Chicken Scratchings

by Bill Ruesch

If you have the creative ability to write a book you already have the fundamental skills necessary to sell the book.

What you may not have is self-confidence.

Three book marketing truths worthy of careful consideration:

• Books don’t sell themselves. Despite what you may believe, books are sold by people not bookstores. Even the Bible, the best selling book in history, has to be sold. You don’t believe it? What are they doing in churches every week? Promoting the reading of the bible which increases sales. Think of divinity schools as bible sales training for ministers.

• Who has the most to gain and the most to lose if your book fails? Come on, if you don’t have the answer to this one, you probably believe that denial is a river in Africa (sorry, it’s an old joke and I just couldn’t resist tossing it in).

• Your book is your baby–who loves it the most? You gave birth to this book. You know what you had to go through to bring it into this world. Who, but you, will be its most powerful spokesman?

To Start You Don’t Have to Look Any Further than Your Own Backyard.

In addition to confidence, what is the single most important ability you as writer already possess to move your book?

Creativity

I read a story some years ago about a young copywriter applying for a job at an advertising agency. The competition for the position was brisk and he knew it, so instead of mailing in the typical resume he boxed up a can of dog food with a note attached that read, “Please hire me so I don’t have to eat any more of this.”

He got the job.

You can tap the creative marvel inside of you. You proved that by producing a book. Now is the time to dig deep into that same genius that spawned the book and create a way to promote it. The competition is brisk (see blog post, 15 Stacks of Books Taller than the Empire State Building, what can you do to rise above the pack and get noticed?

Remember from the last post that enough books are published in the US every year to build 15 stacks of books taller than the Empire State Building. Where will your book be in a stack if you don’t noticed? If you sit by the phone waiting for Oprah to call–forget about it!

Being creative DOES NOT mean to disregard the usual book marketing methods like arranging book signing events, getting yourself on TV and/or radio, utilizing social networking avenues, selling your book to family and friends. Don’t dismiss selling to family and friends. It may feel awkward or uncomfortable, but I figured out that if I could pre-sell 100 copies of my upcoming book, Whistlin’ Salamander, it would just about cover my upfront expenses. I have enough personal associations to accomplish this first goal. What about you?

We at The Red Hen Association would love to hear from you about your personal experiences. What unusual methods have you employed to bring your book to the forefront? How successful was it? You can add your comments to the comment section at the end of this post, or email me at bill@redhenassociation.com.