With Sean Aiken, author of the One Week Job Project.

What’s the book about?
“What should I do with my life?” was the question

His father said, “It doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure it’s something you’re passionate about.”

Taking his father’s advice to heart, Sean created the One-Week Job Project. His goal: to work fifty-two jobs in fifty-two weeks in search of his passion.

When did you start to market and promote your book?
A couple of months before publication date.

What online methods have you used to market your book?
Continued to develop a community through the oneweekjob.com blog
Started a Facebook page which engages the members, and provides updates
Developed a program to continue interest in the project
Approach prominent bloggers to review the book
Started a Twitter account

Which online methods have you found to be the most effective?
Developing a community/relationships with people so that they care about your success, and help spread your message
Book reviews by prominent bloggers

Which online methods have you found to be the least effective?
Simple status updates to Facebook, Twitter

What offline methods have you used to market your book?
Traditional media appearances: print, tv, and radio
Presentations at schools

Which offline methods have you found to be the most effective?
National TV appearances

Which offline methods have you found to be the least effective?
Not sure

What will you do differently when you market your next book?
Begin developing a relationship with readers a year in advance through blog posts and updates. Continually engage them, so when the book is published, they are ready and willing to fully support you.

Buy the One Week Job Project Now!
You can pick up the One Week Job Project at Amazon and Chapters.

About the Author
Sean Aiken was born in 1981 and grew up in Port Moody, BC. He graduated from Capilano College in North Vancouver with a degree in Business Administration in 2005, and was voted Class Valedictorian. His adventures have been broadcast on Canadian and international television, and are documented on his popular website http://oneweekjob.com.

Book trailers either work or they don’t. The problem is defining what you mean by work.

I think we all can agree that a book trailer should really do one thing: Sell books!

That’s it. If your trying to do something else with it you’ve lost.

Sure you can think about your trailer going “viral” and getting a million views but what are you doing with those million viewers?

Are they buying your book?

If not…

Are they visiting your website?

And if they’re on your website are they signing up for your newsletter?

These are the nitty gritty fundamental metrics and measurements to judge when trying to calculate the ROI (return on investment) for your book trailer.

And sure we can talk soft-numbers, like views, forwards and likes. These are great if we’re trying to gauge exposure for our brand.

But when your book has been released and is sitting there on the shelves of bookstores, or on skids in distribution centers you truly care about one thing; Selling more books.

So with that being said here’s six key elements to consider when making your book trailer.

Book Trailer Fundamentals:

• Target your specific market
• Engage the viewer early
• Keep your viewers attention
• Convey some relevant info about your book
• Point them to a place to buy your book
• Include your website link

When I was originally thinking about this post I remembered how much I liked the book trailers for 37signals new book Rework. But after writing this article and breaking out the fundamentals I’ve noticed that they fell short on a couple of fronts.

Can you notice which ones?

So what are your book trailer secrets? Please share below.

Blaze Your Book Sales!

Ian

With Nancy Kilpatrick, editor of Evolve: 23 Vampire Stories of the New Undead.

What’s your book about?
Evolve is an anthology of vampire stories, edited by me. One that differs from what readers have seen before.

My mandate was to have the authors who wrote the stories get a sense of the vampire in older literature to the present, and also familiarize themselves with what’s on TV and in movies right now.

Then to speculate, “What type of vampire will we see in the future?”

They more than met my vision.  It’s an innovative book in the genre.

When did you start to market and promote your book?
We began about last January with a variety of interviews for print, internet, radio.  Our aim was to launch the book at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK in March, 2010 so we targeted that event.

We also have done Canadian launches/signings in April in various cities, Toronto, Halifax, Calgary, and I think one is being set up for Vancouver.

It’s been a vigorous marketing campaign.

The book will be distributed in the US in Barnes & Noble stores in August, so we are gearing some promotion that way, with people doing signings, and a panel in August at Festival of Fear in Toronto, which draws a lot of US readers.

One of the most interesting aspects of the marketing has been one of the special editions.  The publisher did 50 hardcover copies, signed by all contributors, wrapped in silk and packaged in a wooden coffin with a cross bookmark.  There is also a nice faceplate on the front.  It’s special and draws a lot of attention.

What online methods have you used to market your book?
We’ve done a website with a video–the video is also on Youtube.  We set up a Facebook page and I joined FB with my personal wall to promote the book.  We’ve done a lot of blog and interviews news interviews as well as podcasts.  The publisher came up with some limited editions which are sold on the website (the regular trade paperback is only in stores).

Which online methods have you found to be the most effective?
It’s really hard to tell at this time, as it’s just April and we’ve just launched the book.  Some people think that small blogs don’t make much sense and one should go for the major newspapers.  But I tend to feel that every effort is worthwhile because one thing usually leads to another.

Which online methods have you found to be the least effective?
Same answer.  We just don’t know.  But I will say that the Youtube video isn’t identified correctly, which means it has a low viewership.  That’s something we will correct for the next book.

What offline methods have you used to market your book?
Edge Publishing has a PR person who has a big list and she is the one who contacted a lot of the genre-specific publications and media, so it all came through her.  Edge has provided a lot of books as give-aways in contests, and for interviewers.

At the World Horror Convention launch, we gave away little gift bags of candy which included a little bat.  We also had door prizes:  a (candy) blood bag; bottles of vampire wine contributed by the vintner, and a special edition in the coffin packaging.  There was an invitation to the launch in the convention bags which had an enclosure of a one million dollar Vampire Money bill.  None of this was expensive and it’s a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to attention.

Which offline methods have you found to be the most effective?
Again, we don’t quite know yet what’s effective.  There have been reviews done and interviews over the phone for publications not online.  We’ve got bookmarks that are lovely and terrific postcards–the larger size.  It really remains to be seen what leads to what.  The book has had nothing but praise so far, with reviews and from readers, and I think all the promotion is worthwhile.

What will you do differently when you market your next book?
I’d say we’ll take a similar approach; so far, this one is working well.  But the publisher is always open to new ideas, as am I.

Buy Evolve Now!
You can pick-up your own copy of Evolve on the Evolve site. Or on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Chapters.

About the Editor/Author
Award-winning author Nancy Kilpatrick has published 18 novels, 1 non-fiction book, over 200 short stories, 5 collections of stories, and has edited 10 anthologies. Much of her body of work involves vampires. Nancy writes dark fantasy, horror, mysteries and erotic horror, under her own name, her nom de plume Amarantha Knight, and her newest pen name Desirée Knight (Amarantha’s younger sister!) Besides writing novels and short stories, and editing anthologies, she has scripted 4 issues of VampErotic comics. As well, she’s penned a couple of radio scripts, a stage play, and much non-fiction, including the book The goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined (St. Martin’s Press).

What Matters To You Now?

I remember finding this a little while ago and thinking, “Awesome!”

I just found it again and thought that you’d like to see it as well.

Every year, Time magazine and a couple of their friends put together special issues on what they expect in the coming year. They invite people from their inner circle and tribe to share their views and ideas of the future.

Seth Godin liked the idea so much that he wanted to do something similar and distribute it electronically. So, he asked about 70 thought slingers to write a page for an eBook called What Matters Now.

Thought Slingers You’ll Find Inside:

• Chris Anderson
• Martha Beck
• Seth Godin
• Chip and Dan Heath
• Tony Hsieh
• Ariana Huffington
• Anne Jackson
• Mitch Joel
• Guy Kawasaki
• Tim O’Reilly
• Daniel Pink
• Tom Peters
• Dave Ramsey
• Tim Sanders
• Gina Trapani
• Gary Vaynerchuk

… and lots more.

The purpose of the book was to show that big thoughts and small actions really do make a difference.

SEO for writers is extremely important. (SEO) Search Engine Optimization can drive tons of free traffic to your site.

You write once and then have a steady stream of people arriving at your door eagerly looking for whatever it is you’ve just optimized for.

To make learning Search Engine Optimization a little bit easier for writers I think this handy visual SEO Guide should really drive home a complete picture of the process of SEO for writers.

SEO For Writers A Visual Guide

Super special thanks goes out to datadial.net for creating this amazing graphic! It’ll really help out the publishing industry to wrap their heads around learning SEO for writers.

Because book marketing is a broader subject than we normally tend to think about.

Ignite Your Book Sales!

Ian

With Chris F.A. Johson author of Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell.

What’s your book about?
Programming the Unix shell. The shell is a programming language that is used at the command line as well as in scripts. The same commands that you use at the prompt can be put into a file and used to automate tasks.

When did you start to market and promote your book?
As soon as they were published.

What online methods have you used to market your book?
First, I set up pages on my web site for the books.

Then I included the URL to the pages in my signature on all e-mails and Usenet postings I made.

For the first book, I posted a sample chapter on my site.

Which online methods have you found to be the most effective and the least effective?
It’s impossible to say.

What offline methods have you used to market your book?
I have given talks to the local Linux Users’ Group.

Which offline methods have you found to be the most effective and least effective?
I don’t know.

What will you do differently when you market your next book?
I am thinking of publishing my next book as an e-book, so I will sell books at such outlets as smashwords and kindle.

If there is enough call for it, I might consider using a print-on-demand service.

Buy Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell!
You can pick up a copy of Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell at Amazon and Chapters.

Author Bio:
Chris F.A. Johnson, is the author of Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell (2009, Apress) Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)

First and foremost I’m a little bit color blind.

Which is interesting when you take into account that I was a graphic designer for a little while.

Maybe that’s why it was such a short lived career.

Now back to the conspiracy.

The orange(ish) book cover.

Book Cover – The 4 Hour Work Week

I was waiting for the second edition of Timothy Ferris’s book the Four Hour Work Week to come out. So when I checked the  release date I saw that they updated the cover. Which is pretty much standard pracitise within the book trade business.

But what I didn’t expect to see was the dramatic and bold splash of color that really made this book stand out from the rest. And when I looked around the business section there was no other book that had a cover similar to it.

Well, not for long.

Book Cover – Linchpin

Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin, came out about a month or so later.

The cover really stood out from all the other books in the section. (Aside from Timothy’s of course).

First it’s iconic symbol was really different from the rest of the business books.

And secondly it’s color made it easy to spot from across the store.

Book Cover – The Little Big Things

When I found out that Tom Peter’s just released a new book I lost my breath.

No really I did.

But when I saw the cover I was like, “Hold up a ’sec. Now that’s interesting. Haven’t I seen this color before?”

Tom’s book cover was a bright, eye burning orange.

Now all of these books are categorized for the business section. So if you’re a business author take note. But a general take-away from these book covers for authors, book cover designers, and publishers everywhere can be:

• Stand out from the crowd
• Do what you can to catch people’s attention FAST

You don’t have to have an orange(ish) book cover for your book. Look at the other covers in your genre and see if you can spot an accepted theme. But once spotted, do what you can to ensure that your book is practically jumping off the shelves.

Blaze Your Book Sales!

Ian

Top image source: flickr

With Deborah Schoeberlein author of Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything.

What’s your book about?

Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness emphasizes how the teacher’s personal familiarity with mindfulness seeds the ground for an education infused with attention, awareness, kindness, empathy, compassion, and gratitude.

The book follows a teacher from morning to night on typical school day. The schedule provides a practical context for applying and promoting mindfulness throughout the day.

Reading the book catalyzes readers’ insights and inspires the teacher’s self-confidence in applying mindfulness — personally and professionally.

When did you start to market and promote your book?

• Several months prior to publication.

What online methods have you used to market your book?

• FB advertising
• FB personal page and fan page
• Lots of networking and emailing to people and websites to spread the word.
• Topical listservs.
• Amazon comments.
• Blogging to get my name out – several sites as guest and recently, HP, as blogger.
• Twitter

Which online methods have you found to be the most effective?

• FB pages and ads are the BEST! FB ads are awesome because they are so targeted. Also, I find that bidding high works best because it increases impressions and the cost per click is never as high as the bid. I find it useful to make the per day cap at something reasonable – maybe that’s $10, or $20 or whatever. But compared with the cost of other forms of advertising, this is reasonable.
• Blogging is excellent too.

Which online methods have you found to be the least effective?

• Hmmm, maybe the 1-on-1 networking.

What offline methods have you used to market your book?

• Book reviews in magazines
• Publicists
• Writing articles for publication
• Presentations
• One-sheeters

Which offline methods have you found to be the most effective?

• Reviews
• Articles for publication

Which online methods have you found to be the least effective?

• Booksignings
• One-sheeters

What will you do differently when you market your next book?

• Start FB ads much earlier!

One last thought about Book Marketing: I believe that having the intention to help other people is the most important ingredient to successful advertising.

Sure, selling books makes money (and that’s necessary if you work for a living), but having the desire to sell the books to make some sort of positive contribution is very powerful.

If the purpose is to become famous or make loads of money, the advertising might or might not work, but likely the experience will be unsatisfying, because you can never earn enough or become sufficiently famous to feel content.

But, if sales are a measure of the possibility that you actually help others, then each day is satisfying and the good news re. sales is really part of something much larger, and that’s wonderful.

Buy Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness Now!

To order Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness from amazon click here.

Connect with Deborah on facebook via her Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness page.

Author Bio:
Deborah Schoeberlein is the author of Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything. She has more than twenty years’ experience teaching fifth- through twelfth-grade students, developing curricular materials, providing professional development for teachers, and pursuing freelance journalism. Currently, she directs a multi-site school-based health center for kindergarten- through twelfth- grade students and their teachers.

I just finished watching the book trailer for John C. Maxwell’s new book, “Everyone Communicates Few Connect”.

Over the last week I’ve been thinking about interviewing him about his book marketing strategies.

So when I got a message from his marketing team to watch the trailer I jumped at the chance.

I’m a fan of John. Some people thinks he gets a little churchy in his books. But I have to say that in my last management job, his Laws of Leadership helped me rock that job.

Here’s his book marketing trailer:

I was really surprised with it.

I actually didn’t think it would be that good.

I believe that this book trailer did a lot of things well.

Book Marketing With Book Trailers Checklist:

• Engaged me early
• Made me smile
• Kept me interested
• Gave me pertinent info about the book
• Showed me where I could buy it

The only downside for the this book trailer for me was the middle. The actual pitch was a little long for my liking.

But overall I think it’s something that writers and publishers can learn from.

I am definitely putting a scratch and sniff section in my next book. Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that.

Blaze Your Book!

Ian

“What’s the title of that book again?”

You know how many times I’ve heard this?

Lots!

As a professional bookseller you hear some weird questions but this is tops.

The thing I hear most is usually some variation of, “I’m looking for a book. I can’t remember the book’s title or the name of the author.”

No really it is.

So what can you do as a writer or publisher to avoid this problem?

Choose a book title that gets lodged deep into people brains.

Sort of like a little jingle that they use for Pizza Pizza, Toronto Ontario’s biggest pizza chain, and probably one of our most recognized brands.

Anyone who lives in this province has this little diddy rattling around their brains somewhere, “Nine six seven eleven eleven. Phone pizza pizza hey hey hey.”

It’s burned in there and it’ll never come out.

And when your choosing your book title be sure to try and do the same. Choose something that sticks in your readers minds. Something that they’ll never forget.

I’ve noticed two major trends in for book titles over the last little while.

Book Title Trends:

1. A single word or two words that pop followed by a descriptive subtitle.
2. A catchy long title that is followed by a descriptive subtitle.

Single Word Book Titles That Work

Three of my favorite single word book titles are:

Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers To Persuasion and Captivation

by Sally Hogshead

I love this books title.

And the cover made me reach out and grab it.

It’s on my list of must reads and will soon be on my book shelf.

Great captivating single word choice for the books title.

The subtitle explains what the books about.

Color of the cover and cover art just grips you.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

by Seth Godin

I have to admit that at first I wasn’t really sold on the book cover.

But now I think it’s one of the most iconic book covers of the last couple years.

And even though the books title and sub-title are a little vague, they work.

Curiosity is peaked.

People want to know more.

And somewhere floating around in our sub-conscious minds has to be the need to be indispensable. Especially in these times.

Powerlines: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans & Sometimes Change History

by Steve Cone

This books subtitle IMO is the best I’ve ever seen.

When I started to think up the idea for this post this book was first on my mind.

I couldn’t remember the actual subtitle but I definitely remembered the books title.

And now looking at the subtitle again I can see how it hits you on so many levels.

Sell brands: Everyone wants to sell more of their stuff.

Grip fans: Everyone’s looking for a way to engage and captivate our tribe.

Sometimes change history: Admit it, you WANT to change the world. You do don’t you?

Book Title Creation The Take Away

If you’re working on a book’s title then commit to work on it. I mean really work on it.

In this industry it’s make or break. So do everything in your power to give your book an edge over the rest.

Keep a running list of titles you love.

What do you love about them?

How could you slant your own book title like they did?

What kind of book titles are the norm for your audience?

And test your books title!

Not on family and friends.

But do a poll on your website.

Or have a mastermind session with a few people who’s opinion you respect.

Make sure that your book title rocks and you will notice a definite spike in your books sales. And people will actually remember your books title and leave with it in their hands.

Blaze Your Book!

Ian

p.s. What are some of your fayv book titles? And how do you brainstorm to come up with a kick-butt book title?