There simply is no better marketing tool than a sell sheet, and every author should create one for everything he or she writes. A sell sheet is simply a one or two page piece, in flyer or brochure format, that you use to promote and market your book.
A sell sheet has several benefits:
You can do it yourself, so the cost is low. In today’s world of desktop publishing, you can design and print your sell sheet on your computer, get it copied at the local Kinko’s and send it out en masse. You can also create it in a PDF and send it out electronically. This allows you to reach an unlimited number of people in your target audience without spending a cent on postage or supplies.
You can carry some with you. Lots of coffee shops, supermarkets and even libraries have bulletin boards. You can execute a one-person marketing campaign throughout the area in which you live. And, you can distribute it to family, friends and co-workers and ask them to distribute it to -- you guessed it -- their families, friends and co-workers.
No one understands your book as well as you do. The sell sheet lets you decide what the book’s main selling points are and how you want to express them. As the old adage goes, if you want to sell something, you have to paint the customer a picture. With a sell sheet, you can.
So, unless you have a publisher ready to embark on a multi-million dollar publicity blitz to promote your book, you are going on a high-profile worldwide book tour, or you are a too-cool-for-school bohemian type who thinks self-promotion is crass, you need a sell sheet. It’s your personal celebrity endorsement, with the “celebrity” being the most important and authoritative source for all things great about your book: you.