One book marketing technique that is used quite often is handled through a third party service. One service has a mailing list of three million or more that they regularly notify about items of value and interest. The author might offer the book at a very sharp discount and have the service handle it.
The service provider schedules the sale to go live at their website for a short time, and emails constituents to make them aware of the offer. The provider does not let the sale go live until a commitment by a minimum number of buyers is confirmed.
All the constituents who want to take advantage of the deal contact their social circle to get more commitments so the provider will “tip” or go live with the sale. When the minimum is reached, more people than were emailed the offer suddenly show up to grab the book while it is being sold at the low price.
This book marketing technique has worked many times before and will continue to do so as long as the product is marketable. The negotiating chip that the service provider has is how fast it can reach a great many people. If the author is well known and has a following, he or she might be able to negotiate a better deal with the provider than the typical 50/50 split.
Depending on the numbers game, the author might not make much for the effort. Of course, some companies do this with a product to get interest and don’t mind lost income for a short period because they know there will be some repeat business from buyers who will pay the full price and the middleman will be cut out of future business.
Another byproduct of this kind of book marketing is the word of mouth traffic that it brings to the table.
Tags: , book marketing, byproduct, commitments, constituents, middleman, numbers game, repeat business, service provider, short period, short time, third party, traffic, word of mouth