Day: April 12, 2011

Personally, if I were a finalist for the Best Book of the Year award, where my chances of winning were dependent upon the votes I received from other people, here’s what I would do to try to increase my chances.

5 Ways to Win the Best Book of the Year Award (or, 5 ways to get people to buy your book)

1. I would make sure my author webpage was pristine, and loaded with content about the benefits of my book.
2. I would make sure my webpage had a video that visitors could watch.  Statistics are telling us that nearly 50% of the time people spend on the Internet they spend watching videos.
3. I would make sure I had a Facebook Profile/Page and that I was actively pursuing “likes” leading up to the vote. That way, on the day of the vote, I could broadcast a message to all my “fans” about where to go to vote for my book.  After all, if nearly 50% of the time is watching videos, the other 50% is probably spent on Facebook. All authors should have a Facebook account.
4. I would have either an audio excerpt of a section of the book, or, if I wasn’t pleased with the sound of my own voice, an enhanced audio excerpt of a professional reading an excerpt.  People are more likely to vote (or buy) if they “like what they hear.”
5. I would make sure I had some positive reviews (5-star reviews) on Amazon.  Some people may buy the book and make their vote based upon receiving and reading the book. That is ideal. But the reality is that most people will make their decision based upon other factors other than the book itself — those other factors might as well be as encouraging and positive as possible.

You may notice that these steps for winning a popularity contest don’t differ all that much from the steps required to sell a book — people make the decision based largely upon the same set of criteria: How much they can learn about the book in advance, and how much they like/respect the author.

It’s hard enough finding success in this world. If you have the power to move many things in your advantage, shouldn’t you?

Best of luck to the finalists. The polls open Friday on our blog and we’ll be accepting votes through the end of the month.

Here’s more about each finalist to the 2010 Outskirts Press Best Book of the Year award. Find more details on our blog, where we are highlighting each of them on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, of this month.

The Key To Job Success In Any Career, by Frank B. Leibold, Ph.D.

The Beads of Lapis Lazuli, by Doris Kenney Marcotte

Doris Kenney Marcotte has turned decades of studying Minoan civilization into two novels. She has researched at the Athens National Museum, the Heraklion Archeological Museum on Crete, and the British Museum in London, among others. She lives in River House in New Richmond, Ohio, and Hilltop House in Wyoming, Ohio.

Now, between you, me, and the bedpost, I think I already know who is going to win.  The votes will be open and public and available for everyone to see the results from April 15th through April 30th… But based upon my experience with Outskirts Press since 2002, and the respective tactics already being put forth by these three diverse authors, my experience points toward a winner. I don’t want to taint the votes by stating my guess here, but we’ll see if I’m right when the final votes are counted on the final day of April.

That perspective and that experience is one of the benefits of publishing with Outskirts Press (or any self-publishing company, actually) — but it’s only valuable if one chooses to listen to it and act upon it.    I’m always surprised at the number of authors who don’t listen to any advice or suggestions at all.  Yes, it’s your book and yes, we’ll do exactly what you want, but…. part of what you’re paying for is that perspective, that experience, and that expertise.  Just sayin’…

 And that brings us to the final post of the day, coming up later, where I share the 5 steps to winning the Best Book of the Year Award (or, in other words, the 5 steps to selling a book).