What NOT To Do When Marketing Your Book (Or anything really)

[Dream Books LLC]

So we posted a blog post on our blog http://dreambooksllc.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-not-to-do-when-marke... on what not to do when you are marketing your book and we wanted to know what other things out there that so called "experts" suggest that simply did not work for you and why. For us our biggest mistake was Google Adwords. Such a waste of money, the clicks never turned into sales and the cost per click was always way to high and if we tried to get the keyword down to a level we could afford the ad would never display. Facebook ads we have found are so much better - what about you?

[Susan Monteiro]

Great blog post. I think you're right - don't pay for anything unless you really have to. I'm on the marketing circuit now (my book's published but I'm still expected to get some news out there). Get news out there! How? Facebook, Twitter, Blog (I've got all of about twenty followers after trying and trying to vary my subject). I like your comment about not expecting things to happen overnight. You're right - I'll hang on and keep at it. Problem is, while I'm marketing I'm not writing. (I'm a follower of your blog now!)
Sue

[Cindy C Bennett]

Here's what worked really well in a short period of time for me: I joined a Book Blog Giveaway Hop. People were filtered from the originating blog to my blog. They could earn extra entries from me for 1) Following my blog 2) Emailing me from my website 3) Becoming my friend on FB. I went from about 4 followers on my blog to over 90. I have about 40 new friends on my FB site, and about the same sent me emails from my website, which didn't do much except expose them to my website, where they can learn about and purchase my book. The giveaway is still going on so it remains to be seen if it will affect sales down the road, but at least the name of my book is getting out there.

[ManOfLaBook.com]

Very nice post. I will comment & tweet as well.

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Susan Monteiro]

Cindy - I'd never heard of this. Do you know of any going on at the moment (non-Halloween, that is).

Sue

[Cindy C Bennett]

There is one coming up beginning Nov. 17. Here is the link:

http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/gratitude-giveaways.html

Good luck!

[Susan Monteiro]

Thanks Cindy, you're a star - I've entered!

[Gareth Wilson]

It's very tricky, I think the best thing you can do is be professional in your dealings, don't get into arguments with people who haven't liked your book and work your way from there.

One tool that may work is if you print up a few book marks, if you design them in black and white you can photocopy them and go from there.

The main thing that does help is letting your local media know about yourself. IE your local paper etc, there's times that they want a quote about a subject from a published author. Marketing is something that everyone has to face these days but I also think that the book trailer could be of use for a new author. People tend to like getting a flavour and they don't cost much to do these days.

[Alison Silbert]

Good to know. I'll stop the adwords campaign promptly. Thanks.
What's working for me? Joint Ventures, internet & word of mouth (a.k.a duplication methodologies). What can I help you with re. marketing your book?

[Cindy C Bennett]

What do you mean by Joint Ventures?