MAXIMIZE YOUR PUBLICITY BUDGET!

By Jeffrey Bowen, President & Publisher of http://www.pubinsider.com and editor of the free monthly e-zine, PubInsider Monthly

Just a short year ago, reviews and interview requests would be coming in left and right for my clients. I’ve noticed in the last quarter of 2002 that, as a publicist, I’ve had to fight tooth and nail for limited editorial space. Publications would rather sell you an ad space.

For the small publisher or author trying to get public attention, this trend means several things:

Press Releases have to be top-notch.
Slim it down to one page with a bold headline. Make sure to clearly spell out the relevancy and benefits your title can bring to the publication’s audience. If sending out the releases to media, tout the expertise of the author.

Promote your title on the Web.
In today’s publishing world it is beneficial to have a presence online. I’ve stopped advertising in print altogether and have moved all of my marketing funds to online promotion.

Very affordable e-zine ads in various online newsletters has proven invaluable to the growth of my site and the websites of my clients. For a fraction of a paper ad, I can garner immediate response to my products and services from interested customers. As with traditional marketing, research where your demographic surfs online. Where do they shop online? What chat or discussion groups do they below to?

As the economy continues its downward turn, small publishers need to save on postage and maximize their marketing dollars.

Here are some tips for online marketing:

• Research e-zines within your genre. Contact existing advertisers within the e-zine to see what kind of response they have received.• Come up with a small amount of marketing funds to test out several ads.• Offer a special discount or bonus if customers click through to your site.

• Have your own e-zine or publication so when customers visit your site you can obtain their information to promote future products they might be interested in.

You hear a lot about ranking on the search engines. Most small sites do not rank in the top ten, simply because most author or publisher sites are small. Be wary of paying a listing service, because they can not guarantee a top-ten listing. Again your best bet is to search out where your potential customers are online and focus on those sites.Maybe you can offer a mutual link to sites that cater to your genre? Are there promotional packages that you can put together? Let’s say you have a dog training book…could you propose a contest for free books to be listed on a dog lover’s website?I highly recommend reading Robert G. Allen’s title: “Multiple Streams of Internet Income.” The title will give you real life examples of how authors, publishers, and other professionals are making money online.

Don’t have a website yet? Check out http://www.register.com to search for a domain name. For $35 you can register your own domain name and get a free 5 page website that you can put together using their online software.

Seek out dealers
Are there other publishers or websites that would be interested in distributing your title? You’ll be surprised at the number of sales you can garner from dealing directly with other publishers who publish titles in your genre.

Go Direct
Seek out unconventional selling opportunities. I know one author who self-published, got on the phone to gift shops across the country, and sold over 9000 non-returnable copies, usually 6 to 10 at a time. Put together workshops on your subject matter and work the price of the book into the registration fee. Past clients have sold thousands of books in this way.

Weather the Storm!
Think outside the box in 2003. Lower your initial print runs. Tighten your marketing budget. I would rather you send out 3000 targeted postcards then 10,000 flyers to the general public. Start your PR campaign in your region of the country and work out in concentric circles. Tie your press release into local events if possible.