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: Other Book Marketing Tips
I promised not to give any tips that weren’t tried and true with respect to marketing. That is, not to give any that I hadn’t tried myself, and could be found in any Marketing 101 book. But I ran across two in the literature that seems completely plausible, and potentially productive. These have to do with book signings at church, and obtaining and following through with mailing lists.
If you have a good relationship with a church, and your book is not contrary to the values being taught in the church, you might want to have a book signing at your church. Naturally, if your book is contradictory to the values being taught in the church this is not going to work. The reason I haven’t tried this is because some of my books are opposed to some religious doctrines. Even if you have a general-topic book, some churches will still allow authors to do a book signing. It mainly depends on your relationship with the church. Some churches have a large-captive audience who’re interested in helping local authors, especially if the author is a member of the church. You might even go nationwide with a book-signing tour at various churches.
Another thing you can try is to send out mailing list. There are many companies that specialize in all types of mailing list. I tried a mailing list with my first book. The book was entitled Implications For Effective Psychotherapy With African-Americans. Since it dealt with the subject of psychotherapy, I got the mailing list of professional psychologist in Illinois from the Illinois Psychological Association. I sent each member a brochure on the book with an order form. I did get a fair response, and sold a number of books. You might even consider being more general than that. Some companies might have a mailing list of people who are generally interested in books. You can develop a brochure on your book and send each person one. There are all kinds of mailing list to be had for a nominal fee. The only problem is developing a brochure, obtaining a mailing list, and doing a mass mailing can be quite expensive. You have to determine if it is worth it to you.
What works for some don’t always work for others. You have to decide what is best for your particular situation. When it comes to cost I’m sure we are all fighting to stay above board in these economic times. But you have written your book, and life goes on. Somehow you got to figure out ways to market it. These are just a few ways that might be productive for you, depending on the mass appeal of your book.
