samosony's Blog

A flyer is an excellent, inexpensive way to promote your book. What makes one flyer so much better than another? Use these top10 tips to make your flyer stand out from the crowd.

1. Include a colored picture of your front cover.

People want to see what your book looks like. Color is great, but not always necessary. Make sure your colored book cover copies well in black and white. If you do use color, make your book cover background white with colored lettering, so you don't go through a $35 ink cartridge too fast.

2. Hook your prospective buyers with the headline in the top line of your flyer just as you do for your back cover.

Here's a few gems: Why Not Publish Yourself? Read About SEX as it Really Is! Imagine Thousands of Readers Buying your Book Next Month! Quadruple your Income in Four Months! Give your audience a reason to buy--Show those benefits.

3. Include some juicy excerpts from your book.

Prospective buyers want to see a sample of your writing, especially if it's fiction. Use an analogy or short story to illustrate your book's main point if non-fiction.

4. Include your picture with a brief biography near it.

People want to see what the author looks like. Place it on the right side of the flyer if possible.

5. Add praise from others.

Testimonials are the most significant way to market your book. The praise doesn't have to be from famous people. Use a man/woman on the street opinion. One client/author added a testimonial from a convict!

6. Put ordering information on a coupon at the flyer's bottom.

Include your book's ISBN number, Web site URL, your email, toll-free number and discount information.

7. Make it easy for your reader to buy.

Offer easy ways to buy: credit cards, checks or money orders. Include your toll-free 800 number. Many prefer a coupon they can fill out and mail or fax.

8. Give your prospective buyers all the ways to stay in touch with you.

Some people will not buy online or use a credit card. While most small business people are ready for these, it's a good idea to include your street address, e-mail, Web Site, local phone and fax number, and 800 number.

9. Carry at least 25 flyers with you in a folder at all times.

Keep them in your car, so that when you pass a place that will post them for you, they are handy. Give one to every person you meet. Remember the "law of seven." After seven exposures, you have a buyer! Flyers are better than a business card because they have more detailed information on them to help the potential buyer make a decision.

10. Use the backside of the flyer.

You really waste this space if you don't put it to use. Multiply buying results with more testimonials on the back. Include a longer excerpt from your book there.

Your flyer is a detailed extension of you and your book, and one of the least expensive ways to market your book through print. Print hundreds, even thousands, so your book buying public can easily purchase your book.

These marketing tips aren't for the weak at heart. Use discretion and know where the ego and self-promotion boundary stands for you.

1. Use a fold over business card. Place your book information inside the fold. The title on the bottom side of the fold so it is seen first when the card is opened. Only one book to sell right now, no problem. To fill up the page, add the book's tag line or this book is about paragraph. On the top of the fold, list three places the book can be purchased.

2. When you are paying your bills, slip one of your fold over business cards inside.

3. Hand your card out to everyone you have a conversation with. Whether it's the server, a desk or grocery store clerk, or anyone else. This isn't boasting, this is marketing. I've done this on many trips it always increased my mailing list and sales in big ways.

4. When you tell others about your topic and they ask for a tip. Give them two and then tell them what chapter they can find more in. If your card lists several books, circle the book that continues to give them more tips.

5. Always carry one of your books in your hands, cover facing out, wherever you go. Even parties. Keep a dozen books, protected well for frequent shifts and temperature changes, inside your car. Not the trunk.

6. Wear a T-shirt with a copy of the book's cover on the back and your URL at the bottom and on the front. Or list's Amazon.com's URL if you prefer. Get T-shirts for the rest of the family too. When the whole family is wearing one in an unusual color the information will always get inquiries.

7. Create Get a member page and profile on Amazon.com and the other online booksellers. Know and understand member profiles on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com). On Amazon, select help and type in member profile. Be on Amazon's bestseller list. Sell any damaged books in Marketplace on Amazon.

Do you have books sitting in your garage that you haven't sold yet and looking for ways to move them? Then you will want to know about these five outrageous ideas that aren't difficult and can be just plain out fun.

Dede Hall, author of The Starving Student's Cookbook had very poor sales for her books. Then one day an outrageously light bulb moment appeared. She added an inexpensive skillet with the book and shrink-wrapped them. Then she took 150 of them to two stores that she thought wouldn't sell them. Yes, to her surprise, all 150 sold in two days. Dede stumbled on an outrageous idea and it worked out big time. She sold over 100,000 copies in a few months. Where did she sell them? Thought you would never ask. Price Clubs and K-marts.

Do you have a book that could be packaged with something else and create outrageous sales for yourself? It's Christmas time and no it isn't too late. But before you dart off to come up with an outrageous idea for your book, continue reading so that you can get all the facts.

Another cookbook was repackaged with a scarlet ribbon and some imported cinnamon sticks and then sold at department stores in the housewares and gift sections. The book couldn't sell at $5.95 but flew off the shelves at $10 and went into second printing in 30 days.

Would your book sell well in a three-ring shrink-wrapped binder? Why not create and audio or CD version of the material. Just read directly from the material. You do not have to be fancy. Add "read by the author" language to the outside in big letters. Or maybe "F-R__E-E Bonus, Limited Time Offer, Free Audio read by the author" in big letters.

Another key is to look for an item that makes the package larger than the book. This requires a larger space and then bigger visibility.

What about a book on money? Add a mug labeled, "Millionaire" and watch it fly off the shelf. Do not forget the second part of the formula -- the place you are going to sell it. When you add the mug, it is now considered a gift item. This opens the doors to more stores and places.

Try all the independent gift shops, especially at the airport. They are always looking for these type of unique combinations.

Have an exercise book? Add a "walking meter" with it. The one that measures how many miles you are walking. Have no clue what they call those things but I have bought three over the past few years. Again, now it is a gift item. How about contacting a sports equipment vendor and selling them copies of your book that would be a freebie for a limited period with a purchase.

Get the store to add a sign, "limited quality" and watch them go even faster. What is great about this angle is that gift stores, department stores and similar stores are much more open to add things to their shelf. They will work with you much better than a bookstore.

Now that you brain is going a mile a minute with ideas, best wishes for selling many more books!

Have you ever read an article, intended to explain RSS in simple terms that, begins well, but soon descends into confusing jargon or information overload?

If so, take heart, I was in the same place a few months ago.

Often the best way to understand something, is to use it. RSS is no exception.

So rather than try and create a definitive explanation of RSS, this article will tell you how to use it. I guarantee once you've done so, everything will that much clearer.

If a website you visit utilizes RSS, there are a number of ways it will communicate this.

The most common way is to show a little orange button with the letters XML.

Alternatively, you may see words such as "ATOM", "RSS", "Site Feed" or variations on these.

What they have in common is that they will link to a webpage that, in most browsers, looks like gibberish.

It doesn't matter one way or another, what is important is the address of the web page they link to.

To demonstrate, I will relate how to read a site feed for my website, The Nettle Blog. Don't confuse RSS with blogs (web logs). They are two separate concepts. The only reason you see them together so often, is that blogs are the perfect website to take advantage of site feeds. More on that later. Here we go?

Click on this link to go the site feed for The Nettle Blog. Ignore the content in the window, just make a note of the URL in the web address bar. It should read: http://feeds.feedburner.com/thenettle

Now you've got the web address for the site feed, keep it safe somewhere. You'll need it again in a moment.

The next step is to use an RSS reader to make sense of the site feed. There are lots of these available and if you are a heavy user you would probably want to purchase a nice piece of software.

But to begin with, start with something simple and free. Start with Bloglines.

Go to www.bloglines.com/register/ and create a new account.

From the "My Feeds" section of your account you can add new site feeds you want to keep track of.

Select "ADD", enter the URL you copied and hit "Subscribe". You can preview the results, but skip that stage for now. Select "Subscribe" again and the title of the site feed will be transferred to the left-hand window.

Well done. You have now subscribed to your first RSS feed.

To read it just click on the title and you can view all the messages in that feed within a selected time period. The feed will most likely record news related to the website the feed belongs to.

In this instance, the site feed to The Nettle Blog records each new entry to my blog. If you find something of interest, most entries have a clickable link you can follow.

Anytime you find a website you like with a site feed, make a note of the URL for that site feed and add it to your Bloglines folder.

Now comes the clever bit.

In the left-hand column of your account is an "Extras" list. Select Download Notifier and choose the correct file to download the Bloglines Notifier This file is only 100k so any half-decent connection should complete the download in just a few seconds.

If the download is successful, you should see a small, blue icon with the letter "B". Double-clicking it will short-cut you to Bloglines.

Right-click on the icon and you can adjust the settings. Specify how often you want Bloglines to check messages for you.

When Bloglines checks your site feeds and finds that one or more have been updated, a little chime will play and the Bloglines icon will show a little red marker. This means one of the feeds you have subscribed to has something new to say.

So there you have it. A spam-free, hassle-free way to keep track of websites you have an interest in. Providing of course, that they have a site feed. If they don't, ask them why not.

Part two of this article will show webmaster and ezine publishers how they can easily publish a site feed for their website and track the visitors, free of charge.

David Congreave is owner of The Nettle Ezine, the newsletter for the home business -- online.

David lives in Leeds, in the United Kingdom with his wife Leanne.