Informative and energizing, The Book Marketing Network is bound to jumpstart the most jaded and discouraged author, self- or traditional publisher, publicist, as well as any others involved in the writing, publishing and marketing of print or eBooks. The website is a repository of the largest collection of marketing advice for indie authors anywhere online. The Book Marketing Network, as a social media site with a membership of over 9,800, is the perfect tool through which to practice the kernel of founder John Kremer's advice: Build relationships.
Business savvy, humor and the value of relationships
It would be hard to overstate the depth and breadth of the Book Marketing Network's resources. John Kremer, publishing and marketing expert, offers a winning mix of business and social media savvy advice with a humorous joie de vivre, wrapped up in the time-tested ethic of valuing relationships. As you stumble through the website, and yes, that is the stated alternative to searching the website, you will be struck by the sheer volume of options available and the magnitude of the numbers (i.e., sales and readers measured in the tens of thousands, and millions). You weary authors who have six readers show up to the public library for your program, read on!
John Kremer, the owner of Open Horizons Publishing in Taos, New Mexico, and developer of the Relationships Matter Marketing Program, has two pages of books on his Amazon author page, including his classic 1001 Ways to Market Your Book (the table of contents alone is ten idea-popping pages in length.) Scrolling down Kremer's titles on Amazon, you'll come to 1001 Ways to Market Your Book's 1987 prequel, 101 Ways to Market Your Books: For Publishers and Authors. Clearly Kremer's marketing ideas have been multiplicative during the intervening decades, burgeoning in tandem with the social media vehicles that now supercharge his tactics. Other Kremer titles paint a picture of the uplifting personality behind the relentless marketing strategies:
- Celebrate Today!: More than 4,000 Holidays, Celebrations, Origins, and Anniversaries (1996)
- Celebrate Today: Over 3,000 Boss-Proof, Tamper Resistant Undeniable Reasons to Take the Day Off (emphasis added)(2000)
- The Business of Life: Business people and others on life, business, careers, the workplace, investments, economics, jobs, money, and more (2010)
- The Art of Living: Quotations from Artists, Photographers, Architects, Designers, Cartoonists, Poets, Writers, Novelists, and Critics on Art and Life (2010)
Founder John Kremer is personally available as a coach
Why does the depth of experience and multi-faceted interests of John Kremer matter? He is available in person to help authors. In the 747 Book Marketing Take-Off Program, Kremer offers two months of specific, personalized book marketing consulting via phone, Skype, or email for authors who want to jump-start their new books (or reinvigorate older books). A Book Cover Critique helps authors pass that first-look test. Key book wholesalers, chain store buyers, and producers of major TV shows judge a book by its cover. With Kremer's help, they may judge yours favorably. A Book Title Critique will help authors create the brand of a bestselling book at the front, before money is spent on a cover designer. Indie Bookstore Campaigns is a service wherein Kremer himself will write a sales letter for your book and then email it to the top 700 indie booksellers. These bookstores are featured on Ask the Booksellers website, and social-share to 50,000+ followers.
Testimonials claim these investments pay off
As a consultant, John provided the strategy that took Deepak Chopra from a vanity press author to being on the New York Times bestseller list eight times. Besides availing Mr. Kremer's personal expertise, strategic authors will become connected through the 9,800-member strong Book Marketing Network, which Kremer moderates. These members are looking to partner with others in the field.
That's what it's all about: connection. Interviews and reviews of John Kremer emphasize his advice about forming relationships. Identify, engage and create real and reciprocal relationships with authors, editors, agents, publishers and, especially readers. Target important forums and websites, the ones engaging your readers. Find people you can work with to promote your book. Find joint venture partners. You may spend much time on social networks, yet not be spending time with opinion leaders in your field, developing relationships. That's what can make a difference.
Eighty percent of all books are sold through word of mouth. But don't wait for it to happen on its own, because it may not. Initiate the beginning of those conversations through partnerships. There's more traction with a team of people pulling in one direction.
These relationships, once cultivated, are golden and on-going
If you implemented one marketing tip from the Book Marketing Network website or 1001 Ways to Market Your Books daily, you could find yourself on the New York Timesbestseller list. That's what happened with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Writing each relevant marketing tip on a post-it note, the authors implemented one a day. After two years they had executed 900 of the marketing tactics. By then, Chicken Soup for the Soul was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The authors continued with Kremer's ideas, until they had Chicken Soup titles in top three slots of the Times list.
Even if you don't attain these dramatic results, or sell $100,000 in books within a few months as another client reports, every author can increase sales immediately by checking the Book Marketing Network for actionable advice.
According to Kremer, There are no reasons why any book should die after six weeks in the marketplace. Books, like diamonds, are forever—provided you are willing to put a little elbow grease behind their promotion…Do you need book sales right away? Do you have too small a marketing budget? Has your publisher abandoned you? Or made no effort to get your book distributed?
Just ten minutes a day
Kremer's methods could help you sell 100 to 200 copies in a couple of weeks. Then you do it again and again. With claims like these, who wouldn't at least try. If your book doesn't sell, Kremer asserts, there is only one reason (provided the book has any merit at all). "And that reason is this: You just haven't spent the time. If you spend just ten minutes a day every day, you will generate an incredible momentum for your book. Now stand up and start doing your ten minutes a day right now. Don't wait. I mean it. Don't wait."
This is the simple, yet energizing doctrine preached at the Book Marketing Network. A visit to the website may make your head spin. So start out by trying the Rule of Five.
The Rule of Five forbids excuses, and will keep a book from falling by the wayside. It requires five promotional efforts a day. For example, mail a letter. Send out a news release. Phone someone. Take an editor to lunch. Contact the media. Check the website for a thousand other potential deeds. The Rule of Five may be accomplished in as little as twenty minutes a day, but it can make a world of difference on how well your book sells.
Browsing the Book Marketing Network educates on professional topics the Indy-author may not have imagined needing to know: publication scheduling, series writing, direct mail, cover design, offbeat advertising, online sales, alternative markets, tele-seminars, webinars, transcription services, translation rights, film rights, distribution, and innovative solutions for marketing and promoting titles.
The information is dense. Often a drop-down topic leads to a comprehensive list, wherein each item listed has further facts to absorb, such as:
- 31 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Page
- 63 Crowdfunding Websites (and how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign)
- 98 Free Graphics Websites: Free Photos and Images for Your Graphic Quotes
- 235 EBook Listing and Book Review Websites
"It's not hoarding if it's books"
Despite this density of knowledge, there is a lightness to the Book Marketing Network. Fun stuff. GIFs with Snoopy and coffee. It's a site with personality. You spend some time there, and you'll sense the relationship with John Kremer growing, proving his point.
It may come as a shock to first-time writers when their book does not fly off the shelves, and the publisher does little marketing to get behind the book. Even supportive publishers eventually stop promoting. Then the author must be ahead of the game with enough knowledge to continue selling books. The Indy-author must be responsible for book sales from the outset.
The Book Marketing Network is an exhaustively thorough and valuable resource for authors and publishers, with excellent and easy-to-follow how-tos. The author needn't apply everything. But it's wise to consider tips to attaining bestsellerdom from a man who has been studying and practicing book marketing for nearly forty years. Whether an author consults with Kremer as a personal coach, or uses the network to forge joint venture relationships, it seems there is every reason to expect higher book sales through this resource.