Category Archives: Advice

Gone are the days when a writer must pound the pavement, toting hardcopies of their book and media kits from one book reviewer to another, one bookstore or news outlet to the next in order to get exposure.

The times they are a-changin’ when it comes to book marketing. As a published author, you would be wise to tune into the changing methods by which news outlets and bookstores are getting information and exploit these changes in your marketing efforts. This is where a Virtual Book Tour can help.

A Virtual Book Tour can give you an edge in gaining visibility for your book physical distance, and time and budget constraints, don’t allow for an actual physical tour. When you can’t travel from place to place, a Virtual Book Tour ensures you and your book are still making “appearances” on the blogosphere and social networking sites — appearances that live online and in search engines forever (much longer than any in-person event lasts).

So what are the top 6 reasons to hold your own virtual book tour? With a virtual book tour, you can:

• Spread word quickly over a wide range of venues and sites
• Make multiple “appearances” on the blogosphere and social media
• Capture attention and set your tone instantly
• Have your message available forever on the blogosphere
• Reach new audiences with little to no effort
• Open the door to follow-up book reviews and interviews

We can’t think of a good reason not to market your book through the Virtual Book Tour. It’s the best surrogate you can have when being everywhere at once is not logistically or financially possible.

If you’re too busy to put together your own virtual book tour, or aren’t quite sure how you would begin, The Virtual Book Tour option from Outskirts Press can help you.

With the Virtual Book Tour through Outskirts Press, you receive the following:

• Outskirts Press announces your Virtual Book Tour to the blogosphere.
• You receive every inquiry in response to the announcement about your book.
• Virtual Book Tour Packet, which includes all of the materials you need to follow-up with the bloggers quickly and easily in order to schedule your “appearance” on their blog, website, or social network.
• In most cases your appearance may include a book review and/or an author interview.
• Spotlight Appearance on the Outskirts Press blog, which receives its own announcements on Twitter and Facebook.

Now through March 31, simply click here to order this option, enter promo code VBT10PCT when you check out of your shopping cart, and you will save 10% instantly. Don’t delay, this offer won’t be around long!

• 31 Self-Publishing tips to promote your book during Small Press Month
• Book Reviews and their value to self-published Authors
• Introduce your self-published book to the world with a Virtual Book Tour
• Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing
• Top 10 Self-Publishing Book Marketing Services for February 2013

“I approached self-publishing with some trepidation, but Outskirts Press’ assistance throughout the process made the entire experience a real joy.”

Some people mean it when they say they’ve done it all. Thomas Gambino has been a child television performer, clerk, cook, petroleum tank cleaner, sketch artist and painter, high school and college teacher, touring jazz and rock musician, radio and television guest, publisher, author, poet, magazine writer and interviewer, editor, husband, father, grandfather, orchestra leader, arranger, copyist, composer, orchestrator, conductor, musical director, foundation leader, advertising director, recording and video producer and performer, and an advocate for a limited world government. Among other books and music, his published works include NYET-An American Rock Musician Encounters the Soviet Union.

New York City jazz saxophonist and author Thomas Gambino was a member of The Vegetables, the rock band that accompanied the Joffrey Ballet during its 1974 tour of the then-Soviet Union and the first American rock group to visit that country. In The Vagabonds: A Musician’s Odyssey, Thom pays homage to those family members who came before him, and he offers an insightful history refresher course to assist the reader in understanding his trek fully. Thom also interviewed many of his friends and musical associates for their recollections, many of which have relevance in modern political and musical history. Gambino’s memoir describes his wife Lorry’s rise to a position at The New York Times and chronicles the lives of their children and grandchildren as they pursue careers in music, acting, advertising, education, law enforcement, business and fashion design. You’ll meet the famous, the near-famous, and the should-be-famous. As Thom states, “I’ve had a career just below the radar on the outskirts of history.”

- Thomas Gambino, author of The Vagabonds

You’ve probably heard Outskirts Press crowing about Small Press Month in March. It’s the perfect time to promote the amazing work of independent publishers and self-published authors. High quality self publishing is easy. Marketing your book afterwards is the key.

We hope you’re taking advantage of this celebration to promote your own self-published book using the 31 tips (one per day) provided by Outskirts Press. The idea is to take a few moments each day to implement one important step in your efforts to market and promote your self-published book.

By now, we hope you’ve taken our suggestions to stock up on hard copies, connect on social media, send out press releases and reach out to local schools, universities, fellow authors, small businesses and sales channels. Don’t worry if you’re just ramping up now. These small steps are simple enough to take two at a time. Here’s what the rest of your Small Business Month should look like:

Mar 15 – Join forces. Connect with other independently published authors and arrange co-op advertisement in the local media, using any dollars secured from local businesses you spoke with on March 14. In addition to simply promoting your book, promote your upcoming events, so people will show up. The other authors can join in the events, which may lead the bookstores to be more interested in scheduling future event, even on such short notice.

Mar 16 – Get talking. Contact local radio producers in your area and pitch them on Small Press Month. Not sure where to start? Outskirts Press offers a Top 10 Radio Interview & Media Training option to get you started.

Mar 17 – Think green. St. Patrick’s Day green, that is. Take the day to focus on electronic editions of your book. If you’re only selling hard copies, consider getting a Kindle, NOOK or Apple iPad edition of your book.

Mar 18 – Think big. Local is a great starting point, but don’t forget to contact the major newspapers about Small Press Month, too. They’re more likely to cover something if they are contacted by authors, and you will want to be among the piles of information they have received:

• THE NEW YORK TIMES: 229 W 43rd Street, New York NY 10036-3959 (212) 556-1234
• USA TODAY: 1000 Wilson Blvd, Arlington VA 22209-3901 (703) 276-3400 and 535 Madison Avenue, 20th Fl, New York NY 10022-4212 (212) 715-5410
• WALL STREET JOURNAL: 200 Liberty Street, New York NY 10281-1003 (212) 416-2000
• WASHINGTON POST: 1150 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20071-0002 (202) 334-6000

Mar 19 – Commune. Contact your local community center and inform them of Small Press Month; post information on their community bulletin board if one is available. Gather the local authors with whom you’ve teamed up and schedule an impromptu event, celebrating Small Press books.

Mar 20 – Reassess your publishing options. If you published elsewhere, this may be the month to switch to Outskirts Press. Assess your current publisher and ask yourself if you’re happy with what you’re getting.  Even if you’re not ready to switch, Outskirts Press offers a variety of marketing products and services for authors, regardless of where they published.  Browse those marketing products today at: www.outskirtspress.com/marketing.

Mar 21 – Think about the other 11 months. Small Press Month is just one month out of 12. Prepare for other book events throughout the year, like London Book Fair, BookExpo America, Beijing Book Fair and Frankfurt Book Fair. Or make it easy on yourself with the Global Book Tour marketing package from Outskirts Press, which includes all four book fairs with a 25% discount.

Mar 22 – Go social. Create a social networking account on Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn. Outskirts Press makes it easy with a social media platform set-up service that gets you started toward promoting and marketing your book through social media.

Mar 23 – Promote through learning. Contact the Learning Annex or similar adult education program in your area and offer to teach a class on the subject of your book, or about self-publishing. As a published author, you are an expert on these topics. Your book may even become required reading for each student! Cha-ching!

Mar 24 – Name drop. Start writing online reviews through Amazon. Write reviews for every book you have ever read. Mention that you are the author of a book at the bottom of each posted review and include the book title and a link. If people like the writing style of your review, they may investigate your book, especially if you write reviews for books within the same genre as your book.

Mar 25 – Contact the public libraries in each state and mention your involvement with Small Press Month. Send them information about your book. Here’s a link that will get you started: http://www.publiclibraries.com/.

Mar 26 – Set your poetry in motion. If you’re a poet, start preparing for National Poetry Month in April. Outskirts Press offers a Poetry Formatting Kit for poets wanting a high-quality, professionally-formatted volume of poetry, with a custom-designed layout (including graphics) but without the custom-designed price!

Mar 27 – Affiliate yourself with others. Help other writers you know get published and earn a 10% commission for the referral after their book is published. Register for the Outskirts Press affiliate program today at http://outskirtspress.com/affiliates.php and start spreading the word to all of the writers in your life.

Mar 28 – Blog about yourself. Start a blog and keep it active and up-to-date with blog posts about you, your book and other things that interest you. Register your blog with blog directories to gain more readership and participation.

Mar 29 – Touch Base. Submit your published book to the Google Base listings. It’s free. http://base.google.com.

Mar 30 – Think big (print). Publish a large print edition of your book to expand your market. With the world’s demographics growing older, large print editions are becoming more and more popular. Featuring 14 or 16-point fonts, these editions appeal to the aging community because they are easier to read. You’ve already written the book, now re-publish a new easy-to-read edition to increase your revenue and double the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives. It’s easy to get published here.

Mar 31 – Take a breath. It’s been a busy, productive month. Take a couple hours to yourself today to recharge and gear up for all the events, promotion and marketing opportunities that will come your way in 2013!  An Outskirts Press Personal Marketing Assistant can help you organize all of those opportunities and create a detailed marketing plan just for you.

March is Small Press Month, a month to promote the amazing work of independent publishers and self-published authors. Take advantage of this celebration to promote your own self-published book all month long with 31 effective marketing and promotion steps. High quality self publishing is easy. Marketing your book afterwards is the key.

Throughout the month, take a moment each day to implement one important step in your efforts to market and promote your self-published book. Here is a tip each day to keep you active in your book marketing efforts all month long:

Mar 1 – Get stocked. If you do not have enough hard copies on hand, contact your publisher today to order a supply. You’ll need them so you can pursue the 30 other marketing and promotion tips throughout the month. By the way, Outskirts Press is offering 3 times the number of FREE author copies when you begin publishing in March.

Mar 2 – Get connected. Contact other independent published authors in your area. With the advent of social networking sites, this is easier than ever. For example, Outskirts Press already has a growing community of active and passionate fans/followers on Facebook and Twitter, with whom you can connect at any time. Once you’ve connected, combine your resources to fully pursue all these marketing opportunities throughout the month. There’s a lot to do, and four hands are better than two!

Mar 3 – Get publicity. Contact your local newspapers and inform them of Small Press Month. Give them as many details as possible, then offer to write an article about Small Press month and send them a press release about your book. This will help you build your platform as a local writer and self-publishing author.

Mar 4 – Offer a discount. Contact your local bookstores and suggest they offer discounts on Small Press books. Bring in your own book and offer it to them at a discount to get them started. You can even offer to leave them with a free copy along with your sales sheet, press release and any promotional materials you have for your book. Ask if you can host an event at their establishment for local independent authors. Also, share this post with them as a way of indicating your commitment to making that event successful.

Mar 5 – Get published. If you haven’t published yet (or you’re ready to publish again!), Small Press Month is the perfect time to begin publishing your book. Outskirts Press has the high-quality, full-service publishing package that is right for you!

Mar 6 – Get the word out. Send a press release to the local media (newspapers, radio, television) mentioning Small Press Month and your independently published book. If you secured some events, mention them in the release. Your press release should explain what Small Press Month is, why it’s important, what local organizations are doing to celebrate, and who these organizations can contact for additional information. Supplement the press release with your sales sheet and/or any reviews you have received for your book.

Mar 7 – Appeal to bookworms. Contact your local libraries and suggest they feature Small Press titles, including yours. Offer to leave them with a free copy, along with your sales sheet. If you’re an Outskirts Press author, your sales sheet can be generated automatically from within your Author Center. You can even update it at any time through your Author Toolkit.

Mar 8 – Get seen. If you haven’t yet sent out review copies for your book, do it today. The free Book Review Starter Kit from Outskirts Press includes tips on sending books to reviewers as well as a list of book reviewers with contact information to get you started.  If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, Outskirts Press can do the work for you with the Book Review Submission Service.

Mar 9 – Educate educators. Contact local schools in your area and tell them about Small Press Month. Mention that you are a local published author and offer to speak to their students and staff about how to accomplish their dreams of being published. This is particularly effective if you have a children’s book you can then sell after the assembly.

Mar 10 – Contact local universities and colleges. Similar to March 9: Promote yourself and your book by sharing your knowledge of how to write a book and get published. You can even sell copies of your book after your presentation.

Mar 11 – Follow-up with bookstores and local media outlets you contacted last week to see if you can offer any additional assistance or information. Reiterate the importance of Small Press Month, your planned events in the community, and your Small Press book.

Mar 12 – Share your experiences. Schedule a seminar or tele-seminar on “How to Write and Publish a Book” and offer a Small Press Month discount on the registration fee. Send local news outlets a press release about your event.

Mar 13 – Contact other sales channels outside of the traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores that may be likely to sell your book. This may include websites related to your book’s topic, gift stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, boutiques, etc. Look at your book and ask yourself where your readers may be shopping, then make contact with those retailers.

Mar 14 – Link with other artists. Contact local art studios, design boutiques or other small independent businesses in your area. Work with them to forge co-op advertising initiatives and other promotional partnerships. If applicable, offer to conduct some events in their venues. Show them how sharing your promotions helps everyone gain greater visibility.

Mar 15 – Join forces. Connect with other independently published authors and arrange co-op advertisement in the local media, using any dollars secured from local businesses you spoke with on March 14. In addition to simply promoting your book, promote your upcoming events, so people will show up. The other authors can join in the events, which may lead the bookstores to be more interested in scheduling future event, even on such short notice.

Mar 16 – Get talking. Contact local radio producers in your area and pitch them on Small Press Month. Not sure where to start? Outskirts Press offers a Top 10 Radio Interview & Media Training option to get you started.

Mar 17 – Think green. St. Patrick’s Day green, that is. Take the day to focus on electronic editions of your book. If you’re only selling hard copies, consider getting a Kindle, NOOK or Apple iPad edition of your book.

Mar 18 – Think big. Local is a great starting point, but don’t forget to contact the major newspapers about Small Press Month, too. They’re more likely to cover something if they are contacted by authors, and you will want to be among the piles of information they have received:

• THE NEW YORK TIMES: 229 W 43rd Street, New York NY 10036-3959 (212) 556-1234
• USA TODAY: 1000 Wilson Blvd, Arlington VA 22209-3901 (703) 276-3400 and 535 Madison Avenue, 20th Fl, New York NY 10022-4212 (212) 715-5410
• WALL STREET JOURNAL: 200 Liberty Street, New York NY 10281-1003 (212) 416-2000
• WASHINGTON POST: 1150 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20071-0002 (202) 334-6000

Mar 19 – Commune. Contact your local community center and inform them of Small Press Month; post information on their community bulletin board if one is available. Gather the local authors with whom you’ve teamed up and schedule an impromptu event, celebrating Small Press books.

Mar 20 – Reassess your publishing options. If you published elsewhere, this may be the month to switch to Outskirts Press. Assess your current publisher and ask yourself if you’re happy with what you’re getting.  Even if you’re not ready to switch, Outskirts Press offers a variety of marketing products and services for authors, regardless of where they published.  Browse those marketing products today at: www.outskirtspress.com/marketing.

Mar 21 – Think about the other 11 months. Small Press Month is just one month out of 12. Prepare for other book events throughout the year, like London Book Fair, BookExpo America, Beijing Book Fair and Frankfurt Book Fair. Or make it easy on yourself with the Global Book Tour marketing package from Outskirts Press, which includes all four book fairs with a 25% discount.

Mar 22 – Go social. Create a social networking account on Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn. Outskirts Press makes it easy with a social media platform set-up service that gets you started toward promoting and marketing your book through social media.

Mar 23 – Promote through learning. Contact the Learning Annex or similar adult education program in your area and offer to teach a class on the subject of your book, or about self-publishing. As a published author, you are an expert on these topics. Your book may even become required reading for each student! Cha-ching!

Mar 24 – Name drop. Start writing online reviews through Amazon. Write reviews for every book you have ever read. Mention that you are the author of a book at the bottom of each posted review and include the book title and a link. If people like the writing style of your review, they may investigate your book, especially if you write reviews for books within the same genre as your book.

Mar 25 – Contact the public libraries in each state and mention your involvement with Small Press Month. Send them information about your book. Here’s a link that will get you started: http://www.publiclibraries.com/.

Mar 26 – Set your poetry in motion. If you’re a poet, start preparing for National Poetry Month in April. Outskirts Press offers a Poetry Formatting Kit for poets wanting a high-quality, professionally-formatted volume of poetry, with a custom-designed layout (including graphics) but without the custom-designed price!

Mar 27 – Affiliate yourself with others. Help other writers you know get published and earn a 10% commission for the referral after their book is published. Register for the Outskirts Press affiliate program today at http://outskirtspress.com/affiliates.php and start spreading the word to all of the writers in your life.

Mar 28 – Blog about yourself. Start a blog and keep it active and up-to-date with blog posts about you, your book and other things that interest you. Register your blog with blog directories to gain more readership and participation.

Mar 29 – Touch Base. Submit your published book to the Google Base listings. It’s free. http://base.google.com.

Mar 30 – Think big (print). Publish a large print edition of your book to expand your market. With the world’s demographics growing older, large print editions are becoming more and more popular. Featuring 14 or 16-point fonts, these editions appeal to the aging community because they are easier to read. You’ve already written the book, now re-publish a new easy-to-read edition to increase your revenue and double the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives. It’s easy to get published here.

Mar 31 – Take a breath. It’s been a busy, productive month. Take a couple hours to yourself today to recharge and gear up for all the events, promotion and marketing opportunities that will come your way in 2013!  An Outskirts Press Personal Marketing Assistant can help you organize all of those opportunities and create a detailed marketing plan just for you.