Marketing your book in stages
Michael Klusek January 26th, 2005
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So you have a book idea you are working on. Finding it hard to get a publisher’s interest? You are not alone. If you haven’t already established a successful publishing track record it can be mighty discouraging. How do you get around the gatekeepers and get your masterpiece out there?
Consider writing a blog on you general topic. This has several advantages. If you are expert enough to write a book, then you certainly can expound about your topic without giving away all the goodies. It’s called developing trust in marketing terms. By establishing a relationship over time with your blog readers, you become trusted as a valuable resource. Their comments to your posts will give you valuable insights into which areas need more clarity. You may even get an idea for another book.
Now when your book is complete you could self publish and sell it from your blog and elsewhere. Check out on-demand printing. One of the best is Trafford Publishing: Your Book, Your Way. Don’t miss their publishing profit calculator.
Even better convert it to an e-book in PDF form and sell it via ClickBank. No inventory, no packing and shipping, and no unit cost. With a physical book you might get a few dollars per book sold. With an e-book, your profit is the selling price minus 7.5 % for ClickBank to manage the secure download and credit card authorization.
Writing an eBook is easier than you may think.
How to Write and Publish Your eBook in 7 Days
Now lets assume you have a sizable following. You then can solicit feedback from your blog readers if your book idea would be of interest to them. One blogger put the positive responses as pull quotes in her proposal and subsequently sold her concept to a book publisher. The blog showed publishers she was committed to the subject matter and already had an audience. In fact some book agents are now actively scouring the blogs for talented writers and developing their blogs into books. No less than the New York Times wrote about this aspect of blogging on December 15, 2004. The New York Times > Books > A New Forum (Blogging) Inspires the Old (Books)
