Summer Book Marketing Tips

Yes, the summer vacation is all set and you plan to hit the beach to show off your new beach body and sip cocktails with dainty umbrellas hanging from the side-next to a fresh cherry-as you take in the sun. But have you set your book marketing, promotion, and publicity in play to be shown off as you're relaxing on the Santa Monica Beach. And even if you're not going on vacation there are some things that you can so in summer, but no other time of the year. Have no fear. If you've been following my book marketing series, then, you know, that I have you covered with this Summer Book Marketing Tip Sheet. There are several ways to be sure your book is making money to pay for your vacation. Your book has to stay relevant while you're off the radar. Keep in mind this is a slow selling season, so you have to be creative, and I do not suggest releasing a book after the Fourth of July week through September. You want to make a note of this action plan, which is chock full of great ideas and promotions for you to take advantage of while away from your desk. Although, writing while on vacation may be fun. This is important, time is of the essence, so let's go. PART A: AT HOME FOR THE SUMMER Water for Everyone Everyone patiently waits for the summer heat and when it arrives they're ready for winter all over again. The one thing that they need, though, is water, and you can help with that. Let's use a blast from the past marketing strategy and design our own water. Yes, order bottles of water with your book or company logo on them in bulk. Scour the internet and compare prices for bottled waters or have some stickers made, buy some waters from your local supermarket and fix your stickers over the water-bottled makers. This will have a wonderful impact on potential buyers. You will be the woman or man of the day for them and perhaps they'll put out their phone and order one of your books. Bring People Together Summertime is the best time of year and kids and parents need a break from each other. Depending on the genre of your book, host an event that brings people out. Don't make this a book specific event. Do a wine tasting, painting workshop, charity bake sale, or something else for a cause, anything the would draw a wide range of people to the event space. That matters, too. Pick a place sure to intrigue potential buyers. Ticket sales could have the wholesale price of the book built in. You could sell books at retail at the event. This is your time to introduce or present yourself to people with the ultimate goal of letting people know that you have a book and would like them to buy it. Host a Book Giveaway Be prepared to host a book giveaway. What reader doesn't like to enter gift giveaways? At least two months in advance ask a few bloggers to host a book giveaway on their blog. I would say ten. Have them all hosted and promoted on social media during the same period for maximum and repeat exposure. Readers often follow the same book bloggers, so seeing your book posted repeatedly is like an advertisement on TV being aired during every commercial break during one show. Attached to the book you could also offer another inexpensive item, like a restaurant gift card, iTunes gift card, or something you can pay for and have e-mailed. You can also collect e-mails by asking readers to submit their emails to enter on some of the blogs. This way you're collecting followers on social media and e-mail addresses. Make it Hot Again, people love the heat, but sometimes they want to get out of the kitchen. LOL. Depending on the month, you can offer discounts on your website to offer books at a discounted rate or have a BOGO sale, if the temperature reaches the 100-degree mark. The heat may be forcing people to stay inside and downloading a new book and relaxing with some tea and lemon may make more sense than being outside. It could be up to you to make them feel that way, so perhaps your social media ad could indicate this call to action and have people say, "You know what, I will make some homemade iced tea and read this new book." Celebrate the Unmentionables We are always ready for the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Memorial Day holidays. They are second nature. Every store will have special sales for these days, but we celebrate so much more. We have national and local holidays that aren't that celebrated or even mentioned, but this could be your time to school someone about a day of celebration and offer a discount for your lesson. Fair exchange, you get the sale, and they get the discount. In June, we have Ball Point Pen Day, National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, Best Friends Day. In July, there is National Hot Dog Day, National S'mores Day, Hammock Day. August there is, National Watermelon Day, Left Hander's Day, National Marshmallow Toasting Day. Just choose a day and create an event or selling strategy around it. Make it new and refreshing and it'll be a winner. Be Good and Loyal This happens often on social media when we ask our readers to post a picture with our books. What you should do in the summer is ask them to take a picture while at their vacation destination. That coerces them to take the book with them on their trip. You can make it fun, but asking for pictures in specific places like on a plane, on the beach, or a hotel lobby. Ask them to spread the word about your book. To be your ambassador. Word of mouth remains a key selling tool. PART B: VACATIONING FOR THE SUMMER Effective Social Media Updates While you readers will be out and about during the summer, you may be, too. They will be at picnics and ballparks doing what they did before arriving there. What won't change on their outings is social media browsing. You can prepare for this by having some ads made and have posts ready in advance of any trip. You can post them yourself if you'll remember, or pay a service. You can also use this time to introduce readers to you and your personal life. It'll be fun. Open up a little. Email Is Not Dead While readers don't stop using social media they also don't stop checking their e-mail app. It's best to have an e-mail designed and set to send to your list while you are away. You can use a site like Mail Chimp or Mailer Lite to perfectly time the release of your promotional e-mail. It can also be an e-mail to say, "Hello from Paris." Readers won't know it's been pre-designed. They will like that you've thought of them and didn't have anything to sell. This may prompt them to buy something just because you've reminded them that you're out there. On Fire Pricing Be prepared to host your free Kindle discounts and countdowns during this time that you're away. It makes sense, as you don't have to monitor it. This is the best time to launch and publicize all kinds of discounts and promotions. Be creative. Try to have some that lead directly to your website, because that is where the most royalty ROI is for you. Be A Guest Again, approaching bloggers well in advance of your vacation to ask can they post a guest blog or an interview will be nice while you're away. This works best if each blog has different content and different material. Perhaps you can offer a special discount code for people that reblog or retweet your blog post. The more the merrier, too. If you can have fifteen (15) or more bloggers posting about you in a week that would be grand. Undoubtedly this has helped you and I hope that I continue to inspire you to be a better book marketer. I look forward to hearing from anyone that may need my services to help with their projects.