Selling more books

I have to face it: my marketing campaign for the book I launched last January has run out of steam. I did, I thought, all the right things: put out a press release, wrote to retailers, visited local shops, tried (and failed) to set up some ’signings’, did some talks to local reading clubs – and, of course, set up my own website (see right). I even started this blog in the hope that it might generate some interest.

But the fact remains that sales have remained pitifully low. And the total number of visitors to my website, in five months, has been 506.

I was intrigued, therefore, to read an advert for a company that offers a complete book promotion package, using every available aspect of the Internet – from tag-words to Adwords – and guarantees to achieve at least 5,000 visits in three months from launching the tailor-made website they construct for you. The all-in price is £396, or US$789.

This, I thought, is worth looking into. So I went to their website, at www.book-promotion.com, and read all about the techniques they employ to maximize one’s online exposure. It looked impressive, especially given that money-back guarantee (though, naturally enough, they make no promises about the sales you will achieve). I began to realise some of the shortcomings of my own DIY website. A site is, after all, like a book: it can be the best in the world, but if nobody reads it . . .

On the margins I work on, I would have to sell an extra 250 copies to offset the cost of this package; but if it gets the book more widely known and talked about, that figure might be achievable. I’m sorely tempted to give it a go. If I do, I will report back here, in due course.

Meanwhile, I would welcome any comments on my current website, at www.pedlarpress.co.uk.