Five Tips for Cost-Effective Advertising

Because for the most part, publishers sell their books one at a time and don't benefit—as do manufacturers of other kinds of products—from repeat buyers, they tend to see advertising as too expensive and too inefficient to be a worthwhile book marketing vehicle. Nevertheless, consumer advertising can play an effective role in selling your books and has a place in most marketing budgets. Following are some basic guidelines that are important whether you're just getting started with advertising or want to review the effectiveness of your efforts.

1. Don't advertise in a vacuum

According to Michael Kazan, executive vice president of Spier New York, an ad agency that has served the publishing market almost exclusively since 1929, advertising works best when pursued in conjunction with other kinds of marketing. You can use advertising to boost attendance and responsiveness on author tour, to revive word of mouth after the tour is completed, and in the wake of positive reviews.

Some publishers, Kazan points out, will plan an advertising campaign around anticipated reviews. "They make their plans contingent on getting enough good reviews," he explains, "and they'll cancel if those reviews aren't forthcoming. They understand that the ads are going to be most effective when they support and are supported by positive review activity."

2. Know why you are advertising

Most book advertising serves either to announce the publication of a book that people already want to read or to inform people that a particular book exists. In the case of the latest novel by John Grisham or Danielle Steele, for instance, advertising simply serves to alert an author's fans that a new book is now available. These, however, are the exception. In most cases you want to attract potential readers to a new title. You want to find the readers who have a demonstrated connection to a particular subject area and inform them about a book they would naturally find interesting. The furthest extension of this strategy, occasionally practiced, might be used to connect with an audience that doesn't usually read or buy books yet would be a logical choice for a particular title because of the content—a book on skateboarding, for instance, could be advertised in Thrasher, a magazine targeted to the predominantly young devotees of this sport.

3. Know your audience

As in any marketing effort, understanding your target is essential. Effective advertising demands that you know what will appeal to the most likely buyers of the book you are promoting. "You have to establish a strong, compelling message, explains Kazan, "and get that message across in the language and style that is most likely to speak to the hearts and minds of those you want to reach." Hopefully, you defined this audience before you ever made the decision to publish. If so, you know what they read, how the book at hand addresses their tastes or needs and how to communicate this fact.

4. Know when to advertise

With the growth of just-in-time inventory practices, new titles have an incredibly short window of opportunity in which to establish themselves, so getting your timing right is a tricky business. Your advertising may be more effective after reviews have appeared or at the tail end of the author tour, but if you delay too long you may miss the window.

For seasonal books, you can create holiday tie-ins—romance publishers, for instance, make a big push around Valentine's Day—with good results. Since a very high percentage of book sales are made during the Christmas season this is the logical time to promote gift books with ads. In addition, Kazan suggests that publishers allocate some discretionary funds for advertising so they can take advantage of those occasions when a title takes off and can benefit from a quick infusion.

5. Know where to advertise

Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, the Internet, even billboards—the possibilities are vast. Naturally, your choices will be limited to a great extent by your budget, but more important you need to think through a strategy that maximizes exposure to your target audience. If you have business book, for example, you're more likely to reach potential readers on the business pages of the newspaper or in business magazines rather than on the book review pages. There are magazines and Internet sites that address every conceivable subject, so it's easy to find your niche audiences. If you're looking for quick turnaround or a regional audience, then newspapers are a natural choice. Radio and television, often underused by publishers, now have a wide range of programming serving niche audiences. With the right book or author, these mediums can be very effective.

(This article in slightly different form first appeared in "Bulldog Reporter's Book Marketing & Publicity.")