The most important tool in book marketing is… YOU! Unless you’re a celebrity and known to the masses, you will have to get yourself out there and visible to your audience. And public speaking is one of the greatest ways to do this. It gives your readers a chance to see your personality and develop a relationship with you.

Aside from the obvious venues that relate to your book, here is a list of places you may have left out of your line-up.

Civic Organizations and Clubs

Many of these clubs meet every week. That’s 52 weeks a year they need a speaker appearance, and that pretty much guarantees that they are always looking for fresh faces and new, interesting speakers.

Community Events

Keep your eye on the local paper or sign up for your city’s newsletter to see if there are upcoming events that would present a new opportunity for your book. If you see something that would be a good fit, contact the organizer and offer to speak and do a book signing.

Senior Centers

Much like civic organizations and clubs, senior centers often look for new entertainment. Offer your local centers a live appearance and speech by a local author, followed by a book signing (sell your books at a special senior discount rate).

Schools and Colleges

Create a program that you can take into schools. Even if there’s no way to tie your subject into the school curriculum, you can always talk about what it takes to write a book. Donate a few copies to the classroom or school library (if appropriate).

If you authored a children’s book, tour classrooms in your area as a special storytime guest. If your book teaches children a character lesson, go visit http://www.charactercounts.org and apply to have it included in the Character Counts Program.

Writing Groups and Meetings

Not only are most authors avid readers they also have a lot to share. And maybe during the course of writing your book, you learned some very important lessons. If you have something you could teach, offer to speak at these events.

Either way, by getting involved in the writing community you stay privy to what’s hot and what’s not. This is a great opportunity to hear about new marketing techniques and upcoming events in your area.

It’s a good idea to have some generic programs you can use to market to a wide variety of audiences. Be creative and have fun! Not only will you be on the path to a successful marketing plan, but you also get to know a lot of fun and interesting people along the way.

If you’re unsure about public speaking or if you’re in need of coaching, feel free to contact us for a free consultation at info@SEGRpublishing.com.