most publishers and literary agents would agree that when it comes to selling books, an author who makes an effort to build up a profile and make themselves known is much easier to promote than a shrinking violet. There’s a lot of noise out there and if you want to be heard, then you need to be prepared to shout.
From Completelynovel.com
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
CHAPTER II, Blog # 14
SET UP A CONFERENCE WITH YOUR PUBLISHER'S PUBLICIST
With your basic battle plan outline in hand, now is the time to talk to your publisher. Set up a telephone conference with your publisher’s publicist. Find out what they will do for you. Since your book’s budget is not set in stone at this time you might get a bit more out of them especially if they see you are enthusiastic and willing to take an active part in promoting your book. You do not want to plan anything that will duplicate their efforts or worst interfere with their sales people efforts to get your book into the bookstores. Their sales people are putting together a catalogue of their Spring or Fall list. They have already decided what the price will be and have an idea what the first printing will be which in turn will dictate how much time and money they invest in promotion. They have done this thousands of times and there is little you can do to change. Except for a SELL-IN tour.
If you are planning a book tour on your own let your publisher know about it. Ask what can they do to help you in each city.
Don’t be disappointed if your publisher does not plan a book tour for you. Well it’s okay to be disappointed but don’t get depressed over it. See Book Tour below.
Do Keep your agent informed about your publicity plans.
Ask your publisher how large is the first run, the number of books they plan to print. Ask when is the publication date. While they will give you a publication date, it is not set in stone but can be used as a good yard stick to begin your publicity campaign. Ask about press kits and posters.
DESIGN YOUR WEB PAGE
Today every author needs a personal web page. People who invest time and emotin in your books want to know more about you. Your web page is a way to give them more information make them part of your, what I like to call ‘family-fan base.” Visit other author web pages to cull ideas. A basic web site should have a minium of four pages. The lead page should have a picture of the cover of the book near the top and gripping text from your book. Your site should have a biographical page about you, and a page to gather information from your fans – a guest book for them to sign-in.
If you have a interesting hobby or skill, especially one that either relates to you book or will bring in people to your site, you might want to make a separate page with direct links to you book and bio page.
Make a list of all the all relevant web pages you want to link with. Web rings may be helpful.
Don’t get into a chat room just to promote your book. You will wear out your welcome and create resentment.
With your basic battle plan outline in hand, now is the time to talk to your publisher. Set up a telephone conference with your publisher’s publicist. Find out what they will do for you. Since your book’s budget is not set in stone at this time you might get a bit more out of them especially if they see you are enthusiastic and willing to take an active part in promoting your book. You do not want to plan anything that will duplicate their efforts or worst interfere with their sales people efforts to get your book into the bookstores. Their sales people are putting together a catalogue of their Spring or Fall list. They have already decided what the price will be and have an idea what the first printing will be which in turn will dictate how much time and money they invest in promotion. They have done this thousands of times and there is little you can do to change. Except for a SELL-IN tour.
If you are planning a book tour on your own let your publisher know about it. Ask what can they do to help you in each city.
Don’t be disappointed if your publisher does not plan a book tour for you. Well it’s okay to be disappointed but don’t get depressed over it. See Book Tour below.
Do Keep your agent informed about your publicity plans.
Ask your publisher how large is the first run, the number of books they plan to print. Ask when is the publication date. While they will give you a publication date, it is not set in stone but can be used as a good yard stick to begin your publicity campaign. Ask about press kits and posters.
DESIGN YOUR WEB PAGE
Today every author needs a personal web page. People who invest time and emotin in your books want to know more about you. Your web page is a way to give them more information make them part of your, what I like to call ‘family-fan base.” Visit other author web pages to cull ideas. A basic web site should have a minium of four pages. The lead page should have a picture of the cover of the book near the top and gripping text from your book. Your site should have a biographical page about you, and a page to gather information from your fans – a guest book for them to sign-in.
If you have a interesting hobby or skill, especially one that either relates to you book or will bring in people to your site, you might want to make a separate page with direct links to you book and bio page.
Make a list of all the all relevant web pages you want to link with. Web rings may be helpful.
Don’t get into a chat room just to promote your book. You will wear out your welcome and create resentment.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Blog # 13A
STONE READER
A critically acclaimed book vanishes and its author forgotten. One reader is determined to find out why.
This is a movie that delves into (by the back door) many aspects of writing and publishing. It is a must-see by all authors.
Below is a list of books and authors mentioned in STONE READER (or shown on shelves) in the movie and/or cut from it and/or read and thought about while making it.
The authors and books in bold I’ve read.
* William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey
* James Joyce, Poems
* John Seelye, The Kid & Beautiful Machine
* Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
* Lord Byron, Collected Works
* Howard Mosher, Northern Borders (coming of age story set in Vermont)
* John Frederick, The Darkened Sky
* Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook (& introduction to the 1972 10th anniversary edition)
* R.A. Lafferty, Fourth Mansions (SF)
* Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading
* John Barth, The Floating Opera (Leslie Fiedler’s favorite modern American 1st novel)
* William Kotzwinkle, The Fan Man
* Crocket Johnson, Harold and the Purple Crayon
* Ben Hogan’s Power Golf
* Claire Bee’s Chip Hilton series
* Dan Guenther, China Wind
* John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
* Ross Lockridge, Raintree County
* Thomas Hegan, Mr. Roberts
* Siri Hustvedt, The Blindfold
* William Manchester, The Last Lion
* Ferol Egan, Fremont
* A. Yehoshua, Five Seasons
* Janet Hobhouse, The Furies
* Christopher Isherwood, Berlin Stories
* Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis
* Virginia Woolf, A Voyage Out
* James Lord, Picasso and Dora
* Franklin W. Dixon’s Hardy Boys books
* Colin Wilson
* Mark Twain Puddinhead Wilson, Huckleberry Finn, A *Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
* Madeline L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
* Ernest Hemingway, Old Man and the Sea
* Henry Roth, Call It Sleep
A critically acclaimed book vanishes and its author forgotten. One reader is determined to find out why.
This is a movie that delves into (by the back door) many aspects of writing and publishing. It is a must-see by all authors.
Below is a list of books and authors mentioned in STONE READER (or shown on shelves) in the movie and/or cut from it and/or read and thought about while making it.
The authors and books in bold I’ve read.
* William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey
* James Joyce, Poems
* John Seelye, The Kid & Beautiful Machine
* Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
* Lord Byron, Collected Works
* Howard Mosher, Northern Borders (coming of age story set in Vermont)
* John Frederick, The Darkened Sky
* Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook (& introduction to the 1972 10th anniversary edition)
* R.A. Lafferty, Fourth Mansions (SF)
* Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading
* John Barth, The Floating Opera (Leslie Fiedler’s favorite modern American 1st novel)
* William Kotzwinkle, The Fan Man
* Crocket Johnson, Harold and the Purple Crayon
* Ben Hogan’s Power Golf
* Claire Bee’s Chip Hilton series
* Dan Guenther, China Wind
* John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
* Ross Lockridge, Raintree County
* Thomas Hegan, Mr. Roberts
* Siri Hustvedt, The Blindfold
* William Manchester, The Last Lion
* Ferol Egan, Fremont
* A. Yehoshua, Five Seasons
* Janet Hobhouse, The Furies
* Christopher Isherwood, Berlin Stories
* Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis
* Virginia Woolf, A Voyage Out
* James Lord, Picasso and Dora
* Franklin W. Dixon’s Hardy Boys books
* Colin Wilson
* Mark Twain Puddinhead Wilson, Huckleberry Finn, A *Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
* Madeline L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
* Ernest Hemingway, Old Man and the Sea
* Henry Roth, Call It Sleep
Monday, May 31, 2010
CHAPTER II, Blog # 13
Consider what your can do within a limited budget.
Some suggestions for a set amount of budgeted funds. The lists are cumulative and the ideas general in scope..
For $1,000.00 you can:
Have your publisher send out review copies.
Make 40 press kits
Send out press kits to local newspapers’ feature editor and review stories in local newspapers and magazines. (Review stories are articles on your book. They are
often easier to convince an editor to run than a book review)
Create a flyer and leave it in bookstores, libraries. Mail it out to your friends, family and fans.
Have a friend create a web page.
Do a local book tour.
For 2,000.00 you can
Buy a half page in Bradley’s Radio & TV interview Report
Print and send out 3,000 post cards or flyers.
Do a regional book tour.
For $5,000.00
Hire a national publicist for selected city markets. However, still buy this manual
for your own information.
Buy a satellite telephone tour.
Do a multi-city book tour.
Obviously there are a wide variety of other options available to the author.
Form a Company
Whether you use a DBA, a C or S corporation you are now a small business and must treat your book campaign like a business. Save receipts, set up an accounting system, and preferably a separate check account. Rent a post office box. You do not want to have ‘fans’, irate or otherwise, knocking at your door. Check if you have to collect sales tax on your books and what paper work goes with it. Print up stationary, business cards, and perhaps an email address separate from your personal email solely for your writing. See your accountant.
Some suggestions for a set amount of budgeted funds. The lists are cumulative and the ideas general in scope..
For $1,000.00 you can:
Have your publisher send out review copies.
Make 40 press kits
Send out press kits to local newspapers’ feature editor and review stories in local newspapers and magazines. (Review stories are articles on your book. They are
often easier to convince an editor to run than a book review)
Create a flyer and leave it in bookstores, libraries. Mail it out to your friends, family and fans.
Have a friend create a web page.
Do a local book tour.
For 2,000.00 you can
Buy a half page in Bradley’s Radio & TV interview Report
Print and send out 3,000 post cards or flyers.
Do a regional book tour.
For $5,000.00
Hire a national publicist for selected city markets. However, still buy this manual
for your own information.
Buy a satellite telephone tour.
Do a multi-city book tour.
Obviously there are a wide variety of other options available to the author.
Form a Company
Whether you use a DBA, a C or S corporation you are now a small business and must treat your book campaign like a business. Save receipts, set up an accounting system, and preferably a separate check account. Rent a post office box. You do not want to have ‘fans’, irate or otherwise, knocking at your door. Check if you have to collect sales tax on your books and what paper work goes with it. Print up stationary, business cards, and perhaps an email address separate from your personal email solely for your writing. See your accountant.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
CHAPTER II, Blog # 12
Time
Is a book tour a good investment of your time? Depends. If your are an attorney charging $450 an hour, maybe not. When did John Grisham quit his day job? Touring establishes your credibility especially among the booksellers and your publisher (Read future publisher if your current publisher did not pay for your book tour!).
If your are planning an extensive regional or national tour you can try and plan your book tour around vacation time. This is easier for writers without large families. Though I know one author who took his family with him on book tour and survived!
Your Budget?
What type of campaign you plan will depend on how much time you have or want to dedicate to your campaign and most important your budget.
Travel: Calculate hotel, gas and food. If you go on an extended book tour. I targeted
states and cities where I had friends and family who would gladly put me up for a night.
They also came to the events assuring a lively crowd.
Telephone. Depending on your campaign if it is out of area then this can be the largest
expense. Think of a national calling plan with a fixed fee and unlimited anytime minutes.
Plans change so swiftly check with all the instate and out-of-state carriers.
Postage. As you found out while sending out manuscripts this is another major expense.
Stationary. Necessary. You can print, like I do, stationary from your computer.
Printing. Hopefully one time costs. Example, 6,000 postcards for $450.00
Your Time: If you haven’t quite your day job, which I highly recommend you do not do,
remember your time is valuable.
It is said calculate your promotion budget as 10% of your advance. If your advance was as small as mine then you could only afford a half dozen telephone calls. Spend only what you can afford. Though take into consideration this might be your only shot at proving you are a saleable author. I spent my advance plus.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for your royalty check.
Remember generally you will not get any royalties until months after the end of the year to allow for return calculations. Except for your advance, your royalty checks will not help finance you publicity campaign.
Is a book tour a good investment of your time? Depends. If your are an attorney charging $450 an hour, maybe not. When did John Grisham quit his day job? Touring establishes your credibility especially among the booksellers and your publisher (Read future publisher if your current publisher did not pay for your book tour!).
If your are planning an extensive regional or national tour you can try and plan your book tour around vacation time. This is easier for writers without large families. Though I know one author who took his family with him on book tour and survived!
Your Budget?
What type of campaign you plan will depend on how much time you have or want to dedicate to your campaign and most important your budget.
Travel: Calculate hotel, gas and food. If you go on an extended book tour. I targeted
states and cities where I had friends and family who would gladly put me up for a night.
They also came to the events assuring a lively crowd.
Telephone. Depending on your campaign if it is out of area then this can be the largest
expense. Think of a national calling plan with a fixed fee and unlimited anytime minutes.
Plans change so swiftly check with all the instate and out-of-state carriers.
Postage. As you found out while sending out manuscripts this is another major expense.
Stationary. Necessary. You can print, like I do, stationary from your computer.
Printing. Hopefully one time costs. Example, 6,000 postcards for $450.00
Your Time: If you haven’t quite your day job, which I highly recommend you do not do,
remember your time is valuable.
It is said calculate your promotion budget as 10% of your advance. If your advance was as small as mine then you could only afford a half dozen telephone calls. Spend only what you can afford. Though take into consideration this might be your only shot at proving you are a saleable author. I spent my advance plus.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for your royalty check.
Remember generally you will not get any royalties until months after the end of the year to allow for return calculations. Except for your advance, your royalty checks will not help finance you publicity campaign.
Friday, April 16, 2010
CHAPTER II BLOG POST # 11
A media blitz takes a lot of coordination and planning.
The ideal publicity campaign will begin with a bang the moment your book makes it to the bookstores shelves. There will be lots of ink, radio and TV spots. While the biggest push will be in the first three months, a well planned campaign should last an entire year. Success in the first three months will keep you book on the shelves hopefully for years to come.
FYI: The eternal paradox. To keep your books on bookstore shelves you have to move them off the shelves.
Decide What Type of Promotional Campaign is Right for You
If you have targeted your core readers then this should be easy. What type of publicity campaign is best for your book? A local interest book on Fishing the Back Lakes of Polk County, Florida would not merit a national publicity campaign but it would a regional campaign. A book on global warming would be, well, global.
Budget, time, drive and audience identification will determine which campaign is best for your book.
The three types of promotion campaigns:
1. Local.
Your regional city and the outlying towns. Your county even your state. In most areas you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bookstores, libraries and schools are within a two hour drive; and how many daily and weekly newspapers there are.
2. Regional.
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest. Prairie states, the Northwest. Be sensitive to seasonal migrations. New York and Boston empty in the summer and most book signings and media appearances can be a waste of time.
3. National.
From sea to shining sea and beyond. A national book tour may include a few selected national cities or an ambitious cross county undertaking The major houses have identified certain cities that are ‘book buying’ cities, like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C. (Especially for geopolitical stories) and areas like the Southeast. There are the second tier cities Boston, St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and seasonal areas such as Florida in the winter, and Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore in the summer. Book well in advance especially for seasonally sensitive areas.
FYI: For Florida writers. There is a curious demand for Florida novels in the Los Angeles and New York markets.
The ideal publicity campaign will begin with a bang the moment your book makes it to the bookstores shelves. There will be lots of ink, radio and TV spots. While the biggest push will be in the first three months, a well planned campaign should last an entire year. Success in the first three months will keep you book on the shelves hopefully for years to come.
FYI: The eternal paradox. To keep your books on bookstore shelves you have to move them off the shelves.
Decide What Type of Promotional Campaign is Right for You
If you have targeted your core readers then this should be easy. What type of publicity campaign is best for your book? A local interest book on Fishing the Back Lakes of Polk County, Florida would not merit a national publicity campaign but it would a regional campaign. A book on global warming would be, well, global.
Budget, time, drive and audience identification will determine which campaign is best for your book.
The three types of promotion campaigns:
1. Local.
Your regional city and the outlying towns. Your county even your state. In most areas you will be pleasantly surprised at how many bookstores, libraries and schools are within a two hour drive; and how many daily and weekly newspapers there are.
2. Regional.
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest. Prairie states, the Northwest. Be sensitive to seasonal migrations. New York and Boston empty in the summer and most book signings and media appearances can be a waste of time.
3. National.
From sea to shining sea and beyond. A national book tour may include a few selected national cities or an ambitious cross county undertaking The major houses have identified certain cities that are ‘book buying’ cities, like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C. (Especially for geopolitical stories) and areas like the Southeast. There are the second tier cities Boston, St Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and seasonal areas such as Florida in the winter, and Cape Cod and the Jersey Shore in the summer. Book well in advance especially for seasonally sensitive areas.
FYI: For Florida writers. There is a curious demand for Florida novels in the Los Angeles and New York markets.
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