Back Titles to the Future

Do you cross-promote new titles on older books?

 

 

It's been being done since publishing began, utilising new titles to help promote existing ones, a strategy that makes perfect sense, whether it's by printing the title covers in the back or front of the current book or by giving a short summary of the stories on those free pages at the end of the book, it means someone who enjoyed your book can go back and enjoy previous work. The problem always came in with older books, they couldn't really be used to promote the work that came after them.

With the exception of reprints there was no real way of telling the world about the work that comes after the book the reader is enjoying. Well that was until the invention of e-books, where you can go back in time and tell the readers what is coming. If you aren't already doing this then you are losing out on the best free marketing strategy that there is. Digital formats such as Kindle for example have a really easy system that will allow you to upload new versions of the book at any time. There doesn't have to be any change in the material, but there can be a change in what comes at the start or the end of the book, such as, 'if you enjoyed this book please find the follow up (insert link here).' Or the ever popular, 'other titles by this author.' Then you can write a quick synopsis for the reader, it really is that easy.

Cross-promotional marketing is one of the simplest and most effective marketing strategies, especially within the publishing world, customers may go searching for your other works if they enjoyed what they read, however why give them all that extra work when they can see it right there at the end of the book. Make life easy for the readers and more profitable for you, make sure you are selling books new and old on every title you produce, never make it difficult for customers to find
your work.

'Cross-promotional marketing is one of the simplest and most effective marketing strategies'

When it comes to printed books, don't forget to include these recommendations especially if doing re-prints of old titles, they are a very effective tool in your arsenal and for the very small cost of a few extra pages they can produce a whole lot of new interest.

These are my thoughts, please comment below if you have had any experiences yourself that agree or disagree with what I have said.

Written by Martin Wallace