Saturday, May 23, 2015

Unexpected Marketing Venue


I'm delighted to share with those of you who publish non-fiction books a way of marketing I hadn't anticipated when I published my Montana trilogy,
Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II and III on Kindle.

My 'education' derived from happenstance. While researching her genealogy, Karen Drain, a stranger who'd never heard of me discovered members of her family tree are mentioned in Volume I. She contacted me by email.

Tip: Promote your book also in the genealogy genre.

Subsequently, Karen purchased a DVD of the three books in .pdf format which I sell for $50. I include permission to print the books. They're selling faster than the Kindle editions. My cost is minimal: a DVD, a label, and a simple pasteboard mailer [available at Wal Mart for less than $1.] Postage depends on the postal clerk’s judgement call ~ approximately $.99 to $2.50.
 
Karen wrote,
"I received my DVD today and I cannot wait to begin reading [on her large screen computer]! My hope is to print out a chapter at a time and send it to my Great Uncle Jack. We will print them for personal use for Jack. My thought is that he will have something to look forward to every week as I send him one or two chapters at a time. I believe I mentioned that Jack is 91 and he doesn't even have a working television, let alone a computer. His phone is not a fancy one either so hard copy is the only way for him to read your book. I want to send a few chapters at a time so he has something to look forward to and he will check his mail more often than he does! Thank you so much for sharing all of your research with me!"

Later, she shared this,

"Mona, I have been reading your book and have discovered an interesting coincidence. You have written that in 1909, a smallpox outbreak inundated Heron, Montana. Coincidentally, Flora Emma Honberger Dingley died in January of that
year."
Tip: Maximize exposure through blogs and websites. Make it easier for those using the Internet to find your books, and entice them with a vignette about someone’s ancestor in the books.

I'll include Karen’s tidbit in human interest stories I post about this experience on
North Palouse Washington e-newscast , and on my 21st Century Old Folks Home blogspot.

I'll also maximize publicity by publishing the family information Karen shared on my
Bygone Montanans blogspot in an excerpt about her Honeberger and Dingley family members from Volume I.

I expect another surge in book sales, both Kindle and .pdf copies.

Tip: Consider selling .pdf copies of your books.

Include these strategies in your marketing toolkit and increase your profits, too.