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.
Showing posts with label publicists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publicists. Show all posts
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
CHAPTER 1, Post # 5
PUBLICITY vs ADVERTISING
CHAPTER I
What is the difference between advertising and publicity? You pay for advertising. Publicity is free. Except in topic specific books, where a specific audience can be targeted, for the most part advertising is a poor return on your investment. Say for example an author wants to advertise their book in a magazine like Hydroelectric Dam Engineering or Sumatran Tropical Bird Diseases. Our in-house engineer would get more milage writing a magazine article for his specific audience on “Hydroelectric Dams” which would be read by all the magazine readers. An advertisement tucked away in the back pages is more likely to be passed over unread. Also, an article establishes your credentials gives you credibility and you will be paid for it. We’ll cover magazines and other print media later.
The time to begin your promotion is when you have a signed book contract.
The publication date might be nine months or a year away. You still have long months of editing, reediting, copy editing, line editing and galley printings before that happens and the last thing you have time to think about is promoting you book. If you wait you’ll be too late.
So how do you get your book out in front of the public?
You have four choices:
1. Hire a national publicist.
A full time publicist (full time for you and a dozen other clients) can charge $5,000.00 a month and they are worth every penny. Most are hired for an average of three months, the general life span of a book. They will organize a full national book tour for you; contact the media, arrange travel plans, book you into hotels and supply you with literary escorts.
Others will charge you by city. Usually guaranteeing you two radio and two TV interviews plus ink -- coverage in newspapers. They charge anywhere from $2,000 to $3,500 per city or area which might include two or three cities in one urban area, like Dallas-Fort Worth or the North Carolina Tri-city area.
Even if you have the funds to hire a national she might not take your book. After an initial conversation or meeting she might realize there is nothing she can do that will help you increase sales. Not all books and authors, are promotable, in the sense of an equitable return on your investment.
There is a useful list of book publicists in the Literary Market Place.
CHAPTER I
What is the difference between advertising and publicity? You pay for advertising. Publicity is free. Except in topic specific books, where a specific audience can be targeted, for the most part advertising is a poor return on your investment. Say for example an author wants to advertise their book in a magazine like Hydroelectric Dam Engineering or Sumatran Tropical Bird Diseases. Our in-house engineer would get more milage writing a magazine article for his specific audience on “Hydroelectric Dams” which would be read by all the magazine readers. An advertisement tucked away in the back pages is more likely to be passed over unread. Also, an article establishes your credentials gives you credibility and you will be paid for it. We’ll cover magazines and other print media later.
The time to begin your promotion is when you have a signed book contract.
The publication date might be nine months or a year away. You still have long months of editing, reediting, copy editing, line editing and galley printings before that happens and the last thing you have time to think about is promoting you book. If you wait you’ll be too late.
So how do you get your book out in front of the public?
You have four choices:
1. Hire a national publicist.
A full time publicist (full time for you and a dozen other clients) can charge $5,000.00 a month and they are worth every penny. Most are hired for an average of three months, the general life span of a book. They will organize a full national book tour for you; contact the media, arrange travel plans, book you into hotels and supply you with literary escorts.
Others will charge you by city. Usually guaranteeing you two radio and two TV interviews plus ink -- coverage in newspapers. They charge anywhere from $2,000 to $3,500 per city or area which might include two or three cities in one urban area, like Dallas-Fort Worth or the North Carolina Tri-city area.
Even if you have the funds to hire a national she might not take your book. After an initial conversation or meeting she might realize there is nothing she can do that will help you increase sales. Not all books and authors, are promotable, in the sense of an equitable return on your investment.
There is a useful list of book publicists in the Literary Market Place.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
PROLOGUE Post # 3
NOTHING SELLS ITSELF.
This old mantra is true if not more so in the publishing world. Type up in bold large letters -- NOTHING SELLS ITSELF -- and tape it to your wall in front of your desk, kitchen table or where ever you work. Promotion equates to sales in any business. However, as I have said, unless you are very lucky, you as a first time author will receive little help from your publisher. Experience has shown them for the most part overinvesting in a new author is a waste of money. Why do they even publish new authors? The hope is out there lurks a new Steven King, John Gresham or Jackie Suzanne waiting to break into that 15% level. The chance of a wildcat well striking oil is better than the possibility of finding a new best selling author. One glance at the New York Times Bestsellers list show the same authors making it year after year. They are sure bets. New authors are not. Still if you push and promote wisely and sell enough books to get noticed attitudes will change. If your book suddenly shows promise then the publisher will take notice. They will jump on your band wagon and help. Otherwise for the most part, you are on your own. Think of a publisher as a fisherman on a lake with scores of fishing lines in the water waiting for the big hit. When it does they reel it in and take the appropriate credit. For the other books, they are just drowning worms.
“Publishing houses will take ten books by new authors and throw them against the wall hoping three will stick,” political satire author D.V. Date said at a recent Writing Conference.
One bright light is that even with the plethora of tried and true repeat authors that rule the best seller lists, a surprising number of first time novelist did make the top 15 Publisher Weekly’s best sellers list. Sometimes all it does take is good writing, a good story and good luck along with promotion.
For the rest of us without a rabbit’s foot in our pockets if we want our books to succeed we have to do most of the publicity. Remember no one knows your book like you do. So push it yourself.
This is a good time to remind you of the most important word in the writers’ echelon:
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
Another reminder sign for your walls.
You have already done it. You have persevered. You have written your book. Now redirect that perseverance into promotion. Be optimistic, enthusiastic. Believe in your book. Promote as if your book is on the New York Times Bestsellers list and you want to keep it there for 12 weeks. To get on the New York Times list you’ll probably have to sell more books in a week than your publisher has printed. But don’t let that stop you. Think second massive printing.
The first printing is based on advance sales. This is the only point during the publishing schedule that you have a chance to exert any influence, except of course, your second (and more) editions. So start to promote early and persevere. To influence advance sales we’ll talk about the all importance ‘sell-in’ which we’ll get into later.
No matter what you decide to do remember persevere. Like the Nike man says, “Just Do It.”
This old mantra is true if not more so in the publishing world. Type up in bold large letters -- NOTHING SELLS ITSELF -- and tape it to your wall in front of your desk, kitchen table or where ever you work. Promotion equates to sales in any business. However, as I have said, unless you are very lucky, you as a first time author will receive little help from your publisher. Experience has shown them for the most part overinvesting in a new author is a waste of money. Why do they even publish new authors? The hope is out there lurks a new Steven King, John Gresham or Jackie Suzanne waiting to break into that 15% level. The chance of a wildcat well striking oil is better than the possibility of finding a new best selling author. One glance at the New York Times Bestsellers list show the same authors making it year after year. They are sure bets. New authors are not. Still if you push and promote wisely and sell enough books to get noticed attitudes will change. If your book suddenly shows promise then the publisher will take notice. They will jump on your band wagon and help. Otherwise for the most part, you are on your own. Think of a publisher as a fisherman on a lake with scores of fishing lines in the water waiting for the big hit. When it does they reel it in and take the appropriate credit. For the other books, they are just drowning worms.
“Publishing houses will take ten books by new authors and throw them against the wall hoping three will stick,” political satire author D.V. Date said at a recent Writing Conference.
One bright light is that even with the plethora of tried and true repeat authors that rule the best seller lists, a surprising number of first time novelist did make the top 15 Publisher Weekly’s best sellers list. Sometimes all it does take is good writing, a good story and good luck along with promotion.
For the rest of us without a rabbit’s foot in our pockets if we want our books to succeed we have to do most of the publicity. Remember no one knows your book like you do. So push it yourself.
This is a good time to remind you of the most important word in the writers’ echelon:
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
Another reminder sign for your walls.
You have already done it. You have persevered. You have written your book. Now redirect that perseverance into promotion. Be optimistic, enthusiastic. Believe in your book. Promote as if your book is on the New York Times Bestsellers list and you want to keep it there for 12 weeks. To get on the New York Times list you’ll probably have to sell more books in a week than your publisher has printed. But don’t let that stop you. Think second massive printing.
The first printing is based on advance sales. This is the only point during the publishing schedule that you have a chance to exert any influence, except of course, your second (and more) editions. So start to promote early and persevere. To influence advance sales we’ll talk about the all importance ‘sell-in’ which we’ll get into later.
No matter what you decide to do remember persevere. Like the Nike man says, “Just Do It.”
Monday, December 21, 2009
PROLOGUE Post # 2
Why do we authors have to promote? Aren’t there publicists?
Yes there are publicists. There are big-time publicists for the Chers and Tom Cruises, there are freelance publicists, regional publicists and your publisher has one or more publicists. Once you finish your promotion campaign you’ll realize they earn every penny of their fees.
I think most of us can eliminate the first group. The second tier or freelancers charge anywhere from $5,000.00 to $300 per month plus expenses. A wide range. Even $300 a month will run you well over $1,200 over a four month span.
The third are the publishers’ publicist. They will help if they can. But most of them have hundreds of books to promote and the basic realities of the publishing world today is that publishers do not have the funds or staff to sufficiently promote individual authors or their books, especially first time authors.
According to Publishers Weekly, 150,000 books were printed last year. Think about it. Your book is to compete with 150,000 other newly printed books. It is not easy to compete with so many books and the publishers understand this. They cannot spend money on the publicity each book deserves. Another reality of the publishing business is that only the top 15% of books make money. The revenue generated by the top 15% of the authors in the publishing business subsidizes the rest–a very sobering fact. Where do you think they are going to spend their money and publicity efforts?
One publisher I know printed 5,000 hardcover copies, a modest run, of a book they had high hopes would have a second printing within a couple of months. At year’s end the book had sold only 600 copies. They took a bath. And why? Because the author did not do her part in the unwritten contract. She flopped at promotion. Will she get to publish a second book? What do you think?
National publicist Lucinda Dyer quotes a Hyperion associate publisher as saying “The writers who have been able to break out of the crowd ...... have all been self-promoters.”1
As a first time author, you might feel like a pariah trying to communicate your ideas or plans with your publishing house. You’re not. Your publisher wants to see your book succeed. After all it is expending quite a bit of money and a lot of time on your book.
There are steps you can begin to take today that will help your book become successful and attract the attention of your publisher. Your publisher will pay attention to book sales. What you want to do is surprise them. Better still shock them!
Yes there are publicists. There are big-time publicists for the Chers and Tom Cruises, there are freelance publicists, regional publicists and your publisher has one or more publicists. Once you finish your promotion campaign you’ll realize they earn every penny of their fees.
I think most of us can eliminate the first group. The second tier or freelancers charge anywhere from $5,000.00 to $300 per month plus expenses. A wide range. Even $300 a month will run you well over $1,200 over a four month span.
The third are the publishers’ publicist. They will help if they can. But most of them have hundreds of books to promote and the basic realities of the publishing world today is that publishers do not have the funds or staff to sufficiently promote individual authors or their books, especially first time authors.
According to Publishers Weekly, 150,000 books were printed last year. Think about it. Your book is to compete with 150,000 other newly printed books. It is not easy to compete with so many books and the publishers understand this. They cannot spend money on the publicity each book deserves. Another reality of the publishing business is that only the top 15% of books make money. The revenue generated by the top 15% of the authors in the publishing business subsidizes the rest–a very sobering fact. Where do you think they are going to spend their money and publicity efforts?
One publisher I know printed 5,000 hardcover copies, a modest run, of a book they had high hopes would have a second printing within a couple of months. At year’s end the book had sold only 600 copies. They took a bath. And why? Because the author did not do her part in the unwritten contract. She flopped at promotion. Will she get to publish a second book? What do you think?
National publicist Lucinda Dyer quotes a Hyperion associate publisher as saying “The writers who have been able to break out of the crowd ...... have all been self-promoters.”1
As a first time author, you might feel like a pariah trying to communicate your ideas or plans with your publishing house. You’re not. Your publisher wants to see your book succeed. After all it is expending quite a bit of money and a lot of time on your book.
There are steps you can begin to take today that will help your book become successful and attract the attention of your publisher. Your publisher will pay attention to book sales. What you want to do is surprise them. Better still shock them!
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