Making good use

Think about the best uses to put author copies of your books, says

I received a package containing complimentary author’s copies recently, six copies each of two books.*

Anyone having a book published will have similar moments and what to do with such copies needs, I would suggest, a moment’s thought. Put one on your shelf, for sure, but then what? Do you give them all away to favourite relatives? Put them up for sale on Amazon, get your local bookshop to stock them or what? Make no mistake, they are valuable and not just because you may be able to sell them.

The temptation is most often to do something designed to turn them into money in some way, but they may do more for you if used for publicity purposes. Can you find someone to review them, send one to the local newspaper or use one as you make an approach aiming to get yourself on local radio?

The more such copies you have the more useful they are. So, always take note of what a publishing contract says about complimentary copies and negotiate to get as many copies up front as possible. It may help to get a higher number agreed if you list various planned promotional uses for them. Free ones apart, ask also about buying more at a good discount too.

Physical copies of books are valuable in so many ways and it is always worth acting to make the greatest possible number available and then thinking carefully about what specific purposes they can serve.

* One was a new edition of my book Successful Time Management (Kogan Page), the business topic on which I have sold more than anything else, the other How to Write Reports & Proposals.