Writers and Editors

In an excellent audio interview on the Great Writers Book Marketing Series, John Kremer (author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books)-- get the Sixth Edition) explains the difference between publicity, advertising, and marketing. Publicity is getting some form of media to do a story about you. (You may have to pay someone to help you get an interview, but you generally don't pay to get the interview.) Advertising is when you pay someone to feature you or your product. Marketing is basically the catch-all term for everything else, and may or may not include advertising and publicity, depending on who's talking. "All marketing is really just relationships." (One of his most important relationships is with his distributor, who gets books into bookstores.)Marketing requires more of a commitment of time than money.

What is branding? Making yourself or your product memorable. A brand is simply something that is memorable. Put your face on your product and be accessible, he says.

With a book, he emphasizes, a good title has to be MEMORABLE--otherwise you can't get good word-of-mouth, which is essential to book sales. And with a book, the most
important thing to spend money on is the cover. A good book cover is going to cost between $1000 and $3000, in his view.

You can hear John Kremer's recorded comments free online on the Great Writers Book Marketing Series, hosted by N. Kali Mincy on BlogTalkRadio.

You can subscribe free to John's useful book marketing e-letter here:http://www.bookmarket.com/