Creating Your Book Marketing Plan: Mistakes Nos 1 & 2

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The following post is the intellectual property of Wheatmark, a self-publishing company, and is published here by permission. I, personally, have never used Wheatmark and this post in no way endorses, or otherwise, the service they offer. Nevertheless, they raise some interesting points which I think may be valuable to my readers. I shall be posting one each day.

PREFACE

Welcome to Book Marketecture: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Creating Your Book Marketing Plan. Think of Book Marketecture as the equivalent of a blueprint for marketing your book, and think of yourself as a book marketect.

When marketing your book, a well-thought-out plan can mean the difference between success and failure. As you complete the exercises in the Book Marketecture workbook, take your time and give the most thorough responses you can. You may find it necessary to do some research to come up with the answers you need; the resources section at the end of this workbook can be extremely helpful in that regard.

We hope you find the Book Marketecture workbook a valuable tool for effectively marketing your book. Heres wishing you the best of success with your book!

Book Marketing Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

There are a few major mistakes that many authors make when marketing their books, and as the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed. Because the biggest mistakes are made early in the publishing process, they can be hard to undo. By avoiding these major mistakes, youll find your marketing efforts will go much more smoothly.

Mistake No. 1: Not Investing in the Design and Editing of Your Book

Your book itself is your most important marketing tool. If your book is not attractive, no one is going to want to pick it up and no one is going to buy it. The cover, the paper, the editing, the typesetting, the proofreadingall of these components play into the marketability of your book.

How to Avoid Mistake No. 1:

• Carefully develop your book (consider content, appearance, pricing)
• Refine your manuscript and get help (developmental editors, unbiased feedback)
• Create a quality physical productproofreaders, copy editors, layout artists, cover designers, high-quality printing.

By working with Wheatmark, you will have the advantage of high quality, professional design and production, as well as access to premier editorial services.

Now we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product. Weve come around to saying that Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool.� Phil Knight, CEO Nike

Mistake No. 2: Limiting Your Potential Market

Another big mistake many authors make is due to a lack of understanding of traditional publishing industry standards and practices. While targeting your niche core market is your best bet for book sales, you should make your book easily available to all markets, including bookstores and libraries if possible.

How to Avoid Mistake No. 2:

Make sure your can offer your book to bookstores at full industry-standard discounts and with returnability. Bookstores and other volume book buyers need to know that they will make money on your book before they will carry it. This can only happen if they get enough of a discount off the retail price, and can return any unsold copies for refund.

Make sure your book has the necessary title registrations (ISBN, LCCN, EAN barcode) so that retail outlets and libraries can process them easily

Make sure your book is available through Ingram Book Company, Baker & Taylor, or one of the other major book wholesalers so that retailers and libraries can easily order your book.

Rest assured, if you plan to publish with Wheatmark, your book will receive all necessary title registrations, and it will be available to booksellers and other retailers with standard industry terms and discounts.

To have great poets, there must be great audiences too. Walt

Copyright  2008 Wheatmark, Inc. All rights reserved. V.1.Published by Wheatmark 610 East Delano Street, Suite 104 Tucson, Arizona 85705 U.S.A.www.wheatmark.com

Book Marketing Mistakes 3 & 4

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