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Useful Marketing-tips for Authors An increasing number of authors publish their own works, only to experience that selling a book is just as much an art as writing one. This is the problem that Andreas Maeckler (www.maeckler.com) is determined to solve. He has sold a total of more than 100,000 copies of his 15 book worldwide. Maeckler, who has written down his advice in a concise volume, knows what he is talking about.
His new manual for authors is just as informative and helpful as his two other books on the topic: "SelfPublishing- How to Sell One's Own Books" and "Books on Demand - How to Sell One's Books on the Net". It is a rich source of ideas which will help authors and small publishing companies to face growing competition in the media world. It will help them to get in touch with the people who matter: the readers. It is written in a humorous and inspiring style and offers many entertaining hints. It is incredible to what lengths authors will go to sell their books; a bulk of the examples with which the text is flavoured comes from the United States.
Yet Andreas Maeckler's book not only inspires and motivates, it also contains a warning to those who should not become self-reliant publishers, namely authors "who don't have a clue of how to work with text and layout software (Word, QuarkXpress, Photoshop) or who don't know how to use the internet. These people will end up paying others for specialized labour- an expensive and risky thing to do. If these costs are topped with a couple of thousand bucks for marketing, the whole venture may quickly become a financial hazard. Should the book be unsuccessful, all the money invested will be lost." The possibilities to market one's book are legion; there are just as many options as there are books, authors and publishers. Maeckler shows how to reach the ideal target group and how to word the book's selling points. The later is particularly important, since one faces a competition of an estimated one million other books available.
This, certainly, is another fact with which Andreas Maeckler tries to disillusion his readers: "Picture this: a million hardbacks and paperbacks, all lined up in one long row. In the middle of the row, like a drop in the ocean, your book! For you, the author, it will always stand out among the rest. But what about the millions of readers?? Will it stand out for them?" This guide was written to show how to position one's book on the market: "Look for unusual locations to sell your book. Say you have written something on cats. Why not advertise in the waiting room of a vet? Why not sell your book on health food in a health food store? Or are you a doctor who has written a pamphlet on home cures? Great! Sell it to your patients. Likewise, literature on sports could be offered in a sports shop, books on hunting and fishing in hunting and fishing supplies, travel books in travel agencies, and books on wine in wine shops. One could even consider to sell one's book with recipes in restaurants!" No question: a highly recommendable guide for authors!
Martje Grohmann, in: Literaturzeitschrift Maskenball
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