Book Marketing 101: Thinking Outside the Bookstore

I'm learning a lot from my writing group friend Kathy Gehrt as she brings her cookbook to market and lets people know that her book Discover Cooking with Lavender has finally arrived. Kathy's daughters run a PR firm and she's enlisted their team of marketers. These hard-working young women been doing an amazing job and it's been delicious fun attending Kathy's events--first at this bookstore and yesterday at Sky Nursery.

Check out Kathy's Sky Nursery event at my other blog.

One thing I've learned is this: bookstores aren't the only place to visit when you've got a new book to sell. And if you want your book to stand apart from other books on a crowded shelf, it's worth it to investigate other places where the shelves aren't completely packed with other books.

Here is a list of places to sell your book beyond bookstores. (A good part of this list was taken from one that was compiled by Lake Boggan, a great book marketer, who passed my first cookbook Local Vegetarian Cooking to Timber Press who helped me revise and update it.

• Catalogues
• Gift and specialty stores
• Supermarkets
• Museums
• Yacht clubs
• Libraries
• Book clubs
• Gardening stores
• Speaking engagements
• Seminars
• Writing workshops
• Author Web sites and blogs
• Television
• Fundraising (for every book sold $5 goes to . . .)
• Bulk (mass merchandise stores like Costco and Target)
• Friends and family
• Corporate sales
• Professional societies
• Classroom
• Farm stores
• Tourist venues

One word of advice, Lake Boggan also offered was to take my book everywhere I go, and to be gracious by sending thank you notes to the people who host book selling events.

Feel free to add any other suggestions to my list.