Author: Shel Horowitz

ISBN: 13:978-0-96146666-3: 10:9614666-3-4

Whenever I interview self-published authors I generally pose the question how do they intend to market their books? I am quite dumbfounded that the majority of these authors are so naive and many confess to me that they don’t even know where to start.

Fortunately with the many books devoted to book marketing as well as the countless Internet sites, there is help at hand, however it is essential that authors devote adequate time to seeking out the information. One recent publication is Shel Horowitz’s Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers.

Horowitz is a copywriter and marketing/publishing consultant as well as an author of several books. He has published with Simon & Schuster, two mid-sized publishers, Infinity, and his own imprint. In other words he knows a thing or two about the marketing of books and his sage advice is quite valuable to anyone who wants to learn the most effective book marketing techniques.

Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers reminds me of taking a bus tour when you are able to quickly take in a little of all of the sights. The book begins with the creation of a marketable book where we learn about the marketing plan, the many ways of having your book published, endorsements, reviews and awards. Our next stop deals with publicity where Horowitz writes about personal networking, websites, Google, how to attract attention online, traditional media and how to secure great interviews. There is an entire section devoted to bookstores and libraries and we end our little sightseeing trip with a section dealing with advanced marketing where we learn about speaking engagements, trade shows and book fairs, affiliate and joint-venture marketing, advertising and direct mail, selling rights, extending the brand and making profits. Horowitz also includes a fairly extensive appendix listing several excellent resources.

Each section focuses on one important element of marketing and is filled with a number of bite-sized sub-sections that are served in digestible portions. The chapter on Google, for example, discusses such important topics as Google print wherein Google indexes the entire text of participating books. There is also an exploration of other Google features as their news alerts, advanced search, Froogle, adwords, adsense, images, catalogs and music, site search, groups and blogs, and localized search. Did you know, as Horowitz points out, that looking for an illustration for your next book cover can be facilitated with the Google Images and it is a lot easier than the search engines of many stock photo houses?

I particularly found helpful the chapter dealing with attracting attention elsewhere online. It is here where you will find out about the Internet marketing culture that continually changes, as well as discussion groups, newsletters, blogs, wikis, chats, podcasts, major websites and joint ventures.   

Although there are several books dealing with the same subject matter, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers holds its own as a useful and accessible primer dealing with the essential ingredients of effective book marketing and it is an absolute must read for anyone interested in knowing more about the intricacies of book promotion.    

 The above review was contributed by:  NORM GOLDMAN:  Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are  Norm Goldman's Reviews