Bookselling: A Practical Guide. From Storiad

Bookselling: A Practical Guide

Presented By: Ramzi S. Hajj, CoFounder of Storiad, Inc. ramzi@storiad.com Š 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Your Presenter - Ramzi S. Hajj ­ 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

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Presentation Outline ① The Basics: The “5/95 Rule” ② Bookselling Market Realities ③ What Bookselling is All About ④ Planning & Doing ⑤ Your Networking Plan ⑥ Your Marketing Plan ⑦ Your Publicity Plan ⑧ Your Plans in Action ⑨ Let’s Talk Videos with Aqua83

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Wisdom in Numbers: The “5/95 Rule” Bookselling Conventional Wisdom Achieving Publishing Success

Book publishing success is 5% writing a book and 95% marketing

Writing

Marketing

“Writing a book is just a prologue to more work.”

- The Economist (Schumpeter | Authorpreneurship) 2/14/2015 4

Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

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 exploded ② No other industry has so many new product introductions ③ Average book sales are shockingly small, and falling fast ④ A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore ⑤ It is getting harder and harder every year to sell books ⑥ Most books today are selling only to the authors’ and publishers’ communities ⑦ Most book marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

The Short & Sweet of Bookselling It’s ALL About Connections & Communication

Sorry, NO: q Ifs; q Ands; or q Buts.

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Your Connections, Your Network

And by Connections, we mean: þ Friends & Family þ Other Authors þ Editors þ Publishers þ Lit Agents þ Book Clubs þ Reading Groups

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þ Writing Programs þ Interest Groups þ Bookstores þ Lit Mags þ Book Bloggers þ Book Reviews þ Vloggers Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

þ New Media People þ Film People þ Social Media “Influencers” þ Radio People þ … And Many more

Our Destination 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 8

Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Bookselling Goal à Strategy à Tactics 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

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Your Bookselling Strategy Your Bookselling Strategy entails building three interconnected plans:

• attract & engage your audience with compelling content • content reflects “who you are, how you write, why you write, what you’ve written”

Networking

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Marketing • research your readership base

• identify relevant industry influencers • get your marketing materials to these influencers

• develop smart & interactive marketing materials • actively market to that base

Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Publicity

Tools of the Bookselling Trade

Your Portfolio of Marketing Tools Include: þ Networking platform þ Marketing platform þ Your book (excerpts) þ Book trailer þ Author reading (video) þ Video book reviews 11

þ Audio þ Online reviews þ Social media þ Blogging þ Virtual author events þ Partnerships þ Co-marketing w/ publisher þ Discount codes þ Offline events Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

þ Visuals þ Marketing opt-in forms þ Giveaways þ Links þ Ads þ Messaging templates þ … And SO MUCH MORE

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

① ② ③ ④ ⑤

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Time Allocation Connections Third Party Content Discovery & Sharing Blogging & Original Content Creation Network Engagement

Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Your Marketing Plan Development 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 ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦

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Time Allocation Budgeting Target Audience Determination Market Research Marketing Materials Development Marketing Material Packaging Marketing Material Distribution

Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Your Publicity Plan Development

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 ② ③ ④

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Time Allocation Budgeting Outreach Messaging Tracking

Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Author’s So …

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 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.

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Author’s And Finally Decision …

Point

We KNOW you’ll choose the Proactive approach Happy Book Marketing!

Woof!

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Bookselling: A Practical Guide storiad.com © 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Thank You! Questions?

Email: ramzi@storiad.com Twitter: @storiad

Presented By: Ramzi S. Hajj, CoFounder Storiad, Inc. Š 2015 Storiad, Inc.

Storiad and Aqua83 Presents

Virtual Author Event Reach More. Save More.

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Sha’Dona Brewer @aqua83consult #VirtualAuthorEvent

• Marke?ng and Communica?ons • Industries • Events • Aqua83 Consul?ng

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Author Event Setbacks • Budgets • AJendance • Technology • Change in marke?ng dynamics

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Author Event Solu?on • Go digital • Reach more • Create brand • Save ?me and money

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What is a VAE? •

Online webinar

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Interac?ve

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Opt-­‐in marke?ng

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Market data collec?on

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Branding

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Content piece

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Drive sales

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What’s included in a VAE? • Consulta?on • Full planning • Management • Marke?ng • Event execu?on • Post marke?ng

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Different from others • First of its kind • Mul?ple resources • One-­‐on-­‐one

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Bookselling strategy • Develop right assets • Develop right strategy • VAE

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Thank you!

So what are you wai?ng for?

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

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Thank You! Questions?

Email: ramzi@storiad.com @storiad @aqua83consult #Bookselling #VirtualAuthorEvent

Presented By: Ramzi S. Hajj, CoFounder Storiad, Inc. © 2015 Storiad, Inc.