What Could Your Book Do Beyond the Bookstore?
Five ideas from today’s Substack Live with Sharon Woodhouse, author of The Profitable Author
If you’d asked me where to sell a hiking guide, I don’t think I’d have said an apple orchard.
On today’s Let’s Talk Book Marketing Substack Live, Sharon Woodhouse told me about a colleague who sold hiking and biking guides. Some of his best sales came from apple orchards and pick-your-own farms. Picture a family on their way home after an afternoon of picking apples. They’ve had a good day together, and the guide gives them an idea for what to do next weekend.
Sharon spent 25 years as an independent publisher. When she told me she used to take books from store to store in Chicago, I pictured a trunk full of books. She corrected me. She was on the bus, with a luggage cart.
If you’re going to haul a cart full of books across town, you want a good reason for every stop. So where would you take yours?
1. Think about what your reader is doing when they find your book
What I love about the orchard story is how easy it is to picture someone buying the guide. They’ve just done something they’d like to do again. The book helps them plan it.
Say you’ve written about the personal side of retirement. Where might someone be wondering how they’ll fill their days once they stop working? Maybe it’s at a financial planner’s client event, just after a conversation about whether they can afford to retire. Your book gives the planner something to share when the conversation turns to what comes next.
2. Give people a chance to try one of your ideas
Sharon talked about how much time people want to spend with a subject. Someone who’s curious may come to a free library talk. Someone with a problem they need to solve may pay for a workshop. A few may want ongoing help through coaching or a mastermind.
If a workshop sounds like something you’d enjoy, open your book to a chapter you love teaching. What could people do with it in an hour? If you write about leadership, you could help managers rehearse the first two minutes of a feedback conversation they’ve been putting off. They leave with words they can use on Monday.
3. Put the book in your speaking fee
I’ve taken a carton of books on a plane, sold three or four after a talk, and stood there wondering what I was going to do with the rest. The carton felt a lot heavier on the way home.
Now, when I talk with authors about speaking, I suggest including copies in the proposal. Give the organizer a reason to put one in every seat. During your talk, you can say, “When you’re back with your team, turn to Chapter 7 and try the exercise we started today.” You’ve given people a reason to open the book when they get back to work.
4. Give one organization a reason to buy several copies
When I approached a company about my first book, Exhibiting at Trade Shows, I thought they could give copies to clients and prospects. They saw a bigger opportunity and ordered 500,000. Even an order of ten would have been a good start.
Who already serves the people you want to reach? Pick one company or association and suggest something it could do with the book. An association could tuck it into a welcome kit for new members. A company could give it to clients at an event and invite you to talk them through one of the ideas.
Sharon brought up something easy to overlook in the excitement of a big order. Before you quote a price, check who can print and supply the books under your publishing agreement, and work out what the copies will cost to print and ship.
5. Try something you’d be happy to do again
Some authors I know love spending a Saturday at a street fair, talking with readers. Others would rather spend an hour giving a talk. I liked Sharon’s advice to try an approach and see how it fits the life you want as an author.
If you enjoy teaching, pitch one workshop. If you’d love to see your book in the hands of an association’s members, call one association. See how people respond and ask yourself whether you’d enjoy doing it again. Both answers can help you decide what to try next.
If you could put your book in one place where your ideal reader already spends time, where would it be? I’d love to hear your answer in the comments.
Find Sharon on Substack at The Profitable Author and explore her book at ProfitableAuthorBook.com.
Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.
