Publishing Your Book—the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

It’s 10:30 on a Monday night in mid-May, and I’m in an airport in upstate New York, waiting to meet a passenger arriving from British Columbia. He’s a well-known professional poker player who is coming to town to take part in the events to celebrate the release of my first novel, Life on Tilt: Confessions of a Poker Dad. Over the next few days, he and I make several appearances at bookstores, schools, and ultimately, a book-release event at an area hotel attended by over 400 people.

No, I don’t have an agent or a public relations firm. No, my brother doesn’t run AuthorHouse. And no, Stephen King isn’t my godfather. I just came to the conclusion that if I was going to pour as much of myself into the creative process and endure all the challenges of having a book published, I owed it to myself to commit to designing and executing a robust marketing plan so as many people as possible would read the book. My marketing plans have drawn a lot of attention, and I’d like to share a few of the ideas that worked well for me.

The Three Ps of a Successful Book Release … Pre-Publication Promotion

You have to generate excitement for the book. Start with yourself. You’re excited about having your book published … so share this enthusiasm! I created an e-mail distribution list of 7,000 names culled from personal and professional contacts. I developed a weekly rhythm leading up to the book’s release. The first e-mail was introductory and contained an excerpt. The second e-mail unveiled a YouTube trailer for the book. The third e-mail included an audio clip featuring the poker pro reading the foreword he wrote for the book. The fourth e-mail contained early reviews of the book. The fifth and final weekly e-mail drove folks to purchase the book on opening day.

This took a massive amount of coordination. A Web site had to be designed. The e-mail list had to be created from a variety of my networking circles. The trailer had to be produced by a team in New York City. Studio time had to be arranged for the poker pro. Colleagues had to have advance copies of the manuscript to write thoughtful reviews on Amazon before the announced release date.

I also wanted to give back something from the book, and arranged for a non-profit group in the area to receive 10 percent of the proceeds from my book. This proved beneficial, as they allowed me to have my book release event concurrent with their largest annual event, which attracts a large crowd of business and community leaders, providing great exposure for the book from day one.

From Zero to Sixty—Make it Happen

The first sixty days are critical for a book. For a first-time novelist, such as myself, it can be difficult to have a book tour similar to the more recognizable authors. But don’t let this stop you! I ended up doing over twenty personal appearances in the first sixty days of the novel’s release. Since my book had the subtitle “Confessions of a Poker Dad,” I arranged a promotion with events at a half-dozen Borders stores for the two weeks leading up to Father’s Day. I was invited to attend the Book Expo America in Los Angeles and arranged appearances with bookstores there. I was asked to present at Indiana University (my MBA alma mater) and arranged appearances at three stores in surrounding communities. Since my book has a poker theme, I went to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and held events there. Additionally, I appeared on the front page of the local section of the newspaper in my area, was interviewed on several TV programs and the book was on numerous radio talk shows, blogs, podcasts, etc. None of this happened naturally. Each one I had to pursue and force the issue for people to come to their senses and recognize that my book was newsworthy.

Bookstore Events—You Are Not Deepak Chopra

When you do your first bookstore signings, don’t sit back and wait for your fans to flock to you. They won’t. Get out there and meet the readers. Tell them about your book. Make the event fun. Be sure the store doesn’t stick you in the back corner. My goal is to triangulate myself between the main entrance and the check out area. This way I get to encounter shoppers as they’re coming and going. At my events, I bring a poker table, custom chips and cards, along with a dealer and play a hand of poker with customers for discounts on store merchandise. I bring a video monitor and show trailers for the book and movie. I bring the theme song from the book and have it played over the store’s sound system. Make your appearance an event. Something that’s not too intrusive to the bookstore experience, but helps create the right mood for potential buyers to learn enough about your book to want to purchase it.

Continue to Invest and Take Big Swings

There’s a natural inclination for authors who self-publish to calculate the cost to publish, figure the per-unit profit, and determine how many books need to be sold to be a financial success. For me, this was flawed math. I recognized it would take money to make money, and investing in the marketing and promotion was as critical as investing in getting the book published. Some ventures didn’t have immediate payback, but I recognized them as part of the whole. My trip to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was an example of this. I invested about $1,000 to fly out, stay near the Rio, ship large quantities of my books, and get a life-size banner made of my book. I expected to sell hundreds of books at the Gaming Life Expo, a gaming-themed convention that all participants in the WSOP had to traverse to play poker. Over 50,000 attendees were expected to pass through the convention space.

I quickly realized I wasn’t going to sell enough books to make the trip profitable, and shifted gears. By the end of the trip, I had accumulated dozens of photo endorsements from top poker professionals, secured a recurring role with an international poker magazine as a contributing writer, and auditioned for a national TV show, which I ultimately was cast for.

Go Big or Go Home

Although my book’s only been out a few months, I’m excited about the results so far and what’s to come. This month, my first article appeared in Poker Pro magazine, and 150,000 copies are in circulation. Each article leads and ends with a mention of my book and an image of the cover. The current article features arguably the most accomplished poker player, Phil Hellmuth, posing with me and reading my book while giving it a “thumbs up.”

My book is currently featured on the National League of Poker’s online poker site. This site (www.nlop.com) has over 250,000 members, and the site is running Life on Tilt tournaments nightly through December 6 at 7 PM ET. Anyone can play in the tournament for free and win autographed copies of my book. During the tournament, the video trailer runs on the bottom of the screen, my logo is superimposed on the virtual poker table, and the book’s image, along with rotating quotes, appears to the right of the table.

In January, I will be appearing on national TV as part of the cast of Fox Sports’ program, Best Damn Poker Show. I managed to work the book into the shooting, and the producers tell me they kept it in. There’s also been interest developing in a movie project based on the novel. Investors have financed a demo reel of sample footage with a test cast, and we are marketing this to other investors.

Just the other day, I was contacted by two agents I had some communication with before I went with AuthorHouse. They have taken notice of the performance of the book and my zealous marketing approach and are interested in representing the sequel.

Always remember, you are selling yourself as much as your book. Have fun, meet lots of people, take plenty of chances, and enjoy your success. And don’t forget to buy a copy of Life on Tilt and enter a world where strategy is valued, aggression is rewarded, and there is no mercy for those who go on tilt. Just like life.