Use Bookmarks to Increase Amazon Reviews

Casemate recently published a book titled Day of the Panzer: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France by Jeff Danby.

Along with each copy of the book sent out as a review copy, given away by the author, or signed by the author at a book signing event, they include a business card and a bookmark. The business card includes a thumbnail of the book cover (where you typically see a business logo, on the left hand side), some brief specs on the book, and Casemate’s contact info. The bookmark includes the book cover image and the following message:

“If you enjoy this book, please consider writing a review at the following websites:”

Following are website urls for Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and brief instructions on how to pull up the book’s page on each site and review it.

I know the bookmark idea is a common one, but asking the reader to write a review of the book on the bookmark is something I hadn’t seen before. What a great idea, and a call-to-action way to increase the number of reviews for your book on websites such as Amazon! Authors, think about designing and printing something similar for your book.

Have a great 4th of July.

Author Radio Shows

Two Savas Beatie authors have started their own radio shows this year. Author Mike Volkin (The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook and Workbook) started a show about basic training a few months ago. He got a call from someone in the military’s marketing department right after the first show, and sales of his book have skyrocketed since the show began.

Building the Green Machine author Colt Foutz started a radio show for the drum and bugle corps world with the first show airing this week on Blog Talk Radio. His show is complete with marching band music and he talks with movers and shakers in the drum corps world. The Cavaliers just started their summer tour so the timing couldn’t be better for this new show.

Blog Talk Radio hosts can easily run shows from their own home or office for free. Shows are archived on each show’s webpage so a listener who stumbles across your show in a few months can go back and listen to all the previous shows. Also, people who are listening live can call in to the show to chat live on air. What a great way to interact with people interested in your book’s topic, provide content for listeners, and spread the word about your book all at the same time. Soon we will have a portal on the Savas Beatie website with links for all of our authors who have shows.

Author Radio Interviews Pay Off

Ted Savas had a poll on his blog recently: Have you ever bought a book after hearing the author on a radio interview? 75% of people said yes. Authors, this goes to show you how important a radio interview can be to spreading the word about your book. Whether it is a small town radio station interview on a weekend morning, a popular drive-time show in a mid-size city, or a syndicated talk show, being interviewed about your book pays off. The pay off is both in immediate sales and those that occur down the road, as people who heard you being interviewed spread the word.

Here are a couple of ideas for setting up radio interviews:

1. TIMING: Think about what time of the year would be best for an interview about your book. If it’s a new release, there’s your hook. Times of the year that match a theme in your book also work. Gary Moore is frequently interviewed about his book Playing with the Enemy (about his father’s life and baseball career) on and around every Father’s Day. If your book is about a particular holiday or historic battle, try to set up interviews to coincide with that date. Producers and hosts are always looking for a way to tie a guest into something happening locally or a current event.

2. TRAVEL: Will you be traveling for your job or a book signing event in the near future? See about setting up a radio interview at that city’s local radio station. Find out from a local which show would be the best fit. Or, call the radio station directly and see if they have a suggestion. Some colleges have great radio stations as well. Consider calling the local Chamber or Commerce or an independent bookstore and ask for a suggestion. Usually people who work at these places are more than happy to help. Or, they can point you in the right direction.

What else can you do to help promote your book on the radio? Even better, rather than just be interviewed, have your own radio show and interview others. More on that in the next post . . .

What’s in Your Email Signature?

Your email signature can be a great way to help promote your book. Include some brief info about your book and a hyperlink to your website or your publisher’s (if you don’t have a website, although you really should) for people to check out. Add a signature to your personal email account (and your work one, if you can) which references your book.

Here is the email signature Ted Savas and I use:

- For inside information on the world of publishing and book marketing, see our new blogs at http://www.savasbeatie.blogspot.com/ and http://www.savasbeatiemarketing.blogspot.com/.

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Here are just a few examples of our authors’ signatures from emails that I received today:
1.

--
Colt Foutz, author
BUILDING THE GREEN MACHINE:
Don Warren and Sixty Years with the World Champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps

NEW in stores July 1! Learn more at http://www.cavaliersbook.com/

2.

J. David Petruzzi

Homepage: http://www.jdpetruzzi.com/
See my books at http://www.stuartsride.com/ or http://www.gettysburgretreat.com/
My publisher: http://www.savasbeatie.com/
Find both books on Amazon.com

3.

--
Mark Wilensky,
author of "The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages"
(Savas Beatie LLC, http://www.savasbeatie.com/
http://newcommonsensebook.com/)
Available at excellent bookstores everywhere.

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Think about the number of emails you send out in a day, the number of people whose messages you reply to, and also who those emails might get forwarded to. You never know. Everyone you know and everyone THEY know might potentially be someone who could be interested in your book.

Review Copy Lead Time

To read a report of our time at Book Expo America, check out Ted Savas’ blog post here.

It’s amazing how fast deadlines come up in the book world. For example, we had to submit a complete list of our Fall 2008 titles to our distributor in April. Yes, April. And we already have a firm lineup for our Spring 2009 season. Another deadline with a lot of lead time? Getting advanced reading copies of books to large reviewers such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Foreword Magazine, etc. They require review copies three months in advance of publication. Maybe you already knew this, maybe you didn’t. I had a talk with an editor at one of these publications a couple years of ago. She no longer works there, but told me at the time that if they don’t receive TWO copies of a book at least three months before publication, they don’t even consider reviewing it.

Our big Fall book Once a Marine will be released September 15. Last week we prepared and mailed packets and galleys to all the major reviewers. If you are gathering a list of publications that review books, keep in mind that they have different requirements. Some require one copy, some need two copies. Some only review advanced unedited copies (bound galleys), others only review from the final book. Find out what to send, when to send it, and who to send it “Attention to:” to have the best chance at getting your book reviewed.

Designating review copies as REVIEW copies, Part 2

I was thinking about review copies over the weekend, and realized there is another similar example of our cautiousness with review copies at Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s largest convention in North America.

While at the book show this coming weekend in LA, we will pass by dozens and dozens of booths where people are handing out review copies of books. Both books that were recently published and advanced copies of books that will be released in the Fall 2008 season. These free copies will be stacked by the hundreds in many booths and handed out to anyone who walks by who holds his or her hand out. (The show is only open to people in the industry.) We’ll have advanced review copies of one of our big Fall releases there too, but we will be taking a more targeted approach to passing the galleys out. We print a very limited number and want to make sure that the copies end up in key peoples’ hands. Librarians. Book reviewers. Media. Can we screen everyone who is interested in picking up a copy at the show? Of course not. But, we only have a small number of copies at the show and want to make sure they don’t go to waste.

This is a good example of the different mentality between a large publishing company and a small one. A large publishing company knows they will print X number of copies that will be designated as review copies. Do they care if someone ends up with a review copy who wasn’t seriously interested in reviewing, or at least considering reviewing, the book? Probably not. We care, though. Printing galleys is expensive and we are working with a smaller budget than they are.

We’re really looking forward to BEA and debuting our new author and big Fall title. Please make sure to stop by Casemate Booth #1211 and say hello.

Designating review copies as REVIEW copies

Another independent publishing company, Angle Valley Press, recently contacted us with a question regarding mailing out review copies: Do we specify on the book somewhere that the copy is a review copy? And, therefore, not meant to be resold. (Unfortunately, this happens more than we would like.)

When we print advanced reading copies, we always denote that the book is strictly meant to be used for reviewing purposes by including the following predominantly on the front and back covers: ADVANCED UNEDITED COPY, NOT FOR SALE.

However, some reviewers only review final copies of books so we send out another round of review copies upon publication. We are going to have a rubber stamp made that says REVIEW COPY, NOT FOR SALE and stamp it in on the first page inside the book before mailing out these review copies.

So when preparing review material, make sure to keep in mind the requirements of the reviewers as well as considering ways to prevent the abuse of the books. Even some reviewers might be unscrupulous . . . we’ve seen review copies listed on eBay auctions in the past! Especially after Book Expo America, but more on that next week.