We’ve arrived at that point you maybe never thought you’d get to:  you’ve written your book, it’s going to be published soon, and you’re ready to market it. 

You’re ready because you’re smart and you’ve realized that your publisher is going to do nothing to promote the book.  It’s up to you.  If that shocked you once upon a time, you’re over it and you’re ready to proceed.  You’ve got a couple of decisions to make immediately. 

First, are you going to hire a PR agency or try to do some traditional PR yourself?  Traditional PR agencies work their rolodexes on your behalf usually for about 6 months – 3 months before publication and 3 after.  What they do is get you all the free media they can – TV, radio, reviews in magazines, newspapers, blogs to an extent – to get your book to sell.  They might also coordinate various other kinds of promotions (both free and paid) depending on their creativity and your budget.  A basic PR contract like this might cost anywhere from $30K to $75K depending on who and how much. 

You can also try to do this yourself; be warned that it’s hard work.  PR agencies get the money because of their rolodexes, and unless you have a nice ‘in’ with a producer of The Today Show, the odds are that interest in a particular author’s work coming from that author will be minimal. 

There is another, and I believe, better way to go.  That is to use non-traditional, online media – social media – to create a platform and join a community yourself.  The huge advantage of this approach is that it’s free – except in terms of your time.  And it works. 

Social media allows you to locate a community of like-minded people who will be interested in your book – provided you show them a little love first.  That means you have to begin a long time – as much as a year or two – before the book publication.  You have to create your blog, and all the other social media tools you’re going to use, and then use those tools to reach out to and connect with like-minded people.  As a professional speaker, you probably have done a good deal of this already. 

Here’s a little thought-experiment to show you why I think this is the way to go.  Imagine your perfect reader, a single mom, business executive, someone who devours business books regularly.  She has 2 kids, and she’s getting them ready for school one morning, while getting herself ready for work at the same time.  The TV is on in the kitchen, and she’s watching The Today Show.  A segment about your book catches her eye, while she’s brushing her teeth, putting the kids’ breakfast in front of them, and looking for their lunchboxes.  Just as the segment ends, Johnny knocks over the OJ and she rushes around to clean up.  A few hours later, when she’s caught up with email and thinking about lunch, sitting at her desk at work, she recalls the segment.  She’s forgotten the name of the author and the book, so (regretfully) she opts for the corned beef, and resolves to buy the book when she thinks of it.  But she never does.

Now imagine an alternate scenario.  Same perfect reader, but home after a long day.  She’s just put the kids to bed, and has settled down in the living room with a glass of wine and her laptop to catch up on her favorite blogs and email.  She reads a piece about your book in one of those blogs, clinks on the link, and has bought the book from Amazon before you can say, “credit card details.”

When I published Give Your Speech, Change the World in 2005, I did tons of radio and other forms of PR.  The book has sold OK, but a recent video review by the inimitable Chris Brogan rocketed the book to #500 on Amazon in less than 24 hours.  It sold out the edition, and Harvard is currently printing more.  For a while I was outselling Dan Brown.  A temporary, but nice feeling! 

Social media works, if you’ve connected sincerely with a real audience of like-minded people.  In this era, it’s the best way to market a book.  And all it takes is time. 

Good luck with your project!