The Excerpt Approach to Book Promotion
Publishing book excerpts is a great promotional tool for both fiction and nonfiction authors. You can publish an excerpt on your website, on your publisher’s website, or on sites dedicated to book excerpts (the many genre sites are particularly good for fiction).
Other lucrative options include offering your excerpt to targeted websites, ezines, print publications, or anthologies–either as an exact excerpt or reformatted as an article. You can offer excerpts directly to your targets or have them come to you by indicating the availability of excerpts and articles in your online media kit. I’ve received several “out of the blue” excerpt offers this way.
For example, the podcasting chapter in The Web-Savvy Writer was excerpted in both Writer’s Weekly, a high-traffic ezine, and Business Strategies, a print publication. Book content that I converted to article format and posted to my website will appear in a writer’s anthology this summer.
Tags: book excerptHow Important Are Amazon Sales
A reader recently wrote me asking about the importance of Amazon sales rank. Here’s my two cents on the Amazon sales rank issue:
- Your Amazon rank is important, but it doesn’t represent the entire picture of a book’s success. For example, some of my most popular books sold the majority of copies through channels other than Amazon. Many books do very well in bookstores, in direct sales to libraries, in nontraditional markets, and in other formats such as ebooks.
- Some authors recommend not selling ebook versions or autographed copies on your website in order to funnel all sales through Amazon. Although this will spike your sales rank at times, I feel it’s a disservice to readers who might prefer an electronic version or the personalized touch of an autographed book. In addition, it eliminates a viable income stream for the author (ebooks are far more profitable than print books on a per-book basis).
- Remember to compare your sales rank to true competitors, not to all books. Some niche books will never have a low sales rank. New books usually have brisker sales than books published more than a year ago. If you want to do some analysis try TitleZ or Charteous (enter your ASIN or your book title in the Search field).
- Focus your efforts on quality writing backed by solid book promotion that generates a steady stream of sales. Avoid the temptation to participate in “overnight Amazon bestseller” schemes.
The Greatest Mystery: Making a Bestseller
Here’s a link to an interesting New York Times article that discusses the enigma that is the publishing industry: The Greatest Mystery: Making a Bestseller.
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About the Author
I'm a freelance writer and author specializing in business technology.
