How to Promote and Market Your Book- Interview with Author Madi Preda

Posted on the 19 May 2014 by Madi Preda @AUTHORSPR

Madi Preda – How to Promote and Market Your Book Soon to be a published author of How to Promote and Market Your Book
Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/bookspromotion How do you approach cover design? I’ve done my book cover for myself, without being a cover designer. I thought what is the major message I want to transmit?-find the right audience and the market niche. So I came with two little images, a puzzle with a piece missing and someone pushing a puzzle piece after the title How To Promote and Market Your Book.Is exactly how I see book promotion: find the pieces to fit and the puzzle is solved. What is your favorite book, and why? The Little Prince-Antoine de Saint Exupery
This is such a lovely story and I found different meanings to it every time I read it. What do you read for pleasure? I like books which transmit something, work of fiction or non-fiction, I like to find there a message, a life lesson, something to keep in mind about that book. What is your e-reading device of choice? We have a kindle and on my laptop I use Ultra eBook Reader. What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you? I think word of mouth. I like to be sociable and so I am connected with a lots of people online. I offer help and I ask for help.Generally speaking, social media is a reciprocal deal, so you get what you give.And I was lucky enough to come across with very supportive people. Describe your desk Crowded.Notebooks, reading glasses, pens and always a cup of coffee or tea. Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing? I am Romanian, so this is the place where I did grow up. The only influence I think is that I don’t speak a very good English so I made a few mistakes. And there is more work to be done for my editor. When did you first start writing? I tried since I was in school, we had a literary group there and a literary magazine.And I’ve published a poem at that time about cinema and John Wayne.I have to confess now that my brother was helping me with that.Later on, in 2012 I’ve been writing two funny poems for my son’s birthdays and a couple of others.None of them are published. They are in Romanian but who knows, maybe one day I will submit them to some magazines in Romania. What’s the story behind your latest book? I am doing promotion for books and public relations for writers. I thought that my experience might be helpful for writers who chose to do it for themselves.So I decided to share my experience as a publicist to help others.There in the beginning i had to do lots of research and i have now a big data base of useful resources.This is what I share in my book: case studies, book placements, and many other creative ideas and marketing strategies. When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time? I love flowers and sometimes we spend hours in the garden doing something or playing with our cats and recently adopted dog.
Working from home sometimes can be even more busy than the regular hours in an office.Cooking,cleaning,and all the other domestic activities as a women take time. But there are advantages such as the comfort of our home and I can work whenever I feel like it, doing promotion for others.I don’t know if it is a bad or a good thing but I don’t watch TV.Not much anyway.I read the news online and then read a book or doing something on the computer.For my activity as a publicist I like to cover many topics, so a bit of design for promotional materials, a book trailer or a short video clip. How do you discover the ebooks you read? Usually they are offered to me in exchange for an honest review or a promotional spot.Also sometimes I discover a book, on various sites, which I really want to read and thanks to kindle next minute I’ve got it. What is the greatest joy of writing for you? The greatest joy is to see that I can do it, and the thought that what I am saying there will be useful for someone. Website: http://authorspr.tripod.com
Twitter: AUTHORSPR
Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: http://gr.linkedin.com/pub/authors-promotion/78/9b9/2b5/
Blog: http://authorspromotion.wordpress.com Excerpt from How to Publish and Market Your Book by Madi Preda Marketing Content
The major purpose of marketing is to determine which type of content is most likely to have an impact onto the consumers’ behavior and decisions. It is proven that consumers react on credible content and independent user reviews when making buying decisions.
Identifying the most effective types of content to inform consumers is one of the difficult tasks of marketing for any kind of product and even more when it comes to books’ marketing. One thing to keep in mind is that trust matters and is crucial to gain the audience’s trust. A short analysis of different types of content will make easy to understand the impact of each type on the consumer’s purchase decision.
- Expert content –articles and reviews from an expert in writing or the genre of the book
- Branded content – content produced by the author
- Users content such as reviewers from Amazon, Goodreads or bloggers.
The audience decision of purchasing a specific book is based on familiarity with the author’s books, settings of the action or the subject of the book and on the affinity for the author or the book genre. Different types of marketing content will generate different types of reactions. The conclusion is that if you produce good content, and a wide variety of it there are more chances to succeed. Expert marketing Content
Articles from journalists or even the author’s articles published in reputable newspapers or magazines will have more credibility than an article on author’s blog (Now everyone who read this post can help me with expert marketing content by sharing).:) Branded content
Nevertheless, not everyone has the chance to be interviewed by a reputable journalist. What to do in this case? Any content marketing produced by the author it is better received if it is exposed by a third party source, an interview or a guest post on someone else blog it will influence the purchase decision of the audience more than the same content published on author’s website or blog. Users’ content, such as reviews or a little promotional spot of a blogger will influence readers’ decision for purchase and the more placements for your book the more better.
The conclusions for this short analysis are that in order to build trust and influence readers’ behavior to buy a book is better to start with credible expert content, move on with brand’s content to connect with social media and to engage and then use media network for user content. Maintain your efforts by encouraging your social media network to share your story and your marketing content. Try different approaches and different types of content until you find out what is work best for your book. Seeking advance book reviews means building the foundations for launching your book. The manuscript of your book is edited and ready to publish. With today’s technology, you could have the book on sale in a matter of days. But if you want to secure advance reviews and prepare the release of your dream you wait and start looking for advance reviews. Reading takes time and getting a review does, too. Third-party endorsement for a book helps, build credibility for your book and springboard the launch. Having a certain number of reviews makes a difference in book sales, increase the book’s rank and they do add credibility. Reviews matter to readers and media when they check out a book. Reviews matter to Amazon and also come to play a role with many book promotion sites (some of them offer free promotion if you have a certain number of reviews). For an indie writer, this is another decision you get to make, sending out ARCs – Advance Review Copies. Nobody has number or a way to get reviews; set your goals to get as many reviews as you can get. Time will tell you that your efforts were worth it.
Target reviewers in your genre –Watch out people that specialize in, or have an affinity for your genre. It takes a lot of time to find the right bloggers and submit your ARC according to their review policy. Spread the word out to your social media network and see if your contacts are willing to do a review for you.
ARC giveaways on Goodreads and LibraryThing are a good idea. Don’t expect that everyone who won a copy will post a review; statistics say that only 20 – 25 % post reviews but even so this is quite a good return. Find the right contacts, send the right content, and, wait for a while.
While waiting, the best thing to do is to plan your online marketing campaign.
Filed under: book covers, Interviews, spotlight authors, spotlight books, Thoughts, Uncategorized Tagged: advertising books, ARC, author interview, Authors PR Madi Preda, AuthorsPR, authorspromotion, Blogging, Books, giveaways, guide for self published authors, how to increase sales, how to promote a book, How to Promote and Market Your Book by Madi Preda, Madi Preda Interview, must read books, new release, online marketing, online marketing for indie writers, publicist for indie writers, publicists tips and tricks, publicity for indie writers, sites to promote a book, spotlight books