Bob Baker's Book Promotion & Marketing Blog: Book Promotion, Rock & Roll Style

Bob Baker's Book Promotion Blog

Book Promotion, Rock & Roll Style

A running theme in my book promotion speaking events lately has been "What authors and book publishers can learn from the music business." But not the traditional music industry. I'm talking about savvy indie artists and forward-thinking established acts.

For instance, the Internet is abuzz with Radiohead's recent offer to let fans pick the price they want to pay to download the band's new album. At the same time, though, Radiohead is selling an enhanced CD package for a lot more than your average CD price.

So here's a potential way that authors and publishers could borrow this tactic:

Sell a PDF download of your book for a very low price -- let's say $3. To get the ebook at that price, readers must enter their name and email address and agree to get a series of followup emails.

Put these low-cost buyers on an autoresponder series that sends them an email every couple of days featuring a helpful idea or tip related to the topic of the book -- AND a special offer to apply the $3 toward the purchase of the printed book, plus bonuses.

The enhanced offer might include an autographed copy and a bonus audio of the author either reading part of the text, being interviewed about it, or speaking at a workshop. You could also include a useful worksheet or checklist not available anywhere else.

It's all about adding value and creating incentives for people to buy.

Admit it. If you read parts of a 250-page, $3 ebook and really enjoyed it, wouldn't you consider bucking up $20 to $40 or more for the physical book -- especially if it included cool bonus material you couldn't get elsewhere?

In this evolving digital age, it's something to think about.

-Bob

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1 Comments:

Hi Bob. I think you're on to something here. I particularly agree with your suggestion that it's all about adding value. My only concern is whether customers would really read that PDF version (or even a big enough chunk of it) so that they'd get hooked on the book. Some would, but most probably wouldn't want to deal with the hassle of reading it on their computer, cell phone display or other device. That's another reason why this industry really needs a killer e-book reader! Sample content like this would be a natural for a great, usable e-book device.

I totally agree with your thinking regarding the need to build more value around the core content though. Great points!

Thanks,
Joe Wikert
VP & Executive Publisher,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Publishing 2020 Blog
(www.joewikert.com)

By Joe Wikert, At Tuesday, October 23, 2007