Many business people write books. However, very few books are actually successful. In a pre-Amazon era, publishers would invest in marketing to help improve the odds of success. Today, however, authors are largely responsible for the marketing of their own books. With very few authors able to sell more than 1000 books, I reached out to a colleague at the Darden School of Business (University of Virginia), Ed Hess, to find out how to create success through marketing. Hess is the author of 12 books, focused on growth, innovation, and learning; his book, Smart Growth, was named a Top 25 business book (2010) by Inc., Learn or Die was an Amazon best seller, and his newest best-selling book is Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age. Below, Hess provides 10 tips on how to market a book for success.
Hess’ 10 Tips On How to Market A Book
1. The best thing I did was hiring a Media Coach 5 years ago. I thought I was a good speaker and interviewee. I hired Bill McGowan of Clarity Media Group and he worked with me for a half day on both of my last books helping me hone the key marketing points and filming me in mock interviews. This was so valuable.
2. Seed the marketplace with articles about the key points in your book…before the book comes out. You have to write short articles—roughly 600-1200 words—and place them in the media, publications, locations that your intended audience views. I try to put out an article every month for the three months leading up to the print date and then recirculate the articles. Once the book is published, I continue with this process for a few months to drive awareness. The goal is to identify a problem, offer a new solution, and ensure that the reader gets something of value out of the article. Of note, I never reference the book in the articles. At the bottom, in my short biography, I indicate that I am the author of an upcoming book and provide the title. The point of the article is not to shill for the book but rather to pique the interest of the target audience with the content and add value – give them something that can help them. It is your gift to them.
3. Work very hard to get “the most prestigious endorsers” you can get. The credibility of the book, if you are a new author, will come from the validation of others. You will want to find leading-edge thinkers…individuals who can have a multiplier effect. Once you have identified the best people, you then have to make sure that the endorsement gives the reader valuable insights. This is tricky. You can’t change their endorsement, but you can help them by providing feedback.
4. Find a top-notch book publicist. They are worth their weight in gold. The best way to identify a good publicist is to get recommendations from successful authors. A way to do that without knowing those authors personally is to go Barnes and Noble, find a book in your field that you really respect, and look at their acknowledgements for the name of the publicist. Ideally, you would want a soft lead into the publicist (a recommendation from somebody). You’d like to interview 3 to 4 different publicists before picking the person you think is right. Ultimately, you want somebody who has a track record of selling into the market you want and who is passionate about your book. As this point in my career, I actually work with three different publicists—a publicist that focuses on top tier business media; a radio publicist, and a publicist that focuses on mainstream media. If I write another book, I would add a fourth publicist – one who specializes in podcasts. Podcasts now sell a lot of books. I also suggest participating in podcasts. Of note, it’s important to lock down the publicist roughly 6 months before the publication date.
5. Utilize social media. In my area of writing, LinkedIn is most important. Twitter second. Medium third. Create a marketing plan for the first four weeks of the book launch. Put short blurbs out on social media and then recirculate two weeks later. If you get opportunities to do speaking engagements, ask the sponsor to buy the book for attendees from Amazon (Amazon rankings matter a lot).
6. Manage Amazon effectively. There is an art to how you sub-classify your book. You ideally want to be one of the top 100 books for the classifications you choose, so choose wisely. If your book sells well, Amazon will advertise your book.
7. Pick a launch date that works in your schedule. The release date should not overlap with a heavy work period. You want to spend the first three weeks, ideally, focused about 80% on your book.
8. Publish audio books concurrently. Given how business people consume content, it’s important to publish both the hardback and the audio book at the same time.
9. Be flexible and ready. Something will come up in the news and your publicist will want to pitch you in the spur of the moment. Sometimes it doesn’t fit. If that’s the case, don’t do it. But if it can be a fit, be flexible and work it out. But this requires spur of the moment responsiveness.
10. In your talks and interviews about your book, focus on the “WHY” someone should buy your book. How will the book help someone? What value-add are you adding to the conversation?
Join the Discussion: @KimWhitler and @HessEdward
