I've been working on marketing for the book. Basically, it is a
twisted pop thriller for kids. I lack the basic 'hooks' people go for
when marketing books. For example, if you have a book on
homeschooling, you go after home schooling groups - or if action takes
place in Medford, you go after Medford area booksellers and clubs. My
books are aimed at pretty much everybody, which makes it harder to hit
any particular person with any impact :)
But you need targeting. There are over 2000 significant bookstores in
the US in lots of communities and if you don't target you spend a
whole lot of money and have very little impact.
So, as I mentioned before, I decided to target the book at certain
communities that have lots of kids in the right age range who can
speak English and whose parents are educated. I've identified those
communities and the bookstores in them.
The challenge is, bookstores like to sign up one of two types of
people for readings etc...: local people or nationally promoted
people. I am neither and I can't realistically pursue a national
promotion. So, instead, I am going to take on the appearance of
somebody nationally promoted, but all the promotion will take place in
the top 15-25 target 3-digit zipcodes.
My plan, presently, is to carry out the following three steps:
1) Find people I know in those communities.
2) Send promotional postcards to the bookstores in those areas just
prior to publication. Offer to do signings, readings, just drop by and
sign a few copies etc...
3) Have the people I know visit the bookstores shortly after the
publication of the book, asking for a copy and recommending the book
4) Have a third-party call the primed bookstores, as the publisher,
indicating that I am available
5) Pinging every community newspaper in the target areas with a
message that mentions book signings (if any yet), availability for
interviews, homeschool meetings and even school visits. Include a
standard press pack.
6) Having those papers that run articles get letters to the editor
from local friends reinforcing the quality of the book. And write
recommendation letters to the paper for those papers that haven't run
articles
This is an aggressive approach, but it might work. I'd love your thoughts.
By the way, the top 21 target areas are (I've put a * next to the ones
I might already have people I can lean on in :)). Please note, the
3-digit zips contain lots of other towns, these are just the most
noteworthy in the target areas. Most are suburbs of cities:
Marietta, Georgia*
Irving Texas
Highland Park, IL*
Fremont, California
Bellevue, WA*
Englewood/Littleton, CO
Mission Viejo, CA
Houston, TX
Naperville, IL
Sterling, VA
Minnetonka, MN
Stony Brook, NY
Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL*
DeKalb, IL
Scottsdale, AZ
Auburn Hills, MI
Bryn Mawr, PA*
Minneapolis, MN
Gaithersburg, MD
Overland Park, KS
West Orange, NJ*
