Marketing Advice

KnowledgeBase > Publishing FAQ > Marketing Advice

  1. Check out Marketing Central.
  2. Assign an ISBN. An International Standard Book Number is a machine-readable, 10-digit or 13-digit identification number that allows publishers, libraries, and book dealers to locate a book so they can order it. Lulu offers two Distribution services, which get your book into distribution channels so that book retailers like Amazon, B&N, and Borders can sell your book if they choose to. For a summary of the Distribution services and pricing information, see the Distribution FAQ; to learn more about ISBNs and how to use them, see ISBN FAQ.
  3. Search Engine Marketing. Tips for getting listed in search engines are ubiquitous on the Web. One comprehensive list of tips can be found at a site called Search Engine Watch.
  4. Micro-market to niche audiences. The Internet is the best medium in history for finding and developing groups of people with common interests, no matter how obscure. It is up to you to figure out who the niche audiences are for your book.

    Example of micro-marketing
    Let’s say, for example, you’ve written a novel set in Savannah, Georgia, about the romance that blossoms between an elderly man and woman who meet one day while walking their chihuahuas in one of the city’s stately parks. The novel includes flashbacks to the Savannah of the 1940s, when both protagonists were young teenagers living on opposite sides of town, lonely and longing for connection, oblivious to one another’s existence, but by coincidence adopting their first chihuahua puppies from the same litter. As older people, they meet for the first time through their shared love for the little dogs. They realize, as they slowly share their life stories and fall in love with one another, that their current pets, the distant descendants of those first puppies, are related to one another. What groups contain individuals who might be willing to buy such a novel without knowing anything about the author and without any reviews? Well, chihuahua-lovers, for one. Senior citizens who enjoy romance novels might be another. People interested in the history of Savannah, Georgia, might provide a third group to target. But how?

    1. Draft a one-page press release describing your book. There are lots of places on the Internet to get tips on writing press releases, among them the Writer's Resource Center, where John Hewitt has an article on "Writing Effective Press Releases". You might also want to draft a more informal letter, one that summarizes your book in a pithy manner, which you can customize for different groups.
    2. Use the internet, the phone book, the Savannah Visitors' Bureau - any resource you think might be useful - to locate groups, forums, clubs, and the like that center on the niche interests you have identified. Look for the names of journalists who have written articles on these topics. Compile a list of contacts that includes as many specific names as possible (and email or snail mail addresses), administrators of forums, etc.
    3. For the clubs, groups, and internet forums, send your informal letter and inquire if there is any possibility of sending out an announcement to the members describing a book that might be of interest to them. For members of the press, you might send a short note and attach the press release.
    4. Develop your press release and your biographical statement into a media kit that includes at least snippets from any coverage your book receives, even if it is just a review in the Atlanta Chihuahua Club monthly newsletter. You can provide this kit to bookstores who might want to schedule a reading and book-signing, and also to members of the media who show an interest in reviewing your book.
    5. Be sure as you go along to develop an email mailing list of people interested in your topics. Email the people on your list when you do interviews, have readings or publish a new work. Email is a cost-free way of promoting your work, but remember two things: guard your email addresses carefully (Don't sell them or give them away.), and always offer people the option of removing their names from your list. Also remember when doing email marketing to always end by urging your audience to go to your Lulu storefront to purchase your book.
    6. Offer to write reviews of books with audiences similar to yours. In your byline, make sure you mention your book.
    7. Register with a media resource directory as a subject matter expert. That means that reporters looking to do a story on, say, Savannah or chihuahua lovers, might call you to comment for the article. When you are interviewed, always mention your book. PR Newswire and Bizwire are two of the many organizations that offer lists of subject matter experts to journalists. Signing up to be in these media resource directories sometimes costs money, but can pay off well in the long run as a marketing tool.

How do I get a Buy Now button for my personal website?

Would you like a Buy Now at Lulu button for your personal website, newsletter, or emails? We have a variety of button styles, so you can choose one that fits in with the look and feel of your site or your communications. What could be better than an attractive button that lets your readers jump from your website or email straight to the spot on Lulu where they can buy your book?

How to get a button:

  • Make sure you have a project in Published status.
  • Click on the Promote icon ( promote icon ) next to your project.
  • You'll be taken to Marketing Central.
  • From there, click Buttons and Banners.
  • You'll see a list of Buy Now buttons in styles that range from classic buy now to barcode to pink buy now
  • Just copy and paste the code beneath the style you choose into your website, and your visitors can click their way from your site straight to purchasing your book. Awesome, huh?

Last updated: 2008-05-06 15:09:40 | Back to top

How do I create a Mini-Storefront?

A Mini-Storefront lets you showcase published work on pages that you control, such as your personal Web site, blog, or social networking page.

This bit of code provides a preview of your work, a brief description, and a >Buy Now< button.

  1. Click the Widgets link in the Get your very own sales tools section of the Sell tab to go to the Widgets page.
  2. Click the >Get started< button to open the Mini-Storefront wizard.
  3. Click the >Create widget< button associated with the method you want to use to create the widget and open the Customize step. Complete as directed within the page.
  4. Select and copy the code from the text box in the Get the code step. This is the HTML that Lulu created for you.
  5. Edit the Web page where you want to add the widget, pasting the code where you want the Mini-Storefront to display in the page.

Last updated: 2008-05-06 15:09:40 | Back to top

Optimizing your content for search engines

One of the best free promotional tools you will find for your content is high search engine placement. Many Lulu creators have noticed how well their content ranks on the search engine Google. Lulu focuses heavily on making sure our creators get high rankings in search engine responses, so we thought we'd pass along some useful tips on how you can see the same results. Some of these great rankings come from Lulu's behind-the-scenes engineering magic, but most of it comes down to how we store the titles you give your published content. Google does the rest, and many creators have found the results to be downright amazing. If you do nothing else to promote your published content, just do this. It's easy and free!

Last updated: 2008-05-06 15:09:40 | Back to top

Blogs as a Marketing Tool

Blog as a research tool A web user will often do much research into a topic or product before attempting to purchase online. Keeping a blog is a great way to help them conduct this research. Your potential customer gets to learn more about you by your comments in the blog. They get a feel for who you are, as well as your interests. It helps to build a relationship between you and your customers, which makes them more comfortable about purchasing, especially if you are an unknown but aspiring author.

Blog for search engine placement From the search engine point of view, providing the crawlers with regular fresh content encourages them to come back more often. As they develop a routine of returning and indexing new content, you increase your site's chances of ranking higher over time.

Many times a new article or blog entry will temporarily rise to the very top of the search engine results. This has the effect of driving traffic directly to your blog and ultimately to your storefront.

Linking your blog to your storefront As you publish your content, be sure to mention it in your blog. Significant milestones should also be mentioned there (such as "I just sold my 100th book. Be sure to get your copy here.") with a link to the storefront and/or content listing. You might want to provide a link to your storefront on every post.

Last updated: 2008-05-06 15:09:40 | Back to top

Last updated: 2008-05-06 15:09:31

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