Marketing a book is something that authors should take seriously if they want to enjoy great sales. Navigating the publishing industry is like walking through a mine field and authors must be careful because simple mistakes can lead to the failure of their marketing plans. The following are some mistakes that authors make when marketing their books.

Underestimating a book cover

It is interesting to note that sometimes authors spend years writing their books only to hire non-professionals to design their book covers. A designer with no knowledge of the publishing industry is also of little help when it comes to creating a compelling book cover. A person who designs a book cover must understand the dynamics of the publishing industry. The designer should know many things about the book industry. For instance: purchase decisions for shoppers at bookstores are frequently influenced by book covers. Also, about three quarters of booksellers agree that a cover is the most important element of a book. Do you know that sales teams hired by distributors often take only the cover of a book when promoting the book to bookstores? Yes, they do - that is how important book covers are.

Spending too little on important things

Authors who sell their own books often look at the prices quoted for certain services and go with the least expensive ones. However, they should know that deals that sound too good to be true probably are. For instance, if an author hires a publicist who is charging much lower fees than other publicists, there is the likelihood that the services offered will be sub par. Authors should make informed decisions when spending money on marketing. For instance, they should ask service providers to give them detailed lists of the deliverables before hiring them. This will help them to know exactly what they are paying for and whether it is priced reasonably.

Soliciting advice from non-professionals

When an author wants some help regarding his book, he should ensure that any help he gets is from a person whose opinion can be relied on to be accurate. A professional does not always mean a person who has studied in a particular field. For instance, if an author writes a book in the young adult category, he should not give it to adults to evaluate it. Instead he should find young people to read the book and review it. In this case, the young people are the professionals being referred to.

Being unkind to media personalities

Authors need the media more than the media needs them. An author should therefore be gracious when dealing with the media. Authors should be grateful when granted interviews and they should also thank people who write reviews of their books. This is regardless of whether the book is praised or criticized. An author should create a good relationship with the media to make sure that they respond positively when he requests coverage at a later date.