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Marketing Monday: Targeting Book Clubs

Have you ever considered targeting book clubs in your marketing efforts? Book clubs constantly need materials to keep their members engaged around a central discussion theme. Engaging book clubs can be beneficial for the following reasons:

  • a) You only have to approach one or two people to get your book in the hands of multiple readers who are most likely to tell others outside of the club about your book.
  • b) Your book will become a topic for discussion across book clubs and book reader organizations. How cool is that?
  • c) You get a chance to build relationships with a future fan base.

How can you get your book in the hands of book clubs? First, using the search engine, look for book clubs within your area and for a wider reach you can also target online book clubs. Organize your list on a spreadsheet so you can track down your activities because there is a big possibility that your list will grow as the months pass, thanks to referrals. Speaking of which, don’t forget to inquire about other book clubs that you can get in touch with.

Once you’ve got your list organized, prepare a letter or an email to send to the club organizer or leader. Consider this as a pitch, you have to convince your target audience that your book is worth their time. What is your book about? Why do you think your story would be a great book topic for their club? If your story presents questions and issues relevant to current life issues, you have a great chance of getting selected as book topic. Emphasize on these thought-provoking aspects of your book.

If you are a self-published author, you have full control of your book’s price so you can easily give discounts for group purchases. If you are traditionally published, you can probably discuss the possibility of offering the discount with your publisher. Who doesn’t love a bargain? I know I do.

Be pro-active all throughout. If a book club congregates near your area, you can arrange with the organizer to do an appearance and participate in the discussions. For online book clubs, sign up and jump into the conversations. It pays to let them know that you are interested in what the book club members have to say about the story. Furthermore, you can ask for suggestions on your future releases. Relationships are two-way streets, they give you something you would benefit from and vice versa. Nourish these relationships and you never know how far it would take you in the future. Remember that this is most likely not the only story you will be writing.

Lastly, remember that list of clubs you painstakingly collected and organized? Another way to grow that list is by sharing it with other authors. They probably know of other book clubs that you don’t and you know of some that they don’t know about. Organize an “Authors Helping Authors” campaign, pass on the list to other authors with the requirement that each author the list is passed on to, they have to add to the list.

 

 

 


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