| When my first book (The Cliffhanger) was published | | | | saying, "This has got to be the best thing I've ever |
| nearly seven years ago, I had high hopes of its | | | | seen. This lady wants you to go buy her book. I say |
| success. I mean I am, after all, a PR person - so how | | | | everyone should rush out and buy it." And everyone |
| hard could it be to market fiction? Granted, up till that | | | | did. That afternoon my book shot up to the #1 spot on |
| point I hadn't taken on a lot of fiction - well, to be | | | | Amazon, where it stayed for three months. It even |
| honest I hadn't taken any fiction. Fiction is tough and | | | | beat out Harry Potter (which was #4 at that time), yet |
| everyone knows it. But now I was going to get my | | | | Harry got the movie. Go figure. The point is that finding |
| chance, and what better way to start than on my own | | | | an "anchor" will help you push your campaign. This |
| book? When The Cliffhanger hit the #1 spot on | | | | works for book events, too. If you've written a crime |
| Amazon it was no accident, it was a creative push | | | | book, why not "theme" your event with DO NOT |
| that got it to #1 and ironically, the pitch that prompted | | | | CROSS Police line tape (if you can get your hands on |
| this Amazon soar had nothing to do with the book. | | | | it) or some other prop? The key is to be unique, carry |
| Curious? Then read on. When I was first pushing The | | | | your theme throughout your marketing and hang your |
| Cliffhanger I did all the things a good fiction author is | | | | star on unique ways to promote your book. But the |
| supposed to do. I sent out review copies, created a | | | | second piece of this, the piece that's become all the |
| stunning press release, scheduled book events. All of | | | | rage recently, is the visual aspect of your book. Now |
| these things were great, but they didn't give it the | | | | I'm not talking about the cover, I'm talking about the |
| momentum the book really needed to succeed. The | | | | movie. Yes, you read right. Your book, a movie. Now |
| book signings were good, but a tad boring, the press | | | | I'm not talking about a full-blown two hour motion |
| was interested, but not enough to feature me more | | | | picture. I'm talking about a movie trailer. Most recently |
| than once. I knew I needed to do something, but let's | | | | several major publishers have started using book |
| face it, when you're writing romance it's tough to find a | | | | trailers to promote the fiction books they publish. Why? |
| pitch that has the stickiness to it to, well, stick. When | | | | Because we are a very visual society, and if you're |
| you're taking a fiction book to market you need to | | | | trying to distill the core of your book into a |
| have more to hang your star on than a groovy story - | | | | thirty-second elevator pitch, why not distill that same |
| you need something the media can sink their teeth into, | | | | information into a trailer? Studies have shown that |
| you need grit. That 'grit' is the reality piece of your | | | | book trailers can increase book sales in excess of |
| story. The truth is there's always a thread of reality | | | | 30%. This is why most of the major publishers are |
| that weaves through each piece of fiction. Find your | | | | jumping on the book trailer bandwagon. Still not |
| reality and own it, if need be, craft your pitch around it. | | | | convinced? Check out this book trailer of Candlewood |
| Let's say you wrote a book about a woman | | | | Lake and see if it doesn't entice you to buy the book: |
| overcoming domestic abuse. You've done your | | | | Now here's a short list of tricks we've used to |
| research, you know the stats, in fact, you might even | | | | promote fiction: * For a series of detective novels we |
| be considered an expert. Why not then turn a portion | | | | worked with, we told the author that instead of pitching |
| of your campaign into a domestic violence pitch? The | | | | the book, we were going to pitch some of the intriguing |
| same can be said for just about anything. They key | | | | unsolved mysteries. He became the unsolved mystery |
| here is to find that grain of reality and see if it's | | | | expert and when he did a book event, that's what he |
| interesting enough to create a new peg. Once you've | | | | talked about. People were enthralled, and it also got |
| found your hook, own it. What I mean is become the | | | | him quite a bit of radio, too! * For a chick lit book last |
| expert on that hook and familiarize yourself with ever | | | | year the author had one of her recipes (for Orgasmic |
| statistic, every study and every new trend. When The | | | | cookies) come to life when she partnered with a local |
| Cliffhanger was released I soon realized that | | | | cookie company. The result? We had people writing |
| marketing romantic fiction was only going to take me | | | | us for copies of the book just so they could try this |
| so far, but marketing the method of printing was more | | | | fabulous cookie. * And what better place for a |
| unique. Why? Well, The Cliffhanger was one of the | | | | romance reading than a romantic winery? If you live |
| first books in the San Diego area to be published via | | | | near some wineries, don't hesitate to stop by there |
| print-on-demand. Hence, that became my story. Until | | | | and ask if they'd like to invite you in for a reading. Have |
| the Presidential race of 2000. Now that was an | | | | you ever considered partnering with another author |
| entirely different story. No doubt many of you will | | | | who has a similar title? Last year, I consulted with two |
| remember the counts, recounts, chads, and hanging | | | | authors who'd written books about Paris. I decided |
| chads, right? Well, one morning I woke up to find our | | | | they might want to meet and partner up for events. |
| local paper with the following headline: "Cliffhanger." I | | | | They did, and the result was magnifique! Everyone |
| knew right then that if I couldn't find a hook to hang my | | | | loved the "evening in Paris" they'd created, and |
| star on that angle, I might as well hang up my | | | | needless to say, they got lots of bookings! The trick is, |
| marketing hat forever. It was at 3 a.m. that I woke up | | | | with all the fiction out there, you have to find a way to |
| with an idea so stunning, I knew it had to work. I raced | | | | be different. Selling the story isn't always going to sell |
| out to the office supply store the minute it opened to | | | | your book, but entertaining the reader or selling how |
| pick up several packs of clear labels. I got out the | | | | the story affects the reader or how it can benefit |
| postcards I had printed with the book cover on them | | | | them will. Find your anchor, hook, or story - and you've |
| and stuck on labels with the following slogan: Getting | | | | found an audience. Becoming a marketing story-teller |
| tired of the Presidential cliffhanger? Try this one. The | | | | isn't as hard as some people make it out to be, and |
| Cliffhanger, a novel. No politics involved. I mailed 500 | | | | whoever said fiction can't be marketed just didn't |
| postcards out that day while praying the election | | | | know how to tell a great story. |
| wouldn't get called. I mailed these postcards to | | | | Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author |
| everyone in the media I'd ever contacted. Ever! Days | | | | Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media |
| after my mass-mailing, I was walking through my living | | | | relations expert whose company has developed some |
| room, when suddenly I spotted my book cover on the | | | | of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. |
| screen. I was stunned. The local TV anchor was | | | | |