Authors are always looking for great new ways to promote and market their books. Just when you think it has all been done before, along comes a new idea that…well…had been done before but with another product. Only it worked so well with that other product, someone figured it had to work for selling books, too. And guess what, it did.
Today, my guest blogger and marketing pro Shel Shel Horowitz, the award-winning author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, and six other books, is back to tell you how to use the model of a Tupperware party — yes, a Tupperware party — to sell your books.
Tupperware Parties for Books? Why Not?
By Shel Horowitz
For years, the house-party concept has been used to sell products, especially in the network marketing industry. Think about Amway/Quixstar, Avon, and other household names. And think about Tupperware, which probably did the most to popularize the model–so much so that the phrase “Tupperware party” came into the language.
In one of his newsletters, Steve Harrison of Radio TV Interview Report/Free Publicity offered a few examples of authors who have done very well with house parties. One of them, Kelly Corrigan, a big-published author (Hyperion), actually did a traveling house-party book tour covering over 30 events up and down the Northeast, using her wide network of personal connections to get people in a living room to hear her read and buy her books.
The result? #15 on the New York Times Best Seller List. Is that cool, or what?
Personally, I’ve done a house party as a book launch (and got over 50 people to my friend’s loft in Brooklyn for the New York launch event), but never tried to do a house-party tour. Maybe when book #9 comes out, I’ll try it, in addition to bookstore events.
Book parties can provide a big advantage for lesser-known authors who may not easily attract a crowd in public venue such as a bookstore or library. By getting your friends to invite their friends, and providing them with the chance to meet a real author at close range, you can have a very successful event.
Anybody out there try this? Tell us what happened.
About the Author
Which would you rather read? “Electronic Privacy Expert Releases New Book” (snore!) or “It’s 10 O’Clock—Do You Know Where Your Credit History Is?” Press releases, book jackets, sellsheets, web pages from Shel Horowitz (award-winning author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, and six other books) tell “the story behind the story.” Say goodbye to boring copy! Shel will write material so compelling that people thank you for letting them read it.
www.FrugalMarketing.com/publishers.shtm
Shel is also available to speak on book publishing and marketing, green business/green marketing, and success with ethical business practices. He writes the monthly columns, Green And Profitable and Green And Practical.
All purchasers of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green are entitled to more than $2,000 worth of bonuses just by registering at http://www.guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com/resources-2/bonuses
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