Who is Joanna Penn and what does she know about marketing books?
I’ve never met Joanna in person, but I consider her a good friend. An internet friend. A modern day version of the old Penn-Pal, only without stamps.
Joanna is the reason I can brag about being an Amazon Top 10 BestSelling writer. I wrote a good book, which is job #1 for all authors, but it was Joanna who taught me how to market it. And without good marketing, my good book would never have made the good list.
Joanna is the London, England, based creator of www.TheCreativePenn.com; consistently rated a Top 10 internet site for writers. For five years she’s led the pack in giving back her hard-earned knowledge to the international writing community and she’s got one hell of a loyal following.
Joanna is also one hell of a good thriller writer and I’m honored to work with her as a technical resource and Beta-Reader, but what I really want to brag about is her new release… How To Market A Book.
So what is ‘Marketing’ – Really?
Joanna says “Marketing is about sharing what you love with people who truly value hearing about it.”
So how do you go about doing that?
Well, How To Market A Book covers an extensive range of marketing principles, strategies, and tactics:
Part 1: Marketing Principles
Includes myths, how to balance your time, ‘co-opetition’, and generosity.
Part 2: Prerequisites for Success
Understand yourself and your target market, professional editing and cover design, your book page on the retailer websites, pricing, and the use of free.
Part 3: No Platform Needed – Short-term Marketing
How to get book reviews, paid advertising, using traditional media and tips for TV, radio, and press releases.
Part 4: The Author Platform – Long-term Marketing
What ‘platform’ is and why it’s a good thing, author branding, your website, list-building and email marketing, content marketing and blogging, audio and podcasting, video and book trailers, social networking, professional speaking, and becoming an author-entrepreneur.
Part 5: Launching Your Book
How launching has changed with the digital revolution; soft launches, launch spikes, post launch and relaunch, as well as lessons learned from some major book launches.
There are some short-term tactics for those who want to kick up immediate sales, but the focus of the book is more about instilling values and marketing principles that will help your long-term career as a writer.
Joanna goes beyond selling books. The methods in this guide will take you from being an author into professional speaking, making money from other products, and creating opportunities that you can’t even imagine yet.
How To Market A Book is just that – a How-To on what works… and what doesn’t… in social media, presentations, audio & podcasts, brand-building, and on-line relationship building. She tells you exactly what algorithms, keywords, metadata, and SEOs are, and she has a particularly juicy part ‘Meat, Hook & Format – What Really Baits a Reader’.
I’m a big Joanna Penn fan and I love bragging about the effect she’s had on me. Her on-line mentoring and personal generosity helped my debut novel open in the Top 10 on Amazon and I’ve steadily built my blogsite and social media contacts based on her teachings.
It’s working for me. It’ll work for you. I can’t say enough about the benefits you’ll get from How To Market A Book.
Think about marketing the next time you pick up a Penn.