Summary: 1) Product (Book)<br> <br> * This is the most important P. Good marketing helps a bad product fail faster.<br> * The question is not “is this book good” the question is “is this the kind of book people would want to buy and then read”<br> * Every product has a life cycle. This is particularly true for fiction. Old fiction does not generally sell well. People are willing to pay a premium to read a book that their friends are also reading at that same time. A short trip to your discount store will show you shelf after shelf of $1 books that are only a few years old.<br> * Product mix. Focused vs general brand. Complementary products. In fiction the best way to do this is to write a series of books. Book #1 helps sell Book #2 and vice versa.<br> <br> 2) Price<br> <br> * All prices are relative. A good deal is all about how a book is priced in comparison with other books. How much does an eBook cost?<br> * Price communicates value.<br> * The problem with racing to the bottom is that you just might win.<br> * You have to consider your product mix while picking your price. So it may make sense to price the first book in a series cheap or free to suck people into buying the later books in the series at full price. <br> <br> 3) Promotion<br> <br> * When most people think about marketing, all they think about is promotion. All advertising is marketing, not all marketing is advertising. All ham is pork, not all pork is ham.<br> * This is how you tell potential readers about your book.<br> * Promotion always costs either time or money and often both.<br> * If you are self publishing, you need to set aside money for promotion. Product and price alone will not make your book a success.<br> * Find a news hook for your book for some free PR.<br> * A sales team for your book is also part of promotion.<br> <br> 4) Place<br> <br> * This P is where most self published authors really fail.<br> * How convenient is it to buy your book?<br> * Where can I buy your book?<br> * Q: What is the most important for your book to be? A: The airport bookstore.<br> * Getting into more places requires both sales and distribution.<br> <br> 5) Purple Cow<br> A few years ago, Marketing Guru Seth Godin suggested that a 5th P be added called a Purple Cow.<br> <br> * Drive down the road, see a purple cow, what do you do?<br> * How remarkable is your book?<br> * How is it different from other books?<br> * What about your books makes people want to talk about it? (Cosemear)<br> * Purple Cow effects whether your book “goes viral” or not. Most books are not purple cows.<br> <br> Sponsor:<br> <br> * <a href="http://www.authormedia.com/mybooktable/" target="_blank">MyBookTable</a> use coupon code novelmarketing to get 10% off.<br> <br> <br>
