E-books without Resale Rights

E-books without resale rights usually sell for a lot more than e-books with resale rights. This is due to the availability of the e-book, layout, and the information that is supplied. Resale rights e-books are everywhere because they have resale rights. E-books without resale rights are usually very good e-books they are content rich and also very informative and well written. E-books without resale rights still work in the same ways as e-books with resale rights for example:

1. They all advertise ways of creating more revenue for the author

2. They can all have affiliate links incorporated in them

However with non resale rights e-books, if you have information that is highly sort after and does contain market value then writing and selling an e-book without resale rights can be extremely lucrative.

One of the major suppliers of non resale rights e-books is ClickBank. E-books that start their lives on ClickBank usually sell for around $50 and they all have an affiliate program (I will talk about affiliates soon) and a sales page. If you are going to buy an e-book for $50 dollars you would not just buy it on the strength of a brief description would you? To part with $50 dollars I want to read what the book is about and why I should buy it. That's why a Killer sales page is required in situations like this, so building the perfect sales page is a must when selling e-books especially ones for a lot of money. When the potential customer reads your sales page you want them to need to buy your product like their lives depended on it, you want then to think that if they miss out on this opportunity they will regret it. It does not matter what product you are selling if your sales page is a winner then so are you! Obviously if you sell someone crap then they will never buy from you again, but the sales page is the gateway to the sale so it has to be a winner.