A colleague who we had lunch with everyday had a new story to share every single day. I’ve never seen him repeat an incident from his life and each time, his stories made us break into peals of laughter. I always felt that all his experiences could be put in a book. But as much as we all have tales to tell, writing a book needs a lot of hard work  And once you’ve put on paper what you have in your mind for days, you want the book to see the light of the day and reach as many people as possible.

How does one go about doing that? Here are the tips:
Find an editor: An editor does to a book what fizz does to Coke, makes it refreshing. Especially those writing in English need to accept the fact that it isn’t our first language. Not only will your book have a cleaner text in terms of grammar but would also improve in expression. Look for an editor who fits the requirement of your book for example if you’ve written a Chicklit have someone, who is clued into what the young are reading, edit it.

Mr Ghostwriter: I know many a times it is hush hush but get yourself a ghost writer in case you are not able to find time to structure your thoughts and put them on paper. This is more common in case of non fiction.

Get me a publisher: Find an agent for your work. There are quite a few in India like Siyahi, Redink, Purple Folio to name a few. They are a good option to help you find a publisher and many of them are able to strike good deals for first time writers. They also help you clean your manuscript and make it more presentable to publishers. They are also able to bring in their expertise in finding a publisher-category fit. Some publishers are better at a certain genre.

Where to get published: Coming to publishers there are the multinationals such as Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette etc. Then there are the home grown large ones such as Rupa and the not so big ones like Roli, Shrishti, Katha etc. Each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. Getting a publisher will help you sell and market to a certain extent since they have an established network of distributors and they might be able to chalk out a budget for marketing your book but with the number of books all publishers, put together, are coming out with, it is imperative to put in efforts in addition to theirs to push your book.

Let me publish myself: Don’t get disheartened if you aren’t able to find a publisher. The option of self publishing was always available and is no longer considered a taboo, with big publishers such as Penguin and HarperCollins providing the option through Patridge and Authonomy. While these are relatively new, there are the ones such as Power Publishers, Cinnamon Teal, Pothi and many others who are established in the Indian market. Then there are publishers such as Notion Press providing a smarter way of publishing. Some have even tied up with online selling channels and are providing sales support. All have a basic marketing support available as well.

All the publishers also provide you with the option to e-publish. Marketing of e-books is still a gray area though, but most of the online selling platforms allow you to sell e-books.

Growingly there is a group of new age writers who wish to only e-publish. With Amazon Direct, Kobo, Lulu and many others, both in India and abroad, allowing this option, the only professional help is required in getting the file converted into an eReader format. Most of the sellers provide these services for free. Landmarkonthenet, infibeam, flipkart and others provide options to sell ebooks. If you want, you can tie in directly with an ebook seller. Ashok Banker has been selling his books in an eBook format since years and he seems to be doing as good as, if not better selling his physical books.

As stated earlier, all the options discussed above do provide you with sales and marketing support but the effectiveness of these is yet to be seen especially in case of marketing.
While I go and find myself an editor, until the next MarketMyBook update…

A few years ago (when we were still discovering the effects of online medium in the industry) I was sitting with a writer couple who very fervently asked how they could break the 5000 copies barrier. They had written and published a book each and were now writing a travelogue together. A very interesting one at that. Budget was a constraint as was in case of their previous books and they had just started putting their thoughts together for the travelogue. We decided that the most economical way to go about it is to start a Facebook page right then and gather people as they write allowing the individuals to contribute just so the followers of the page feel part of the book. Since then the page has been growing in terms of following. The idea in itself struck with the media too. Closer to the publication a little target marketing, of the page in addition to starting of other marketing activities, will spike up the numbers tremendously.

I’ve always believed that every book is not only unique in its look and read but also in the way it is marketed and when it is marketed. The good part is that books today need not wait until they are published and put out in the market, any longer. With the advent of online medium and more so the social media one has an option of starting early bringing us to the one big question that every writer and his marketer have to deal with, which is when to start marketing a book and how?

It might need a book to answer this question in detail but since an FB friend asked for tips, here are the marketing tips:

Everyone reads: No matter how much a book is written for anyone and everyone, every book has a target audience that needs to be clearly identified. Without it you wouldn’t be able to design a proper communication to promote it.

USP: it is not a good idea to hard sell right from the beginning. It is essential to identify a unique selling proposition for the book. Something that draws the interest of the reader naturally. This could be developed using the content or around a character of the book in case of fiction.

Content is supreme: Online medium especially social media is miserable due to lack of content and fails due to bad content. So your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc need well thought out strategy on content. The writer and the marketer need to work together to draw out a plan to roll out the content and to ascertain the level of direct participation of the writer by way of chats, live events etc.

Too many boats: everyday there’s a new social platform coming up. Don’t try and be on everything unless you know how to use it well. Also every book you write doesn’t need a new page. Promote the writer the book/s will get promoted. If you have a following don’t leave them dry while you get busy with your next book. Continue to remain in touch.

No one likes to be a friend and start receiving messages on” I’ve written something that’s never been written before”. People like interesting material and they might not like what you yourself may find interesting, so keep track of trending topics and how you can link them in the context of your book. Use visuals that relate to the content of your book, they communicate better.

Trending topics and crawlers are something that are best understood by online marketers take help from them in case you are planning to manage your online marketing on your own. If you have the budgets use the services of an online marketing person. I know that some of the recent bestselling authors do so.

If you are writing on self help and well being such as on weight loss, skin care, pregnancy etc or writing a travelogue, trekking guide etc, the marketing of your book online should start the day you start writing your book. Yes that early. Targeting specific groups of people with certain level of interest in the subject, will also help create a consumer/reader base for your book. Target marketing draws better results in case you know people you are talking to share similar interests. There are quicker ways to increase the number of following on the social media but starting early gives that much more time for people to bond. For a few others it helps starting to market online at least 6 months ahead of the book hitting the stores. The other aspects of creating a word of mouth, media buzz, retail hype etc can come closer to the release of the book.

The ideal time frame for starting to market a book is anywhere between 3 – 6 months before the book hits the store. But before starting you must have your plan for the coming months in place.

Peek-a-boo tactics: Some books that deal with controversies need to be timed correctly and how you make use of the controversy to have the media lap it up is something that needs great attention. It is important to have an understanding of what makes news.  Even the most topical books sink in the media because you haven’t been able to disburse the content correctly.

I’ve come across 3 kinds of writers:

Not Me: these are the kinds who write and leave everything else to their marketer to figure out, so much so that they do not even talk about their book where it matters.

Only Me: these are the kinds who think they can do everything for their book including writing it. Which means they are overzealous about handling every little thing for their book.

Me Too: these are the kinds who are participative and readily available wherever their inputs are required. They do not shy away from trying out a suggestion.

I might sound a little harsh here but in today’s day and age you can’t just write a book and leave the rest to others to do and neither can you handle everything about the book on your own. Your biggest gift is that you can write so leave what you cannot do to those who have been gifted to take care of the rest but do remain involved especially in marketing activities. You should be aware how your investment ( if not of money but of the time used for writing) is being used. Get involved wherever your marketer feels its essential. Just as is the case between an editor and a writer, its essential to have an open communication between a writer and his book marketer.

Today it cannot be about a book alone but needs to be about the entire packaging which also includes the writer and his personality. Also a success formula for one book doesn’t apply on every book. So go on have a long and detailed conversation on “how to market your new book?” with your book marketer, over cups of coffee.

Until the next book marketing update…