The Importance of Book Distribution
When book publicity firms consider taking on new clients and developing new campaigns for books, the first question usually asked of the client is what kind of book distribution system is currently in place.
You see, publicists are in the business of helping authors succeed. Without having a good distribution system in place, a good book publicity plan will likely lead you to nothing more than frustration and disappointment.
Think about this -- you work hard and prepare all of your media materials so they are perfect and are sure to have the media banging down your door. Your media kit is incredible and your news release is nothing short of fantastic. You've set up your whole book promotion campaign and plan to distribute news releases, send out review copies, follow up and persist with all of the media in your city.
Now you start. You put the wheels in motion and you're on fire! You're sending out news releases, pitch letters, and you're following up and getting GREAT responses.
The biggest daily newspaper in your city calls to tell you that they LOVE your story. The editor has decided to feature a full page article on you and your book. It really doesn't get any better than this!
You give them all the information, complete your interview and the story is ready to go. You open your paper that day and sure enough... a full page spread! On your book!
Now, you sit back and wait for those sales to start rolling in...
you wait...
and you wait...
and you wait...
What's wrong?! Why isn't the phone ringing?
Thousands of people must have read that article. Surely at least a few of them want to buy the book??
Ahhh... but it seems you forgot one thing. You forgot to put your distribution system in place before the article ran. You didn't hire a distributor. You didn't contact all the bookstores to ensure that they would have full stock of your book the day the article ran. You didn't even make sure your book was available online.
Now, thousands of people have read about your book and likely a good percentage of them want it. What do you think those people did? Likely, they ran down to their local bookstore and tried to find the book. You don't have a distribution system, so your books aren't there. Then the customers ran home to see if they could buy the book through one of the major online bookstores, but that brought them no luck either because you forgot to set it up.
There's even a good chance that while some of these anxious customers shopped around trying to find your book, they found another book that was quite similar. Not exactly the same, but close enough -- and they bought it! Well, at least someone made some money from all your hard work.
This paints the picture clearly enough and here's the moral of the story: if you plan to launch a splashy publicity campaign for your book (and you should!), you must, must have distribution in place first.
Publicity is targeted to the general public. The general public look for books in very specific places. If they can't find your book, they won't buy it.
If you work hard enough to drive the demand and then make sure you can meet it.
© Copyright 2004 Ink Tree Ltd.
Ink Tree Ltd. helps authors publish, market and sell books. We have all the tools you need to succeed in book publishing. Let us help you make your book a success. http://www.inktreemarketing.com
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