Questions About Marketing Your Book

1. What Have Others Done Before Us?
2. How Can You Insure that You Have a Marketable Product to Sell?
3. What Is Today’s Challenge?
4. What Can You Do Even Before Publication?
5. What Can You Do During Publication?
6. What Can You Do After Publication?
7. What About Selling to Bookstores?
8. How Can You Get Your Book into the Hands of Distributors?
9. Should You Employ the Services of a Publicist?
10. What Is the Conclusion on Marketing?

1. What Have Others Done Before Us?

Are you the first to encounter the problem of how to market your book? Hardly. You are among such great names as:

These are just a few of the many thousands of authors who have felt the need, through the years, of taking things into their own hands. For whatever reason, their early works were not picked up by the wealthy publishers of their day and promoted for them. Several of these authors didn’t want to be controlled by secular publishers. They wanted more control over their work, sensing its importance. Others, perhaps, had no choice.

What about the publishing climate in our day? With the current intense competition in the marketplace, the insensitivity of the publishing industry to what God is saying to His people at the moment, and the overwhelming influence of profit as the major factor in publishing decisions today, many authors are resorting to doing it our way. And it works … if you are willing to work at it.

There are some definite advantages to being your own promoter. For one, no one can do it quite like you. You believe in your message, so you are its best promoter. 

Here are some ideas that have worked for other authors. It can’t hurt to give them a try. The important thing to remember is that you only need to sell the first copies of your book. After that, it will start selling itself.

2. How Can You Insure that You Have a Marketable Product to Sell?

Marketing is an age-old art at which few people genuinely excel. We have all heard the old saying, “He is such a good salesman that he could sell refrigerators to the Eskimos.” Some salesmen fit that description, but I doubt if there are many salesmen out there trying it. In order to sell enough refrigerators, a salesman would have to talk to a lot of Eskimos. Those Eskimos who are gullible enough to buy a refrigerator probably wouldn’t dare recommend one to their friends and family members, and this is the greatest secret of marketing.

The salesman must sell the first examples of his product. From that point, the product should sell itself, that is, the product should be so good that those who buy it will recommend it to others. Word-of-mouth advertising always bears the greatest yield for your advertising dollar.

That brings up the question: do you have a quality product to promote? You may have a great message to present to the world or the Church, but if your book is not well written and well produced, no amount of marketing can make it successful.

Although marketing is important in our competitive world, the great bestsellers of our day do not attain that status through marketing alone. Their manuscripts must be properly edited and prepared to be worthy of proper promotion. Not all bestselling authors are famous. Often very obscure individuals rise to fame because of the unmistakable quality of their books.

In the end, it is the individual reader who will judge the content and the author and make the book successful or unsuccessful. Will your book be recommended to neighbors and friends?

As you study the marketing strategies put forth here, please realize that we are assuming that the book you want to promote is a viable product. By that we mean that it has a good message, is well-written and interesting, is well-edited, is professionally typeset and printed and has an eye-catching title and cover design.

I have seen people who were so hungry for truth that they would read anything –  literally. We have all heard, by now, of the hand-copied pages of Scripture so cherished by the people of the Eastern European countries during their time of severe persecution. It was all true. I have seen people thrilled by a roughly copied page. I have seen thousands grab for a tract printed on the cheapest newsprint. But that is all changing in our modern world. As the world gets more and more sophisticated and more and more material is available for people to read, poorly prepared materials simply don’t stand a chance in this competitive atmosphere.

The same technology that has made it possible for more and more people to publish their materials has made it increasingly difficult to compete in the marketplace. With more than 20,000 new Christian titles making their way into the marketplace each year, you must have a quality product in order to compete successfully.

Publishing your book and successfully marketing it require that you first receive a proper critique of the book and a proper editing of the manuscript. Merely having a few friends or an English professor review your manuscript is no longer enough. A knowledge of the English language does not qualify one to critique or edit a book manuscript or determine its marketability.

Friends make poor critics for a couple of reasons:

• They are so happy to have a friend who may soon become a published author that they rarely give an honest appraisal of the material.
• They are often afraid to hurt your feelings, so they don’t dare to disagree with something you have said or criticize the way you have said it.

You need to have your material reviewed by a third party, someone with no vested interests and nothing to lose, and whose primary interest is to make the book the best it can be, to give you some honest help with your manuscript.

The typesetting, cover design and the actual manufacture of your book must all be done in a very professional way. A poorly designed and laid-out book will speak to those who see it of mediocrity and a lack of creativity.

The day of publishing simple typed pages or of using a poor quality printer for layout is past. Editors who work for the major publishers routinely throw away letters printed with such printers. Even the quality of the letter speaks to them of an unprofessional approach that simply won’t sell in today’s marketplace.

Many Christian authors have friends who are budding artists or graphic designers and who offer to do the cover designs for their books. If the book is destined for a strictly local audience, this is all well and good. However, if your desire is to reach out to a larger audience, you will want to spend a little more and have something that you can be proud of and which will help to promote your book.

Whether we design your book, or whether you take it to some other professional publisher, you owe it to yourself to have it done according to national standards of quality. You may save a few hundred dollars by preparing everything yourself and taking it to a local printer. But, in the end, you will regret that decision. Your book will not have the proper format necessary to compete with other, similar books now available in the marketplace.

When a person buys your book and sits down in his easy chair with his cup of coffee or tea to read it, you don’t want him to be distracted from the message of the book by the physical packaging. It is surprising how many things there are which can detract from the reader’s enjoyment:

• The paper is not opaque and reflects too much light.
• The paper was printed cross-grain, so the book is difficult open. In the industry we call it “mouse-trapping.”
• The book was trimmed out incorrectly.
• There are many grammatical errors.
• The thoughts do not flow well from one to another.
• Some statements are misunderstood, leaving the reader confused.
• Etc., etc., etc.

The are just a few simple examples. There are many others. I wonder how many William Blakes, Thomas Paines, and Mark Twains there have been in recent history who have not been successful with their books simply because they failed to realize the importance of their proper preparation.

3. What Is Today’s Challenge?

Promoting your own book can be both a challenging and rewarding experience. With God’s help, thousand of believers are publishing their books each year, but when that book rolls off the press, the challenge has just begun. How to market it? That’s the question.

God gives us a message, He shows us how to write it down effectively, and He shows us how to get it published, but how do we get it into the hands of the people who need it? What good is a ministry if it doesn’t reach the people it was destined to help? What good is a gift if no one knows it exists? What good is a message if it is not disseminated? This is the challenge.

Authors are not usually marketing experts. They may know how to organize and express ideas, but many times they know absolutely nothing about how to market those ideas.

Sometimes the people we want to reach are sitting in church pews, and all we need do is secure a speaking engagement or advertise in the church bulletin or monthly magazine in order to let them know that help is available in the form of our books. But other people whom we want to reach may never go to church. They may be in bars or on street corners. How do we reach them?

Some of our authors have advertised in newspapers such as The National Enquirer. The audience they hoped to reach, New Age adherents, read that scandal sheet. That is a very valid marketing strategy for Christians. Even Jesus walked among the publicans and sinners so He could lead them to Himself.

If the people we want to reach are found mostly in Bible schools, then we should contact Bible schools. If they are in sports circles, then we need to contact some sporting magazines and run ads in them. We need to use a variety of marketing techniques. But some Christians are hindered from using marketing, thinking that it is not only unspiritual, but even carnal and commercial.

When we think about it, however, marketing books is not unlike many other aspects of ministry. Someone must build the platform upon which an anointed evangelist will stand to minister to multitudes in a mass-evangelism crusade. Is the work of building the platform less spiritual than the work the evangelist will be doing? We may consider it so, but we’re wrong.

If someone doesn’t clean the church and make sure the heat is on during the winter, can the pastor effectively minister to his flock during service times? Adjusting the thermostat, sweeping the floor and teaching, then, are all equally important tasks.

What about the writing of the book? Was that all spiritual? Is there anything spiritual about making a pen mark on a piece of paper, pushing down the key of a typewriter or entering text on a word processor? Aside from the revelation of the message itself, the process of writing the book contains many “unspiritual” aspects.

Without marketing, the message will not reach its intended audience. The needy will not know that a book exists which can help them. The bills will not get paid, and you will not be able to go on writing and publishing more books. So marketing is not beneath our dignity. It must be done.Most of us haven’t been very realistic about the sphere of influence we enjoy. It is very probable that the publishing of a book will increase our sphere of spiritual influence. There is not, however, any guarantee that all of us will become immediately known nationally or internationally, although this seems to be the expectation of many.

Most authors don’t understand why a distributor cannot take their book and sell thousands of copies or why a Christian bookstore is reluctant to take more than a few copies at a time. Authors need to learn the realities of the marketing world.

We find that, at the beginning, most authors distribute their books successfully in their particular sphere of influence, whether small or great. Highly visible people can expect to distribute more books than others. That seems to leave a lot of us “out in the cold.”

That is not necessarily the case. There are a number of very practical things any author can do to promote a book, and you don’t need to be famous to do them. If we believe in the message we are promoting (enough to make an extra effort), we can expect, with time, to achieve the desired results.

4. What Can We Do Even Before Publication?

Much interest can be stirred up about your book even as it is going through the publication process. You can actually begin as soon as you have made the determination to publish. There are a number of effective ways of promoting your book before you have it in your hand. Here are a few suggestions that other authors have found helpful:

Announcement Letters

Prepare a pre-publication announcement letter and send it out to everyone on your mailing list. If you don’t have a mailing list, you may be able to request that the letter be sent to those on your church’s mailing list. If it goes out with some other church mail, you could offer to share the cost of the mailing. If your letter goes out alone, you will probably have to pay the entire mailing cost. Our busy society is still doing much of its shopping by mail, and mail-order houses of all types abound, testimony that this is an effective marketing strategy.

Much of the success or failure of such a mailing will depend largely on the content and layout of the announcement letter itself. While preparing it, remember that people are busy and that they get a lot of “junk” mail, so you must make your impact quickly. The letter should be short, to the point, well spaced on the paper for visual impact, and well written to convey the message you desire.

Address the needs of those to whom you are writing:

1. What is special about this book?
2. Why do those receiving the letter need it?
3. What will it do for them?

Include a brief one- or two-paragraph synopsis of the book and perhaps a few of the chapter titles. To make it easy for readers to order the book, include a simple order form with the letter. You should offer a discount to those who order the book in advance.

Ads in Periodicals

A pre-publication ad for your book could be contained in a periodical that will go out to the target audience. If your church or group has such a publication, explore the possibility of advertising in it. Such ads are, of necessity, small (contact the periodical for complete details about size specifications). It must, therefore, make an impact with few words.

Use your brief synopsis of the book with, perhaps, a few of the chapter titles to create interest. Include the book title in bold letters and a prominent “kicker,” such as, “COMING SOON!” or “SOON TO BE RELEASED!”

Bulletin Inserts

The announcement letter, a copy of the ad, or a specially prepared page can be used as a bulletin insert in local churches that know and trust you. This has proven to be a very effective means of marketing Christian books.

Follow many of the same guidelines for preparing the insert as for the letter or ad. One possibility is to use both sides of the paper and put an order form on the back.

Another effective idea is to make your bulletin insert in the form of a bookmark that people will keep in their Bibles or important books. Such a bookmark will serve as a constant reminder.

Avoid the use of poor quality copiers in all your promotional materials. If your advertisement looks amateurish, potential buyers will feel that your book is probably amateurish, as well. Let the promotional piece reflect the same high standard of quality as the book itself.

Utilizing Social Media

Today many are using the social media as a means of promoting all sorts of things. Some have set up a special Facebook page for their book or ministry or both. Some are placing ads on Facebook and other social media sites and being very successful with it. This makes sense. If you are contacting people who love you or love your message through the use of these social media, then that is a logical place to let people know that your book will soon be available and how they can get it.


Setting Up Your Own Website

Although your book will appear on many websites as part of the POD print system (our own site ThePublishedWord.com, as well as Amazon.com, BN.com, and many others that take their feed from Amazon), some have chosen to set up a special site just for their book. If you already have a ministry site or a personal site, then that’s the place to advertise and promote your book. If not, you may want a site just for the book itself.

In former years, building and maintaining a web site was a task for a professional, and so it was rather expensive for the average person. Now, however, prices have come way down and web building software has improved and been simplified to the point that most everyone can operate it  (if you’re willing to take the time to learn). In this way, you can make changes or additions to the site yourself. Since young people grow up doing these things, if you are older you might want to ask someone in your family to do it for you.

Having the software necessary to process credit cards is more expensive than just maintaining a site. Once you investigate the costs, you can decide if you wish to actually process the orders yourself or if you would rather send them to another site and let someone else handle that part of the process. Placing a link on your page to another site is a very simple procedure. 

5. What Can You Do During Publication?

The artwork for the cover of your book is usually completed a few weeks in advance of the finished book. You can use that cover design to good advantage. Having an actual cover in your hand adds life to the book. It proves that this is no longer just a possibility; it is a reality. Now, repeat the process.

Repeat the Process

At this point, the announcement letter, the ads in periodicals and bulletin inserts can be repeated, adding a reduced copy of the cover of the book. Many people don’t order a book the first time they read about it. They may be interested, but they’re thinking that there’s still plenty of time. The second mention often catches the procrastinators. Be sure the front cover of the book is prepared properly if you use black and white printing on your advertising piece. A sharp cover, even in black and white, will help to sell your book.

If you use a mailing list, make a small note at the bottom of the letter, “If you have already placed your order, please ignore this reminder” to avoid offending those who have already ordered. Or, remove the names of those who have already ordered from the list of those who will receive this piece.

You will want to keep a list of all those who buy your book. If and when you publish another book, you will have a good pool of prospective customers.

There are now some other things you can do:

Other Special Mailings

For a small fee, we can provide you with a PDF file of the book cover that you can take to a local quick print and have them run off a few hundred copies on a more flexible stock for promotional use. These make excellent advertising tools. We suggest that you use them for a special mailing to the following:

• KEY LEADERS: Key leaders often have spiritual influence over large groups of people. If they feel that your book is worthy, they might do much to promote it, even using it in their own ministries.
• PASTORAL GROUPS: The same is true of pastoral groups. Pastors are looking for good material to use for study groups or to recommend to people they counsel. Helping them to get to know your book doesn’t guarantee you sales, but it certainly can’t do any harm.
• TELEVISION AND RADIO PROGRAM HOSTS: Radio and TV programs are looking for fresh faces to interview concerning current topics of interest. If your book falls into this category, you might expect a number of invitations. Don’t be hesitant to express to the potential interviewer your need to promote the book, not just talk about its content. If you have success in this area on a local level, build on that success to gain a more regional opportunity, contacting stations in larger cities. When you do, always refer to the interviews you’ve already had on local stations.
• CONFERENCE CENTERS: People who attend conferences on a regular basis are some of the most spiritually hungry people in our society. They are always looking for good books. Aside from your own church and its regular contacts, you might want to contact businessmen’s fellowships and similar ladies and young people’s groups. Every year people flock to summer camps, expecting new things from God. Especially in the South, there are many of these camps where you might gain exposure for your ministry and your book.

Press Releases

Newspapers usually find it very interesting when a local author is about to publish a book. Send a simple press release. In your accompanying letter, state that you would be happy to do an interview, if requested.

Regular Correspondence

If you are like many other authors, you have a lot of personal correspondence. Take advantage of this fact by enclosing a promotional piece with every letter you send out. Don’t take it for granted that all your regular correspondents know about the book, and don’t worry about a few repetitions over a period of weeks. This is a normal advertising tactic.

A Special Pamphlet

Since you are an author and have researched and written on a certain subject, your opinions of this subject are respected. Try writing a pamphlet on the subject and distributing it free of charge as a ministry. At the end of the message, you can advertise your book. The pamphlet will serve to get people’s interest. It will catch the attention of those who will read short stories or articles, but who wouldn’t normally pick up a book. Large publishers use this strategy, usually taking interesting excerpts from the book as the material for the pamphlet. These brochures can be added to convention packets, used as bulletin inserts, or sent as part of press releases to selected newspapers.

The press release may announce the availability of the free pamphlet for those who write. Readers are directed to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. This is a low-cost way of getting information about your book into the hands of the people who need it.

Now that more and more people are reading online, prepare your notices as emails and web articles that can be circulated, always including a link to your main sales site.

6. What Can You Do After Publication?

Once you have the physical book in your hand, quickly mail out copies that have been pre-ordered. The book is the best advertisement you could possibly use. You might enclose a note with the books that go out, thanking those who ordered in advance and telling them how to order additional copies and quoting volume prices.

Now the serious work of marketing begins. The theme of your advertising now changes from “SOON TO BE RELEASED” to “NEWLY RELEASED,” “RECENTLY RELEASED,” or something similar.At this point, the announcement letter, the ads in periodicals, the bulletin inserts, the special mailings, the press releases, the newspaper, radio and television interviews, the regular correspondence, the use of the special pamphlet, the social media outlets and web site contacts should be repeated—emphasizing that the book is now available. Those who have put off ordering may now act. 

Aside from these, there are additional measures that you should take:

Send Out Complimentary Copies

Since the book is the very best piece of advertising you could use, send complimentary copies to the following:

• People who have shown more than a casual interest in the book
• People who have a similar burden to that expressed in the book
• People who have the necessary influence to help promote the book

These will include many of those we have already mentioned: the key leaders, the pastoral groups, the radio and television program hosts, and the conference center leaders. But there are other possibilities. For instance: Offer to send two copies of the book to local Christian radio and television stations for review, along with information about yourself. Radio and television stations often use books as promotional items and might be interested in purchasing your book in volume. Consider giving the station a good discount (we suggest 50% to 60% if possible). Bless them, and they will be more likely to help you.

Send at least one copy of the book to several major national ministries. Begin with those who seem to be saying the same thing you are saying in the book, those you like particularly and would trust to distribute your book. Often, we especially like a certain ministry because we are of kindred spirits. Again, offer a good discount on the book. National ministries have large overheads, which they constantly need to meet.

Send copies to Christian magazines and periodicals for review. If they do a review of your book, that’s free advertising. Those in which you place your own ads should be the logical first targets, but consider others.

Some magazines don’t have a book review section, but they do have a book announcement section. Follow the instructions of the particular periodical for preparing the required ad copy.

Local Christian and civic organizations are often looking for good speakers. They are pleased that a local personality has published a book and will invite you to speak. Offer to send a free copy of the book to the organization’s officers. If you are invited to speak, you can put a plug in for your book during the talk.

Other Speaking Engagements

As Christians, the normal outlet of our ministry is through churches, youth groups, conferences, campmeetings, etc. Speaking engagements in these places can often be the greatest outlet for our books. When people hear us minister, they want to get the book so they can learn more.

Many of those who organize these activities and who are constantly looking for special speakers will not know that you are available. For many of us, it is not “in character” to promote ourselves as special speakers. Yet this is the way it is done.

Send a letter to those who organize such activities, mentioning the book and your availability to speak on the same or related subjects. Provide a phone number and email address where you can be reached, since most of these people are busy and do their scheduling either by phone or email. When they call or write, have your calendar ready so that you can accept or decline an invitation.

Book Parties

Parties are thrown for everything these days: Tupperware parties, Amway parties, even lingerie parties. Why should we shrink from using this very popular and effective means of marketing for our books?

Ask some good friends or family members to use their house as a gathering place. Let them invite their family members, neighbors and friends. Serve some refreshments. Then tell them about your book, how you received the message from the Lord, and how the publication came about. Discuss the major thrust of the book and what it will do for those who read it.

Solicit the help of those who attend the book party in promoting the book and put some type of promotional material into their hands (a pamphlet, for example). Offer to sign the book personally for anyone who would like it. Close by sending everyone to the book table to buy. Have information on volume discounts available in case anyone shows interest in purchasing multiple copies.

If you have close friends in other cities, they might want to organize such a party. You could use the opportunity to minister to their neighbors and friends. Many people will come to such events when they won’t go to church.

Book Signings

A modern term for a book party may be a book signing. Organize or have someone else organize it for you, and do all of the same things mentioned above. Local bookstores will do booksignings for you, but it is best for you to provide the books to them on consignment. 

Small Christian Newspapers

Church groups and/or small publishers often have a magazine in which ads of all types can be placed. Learn what is available in your community and others, the costs involved and how to take advantage of it. Those who read these newspapers are often pastors and other church leaders, heads of ministries, owners or operators of Christian bookstores and other interested individuals.

Create an Author Information Page on Amazon.com

Amazon.com allows each author to create an author information page. This can be very helpful when your titles pop up for reader’s to view. Don’t be too bashful to prepare such a page or to ask someone else to do it for you.

7. What About Selling to Bookstores?

With the large number of Christian books now on the market, bookstores face a terrible dilemma. It is literally impossible for them to carry every available book in stock. Most bookstores can’t even afford to carry every Bible available, let alone every book. The books that sell well for them (and help them pay the bills) are well-advertised books on timely subjects by well-known authors.

That doesn’t mean that your book can’t sell in bookstores. It just means that you may have to make an extra effort to see that they do. When we place you in the LSI system, your book automatically becomes available to every bookstore in America. But will they buy it? They have to have a compelling reason to do so.

If you have a Christian bookstore in your area, begin with that one. Call or, if possible, visit the purchasing agent and talk to him about your book. If you have invitations to do some radio or television interviews, you will be interviewed in a local newspaper, or will be speaking in some local churches, the bookstore owners may see that it’s to their advantage to carry your book.

Many bookstores may be reluctant to carry your book unless they have a larger-than-usual discount on it or are selling them on consignment. The standard bookstore discount is 40%. That may seem like a lot to some authors. You must remember, however, that the bookstore owner has to pay rent, salaries, utilities, insurance, and advertising. He needs a good discount in order to exist.

Some authors are offended when a bookstore owner orders only five copies. This is probably his average purchase per title. If you are doing enough promotion in the neighborhood, more will be sold. Let the owner know that he can order through Ingram Wholesale. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to provide bookstores with the possibility to return the books they order, and that may discourage some. Believe me, you cannot afford returns.

Pass by that store occasionally to see how sales are progressing and give them a little pep talk.

Sometimes local bookstores have ideas for promotions that you can do together. For example, you can advertise on radio, television and newspaper that you will be present in the store for a signing on a specific day. They love that. Perhaps you can share the cost of special posters to be placed in the store and in churches, advertising the book and the store. Ask the store owner for other ideas.

If you agree to leave books on consignment with a store, keep good records, and remember whom you spoke with. With many staff members coming and going, it can get confusing.

Another place you might explore the possibility of selling through bookstores is in any area where you regularly minister and are known. All the same things hold true in these cases.

Aside from Christian bookstores, other types of stores often carry books and magazines. Local grocery stores, convenience stores and newspaper stands sometimes would be happy to carry your book by the cash register if you are known locally. Consider offering these stores a greater-than-bookstore discount. Again, you may even want to put the books in there on consignment (if the vendor requires it). If nothing sells, you have lost nothing. You have to try. 

8. How Can You Get Your Books into the Hands of Distributors?

The New:
Fortunately, with your book in the LSI Print-On-Demand system, this is taken care of for you.  The corporate owner of LSI, Ingram Books, is the largest distributor of Christian books in the world.  Your books will also be available through the industry giant Baker & Taylor. So rest assured that you are taken care of with distributors. The discount we offer to bookstores (typically 40%) will cover distributors as well.
 
The Old:
Before the days of this wonderful system, we had to advise our authors as follows:

There are several national and international distributors whose ministry is getting your books into the hands of the people. These professionals deal with many thousands of titles, so their job is not easy. There are some things you can do to encourage them to take your book for distribution.

Begin advising distributors about your book before publication. In your letter, mention the title, the theme, something about yourself (but not your entire life’s story), your mailing address and phone number, the retail price of the book and the discount you offer.

The standard distributor’s discount is 55%. Many need more. Don’t be scandalized by that. Consider that the distributor will give the bookstore a minimum of 40% discount, that the distributor also has expenses and that he needs to show a small profit. They’re not cheating you. Marketing costs money.

Any number of things might encourage the distributor to take your book. If you already have been or will soon be exposed to the public through radio or television programs or through some form of magazine or newspaper article, tell the distributor about it.

Many people have a built-in market. (By that I mean that they are known and appreciated in certain circles, where their books will automatically sell well.) If that is your case, let the distributor know that.

Tell the distributor any other facts that will give him confidence that the purchase of your books will result in sales.

When you think sufficient time has passed after your first letter (about two or three weeks), give the distributor a call to ask if they got the letter and whether they have considered the book. Don’t be surprised if they are non-committal. Ask if they would like to receive a complimentary copy when the book is published. Be persistent. It may take several phone calls to get the attention you need. These are busy people.

When the cover is ready, repeat the process to those you feel are interested, this time enclosing the cover.

If distributors are still hesitant, you may need to offer a larger discount or to send them the books on consignment. It can get complicated, but these are the realities of the marketplace.

Keep a record on the people you deal with at the distributorship and ask for them personally when you call. Keep good records of how many books you send and on what basis. People forget and sometimes need to be reminded. If you have no record, you may also forget.

The Conclusion:
You can forget the old and embrace the new because you will be in the system. We must caution our authors, however, that even though your book is in the POD system, there is no guarantee that it will sell — through bookstores, through distributors or through online retailers. Unless you somehow create some interest in your book and people know it exists, no one will go into a brick and mortar bookstore or an online bookstore and ask for it. You, the author, need to create that interest.

9. Should You Employ the Services of a Publicist?

What is a publicist? According to Wikipedia, the online dictionary, “A publicist is a person whose job it is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album. Most top-level publicists work in private practice, handling multiple clients.” Publicists can be hired to promote a book.

What might a publicist do for you? For instance, they might get you radio or television interviews, and the interest those interviews generate could create more sales for your book. Why, then, is there any question?

• Most publicists don’t work cheap. The simplest package they offer, which usually consists of radio interviews you do by telephone from your home, will cost you several thousand dollars. Television interviews are even more expensive, and print media costs go on up the ladder. 
• Our experience with publicists has not been a productive one. In a former time many Christian radio and television stations were looking for good interviews and even did them free. Today, most Christian talk radio has given way to the more popular easy-listening music, so those who are still doing interviews are generally not Christian and are looking for a secular emphasis.

 If you can afford a publicist, then find a good one. Most of us can neither afford nor profit from their services.

10. What Is Our Conclusion About Marketing?

As a self-publisher, you are not without marketing tools. There is much that you can do. In the final analysis, however, no distributor or bookstore can guarantee the sale of your book. No catalog, no direct mailing effort can guarantee that it will reach its desired audience.

It is the consumer who finally decides, by buying or not buying your book, whether it is financially successful or not.

With the odds stacked against you because of the proliferation of well-advertised books by well-known authors banging into each other in the marketplace, you need two key elements to help you find the desired market:

1. You need patience.
2. You need prayer.

It may take time for you to be known as an author and for people to want your books. It doesn’t always happen with one interview or one ad or one letter. It takes a consistent effort over a period of time.

If your share of the market at first seems to be largely localized, realize that this is not unusual. Making your work known regionally, nationally, and internationally takes more time. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t gain the recognition you desire overnight.

If you have a localized market, thank God for a market. It’s better to have a localized market than no market at all. If you try to promote your book beyond the borders of your current outreach, you may simply exhaust your financial resources and end your publishing ministry. Let it grow naturally.

You may be influential in only one region or in several isolated regions. Be happy for your influence in those regions and allow the Spirit of God to expand you into other areas.

Where does God want these materials distributed? If He gave you the message, helped you to put it together into a book (a phenomenal task), and helped you to get it published, He can help you to market it successfully.

Seek His face concerning every aspect of marketing. Ask Him to give you wisdom about who and when and how and where. He is faithful and will show you strategies that we may never have heard of before.

As your ministry grows, let all your published materials promote each other. Mention the books you have published on the tapes you send out. Take a special page or two at the back of the next book you produce to advertise the availability of your tape albums and any other ministry tools you may have, including other book titles.

You might include loose inserts in all the books you mail out, advertising other items. Such inserts are not permitted in books sold through distributors.

If your book seems to be attracting more than casual interest, consider submitting it for publication by a major national publisher. It happens, and you have nothing to lose by trying. There are several ways to choose a publisher for the submission of a manuscript. If you like a particular line of books or you see books that are related to your theme, that might give you a place to begin. Write a letter, noting the success your book has enjoyed and inviting comment. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Several authors have found that their writing skills have given them an open door to write as a regular columnist for rural or small newspapers. Sometimes they can use excerpts from the book as material for the column. One column may lead to another. Don’t limit God.

Finally, how do you measure success? The definition of success varies a lot from individual to individual. For many, success is measured only by the bottom line. Have enough books been sold to require a reprint? Is the profit margin acceptable? These considerations are not unimportant, especially if you have other books you want to publish.

Others have a very different view of success. If they can just sell enough books to cover the initial costs involved in the project, they are happy. Some are not concerned at all with the bottom line. Just the fact that they have been obedient to God in preparing and publishing His message is enough for them. They leave the rest in His hands.

Some gauge the success of the book by the number of people to whom it ministers. If, as a result of the book, lives are changed, marriages are mended, or church life improves, who cares about the bottom line?

Others feel successful because of the many new contacts they have made through the book. They may not have a great profit margin, but many doors of ministry have opened to them, and they feel fulfilled in that.

Each person must be satisfied in his own heart that he has done what he was intended to do and that the methods he has used to promote the book are those that the Lord indicated.

I recommend to you that you come back, from time to time, and re-read this material. Each time you do, you will be reaching new levels of understanding in your own publishing ministry, new thoughts will be quickened to you, and your own creative energies will be ignited.

We hope that these suggestions will help you in your publishing venture and will make it both financially and spiritually rewarding. If we can assist you in the publication and promotion of your book, please don’t hesitate to call on us. We want to help you to be a blessing to all those around you.