Book Marketing Success Podcast John Kremer

This first-time novelist forced her publisher (against their normal practice) to reprint her book twice within six weeks of the novel’s release. The novel became a New York Times bestseller, won the Doubleday New Voices in Fiction award, and also won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Her subsequent novels became #1 New York Times bestsellers, sold millions of copies, and were made into top-grossing movies.
Who was this author?
What was the title of her first novel?
And what was the one thing she did that any first-time book author can do?
Terry McMillan was the author.
Her first novel was Mama.
Terry played the numbers game. She wrote thousands of letters to all sorts of people to get readers and stores excited about her new novel. Any unknown author can follow Terry’s example by playing the same numbers game.
When Terry McMillan’s first novel Mama was published in 1987, her publisher only sent out press releases and review copies—their standard low-level effort for first-time authors. So Terry took the promotion into her own hands.
She wrote more than 3,000 letters to bookstores, colleges, chain stores, African-American groups, and other groups asking them to stock and/or promote her book. She offered to do readings wherever they would give her space.
The response was so great that she ended up doing her own book tour to 39 cities. Her efforts gained plenty of rave reviews for her book as well as two re-printings in six weeks.
The key point of this story is not who Terry sent the letters to, but how many she sent. It’s a numbers game, and few book authors or even Internet entrepreneurs make full use of the numbers game.
For an ebook (rather than a print book), you would send 3,000 emails or letters to online book sites, ebook reviewers, book bloggers, potential JV partners, and other authors who write books like yours.
If you send out 10 emails or letters per day, you’d reach more than 3,000 people in one year—and that’s with time off for good behavior!
First rule: The Numbers Game. Send out lots of letters and emails!
Second rule: Create relationships with those people, websites, and stores who respond.
Third rule: Build from there.
The above story has been excerpted from About the Author by Alfred and Emily Grossbrenner.
A friend on Facebook shared this information after seeing the above video: “My friend got books in nearly 100 libraries by sending approximately 400 emails.”
Website: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/the-mama-bestseller-video
Again, note that during the next week or ten days, I won’t be reachable via email, phone call, or social media. But I will be back! — John Kremer


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

This first-time novelist forced her publisher (against their normal practice) to reprint her book twice within six weeks of the novel’s release. The novel became a New York Times bestseller, won the Doubleday New Voices in Fiction award, and also won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Her subsequent novels became #1 New York Times bestsellers, sold millions of copies, and were made into top-grossing movies.
Who was this author?
What was the title of her first novel?
And what was the one thing she did that any first-time book author can do?
Listen in to tomorrow’s podcast for the answer to this puzzle. And a great tip on how you too can be successful selling books and building a bestselling reputation as a book author.
Please note that I will not be available via email, phone calls, or social media for the next week or so. But I will return!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

A secretary at an insurance agency in a small Midwestern state self-published a book and then did one thing, over and over again, for more than a year—something that any book author can do as well.
She ended up selling over 30,000 copies of her book in that first year and then went on to become the bestselling book author on the QVC home shopping channel, selling well over a million books.
Who was this author?
What was the title of her book?
And what was the one thing she did over and over again for more than a year?
JoAnna Lund was the author
Her book was the Healthy Exchanges Cookbook.
JoAnna spent the first year after self-publishing her book promoting it via radio, TV, and newspaper interviews in her home state of Iowa and parts of western Illinois.
She did interviews at least several times every week. She became one of the most well-known people in Iowa during that year and sold over 30,000 copies in Iowa, out-selling every other book during that time (even the Bible!).
Authors: You, too, can become a star in your own state. Most media covering statewide or local news are hungry for unusual news or interesting people to interview. Find an angle and promote the heck out of yourself.
When life handed me a lemon, not only did I make lemonade, I also wrote the recipe and then sold that recipe! — JoAnna Lund, author, Healthy Exchanges Cookbook
In my new book (a work in progress), Book Marketing Success Stories: How to Become a Bestselling Author (As Revealed by the Stories of Bestselling Book Authors), I reveal even more book marketing secrets JoAnna shared with me during our many talks. She was a wonderful sharing woman, full of joy and inspiration.
Of course, in my new book I’m also be revealing all the stories and more even details that I’ve been sharing in this series of podcasts. Here’s a link to download the work in progress for only $30: https://buy.stripe.com/dR66s608f0dJavS8wz. Note: I’ll be updating the book as I continue to work on it. You’ll get all updates for free!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

A secretary at an insurance agency in a small Midwestern state self-published a book and then did one thing, over and over again, for more than a year—something that any book author can do as well.
She ended up selling over 30,000 copies of her book in that first year and then went on to become the bestselling book author on the QVC home shopping channel, selling well over a million books.
Who was this author?
What was the title of her book?
And what was the one thing she did over and over again for more than a year?
Want to know more? Listen in to tomorrow’s podcast.
Follow me at . . . GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173511.John_Kremer
Website: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com
SnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.
1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAs
Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ec
Or just buy me a cup of coffee! — https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketing


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

If you have trouble asking people for money, don't ask for the green stuff. Ask for the beautiful purple Australian dollars—with flowers!
Always ask people to pay for your book or other content. Yes, you can give some content away for free, but the really good stuff you should charge for. People value the content they pay for. And, when people discover good things, they like to share those good things with other people. They are far more likely to share the things they've paid for.
Start your own Substack newsletter and podcast. Learn more here: https://substack.com/refer/johnkremer.
Listen to my Book Marketing Success Podcast: https://bookmarketing.substack.com.
Website: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com.
1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAs.
SnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing. Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.
Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ec.
Become my patron for all good things: https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketing.
Or choose to Venmo me at https://account.venmo.com/u/bookmarketingsuccess.


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

One year before their book became a New York Times #1 bestseller, two authors committed to doing one thing to promote their collection of short stories—something that any other book author can do.
Who were these authors?
What was the title of their book?
And what was the one thing they did faithfully every day for one year?
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were the authors.
Chicken Soup for the Soul was the book, the beginning of an incredibly bestselling series.
Jack and Mark committed to doing one interview every day for a full year. At the end of that one year, their book was a #1 bestseller and launched the series that has sold over 800 million books thus far.
Note: Jack and Mark focused at that time on getting radio interviews and TV interviews. In today’s world, most authors would now focus on getting podcast interviews. There are hundreds of podcasts eager to interview book authors on almost any subject. Seek those podcasts out. Start looking for the podcasts you want to be on by joining https://www.matchmaker.fm and creating a guest profile there.
Video: The Chicken Soup for the Soul Book Marketing Campaign
Listen to Jack talk about how he and his co-author Mark Victor Hansen took hundreds of ideas from 1001 Ways to Market Your Books and placed them up on a wall as Post-It notes. And then took the notes down as they implemented the ideas. It took them two years to carry out all the ideas but by then their book was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/jack-canfield-on-how-he-used-1001-ways-to-market-your-books.
Connect with John Kremer
Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ec
Website: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com
1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAs
SnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.
Or just buy me a cup of coffee! — https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketing
Follow me at . . . GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173511.John_Kremer


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe