Author Name: Jay Thomas Willis
Book Title(s): Implications For Effective Psychotherapy With African-Americans; As Soon as the Weather Breaks; The Cotton is High; Born to be Destroyed; Paranoid but not Stupid; Why Black Americans Behave as They Do; Hard Luck; When the Village Idiot Get Started; Educated Misunderstanding; The Devil in Angelica.
Marketing Subject: A Good Presentation is the First Step in Marketing Your Book
Here are some things you need to work on before getting into the secondary stages of marketing your book. As they say, first thing’s first. First, the manuscript must be presentable. If you don’t get your presentation right you are doomed to failure. You might call this the preliminary stage of marketing. So, slow down and take it one step at a time.
The first thing to do in marketing your book is to be sure you have an appropriate cover design. If your book’s cover design is not appealing no one is going to buy it. Be sure you don’t just settle for any design, find a design that fits you and your book. Get several people to review your design before you settle for a permanent design. If your design is gloomy or unattractive, you are not going to be successful in your marketing endeavors.
If you don’t do the design yourself, be sure you describe the content of the design down to the last detail to the one responsible for the design; that includes colors and structure. This first step is so important you might want to see a specialist in book-cover design. Once you have decided on a design it will be rather expensive to change it.
Be sure there are no typing errors on the cover. If a consumer sees an error on the cover he is sure to reject the book without buying or reading it.
Next, be sure to read over your manuscript until you are tired of reading it. Correct every typo and mistake that you can, making it as readable as possible. After you have read your manuscript until near fatigue, let a number of friends or relatives proofread it, and then consider getting an editor to check for errors. It is impossible to over proofread your manuscript. It is also hard for a person to proofread his own work. The more you read, sometimes the less you are able to see your own mistakes.
Also, be sure your facts and figures are correct, and your charts reflect what you want them to.
Not until you have done these things do you send it to a publisher or printer. I believe once you do these things you will be happy with your results, if your content is worthwhile. At this point you will be ready for the secondary stages of marketing your book. Before you can effectively market your book these things must be accomplished first. Although, I’m sure some people will say this is elementary.
