Solving The Four Most Common "Book Relaunch" Mistakes

Part One: Mistakes #1 And #2

You may have heard us talk before about the four common mistakes many authors make when they are relaunching their book. We'd like to help you avoid those problems, so you can truly unleash the power of your book and your message.  

These mistakes are not only made by first-time authors; we've seen experienced authors make these mistakes too - and we've definitely seen PR firms, branding consultants, and marketing agencies stumble into these traps.

The good news is, every one of these missteps is truly easy to avoid, once you recognize them and put these success strategies to work. 

Today we are going to highlight the first two mistakes and provide you with our favorite success strategies for overcoming those mistakes.

So, let's get to it!

Mistake #1: Solving a problem your audience doesn't know they have. 

As we like to say, you may have the greatest "mousetrap" in the world, b...

Holiday Greetings!

It’s the “most wonderful time of the year” once again and I love how we are able to take time during the holidays to focus on being thankful and grateful! Marji and I are thankful for so many things: our families, our 30+ year friendship, books (the many books we’ve written, worked on, and published over the years), and the many authors who have become friends over the years, including you, our readers!

We also love that the Christmas season is a time of giving and receiving gifts, and (no surprise!) Marji and I love books as gifts. 

These days there are so many ways to give books. You can “gift” actual printed books tied up with a bow, or you can gift ebooks and audio books online (Amazon makes that so easy). I love how simple it is to foster the love of reading and books, especially in children. 

I am fortunate to have seven grandchildren, all under the age of nine years old! (We had seven babies in five years — whew!). So I am thrilled to be able t...

THE FALLACY OF DEMOGRAPHICS or Do You Know Who Your Reader Is?

In this month's newsletter, we tackle one of our favorite subjects: understanding your readers. 

All too often, when we ask an author to tell us about his or her book, they describe their unique solution to a tricky problem, or their journey to reach an amazing discovery. They tell us how they became an expert in a particular topic, and then demonstrate their expertise with an in-depth explanation of the subject matter.

That's important material, but it skips an important step. In our view, a great book – and a successful book – starts with the reader. 

When I was at Regnery Publishing (this is Marji), we held a monthly Acquisitions Meeting to review proposals and discuss potential projects. Occasionally, we would invite an author to our meeting so they could pitch their book. 

My first question was often blunt: "Who is this for and why do they care?" If the author didn't have a good answer, the meeting ...

“Show and Ask” — Not Just “Show and Tell” 

Do you remember back in kindergarten or elementary school when you brought a favorite object to school and you stood up in front of your class, showed them what you brought, and then told them all about it?

Many authors today do the same kind of thing with their book. They stand in front of the room (these days, it’s usually social media), show everyone their wonderful book, and tell their audience all about it.

And then, figuratively speaking, they sit back down.

It’s great to tell your audience about your book and to increase awareness that your book exists, but remember, you also want to increase sales.

And how do you increase sales? You ask for the sale!

The late Barney Zick was a fabulous sales trainer. One of the things that drove him most crazy about salespeople was that they would get so involved in telling people how wonderful their product was that they would forget to ask for the sale.

So he would routinely have his sales ...

Creating a Compelling Author “One-Sheet”

Recently we were talking to an author with an “emergency” on her hands. She had written a book about preventing heat stroke and when temperatures in her city soared to record breaking heights, she knew she was the perfect media guest to address the issue. 

Sounds great, but what was the emergency? Well, the news was breaking so fast, she had to get in front of TV, radio, and podcast producers immediately. But she didn’t know where to begin.

What she needed was a One-Sheet. And she needed it NOW. 

A One-Sheet can be a powerful tool for helping you promote your book – but many authors overlook this simple strategy, or put off creating one until it’s too late.

So this month, we’d like to explain what a One-Sheet is and share our advice on how to create a version that’s compelling and effective. Our goal is to make this so easy that you’ll do it now, and have it handy when opportunity knocks. 

Creating a Compelling Author “One-Sheet” 

A one-sheet is ...