#Learning About #Social Marketing

My head hurts. This afternoon I spent an hour listening to a presentation by #Carole King and hosted by #Brian Jud. 

It was like listening to someone talk in Greek. The biggest thing that I got out of it was an urge to yell, "What?"

I do realize that social marketing is the new way to promote a business, but it's a steep learning curve.

Wish me luck.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#HelpForPublishers#BrianJud@bookmarketing.com

As a publisher, do you look for help and advice or do you just blunder along in the belief that publishing is easy and you know all that you need to know?

Are you ever in for a shock!!

Before I published my own book, which sold hundreds of thousands of copies, I thought that publishing would be a very simple undertaking, too. The further I got into the process, however, the more I realized that I actually knew nothing.

That is why I took 2 1/2 years to publish the book. There was so  much to learn. 

That is why I wrote the publishing course that my partners and I sell at www.inktreemarketing.com. It is so hard to find advice that also provides support.

There are publishing services, too, that offer advice. You can learn from the experiences of others and you can accept help from them. Take the shortcuts that they offer - save yourself a lot of time and money.

You have nothing to gain but success.

Sign up for my friend Brian Jud's webinar on Thursday. Check this website:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/370150985

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#WhoBuysKidsBooks

If you ever wonder about who buys kids' books, wonder no more. According to Publishers Weekly (www.publishersweekly.com), 74% of childrens' books are purchased by women.

You might wonder why that is of importance to you. If you are an author or a publisher of books for children the matter is of huge significance. 

The biggest challenge in publishing a book is the accurate targeting of your audience. You might think, in this case, that your target is the kids. Secondarily, that is so but primarily it is the buyers of the books. 

How often do kids go shopping  on their own for a book? Very seldom, if they are under the age of 10. 

Therefore, the book that you publish must appeal to the buyers: moms, grandmas, aunts, cousins, friends and so on as long as they are female and of the age to buy on their own. 

Never forget to write for your target audience.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#Book Marketing#Joint Venture

Every book needs constant marketing, both through publicity and through sales efforts.

Have you thought about joining forces with another author to share the cost of promotions and to share each others' mailing lists?

If you both have a following, especially online, why don't you promote each others' books to your list?

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#ISBNfor#Ebooks

http://toc.oreilly.com/2013/03/laura-dawson-isbn-standard.html?goback=%2Eanb_104765_*2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1

Above is a link that explains the relevance of ISBN's for ebooks.

Please take note of the advice. Every book needs its own identifier. After all, you can't copyright your book's title. 

How do you know that there isn't another ebook out there in cyberland that doesn't have the same title?

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#CookBookIdea

After about 10 years of kidding back and forth with a friend and business colleague, I have begun work on a cookbook. I thought that my cookbook days were over, since I focus on helping other authors to achieve success (www.inktreemarketing.com), but apparently not. My friend pulled me into a new project. Now the fun begins.

My role is recipe development, which to me is the fun part. His role is design, which to him is the fun part. It's great to have a complementary partner. 

The book idea is something that neither of us has ever seen but its an idea that has pulled at him for years - and it's a fun idea. We're not trying to focus on health (which is a great departure for me), or on an ethnic idea, or on chef recipes. This book is for people who love to eat a very popular item, but an item that most people use only in its most basic form. 

It's going to be fun to dress up our central food item.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#Trademarks#BookTitle#BookIcon

The Advisor

Full credit goes to Thomas K. O'Reilly of Field Law for the article below. See www.fieldlaw.com for contact information. I think that the information should be taken to heart by all publishers who want to trademark their book's title and any icons related to their brand. Denise www.inktreemarketing.com www.publishacookbook.com March 18, 2013

What's the Use? Give Your Trade-Mark's Life Some Meaning By Thomas K. O’Reilly The most important, and most often overlooked, aspect of giving validity and value to your company’s trade-marks is how they are “used.” Unlike copyright works or patented inventions, that remain protected even if never exposed to the public, trade-mark protection only exists if your product or service is actually being sold to the public under the “brand” that is your trade-mark. This is because trade-mark law arose as consumer protection law in industrial revolution England – so that your average upwardly-mobile peasant could differentiate between the beer from Stoke-on-Trent and that from Wiggles-on-Thames. Unless consumers are seeing trade-marks in the marketplace, to help them choose the products they prefer, a trade-mark has no point. This is also why, when you wish to file a trade-mark application to protect your current or proposed brand, you may be driven to distraction by your trade-mark lawyer’s seeming obsession with the details of your “use” of your trade-mark.  This is merely our superpower, which we are using for good - one wrong move in asserting and recording the details of your trade-mark’s use can result in invalidity of your registration, and loss of the protection of your valuable brand. These heroics are very important at the time your trade-mark application is filed. In the trade-mark application, you irrevocably commit to either a specific historical date when “use” of the trade-mark commenced in the marketplace, or the assertion that you have not yet “used” the trade-mark at the filing date.  Getting “use” versus “proposed use” wrong happens surprisingly frequently, because companies confuse “creating the brand” with actually selling products under the brand. Also, a company will often apply to protect a trade-mark many years after it started selling under that brand, but will have no accurate records of when the first sale, or “use” occurred, making the assertion of an historical first use date inaccurate. The importance of “use” continues after a trade-mark is registered – ask any corpulent penguin.  The “corpulent penguin” case is a well-known Canadian trade-mark decision, where the Stanfield’s clothing company had for many years sold clothing bearing a registered trade-mark logo of a typical, though trim, penguin.  At some point, the Stanfield’s marketers decided to fatten up the ol’ fish-eater in the logo.  This more corpulent bird eventually became the one exclusively used on the clothing products.  A competitor then successfully had Stanfield’s long-standing trade-mark registration declared invalid, on the basis the change of the logo was use of a different trade-mark, and therefore an abandonment of the “use” of the registered slim penguin logo. So, let your brand find marketplace enlightenment by making your company’s policies one with the rules of trade-mark use. If you have any questions regarding use of your trade-mark in the marketplace, or to discuss trade-mark registration generally, please contact ourIntellectual Property and Technology Group.

#SocialMarketing#Wildfire

The more I know the less I know - especially about marketing online. It's a study and an occupation all on its own. 

I wish that there was a simple course of instruction that would give me the 1,2,3's in a few hours. 

Anyway, today I learned about a service on Google called #Wildfire. Well, it's going to take more study on my part. It's something to keep on my radar. I hope to use it soon...

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#Publishing#Ethics

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-apple-ebooksbre92c0w9-20130313,0,3029593.story

Are ethics going out the window? Don't be a part of questionable business practices - they always bite you in the end.

You want your clients to talk about you and your book, you want reviewers to rave about your book, and you want to sell lots and lots of books so treat your buyers and your competitors with respect.

If the buying public discovers that you have been less than honest with them, you completely lose their trust.

Go by the motto: Under Promise and Over Deliver.

Be fair with everyone and you will not regret it.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#

#http://scottswrittenwords.blogspot.ca/2011/11/dont-carve-your-outline-in-stone.html

When you are writing your book, create an outline but remember, your book is a work in progress until you send it to the printer. Don't follow your outline as if it is an inflexible mandate - change as you go along.

Change again as you rewrite.

Change again as you edit.

Repeat, repeat, repeat until the manuscript is just right. 

Even when I write an email, I reread and rewrite several times. There are many ways of saying the same thing. For instance, I recently saw this on a t-shirt:

Let's eat Mom.

Let's eat, Mom

Same words, different meaning.

Follow the advice of Scott Bury, @ScottTheWriter

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#SellBooks#TargetAudience

Below is a quote from a Publicist. He is absolutely correct. Know your target audience (a.k.a. buyers) before you publish your book.

Am I your target audience? Is my wife? My son or daughter, my father or mother? If you don’t know who your audience is, how can you sell it anything? A fitness trainer saying that his market is overweight people is not specific enough. Is it overweight men or women? By how much are they overweight? How old are they? What are their biggest challenges? What are their hopes for the future? Trainers use different methods for different people … and marketers do the same. Ask yourself questions like these to find your ideal audience. 

~Steve Harrison
http://www.reporterconnection.com/



Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#SellBooks

The goal of writing a book, at least a book that you want to make profitable, is to sell books, and then sell even more books.

One of the most effective techniques for attracting book buyers is to write a book that is attractive to and useful for corporations. Books make excellent promotional items.

Another strategy to creating book sales is to create a very professional-looking book. Don't publish a second-rate book if you want to be a bestseller.

Fortunately, with the increasing popularity of ebooks, you can add as many photos and graphics as you like - at no extra cost. You can also have as many or as few pages as you want (just be sure to price the book accordingly). 

Buyers look for perceived value in a book. If it looks exceptional and the writing is good, you are well on your way to great sales.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#EbookCookbooks

Take heart if you want to publish your cookbook in ebook format. New gadgets are being launched to help make ecookbooks more user-friendly.

Readers can purchase a hanger which mounts under any cabinet to hold the ebook reader at eye level. The hanger can be purchased at #kitchenpadrack.com.

There is an item called a #Chef Sleeve. The reader just slides the ebook reader into the clear plastic  sleeve, which protects the device from splashes. Look for it at #http://chefsleeve.com.

If you want to get very trendy, buy a #Steelie Tabletop kit. It's a dock which holds the ebook reader off the counter and swivels in any direction. Check #steelie.com.

As such gadgets become more widely known, more people will be attracted to the purchase of cookbooks in ebook format.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#BookMarketingUseNewsletter

Book marketing is a lot of work. Yes. If you thought that writing and publishing the book were time consuming, wait, it only gets busier.

If you don't let people know that your book exists, very few will buy it. People hear about books and talk about books before they buy. 

Traditional media is very important but electronic media is the new star. Use it.

One way is to have a newsletter on your website. There are benefits:

• Keep your fans updated on the topic of your book.
• Keep your fans interested in you.
• Establishes you as an expert in your genre.
• Attract hits on your website by posting the newsletter to it - search engines look for frequent new material. 
• Gather email addresses so that you can add them to your mail-out list - useful when you publish another book.
• Alert your list to new developments.

Nothing worthwhile is without work.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com

www.publishacookbook.com

#PublicityForBooksIncreaseBookSales

Getting publicity, even if you are bringing advertising revenue to the publication, can be a challenge. 

The challenge is that you are seldom dealing with the business side of the media organization. Book reviews come under Lifestyle or Arts. Unfortunately, editors are not financial people, so their grasp of what will increase sales for them is way down their list of priorities.

That is your challenge. You have the task of pleasing their audience, which will attract reader interest, which will increase the publication's sales, which will make them remember you. 

By having great success with one publication, you now have a good track record which you add to your media kit. Other publications will read your good review(s) and will also want to feature your book. Good reviews will increase your sales.

It's all a money game - and money talks. 

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#BookDistributionBookDistributors

If you are going to sell books to book stores, you need a good distributor. However, as an independent author/publisher, securing distribution can be a big challenge.

Working with a distributor is essential, though.  Book stores do not want to deal with every publisher of one or even ten books. It is a lot of work to set up a file, keep track of the sales of each book, order from thousands of publishers and handle returns for all of them. Book stores just won't do it.

So, again, you need a distributor who will keep track of your orders, sales and returns. Finding a good distributor takes a lot of research.

To make your life easier, check out +Independent Publishers Group. They specialize in small publishers and have plenty of experience in helping you to promote your books.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishingOrganizationSPAN

As an independent publisher, you can benefit greatly by talking to other publishers. "I don't know any other publishers," you say. 

No problem. There are publishing chat groups and publisher organizations such as +SPAN -(Small Publishers Association of North America). www.spannet.org. 

Such groups offer many benefits, including marketing assistance. 

+Ink Tree clients receive a discount at SPAN, so let us know if you want to join.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com