When you develop your book marketing plan, you’ll want to:

1. Brainstorm strategic relationships you can develop during the coming year
2. Make the most of every opportunity for exposure

When brainstorming strategic partnerships, investigate ministries whose mission statements are similar to yours. Perhaps your book can become a resource for these ministries.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What ministries would the Lord would want to connect you with?
• What organizations might use your book as a premium for their donors?
• What groups offer a “recommended reading list” to their members?
• What associations offer resources from their Web site?
• What denominations might want to buy a large quantity of your book to give away at a convention or conference?

Claude Hickman, author of Live Life on Purpose, moved from the print-on-demand arm of The WinePress Group (Pleasant Word) to the large print run division (WinePress Publishing). He made this move after showing his book to youth ministry organizations and suggesting they use it as a resource.

One denomination bought 4,000 copies to give to the youth attending an upcoming conference, while numerous smaller ministries bought 100, 200 or 300 copies for their ministry work.

Bulk Purchases
WinePress and Pleasant Word books were purchased in bulk by the Methodist Women’s Reading Group after they reviewed them and decided to list them on their Recommended Reading List for the upcoming year.

Another WinePress author was ready to publish 2,500 copies of his book and began talking to the missions organization for his denomination. They ended up paying for 3,000 copies to give away at a missions conference at a very low per copy price, but that extra 3,000 copies put his total print run over 5,000, which gave the author a much better “per book” price on his project.

Premiums
Some of our authors have had their books purchased in large quantity at a steep discount in order for ministries to offer them as a premium. In the “olden” days, the local savings and loan would give you a toaster if you opened up a savings account. That is a “premium.” Lots of ministries offer a book to constituents who donate.