Tim Winton is now in the happy position of being a sure fire hit in publishing. His publisher, Penguin, apparently spares no expense on marketing his books – his latest book, Breath, even features on bus advertising! Winton is highly sought after for festivals around the world and his speaking dates here in Australia often sell out. But none of this means he can be complacent – even Tim Winton needs to keep selling his books.
Of course new authors don’t always have the benefit of a big publisher, and a big budget, to help market their books. Take a look in any bookstore and you’ll see why a great marketing campaign is pretty much essential for new releases. Imagine trying to sell your book in one of the larger bookstores in the city – there must be tens of thousands of books in some of these stores, many of which are positioned spine out on an endless line of book shelves.
Large publishers will have entire departments devoted to marketing and many also hire publicists to work on certain releases. So what do you do if you don’t have access to those resources? If you’re self-publishing or you’re a new author, you may have to do a lot of marketing yourself. This isn’t a bad thing – having control of this part of your publishing journey gives you the freedom to decide how and where your book is marketed. And there are so many ways now that you can market your book from home. Online options are endless! Google ‘book marketing’ and you’ll have access to thousands of websites and blogs with advice on how to market your book.
Former Sydney Writers’ Centre student Amanda Falconer is living proof that an effective marketing campaign can turn your book into a success story. She’s a brand and marketing expert, and also author of The Renovator’s Survival Guide. She has over 20 years' experience in marketing so it’s not surprising that her publicity for The Renovator’s Survival Guide has been so successful – she’s appeared on two morning tv programs, had an article published in the Sunday Telegraph and has done a number of radio interviews to promote the book.
Now, she’s coming back to the Sydney Writers’ Centre, but this time to teach! The new course, Marketing Your Book, is an intensive, three session course that will give authors the inside knowledge they need to get their book out there. Online marketing, media interviews, generating publicity – we'll tell you about all of it!
Marketing Your Book with Amanda Falconer
When: Every Wednesday evening starting Wednesday 22 July 2009 for three weeks
Time: 6.30-8.30pm
Cost: $235
Comments