"Success in business lies in the ability to get customers to buy from you" (Robert Craven).

I understand small publishing houses that specialise in the Spirituality and Religious niche sectors in general like to operate a policy of attraction rather than promotion. That's great news as this is also a strong theme in current and latest thinking about selling.

These days' people don't wish to be sold to; they prefer to find/get/buy something of value themselves.

Is this a principal reason why 'word of mouth' and personal recommendations are so powerful, and why 'Try before you buy' schemes make a great marketing strategy to stimulate sales, and is a marketing model which works in many industries?

Could this approach be applied to publishing? The answer is most unlikely NO. Once a book has been used it is clearly second hand, and therefore its value is lost or greatly reduced. So how does one entice a prospective reader customer to buy a book, and what successful models are there in today's book marketplace?

Anthony Robbins, the world renowned success coach and expert on what works in business, suggests a key strategy to 'speed up success' is to model on who is already succeeding. Robbins suggests that success leaves clues. I tend to think he's right. Who is succeeding in the work of book reselling, it has to be the No1 Global giant: Amazon.com, and in the UK, it is Amazon.co.uk

What can we learn from Amazon on how to sell books, what clues do they give us?

I believe it is simple stuff, so what does Amazon do, and do well?

· Focus on value to customer? Amazon offers a vast choice of books.

· Feedback - customer reviews.

· Ease to find on the net, ease of use (good design of website), easy to buy?

· Account history, and wish list.

· Personalisation - what is of interest? Recommendations, based on customer history.

· What did others buy? Others who bought this also bought, review or whatever.

· Customer Service - quick delivery.

Much of what has made Amazon successful relates to the things that work on the internet generally, i.e. online retailing techniques like customer feedback/reviews etc. However some of Amazon's innovation has actually become the norm for the internet, such as introducing recommendations to consumers (linking to similar subjects, categories etc, and what others consumers have bought etc.)

So my simple recommendation on how to start eMarketing to a small publishing house would be to:

BUILD A PLATFORM.

Purchase one of the low cost software packages best suited to its products (see above), load up its stock inventory, and...

FOCUS ON REVIEWS.

Work hard to encourage existing loyal and new customers to write reviews of its books on its website site, as well as Amazon, Google Books and the article websites.