How To Market Your Non-fiction Book Before Publication

Just tweet your queries to @wordsallowed or @writers_artists between 1600 and 1700 (GMT) today (Weds 29th May) and include the hash-tag #writingadvice.

In the meantime, Sue provides some key insight into how you can market your non-fiction book even before it’s been published...

A few years ago a youngish man, a lawyer, consulted me about his idea for a book.  He had just had a baby and his wife (also a lawyer) was the breadwinner.  He stayed at home to look after the child.  Such was his total adoration for his new-born and his incredulity at the new world that had opened up for him, he excitedly described his book idea to me: it would be called Outings in London for Toddlers.  Hmmm.

When I gently pointed out that there were probably several hundred of these on the bookshelves already, he listened and, graciously, accepted that this particular idea for a book would not offer him a great deal of success. But between us we came up with another idea that would.

Our session was booked to discuss what he should put in his pitch to an agent, or publisher.  We talked about how important it was to provide facts about how well it might sell, the competition, where it might fit on the shelves of a bookstore and why he was the best person to write it.  Once the toddler book was out of the way, it was clear he had other ideas on his mind.  I asked him what his passions were. His face lit up immediately.  It transpired that he had spent most of his life criss-crossing the planet in search of unusual and obscure facts. He'd clocked up 90 countries and folders full of data from what animal has mastered the secret of mortality to who was the first modern leader to fire back in an assassination attempt.  And so his gazeteer was born, a synopsis prepared and an agent and publisher found. Two years later, the book is still selling.

This example shows how passion and knowledge turns manuscripts into books. But the key point here is that a good idea is not enough. Timing is crucial.  And promoting your book before you have finished writing it will help sales.  

After all, Amazon (‘game-changers’ within the publishing industry) post up book covers well before publication date. So why not alert your own prospective market and be pro-active about getting people interested in your title even before it’s published.

Should authors just leave the marketing and publicity of their book to agents or publishers in order to generate sales? 

If you are a well-established author with a number of publications under your belt, possibly yes. But if this is your first non-fiction book, there is a lot you can be doing to alert both the media and potential readers well before you get to the finish line.

If it was me, I would now be bearing the following things in mind…:

Bloggers are powerful influencers! Find a blogger, perhaps on twitter (#your subject) who blogs about your topic and has a lot of followers. Then offer to write on their blog. Of course, you also promise a review copy.  Social media is a powerful tool.

Book editors/reviewers: A very small number of books, especially new ones, get picked up. So make sure you send your synopsis well in advance of your anticipated publication date

Magazine editors:  Offer to write a feature, especially if you can offer case studies.  Timing is crucial.  Magazines work six months ahead. Choose some with big circulations, not just a niche market. Almost all magazines include food, travel, health, lifestyle etc.  You can find out the names of editors and outlets by using a website like www.mediauk.com or www.ppa.co.uk for titles under broad subject categories.  

TV/Radio:  Editors love 'experts' on a subject who have new theories or research. Significantly women rarely think they are one, as top scientists revealed in the recent Women of the World summit. But if something comes up in the news don't just shout at the telly. You may find yourself on the sofa on This Morning, arguing on Women's Hour, or, as happened to one of my own students being interviewed on ITN News at Ten. 

The Pitch/Synopsis: What you include is very important. Get it right and you may quadruple your sales on publication.

Your ability to react: Your biggest chance of publicity is to 'react' fast to a story in the news and use it as a 'peg' to hang your story on.  Take the recent revelation by Angelina Jolie that she had a double mastectomy as a result of discovering a gene that gave her an 87 per cent chance of getting the disease.  Along came a rash of newspaper and magazine articles, radio and TV interviews and a whole host of 'experts' from nutritionists to medics.  If your book is about breast cancer, those two weeks would have been a great time to get out there and tell someone!

What are you looking to pitch? Who should you approach? When’s best to blog/tweet? To get in touch with Susan and ask her questions specific to the non-fiction piece you’re working on, tweet either @writers_artists or @wordsallowed between 1600 and 1700 (GMT) on Weds 29th May and include the hash-tag #writingadvice.

Susan Grossman is a former journalist, magazine editor and BBC broadcaster. She now works with non-fiction writers and journalists as a writing mentor and coach. Susan also lectures in journalism at two universities. She offers individual help (SGMediaTraining) to writers and runs workshops and weekly Freelance Cafes in London. She can be contacted on Twitter, by email or via her website.