Tag: Personal-Marketing-Assistance

Marketing Options

5 Ways Authors Can Finish Strong in 2019

It’s hard to believe there are less than five full months left in the year. But for authors trying to sell books, the good news is that those months include the holidays, when die-hard bookworms are gifting and gobbling up books of all kinds.

What that means for you is that opportunities still abound for to boost book sales and make 2019 a banner year. If you plan accordingly, your most successful months of selling lay ahead.

For instance, did you know the Reader Views Literary Awards are in December? And is October’s Frankfurt Book Fair on your radar? Put them on your marketing calendar (or get an Author’s Marketing Calendar from Outskirts Press and have important dates like these available to you in an instant).

A well-crafted marketing calendar is priceless. It gives you solid promotion deadlines to meet, keeps important events and benchmarks in one place, and inspires you keep moving toward your marketing goals. Here are five things you can track on your marketing calendar to finish strong in 2019:

  1. Literary contest deadlines. It’s not just important to know when a contest is being held; it’s vital to keep track of submission deadlines, too. That way, you can plan ahead to complete submission requirements on time.
  2. Book review opportunities. There may or may not be a firm deadline for a book review. You’ll want to track the ones that do have submission timelines and plan for open-ended reviews in between.
  3. High-profile book expo dates. There are scores of local, regional, national and international book fairs where you can display your book. It helps to research which ones are appropriate for your book genre, what level of exposure to expect and when you need to complete registration.
  4. Smart and doable book marketing prompts. Think about some of the little things you can do in between big events to boost your visibility, such as creating a Pinterest page for your book or acknowledging holidays on social media.
  5. Include resources you can access for more information and assistance. Save links and helpful articles directly to your calendar for future reference. This not only serves as a prompt but keeps you from digging around for the information you need to complete a task.

Needless to say, your marketing plan has a lot of work to do! If you’re not sure how to draft a marketing plan and put it into action, Outskirts Press can help. Or, hire a Personal Marketing Assistant with expertise in promoting all genres of books!

Now, let’s make 2019 epic! Order your Marketing Calendar today and finish strong in 2019.

 

Marketing Options

Top 10 Marketing Options: Here’s What You’ve Been Ordering!

It’s no secret that writing a book is a massive undertaking … until you learn what goes into successful selling! Successfully selling your book is a labor of love for the long haul. Lucky for you, Outskirts Press can ease some of the burden of marketing, so you can focus on writing while we turn our expertise toward promoting your book and increasing your readership!

And, boy, have we ever been hard at it! Here, in no particular order, is an overview of the our most sought-after Marketing Options, based on the latest survey of sales numbers.

EVVY Awards Submission Service

EVVY Awards Submission Service: The EVVY Awards recognize excellence in independently published books. Sponsored by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA), the EVVY Awards are judged by a panel of professionals on a qualitative scale of merit in approximately twenty different categories. Every year, Outskirts Press nominates a small percentage of the books published during the course of the previous year for official submission to the EVVY Awards..

Personal Marketing Assistant

Personal Marketing Assistant: Do you know how to develop a book marketing plan or even what should be included in it? Do you have the time and know-how to snag and schedule book signings? Are you confused about when, where and how to implement these and other elements of your book marketing plan? Let your Personal Marketing Assistant do the heavy lifting for you!.

eBook Bundle

eBook Bundle: Save time and money by bundling all three of our e-book editions together. This e-book publishing package is one of our most popular, and no wonder! It includes formatting and distribution of an Amazon Kindle Edition with distribution on Amazon, an Apple iPad/iPhone Edition with distribution through iTunes and the iBooks bookstore, and a Barnes & Noble NOOK Edition with distribution through the NOOK bookstore on Barnes & Noble’s website..

First Chapter Distribution

First Chapter Distribution: With First Chapter Preview Library Distribution, your book cover, synopsis, pricing information and ordering details will run for three consecutive months in a quarter page ad in First Chapter Plus, a monthly catalog where viewers/customers can download and preview the first chapter of your book. Those who are interested in buying copies will have all the ordering details right there in the catalog for their convenience and your benefit.

Google Books Preview Program Submission

Google Books Preview Program Submission: Make your book more discoverable on Google with the Google Books Preview Program, complete with your book cover, an enticing sample for readers to browse and convenient links for buyers to purchase a copy through the major online retailers..

Amazon Kindle Submission Service

Amazon Kindle Submission Service: Amazon is the number one retailer in America (yes, even bigger than Wal-Mart!), and the Amazon Kindle is the #1 e-reader. More formats on Amazon means more exposure on Amazon, and the Kindle is heavily promoted by Amazon..

Amazon Search Inside the Book

Amazon Search Inside the Book: Our Amazon Search Inside the Book marketing option will allow you to take advantage of Amazon’s online equivalent to browsing a bookstore. Books that participate in this program feature a “Look Inside” icon over their Amazon cover image, which invites potential customers to electronically “flip” through a small section of the book. This increases the level of confidence a customer has in your book – most likely leading up to a higher volume of book sales. According to Amazon, books participating in this program enjoy significant sales improvement, on average, over books that do not..

Amazon Launch Bundle

Amazon Launch Bundle: Save 25% on 3 of our marketing services focused on Amazon.com. This bundle includes the following options: Amazon Search Inside the Book, Amazon Listing Optimization and Amazon Author Page.

Custom Press Release

Custom Press Release: Have our professional press release writer compose an original, unique press release for your book, submitted to you for your review/approval, and then distributed to our news wire service on your behalf.
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marketing promotions

Save $5/Hour with Your Own Personal Marketing Assistant

In today’s market, it can be tough to know where to focus your efforts in order to effectively market your book. Don’t worry. We’re here to help!

This month, Outskirts Press is offering 10% off our Personal Marketing Assistant option. You’ll save $5 per hour with your own personal marketing assistant — a total savings of $25 off the regular $249 price. This option includes five hours of one-on-one assistance with a marketing professional so you can …

  • develop a marketing plan
  • arrange book signings
  • develop your social media platform
  • and much more!

Log in to your Publishing Center and select Personal Marketing Assistant from the Marketing Solutions menu. Enter promo code PMA-10pct at check out to receive 10% off.

Take advantage of these savings before the offer expires!

 

marketing promotions

Save Time, Spare Your Sanity—and Trim 10% from Marketing Assistance!

There are so many tools and channels modern self-publishing authors can use to promote a new book that the process can be overwhelming. In fact, many authors say book marketing is even more stressful than the writing itself.

In the interest of saving time — and preserving your sanity — consider enlisting the expertise of an experienced book marketing professional, who comes preloaded with a wealth of marketing knowledge on instant recall. This month, Outskirts Press is taking 10% off its Personal Marketing Assistant service to get you started on the promotional road. More on that in a bit, but here’s how it works.

An Outskirts Press Personal Marketing Assistant, or PMA, is an advisor on strategic marketing and sales with relevant experience in the literary field. They are enthusiastic book fans, dedicated advocates and determined spokespersons. But they’re so much more than cheerleaders!

An Outskirts Press PMA is charged with providing every self-publishing author with tangible and practical tools that will help them market effectively for years to come, including:

  • a detailed marketing plan to guide your promotional efforts
  • resources, tips and connections for radio and print promotion
  • a thoughtful and well-developed social media marketing plan
  • outreach and follow-up on marketing campaign leads

If you find yourself lost on how to develop a book marketing plan or struggling to prioritize the book sales strategies, it may be time to consult with a Personal Marketing Assistant. He or she will provide you with a detailed marketing plan that gives you a clear understanding of where, when and how to set your plan in motion, and the confidence that your book sales will never again be at the mercy of directionless fate.

Then, your PMA can relieve you of time-consuming responsibilities, such as arranging your first book signings or interviews, identifying reviewers, reaching out to media or other tasks you don’t have the time or expertise to tackle. It’s a 5-hour jumpstart that saves you weeks of aggravation and lost opportunities!

All you need to do to take advantage of the offer is add the Personal Marketing Assistant option to your shopping cart and enter the promo code PMA10Save at checkout.

Start and finish 2018 knowing with all the confidence of an author in full control of the publishing and marketing processes!

marketing-tips

Why the Holidays Should Be on Your Marketing Radar Now

For many of us, the red-and-green bling and piped-in Christmas music at the local big box store — usually before the kids’ Halloween candy is even inspected — is the first tip-off that the giving season is around the bend. It always seems ridiculously early to think about the holidays … but is it really?

If you’re a self-publishing author with plans to market a book, it’s certainly not. In fact, it should be on your mind now, even as summer is at full sizzle. Let’s work backward on the calendar to illustrate why.

By Black Friday, the official kick-off for holiday shopping, most print news and magazine organizations have already planned and sold out advertising space in their regular editions, gift guides and other special holiday publications. If you want to reserve ad space on time, you’ll need to think one to three months ahead; this means you should have your holiday marketing ducks in a row even before those trick-or-treaters come knocking.

That brings us back to October. By some estimates, one-third of shoppers are already buying gifts in the fall, taking advantage of Labor Day sales when the fervor is less aggressive. This can be a golden time to grab the spotlight with a print ad or polished social media banners with less competition than you’re likely to encounter in December.

To prepare, you should create marketing pieces or work with a copywriter and/or graphic designer in September to have your materials ready in plenty of time for a Labor Day push. Consider it a dry run — a chance to gather valuable data you can use to refine your approach to Christmas. (Then get started on Christmas, asap!)

In the two months leading up to Labor Day, focus on a marketing calendar and budget. Spend August saving your coins, determining your marketing budget, researching where best to allocate your money and drafting a marketing calendar specifically for the holidays.

So, now that you know how short time really is, start planning! You’ll be way ahead of the competition — and, dare we say, far less stressed — by the time your happy holidays roll around.

Want to expedite your marketing plan and marketing calendar? Consider purchasing time with an Outskirts Press
Personal Marketing Assistant for help preparing your holiday promotions.

marketing-tips

5 Ways Authors Can Finish Strong in 2018

It’s hard to believe there are less than five full months left in the year. But for authors trying to sell books, the good news is that those months include the holidays, when die-hard bookworms are gifting and gobbling up books of all kinds.

What that means for you is that opportunities still abound to boost book sales and make 2018 a banner year. If you plan accordingly, your most successful months of selling lay ahead.

For instance, did you know the Reader Views Literary Awards are in December? And is October’s Frankfurt Book Fair on your radar? Put them on your marketing calendar (or get an Author’s Marketing Calendar from Outskirts Press and have important dates like these available to you in an instant).

A well-crafted marketing calendar is priceless. It gives you solid promotion deadlines to meet, keeps important events and benchmarks in one place, and inspires you keep moving toward your marketing goals. Here are five things you can track on your marketing calendar to finish strong in 2018:

  1. Literary contest deadlines. It’s not just important to know when a contest is being held; it s vital to keep track of submission deadlines, too. That way, you can plan ahead to complete submission requirements on time.
  2. Book review opportunities. There may or may not be a firm deadline for a book review. You’ll want to track the ones that do have submission timelines and plan for open-ended reviews in between.
  3. High-profile book expo dates. There are scores of local, regional, national and international book fairs where you can display your book. It helps to research which ones are appropriate for your book genre, what level of exposure to expect and when you need to complete registration.
  4. Smart and doable book marketing prompts. Think about some of the little things you can do in between big events to boost your visibility, such as creating a Pinterest page for your book or acknowledging holidays on social media.
  5. Include resources you can access for more information and assistance. Save links and helpful articles directly to your calendar for future reference. This not only serves as a prompt but keeps you from digging around for the information you need to complete a task.

Needless to say, your marketing plan has a lot of work to do! If you’re not sure how to draft a marketing plan and put it into action, Outskirts Press can help. Or, hire a Personal Marketing Assistant with expertise in promoting all genres of books! As our way of saying thanks, we’ll throw in a FREE 2018 Marketing Calendar when you purchase this or ANY marketing option! Just enter promo code FreeCal2018 at checkout and your calendar will be added to your Author Toolkit within 48 hours.

Now, let’s make 2018 epic!

Promotions

Market Fiercely, Effectively & Personally With This Month’s Discount!

We’ve talked about the importance of being prepared for the holidays before and recently here on Self Publishing News, but there’s another facet of the marketing process which might just make those preparations a snap for authors looking to sell their self-published books this Fall: a Personal Marketing Assistant!

But wait—what or who is a Personal Marketing Assistant, and what can one do for you, specifically around the holidays?

First things first! In all the ways that matter, a PMA is every self-published author’s expert advisor on matters of strategic marketing and sales. A PMA is far more than just a cheerleader—if you purchase a 5-hour block of time with one of Outskirts Press’s many fine PMAs, you will walk away with tangible marketing tactics, including:

  • A detailed marketing plan
  • Potential book signing and promotion events
  • A thoughtful and well-developing author platform
  • Follow-up on marketing campaign leads

If you find yourself out to sea on how to develop a book marketing plan or struggling to sort the many hundreds of competing priorities which play into your book sales strategy, it may be time to consult with a PMA. You will emerge freed of the time-consuming responsibilities of arranging and confirming book signings, freed of doubts and concerns over the confusing processes of where, when, and how to set your plan in motion, and freed of the fear that you’ve left your precious book’s sales up to chance and the vagaries of inexpert ideas.

This month, we have even more exciting news than usual! We are offering our PMA option—5 hours of dedicated, one-on-one consultations with a Personal Marketing Assistant—at 10% off in September! All you need to do is add the PMA option to your shopping cart and enter the promo code Save10-PMA at checkout in order to take advantage.

You can now get a head start on sorting out your holiday marketing plan with this amazing discount, and fly into Fall with all the confidence of an author in full control of the publishing and marketing processes!

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