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Because Self-publishing Works: Everything I Learned About How to Market a Book

V.V. Cam (Goodreads Author)

4.60 · Rating details · 10 ratings · 6 reviews

Make your self-publishing business more successful. Stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a solid plan to grow your business.

For many authors, marketing a book takes a lot of time and yields little or no improvement in sales. Getting your book noticed can feel like an impossible task. Sales surges can disappear as quickly as they arrive. But the result of ...more

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Paperback, 250 pages

Published June 2nd 2017 by Jack Langedijk

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Feb 01, 2018 Pooja rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, 100-pages

This is a work that I would recommend to all the budding authors.

In the second part of the "because" series, the author explains her experience in marketing while helping her husband self publishing his book 'because'.

Writing a book has become common these days but getting it published and then marketing it to the public is a story in itself. V. V. Cam is a true entrepreneur and it is axiomatic through her writing and commitment towards her work.

She doesn't wander away from her focus. Her writ ...more

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Jun 04, 2017 Grady rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

‘Rather than giving advice, I am sharing my knowledge and experience with you.’

Author V.V. Cam has a fascinating history – she and her family had to flee Vietnam to Hong Kong by boat when she was just 13 and in Hong Kong she was housed in a prison that had been turned into an overcrowded refugee camp. That was where she started her journey to become the happy and successful wife, mother, and entrepreneur that she is today. While working in an electronics factory earning money to help her family ‘Rather than giving advice, I am sharing my knowledge and experience with you.’

Author V.V. Cam has a fascinating history – she and her family had to flee Vietnam to Hong Kong by boat when she was just 13 and in Hong Kong she was housed in a prison that had been turned into an overcrowded refugee camp. That was where she started her journey to become the happy and successful wife, mother, and entrepreneur that she is today. While working in an electronics factory earning money to help her family survive the hardships of daily life, she taught herself to speak
and write Chinese. A year later, a church sponsored her family to start their new life in a small town in Ontario, Canada. She put her language learning skills to use again, this time mastering English. She soon became one of the top students at her school and helped the office staff with her typing and office skills. Along with her industrious family, she learned to sew and made money sewing for local shops and for friends. Her resume soon included an impressive list of accomplishments: She worked her way from seamstress, waitress, bartender, and receptionist to IT support specialist and trainer, to real estate agent and broker. She has worked in executive positions with large organizations managing finances, human resources, and relationships and has built a couple of small businesses. In her spare time, she created two high-traffic and successful websites that offer teaching tools and support to the Vietnamese communities. She’s also founded a philanthropic organization that provides micro loans for poor people in Vietnam.

That is the sort of giving person VV is and her books on Self Publishing carry that tenor. As she states in her Introduction to this book on the next step in Self Publishing – Marketing, ‘If you’ve gone through the publishing process, by now you’ve probably discovered that writing and publishing are easier than getting people to buy your book. If you are not ready to invest your time, money, and effort, this book is not for you. If you are reading this book, I am guessing that you have already published, want to run your self-publishing business successfully, and are looking for some extra information on book marketing. I have learned the ins and outs of the self-publishing industry and experienced many ups and downs while marketing my husband’s book. I want to share everything I know and have learned so far. This book will help you develop your own actionable marketing plan. It will help you save time, money, and unnecessary headaches as
you move through the process.’

From that inviting opening VV shares the steps in the important marketing aspect of self-publishing in a manner that is accessible and easy to follow. She takes us through the steps – Marketing Strategy, Marketing Plan (Connect, Convince, Care phases), Marketing Tactics (product design, discoverability, advertising), Promotion, Publicity, Public Relations, Customer Retention, a Marketing checklist (very valuable), a Marketing Toolkit, Marketing costs and much more.
This is the go to book for beginners and a better guide probably has not been written Highly Recommended. ...more

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Jun 02, 2017 James Minter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: authors

Shelves: reviewed

I’m a self-published author of fourteen books, but my sales are lacklustre, to say the least. To quote V.V Cam “I’ve used sporadic marketing tactics: chasing after reviews, doing a few author interviews and throwing money at promotions with the hope of selling a few more books.” Like 95% of all self-published authors, I lack well-honed, professional marketing skills and knowledge.

For any new, or recent writer whose sales are in the doldrums, this book is for you. If you’ve Googled searched, you’ I’m a self-published author of fourteen books, but my sales are lacklustre, to say the least. To quote V.V Cam “I’ve used sporadic marketing tactics: chasing after reviews, doing a few author interviews and throwing money at promotions with the hope of selling a few more books.” Like 95% of all self-published authors, I lack well-honed, professional marketing skills and knowledge.

For any new, or recent writer whose sales are in the doldrums, this book is for you. If you’ve Googled searched, you’ll know there are tonnes of marketing information on the Internet, but what is lacking is a decent structure to build a marketing strategy and plan. This is where ‘Everything I Learned About How To Market a Book’ scores highly. V.V Cam has a professional marketing background, and she has put her hard-won knowledge and experience to good use to drive the sales of her husband’s book ‘Because’ by Jack A Langedijk, to a respectable level for both paperback and Kindle editions. Now she is sharing all she knows in this very complete ‘how to…’ book. You only have to look at the Table of Contents to see how complete she is.

Note; this book is not for wimps. I love ‘How to…’ books, but it’s one thing to buy the book, another to read it, but it’s a totally different matter putting into practice all the ideas and suggestions. It’s at this stage many authors give up – tenacity, dedication, commitment and a realistic budget are paramount. As V.V Cam points out, there is no marketing silver bullet.

However, V.V Cam has come to your aid with predesigned, downloadable templates, self-analysis questions, a plethora of web links to useful resources, and a copious amount of hints and tips.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book to any serious self-published writer. And if you are a first timer contemplating writing the next best-seller, I suggest you read this book to understand the world you are entering into. You’ll realise writing a book is relatively easy! With Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, Draft2Digital, etc. listing over nine million books for sale, you soon appreciate it’s a formidable challenge to break into the top 20% where you need to be if you are looking to earn a living from writing. The only real chance you have of doing this is to adopt the strategy so comprehensively laid out in this book. And finally, does the strategy work? Only time will tell. I’m fully on board and will let you know in 12 months.

The author supplied me with a free eBook ARC for the review purposes. ...more

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Jan 06, 2018 Young Kim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I could browse all the options introduced and pick some of them that really fit for my circumstances!

The first page you can read in the landing page look-inside makes it clear whether you should buy this book or not: “If you are not ready to spend your time, money and effort, this book is not for you.”

Chapter 2 Marketing 101 alone made me forget about all other self-published book marketing instructions I've read in last two years. The author doesn’t give the readers sugar-coated advices abo ...more

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Jun 27, 2017 Henk-Jan van der Klis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As a June 2017 follow-up to Everything I Learned About How to Publish a Book, the Because series by author Virginia Cam features Everything I Learned About How to Market a Book. Successfully marketing your book takes a lot of time and perseverance. Tips and tools to help you spend your energy as efficient as possible are welcome. There are seven important aspects that demand your marketing efforts: product design, discoverability, advertising, promotion, publicity, public relations, and customer ...more

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Jul 11, 2017 Gábor László Hajba rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Gábor by: V.V. Cam

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book contains a lot of information on marketing your book if you do publishing an indie way (perhaps following Because Self-Publishing Works: Everything I Learned About How to Publish a Book). And this information is useful.

I am an aspiring indie writer too, however, in the non-fiction, tech industry. I never invested in marketing strategy because a) I'm lazy and b) didn't reserve the time to ...more

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About V.V. Cam

V.V. Cam

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V.V. Cam's philosophy of life exemplifies the saying “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” When it comes to exploring the ever-changing world of self-publishing, V.V. has proven she is no stranger to embracing new worlds and ideas. She has not only learned how to fish, but also has spent her life teaching hundreds of others to become ...more