Breaking News……Prof. Ronald Probstein Wins 2013 Pendray Aerospace Literature Award
iUniverse: When your book first came out, how did you spread the word about its release?
“Probstein: Prior to its publication I prepared an e-mail list of several hundred individuals and I prepared an attractive e-mail blurb with a color picture of the visually stunning cover. The book had been selected immediately as an Editor’s Choice and a short time later as a Rising Star. In addition to iUniverse, the book was made available by iUniverse on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com in paperback and hard cover, and shortly after publication in Amazon Kindle. In every e-mail I sent where I knew the recipient I added a personal note. I also set up a web site honestsidbook and through the services of my son the book was extensively sited in Google. The books were made returnable through Ingram by iUniverse. At the end of June ’09 (the book was published in May) I held a book launch at MIT which was attended by about 80 people and at which perhaps 35 books were sold. Costs were of course associated with most of what I have described.”
iUniverse: What is the most successful thing you’ve done to market and sell your book?
“Probstein: Almost all the book marketing I have done to sell the book has been through the use of iUniverse services. I will list a few of them and suggest what probably has been most successful, although I am not certain. In the summer and early fall of ’09 I purchased Premium (New York) Publicist Services in this case Smith Publicity and my publicist was Marissa Eigenbrood. I purchased several 1 or 2 million e-mailings, a presence at trade shows including the Las Vegas AARP Book Fair, the Miami International Book Fair, and advertisements that have appeared in the NY Review of Books, Bookmarks Magazine, Book Buyers Preview, and Library Journal. In the Spring of ’11 I purchased Premium Publicist Services again in this case Bohlsen PR in Indianapolis where my publicist was Jason Gloye. I purchased The Trifecta Review Service from iUniverse for which my book was sent for review to Kirkus, Clarion, and another journal whose name I have forgotten. My son has also placed me on Facebook and Twitter and with my assistance supplied material for these sites. In addition I gave book talks at Barnes & Noble in Boston where I sold about 20 books, and at the Wellfleet, MA Public Library where I also sold about 20 books. Wellfleet is the summer home of many writers and the talk drew about 60 people. There were other small efforts such as notices in university alumni magazines, etc. but nothing significant in my opinion.
Again it is difficult for me to define “successful,” the book launch and book talks all sold books. I know that e-mailings, book fairs, and the book advertisements produced very little. I also think that little came out of the Facebook and Twitter postings. Possibly the Smith Publicity service produced the most notoriety in that it got a full page about the book in the NY Post and a number of smaller reviews including Hooters magazine, The Villager, Parenthood, a number of radio interviews one of an hour length, and a number of internet reviews such as Alternative-Read.com. I would place this effort as most successful. The Bohlsen PR service was less successful with its biggest hit a 5-minute TV interview about the book on Channel 75, New York which is the City University of New York TV station. This interview has still not appeared but is scheduled for late December on the program Science&U! which runs 3 or 4 times on the day of its showing. The effect of the Trifecta Review service remains to be seen.”
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