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Permalink Reply by Bradley Flora on August 20, 2011 at 5:18pm

James,

 

The first thought that comes to mind, when discussing Marketing in this context, is to ask about your demographic?

 

Have you pinpointed exactly who your demographic is and where they "hang out"?

 

In this regard, what type of magazines, or social networks, or physical locations are attractive to your demographic?

 

Are there marketing or advertising opportunities that can be associated with those "locations"?

 

Think out side the box. Don't worry so much about what's already been done by other authors, instead look at it as an equation such as this:

 

(Target Demographic) + (Unknown Variable) = (Target Demographic Exposed to Book)

 

That Unknown Variable can be filled in with a wide variety of marketing techniques, strategies, and campaigns. For example, you could go to China Town, in San Fransisco and hand out small fliers for your book, with marketing copy in both English and Chinese.

 

That type of strategy may be less tangible on paper than a book signing, but would it necessarily be any less effective?

 

The whole point of the B&T policy is so that there is some Buzz around a book before they commit resources to it. How you go about getting that buzz may just sell books in it's own right, and then getting into Barnes and Noble could just be the icing on the cake.

 

My final thought is, if your whole goal is to sell books then focus on a marketing campaign that will do just that. If you have a book that is proven to sell, then the B&T and Barnes and Noble opportunities will fall more easily into place.

 

Hope that helps. If you have any questions or would like me to expand on my thoughts, feel free to let me know.

 

bradley flora

SPANnet.org

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Permalink Reply by James Garrison on August 22, 2011 at 5:00am

Bradley,

 

Thanks for the helpful response, particularly the part about getting my book to sell first and then letting those other opportunities fall into place.

 

My targeted demographic is students learning Chinese, and schools that teach Chinese. As a language teacher in the public school system, I know that generally textbook selection isn't done through advertising. I wish it were, then i could more easily allocate some resources to print/radio ads. The process of choosing textbooks and school resources is generally through conferences, textbook adoption lists, and just sheer luck in many cases. One set of books I chose for my class last year was a set a saleswoman just dropped off; she worked for one of the powerhouse publishers and brought a set by for us to sample; when ordering time came a few months later I remembered the set and ordered a few dozen. I plan to go this route, passing out samples. If there is one thing language teachers love, it's free book and resource samples.

 

I like the formula you presented. I am going to work on unknown variables and see what I can come up with. 

 

Cheers,

 

J

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Permalink Reply by Amanda Dowdy on October 13, 2011 at 8:32am

Hi James,

 

If you can't get into Baker & Taylor directly for distribution into Barnes &Noble, you might try another distribution outlet like AtlasBooks (a division of BookMasters, www.bookmasters.com). Because they help to promote books (through such things as catalogs), they have a relationship with Baker & Taylor as well as B&N, Ingram, and many others. Though it is hard to get into these places at all when you go it alone, you would essentially be partnering with other publishers to gain access into the databases of these large outlets.

Also, they have marketing packages available to help you jumpstart your promotion activity. Like Bradley said, there is a reason B&T didn't accept the book outright. Going around and getting in through another distributor, while helping you with that goal, still won't necessarily sell books. You have to get the buzz going. Then having the infrastructure to get into those outlets will make it that much more potent.

Best wishes! -Amanda

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Permalink Reply by Julia E. Antoine on December 11, 2011 at 6:37pm

Hi Amanda:

I'm aware this post is old, but I looked into B&T and their first require is a marketing plan. I left is alone because I have no idea how to develop a marketing plan to sell my books, if I knew how to develop one, I would be well on my way to making big money. I'm open to ideas.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Amanda Dowdy on December 12, 2011 at 7:16am

Hi Julia, 

The first couple things you need to do is take a good look at your books and determine who your target is so you can start researching where they are (where they buy, what social networks they use, what magazines they look at, etc.) and determining your marketing budget and time. Here's a good post to get you started on making a plan for just the social media aspect: http://blog.atlasbooksdistribution.com/2011/09/21/facebook-marketin...

Hope this gives you a good start!

Best, Amanda

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Permalink Reply by Julia E. Antoine on December 12, 2011 at 7:50am

Thanks Amanda. I'll check it out.

Best!

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