You Are Your Own Best Marketing Rep!

EXPOSURE

Get out there and kick some book -- yours!

Exposure, is exposure, is exposure. I just channeled my inner Gertrude Stein and I’d like to encourage you to channel yours. In all the previous newsletters from this past winter, every marketing tip has centered around exposure in one way or another. Albert Sterner said, “There is art – and there is advertising.” And that’s true…to an extent. But unless you’re writing in a vacuum (see Newsletter from December 2, 2005), art and advertising must share the same path.

Advertising, public relations, marketing – words that make most writers cringe are vital to an author’s success, at least in terms of getting their book(s) sold and read.
The best way to get exposure is to expose yourself – any way you can!

Make a commitment (again, the Newsletter from December 2, 2005) to taking one small step a week towards marketing your book (see Newsletter from December 12, 2005). Keep on taking steps thereafter (Newsletter, December 19, 2005). Network, network, network (Newsletter, November 28, 2005) – anyway, anywhere, anytime, with anyone you can. Jump into action and start locally (Newsletter, January 18, 2006). No matter where you market your book, you are getting your book and your name out there!

DPP author, A.J. Alise, has been a super action wiz when it’s come to getting the word out about her book – and she’s done it very simply. Below is a short email she sent out to all her email contacts *(this is printed with the author’s permission). Nothing fancy, but a great pitch for her book, for eBooks, and inviting people to visit the DPPstore (she also included a hyperlink in her email to the DPPstore):

Get into the world of ebooks today. It's the computer age, so I hear and If you've never downloaded an ebook why not start with my novel CRIMSON ICE. It's very easy reading and please give me feedback, if you've ordered it or read it. Thanks for your support

Alise has also gone the local action route, getting herself interviewed in local newspapers and on radio stations. She has also sent her book out for review. The payoff? People have visited the DPPstore and bought her book.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, when Gwendolyn says to Cecily, “I never travel without my diary. One must always have something sensational to read on the train.” This is a great reminder to me – and hopefully to you, dear author – to travel with your book (on an eReading Device), or business cards or postcards of your book. They make for great conversation starters, and you never know who you’ll run into who will be interested in you and your book!

Exposure doesn’t have to come in the form of a grand campaign. It can unfold little by little, step by step, and relatively simply…with a little effort and ingenuity we can all be our own best marketing reps.