Writing and Publishing News from

February 10, 2013

What is your publisher IQ?

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 6:36 am

• Are you aware of your publishing options?
• Do you know how to choose and locate potential publishers?
• How do you approach a publisher?
• What can you expect from the publisher of your choice?
• What does a publisher expect from you?

I’d like to address these five issues over the next week in this blog. Who needs to read these posts? You should visit this blog every day during the week of February 11-15 if:

• You don’t have a clue as to where to look for a publisher.

• You are considering the first “self-publishing” company that has expressed an interest in your project.

• You plan to check out “self-publishing” companies because people tell you that traditional publishers don’t issue contracts to first-time authors.

• Your friend with a children’s mystery book recommends her publisher for your memoir and you expect to land a contract.

• You have bundled up your complete manuscript and plan to send it off to a list of publishers you’re considering—or worse, you have decided to call publishers and talk to them about your book.

• You expect to find a publisher who will handle all marketing for your book.

• You have no interest in promoting your book once it’s published.

If any of these points resemble your situation or mindset, please read the posts to this blog all next week. Not only will you get an education. You’ll learn why it is vital that you consider yourself the CEO of your book.

Patricia Fry is the author of 37 published books. Her three latest are written for those of you who follow or stumble across this blog.

“Publish Your Book,” “Promote Your Book,” and “Talk Up Your Book.”
All available in print and Kindle at amazon.com as well as most other online and downtown
bookstores and at http://www.matilijapress.com

February 8, 2013

An Education for New and Struggling Authors

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 4:47 am

I’d like to share a couple of reviews for my book “Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.” And these are reviews from people I don’t know.
“This book is amazing for a number of reasons. One is that it is SO to the point; no words wasted, no fillers, just straight-forward information about how to promote your book. The second reason is the sheer quantity of ideas—staggering. Makes you feel like there is no way you and your book can fail. And third—an unbelievable list of resources like websites and periodicals.

I am putting a book proposal together and need to list marketing/promotion ideas. I feel this is the only book I need to read to accomplish this.

Furthermore, and this is truly a gift, you can hire Patricia Fry to help you with any aspect of your book!

In reading the book I get a sense about Patricia Fry: tremendous power, creativity, integrity and resourcefulness.

Highly recommended!

Here’s another one: “As a new author myself, I am intensely interested in finding good ways to promote my book. This book was very helpful to me. There were many new ideas in it that I had never considered or thought about. It was easy to read, with a good table of contents so you could easily find any particular aspect of publishing and marketing you wanted. I especially liked the references to the various web sites I could explore on the internet to help me market my book. This was well worth the money I spent.”

I assume these and the other reviews are helpful as sales for this book are UP.

There are numbers of reasons why you should write your book and this is one of them that I enjoy—having nice things said about you and your work. But most of all, I am thrilled to be able to help other authors. When the personal computer revolution and the digital printing phenomenon collided in the mid to late 1990s, and so many people jumped on the book-writing wagon, I began meeting dozens of them who felt they had failed. Each of them had a different story, but the basics were quite similar. The bottom line for most of them was. they had no idea about how to handle themselves and their projects with regard to the publishing industry. They didn’t understand it. And they certainly had no clue about the vast aspect of publishing known as book promotion.

My heart went out to these authors who had spent their money on their dreams and failed. That’s when I began my mission to educate the new authors bent on entering this highly competitive field before they got involved. As most of you know, I’d been writing for publication by then for about 25 years and had a few books under my belt.

I wrote my first book for authors in 2000 and I’ve attempted to keep new and struggling authors updated and informed through my writing and speaking ever since. If you are new to the industry, please do yourself a favor and read “Publish Your Book” and “Promote Your Book.” And congratulations, by the way, for following this blog. This is another good thing you can do for yourself.

Order these books from amazon.com in print or on Kindle and most other online and downtown bookstores. Also available here: http://www.matilijapress.com

February 7, 2013

Two Things All Authors Must Do in Order to Be Successful

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 6:55 am

No matter what subjects I cover in this blog over these last nearly 8 years, we always come back to a couple of things. And many of you choose to ignore both of them. One is the importance of studying the publishing industry before getting involved and other is the subject of book promotion—marketing.

Every one of you will sooner or later do one of two things with regard to my posts on these topics. You will either realize how important they are and acquiesce, or you will continue to ignore them. Do you know how I can tell who makes which of these choices? By whether your book is a success or not.

It’s true. If you go ahead and write your book without considering your audience, decide not to spend the money on an editor, turn it over to the first company who agrees to produce it for you and then sit back and wait for customers to discover it and buy it by the truckloads, you will most likely fail.

If, on the other hand, you write the right book for the right audience, you study the publishing industry so that you understand your responsibilities as a published author, your options and how to make the best choices on behalf of your book, you are more likely to succeed.

Does this make sense to you or not? This week, I’d like you to look around your community or within your circle of coworkers, friends, acquaintances. Choose one or two who have achieved some measure of success in a particular field or interest. Consider how they arrived where they are. Did they spend time studying the field (go to college, trade school, work their way up in a company)? Did they do a lot of practicing to acquire the skill or technique needed in order to excel? Where there is an exceptional student, employee, sportsman, business owner or author, you’ll generally find someone who is focused, who knows what they want and how to achieve it, who understands their field/sport/hobby/product and who gives his or her all to their area of interest.

The hard facts for MOST authors who wish to be successful are:
• You must gain an understanding of the publishing industry. I so believe in this truth that I took over a year out of my life to produce a book on every aspect of the industry for new and struggling authors. It’s “Publish Your Book,” by Patricia Fry

• You must hire a qualified book editor. You will be surprised at the things you have missed in your book.

• You must prepare early and work constantly at promoting your book. You’ll learn volumes in “Publish Your Book” about book promotion (as well as how to write a book proposal, distribution, choosing the right publisher, etc.). But I recommend that you also purchase “Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author,” by Patricia Fry.

Both of these books are available at http://www.matilijapress.com And at amazon.com as well as most other online and downtown bookstores. Yes, they are on Kindle, Nook and other ereaders.

Download your FREE copy of “50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success” at http://www.patriciafry.com

February 3, 2013

The 5 P’s of Successful Authorship

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 5:37 am

What does it take to become an author? Notice that I didn’t even insert the word, “successful” in this sentence. Success is relative, anyway, isn’t it? I know authors who don’t believe they are successful until they sell 100,000 copies. And then there are authors who celebrate their success if they earn back enough to pay their printing costs.

But what does it take to become an author—to accomplish the requirements of authorship? During my forty years as a career writer and author; after 37 published books and after having worked with dozens and dozens of clients on their book projects, I’ve narrowed it down to 5 P’s. Ask any author who has been around the block and they will tell you that it takes:

• Planning
• Preparation
• Proofing
• Publishing
• Promotion

There are no shortcuts. One cannot deviate from this established path to authorship. If you want to become an author and experience whatever measure of success you desire, you must consider each of these 5 P’s. (It wouldn’t hurt to throw in the word Patience, either.)

Planning
Before you start writing the novel or the nonfiction book of your dreams, put some thought into the potential for your project—a lot of thought. I suggest writing a book proposal. You wouldn’t open a business without a business plan. Consider the book proposal a business plan for your book. At the same time, look at your book as a product. If you view this project any other way, you are already starting down the wrong path.

Before proceeding, ask yourself, “Why do I want to write this book?” and “What is the purpose of this book.” If your responses are valid and reasonable, move forward. If they are frivolous and emotionally-driven, reconsider your project.

Now sit down and write a book proposal. There are many resources to guide you, including Herman and Adams, “Write the Perfect Book Proposal” and my “How to Write a Successful Book Proposal.” There is also an extensive section and guidelines for writing a book proposal in my most recent book on publishing, “Publish Your Book.” http://amzn.toTze53Z

What will you learn as you progress through the book proposal process? Here are the most important questions that you need to answer through your book proposal.
• Do you have a valid book at all?
• Who is your audience and where are they?
• What else is out there like your book?
• Is there actually a market for this book?
• What are your qualifications for writing this book?
• Do you have a strong enough platform to generate sales for this book?
• How will you promote this book?

What you learn from a well-researched, well-developed book proposal will guide you in making your next decision. Is your original idea a good one or do you need to tweak it a bit in order to make it more marketable?

This could be an important turning point in your project. Make an emotional decision (I love my idea and I’m sticking with it even if I can’t justify producing it) and you may fail. Make an educated decision based on the facts revealed in your book proposal, and your book has a fighting chance.

What about a book proposal for a novel? While the book proposal process is designed with the nonfiction book in mind, I recommend preparing one for a novel, as well. You should establish your genre, have a plan for your story, know something about your audience and how to reach them and you must be prepared to promote your book once it is a book. The fact is that no matter which publishing option you choose, you—the author—are responsible for promoting your book. So you’d better start building your platform—your following, your way of attracting readers.
Tomorrow we will discuss Preparation and Proofing.

January 29, 2013

You Are the CEO of Your Book

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:37 am

As I drove around town running errands yesterday, I noticed a couple of new businesses and began to wonder what motivates someone to open a wine store, a shop where they sell knitted items, a nursery, a coffee house, a hamburger joint, a children’s cotton clothing store or????? And what keeps such businesses going? Certainly, they don’t all make it. It’s common for small businesses to come and go here in our community. Why don’t they last?

I used to write a business column for the local newspaper and few of the businesses I featured lasted for more than a year. Why? Because so many proprietors started their businesses on a whim—they had a passion and wanted to turn it into something that would sustain them.

Few of them gave much thought to their location, their competition and their customers. They didn’t consider who their customers were and how to approach or attract them. Typically, the business owner comes up with an idea that appeals to him or her, chooses a setting they can afford and that is, perhaps, aesthetically suitable and they quickly open for business in hopes of selling lots of painted rocks, jewelry made from horsehair, used medical books, cardboard moving boxes or??? And some of these business owners either aren’t aware or don’t care that there is someone else up the block selling the same thing they are or that several other people tried these businesses and they failed.

I began to think about authorship. When you decide to write a book and publish it, you are going into business. From the moment you decide to publish your book, you should consider yourself the CEO of your book. But I hope you don’t go into business with blinders on like so many business owners tend to do. I hope that you will consider your readers before you start writing so that you know you are writing something a portion of society actually wants. You should know whether or not the market is already inundated with books like the one you have in mind. If you are writing in a popular genre, then this might be a good thing. People who read mysteries, for example, are always looking for another good one to read. You need to know how to reach your audience. Most authors do not realize that just because they produce a book doesn’t mean anyone will be poised to buy it.

It takes effort and time to put word about your book out there and then tons more effort, energy and time to get people to notice it and then oodles of creativity to get them to buy it.

This week, look around your town. Notice the small businesses that are thriving and compare them to those that are here today/gone tomorrow. Think about businesses that have left your area. Consider what these proprietors did wrong—what they did right. And then when you go back to your book project, whether you’re in the writing stages or you are already marketing it, examine what you are offering and to whom. Are you making good business decisions or are you letting your heart lead the way?

Stop looking at your book as an extension of yourself. You are the CEO of your book. It’s up to you to make sure—no wishful thinking here—make sure that your book is a good idea. If not, go back to the drawing board with it. Yes, give it a little tough love.

For guidance along the extremely competitive publishing path, be sure to order my book, “Publish Your Book.” It’s available at amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

January 28, 2013

Publishing Decisions 101

Filed under: Authorship,Writing — Patricia @ 4:34 am

While some authors have a single focus—one book they must write and publish, many of us have multiple projects we hope to complete. And it can become difficult to decide which one to produce first. Here’s my criteria for the first-time author:

1: Which book is closest to your heart? If your passion lies with your memoir and you start with the novel first, you may have trouble staying on track. However, if you determine (after reading the remainder of these points) that the novel has more potential, you might get through the process without too much difficulty.

2: Which one will most likely do better in the marketplace?

3: Which one are you more well-equipped to promote?

If you are still stuck, write a book proposal for each book. Perhaps the truth in the pudding will show up within this business plan.

I often suggest to hopeful authors that they start with a how-to or informational book. If you have knowledge or skills in a specific topic—grammar, quilting, metal-working, a form of art, organizing, shopping on a budget, making cookies, for example—write a pamphlet or booklet on this topic. You know your audience and where to find them. You should be able to market adequately and sell many copies of your product. And you’ll learn volumes about publishing and marketing through this exercise. THEN write one of those books that are close to your heart. But not without writing a book proposal first.

January 14, 2013

Resources and Options for Authors

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion,Publishing — Patricia @ 6:24 am

Do you have questions about publishing and book promotion? Most likely, when you ask your questions about publishers, agents, writing a book proposal or marketing your book, you are not fully satisfied with the answers. Do you know why that is? Because there are sorry few (if any) pat answers when it comes to the process of publishing and book promotion.

First, depending on who you ask, you may get very different responses. Who should you believe? And then sometimes the person you have chosen to trust most will leave you with more questions than you had when you approached him or her. All you want is some guidance and some definite answers to your questions so you’ll know exactly what to do with regard to your project.

The thing is, there are choices in publishing—extenuating circumstances, varying goals, different levels of understanding and interest. There is no one size fits all. The reason why you may get different answers from different professionals is because we come from different backgrounds. And we might not “hear” and assimilate your questions the same way.

So, while one professional or published author says, “You’ve gotta get an agent,” another might says, “I suggest you check out some of the hundreds of publishers that don’t require an agent,” and yet another advises, “For your first project, go with a ‘self-publishing’ company.”

One professional may tell you to promote your book through intense Internet advertising and another might advise checking out all of the free avenues of publicity. One professes that personal appearances is the best way to go, while another says, you can sell more books more consistently using clever promotional tactics throughout the Internet.

The fact is all of the above is true but not for every author and every book and not, generally, exclusive of the other options. So how do you weed through the information and recommendations in order to make the best choices for you and for your project? Be your own best resource center. Ask questions, certainly and scrutinize the responses with regard to your project carefully. Keep an open mind, but be critical, too.

Study the publishing industry. Yes, do an independent study by reading books, subscribing to and reading appropriate newsletters and magazine, joining organizations such as SPAWN and attending writers conferences—many of them lean toward publishing and book promotion rather than the craft of writing these days. This is not where you end up—this is where you START!!!! Read about the industry, how it works, what it entails, your choices, the possible advantages and disadvantages of your options, specifically how to pursue the various options and so forth.

I will dedicate my next four (or more) posts to specific resources for hopeful and struggling authors. I will list the books I recommend you read, the newsletters and magazines you should be subscribing to, the organizations you should join and why and how to locate conferences and glean from them what you need in order to succeed. So stay tuned all week. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Tell your friends about this Writing and Publishing Blog. And visit my websites for additional information about me—Patricia Fry.
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

And visit the organization I lead—SPAWN (Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network)
http://www.spawn.org

January 13, 2013

Taking Care of Business

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 5:16 am

Authorship is a business. When you produce a book to sell, you have entered into a business. Your book is a product and, whether you land a traditional royalty publisher, you self-publish or you go with a pay-to-publish company, you should consider yourself the CEO of your book.

Along with a business comes tasks that aren’t always that much fun. Book signings are fun. Book festivals are fun. I even enjoy going out and speaking to groups of authors. And, of course, the writing is fun. But there are activities that go along with publishing that aren’t necessarily all that much fun. This weekend, I’m taking care of some of those things I consider challenges. Today, I will fill out my state tax form—which means tallying book sales for 2012. Yesterday, I arranged for a card reader for taking credit cards on our iPhone. I hate that kind of work. I compiled the SPAWN Market Update yesterday—which is a monthly task that I actually don’t hate. But it is a bit tedious and not as much fun as working on my novels or working with a client. I entered a contest with a couple of chapters from my unpublished novels. That is something I don’t usually do. I’m not much for entering contests. But then, there aren’t many contests that offer a fair playing field for nonfiction. I mean, it doesn’t seem fair to put a book on book promotion against one featuring dog hotels, how to make fishing lures and Spanish architecture. I’d rather this book be judged among other books on book promotion or publishing or even marketing or business.

Along with the tasks that come around once a year or every month, of course, is the major work of book promotion—the constant research to locate marketing outlets and opportunities; the job of making contacts; the work involved with following through with material, information and making arrangements, for example. It’s ongoing, time-consuming and it takes a lot of energy and effort to promote one single, little book. And the promotional efforts should begin even before the book is a book. And they will continue until you no longer want to sell it.

Are you writing a book for publication? Here’s a short list of some of the things you can be doing toward the success of your book now:
• Make sure you are writing a book that is needed/wanted by a large enough segment of people. If not, either lower your expectations for sales or change the focus of your book.

• Study the publishing industry so you understand your publishing options and how to choose the one that is right for you and for your project. (Read “Publish Your Book” by Patricia Fry early in the process of your project.)

• Start socking away money NOW for a professional editor. Save my contact information. I would like to have the opportunity to give you a sample edit and an estimate. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

• Talk about your book to everyone you meet everywhere you go on and off-line.

• Start blogging to attract attention to your book project.

• Build a website around the theme, subject of your book.

• Collect book promotion ideas and links in an electronic or paper file.

• Collect names of potential customers—which means you’d better be collecting business cards and email addresses online, presenting sign-up sheets when you go out and speak or do workshops and noting those people who can help get word out about your book when the time comes.

There’s much that you can do to make your book a success before your book is a book. Any savvy businessman or woman would be doing this and more. Don’t forget, you are the CEO of your book.

January 12, 2013

Promote Your Blog

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:00 am

It used to be that the main question authors asked me about blogging was, “What is a blog?” Now the two questions I get most often are, “What will I write in my blog?” and, “How will I promote my blog?” Yesterday I covered the former. Today, let’s discuss the latter.

Promote a blog pretty much the same way you would promote a book. Here are 15 ideas:
• Tell people about it
• Add the link to your promo material (brochures, business cards, bookmarks, handouts when giving presentations and so forth).
• Add the link to your bio at the bottom of the articles you write or stories you submit to magazines and newsletters.
• Comment at blog site on the same topic as yours and include your blog link.
• Have your blog included in directories of blogs on particular topics—writing, history, fiction, romance, etc.
• Create a “signature” for your outgoing emails and make sure the link to your blog is included.
• Enter your blog in contests for added recognition.
• Twitter your blog topics each time you post.
• Use FaceBook, LinkedIn, etc. to promote your blog.
• Use keywords in your title that will attract higher ratings with Google.
• Post your blog link at your Amazon.com page, Twitter profile page and so forth.
• Print your blog link in your book when it is published.
• Add your link to freebies you give at your website.
• Have clear links from your website to your blog site.
• Ask others at appropriate sites to link to your blog.

What are some of your ideas for promoting your blog? We’d like to hear them. Leave a comment.

This would be a good weekend to order copies of my books from Amazon.com. Which books do you need? Choose from these three:

Publish Your Book (By far the most popular among attendees at the Palm Springs Writers Guild when I visited their meeting last weekend. The best book for new and struggling authors.)

Promote Your Book (For authors who need more support, ideas and a more clear understanding of book promotion.)

Talk Up Your Book (For authors who want to expand their promotional activities to include live presentations, more successful interviews, and gain more powerful communication tools.)

Available at Amazon.com, the author’s website and most other online and downtown bookstores. http://www.matilijapress.com

Download my free ebooklet, “50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success” from http://www.patriciafry.com My other formerly FREE ebooklets are now available for small fees at http://www.matilijapress.com “50 Ways to Promote Your Ebook” and “50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book.”

January 11, 2013

Blogging for Novelists

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:20 am

Authors and hopeful authors often ask me, “If I start a blog what should I write about?” The obvious answer is, “Write about the theme of your book. Write for your book’s audience.”

If you’re an author or plan to be, the point of having a blog is to speak to your readers, to widen your audience base, to create another avenue for promoting your books and related services. How do you do this through a blog? For a nonfiction book, you can accomplish this by offering information, resources, news and so forth related to the topic of your book. A blog for fiction can be an entirely different animal, however.

Here’s what I suggest to authors of fiction who want to have a continuing relationship with their readers through a blog.

• Share backstories telling how you came to write this book, describing the process, revealing how you came up with your characters, talking about plot and the transitions you experienced in determining it, etc.

• Flesh out your next storyline. Get reader feedback.

• Write about writing fiction—make your blog all about fiction-writing. Interview other novelists, writing teachers and editors, etc.

• Cover trends and news in the fiction book market and specifically within your genre—YA fantasy, sci fi, cozy mysteries, chic lit, etc.

• Offer advice for other writers.

• Share stories of your book marketing process—where you are speaking, book festivals you’ve attended, unexpected promotional opportunities and so forth.

• Read books like “No More Blank Screen: Blogging Ideas for Fiction Authors” by Krista D. Ball.

• Do an Internet search for articles and blog posts on blogging for fiction authors. There are several.

• Spy on other novelists who blog. What are they blogging about? Are they attracting comments? Adopt some of their techniques.

The more you write, the more ideas you will come up with for your blog. That’s why I often suggest that fiction writers spend some time and expend some energy writing articles or nonfiction essays. It is excellent practice, you can make a little money doing it and it will train your brain to open up more to ideas for your blog.

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