Promoting Sale of One’s Book – A Strategic Approach
In 2021, I published my Memoir*. What prompted me to undertake this venture
was the pressure on me by a long -time
friend and colleague who had published his Memoir, saying that only this will
reveal to his children and grandchildren
his family history and legacy though this was not the reason in my case since I
belong to a closeknit family.
The difference
between an auto-biography and a memoir is while the former
is a comprehensive account of one’s entire life, the latter focuses on a specific aspect, theme etc., that
profoundly shaped the author. I chose the Memoir mode since my life and career
took some unexpected turns.
A few copies were sold soon after publication, with
Amazon taking the lion’s share of the sales
revenue and leaving with me very little . My book had a Foreword written
by a retired IAS officer and ex-CEO of Prasar Bharti who later was also an MP. A few lines of praise by two highly
respected Professors of Mumbai University and a leading Management Institute
respectively were also printed on the back cover. However, its brand value and sales did not pick up. Therefore, I introspected and concluded that those who did not buy the book knew me well enough to desire to know anything
more about me, while those who did not
know me thought perhaps that I was too insignificant a person to know about .
It was then I hit upon the following strategy to
promote my book and increase its sales.
As said earlier, I belong to a large family with siblings,
their spouses and children and grand children both on my maternal and paternal
sides. They are mostly blessed with at least three living generations including
extended family members like my co-brother- in - laws’ son -in -law and his
parents and siblings and so forth. As a close-knit family from even my parent’s
lifetimes, we would gather
on every conceivable event like marriages, 60th , 70th
and 80th birthday celebrations, Griha pravesams, Valaikappu /
Seemantham ( rituals during first
pregnancy), Mudi irakkal ( first tonsure of the child) , Kaadu Kutthal, ( ear -lobe piercing) , wedding
anniversaries etc. to mention just some
examples. Even 13th day funeral obsequies would serve as a good reason to assemble! On such occasions, there will be exchange of gifts between the hosting family
and the attendees. Some gifts are obligatory
by tradition and custom like the maternal uncle’s gift to the niece on her marriage or the groom’s gift to
the bride’s brother who helps him Pori-Edal
( puffed rice consigned to holy fire) at weddings.
My strategy concerns the return gift from the host. It
is always a pair of Jarigai Veshti ( gold threaded laced Doti) for the male and
Pattu Pudaivai (silk saree) for the female relative . Although one’s presence
is a must to receive the return gifts, sometimes
,as in our case with age deterring travel, the gifts are sent per messenger. Over the years we have collected about dozens of Veshtis and sarees. . Our use of these gifts has long since
ceased and they occupy much space and require maintenance . No matter how much
we try to palm them off to other relations and friends visiting us, the stocks are not depleted. There is also the risk of some
being returned to the very persons we
got from!
I have therefore thought of asking my relations and
friends inviting us to their functions not to burden us with return gifts of dhotis and sarees. Instead, they buy as many copies
of my Memoir, costing the
equivalent of their budget for our
dhotis and sarees, and distribute them
to the guests at the functions. This will boost the
sale of my book and also save the expenses on our hotel accommodation and transportation if we were to attend.
This strategy is not my original and patented idea. So
far as boosting the sale of one’s books is concerned, two eminent persons have
preceded me with this strategy. One was
a Governor of a State who in his capacity as Chancellor of a University in the
State asked that several copies of his
book be bought and distributed to the
delegates attending some Convention. The University could not refuse payment to
the publisher presented the bill .The
second forerunner of this strategy is the noted Economist who served as Chief
Economic Advisor to the Government of India. He ordered a public sector bank to
buy two lakh copies of his book at a cost of Rs. 7.25 crore for distribution to customers and others.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander .
________________________________________________________
*Accountant to Academic- An Unmapped Journey- A Memoir-
A.V.Raman ; Publishers Notion Press; Available with Amazon and Flip cart
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