Book Marketing Buzz

Take your existing list and turn it into a “peaking window.”

Here’s an interesting idea on how to sell your book.  It’s called “The Progress Report” and is the brainstorm of Nelson Pahl of Cafe Reverie Press.

“No matter what industry you call home,” says Pahl, “no doubt you’ve heard terms such as SEO, viral marketing, and co-registration list development.

For a couple of minutes, I want you to throw all that “Internet marketing” speak out the window and consider something more intriguing and far less competitive.  I’m referring to something that we, at Cafe Reverie Press, like to call “The Progress Report” method of promotion.

While it might not necessarily build a list in and of itself, or increase unique visitors to your site all by its lonesome, it certainly offers a viable method without the in-your-face abrasiveness of typical Internet marketing tactics to achieve the all important “repetition” factor in your promotions (you know the e-clich – it takes seven sales letter reads from your average prospect to sell him or her one unit of your typical widget).

The idea is to take your existing list (or you can use your blog or your site as well), and turn it into a “peaking window” that looks in on your current writing project, a “progress report,” if you will.  You’re busy writing your next novel?  Great.  Now, as you slither your way through one stage at a time, share that entire process with your readers and visitors, piece by piece.  I don’t mean share it in theory, share it in practice.

Right now, I’m producting two audiobooks.  So, every week, I offer via my newsletter and blog the latest sample of one book or the other, with an update on where that specific project stands.  Doesn’t sound like a big deal, huh?  Well, how about this:  as a result of my first two “progress reports” for one title, 73% of my newsletter readers have emailed me with requests for one title.  Seventy-three per cent of my newsletter readers have emailed me with requests for more specifics on exactly when, where, and how they can get the book.  Now, this might not sound like an overtly lucrative method to you, but when one has a list that exceeds 3,300 subscribers, The Progress Report has all the potential to be quite a big deal.  Remember, less than 5% of ALL books published in the U.S. each year sell 5,000 copies or more.  You close  the 73% and you’re roughly halfway to the victorious percentile!

Are you currently penning the next great novel while promoting your current title?  Well, share with your readers and visitors the rough draft versions of those chapters and sections by way of a PDF; give them a taste every week and at the same time, keep them updated on the book’s evolution and timelime to market.  And don’t be afrai to offer full chapters and several of them; you get the reader hooked and he or she will pay to finish the book.  You can even share the frustrations you’re experiencing with the title, or ask readers what they think of a specific chapter or section that’s giving you problems.

Readers love to be part of the process: they’re fascinated with what might be running through the writer’s mind as he or she constructs the setting, characters, and storyline they so much love.

Let a reader in on the process and he or she will, inevitably, let you into his or her wallet.”

Isn’t that interesting?  I know how important it is to have an email list.  What a great way to utilize it.

Thank you, Nelson.  Nelson happens to be on a virtual book tour right now promoting his book, BEE BALMS AND BURGUNDY.  Leave a comment below and you could win a copy of his book which will be announced here at the end of the month.  If you can’t wait, click here to pick up a copy today!

Tags: book marketing, book publicity, virtual book tour, Nelson Pahl, SEO, viral marketing