Book Marketing Success Podcast: Janine Bolon on Podcasting

In this episode of the Book Marketing Success Podcast, John Kremer interviews Janine Bolon, author of Author Podcasting, on being a great podcast guest as well as creating your own podcast.

Janine Bolon is the author of Author Podcasting: Be a Stand-Out Guest While Taking Your Book on a Virtual Tour. Available at Amazon: https://amzn.to/393xUB6 or free with shipping at https://book.authorpodcasting.com/free-sh.

Author Podcasting is a guide to the author who wishes to promote their book without coming off as salesy. There is so much more to you, your book and your message that you can share with podcast hosts and their listeners.

Download the free media kit checklist here: https://authorpodcasting.com/checklist.

Connect with John Kremer here:

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Book Marketing Makeover: 10 Tips to Create Your Best Internet Radio Show

Guest post adapted from Blog Talk Radio

Internet radio shows are a great way to build a tribe, create relationships with many top websites and blogs, and produce new product that you can sell, give away, or use to build a brand.

Here are a few tips adapted from Blog Talk Radio's Ten Tips for Preparing for Your BlogTalkRadio Show (available free at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com)



1. Choose a Title - Before setting up a radio show, be sure to select a show name you can live with. Also write a good description and decide on the keywords you want to focus on.

2. Be Consistent - When choosing to do a radio show, you'll build up a larger audience and create true fans if you host your show at the same time every week. A weekly show is best. Monthly is too infrequent to build a solid fan base.

3. Create an Intro - Every show needs a great intro. Add music, voice over, and pizazz to the introduction of your show. It also helps to have a closing outro to create a more professional sounding show.

4. Outline Your Show - If you want to avoid dead air or rambling shows, create an outline and stick to it.

5. Get Ready for Your Guests - Make sure your guests know the number to call in and the time and date for the show. Also prepare them with some questions you will be asking. And prepare yourself so you know your guest and what they will talk about as well as possible.

6. Queue Up Your Audio - Make sure you have your intro, outro, and other audio ready to go. It makes it easier for you to produce a professional-sounding show.

7. Test Your Show - Before announcing your show publicly, carry out one or two test shows so you can work out all the kinks in running your show.

8. Find a Quiet Place - Broadcast your show from a room that is quiet and away from any potential interruptions. Be sure to turn off any phones, ban the kids and pets, and soundproof your room as much as possible.

9. Dial in Ahead of Time - Call in 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time to launch the chat room, make sure all the sound settings are correct, and get settled before going on the air.

10. Optimize Sound Quality - Dial into your show with a high-quality landline or high-quality headset (if using Skype). Don't use a speaker phone, cellphone, or conference line.

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The top ten things you can do in 2012 to sell more books: http://blog.bookmarket.com/2011/12/i-am-presenting-one-day-live-seminar-at.html

John Kremer is presenting a special one-day live seminar in Palm Springs, California on January 8th. Learn how to market your books more effectively.

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Special Book Marketing Makeover offer: 40% off book marketing and ebook promotion consulting with John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. Order here: http://bit.ly/JohnKremerConsulting.

Tweets You Can Use: March/April's Best Tweets

Tweets from @JohnKremer . . .

=> Romance novels going digital in a big way - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381646,00.asp?asid=18a06f77

=> Free business and marketing ebooks to read at http://www.freebooksforall.com/business.htm

=> Looking for a publisher for your spiritual book? See http://www.bookmarket.com/religion.htm

=> The future of textbooks: http://kno.com - Multimedia colored textbooks with multitasking, notetaking, and more.




=> The power of creating Twitter lists: http://media.twitter.com/768/huffpost-lists - very cutting edge creative stuff

=> Marketing Advice From a Victoria's Secret Model http://huff.to/avmW1T via @huffingtonpost

=> Perhaps the most important thing I've said in the past ten years about book marketing - http://bit.ly/gIbvEy - the last bit about bookstores

=> 10 Comic Blogs That Every Comic Book Fan Should Read - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-comic-blogs-comic-book-fan-read

=> I really do think most book authors spend way too much time courting bookstores when they should be courting readers.

=> Bookstores don’t buy books (they simply rent them). It’s readers who buy books. So ask the real buyers to buy your book.

=> The best way to follow 168 of the best #literary #agents on Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/JohnKremer/literary-agents-the-best-4

=> Ebook Advertisements: 7 Ways to Feature Ads in Your Ebooks - video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmS7ehVINmM


John Kremer is the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books as well as webmaster at http://www.bookmarket.com.

Spontaneous Sales: Being Prepared to Sell Your Book Anywhere

Face to face and word of mouth still matters. I recently sold thirty copies of my paranormal/fantasy novel, Among Other Edens, at a night club in Germany, at the airport waiting to go to said country, and at the German hotel. Toting a purse large enough to have copies on hand, I happily signed and sold books over dinner, on trips into town, in fact anywhere I had a chance to talk about my book. Soon, I became known as the book lady and, within two days, had sold out with orders for more.

I call this spontaneous selling, it occurs in unexpected locations and requires no campaign or effort, other than the willingness to break out of our comfort zone, step from behind our computers, and make face to face contact with people. As we continue to market online, we need to remind ourselves that technology is a tool in the writer’s publicity tool box. Good old-fashioned meet-greet-and-salesmanship will never crash, give you a blue screen, or need re-booting! - Guinevere Edern, author of Among Other Edens

Book Marketing Via Videos

There are a couple of things that I have done to help market my book, Preparing Your Heart to Survive in a Dangerous World, published by Publish America. The one that seems to attract the most attention is a video I produced. It is based on the lead story in the book. It can be viewed by clicking the link at the bottom of the home page on my website at http://www.ralphturnerphd.com. - T. Ralph Turner, author, Preparing Your Heart to Survive in a Dangerous World

An Author's First Steps in Marketing His Book

Here's another first small step in marketing a book:

I’m at the early stages of marketing my book, Training Dana to Selling Success, so my success story is a humble one. I’m also new at social media marketing. I only opened my Twitter account for my book at the beginning of this year. “0” followers is what I kept staring at on my Twitter page for weeks until someone told me, “If you want followers, start to follow others.” So I did. I Googled other authors who wrote on the same subject matter as my book and started to follow them. In one week I picked up 21 followers. I will continue to Tweet and hopefully see those current and future followers, turn into buyers soon. - Scott Moody, http://www.trainingdana.com

John's Comments: Well, that's a start. Very small start, but a beginning. Now you need to create more relationships with other people on Twitter and Facebook. Even more important, you need to create relationships with other websites that focus on sales.

Looking for Eyeballs? Magazine Websites Generate Views

In January 2011, People Magazine's People.com website became the first magazine site to generate over 1 billion page views in one month. Many other magazine websites also generate tons of views.

Note: If you want to break into a magazine, one of the best ways to start is to write for their website. Check out http://www.bookmarket.com/magazines.htm to locate the websites of the major magazines.

In my 15,000 Eyeballs program, I just wrote Lesson 6 (of ten lessons), where I outline a secret way to leverage the incredible traffic of magazine websites to help promote your book.

You can find out more about my 15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing program at http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm.

Word of Mouth Helps Sell a New Memoir

Here is a success story from Jan Fishler, author of Searching for Jane, Finding Myself (An Adoption Memoir) - http://www.searchingforjane.com:



Of the various marketing techniques I’ve tried, word-of-mouth has been the most successful. I didn’t set out to employ this particular technique, it just happened.

About three months before my book's publication date, I started telling friends that I was writing a book. Pretty soon, the ones I saw most frequently began asking me how it was going. This prompted a mini-buzz.

A month later, I sent an email to my family and close friends letting them know that my memoir was coming out in June. I didn’t say what the memoir was about and of course, the curious wrote me back.

Over time I revealed the title, Searching for Jane, Finding Myself (An Adoption Memoir), and a few details... it’s about how it felt to be adopted… why I searched… what I found.

Before the book was available online, I sent the manuscript to my most connected friends, asking them for feedback. About a month before the publication date, I posted the book cover on Facebook, and asked the friends who had previewed the book to comment about it. By the time the book was on my website, I’d created quite a buzz. Book sales that first month were far better than I ever expected.

My family members couldn’t wait to find out what I’d said about them. My friends—especially people who knew me in high school (forty years ago)—became my biggest fans.

I’ve been actively marketing the book for the past four months. Initially, I thought my target market would be limited to people who have been touched by adoption, but I’ve discovered that the book has a much broader reach. Whenever anyone asks me what they can do to help me get the word out, I tell them to please recommend it to a friend.

-- Jan Fishler has joined the nationwide effort to create fair and compassionate adoption standards and is working to inspire the reform of antiquated state laws. For 20 years, Jan was a corporate scriptwriter, video producer, and a marketing and public relations consultant. She produced the DVD writing series, “The Path to Publication,” distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences, and is the co-author of a series of articles on post traumatic stress disorder published by VietNow National magazine.

Searching for Jane, Finding Myself is her first book. Order copies from Tin Cat Media at http://www.searchingforjane.com for $12.95.

Another Debut Novel Success Story

Johanna Skibsrud's debut novel The Sentimentalists has just won Canada's most prestigious fiction award, the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for 2010. Her publisher Gaspereau Press, because of its commitment to artisanal quality, will have a hard time keeping up with demand. And, as most book publishers, Gaspereau will enjoy having that problem.

For more stories of successful debut novelists, see http://www.bookmarket.com/debutnovels.htm.

5 Ideas for Sharpening Your Next Speech

The following article is courtesy of Michael Angelo Caruso, speaker as well as author of the Present Like a Pro DVD:



August 7 is Professional Speakers Day. Here are 5 cool ideas for sharpening your next presentation.

1. A good pre-game show will help you get your game on. When creating your presentation, write it backwards, starting with the call-to-action.

2. Use my Power of Three to speak without notes. Many people are nervous when speaking in front of an audience. Nerves only make it harder to seem relaxed and stay on message. The secret is to focus on only three points.

3. Do six things in the first five minutes of every presentation. I cover all six tips in on my DVD, but here are two: 1) Teach the audience something they don't know and they'll pay attention to the rest of your talk. 2) Get the audience to do something right away, such as write something down, raise their hand, etc. This precedent will come in handy when you issue a call-to-action at the end of your presentation.

4. What you say with your body is more important than what you say with your mouth. Body language doesn't lie. Saying you're confident is wasted breath, if your body language says the opposite. Learn to present with congruity.

5. Always ask the audience to take action. If you are very specific and give a reasonable time frame, they are more likely to follow through.

Now, here's the half-price offer: Order the Present Like a Pro DVD this week and pay only $24.50. As with all my products and services, you will get much more than you pay for.

Author Persistence Pays Off Big

Here is a story of author persistence I was sent by Claudine Wolk, author of It Gets Easier ... and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers . . .



While trying to get my book published through traditional routes, I developed a relationship with an agent. She liked the book but she wasn’t willing to take me on as a client. I asked why. She told me that my platform wasn’t big enough.

(I was pretty psyched that she was returning my emails at this point because her correspondence was more that I had received from any of the others in the publishing industry outside of form rejection letters)

I asked what an author platform was.

“Become an expert,” she said, “Get published in newspapers and magazines, create a blog following, and do some speaking engagements.”

After her response, I pushed my luck with one last question and asked, “If I do all of these things, would you consider me as a client?”

“You bet,” was her answer.

I took this little bit of encouragement and decided that I could wait no longer for my message to get out there. I decided to create a publishing company and self-publish the book. Throughout the process, however, I took the agent’s advice. I wrote. I connected on the Internet. I booked speaking gigs. I became an expert. As my book came into being, I did one more thing, I stayed in touch with the agent.

When my book cover was done, I sent her an email with the cover attached, “What do you think?” I asked.

When my title was decided upon, I sent another email, “How do you like the title?”

When my book was completed, I sent her a copy of the book.

Finally, after I sent her an email showing my Amazon sales ranking, she finally said the words I had longed to hear, “Are you looking for representation to have this booked picked up by a publisher?”

The rest is history. I’ve been with Verna Dreisbach with Dreisbach Literary Management ever since. Six months into our relationship and Ms. Dreisbach and I were signing a bona fide publishing contract with AMACOM books!

My book, It Gets Easier! and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers, will be released by AMACOM in June 2009.

After I had signed with her agency, I asked Verna why she had finally decided to take me on as a client.

“You did everything I asked you to do,” she said. “You would be surprised how rarely that happens with authors.”

This sounds like something I’ve read before by a famous book marketing guru. What’s that guy’s name?

-- Besides being the author of It Gets Easier ... and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers, Claudine Wolk is also the website owner of http://www.Help4NewMoms.com and a blogger at http://help4newmoms.blogspot.com.

A Brilliant Novel Marketing Idea

I found the following story in Roland Hachmann's Web Jungle. It's a wonderful example of an entrepreneurial author:

Back in 1897, novelist W. Somerset Maugham, now best known as the author of Of Human Bondage, was having trouble selling his first novel Liza of Lambeth because his publisher wasn't interested in advertising the book. So he took matters into his own hands.

He placed classified ads in a few daily newspapers in London. The copy read: “Young millionaire, lover of sports, cultivated, with good taste of music and a patient and empathetic character wishes to marry any young and beautiful girl that resembles the heroine of W.S. Maugham’s new novel.”

By the end of the week, the first edition had sold out. The novel went on to get critical praise and many, many more sales.

Now, in today’s world, a classified newspaper ad like that won’t work because people don’t read the classifieds like they use to.

But the basic strategy of tying your book into your potential reader’s dreams and aspirations, that will always work. Maugham tapped into his potential reader’s desire for love (a universal perennial yearning that every romance novel taps into).

For more such success stories of debut novelists, see http://www.bookmarket.com/debutnovels.htm.