Review: Important Resource for Marketing Your Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 18, 2014
Most new authors breathe a sigh of relief once they have completed their book.  They believe the hard part is over.  Unfortunately, writing the book is really the easy part.  Marketing a book is a real challenge.The barriers to entry have been almost eliminated for anyone wishing to write a book.  But lower barriers to entry only mean that the barriers to success have been raised.  Thanks to Print On Demand, Kindle Publishing and other such resources, more and more authors are now able to get their books written and published.  The number of books available is constantly increasing.  So it is harder and harder for a new author to stand out from the crowd, to get noticed and build a following.  It is highly unlikely to happen by chance or even word of mouth.  You need a serious marketing effort to get your book into the hands of readers.Penny Sansevieri, a book marketing expert, has written a how-to manual that will help you get noticed and get sales.  The book is actually two books in one.  The first book is "Get More Sales on Amazon.com" and the second book is "Get More Reviews on Amazon.com".  The books are combined as one under the umbrella title of How To Sell Books by the Truckload on Amazon.com.  As Ms. Sansevieri correctly points out, all books need an adequate number of reviews to gain credibility and sales.Ms. Sansevieri is founder and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc.  It is her business to help authors get the publicity and sales they need to fulfill the mission of their books.  She is also the author of over a dozen other books where she has developed her skills at increasing sales and reviews on Amazon.com.  She writes from a position of direct experience.Penny writes in a very conversational style.  The concepts are easy to understand and there are lots of screen shot examples and links provided to illustrate the points she is making.The book is filled with very solid information.  She goes into great detail about things the author should and should not do so as to get the maximum benefit from Amazon.  There is some very good information about understanding Amazon, the particular classification you choose for your book, and how to use keywords effectively.  She also gives some great tips and insights into Amazon Author Central.The next books is about reviews.  Reviews are crucial to the success of your book.  Ms. Sansevieri covers all the different types of reviews, how to write a query letter, what you should send in a review package as well as practices you should not engage in to attract reviewers.  She also tells how to help your readers write better reviews.As a TOP 500 reviewer, I was particularly interested in the section about reviews.  I thought she did an excellent job covering reviews.  I get queries on a daily basis and most would increase their chances of getting a positive response if they would read and adhere to her advice.If you are a self-published author this book will be very helpful in improving your marketing efforts.  Even most publishing houses today are leaving the marketing to the author of the book.  If are lucky enough to have a publisher but are still the one marketing your book, this book will certainly help.I was provided a review copy of this book.