One of the best publicity resources for any author’s book marketing campaign is his/her email address book.
Currently, I maintain a gmail address book of more than 270 names, grouped into fifteen different categories, including family and extended family members, Catholic magazine editors, Catholic newspaper editors, friends and acquaintances at our church, friends and neighbors within our present community, friends in former parishes and communities, previous eBook buyers, etc. These categories enable me to segment my list in order to tailor my e-mail message according to our particular relationship or their particular function (e.g., as editors of or bloggers in Catholic media or reviewers of Catholic books).
The specific type of eBook genre that I write (Catholic/Christian religious books) dictates the make-up of my target market segment. If I later switch to writing in another genre, I’ll have to develop new e-mail address groups according to their prospective interest in that genre.
An important promotional tool of each e-mail message in each campaign is the author’s unique signature, which includes my name, my occupation (e.g. “eBook author/publisher) and the links to my various e-Book pages and my blogs.
Here is an example:
John O'Neill
eBook Author/Publisher
My Amazon Book Page:
My Barnes and Noble Book Page:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/index.asp [then type "jesus' six keys to a more perfect you" into the search box at the top of the page]
My Blog Pages:
REMEMBER: your email message to any of your groups should always be a soft-sell invitation to read (or review or publicize) your eBook. No hard-sell. No unwanted Spam.
Obviously, I’ve included examples taken from my personal experiences in my particular genre market. Based on the types of eBooks that you are, or will be, writing, your market segments might be altogether different. If so, be sure that you’ve researched your book market thoroughly, and build your email address book accordingly.
Know the print and online media in your target market. Research the influential newspapers, magazines, blogs, websites and social media reaching your target readership. Categorize them into groups within your address book. Then, as you publish each new eBook invite them to read and review that book.
In the case of potential book reviewers, offer them a free review copy of your book. If you publish on amazon.com (Kindle) and barnesandnoble.com (Nook), two of the major book retailers in this country, permit you to lend them a copy of your eBook for a 14-day period. Smashwords.com has a coupon program, which enables you to send them a coupon code that will allow them to acquire a copy of your book at no cost.
The object of all publicity and promotion is to get people to seek out more information about your eBook so that they’ll want to buy it, read it, review it and recommend it to others. Your e-mail address book and signature can be very valuable tools for achieving those goals.
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