{"id":9320,"date":"2011-09-05T16:52:41","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T16:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/?p=9320"},"modified":"2011-09-05T16:52:41","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T16:52:41","slug":"what-taylor-swift-can-teach-you-about-book-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/online-marketing\/what-taylor-swift-can-teach-you-about-book-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"What Taylor Swift can teach you about book marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Carolyn Howard-Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This guest post was written by Carolyn Howard-Johnson,\u00a0the author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter<\/a> (now in an updated and expanded second edition).\u00a0\u00a0Also part\u00a0of the HowToDoItFrugally series is the booklet The Great First Impression Book Proposal booklet<\/a>, that helps authors convince agents or publishers of their understanding of spin-offs, retailing and marketing in general. \u00a0She also is the author of a series of books for retailers including A Retailer\u2019s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t tell you how often I\u2019ve thanked my lucky stars for my retail experience now that I\u2019m an author. My husband used to say (ahem!) \u201cRetail is 90 percent attention to detail!\u201d If he\u2019s right—and he always is—then the other 10 percent is marketing.<\/p>\n

To reinterpret this, you need a great product—that\u2019s the attention to detail part—whether that\u2019s the store itself or the merchandise you sell. They\u2019re both your \u201cproducts.\u201d (For authors the product is our book or books.)<\/p>\n

But all the detail, product, merchandise, publicity\u00a0or anything else—all that other stuff we\u2019ve poured our little detail-oriented hearts into—goes for naught if we don\u2019t do the marketing.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/a>So how does Taylor Swift fit into this?<\/p>\n

Well, the L.A. Times reports on her products (the way she is branding herself which is part of marketing). She has a signature fragrance, a poster by Peter Max (That\u2019s Peter-the-Greatest-Artist-Marketer-Of-All-Time-After-Warhol!), a back to school package, a limited edition combo of a CD single and a souvenir T-shirt, headbands, a songbook, a tin box of guitar picks, boxed greeting cards, a keychain, and a journal. Yes, I\u2019m out of breath!<\/p>\n

So, we can learn a lot from her about branding, a big part of marketing. Each of these products fits with her image. But we can also learn that we just need to do it.
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\nHow to Brand with Spin-off Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your book proposal, as an example, might include a list of products (other than your book) that could be spun off from your book. Taylor\u2019s journal idea is a good one for memoirists. T-shirts work for just about everyone. But each author\u2019s list of possibilities will be different, just as the list would differ for different businesses on Main Street USA.<\/p>\n

One of our stores was in Palm Springs and we had adorable little souvenir pin boxes made with \u201cCarlan\u2019s, Palm Springs\u201d and palm trees hand-painted on them. They worked because they were more personal and specific than the usual souvenir with only \u201cPalm Springs\u201d machine stamped on them.<\/p>\n

My poetry partner, Magdalena Ball, and I might someday have art posters of the covers of our poetry chapbook series featuring our collaborating artists—Jacquie Schmall, Vicki Thomas and May Lattanzio. Framed, of course! Learn more about how we promote that series <\/a>\u00a0(including a special holiday card offer for the Christmas chapbook).
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\nWhat About YOUR Idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, what do you do with your product idea? Well, the obvious first choice would be to get a manufacturer with a HUGE customer base to make your product; they, in turn, get their sales representatives to sell them to retailers who then sell them to the general public.<\/p>\n

But what if you’re eager to get started now? Try these ideas:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Use your products as thank you gifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Use your products as souvenirs or parts of promotions, like gift baskets or contests.
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\n\u2022 Use your products as walking, talking advertisements. As an example, every time someone compliments you on your rose-scented cologne, that’s an opportunity to mention your romance novel and maybe give them a bookmark. Your T-shirts are walking billboards. So are your totes.
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\n\u2022 Use your products as part of the media kits you leave in the press rooms at tradeshows.
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\n\u2022 Use your products as an integral part of parties and events you plan, like a store opening or a book launch.
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\n\u2022 Offer your products to charities for their drawings or other fundraisers.<\/p>\n

So, put your thinking cap on. What kind of a \u201cSeller\u201d can you be? What fits with your product, your store, your title—whatever\u00a0that is?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This guest post was written by Carolyn Howard-Johnson,\u00a0the author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (now in an updated and expanded second edition).\u00a0\u00a0Also part\u00a0of the HowToDoItFrugally series is the booklet The Great First Impression Book Proposal booklet, that helps authors convince agents or publishers of their understanding of spin-offs, retailing and marketing in\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":2,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[612],"tags":[43],"class_list":{"0":"post-9320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-online-marketing","7":"tag-book-marketing","8":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}