Pick a Day: Leverage National Holidays for Smart Publicity

October 18, 2015 by Judy Baker

Pick a Day: Leverage National Holidays for Smart Publicity

“On National Day Calendar, you will find the unique, fun and sometimes unusual designations of each calendar day.”

Check out the National Day Calendar website. There are lots of events that are well-known, some that are quirky, and I bet there is just the one that would be a perfect one for your book.

If that site doesn’t work for you, take a look at Days of the Year. This site has some of the same days listed and some that you may not have encountered on the National Day Calendar site.

According to Days of the Year, October is:

National Pizza Month
Fair Trade Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month

So you can see, you can find a day, week or month that matches your genre.

Linking to Something Bigger is a Smart Publicity Strategy

I call it the “shopping mall” effect. When I go to a shopping mall, I’m usually there to buy something specific. But, have you noticed that on your way to your destination, something attracts you that you didn’t event know you wanted? The original purpose of your trip to the mall got you into buying range of something wonderful, but unknown to you before you saw it. Hitching your book to an event that is well-known allows you to get in front of a crowd of buyers who didn’t previously know about you. Its like the prompts on Amazon: “buyers who bought X also bought Y.” This is a brilliant way to get in front of the people you want to connect with. Go where there are crowds. Then, keep on providing fresh, quality content to gain a your own following.

Event the Big Guys Do It

If you are in a retail store, check out the seasonal displays throughout the year. You will find tie-ins to major holidays like: Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Passover, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Teacher Appreciation Day, St. Patrick’s Day and more.

There are even entire months that have a focus:

February has become the month of Go Red for Women – created to increase awareness of the symptoms of heart attacks in women

September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (I am a survivor)

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (to remind women to get a mammogram to catch early signs of breast cancer). Ford Motor Company has an entire Warriors in Pink campaign. You can see more on their website built around this cause.

You too can use the power of a national holiday in your traditional and social media, just like the big guys. I love Halloween themed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ad that has fang marks on the candy.

For ideas, I recommend that you visit the National Day Calendar website to find all kinds of events that you can use to leverage your visibility and grow your audience.

NATIONAL CLEAN YOUR VIRTUAL DESKTOP DAY

The third Monday in October is “NATIONAL CLEAN YOUR VIRTUAL DESKTOP DAY.” This unofficial holiday created by the Personal Computer Museum would be a natural partner in publicity for books about technology, clutter, computers, disaster planning, virtual assisting, how to avoid a computer meltdown, best practices for safe computing, going paperless, humor (why I can’t find anything on my computer), how-to guides on computing…, and for people who service personal computers.

I know my computer could use a bit of organizing and cleansing to keep it running at top speed. Here is the day for designated for this “techno” housekeeping task.

Make Up Your Own Day

If you don’t see a day that is a perfect fit for you, make up one of your own. My friend, Jeff Rubin, created National Punctuation Day (September 24th). As a result, Jeff has appeared on national television and radio, he has also been covered in newspapers and blogs . Visit the website for more details and ways to celebrate the day. You will also find humorous grammar tips, and information about “Punctuation Playtime Products” that help teach grammar to children. Contact Jeff at Jeff@NationalPunctuationDay.com

What is Happening on Your Birthday?

I looked up my birthday and found three listings:

National Fig Newton Day
National Nothing Day
National Religious Freedom Day

My challenge to you is to create a post that ties all three of these celebrations together.

One Sentence That Will Help You Sell More Books

October 18, 2015 by Judy Baker

One Sentence That Will Help You Sell More Books

Answering one question will help you sell more books

“People should read my book because_____________________________.”

In one sentence, tell people what they will get out of reading your book.

Keep it simple. Make your declaration so easy to understand, a five-year old would get it.

This one sentence must say why people would be willing invest their time and money in your book.

Will it help them to do something?
Will it scare them?
Will it melt their hearts?
Will it change their lives?
Will they gain an understanding?
Will they get relief?
Will they have the answers to their questions about a specific problem?
Will it entertain them?
Will it help them live a better life?

This is the most powerful statement you can make about your book. Once you have your sentence, try it out and see how people respond. You may need to make a few adjustments. Keep testing and trying it out until you get the response you are looking for:

“I must buy your book.”

Thanks to Tim Grahl and his post about what make successful book launch. It inspired me to write this post.

Share your sentence in the comment box below

Include your sentence and where to buy your book.

Take action every day to gain traction

October 12, 2015 by Judy Baker

Take Action Every Day to Gain Traction

A Wake-up Call to Action

Once upon a time, there was a 37-year old woman who had a wake up call when her mother had a heart attack. For the past three-years she had not taken care of herself. She walked about 5 to 10 miles every day when she lived in San Francisco. After she moved to Sonoma, she learned to her disappointment that much of the town was not a walking friendly place. She couldn’t walk everywhere as she had in the city. So her fitness suffered.

She made up her mind to get in shape. Her work schedule and commute meant that she was away from home about 12-hours every day. So she came up with a strategy to do something small every day. She started by buying one piece of equipment, a stair stepping machine. She began her road back to fitness with a commitment of five minutes the first day. She added one minute every day until she reached one-hour on the stair-stepper.

In time she added other exercises and increased her fitness level. She continues to exercise intelligently, making adjustments as need. Her results are easy to see.

Flash Forward 25 years

The woman in the story is me. I am now 61 years old. Since I began working out at 37 (after 3-years of being a coach potato after I moved from San Francisco to Sonoma), I have rarely missed a day of doing some form of exercise. In fact, I exercised regularly during the year I had cancer and even when I was undergoing chemotherapy. Because of my commitment to myself, my body is strong. I made some adjustments to my workout during my chemotherapy. Sticking with my fitness routine helped me get through those hard days. I am not a gym-rat. I pay attention to how I feel and I take time off when my body lets me know I need to rest.

For me, maintaining a regular schedule is important in everything I do. I do take time off when I need it. In fact, I have been working with physical therapist to help me regain my core strength. I find that when I take the time to honor myself by doing some form of exercise each day, it pays off big dividends.

Taking action every day to gain traction really does work. Practicing this method of taking small actions every day is easy to apply to almost any project. I am guessing none of you wrote your book in a single day. I’m also guessing that none of you learned everything you know in a single day.

Start by making a plan

If you like working on computers there are many ways you can create a plan of action. You might put all your ideas on a spreadsheet. Another way to get your ideas on paper if you will is to use a mind map. A yellow pad and a pencil will also do the trick it doesn’t really matter how you get the information in one place you can see it. What matters is that you create a plan. Having a plan means you can identify what you want to have happen and you can measure whether or not you have succeeded in reaching your goal.

You can doing anything for 10-minutes

I’m a strong advocate of getting unstuck by using a timer. In fact I used my timer this morning to help me with a project. I set the timer for 10-minutes and when the timer goes off I’m done. The important thing about this: for that 10-minutes I focus on the task at hand and I don’t allow any interruptions or distractions. I’ve used the 10-minute method successfully for writing projects, filing, packing and unpacking, and yes, even for exercising when I’m not in the mood to do it. Try the 10-minute method for marketing.

10 Things You Can Do in 10-minutes

1. Google yourself

2. Outline a blog post

3. Make a phone call

4. Create a mind map

5. Post to Facebook

6. Find an image for your post

7. Record a short video

8. Start a spreadsheet for your blog posts

9. Look up your favorite author and visit their website

10. Put 10-minute marketing appointments into your schedule

This method gives you a win every day. Try this for 30 days and see what changes. Share your stories by posting a comment.

Match Your Marketing to Your Market

October 7, 2015 by Judy Baker

Match your marketing to your market

Free Book Marketing Tip #7 – Make an Irresistible Offer

October 5, 2015 by Judy Baker

Irresistible Offer – How to Sell More Books

I was talking to one of my clients today. Distressed by her failure to keep the deer out of her enticing garden, she asked me for suggestions that might be more successful than what she has tried so far. She has been losing the battle to keep deer out of her luscious garden. Despite her efforts to discourage them, deer are jumping over her fence, running across the deck, even going down stairs to get to her garden, where they are eating all of her vegetables.

Why are the deer so persistent?

O.K. You are probably asking “What does this have to do with book marketing?” The deer keep coming to her garden because they are hungry! They want what she has in her garden and are willing to come back, again and again to get it. When you make an irresistible offer to your fans, you can have them as eager as the deer, only this time, you will have fans who are willing to stand in line, to buy your book just so they can get your book and the bonus(es).

It is a spectacularly successful strategy for building anticipation when you tell your fans about the launch day bonuses for weeks in advance of your publication day. Offer a pre-order bonus to your fans when they buy your book on a specific day. They will be hungry for your book and the bonus or bundle of extra goodies you are offering. By sweetening the deal, you can convert more shoppers into customers than you would ever be able to do without your “irresistible offer.”

Find Partners

Look for affiliate partners who are willing to offer a bonus for your book launch. It gives them exposure to your fans, and vice a versa. The power of two is exponentially greater than the power of you alone. Ask your partners to promote your launch day to their email list and social followers. Everybody wins. You sell more books.

What you can add as a bonus

Non-fiction authors can include a pdf tip sheet, a case study, access to a video, something you have already created and are willing to share as an incentive to your audience to buy your book. Fiction authors could offer a special short story or a book club guide. Be creative.

People are funny

Do you know that there are authors who are selling their books by offering them for free or for a penny on Facebook or LinkedIn or to their email list? Yes, it is true. Brendan Burchard did it with his latest book. They only ask you to pay for shipping. It may sound like a crazy way to sell books and you may wonder if they are making any money that way. They are, because they are reaching more fans and getting known as a best-selling author.

Share your irresistible offer

Share your irresistible offer and how it helped you sell more books in the comments area below this post.

Free Book Marketing Tip #6 – Wear Your Book

September 28, 2015 by Judy Baker

Free Book Marketing Tip #6 – Wear Your Book

Discoverability is about Visibility

Turning your book into wearable art is a way to get noticed. You are promoting your book in a lighthearted way and starting a conversation with people who are curious.

Two of my clients are shown wearing their books:

Peter Engler, author, showing off his book, New and Improved.

Deborah Myers, author of Daily Clean Your House Flow™ for the Classroom

Wear It, Share It, Give It Away

Both Peter and Deborah put their book covers on other items:

Mugs
Posters
Tote Bags
T-shirts for Adults
T-shirts for kids

This is easy to do with online or local vendors who specialize in promotional items. They need high-resolution artwork to start (your graphic designer can help you with the specifics.) You can wear your book, share your book-based art to wear as gifts or sell the items to your fans.

Deborah has a store within her website where the book cover art to wear is available. Take a look at her website for ideas to inspire you.

Wear Your Book

There are many ways to get discovered. Imagine wearing your book when you have a book signing, or at an interview. You might consider wearing your book when you record a short video and hold up a copy of your book.

Remember, marketing is a conversation. Get one started by wearing your book!

Share a “wearing your book” story in the comment area.