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What's Your Biggest Challenge with Your Book?

I'd be interested to learn what authors/publishers on this network think their biggest challenges are with their book. I wonder if there's any common, pervasive challenge we all face.

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Hello Alberta,
I will use another company with the next books. The Royalty fees with our publisher is very low also. Have you researched any others for your next book?
Hi Michaela,

I'm going to "try" to get another publisher because of having problems with PA working with other distributors and bookstores who wanted my book. A long story. You're right on the royalties. I get very little over a dollar a book.

My book is about alcoholism so I went to bookstores and went to that section. I pulled the books out and wrote down the publishers name. Maybe you should do that. I'm not sure what your book is about.

I'm going to see if it works. We all know what it's like getting a traditional publisher.
Alberta
I want to share something that I learned listening to Steve Harrison's seminars on the telephone. It is the difference with poor authors and rich authors.

Poor Authors depend on book signings and getting their books on the shelves of bookstores. As authors we know that having them in stores doesn't mean that they are going to sell and we become known. SOMETHING has to move them off the shelf.

Rich Authors look deep within themselves and say, "What other talents do I have to get noticed?" I wrote a program for teaching Beginning Writer's Workshops and teach at libraries and now begin next month teaching at the Learning Center in New Bedford, MA and May in Providence, Rhode Island.

Writing my second book Please, God, Not Two is about my life living with and losing a husband and daughter from alcoholism. SO, I went to the rehab where Lori had been a patient twice and spoke to 30 women and teens about this killer. I'm hoping to talk in schools and other AA organizations once my book is completed.

Amandah, go to bookstores and ask to read your book when they have a children's gathering not only there but at libraries. That is a big event. Anything with children and animals is a sale. Ask friends, family, and whoever, to do the same for you in other states, Send them one of your books so they can do this. Autograph the book and leave it at the stores or libraries as a donation. Call radio shows and newspapers to interview you. There's no cost to it.

This goes for anyone trying to get your book out there. Ask family to promote your book. They may actually enjoy it.

Michaela,
I'd keep on PA until they make the changes. I've come to the conclusion WE as authors have to go after what we want. Stay on it. It's not the bookstores or publishers that are going to make our books fly. It's the hard work of authors getting out there. Too many mistakes in a book doesn't say much for the publisher either.

GO to www.vistaprint.com and order 250 "free" business cards. Pass them out whenever you go and to whoever. They also make up postcards. Leave them at your signings. There are so many different ways to get known. Author have to be seen and heard from. Sitting in a corner waiting to be in the right place at the right time MAY happen but not often.

I hope this has helped everyone.
Well no one could accuse me of sitting in the corner waiting ton be seen that's for sure ! I have 2 websites I maintain plus 2 blog sites, one of which helps to promote other POD books. I have rung approx 500 book shops in the last 6 months, been on American radio, the local papers on a regular basis, ditto wriitng magazines here in the UK, been reviewed in various magazines, and at least one radio station, sent review copies to both national and local press, joined countless sites like this, done book fairs galore. On top of this I also work four days a week and find the time to edit my community newsletter - heaven knows how !

As for VistaPrint - they are brilliant - I leave my postcards all over the place. They also do T shirts now which I wear proudly at every opportunity - including the gym - great advertising !
Hi June,
I never thought of getting a shirt from Vista Print to advertise my book. Great Idea. Sometimes, they give one free.

You have done a "super" job with promoting your book....and working on top of it.

Good for you!
Alberta
My biggest challenge at this point is trying to add the blogs to my marketing to-do list. I haven't done much with that venue. There are so many sites with blogs, and I'm having trouble getting to them, editing a novel, and starting a new one--you all know how long your list is. I do think that over time the blog will become increasingly more valuable to us, so it's worth taking the time to participate.
I think the biggest challenge for me(other than trying not to get discouraged) is wondering if I'm selling anything and if my promoting is working at all. I've taken out an ad campaign on Facebook, have gotten lots of hits on my website, but less than 20% of them have clicked on the links to where my novella is being sold on either Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com. Getting people I know who have actually read my novella to post a review is also difficult, but I am sort of new at this.
Hi Cliff,
I know where you're coming from with questions on if your ads, or website, are helping sell your product. I've spend over $1,000 on ads with not much on profits from royalties. People want something when they buy your item.

I just added a sale for buying my book on my site...a $2 savings with no s/h. That's the best that I can do for now. I've only sold 5 books BEFORE the ad. So, now I sit and see it it works.

As for tracking where the sales come from, seemed almost impossible. My husband gave me a suggestion that I'm going to use with my next ad. Mention the discount from your website and have them use a code for the order. This way you will see that the sale came from the ad. I hope it works.

Most authors get very discouraged with not knowing if it's working. Small royalties show it isn't. I'm not informed on what else to do. Any suggestions out there?
Alberta
Hi Eahoue,

PublishAmerica hasn't promoted my book at all. Maybe some do. I think the author has to do 90% of it. The important thing is to get noticed and be heard "a lot." Do the radio shows, talks, etc. ...anything. I've done it all and still struggling to get attention.

Alberta
Purchased air time looks more like an advertisement, though.
Start gathering information on local tv & radio stations - the producers, the hosts, etc. - and then when you are ready, send them your pitch. It has to be something that will benefit their listeners/viewers or ties in to a current event or news item. You cannot pitch "I am an author and here is my book"

And you can hire a PR person or agency, but be prepared for the cost - $2-4000 a month, usually for a six month period.

Traditional publishers do some promotions, but mostly for their best seller items. Almost all authors must do promotions themselves. (And subsidy/vanity presses do none!)
Actually 20% is a very high number! The average is much, much lower.
Ads simply do not work for books, especially by unknown authors. The most cost-effective and successful promotional path contains press releases, reviews, and articles, and most of those can be had for next to no money spent.
Have you visited Dan Poynter's website? It is loaded with tips & resources for authors! "1001 Ways to Market Your Book" is also a must read. I teach seminars on how to promote a book and there are SO many options outside of ads!
Thanks for the tips. I get Dan's newsletters. It helps.
Alberta

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