Writing and Publishing News

When your traditional publisher is close to finishing up your book, he/she will likely ask you to fill out an Author Questionnaire. This is another reason why you need a solid and varied platform before you become a published author.

The publisher will use the information you provide on the questionnaire for the initial promotion blast. In fact, if you don’t believe me and other professionals in the field when we stress to you how much the publisher relies on his/her authors to promote the book, the questions on this document should bring that truth home to you. In fact, there’s often a note on the questionnaire I just received explaining that they want the author to respond to every question as thoroughly as possible as this information will be referred to again and again by their editors, sales people and publicists. Here are some of the questions you’ll find on a typical Author Questionnaire:

They want to know about your education, occupation, affiliations and honors, citations, prizes and awards and what other books you have authored. They request a 50-word biography to be used in their marketing efforts and then they go into some pretty detailed questions such as:

1: Have you ever been interviewed on TV/radio or in print? List interviews, send copies of clippings, video tapes, etc.

2: Do you have personal contacts in the media, TV/radio, newspapers, magazines, websites. They want any leads to your connections and they want to know about your experiences.

3: List media outlets that might be interested in reviewing this book.

4: Do you have contacts in the book trade—please list.

5: What about special sales—contacts for specialty retailers, for example.

6: What cities would the author recommend this book be promoted?

7: Is your book suitable as a textbook—expand on this concept.

8: Is it suitable for foreign markets?

9: They also want other suggestions where this book can be marketed.

10: They need you to write a summary describing the book, a list of the most important features, etc.

11: And they want to know about any competing books and how yours is better/different.
Obviously, if you’ve written a book proposal, you have a leg up on the task of filling out this questionnaire. If not, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves, begin to think like your audience and spend, potentially, several hours providing the information your publishing team needs in order to more successfully promote your book.

Can you guess, one of my tasks today is filling out an Author Questionnaire for my publisher related to my upcoming book, Talk Up Your Book.

In the meantime, if you benefit from this blog and if you’ve learned lots from my free reports and articles published in the magazines and newsletters your study, you will definitely benefit from the books I write for you. The two I recommend now are:

Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author and
Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. They are available at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. They are both on Kindle, Nook and other readers. And Amazon is bundling them at a special price now. For additional information about these books, visit my website: http://www.matilijapress.com

For a free ebooklet, “50 Ways to Promote Your Ebook,” go to: http://www.patriciafry.com

It’s suggested that you check your potential competition before deciding on the focus of your nonfiction book.

You want to find out if there are other books out there like yours. What makes yours different? How can you make your book better or at least more desirable to a segment of this audience?

If you want a successful outcome, it is important that you use your most objective mindset during this evaluation. Put yourself in the heads of your proposed audience. What do they truly need/want and what can you offer that is enough different than what is already out there?

Is there a large enough audience that there’s room for another book on this topic? Can you come up with an interesting and/or useful slant for your book?

Perhaps you found no books on your topic. Ask yourself, is this an opportunity or a red flag? The correct answer is in the results of your additional research. Seek websites that might relate to this subject, as well as magazines, newsletters and organizations. Determine how many people are actually interested in this topic—would they read a book about tattoo removal, for example? (Would you believe I located several books on this topic?) What about midget racing for senior citizens, how to help your pre-teen break his nicotine addiction, parenting tips for children who are raising their siblings, distortion photography or how to spin your cat’s fur into knitting yarn?

Do the research to find out if one or two books on this topic is enough or if you can address this tight niche group using a fresh and worthwhile approach.

Do NOT get so attached to your book idea that you move forward with it in spite of obvious red flags indicating that the market is saturated for this particular book. You could go ahead with it knowing your target audience is very small. Or you could use your imagination to come up with something that would intrigue or interest a larger segment of people. Considering the tattoo removal book, for example—perhaps you could interview people who have invested in interesting tattoos that they ultimately had removed. You could call it, “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time!” Or include a section on piercings, as well, if no one else has done this.

As you can see from the wide array of books on so many different subjects, there are many ways to approach most topics. Don’t marry yourself to a specific idea and then close your mind to any other possibilities. This does not make good business sense and, in case you’ve forgotten, authorship is a business. If you look at it as anything else, you may not achieve the level of success you desire with your book.

Ebooks
On another subject—if you have an ebook or are considering producing one, be sure to download my FREE ebooklet, 50 Ways to Promote Your Ebook. It’s here:
http://www.patriciafry.com

To further enhance your library, order both of my latest books today:
Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author AND
Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. They’re at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. Or purchase them here: http://www.matilijapress.com

I hope you enjoyed and learned from my seven day “Authorship is a Business” series I ran from June 21 to June 27, 2012. You might want to print out each post in this series.

To recap, we covered:

1: The importance of writing the right book for the right audience. For those of you who don’t think this is important—who are spending your time writing something just because you want to write it—you’ll definitely understand the value in this advice once you attempt to promote and sell your book.

2: Session two focuses on your business plan for your book—the book proposal. What is the value of the book proposal? Remember, many traditional publishers want to see a book proposal. But a well-designed, complete book proposal is also extremely valuable to the author who wants to produce a viable product.

3: I advised you to keep your audience in mind while you are writing your book so you are more apt to end up with a book they can enjoy or that they will find useful.

4: In order to successfully publish a book, you must study the publishing industry. Session four of this series provides a lot of resources for you.

5: Here, I laid out your publishing options. There are more than just the big 6 publishers and pay-to-publish companies.

6: Do you need an editor? Chances are excellent that you do. Plan ahead to pay a good book editor to fine tune your book before you approach publishers or self-publish your book.

7: I attempted to explain here that book promotion is not something to be pursued for a few weeks once the book is published. It should be a consideration and a study from the moment you decide to write a book for publication.

I see that sales for my latest two books were up over the weekend both at Amazon.com and at my Matilija Press site. Yay! I hope this means that those of you who hadn’t already purchased these books, were placing orders. The books that you’ll find most valuable are:

Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author
Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.

This is the last post in my “Authorship is a Business” series. However, I will continue posting to this blog daily as I have for the last six and a half years. Six and a half years! As you will see if you spend time in my blog archives, I write about all aspects of publishing—writing, producing and promoting books as well as freelance-writing issues.

I also write books and lots and lots of articles on these topics. My latest two books are listed below. I notice that sales are up since I started running this series. So glad you are purchasing these extremely valuable books. If you are serious about publishing success and if you take these books seriously, you will be awfully glad you did.

Today we round up the “Authorship is a Business” series by exploring the topic of book promotion. You may think that writing your book is hard, hard work. And then you learn how difficult and wearing it can be to figure out the best publishing option and to choose the best publisher for your project. But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, until you get involved in promoting your book. This is absolutely the most difficult, time-consuming and energy-draining activity of all. And it is oh so necessary.

Start thinking about book promotion from the very beginning. One reason why I want you to focus so much on your audience before and during the writing process is to prepare you for the major, major job of promoting this book to them. You must know who your readers are, where they are and how to approach them. When you have a book in hand, you will need to go where your readers are and convince them that they need to read or will enjoy reading your book.

There are many ways to promote a book. I offer 250 of them for fiction, nonfiction and children’s books in my book, Promote Your Book. John Kremer provides 1001 of them in his book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book.

Authors ask me all the time, “What’s the best way to promote a book?” I always tell them, “It depends on you and it depends on your book.” It is up to the author to find his comfort zone and then step it up a few notches. He must know and understand his audience and design his marketing tactics around their purchasing habits. And most professionals agree with me that authors need to promote through a variety of channels. Don’t just think you’re going to build a great website and your customers will come. This should be only a part of your promotional tactics. Also, solicit many book reviews, submit articles/stories to publications your audience is reading, set up speaking gigs, reserve booths at book festivals, make news related to the theme/genre of your book and make sure it is reported, blog, lure readers to your website through freebies, use social networking, speak at related conferences, promote through your huge mailing/emailing list and so forth.

How long do you need to keep promoting your book? Only for as long as you want it to sell.

Do you remember my telling you that nearly 80 percent of authors today sell fewer than 100 books total? One reason is because they didn’t study and truly understand the industry before getting involved. Another is that they didn’t understand the full scope of their responsibility in marketing their books and the intensity of this work. Many of them either didn’t promote their books at all or they did a few promotional activities and then went promptly back to their previous lifestyle, hoping their book would keep selling.

Well, it doesn’t work that way. In many cases, book marketing takes even more of your time, energy and creativity than the writing did. If you’re in writing mode, this news is awfully hard to swallow, isn’t it? Many authors who hear or read this truth while in the writing process tend to shove it under the carpet. They don’t want to believe it is so—so they don’t allow themselves to. And when they finally have a completed, bound (or electronic) book in their hands, they are at a loss as to how to get it into the hands of their readers.

Many are shocked that people don’t just automatically come to their websites and make large purchases. They are surprised when booksellers don’t accept their books into their stores. Some feel as though they’ve done enough after having a website built, hiring a press release company, talking about their book to a few friends and arranging for a book signing. Depending on your book and the scope of your audience, these efforts might result in the sale of 10 to 300 books.

The fact is that when you decide to stop promoting, in most cases, your book will die. And this is true whether you have published on your own, through a pay-to-publish company or you’ve landed a traditional publishing company. Sure, the traditional publisher will solicit sales through their connections and using their expertise that you may not have been able to manage. But, unless your book is hot out of the gate, they won’t spend much time promoting it. It’s all up to you.

Before or during the writing of your book—even if you’re currently seeking publication—now is the time to learn the book marketing ropes. Find out what will be expected of you once your book is a book. I believe that many authors would change their minds about publishing at all if they truly understood what it takes to promote a book in this fiercely competitive publishing and bookselling climate.

This is a good time to purchase my books, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author and Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. They are available at amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. Also here: http://www.matilijapress.com

This is part five of my seven-part series, “Authorship is a Business.” We’ve discussed writing the right book for the right audience, writing a book proposal, focusing on your audience throughout the entire writing process and yesterday, I gave you a lot of resources for studying the publishing industry.

Today, I’d like to talk about your publishing options. You should know that you have options. Many authors do not. The majority of authors emerge from their writing rooms after many months spent writing their books, completely oblivious to how to proceed. All they know is they want to get their books published. A typical hopeful author will do an Internet search using the keyword, “publishing,” or “publisher” or “how to get published.” And what comes up? Generally, it is a list of pay-to-publish companies (known more commonly as self-publishing companies).

One quick peek at the website of any one of them and the hopeful author begins to feel secure, understood and welcome. They find it easy to submit their manuscript for consideration. They are elated when they’re invited to publish with the company. And in most cases, they will get the invitation. The majority of these companies will publish anything you pay them to publish. Skeptical authors have tested this concept by submitting horrible, poorly-written manuscripts. Yes, they were accepted for publication.

Manuscript acceptance by a pay-to-publish company does not mean you have something worth publishing.

But these companies make it so easy to publish with them—just sign the contract and hand over the money and you’ll soon have bound books to sell.

I can tell you, however, if you are one of the many hopeful authors who go with the first pay-to-publish company you approach (or even the second or third one), without having studied the publishing industry (see my blog post for June 24, 2012), you could be doing yourself and your book a huge disservice.

Okay, let’s discuss your publishing options.

Traditional Royalty Publisher
The traditional royalty publisher accepts manuscripts on merit. Generally, they want to see a query letter first. If they are interested, they will request your book proposal, which you should prepare no matter which publishing option you are considering. (See my blog post for June 22, 2012 where we talk about writing a book proposal.) If the publisher is sold on your project after seeing your book proposal, he will ask to see your professionally edited manuscript.

Rejection by one or many publishing companies is not necessarily a statement of fact against your manuscript. Some of our most wonderful bestselling books were rejected many times before being accepted.

And you should know that no two publishers are the same. Some specialize. Study each publisher before approaching them to find out what types of books they produce. And then study their submission guidelines and follow them when making your submission. Each publisher has a different set of submission requirements. While some want you to engage an agent, others would rather work with the author. While some want to see a query letter, others ask for the manuscript first. Most, however, will want to see a book proposal.

The traditional royalty publisher may pay an advance against royalties, typically $500 to $3,000. They also pay royalties of from 5 to 50 percent—the higher amounts generally for ebooks.

Keep in mind that there are major publishers who require you come to them through an agent. But there are hundreds and hundreds of small to medium-size publishers who want to hear directly from the author and who are hungry for a good book.

And no matter which publishing option you choose, you—the author—are responsible for promoting your book. In fact, one of the most important pieces to a book proposal, as far as most publishers are concerned, is your marketing section. What can you bring to the table as far as marketing savvy and promotional ideas, energy and connections?

Self-Publishing
True self-publishing means that you establish your own publishing company. You get a fictitious business name. You buy the International Standard Book Number (the fingerprint for your book). You make all of the decisions, put up all of the money and reap all of the profits.

Pay-To-Publish Companies
This hybrid of the old vanity presses combined with digital printing processes came into being around 1996. There are around 100 of these companies now, all vying for your manuscript and your dollar. Remember, they make their money producing books and this is their expertise.

Not all of them are created equal, though. There are wide ranges in offerings, fees and, I’m sorry to say, legitimacy. Before getting involved, really study and come to understand their contracts. Hire a publishing attorney if you need help.

Stay away from the add-on packages—marketing, editing. Most of these are not worth the money. It is way better that, no matter which publishing option you choose, YOU take charge of both of these highly important aspects. You hire a good book editor. You plan and take on the huge task of book promotion.

Hopeful authors ask me, which publishing option is best? I always say, “It depends on the author and it depends on the project.” If you want a more detailed response to this question, read my latest book: Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. Chapter two includes a great section on how to choose the right publisher for your book. Publish Your Book is available at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

To learn more about individual pay-to-publish companies, read Mark Levine’s book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. He rates and ranks around 40 of these companies and explains their contracts. You can get the ebook version of this book free by joining SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org

Tomorrow, we continue this series with a post about hiring an editor for your manuscript.