The following interview was done several years ago on an AOL writer's forum.
The introduction and questions are from that forum.
Forum Intro: For years, John Kremer has been the undisputed
king of book marketing. His classic 1001 Ways to Market Your Book is a
print and electronic marketing staple for all writers who are serious about
selling their work. And his remarkable website, John Kremer's
Book Marketing Update is a feast for web
surfer eyes.
Qu: I'm marketing a nonfiction book about parenting. Any first-line
suggestions about best marketing approaches?
JK: Get on Oprah. No, you focus on the parenting magazines. And you
really get them to know you so they rely upon you as an expert, perhaps as a
columnist. So you're actually in there every month. That's the ideal. There's a
new book out called Guerilla Marketing for Writers. And one of the most
important things they talk about is having your platform. A column is a
platform. It's someplace where people can find you and know about you all the
time. It's like my newsletter.
Qu: I'm working with a small (but very prestigious) literary press. My
collection of short stories comes out in September. It's just my luck that this
is a huge year for short story collections, so it'll be hard to stand out in
that milieu. My publisher is excellent at what they do, but I still wonder if I
could do to something to increase my visibility. (My modest goal is to sell
through the first printing, but it would be nice to do better than that.) What do you suggest?
JK: The most important thing you can do is get out there and speak.
Read from your short story collection wherever anyone will listen to you. So
start locally and build from there.
Qu: Where would you suggest reading or speaking at to start with?
JK: Obviously bookstores are the best places, but also libraries,
rotary clubs, garden clubs, speaker's or poet nights at cafes.
Qu: How many books and of what type (besides this one) have you published?
JK: I've published around 12 books, all nonfiction except for one
children's story. Three books have been published by other publishers. The
others were self-published. On my website, I have a
Self-Publishing Hall of
Fame. It's a really nice collection of stories about people who have
successfully self-published. Very worth reading for the inspiration alone.
Qu: You said nonfiction. Do they deal with marketing too?
JK: Most of them deal with marketing, but not all of them. I did one
on movie trivia. I did one on optical illusions. I did one called Celebrate
Today. You can find out more about it at
http://www.celebratetoday.com.
Qu: Do you have any tips on approaching a bookstore about a signing?
JK: Locally, you'd talk to the store's event coordinator. That's the
person responsible for putting together the events. You don't want to do just a
signing, you want to do a talk get people involved. One neat thing about
speaking is that it gets people involved with you and your book. That's the
beginning of creating what I call the word-of-mouth army. 80% of all books are
sold by word-of-mouth. You have to create an army to help you sell your book.
The minute someone hears you speak, they've been promoted to sergeant.
Qu: How do you market a book that can only be printed when demanded?
JK: The primary way you're going to do that is via the Internet. You
should have your own website if you have a POD book. And you're going to create
lots of links and, ideally, some kind of continuity device. In other words, a
newsletter, something like that where people have continuing contact with you.
For example, I have a book
marketing tip-of-the-week email newsletter that goes out every week.
People are invited to subscribe to that. It's free. The most important thing
you can have is that continual contact with your customers. Even if you only
have one book, you still want to create that army. And one of the key ways to
create the army is to have regular contact with the army. That's the way they
become your champions. If the word army is too military for you, think of it as
a circus parade, fan club, or party.
The other thing you can do for a POD book is to speak or do other
appearances, but you'll just have to buy copies of the book to bring with you to
sell. And I would recommend having a stock of 20 or 30 copies always on hand so
when people call you or track you down in the middle of the night and say I
want your book, you'll have them on hand.
Qu: You say a website is important for a POD book. Is it doubly
important if you have an e-book? Would you do anything different for the
electronically published authors?
JK: Yes. It's probably triply important because e-books are still not
mainstream. There is still not a real market for e-books, other than on the web.
That will change, but it's not there yet. I think the key to any author's
success, no matter how they're published, is creating that word-of-mouth army.
They may have to think about how they are going to go about doing it that fits
the way they are published.
Qu: What suggestions would you have for a Print on Demand book that
may differ from one from a big publishing company?
JK: There isn't anything like a unique book. Every book has an
audience. You have to find or define or create the audience. And then market to
it. I can say that I'm an incredible believer in the web. 50% of my income and
business comes from my web site. And I'm a firm believer in e-books. A lot of
what I sell is sold electronically.
Qu: We've talked about book signings and speaking. We haven't talked
about reviews. Are reviews an important part of marketing?
JK: Reviews are important, but even more important are interviews,
book excerpts, and other features. I would much rather have an article or an
interview in a magazine than a review, because then I can sell my message much
more effectively than I ever could by some goofball reviewing my book. Ask
yourself how many people read the book reviews in People magazine vs how
many people read the articles. One thing in terms of publicity: Don't focus on
the book, focus on what the book can do for people. Will it entertain them,
inform them, inspire them? And HOW? Most important, what will it do to make
their life better? A feature is worth five reviews.
Qu: What is the greatest obstacle for new writers?
JK: Their own fear and their own laziness. The most important thing
you can do is to keep knocking on doors. Keep following up. And when someone
says no, you hear, Yes, but.... When they say no, what they're really saying
is, I'd like to say yes, but I've got a problem. They need more information or
more inspiration in order to do the story or take action on your book.
There are three basic rules to publicity success: 1) Follow up. 2) Follow up.
And 3) Follow up. I stole that from someone else. But it's true. The reality is,
that's why most people fail. They don't follow up.
Qu: Is there a way to get the person saying NO to say YES?
JK: What you should do is to go back to them with another angle. Or
you could offer them some additional information or additional inspiration. One
thing that happens in publicity is if there is a number of people saying, This
is good, everybody wants to join the parade. It's called the bandwagon effect.
And everybody wants to join. You see it all the time. The New York Times
does a review and every other newspaper in the country does a review. That's the
bandwagon effect.
Qu: In other words, if you get a no, you should: retreat, regroup, and
hit them from another angle.
JK: Right.
Qu: How can one go about getting their book recognized overseas?
JK: That's going to be totally Internet. The Internet is the most
effective way to reach overseas. Fifteen years ago, I used to tell people to get
on the Internet for that reason. Make your website foreign friendly. Do it by
telling stories from overseas, by showing that your book isn't just US-centric.
All book marketing, in fact all marketing, ultimately consists of building
relationships. And if you understand that one principal, you'll be successful in
marketing books, no matter what format they come in.
When you really think about it, what I'm talking about is simply this: Making
friends. And once you start thinking of it that way, marketing is no longer
something to be feared, It's actually something that I have fun with. Because
we've all had this talent of making friends since we were little kids. And who
among us could not use a few new friends?
Qu: How important is marketing if you publish fiction the
old-fashioned way? Doesn't the publisher do the marketing?
JK: It doesn't matter if it's fiction, it doesn't matter if it's the
new fashion or old fashioned way. You're still involved in the marketing and
you're going to have to be. Every once in a while you can be a Tom Wolfe and
never show up anywhere. But for most of us, we have to show up and have people
see us, hear us, know us, and build that word or mouth army.
In fact, it's more important with fiction than with nonfiction, because it's
hard to use a hook with fiction. If somebody wants to stop smoking, they'll buy
a book about not smoking. But fiction, that's entertainment, spread purely by
word of mouth. Your friend tells you if it's a good book to read.
Qu: How do you handle requests for your book if your contract with the
publisher forbids you to sell books directly?
JK: Why would they do that? Why would any publisher ever demand such a
contract? The author is their best salesperson. Go back and renegotiate. Tell
them I told you to. If they have a problem, tell them to call me. No sane
publisher would ever shut out their author.
Qu: We started late but we must end this wonderful evening. John,
thanks for coming and sharing your wisdom with us. Do you have any final
comments you'd like to share?
JK: Thanks for having me. Remember relationships creating
relationships; not just with your customers but with bookstores, booksellers,
the media. Create a database of 100 people to stay in touch with (I call this
database the Kremer 100) people you want
to keep regular contact with once a month to help sell your book. If 100 is too
many, do 50, 25, whatever you can handle. The key is keep in touch with them,
contact them at least once a month. Tell them something new about your book.
Remind them that you're there as an expert if they need someone to interview.
Thanks again...get out there and make lots of friends. I enjoyed being on here
tonight. You're all sergeants in my army now. Enjoy!
