Is Your Promo Leading to Sales?

Every year some organization or another contacts BookEnds asking for items for fundraising. Whether it’s the local PTO, a library, an author running her own drive, or a random letter from an organization, we get about five or so of these a year. We have a lot of extra books in the office so I never mind sending off a box or two. Especially if I don’t have to ship anything.

One thing I’ve always struggled with is how this works for me. Sure I’m happy to selflessly help an organization, but isn’t it even better if I can help someone else while helping myself? Well I think it is.

In years past I’ve had my clients send their own promo material to put into donations. That worked and made a nice added bonus to the baskets, but it still didn’t feel enough for me. So I thought about what I really want from these readers. I want sales. That’s easy. So how do I get the sales? What really creates sales? Buzz. Buzz, reviews and a booksellers algorithms.

This year, instead of sending a packet of author promo (bookmarks mostly), I created my own. What I really want from people is a great review. I want people who love the book to put it down, think about it and want to share it. I want them to add it to their goodreads shelf, to sing it to not just friends and family, but to the world. I want a review.

So I created this….

A simple request for an honest review when the reader is done. I ask them to use their social media to promote what we love and hopefully they will too.