Promote Your Book BEFORE You Write It!

Sounds a little backwards, right?  Gordon Burgett, author of Niche Publishing, recently suggested authors of niche books do exactly that in a Publishing Poynters Newsletter blurb.

"Identify precisely what kind of buyer (vocation, hobbyist, gender, age, etc.) would most benefit from what you have to say—and why. List the benefits in order, and focus on the first couple."

He suggested finding those people on an affordable mailing list or creating your own via the phone book, and making sure the list had at least 200 names to be effective.  Author's can then poll these people to make sure there's an interest for the book before he or she spends months writing it.

"Design a professional looking one-page flyer (it can be black/white) with
selling copy (including the [title, subtitle, and at least three] promises), a table of contents, author bio, approximate book length, trade paper or cloth, and the cost.
Add a 1/3-page note and a return, stamped post card asking (1) yes/no,
they would buy your book and (2) yes/no they would pay “x” amount for it."

He also suggested splitting the mailing list and sending out postcards with different prices to see which is more effective.

He finishes the blurb saying, "Most will respond in 10-14 days. Only if you get the percent back in positive replies that, extrapolated on a major mailing later, will bring you the profit you deserve, finish the research, write the book, publish it, mail fliers to the full list, and cash in. But don’t change the title!"

What exactly the ratio of positive response would be he doesn't say, so I suppose you would have to figure that out based on the cost of an extensive mailing list, the cost of printing and shipping, and how much profit could be made.  Of course, all this really only applies if making a profit is your first priority when self-publishing, but it's an intriguing method of book planning.

Krystal Russell is the author of Horace the Tortoise and Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces, coming soon from tall tails publishing house.