Writing and Publishing News

Do you have books to sell? Many of your readers might attend the huge Los Angeles Times Festival of Books April 12 and 13, 2014. SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) has secured two booths. The idea is, this is such a big event and the booths are so costly—and individual authors are often lost in the shuffle of their own booth—so SPAWN rents booths and provides space for members to sell their books. These authors share in the cost and it is more affordable for everyone.

Read more about this opportunity in SPAWNews. http://www.spawn.org. Click on “SPAWNews.” The link to sign up is here: http://www.spawn.org/latfb.htm. Once you have read the article in SPAWNews and visited the site, if you have questions, email me here Patricia@spawn.org or PLFry620@yahoo.com

Yes, I’m finding this to be true. Yesterday, for example, we created sweet little tiny promotional booklets to hand out and tuck into holiday cards. Those I’ve shown them to, love them. They aren’t utilitarian like bookmarks, but they’re something you might commit to hold onto at least for a little while—possibly longer than you would a postcard, promotional email or flier. (Does anyone promote using fliers anymore?)

I first saw the tiny mini-booklet idea at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. One of our SPAWN members had created some to promote her novel and they were a real fascination for the women visiting or walking past our booth. If the author handed a booklet to one woman, others would reach for them. Many women stopped to look at them scattered on the table in front of the author and ask if they could take one.

Mine is just a 4 x 4, four-page booklet with the cover art for both of my novels on the front along with brief reviewer comments. Inside I have a synopsis for each book and the back is all about ordering information. I added a sweet bow made of narrow red ribbon. I chose red because of the holiday and because one book cover has a woman with a bright red polka dot skirt. Paw-print ribbon might have also worked because the books also feature cats. I even found some red polka dot ribbon at Michaels, but it was too wide to work for my purposes.

It’s interesting how an author—in order to sell books—must also become a savvy promoter, creative marketer, public speaker, design artist, social media expert and so much more. This serves to remind us of the blatant fact that so many debuting authors miss or entirely disregard: while writing is a creative endeavor, publishing is a business—a fiercely competitive business. Publishing is NOT an extension of your writing.

For more book promotion ideas for both fiction and nonfiction and for a clear understanding of book promotion and the author’s responsibilities, read “Promote Your Book.” It’s at Amazon in print, Kindle and audio and at most other online and downtown bookstores. Or order your copy here: http://www.matilijapress.com/PromoteYourBook.html