Pour Creativity Into Your Marketing

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Hopefully every writer pours a solid dose of creative energy into their writing and their mansucript. Ironically it is in the writing where the bulk of writers put their energy. I understand and believe it is important to build a solid foundation in the writing and storytelling. You select a way to publish your book and get it into the world. 

After your book is available to others, then you move into a different area where you market or sell your book. To help in this process, I recorded a free teleseminar where I gave a dozen different ways to sell books (follow the link to check it out).  In this article, I want to call a different aspect of the writing business to your attention: creative marketing. 

In the process of marketing your book, it often takes some financial investment such as to hire a publicist or to produce marketing materials or any number of other aspects. What if you don’t have the money or your financial resources are limited? Keep reading this article because I have some ideas and examples which any of you can do if you take action with these creative marketing ideas.

Several years ago I learned about Publishizer which is a free fund-raising tool. If you follow the link, you will see Morgan James Publishing has their own branded version of it. In some ways, Publishizer is like some other fundraising sites like GoFundMe or Kickstarter. Publishizer is focused on books where you can use these other places for many different kinds of fundraising projects. Check this page to get more details about how it works. 

Before your book is published, you can use Publishizer to create different packages. Then you can use an email list or social media to promote those packages and gather pre-sales on your book or funds which you can use for creating the packages but also for marketing or anything else you need with your book. Several years ago I worked with Terri Levine who is a Morgan James author. Terri used this tool to create her campaign and as you can see from the website, she raised $12,500 using this system. 

I met Kirsten Pistorius through her children’s book submission to Morgan James Publishing. She wrote and illustrated a beautiful picture book called My Little Prayer Book: Inspirational Verses for Children. Her campaign is just starting and in pre-sales. I encourage you to look at it and if you can help her with some pre-sales. 

 

If you want to use Publishizer, I encourage you to carefully study the website to learn about the packages and pitches other authors have made for their books, then use these ideas for the creative marketing you will pour into your book.

Publishizer is not for one type of book. Terri Levine’s book was a nonfiction business book. Kirsten Pistorius has a children’s book and she lives in Zimbabwe. You can also use Publishizer for fiction. Debra McIntyre has published a historical novel with Morgan James called A Wishful Eye. Follow this link to check out Deb’s campaign which is also in process (which means you can participate in her campaign and get one of her packages). 

Using Publishizer is a creative way to turn your marketing into book sales and money. You can use this process in the early days of your marketing. 

Also you can use Publishizer after your book is already in the market to create a special sales campaign. Just like the regular program, you have to fill out a form and apply to Publishizer to use the tool for your campaign. Follow this link to the form if you want to create a special sales campaign. 

The key message I want to make with this article is there is not one path or one strategy to use with your book marketing. You can use several different strategies with your plans. It’s important to learn about these opportunities, then take action and use them effectively for your book. I hope I’ve helped open your eyes to some possibilities other authors are using--and you can use as well. 

If you have used Publishizer or have other creative ways you are marketing your book, let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Do you want to pour creativity into your marketing? Prolific author and editor highlights the Publishizer website with some examples. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.