How to Market a Book by J. F. Penn
Genre: Non-fiction
The first job of an author is, of course, to write great books, but these days, their second job is to market them.
Marketing isn’t a skill that most authors have naturally, and there is little formal training. But when your book hits the shelves, and the sales don’t start rolling in, there’s only two things an author can do. Keep writing more books and … Get to grips with marketing.
This book is for authors who want to sell more books, but it’s also for those writers who want to think more like an entrepreneur. It’s for traditionally published authors who want to take control of their future, and for self-published authors who want to jumpstart a career.
There are some short-term tactics for those who want to kick up immediate sales, but the focus of the book is more about instilling values and marketing principles that will help your long-term career as a writer.
It’s also about going beyond just the book, because the methods in this guide can take you from being an author into professional speaking, making money from other products and creating opportunities that you can’t even imagine yet.
There are no rules in this game, but learning this kind of authentic marketing has certainly changed my life, so read on and I’ll share everything I know with you.
How To Market A Book covers an extensive range of marketing principles, strategies and tactics:
Part 1: Marketing Principles – including myths, how to balance your time, co-opetition and generosity
Part 2: Prerequisites for Success – including an understanding of yourself and your target market, professional editing and cover design, your book page on the retailer websites, pricing and the use of free
Part 3: No Platform Needed – Short-term Marketing – including how to get book reviews, paid advertising, using traditional media and tips for TV, radio and press releases
Part 4: The Author Platform – Long-term Marketing – including the reasons why a platform is a good thing, author branding, your author website, list-building and email marketing, content marketing and blogging, audio and podcasting, video and book trailers, social networking, professional speaking, and becoming an author-entrepreneur.
Part 5: Launching Your Book – including how launching has changed, soft launch, launch spikes, post launch and relaunches as well as lessons learned from some major book launches.
Plus/ tips for when you get overwhelmed and plenty more links to further resources.
My thoughts:
Well, the blurb for this book practically covers everything there is to say about it. And the book is as comprehensive as the blurb. It’s not a get rich quick type of marketing book. J. F. Penn also known as Joanna Penn from the Creative Penn website and Podcast states;
The focus of the book is more about instilling values and marketing principles that will help your long-term career as a writer.
And that’s what this is, writing and marketing yourself and your work in a long-term way advice book.
I don’t think it’s just for indie authors as not many traditionally published authors have a lot of marketing input from what I’ve heard and it’s not just about how to sell your book, it’s about setting yourself up for the long haul; websites, blogs etc, so I believe any writer can read this and gain from it.
Joanna has a really common sense approach to everything and often evidences what she advises with examples from her own working life.
There were some things in here I was already doing, or already aware of and other snippets of great information that I could take away.
The one thing I found difficult was that the book was made to be interactive. It’s filled with links where you can go to find more information or evidence of what she was saying, but for me, reading this on a Kindle Paperwhite, the links were useless. If you were reading it on a Fire or iPad or some other similar device, you would love it. For me, I became frustrated.
Overall though, it is filled with sensible, well thought out advice for any author in today’s world.
jenanita01 says
Reblogged this on Anita & Jaye Dawes and commented:
this sounds like a must-read…
evelynralph says
Reblogged this on evelynralph and commented:
I am reblogging thus ( and others like) as much for my information as for everyone else. Always a good thing to have as much help as possible, never can have too much help. I can always sift through at a later date.
Alex J. Cavanaugh (@AlexJCavanaugh) says
Making a note of the title right now! We can all use any help we can get with marketing.
hollykerrauthor says
Sounds like a helpful read!
Margot Kinberg says
This does sound really useful and helpful, Rebecca! Thanks for sharing.
Diana Jackson says
Just downloaded it on my kindle thanks!
Jacqui Murray says
Sounds like a good basic book for my writing library. I liked your feedback on the links. I’ve been considering making my upcoming novel interactive. The more I look into it, the more I think I’ll wait until the industry matures a bit more.
Rob Martin says
Nice! Your link above is broken though,,. “Creative Penn website and Podcast states;”
Joanna Penn is awesome.