Larry Richards of Raleigh, North Carolina asks:
“Where can an author get accurate information about the many book clubs and book discussion groups that exist in the U.S.?
“My book is titled The Blind Prophet, one of six books in my Invisible War series, and it’s a story about angels and demons. It should be published the first of the year.
“Somebody suggested offering a free review book to the person from these groups who selects the novels. But I can’t find a list anywhere. Can your Publicity hounds help me?”
Hi Larry,
I know of Book-Of-The-Month Club (BMOC) and the Literary Guild, which is now known as Doubleday Direct, Inc. FYI….., if you don’t have already…
2 great books to get:
“1001 Ways To Market Your Book”, By John Kremer
“Jumpstart Your Book Sales”, By Marilyn & Tom Ross.
I hope this helps you!
p.s. As for book discussion groups….try one of the meetUp groups in your area. http://www.meetup.com and type in ‘writers’, ‘books’, or ‘authors’…you get the idea.
Hi,
I recommend the PR news wires and other pr. sites where he might could post a short blurb for free about his book, with a link for free copy of book. As I publisher (and a writer) I get inundated with requests daily to review books, or do an author/expert review from p.r. agencies. Also most tv stations have a free listing page, radio stations, Craigs List and today I heard of Angies list.
Hope some of these help.
One way you can find a list of hundreds of active book clubs is by going to the site for Book Club Meetups at http://bookclub.meetup.com/all/ When you click on the link for each book club you will go the page for that particular club where you can find a link to email the organizer in the left column.
Dan Poynter’s ParaPublishing has more lists for authors than you ever knew possible! Also, some of the websites for publications that target your audience will likely have insight into how to contact those readers.
It would be really slow going and you probably wouldn’t do it forever, but many such groups are run through libraries. Maybe you can get a teenager to start looking up a few online to at least get the ball rolling.
I would also think this is a good use for social networking. If you’re on MySpace or Facebook, Ning or maybe Linkedin (they are stricter though) put out a request on your own page, and in any groups you belong to. If you haven’t joined any yet, check them out as there are many for authors and book lovers.
Good luck!
Cheryl Pickett
Publishing Answers.com