How to promote a book, as told by a successful author

By Ritesh Arora

I am lucky to be surrounding with the people who fill the air around me with questions and zeal and I would name them shortly.  It was a bright sunny morning at Chicago airport when to make up for missed flight, I start typing a story on my newly bought iPad.  Having born and raised in a small spiritual town Rishikesh influenced my thinking in a certain way which would prove to be blessing, during the course of novel completion.

I continued penning down my thoughts. Time and places changed but I continued typing as the story seemed to be embedded in my head, or call in my soul.  I have not been brightest student ever in my class but I have been always hungry for facts. I work for a management consulting firm and always have hard pressed deadlines, flights and client presentation. At times, I barely have time for sleep, let alone writing.  However, I have always believed when something is destined to happen, it will, no matter what the time, place or circumstances. In various hotels, flights, I continued typing and after three years, the manuscript was ready. I narrated it to a few of my creative colleagues and it shortly found out its identity ‘GoodBye ? Well, Not Yet’.

Then the quest was on to find out a publisher. As a wise man once said – “Solution Presents themselves when there is no solution is in sight”. I met with Power publishers who agreed to publish my book and offered me help on editing, video creation and print marketing.  Readers have continuously told me that they had never read something like this earlier and predictably, book shortly found its place in the best sellers of power publisher.  I would always be indebted and grateful to power publisher for giving ‘GoodBye?Well, Not Yet’ its launching platform.

The novel has changed hands to be now re-published by Srishti publishers and will be launched in five countries in October this. I have been asked on how did the book made to where it is today and there has been no secret recipe. Passion to write, being able to read multiple books, a captivating manuscript coupled with effective marketing will help book to be widely read, admired and visible. The main focus area is Marketing and in my experience, following things really  work well

– Able to spread the word of mouth

– Effective usage of social media marketing by creating the the FB page, your own website and running contests

– Identify the age group and run the marketing campaigns accordingly

– Collateral like bookmarks, sample chapter distribution, T-shirt with book print, video trailor etc are good tools

– Finally, be patient; Marketing to book sale is a slightly long cycle. Have faith in your work, things will automatically start rolling

(Ritesh Arora is a Management Consultant and IIM-C Alumni. He is also an author of a mystic fiction love story, ‘When the Heavens Smiled’, to be published by Srishti Publications, later this year. He is an avid reader, has a large collection of books in his library at home and can be contacted at his Facebook fan page.)