Campaign
For My
Book!

A political satire by a first time novelist does not become a bestseller on its own.

It needs enthusiastic supporters who can recommend it to friends and spread the word.  If you enjoyed THE SCANDAL PLAN and want to see it succeed, please consider campaigning for the book. 

As with any campaign, there are many ways you can help out—and many take only a minute of your time.  I've compiled a list of things you can do to help our campaign and organized it into three parts: Real-world Campaigning, Online Campaigning, and Guerilla Campaigning.  As more suggestions come in, I will add them to the list. 

Thanks in advance for joining the campaign.  Here's hoping for a bestseller come November!

REAL WORLD CAMPAIGNING

#1 - Tell Your Friends about the Book!
Books are sold by word of mouth. This is this single most important thing you can do.

#2 - Recommend the Book to your Book Club
And then, if they decide to read it, drop me a line, and set up a time to talk.  I'd love to chat with your book club.

#3 - Go Into Bookstores and Ask For The Book
You don't have to buy it, but ask if they have it. This creates awareness.  Now the bookstore employee knows the book exists and knows where to find it.  If this exchange leads to a conversation, it is also a good opportunity to talk the book up.  Remember, bookstore employees sell books.

#4 - Read the Book in Public Places
On the subway.  In the park.  On a plane. Outside the house. With a mouse. In a blouse. Etc.


ONLINE CAMPAIGNING

#1 – Write a Review on Amazon.com.
If you read the book and liked it, then please take a moment and share your thoughts online. Anyone can write a review so long as they are an Amazon customer in good standing. No need to over-think this one. Just be honest about what you liked, and try not to make it obvious if you know me. Needless to say, five star ratings are greatly appreciated.  Click here.

#2 – Tag the Product on Amazon.com.
You can do this when you review the book or separately from the product’s main page, as long as you are logged in to Amazon. Tags are keywords that make it easier for people to find the book. Right now, if you do a search for the political satire tag, my book will not be anywhere near the first to come up. But if 500 people tag the product as a political satire, then guess what? It sure helps. Click here to see a list of 54 tags that I think work for this book. Please copy and paste the entire list (or only those you feel are relevant) into the box for your tags. This is a quick task that may really help if everyone does it.

#3 -  *** Tag the Book for Searches on Amazon.com ***
Even more important than #2!  This relates to regular seaches, not tag searches.  This is super easy and super important.  Click here to learn how to do this.

#4– Post a Review on the Barnes & Noble and Borders Websites.
Remember that review you wrote for Amazon? You can copy and paste it and use it on the Barnes & Noble and Borders websites. Unlike Amazon, you don’t even need to be a customer to post a review. So go for it!
Click here for the Barnes & Noble product page and here for Borders.

#5 - Let Facebook Know What You're Reading
If you are reading the book and enjoying it, let your status reflect that.  Also, please join my group, "I Have Positive Feelings About Bill Folman."

#6 - Start a Discussion About the Book on Amazon
There are many communities on Amazon where you can start a discussion: the politics forum, the comedy forum, the beach read forum, the political satire forum.  This is actually quite easy.  Simply scroll to the bottom of my product page to "Start a Discussion," click on the appropriate community, and, well ... start a discussion!  You can basically just recommend the book to the people in the community or start by asking if anyone else has read it.

#7– Additional Internet Campaigning
This last one is for the truly ambitious, those who are bored at work and looking for a way to procrastinate. There are many other sites where you can rate books, recommend books, and write reviews. You can start with a few of these that I googled, and take it from there, plugging the book however you see fit.
http://books.2donext.com/default.aspx
http://books.google.com/googlebooks/mylibrary/
http://www.revish.com/
http://www.allreaders.com


GUERILLA CAMPAIGNING    (for the more daring...)

#1 - Use My Book Jacket On Top Of Other Books You are Reading
When reading in public.  On the subway.  In the park.  On a plane. Etc.

#2 - Approach Strangers In Bookstores
And talk up the book.

#3 - Move the Book to a More Visible Location in Bookstores
This should probably only be attempted in the large chain bookstores and should only be attempted with the greatest of discretion. Don't get caught.  In fact, I cannot officially condone this strategy. If you happen to try it, however, there is nothing I can do to stop you.

#4 - Know Somebody Famous
Jon Stewart?  Stephen Colbert?  Oprah?  Ellen?  Arianna?  Spielberg?  Soderbergh?  Do you know any of these guys?  If so, please recommend my book to them. Or drop me a line and tell me how I can get a book to them.  Hey, you never know ...

#5 - Leave Comments On Posts/Reviews About Similar Books
Find blog posts and reviews for similar books (ex: the new Christopher Buckley book, the latest Michael Moore, etc.), and leave a comment such as, "this was okay, but I didn't enjoy it as much as The Scandal Plan by Bill Folman.  If you're looking for a real <insert laudatory adjectives here>, then I would definitely check that out."

#6 - Enlist Your Friends
The more people who campaign for us, the better our chances of success.


Have I missed anything?  If you have more strategies on how to sell this book, please let me know.  And thanks for joining the campaign.