Q. I am currently self-publishing with Xlibris and they have been aggressively marketing for me to spend additional money on one of their marketing packages. I haven’t even seen the final product yet. Should I take them up on their “special offer?”
A. We can’t speak specifically to the Xlibris packages, but can tell you generally that there is NO one size fits all when it comes to book marketing, and generic packages are rarely a good idea. Books must be promoted and marketed to succeed, of course. Most books disappear. So spending time and money on marketing is essential. But the type of marketing that works, whether you’re publishing fiction or nonfiction, is marketing that reaches people who are predisposed to purchase your book. Targeted marketing to people who have demonstrated a willingness to buy similar books in the past, and to people who are interested in your subject matter. It’s hard to reach those people through a generic press release that gets sent out to a thousand media outlets who will delete it before they read it. You won’t find your readers with generic review package, either, or a generic listing somewhere on Goodreads. If the package offers a personal branding consultation, and a social media plan geared specifically to your book and its audience–that’s something worth considering. But as soon as you see “we’ll send out a thousand tweets to our followers!” or “we’ll email the top 100 blogs for you!” run for the hills. Great marketing is about building relationships, and it’s hard to build relationships with a form letter.*Quick Questions are open to anyone! Here’s how to submit yours.
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