(Supplement to Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Marketing Tip, April 2005)

By Shel Horowitz and Janet Elaine Smith

I'd like to see how you handle a TRUE cold call--like contacting someone you found in the yellow pages that looked to you like a networking possibility of some sort. How would you get around that old SPAM bugaboo? How would you write your subject line for that?

Carolyn Howard-Johnson
https://carolynhowardjohnson.com/

Well, I wanted to rise to Carolyn's challenge--but the reality is, I do very little 100-percent cold contacting. I almost always have a reason to contact someone: a reporter who has expressed a need for sources (I answer dozens of these each week, and that's how I get much press coverage--see https://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/prleads.shtml)...a useful contact who's written about or who teaches in one of my topic areas...someone who has expressed a need that I can help with, on a discussion list or other forum...a "warm" referral from a mutual contact...

The first was posted to one of the publishing discussion lists I belong to, and walks the reader through how this particular author cold-calls bookstores, with good results. Since it showed up just after Carolyn's note, I requested and received permission to share it with you.

I wrote the second, on behalf of a client, to celebrity business management trainer/author Ken Blanchard, whose credits include The One-Minute Manager and many other books. You'll notice that I use my own credentials as third-party validation for the request; were I the author, I'd try to get a respected third-party quote. This was submitted to his website about ten days ago, and when we didn't get an answer, I sent it postally (on my letterhead) just a day or two ago. It may or may not work, but if it does, it could mean thousands of extra copies sold, over time. I used a similar approach to get an endorsement for Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First from Jim Hightower. He didn't know me from Adam; I simply used the contact form on his website. (I *was* able to say, truthfully, that I'm a subscriber to his print newsletter.). I no longer have all my correspondence in prepping that book, due to a computer failure, so I can't share it.

Example #1:

From: janetelaine smith <janetelainesmith@yahoo.com>
Subject: Cold calling for books

OK, I will try not to bore all of you. First of all, when I get the person who answers the phone, I don't chat with them. I simply ask if the manager is available. Sometimes they will ask what I am calling about, so they know which manager they should send me to. I simply say "I am an author and I would like to discuss my latest book with them."

I will try to do a sort of script for what I do. It varies, of course, slightly, depending on which book I am introducing to them. But let's do House Call to the Past and Par for the Course, which just won the RIO awards. By the way, lesson number one, if you have an award you can attach to the conversation or a short quote about your book from a review, it lends credibility to what you have to say. Every author thinks their book is the best one that has ever been written; it helps them to know that other people think so, too. We will proceed as if the manager is now on the phone.

JES: Good morning. My name is Janet Smith, and I am an author. Unfortunately I live nowhere near you. I am in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I have a couple of books that are out that I was hoping you might be interested in putting a couple of copies on your shelves. I know that they are available through both Ingram and Baker & Taylor.

Mgr: Do you have the ISBN?

JES: Yes, right here. They are [numbers] Actually, there are two of them. They both just won a RIO Award of Excellence. RIO stands for Reviewers International Organization. Some of the other winners were authors like Nora Roberts and John Grisham--and me! (The mgr. is usually looking up the ISBN's on the computer as you talk.)

Mgr: I see them here.

JES: They are both time travels. I love being able to change history. House Call to the Past is about an accused witch and her pirate lover on Cape Cod in the early 1700's. They were real people; in fact, the witch was my 13th great aunt.

Mgr: It sounds interesting. What is the other one about? I have it here. Par for the Course? It is a book about golfing?

JES: Well, yes and no. It takes a young woman who is a golf pro at a fictional St. Andrews Golf Course, just outside Aberdeen, MD, and sends her through a dense fog to St. Andrews Golf Course, just outside Aberdeen--but whoops! It is Aberdeen Scotland, and it is the mid 1500's. She gets to golf with Mary, Queen of Scots, who is the first woman golfer in history.

Mgr: (and this often follows) Are you going to be in the area for a booksigning?

JES: No, unfortunately I don't travel much. I have a disabled husband who doesn't travel well and he stays home alone even worse. I would be glad to send you some autographed bookplates to put in the books if you let me know when you get them in. My e-mail address is ...............

Mgr: (and this usually happens, too, by this time) I have put an order in for 2 copies of each of them. Thank you so much for calling them to our attention.

JES: Thank you so much for your time. I hope you enjoy the books. Please let me know about the bookplates.

That's all there is to it. The most important thing is to be excited about your book. Excitement is contagious. If you make it strictly a "business call," you'll be treated like any other salesman. If you make it fun, they will look forward to enjoying it too.

One other thing that often happens is that when they call it up in their computer, they can see the cover. I have a lot of managers who say that they like the way it looks, so they will put it on an endcap or on a front display. This works especially well if you can find a way to tie your book in to either their area, or if it has something to do with a certain holiday, or whatever.

Good luck. The first call is the hardest one to make!

Janet Elaine Smith
https://www.janetelainesmith.com
Author of 13 published (and available) novels
Marketing consultant
Genealogist
Winner of 2 RIO Awards of Excellence

Example #2:

Dear Ken:

Thank you for all you've done to build ethical, successful enterprises around the world.

I'm writing to you because when Robert Kelleher first showed me his manuscript, I immediately thought it was a book that would appeal to you. And after editing and evaluating the manuscript, and getting to know it intimately, I'm more than ever convinced it's a book that will resonate with you.

Although he's the rare author who could probably find a traditional publisher, Bob intends to self-publish; at age 77, he does not want to wait two years to see his book in print. It's a 29,000-word "Ken Blanchard-style parable" on the importance of the Ten Commandments to modern daily life. His working title is "Winning the Game of Life: The Ten Commandments in Today's World." The mentor character is a basketball coach, and his mentee is a young college player who learns, over time, how the Ten Commandments prepare him to make a difference in his own life, in his team, and in the wider world. To me, it feels similar to Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert's "The Serving Leader," for which you provided a foreword--but what's different is that Bob's book looks not just at organizations, but at human relationships in community. The basketball team provides the business metaphor, but his message is aimed not only at businesses but also at individuals who may or may not be in the business world.

Bob has strong credentials in the business world, in fact. He's a retired professor of business, organizational behavior, and marketing (both graduate and undergraduate) at San Francisco State College and Fitchburg State College. He remains an adjunct at Anna Maria College and Nichols College. He has been the president of two tech companies in California, and an independent consultant. He's written one previous (well-received) book, on industrial marketing, published by Cahners.

And who am I to say that the book is good? I'm a publishing consultant, marketing copywriter with a largely publisher clientele, and independent publisher. My own six books have included three with traditional publishers (Simon & Schuster, Chelsea Green, Stackpole) and three under my own imprint. My most recent book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, is endorsed by your frequent co-author Sheldon Bowles, as well as Jack Canfield, Robert B. Reich, and many others. It won an Apex Award, has been sold to two foreign publishers, and has sparked an international movement around a business ethics pledge I created. Bob came to me as a client a few months ago, and I will be assisting him in creating a top-notch product and the marketing engine to let the world know about it. We are hoping to go to press late this year, with a 2006 copyright.

Bob and I are hoping that you would consider writing a foreword for "Winning the Game of Life." May we send you the manuscript? And would you prefer a printed or electronic copy? I've enclosed a return envelope for your convenience; feel free to e-mail me if that's more convenient.

Sincerely,

Shel Horowitz

(no answer so far)

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