You Are Your Own Writing Resource

Combining Direct Mailorder Marketing With Self-Publishing

© BarbaraAnne Helberg

Apr 19, 2008

You can become your own (perhaps best) writing resource.

Self-Publishing and Mailorder Marketing

Using direct mailorder marketing to spread the word about your new self-published book is a precentage game, but the big advantage here is that you control your own interests. It's your work marketed by you, using a direct mailing, your own created flyers describing your book, or piggybacking with a known marketing source.

A direct mailing system, which consists of using a personal mailing list, can gain attention for your self-published list. The word of mouth is also reaped in this method of marketing. Friends and family have launched many a small business. That invaluable marketing aid can work in self-publishing just as well as in other businesses.

Your personal direct mailing list may also contain business, or work contacts. These are people who know your work habits, who are already familiar with your integrity and dependability, people who would take an immediate interest in your self-publishing endeavor. It's all about contact attention and marketing possibilities.

What Would You Mail?

• A flyer describing your current self-published project
• A listing of your total self-published works
• A biographical page
• A business card
• A list of tips on self-publishing. (For those on your personal mailing list who might also be interested in the area of self-publishing. Or, for the purpose of general information that lends credibility to your own efforts.)
• A sample of your work. This can be a short-short story if you're self-publishing fiction, or a document example of what you are self-marketing and publishing, such as a sample query letter, or a copywriting flyer.

Create and Customize Your Own Copy Flyers

You can add your own criteria for your mailing list, and for your actual mailings. Customize for your own projects.

Create your own advertising flyers for your self-published book. After all, you know your book better than anyone else.

Piggyback. Your advertising flyer can be mailed with another business's, or individual's printed advertisement whenever you can find a compatible topic and a willing product manager. For instance, you could piggyback your book on golf ad flyer with the ad flyer of a sports outlet that sells golf equipment.

Copywrite. You can do your own copywriting to advertise your work. At the bottom of the copy flyer, include ordering and mailing information for buyers, along with blank lines for the buyer to fill in, and a tear off receipt. Copy flyers can be passed out along with business cards.

Write a news release. Compose a (preferably, one-page) flyer describing your current project and send it to local newspapers, libraries, and chambers of commerce. The release should include information on your work, or project, some personal credentials, and background history so editors and managers may know where the release is coming from and who its readership, or interested parties are likely to be.

Book signings at the local library are also a method of being your own best resource. Hand out a few things -- free bookmarks, informational flyers -- and become familiar with your local public. They will pass the word.

If you sit down and think about it, you will find there are numerous options open to you to become your own best resource in the marketing and self-publishing arena. When it comes to getting the word out, ideas are everywhere, for sharing as well as for utilizing to your own best marketing advantage.

The best bet for your self-publishing endeavors is: never limit your horizons.