You Are Your Own Best Marketing Rep!

The Borrowers: Not just a book, but a way to market yours!

A reviewer once said about Mary Norton’s children book, The Borrowers (©1952), that it was “a book that begs to be shared.” Well, so does yours. At least you must believe it does -- you wrote it, got it published, and now it’s out there for sale in the big, big world of cyberspace.

The Borrowers in Norton’s book are tiny, little people who comfortably live below the floorboards of the homes of human beings. They live by “borrowing” things – all kinds of things. One of my favorites is they “borrow” postage stamps to use as art work to hang on their walls (I love that: using an object meant for one purpose and creating a totally new use for it).

I am sure that you have heard the saying that there are no new ideas, just old ones in new forms (I am paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of the saying). Just as the characters in Norton’s book “borrowed” objects meant for one purpose and used them for another, we can “borrow” marketing ideas and tweak them to suit our needs.

The truth is, we “borrow” ideas every time we sit down to write. But we add in our own experience, our own perspective, and/or a dash of our own imagination. We “borrow” from styles we like, genres we’re drawn to, subjects we know about or are interested in, and characters we’ve seen, known, or read about. Then we mix all those up to create our very own concoction: the story we own -- our own story.

Thus, it would behoove us to do the same when it comes to marketing our book(s). I know I “borrow” marketing ideas every time I read a book about how to market and self-promote; I “borrow” whenever I see someone else use a specific technique that renders results; I “borrow” whenever someone says, “hey, here’s an idea for you…” And, then, it becomes my idea in the way I utilize it and implement it.

My point being that the only way to get ideas is to “borrow” them…take what you like and leave the rest; take one small idea and blow it up into a bigger idea; take a seed of an idea and grow another idea from it; Take someone’s idea, give it a spin and make it your own. That’s how I write each and every one of the marketing tips that get published in these newsletters and on the blog (and, of course, when warranted, giving full credit where credit is due).

I was reading Dan Poynter’s online newsletter the other day, and I came across a really great article about book marketing and self-promotion. I thought it so worthwhile I went to the author’s website to check out who she was and what other bits of information I could glean. I thought a great deal of the information on her site, and the initial article that prompted me to investigate, was definitely worth sharing with you. So much so, that I thought, “I’m not going to borrow and make this my own. I’m going to just ask if I can publish Ms. Cullins’ piece and use it as part of my marketing tip."

With permission granted, the following article is posted here for your perusal. There’s some real gems in here, so take ‘em and tweak ‘em, and use ‘em to help promote your book! Also be sure to visit Ms. Cullins’ website for more ideas to “borrow”.

Remember, like The Borrowers, your book is just begging to be shared – if it has people who know about it. So off to market you go --
And to borrow, and to borrow, and to borrow…Just channeling my inner Shakespeare! Enjoy the article:

DISAPPOINTED IN BOOK SALES?
By Judy Cullins, 20-year bookcoach, http://www.bookcoaching.com

If other book marketing and promotion campaigns have brought few book sales, left your wallet thinner, wasted your valuable time, and left you with a garage full of unsold masterpieces, you may now be ready to set up your book's virtual marketing machine-the Internet with Free Online Promotion Methods.

Example:

a. Write articles and submit them to thousands each week through other opt-in ezines and top 20 Web sites that either want articles or have their own ezine. You'll find top sites in your field in any search you do with google.com.

b. Exchange Web site links with like-minded entrepreneurs. This win-win approach will bring you willing business people who want to be listed higher on the search engines. Create your longer and shorter version of your link and keep in a computer folder. After you search in your category, submit your link with a note saying you want to exchange with 10 or so other sites.

c. Write a powerful signature file that you send out with every email you write. Check your email service to install this. In 4-7 lines, put your name, title, benefit-driven headline such as "Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book dream," phone number, email and Web addresses. Make the lines no more than 65 characters across.

You can start right now, even if you don't have a Web site.

These "Non-Techie Email Promotion" techniques can jump start your lifetime book promotion journey. Like you would eat an elephant, just one bite at a time! Watch your sales grow!

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 11 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The BookCoach Says...," "Business Tip of the Month," at www.bookcoaching.com and over 216 free articles.

Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com or Cullinsbks@aol.com
Phone: 619/466-0622 -- Orders: 866/200-9743