Linda Alexander of Pitman, NJ, writes:
“I work for an association management and publishing company, and we have just published the book Mentoring the Stars: A Program for Volunteer Board Leaders.
“The book is designed to help new board members on association boards understand their new roles and learn the skills and competencies they need to be a successful board member. Leadership, decision making, teamwork, strategic planning, effective meetings and mentoring are just some of the topics covered.
“Mentoring the Stars is a great resource for association board members in any industry—nursing, hospitals and health care, education, banking, real estate, human resources, plus church groups, community organizations and more. While it’s great to be applicable to anyone, it’s also hard to promote to everyone!
“The book is available on our website and on Amazon. We have done some traditional PR and will be trying some targeted advertising on Facebook, Google and Yahoo. Can your readers offer any suggestions for ways to promote Mentoring the Stars to members of association boards?”
Get leading community volunteers from several states or nationally known volunteer leaders to write and publish reviews in local and national publications. For example, the CEO of a United Way, president of the Boy Scouts, chairman of a food bank, Try for name and organization recognition. Some universities have courses dealing with the not-for-profit world. I taught a graduate course on the subject for many years. Contact the professors.
Reach out to the regional and national umbrella organizations. Offer to speak at their conferences and get them to pay a speaking fee and buy books for attenders (ideal), or at least get a booth space in exchange for speaking. Also, if your Chamber has a lot of nonprofits, you can offer it there as well.
BTW, you’ll find a lot more on book marketing in my seventh book, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, http://www.grassrootsmarketingforauthors.com
Send a sample copy (or sample pages by e-mail if you’re on a budget) to the executive director of every association you mention. Work your way into newsletters for groups of association managers with the free sample offer. If it’s truly a valuable resource they’ll jump at the chance to purchase and distribute a book to each new member of their boards of directors. A few copies to pass between “newbies” can be used and re-used.
Contact the American Society of Association Executives and try to sell to the association itself for them to resell or contact association management companies and association executives directly. Check out: http://www.asaecenter.org. I’m based in NH and we have an organized called the “Center for Non-Profits.” They are comprised of non-profit associations within the state. Lists of associations can be found in a multitude of places.
How about pitching influential bloggers who write for nonprofits?
One of the best is Nancy Schwartz, who writes the Getting Attention! blog for nonprofit marketing at http://www.gettingattention.org. She might be interested in this book and might even be willing to exerpt tips.