bookselling: a practical guide by storiad

Presented By:Ramzi S. Hajj, CoFounder of Storiad, Inc.

[email protected]© 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Bookselling: A Practical Guide

Bookselling: A Practical Guidestoriad.com

© 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Your Presenter - Ramzi S. Hajj

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  Co-Founder of Storiad   Economist by professional trade  Writing as the proverbial labor of love

Why Build Storiad?  ALL my author-friends worked YEARS to write, edit, and bring

books to market à GREAT news  … Selling virtually no books à BAD news  Solve the “bad book sale” dilemma with better technology,

access to information & actionable industry knowledge



Presentation Outline

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①  The Basics: The “5/95 Rule”②  Bookselling Market Realities③  What Bookselling is All About④  Planning & Doing⑤  Your Networking Plan⑥  Your Marketing Plan⑦  Your Publicity Plan⑧  Your Plans in Action⑨  Let’s Talk Videos with Aqua83



Wisdom in Numbers: The “5/95 Rule”

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Bookselling Conventional Wisdom Achieving Publishing Success

Writing Marketing

Book publishing success is 5%

writing a book and 95% marketing

“Writing a book is just a prologue to more work.” - The Economist (Schumpeter | Authorpreneurship) 2/14/2015



Bookselling Market Fundamentals

The Greatest Obstacle to Book Sales is Lack of Market Awareness

Some reasons why:①  The number of books being published every year has exploded②  No other industry has so many new product introductions③  Average book sales are shockingly small, and falling fast④  A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average

bookstore⑤  It is getting harder and harder every year to sell books⑥  Most books today are selling only to the authors’ and publishers’

communities⑦  Most book marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers

* Source: Steven Piersanti, President, Berrett-Koehler Publishers. February 22, 2013

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The Short & Sweet of Bookselling

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It’s ALL About Connections & Communication

Sorry, NO:q  Ifs;q Ands; orq Buts.



Your Connections, Your Network

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And by Connections, we mean:þ  Friends & Familyþ Other Authorsþ  Editorsþ  Publishersþ  Lit Agentsþ  Book Clubsþ  Reading Groups

þ Writing Programsþ  Interest Groupsþ  Bookstoresþ  Lit Magsþ  Book Bloggersþ  Book Reviewsþ  Vloggers

þ  New Media Peopleþ  Film Peopleþ  Social Media

“Influencers”þ  Radio Peopleþ … And Many more



Our Destination

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As Published Authors, we need to do everything we can to stand out in a crowded bookselling field

“Readers these days want to get to know the creators of the books they buy.” - The Economist (Schumpeter | Authorpreneurship) 2/14/2015



Bookselling Goal à Strategy à Tactics

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þ  Your Bookselling Goal: to sell as many books as possible

þ  Your Bookselling Strategy: to implement interconnected Networking, Marketing, and Publicity Plans to find and connect with the right people, at the right time, with the right messages

þ  Your Bookselling Tactics: to position a well-balanced portfolio of book marketing assets in support of the interconnected Networking, Marketing, and Publicity Plans



Your Bookselling Strategy

Your Bookselling Strategy entails building three interconnected plans:

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• attract & engage your audience with compelling content

• content reflects “who you are, how you write, why you write, what you’ve written”

Networking

• research your readership base

• develop smart & interactive marketing materials

• actively market to that base

Marketing • identify relevant industry influencers

• get your marketing materials to these influencers

Publicity



Tools of the Bookselling Trade

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Your Portfolio of Marketing Tools Include:þ  Networking

platformþ Marketing

platformþ  Your book

(excerpts)þ  Book trailerþ  Author reading

(video)þ  Video book

reviews

þ  Audioþ Online reviewsþ  Social mediaþ  Bloggingþ  Virtual author

eventsþ  Partnershipsþ  Co-marketing w/

publisherþ  Discount codesþ Offline events

þ  Visualsþ Marketing opt-in

formsþ Giveawaysþ  Linksþ  Adsþ Messaging

templatesþ … And SO MUCH

MORE



Your Networking Plan Development

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Your Networking Plan addresses the quantity, quality, and relevancy of the connections you make.

①  Time Allocation②  Connections③  Third Party Content Discovery & Sharing④  Blogging & Original Content Creation⑤  Network Engagement



Your Marketing Plan Development

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Your Marketing Plan determines who your target audience members are, what interests them, and how best to reach them in the compelling and memorable ways needed to induce them to consider, buy, read, then recommend your book to others.

①  Time Allocation②  Budgeting③  Target Audience Determination ④  Market Research⑤  Marketing Materials Development⑥  Marketing Material Packaging⑦  Marketing Material Distribution



Your Publicity Plan Development

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Your Publicity Plan determines how you get your book’s marketing information onto the screens of those industry influencers in the business of reading, reviewing, recommending, and/or buying books.

①  Time Allocation②  Budgeting③  Outreach Messaging④  Tracking



Author’s Decision Point

With prevailing market challenges in mind, we authors have one of two choices:

q  Remain Passive: Do little (or nothing) and don’t sell many books

Or; q  Get Proactive: Develop integrated Networking,

Marketing, and Publicity plans to build the market awareness that sells books

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So …

And Please Remember: If people don’t know your book exists, there is a 0% chance

they will read it, review it, recommend it, or buy it.



Author’s Decision Point

We KNOW you’ll choose the Proactive approach

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And Finally …

Happy Book Marketing!

Woof!

Presented By:Ramzi S. Hajj, CoFounder Storiad, Inc.


Thank You!

Questions?Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @storiad

Virtual Author Event Reach More. Save More.

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Storiad and Aqua83 Presents

[email protected]

Sha’Dona Brewer @aqua83consult #VirtualAuthorEvent

• Marke?ng and Communica?ons

• Industries

• Events

• Aqua83 Consul?ng

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[email protected]

Author Event Setbacks

•  Budgets

•  AJendance

•  Technology

•  Change in marke?ng dynamics

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[email protected]

Author Event Solu?on

•  Go digital

•  Reach more

•  Create brand

•  Save ?me and money

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[email protected]

What is a VAE?

•  Online webinar

•  Interac?ve

•  Opt-‐in marke?ng

•  Market data collec?on

•  Branding

•  Content piece

•  Drive sales

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[email protected]

What’s included in a VAE?

•  Consulta?on

•  Full planning

•  Management

•  Marke?ng

•  Event execu?on

•  Post marke?ng

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[email protected]

Different from others

•  First of its kind

•  Mul?ple resources

•  One-‐on-‐one

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[email protected]

Bookselling strategy

•  Develop right assets

•  Develop right strategy

•  VAE

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[email protected]

Thank you!

So what are you wai?ng for?

[email protected]

[email protected]

hJp://learn.storiad.com/Virtual-‐Author-‐Event

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Presented By:Ramzi S. Hajj, CoFounder Storiad, Inc.


Thank You!

Questions?Email: [email protected]

@storiad @aqua83consult #Bookselling #VirtualAuthorEvent

bookselling: a practical guide by storiad

Marketing

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short sweet of bookselling

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bad book sale dilemma

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