How about promoting your book as the ideal fund-raising tool? There may be groups of youths, seniors, or church folks who would love to help you sell copies for a percentage of the receipts. Anytime you can ally yourself with others who will serve as your sales force for a small percentage, it is worth serious consideration.

One of our previous clients, Margaret Malsam, sold 225 copies of her Meditations for Todays Married Christians at the National Theresian Convention of Chicago, then donated $375 to the organization. She offers prudent advice for dealing with nonprofits: Dont say I will give you 50 percent off. Instead say, I will donate $5 for every $10 book purchased.

This works just as well for backlist titles as for new books. Diane Pfeifer has been selling her Angel Cookbook as a fund-raiser for years. Catholic organizations are a perfect match with recipes like Dominus Vo-Biscuits and In Excelsis Mayo. She sells a minimum of 300 at a time on a nonreturnable basis and collects 60 percent of the retail price. People apparently talk about the book, as she reports getting a ton of reorders at full price. Forging creative partnerships can add up to big numbers. Waldman House sold 10,000 copies of A Memory of Christmas Tea in one dayand generated enormous publicityby teaming with the Good Samaritan Society, which operates nursing homes, assisted living centers, and senior care facilities in 26 states. The event was a nationwide Remember Me Day where guests were encouraged to visit the residents, share a cup of tea, enjoy a reading of the book live via satellite, and receive packages of tea, tea recipes, and cookies. Waldman House was in seventh heaven as they had 250 facility administrators around the country doing PR for them.

Theres yet another way you can creatively merchandise your book. How about trading it for things you want? Many small publishers barter with each other. Perhaps someone has published a book, newsletter, or magazine you would enjoy. Offer to exchange a copy of your book for theirs. This can even be carried further to bartering a quantity of books with vendors for miscellaneous items or services.

How about testimonials? These are fan letters you receive or comments that people make about your book. Letters and e-mails from readers will become one of your most priceless treasures. While we all hope to make money from our writing, there is no greater gift than a heartfelt thank-you from a reader who tells you your book made a real difference in his or her life. (You might also want to request that they go to Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com and write a five-star customer review.) These devoted fans are usually delighted you would want to use their comments.

Of course, you dont have to meekly wait for such lovely accolades. You can solicit them! Whenever someone tells you he or she enjoyed your book, sends a laudatory e-mail, or pens a brief note, capitalize on it. Explain that you are interested in using comments from satisfied readers to tell others about this new book. To encourage a high return, include a SASE. I have used this system with great success, gaining quotable quotes not only from appreciative readers but also from television personalities, radio producers, legislators, doctors, journalists, and educators.

To corral even more exposure, launch your book with a special publication date splash. One way to do this is to create an event that is newsworthy. For instance, if your book is about photography, schedule an exhibition to coincide with the publication date and invite cultural editors from the area press.

Or you might team up with a local worthy cause as we did. Tom and I introduced Creative Loafing by putting on a fund-raiser for the Aerospace Museum and Hall of Fame Recovery Fund in San Diego. It was called (appropriately enough) Creative Loafing Days. This gala event was a weekend in Balboa Park during which activities in the book were depicted. There were jousting matches, magic shows, a frog-jumping jamboree, poetry readings, fiddlers, archery demonstrations, fencing, puppet shows, and more.

Since I was working with a nonprofit organization, free radio public service announcements (PSAs) were available to us and we got coverage in many local newspapers, not to mention landing on the evening news of all three network TV stations! It was a tremendous amount of work, but the net result was a $5,000 donation to the Aerospace Museum and incredible local name identification for the book.

Publishers occasionally use gimmicks to draw attention to their wares. Here are three examples. Maybe these stories will ignite a fiery idea for you.

The publisher of Pick Up Your Socks, a childrens book, sent one sock with her media kit. A self-defense book was promoted with one chopstick (said to be a useful weapon in a pinch). By separating what is usually a pair, both situations played on the unusual.

And M. Evans, publisher of The I-Like-My-Beer Diet (written by a physician, yet), gave retailers a gimmicky liquid enticement. Interested booksellers were offered galleys of the book and a free case of beer if they were willing to test the diet. One bookseller was quick to commend Evans on this civilized method of bribery.

These are just a few ideas for developing win/win partnerships. No doubt you can dream up others, or adapt some of the above strategies, to give your own promotional campaign zest.

Copyright 2005 Marilyn Ross