How do I take my book to a wider audience?

By Raj Waghray on January 20, 2015 22 Comments / 5180 views

Dear All,

– I love “The Bhagavad Gita”, it is a book that I have gone back to again and again and have always come back feeling recharged. As a father to two young school going kids, I wanted them to get introduced to this wonderful book at an early age. To make it easier for them, I wrote a series of letters each touching on one of the key message from each chapter of The Gita in a very contemporary context that they could relate to. This eventually turned out to be the book: “The Gita In My Homework” that I self-published last year.

– To those who love the Gita, and want to introduce it your kids, nieces, nephews etc., the book is available for purchase from Flipkart and Amazon India. The ebook is available on Amazon Kindle. I encourage you to pick up a copy, read it to your kids, use it as an excuse to build stronger bonds with them, get them to do the exercises in the book, understand them better, and most importantly share your own thoughts and wisdom with them.

– Those who want to review the book, I have 7 copies that I can give away, please leave your name and address in comments below to receive a copy!

– I have a simple goal to make sure that this book reaches every kid and here is where I need your help folks!

– Seeking your inputs on what I need to do in order to meet my goal? Your thoughts, ideas and suggestions would be of great help.

– I do not have a marketing budget (FYI, TOI asked me 1.5L to do a write-up in Speaking Tree to promote the book) All my marketing efforts so far have been through blogs, Soc Media platforms, Twitter (@Gitainmyhw) , FB page, word of mouth, friends and family.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Raj

www.linkedin.com/in/rajwaghray

@rajwaghray

Comments

Raj Waghray

22 Comments

Karan Ahuja January 21, 2015, 8:08 am

Hi Raj Waghray sir ,

I am studying data driven marketing and helping out businesses to market better on search engines and social media , optimize ads.

Here are a few techniques you can try out :

1) Follow your target audience on twitter – You can target by keywords in bio , location. Try using followerwonk for this.

you can follow daily upto 100 tweeps without any problems. we tried this and were not banned . we kept the limit to 100 as it was suggested by some bloggers.

you can unfollow all those who do not follow you through tools like justunfollow .

2) Free marketing and contests– You can offer free books by running quiz contests on fb , twitter .

you can ask users to tag the friend who has helped them in tough times and gift a book to one of the tagged comments .

this gives you viral reach.

Mix in creativity , reach when you do this .

We were working for a green tea product company https://verynutri.com

and gave away samples to all followers on twitter on the weekends . This helped to get initial followers.

3) Monitor keywords and participate in conversations or follow the right folks.

you can use hootsuite to monitor keywords and follow the folks who need your books or even participate in conversations if it feels ok.

4) Give away parts of content from the book free on social media.

you can give out free chapters or images or key points from introduction of your book .

Try this on instagram , google plus as well.

Tailor these give aways to specific customer segments or situations .

example – stress at workplace , stress with peer groups .

5) Influencer reviews .

Find out who the influencers are from followerwonk or klout and give them books to review on their blogs or on ebook marketplaces.

This is a must do and could work well .

6) Connect from all channels .

connect your instagram to twitter , fb , g +

connect your events with social media.

Highlight key pain areas for each customer segment and try to solve it

pain area * target segment <

your solution should be here .

7) Schedule tweets and hire content writers , artists .

You should schedule tweets and hire writers , artists to create content for the next 1-2 months of your marketing.

Use buffer to schedule , fiver to hire artists to make content for you .

8) release few chapters free on audible or umano :

you can release few parts in audio format on audible or umano for free or less costs.

9) Partner with other products or services .

you can partner with others selling similar products or wellness services and bundle your products for the whole solution.

HR managers could need a course from the book for their employees

10) Target Long tail keywords for search engines .

When your customer segments read the gita – a few words might be confusing for them at first glance :

example sattva , rajas .

they must be searching these in google or quora – make your answers present here .

Try and figure out where your customer segments go and be present there .

Optimize website with best keywords .

use ubersuggest for keyword research.

Try and giveaway link worthy content , get inbound links

11) Be the purple cow to get attention.

Be different and more relevant for your niche audience .

read this – https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/the-zigzag-technique-to-finding-an-online-business-idea/

also seth godin has written well about this in purple cow book .

12) Answer the key hard questions of your customers on youtube

Alex ikonn does this well on youtube. check out his channel

=====================================================================================

The hard part is to choose the best technique for you and work on it with data , measurements to optimize results and change techniques.

If you need any Software tools info or work with data analysis for any aspect – please feel free to call me.

TC,cheers

Karan

9820011185
asha chaudhry January 22, 2015, 6:10 am

karan,

you just won a rh laptop skin for this comment! pls claim it from me 🙂

dear raj – you just got yourself a goldmine response 🙂

“TOI asked me 1.5L to do a write-up in Speaking Tree to promote the book” – this just shattered me 🙁

pls check out this post by nistha and some comments i made there – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/cracking-mainstream-media-for-a-book

since you are targetting kids and you’re based in b’lore – pls reach out to good folks like Atta Galata https://www.facebook.com/AttaGalattaKoramangala – pls do book reading sessions – b’lore is THE PLACE to be!!

reach out to other bookstores when you can who encourage book reading sessions.

priyadeep of gyan labs (kidovators) interacts with lots of schools and kids – am sure he’ll be able to suggest as well. if you can get in touch with schools that would be awesome.

you need to get reviews done! repeating karan’s point number 5! pls reach out to spiritual sites. we can post a review of the book on rodinhoodmonastery.com

we have a culture section here on trhs. you could ask a rodinhooder to review your book and post it here as well!

will add more stuff as and when it comes to my mind for sure.

ps: while sharing your post over social, i went to your site and couldn’t find a fb page… don’t you have one dedicated to the book? pls create one if so and share excerpts from the book every day. also run contests for kids and ask trivia questions about the characters e.g which character did arjuna assume while in exile for a year? Brihannala

this is a very raw eg – obviously it would be in total context with the content of the book.
Karan Ahuja January 22, 2015, 8:12 am

Thanks a ton for the gift Asha 🙂

I shall soon be trying to win a rodinhood shirt as well !!!

Yes my comment got too long .

I am interested in knowing how to prioritize a step in the overall strategy.

Also this dude has helped me a lot to learn so far – https://www.matthewbarby.com/

also rankya seo on youtube is great to learn.

i am also going to play around with piwik soon to see if it gives an edge over google analytics .

Lots to do !!!

SEO guys in the house – share some tricks as well 🙂

TC , cheers

Karan
Raj Waghray January 22, 2015, 8:40 am

Hi Asha,

Karan’ response is indeed a treasure trove of information! I immediately sent a SMS to him on reading the response thanking him! I am doing some of the things he has mentioned and digesting the others and will action them as I move along.

Karan, thanks again and I will reach out to you if I get stuck somewhere!

Asha, thanks a lot for your inputs too and for the tweet through @therodhinhoods account. First of all the FB page is very much there and you can see the stream on the right side on the website, The FB page link is https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Gita-in-my-Homework/227867424021064 and I keep it active posting stuff from the book, photographs, details from my workshops etc.

Reg Book Launch, I am doing one this weekend in Hyderabad!!

My audience really is kids from class 7th/8th upwards to class 12th and I have started doing workshops for them in schools and that is coming along well!

Regarding Reviews, I will be very glad to send books to anyone who wants to review it. With every copy I sell through Amzn or FK, I send a note with a call for action for reviews. Let me know how I can get one up on Culture sections at thrs?

Contests are definitely on the cards and so also activities and workshops during upcoming summer vacation.

I cannot but agree with Nishta that writing a book is like founding and running a startup! I never thought of it this way till I got the book out in print version!

Can you connect me up with Priyadeep?

Thanks a ton!

Raj
Chetan Soni January 22, 2015, 9:24 am

Dear Raj,

A lot of it has been answered by Karan , although few more points:-

1. do a giveaway on Goodreads , it helps and you will get only those readers who are interested.

2. Tie-up with ISKON or any other Krishna society . I met a guy a couple of days back who was gifting me Geeta .

3. Tie-up with some bloggers and book reviewers .

4. Do some contest online , select winners and invite them for coffee in Blore and gift them a copy.

5. Promote Kindle version to Firang audience ( FB ads)

I work for a Publishing house called Half Baked Beans

https://www.facebook.com/Half8akedBeans

Cheers!
Ishani January 22, 2015, 12:31 pm

If you do not have a huge marketing budget but still want to promote your book to a larger audience, then you should engage influencers from http://www.fromote.com. They can promote about your book on social media and you will get much better RoI as compared to ads. Most importantly you will be able to reach the RIGHT target audience on facebook / twitter etc as you can shortlist the influencers as per your niche and also discuss the content to be posted by them. To know how it works, please see here: https://fromote.com/how-it-works/

For Rodinhooders we are offering a $10 credit, refer to my post at: https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/how-startups-are-using-influencers-to-fromote-on-social-media-10

Hope you ind it useful

Ishani
Raj Waghray January 23, 2015, 2:11 am

Chetan,

Thanks. Have created the Author page on Goodreads and will action some of your suggestions.

Best,

Raj
Raj Waghray January 23, 2015, 2:11 am

Ishani,

Thanks for the suggestion

Raj
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal January 25, 2015, 5:54 am

Have you thought of getting a nice anchor and just making this small short videos?
Sushrut Munje January 25, 2015, 10:54 am

Congrats, Raj 🙂 This is fascinating. Would love to review, please. My address-

Sushrut Munje
Bombay Connect, 4th Floor, Candelar,
26 St John Baptist Road, Near Mount Mary Steps,
Bandra West, Mumbai 400050

Thanks!
Abhik Prasad January 25, 2015, 1:21 pm

Raj, how many books do you want to sell ?

Since you have self published, I assume it’s probably a small print run of a 1000 or 2000 copies. That translates to about 5 lakhs in potential sales.

Any reason why you don’t have a marketing budget for getting the word out ?

While your audience is kids, your target customers are parents so you might be better of targetting them. Here are a couple of things you could probably do:

1.) I know you don’t want to spend money but consider getting a freelance PR professional to get you coverage in the local media.

2.) Make a list of schools in an around Bangalore and send an email to their library if they would like to buy 10 copies each. There are about 170 of them listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_schools_in_Bangalore

3.) Get your HR Head at Collabera to send out an email to company employees…something to the effect of “One of Senior Leaders has written a book making it easier for children to understand the values of the Gita. Its available at a discounted price for Collabera associates.” A feature about you could also be published on the company intranet.

Consider creating a website and adding all the chapters as individuals blog posts for free. Those who want the convenience of a physical book for reading to their kids can buy a physical copy.

Hope this helps. All the best 🙂

Cheers
Raj Waghray January 25, 2015, 4:23 pm

Will mail it Sushrut,

Thanks

Raj
Raj Waghray January 25, 2015, 4:25 pm

Thanks Alok. Noted.
Raj Waghray January 25, 2015, 4:31 pm

Hi Abhik,

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, it is a small first print that I have done. Didn’t think of PR professional or as Alok mentioned above about getting an anchor to do video’s – will evaluate these. I do have a list of schools and am approaching them in person, realized that emails don’t work. And yes most of my (now) ex colleagues are aware of my book.

Raj
Sanchit Goel January 27, 2015, 8:05 am

Hi Raj,

Congratulations on your book and I appreciate the courage to have picked such a genre for writing.

Self-publishing is a way to take your book to very particular audiences and not a path to make great sales. Moreover, as far as I understand, this is not a mass market book, it has a niche audience. If you want to take this to children- then you have to take it to the parents or the teachers. Follow a more methodical format to promote and market the book. Self-publishing has its own constraints, so instead of focusing on sales focus on utilizing your print run to gain reviews and comments from influential people and prepare the book for ‘bigger’ purpose. Send it across to magazines and newspapers for review or articles, and to social media platforms which will take note of the subject. Meeting school authorities could work out. I understand that you do not have a marketing budget, but try and spare some investment for social media, it helps.

Approach Gita Press and Manjul Publishing House, they might take interest in this. Also, start contacting the major publishing houses to consider your work. Research on bloggers who would take keen interest in your genre. Their blogs and reviews will really give this a push.

Technically, you have got enough from Karan, it is great. Do not invest in PR and audio/visuals, it doesn’t really benefit in this stage.

Above all, be patient, with time, things will work out well.

Wishing you all the very best.

Regards,
Sanchit Goel
Priyadeep Sinha February 2, 2015, 11:12 am

Hi Asha,

I can definitely see what I can do to assist Raj in taking his book ahead to more kids. 🙂

Hi Raj,

I am on priyadeep.sinha@addongyan.com & 91-9986179531. Lets connect 🙂
Raj Waghray February 3, 2015, 7:00 am

Priyadeep,

I sent you an SMS today morning. Let’ talk.

Raj
Prasad Roodagi February 19, 2015, 5:59 am

Sir, Send me a copy

If its worth ref to students i will talk to our schools

I belong to an education society

My Address

Dr Prasad Roodagi, Director, KLE IMSR, BVB College Campus, Vidyanagar HUBLI-580031

Rgards
Raj Waghray February 21, 2015, 4:44 am

Sir,

Your copy is on it’s way

Thanks

Raj
Shravan February 21, 2015, 5:47 am

Hi Raj Sir,

The best way in my opinion would be to reach out to bloggers who publish book reviews on their blogs. You can conduct a giveaway/contest for them. Ideal to do it would be through platforms like BookAdda or IndiBlogger. They have a ” Book review program” wherein bloggers write a review of your book on their blogs in return for a free copy. I think it will be the best way to reach to a wider audience. Alternately, you can also reach out to individual bloggers personally (via email or contact form on their blogs) and ask them to review your book on their platform in exchange for a free copy.

Also the online and social media marketing techniques suggested by other TRHS members are equally good and useful.

Just my two cents 🙂

Regards,

Shravan
Madhuresh shah February 21, 2015, 9:21 pm

Hi Raj,

I am part of book industry since last 3 years, at our company we publish as well as distribute (whole sale and retail) books since last 50 years and the best way to reach a wider audience is through a publisher. But it is important to choose the right publisher for your book. A right publisher is the one who already published books in same category as yours. The reason i feel they can help is they put in extra efforts for the marketing..

As suggested by few members, try GITA press or if the intended audience is kids then try contacting some school book publishers like Schand(MADHUBAN), dreamland, Mccaw..etc.

Regards

Madhuresh Shah
Raj Waghray February 23, 2015, 1:59 pm

Hi Madhuresh,

Is there a number where I can reach you?

Raj