From Bonnie Stuempfig of Waukesha, WI:
“I wrote a book, Heavenly Connections, a soft-cover spiral-bound book, and hoped to sell it mostly at my church and other area churches, but there seems to be a ho-hum attitude despite the fact that I’m already a published writer and the stories are uplifting and entertaining.
“They include 24 God-based contributions from other church members and me, along with a few poems and four pages of color photos.
“My plan was to donate a good portion of the proceeds to the church, but now I’m thinking it would be best to just bypass the church and pitch it to bookstores and gift shops.
“I’m working on getting a website and am doing nothing with social media. I should have done all htis earlier but have put more than two years into this book and wanted it printed by Christmas. Now, I can concentrate on the marketing but don’t know where to start.
“Thanks for any help your Hounds can give.”
(Shutterstock photo)
I am just finishing up the website for my new novel, Different Drummers” and I am preparing a section on the site for books that relate to the topics in my book, which God does. I would be interested in discussing the possiblity of making your book for sale on my site –
If you are still thinking about selling it at churches, look into their bulletins and see what kinds of church groups they have that meet on a regular basis. You might be able to be a guest speaker (and pitch your book at the end) for one of their meetings.
Another idea is to tie it in with a religious holiday (for example: Ash Wednesday for Catholics). Offer a small discount to those who purchase multiple copies. Good luck!
When I read this, I guess the first thing I asked myself was…what type of Christian would buy this? There are different levels of participation, casual attenders, holiday attenders, visitors, pillars of the church, on the cusp pillars.
I would think you would want to target directly those that go to a bible study, or participate in some way at church beyond the weekly service.
I don’t know that you will be able to just ‘pitch’ it to bookstores, unless you have some sort of rep that could make an introduction. They only have so much shelf space and would need some sort of idea that there was an existing demand for your book.
Why not target 10 of the largest churches in your city, and get them to get a copy to be discussed for X weeks at that bible study, or even better used by the service head if they teach a weekly class.
Hi Bonnie,
-Your website is your best selling tool. Then you put keywords/meta tags into it so people can find you–I don’t know how to do that unfortunately. My webmaster did mine.
-Put together a media kit with your book and approach Christian bookstores. There are a number of them. They might be interested in selling your book.
-Once you get your book in one of them, set up a book signing and promote the heck out of that book signing. Invite all your church members and members from other churches–churches usually have a newsletter. They might be willing to mention your book signing in the newsletter.
-There are Christian based radio shows that you can be a guest on. Send your press info with your book to the appropriate person at Christian radio shows, suggesting yourself as a guest and the topic you’ll talk about. They’ll want to know where your book is sold and they will ask you for your website address.
-Get your book on Amazon.
-Once you have your book signing scheduled, your book is in a few Christian stores, is on Amazon, and your website is set up, send out a press release announcing your book, and where it’s offered.
Good luck!
All my best,
Martine
I happened to launch an inspirational books for kids/families back in Sept and so far getting into churches is not as easy as one might think. Those with bookstores often have only a small space and minimal staff and are probably approached regularly by authors/distributors so their lack of response is understandable. If a church has any kind of special events where you might fit in (vendor/craft shows, fundraisers) you might find better reception. I did fairly well at a couple of craft shows I tried (though two others were not successful at all because they weren’t well attended).
With regard to stores, you said your book is spiral bound. Is the title printed on the spine? If not, you need to be prepared for the situation that since most stores do not shelve books face out having no info on the spine can be a drawback.
I recommend social networking too. I’ve definitely made sales that way. I like Facebook best, but Twitter is very useful for meeting new people. Take a look at how two or three work, see what you like best and try one at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Finally, a big thing you’ll need to figure out is why is your book different? This is true to approach bookstores or any other buyer too. There are many books with inspirational stories why should they pick yours? Once you have that narrowed down, be able to articulate it a couple of sentences so that you can always be ready to tell someone about it.
Blessings,
Cheryl Pickett
The first thing that comes to mind for me is for you to target Christian book reading clubs. On the Internet there are numerous websites that where you can find listings of these groups. There is even a site where they show you how to start a Christian book club and how to join one.
Also, although I do not know from your request what Christian affiliation (faith) you belong to, but I would think your church might be part of a much larger coalition or national organization of churches. If so, it might be a very business savvy move to find out what Christian Book Clubs exist within your national church organization and attempt to reach these groups with your book.
Dale Hutchings, St. Petersburg, Florida