As editor/publisher of Book Promotion Newsletter, I am fortunate in having an eclectic group of subscribers who number in thousands. The ezine is interactive and subscribers are encouraged to share their innovative marketing techniques.

Since starting ezine in March 2003, I have learned a great deal about do’s and don’ts of book promotion. Some has been through my own experience as author of two local guidebooks, Catskill Alive (second edition) and Long Island Alive, both published in 2003 by Hunter Publishing. But most of what I know today comes from this creative group of authors, publicists, book reviewers, book coaches and editors.

First and foremost, subscribers agree, never hold a book signing without an accompanying presentation, contest or event. Simple lectures can be a bust – To promote my guidebooks, I spoke at Barnes & Noble and Borders to large groups of people who asked questions and challenged my knowledge and then left without purchasing one book.

One subscriber gets around this by doing “teaser” programs, in which she speaks about material not included in her book about plants. She says these presentations are successful because people are enticed to buy her book for new information. Subscribers who have written about animals bring them along; healing therapists who authored a book in their field do healing sessions in bookstore. The rest of us have to find something unusual to add pizzazz to our signings.

Targeting your audience is a must. A subscriber who wrote a humorous book about his running knew that having a book signing at Borders was not way to go. He needed to find runners so every weekend for first four months book was out he’d travel to marathon races and do a humorous presentation to runners night before race and sell books. He reports that “it worked great and race directors enjoyed providing something new and different.”

Almost everyone has tried to play a musical instrument at some point. There were always a few around who seemed to have a natural talent, while rest of us (and our families) had to struggle through sour notes, boring scale exercises, uneven timing, and learning whole new language of music. It was all very strange at first, but with dedicated practice and learning over time, it got a little bit easier. For most of us, our music may not have been brilliant, but it became tolerable, and even occasionally pleasing to ear.