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Though marketing and publicity work hand in hand to creating book sales it sometimes difficult to understand where one starts and the other begins, Bandos helps to clear this up. “We define publicity as getting media coverage and marketing as being more directly related to generating sales. Marketing would help get the book into the bookstores, libraries, etc. and publicity would help get the book out the front door via purchase, etc.” KSB works with the PR side of the equation and Bandos lists the main keys for being a success, “targeting and timing, then persistence and patience,” she adds, “Writing and creating the finished book is the EASY part. What comes next is much harder! Know that PR takes lots time and effort along with some money.” That advice goes double for those who decide to self-publish.
Bandos suggests that you get inside the mind and living room of the reader you think will be drawn to your writing--gain a deeper insight of how to pinpoint them so you can get the word out to the people whose interested will be piqued. “Understand who might buy a particular book, understand what else they read, watch and listen to, and then try to get media coverage in those places so that the right people know the book exists.” The market is unpredictable and doesn’t necessarily have to do how well written a book is. “We have worked with books we love and admire that have gotten little media coverage and others we think are fine, if not exceptional, books that have gotten great media coverage,” says Bandos, “There often does not seem to be any rhyme nor reason to the response.” It’s clear that the writer must be able to distill the book down to support a unified media message. “So, the trick again is to be very targeted in the media you approach and in the approach itself--pitching the message and information, not the book or author--and being pleasantly persistent until such time as you know it is time to back off and look elsewhere.” Maybe the word to remember here is, “pleasantly”.
KSB Promotions mainly works with non-fiction books and there is good reason for this according to Bandos. “Getting the media to seriously consider giving time and space to fiction whether in a review, interview, mention, or excerpt is extra tough,” says Bandos, “With non-fiction we can focus off the book page with travel editors, food editors, lifestyle editors, etc. and the same with specialty publications, radio, TV and Internet resources.”
A word to those who are thinking about publishing through a POD, Bandos believes books published in this manner will continue to be a minor part of the picture for general trade books. “The media also look on POD books as more like the past ‘vanity’ publishing rather than independent publishing, so these books are given less coverage at this time.” In addition, POD books are rarely available for purchase in bookstores or gift shops.
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