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Website design By BotEap.comThis timely 62-page brochure may be just what you need to spice up your own marketing and branding, and/or just do what it promises: ie publish your book and allow it to become a “strategic business development asset.” .
Website design By BotEap.comI must say from the beginning that I was intrigued to read this book, ever since I wrote it (I have published over 30 books) and published it (and my books have been with many of the major publishers, such as Pearson and Routledge, as well as with my own books). -posted via Lulu) have been my main concerns for over 30 years. The thing is: if you are published by a major you tend to assume that they are responsible for marketing your book, and therefore you do nothing yourself; And if you self-publish, by the time you finish writing the book, you often have very little energy left to promote it. And to be honest too: many authors suffer from the idea that their writing is inherently interesting, so they just have to write and publish and presto! – your merits will be discovered. Unfortunately, such a fantasy is wishful thinking at best and dangerous at worst. Many excellent books have been published only to disappear from view entirely for lack of proper marketing and sales.
Website design By BotEap.comLike any other activity designed to make money, publishing is a business (albeit a strange one!) and one must consider not only the alpha (writing the book) but also the omega to bring it to market successfully). Does Georgia Kirke’s slim volume help you do that?
Website design By BotEap.comThe answer has to be a resounding yes: this is a surprisingly useful and simple book. Its brevity is a strength, especially for busy business people who need to get to the heart of the matter quickly. In order to turn her book into a “strategic business development asset,” Kirke recommends four pillars, or four assumptions, which she breaks down: one, that “the marketing of your book and the quality of the book’s content are of equal importance.” That seems very hard and very realistic to me: marketing a book that contains nugatory content makes no sense. Two, taking the long-term view of the country. In other words, one has to be strategic; it’s a bit like pets: they’re for life, not just for Christmas! Three, book marketing works best with a plan. Hardly a revelation, but it’s actually so important to emphasize because so many people think they can do without one. Four, one size does not fit all. And this is also true: If there was only one way to be successful in book publishing, everyone would be doing it. One needs creativity here as much as anywhere else if one wants to make an impact.
Website design By BotEap.comHaving established these assumptions, Kirke goes on to break down the three stages of editorial self-promotion. Many good ideas and useful tips follow. My favorite, which shows me that Kirke really knows what he’s doing, is in his advice to become an Amazon bestseller. As she comments: ‘you can become a bestseller for half an hour or so, by tagging your book in less popular categories, arranging to buy a bunch of them the same day they come out, and lining up reviews for publication day’, But as he later realistically comments, “Achieving best-selling status like that may not be of much help to you.” More importantly, put it into action.
Website design By BotEap.comBut I’ve saved the best for last. The really outstanding feature of Kirke’s book is the final chapter, and the book is worth its price for this chapter alone. In fact, it’s barely a chapter in the traditional sense: it’s a list of 80 marketing tools and ideas to promote her book, and they’re pretty great. I went through all of them and realized that in my time I had only implemented about half of the 80, that there were about 40 ideas that my wife and I would now need to review and that could be extremely useful for the promotion of my books. . . So it’s time for busy and action stuff!
Website design By BotEap.comTherefore, I fully recommend Georgia Kirke’s to any author, but especially to self-published authors who want to create an added edge for their book promotion. This is a must read.
