Writing and Publishing News from

January 19, 2011

The Business of Authorship

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:42 am

Do you think that authors are the only ones who must define and target an audience? Absolutely not. Anyone who contemplates starting a business or coming out with a new product MUST identify their customers—that is, if they want to be successful.

The thing that causes authors confusion is the fact that they don’t typically look at publishing as a business.

You’ve heard/read me say, “Publishing is not an extension of your writing.” You’ve heard/read me and others say, “Writing is a craft/an art and publishing is a serious business.” Some of you even accept this and understand it to a point. But you may still not quite get it to the degree that you must in order to create a viable product and sell numbers of it.

Most authors hope to make money on their book. But they still have trouble viewing their book as a product that must be advertised—promoted. The fact is that over 76 percent of books fail. The average number that pay-to-publish books sell is 100. In most cases, you will not break even at that rate.

Most of you know something about business. Many of you are in business. You know which brands of clothing, electronics, pet food, laundry detergent, etc. are outselling the others because that’s the one you see promoted with the most gusto. It’s the one that gets the most exposure.

You may notice promotion going on at events you attend—one brand of water is being given away at the track meet, there are signs around the field advertising various local businesses, a plane flies by with a banner asking you to vote for a certain candidate, people are wearing hats with business logos, a car in the parking lot has a sign on the side depicting a real estate company, someone is handing out business cards or brochures, a sign in the snack bar indicates that a certain brand of hotdog is being served. When you decide to have a yard sale, you hang signs to let people know when and where it is, you might place a free ad in the newspaper and hand out notices to neighbors. It’s all advertising/exposure. And it’s something you, as a published author, will have to engage in if you want to sell your books.

Sure, some people will stumble upon the yard sale without having seen the signs. But you can’t rely on that—just as you can’t rely on your book being accepted for sale in bookstores nationwide and it being widely purchased. Not without some effort on your part.

I’ve known a LOT of authors and I can tell you that those with a business sense—those who go into publishing with a business head (no matter their choice of publishing options) always sell more books and become more successful than those who don’t. Write a book from the heart, pay to have the unedited book published and then sit back and wait for it to sell and you will surely fail.

Learn more about how you can promote your particular book through my online-on-demand book promotion course. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

January 16, 2011

Are You Addicted to Your Book?

Filed under: Authorship,Writing — Patricia @ 4:44 am

Do you seem to eat, sleep and drink your book project? You are writing or revising it every minute you have available. And when you are not working on your book, you are thinking about it. You wake up in the night with ideas. You begin to consider changes or improvements while out walking. And in the middle of a conversation with someone on a completely unrelated topic, you might have an epiphany about how to handle a tricky problem in your story or the structure of your nonfiction book.

I’m in the thick of revising and updating my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book for Allworth Press/Skyhorse and that project is currently ruling my life. Thankfully, I am enjoying every minute of the work—well most minutes. Every once in a while I have a dilemma that makes me a little cranky. But for the most part, I love the work. I can’t wait to get up in the morning to go back to work on it and I have trouble pulling myself away from my desk to visit with our house guest, to run an errand or even to take a walk.

I keep a pen and paper handy for note-taking so I don’t forget a brilliant thought that occurs while I am away from my computer. The only thing I don’t do is discuss the project with nonwriters/nonauthors. They do not understand. If I start talking about a problem I’m having with organization, my frustration with deciding what to pare down and what to keep, the joy I experience when the project is moving along nicely, my thrill at seeing it come together, seemingly, ahead of schedule, they look at me with eyes glazed over.

But you, my dear blog followers, you understand. You are in the trenches with me working on book projects. You are out there composing, revising, self-editing—you know the joys and the challenges. Do you also have some tips for those writers who haven’t become obsessed with their projects, yet?

Yes, there are hopeful authors who just can’t discipline themselves to write. They are either genuinely too busy with life issues or they aren’t motivated enough to sit down and do the writing they claim they want to do.

There are many reasons why authors don’t write. Their excuses come in many shapes and forms. And it’s a shame when someone has a story to tell or information they want to share, but they just can’t get it together to actually do the writing. Or they get so far with their books and become stuck. Do you have advice for these authors?

Maybe my newest ebooklet would help. There has been quite a flurry of interest in 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book. Get your free copy at http://www.patriciafry.com

January 13, 2011

Introduction to 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book

Filed under: Authorship,Writing — Patricia @ 5:34 am

I’m offering my latest ebooklet, 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book FREE at http://www.patriciafry.com. Here is what I wrote in the introduction of this 24-page ebooklet.

Are you pretty sure that your book idea is a valid one? Even though you are confident in the choices you’ve made with regard to your book project, you downloaded this “50 Reasons” book, anyway. Perhaps you hope to further justify your decisions. Maybe you would like some additional nudging or rationale as to why you should move forward with your proposed book.

What more do you need to know about your project before going to print? You’ve written about something that you know, your friends and family agree that it is good, it’s a salable topic/genre or there wouldn’t be so many other books out there like it. Right? On the other hand, maybe your research indicated that there is nothing else out there like it and that’s why you are moving forward with your one-of-a-kind book.

Whatever your reasons for choosing this book or for wanting to produce yours, I’m glad you are here with an open mind and a willingness to explore beyond your desires, dreams and wishful thinking.

Some of the facts, observations and suggestions in this book might not resonate well with the artist in you. They might seem to go against your right brain leanings. However, if you hope to produce a successful book, whether it is a novel, a children’s book, your memoir, a reference guide or a business book, there is a lot to be learned from among these 50 Reasons.

Study them. Mull them over. Double check the facts. Reinforce their impact by reading other books by this author—Patricia Fry, as well as books, articles and newsletters by publishing professionals, such as Dan Poynter (publishing options and the business of publishing), Jeff Herman (book proposals), Mark Levine (pay-to-publish companies), Brian Jud and Penny Sansevieri (book marketing).

Continue to learn by joining organizations such as the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) http://www.ibpa-online.org and SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org

Download 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book today: http://www.patriciafry.com

January 10, 2011

How to Land a Publisher in 2011

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion,Publishing — Patricia @ 6:02 am

Does your traditional publisher expect you to promote your book? Do the submission guidelines from your publisher of choice specify that the author is responsible for promoting his/her book? If not, you might consider running the other way.

Publishers who don’t request help promoting their books, may not be in business long—that is, if they’ve been relying on bookstores for sales. The ground that bookstores are built on is getting shaky. The demise of so many bookstores in the last few years and rumors that more will follow is shaking up the traditional publishing paradigm. While staid, rigid publishers may fall by the wayside, this shift is sparking forward-thinking publishers into action of a different type. They will be seeking new outlets for their books and new ways to promote and sell books on and off line.

Some publishers might transition into a new dimension with their titles—accepting books in genres/on topics they can promote best. Publishers will become more web savvy.

Book tours, if they still exist, will have a different flavor. They might be held in kitchen stores, department stores, at mall kiosks, in movie theater lobbies, at flea markets, in sporting goods stores, etc., depending on the book topic. Enterprising publishers will start doing what authors have been doing for decades. They will begin thinking along more creative veins with regard to their promotional activities. Instead of expecting the audiences for their books to come to the bookstore, they will have their authors go where their audiences are.

As authors, we’ve been stretching and stepping outside the box with innovative promotional ideas and we’ve been going out of our way, at times, to get exposure for our books. Publishers, who want to remain in business, will have to get on the same page with their more creative, enterprising authors if they want to stay in business.

Do you see where this is going? With the demise of major bookstores, publishers will be even more interested in the author with the best marketing ideas and proof that he/she can/will implement them. My advice to you?

• Write the book you can promote.

• Early on, begin to establish your platform and continue building on it.

• Start executing some of your promotional ideas to test them out—this might include presenting workshops in your books’ topic, for example.

• Become known within your genre/topic before you come out with your book. How? Submit stories/articles to numerous magazines, establish a strong Internet presence, align yourself with professionals in your field/genre.

This might be a good time for you to sign up for my online, on-demand book promotion course in order to begin to understand what book promotion is all about and to determine how you can
best create your marketing plan. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Visit my newest website: http://www.patriciafry.com

January 6, 2011

Mincing Words

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 6:59 am

Yesterday I had an interesting question from one of my online book proposal class students. I had suggested in my assignment, that students cover ten key things as they write their synopsis and two of the points were:

• What is the focus and scope of your book?
• What is the point and purpose of your book?

My student emailed me to ask for clarification. She said that she was having trouble sorting these four points out. She wanted to know how these two groups differed. Here’s my response:

“I’d say that the focus is the heart—center of the book or story—what is it about? The scope is how far and wide it goes and in which direction—the parameters. The point of the book is the central theme and the purpose is the reason for the book—what purpose will it serve?”

My student was still a little confused and said that it seems as if focus and point were the same thing or similar. To this, I responded:

“All the publisher (and you) need is a clear description of your book idea, why you’re writing it—is there a need, how do you know that—who is the book for and what is the purpose of the book. Help the publisher to completely understand the focus of the book and why it is needed and who will want to purchase it.”

I guess that words sometimes hold different meanings for different people. That makes sense. How many of you have run up against block walls at times in your education, in a class, with a concept and you just couldn’t “get” something. Then, comes along a new teacher with a different approach and a different way of communicating and woooo-la, it becomes perfectly clear?

Interesting Article
I received an email from the bloggers at the Online College blog. They wanted me to share a recent post with you. It covers publishing predictions for the coming years. Actually, I think it is more like hindsight. Aren’t we already seeing these predictions coming true?
http://www.onlinecollege.org/blog For Jan 5, 2011.

FREE Book With Your Order
Start your year as an author out right. Order my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book this month from my website and receive another one of my publishing-related books or ebooks of your choice FREE. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Get Editorial Help for Your Manuscript
Also check out my services at http://www.patriciafry.com

November 27, 2010

How to Test Your Great Book Idea

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 6:17 am

So you have an idea and you want to write about it. Most of us immediately think, “book” when the light bulb goes off above our heads.

“Gosh, that would make a great book!” or “I’d like to write a book on that topic or concept.”

Sometimes, however, your idea isn’t worthy of an entire book on the subject. That’s why I advise writers to consider writing an article, instead. If it is a worthwhile topic, the writing is good and the audience is eager to get this information, you should be able to sell the article to a high-paying magazine market. If not, perhaps it isn’t a great idea, after all.

Sometimes articles evolve into books. I’ve had this happen a couple of times. After seeing the response to my article on long-distance grandparenting, I wrote a book on the topic. Likewise, there was an interest in my articles on youth mentoring, which encouraged me to reproduce them in book form.

Some of my book publishing/promotion articles also evolved into full-blown books. In fact, article-writing is a good way to test your potential book ideas.

Another option, especially if you want to distribute the material you’ve written on a particular topic, is the booklet. Professionals and experts often produce booklets to test a concept or to bring attention to their work or business, for example.

If you think you have a great idea for a book, here’s what I suggest:

• Write an outline in order to determine just how substantial this book might be.

• Consider writing an article for an appropriate publication to see what the level of interest is in this concept.

• Test the idea by producing a booklet to give away or sell at your website or hand out at trade shows, conferences, etc.

What can you expect from the process of testing the market? You might find that you have a strong niche market for a full-blown book on the subject. The feedback you receive might prompt you to alter your original idea to suit a larger or more targeted audience. You may discover that this isn’t such a good idea, after all and you’ll save yourself money and time.

Have you ever done a test market on a book idea? How did you proceed with that? How did it go? What did you learn from the process? Leave your comments here.

Visit my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

November 19, 2010

Build Your Platform One Step at a Time–Your Web Presence

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 3:58 am

During these next four days, I plan to blog about building your platform. Sure, you hear it all the time—“If you want to be a successful author, you need a platform.” But few people tell you how to create one.

On pages 102-105 in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, you’ll get a lot of information on building a platform. And I’m here this week to offer up some step-by-step, day-by-day lessons in building your platform.

Today we’ll discuss your web presence. You hear from experts that, in order to properly promote your book, you really do need a website. It’s true. But even more than that, you need a web presence. Here’s what I suggest:

• Build a fantastic website that showcases your book in the most interesting, attractive and easy-to-navigate and understand way. Add a book trailer (video depicting your book) if you want and do a webcast at your site where you can be seen talking about your book. But avoid having so many bells and whistles that it takes forever to load your site. People will give up and go someplace else. And make sure that your visitors know immediately that you have a book for sale and what it is about. Do not be vague in your web presentation.

• Engage in social media. First and foremost, start blogging about the theme/genre of your book. You might also establish a Facebook account, sign up for Twitter and others. Share information and stories of interest to your readership.

• Get involved on other websites—those related to your book’s topic/genre. There are many levels of involvement you can pursue. Just become acquainted with the movers and shakers there through email communication (comment about their great site and some of the activities they have going on), join their discussion group and comment often, write for their newsletter, teach an online course for them, become their message board host or a member of their organization board.

• Leave your mark at many related sites. Get your book reviewed and/or showcased wherever possible at sites related to your book’s theme.

• Comment at blogs related to your book—other sci fi writer sites, or sites where they’re discussing parenting, pet care, horseback riding, etc.

• Include some of the appropriate organizations, websites when writing your blog posts—announce what they are doing, point up their current projects or just give them a plug. You will get more traffic to your blog and the organization leaders will appreciate you.

Tomorrow we will talk about building your platform through writing.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

November 17, 2010

Email Communication for Authors

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 7:13 am

What kind of email communicator are you? Do you keep your eye on your email during all of your waking hours and respond immediately to everything that comes in? Do you view your emails once a day or even once a week and ignore most of them? Or do your email habits fall somewhere in between.

Do you have a system for sorting email into categories such as: Respond Immediately, Think About Before Responding and Ignore?

Do you check your spam box regularly? I find good mail in with the multitude of spam emails often enough that I check it every day—sometimes several times per day. And I respond to most of my legit emails as soon as I receive them.

I field a lot of questions throughout the course of a day—questions related to publishing, book promotion, writing a book proposal, finding an agent, etc. as well as the subjects of some of my other books (grandparenting, youth mentoring, local history, metaphysics and so forth). I get questions about SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). And I welcome them all.

The really good questions and those that I get often become blog, article or even book topics. I figure that if one or two people are asking it, there are probably many others who need to hear the answers.

Sometimes someone who asks a question becomes a client. Sometimes they also become a friend.

Do you have pet peeves with regard to email communication? I sure do. Here is my short list of annoying email practices:

• My emails are ignored. This is especially annoying when it is an expected email or it is in response to the other person’s email. When I follow-up with that person, I sometimes learn that my email went into their spam folder and they do not check their spam folder but once every week or so. Other times, they just didn’t intend to respond—no manners, I guess.

• People neglect to acknowledge the time and effort I put into responding to their questions. I can’t tell you how often I spend 30 minutes or more writing out my detailed recommendations, including resources, etc. in response to some questions and the recipient doesn’t even acknowledge receipt of it or thank me for my time.

• Emailers use a vague, useless subject in the subjectline. I’m going to at least hesitate when I see a blank subjectline, one that says “Need Assistance,” “Proposal for you,” or “help,” for example.

What are some of your pet peeves when it comes to email communication?

I’ll be gone from my desk-top computer for a few days, but someone will be here taking care of the cats and I will have a baby computer with me in case anyone has any burning questions that can’t wait until I return. I plan to continue posting to my blog site even while traveling.

In the meantime, learn more about me and my work here:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

November 16, 2010

What an Author Needs in Order to Succeed

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 5:45 am

What was the first action you took when you finally emerged from your writing room with a completed manuscript? Of course, you protected yourself from distractions of any kind while you were writing your valuable business book, children’s story, novel, memoir or how-to book. You didn’t want to divert your attention toward anything while working toward the completion of your book.

Oh, you did take time out to read about the successes of other authors. And you may have attended a couple of critique groups. You need all of the inspiration you can get, after all.

But the day comes when you finish the work—you have a completed manuscript and you’re ready to move on to the next step. What is the next step? For most, it is publishing.

So here you are, ready to transition from closet writer to published author. What is the first thing that you do?

Many people with fresh manuscripts contact me to say, “I’ve just written a book, how do I get it published?” To me, this is like asking “How does the world financial market work?” or “What do you need to know in order to be a doctor?” or “How does one parent a child?”

Yes, the business of publishing is that big and that complex! And, if you are thinking about writing a book, you really, really need to be planning your publishing strategy from day one. While your manuscript is incubating, you should be studying the publishing industry, becoming aware of your options and working to strengthen your platform.

How many of you are covering your eyes and repeating, “lalalalalala” right now? Of course, this doesn’t sound fun or interesting or even timely. In fact, it sounds rather confusing. And you may wonder, “What is a platform?” “What do you mean options? I just want to find a publisher for my book—what’s so difficult about that?” “What do I need to know about publishing except the email address for a few publishers? An introduction to one would be even better.”

Authors, don’t try to go to college before ever enrolling in kindergarten. And don’t neglect to view publishing as a business. The minute you decide to write a book, you should be learning about the world of publishing. When you graduate from your writing room with a completed manuscript, you will be much more well-prepared to make the best decisions on behalf of your book project.

One of the absolutely best books around for learning about the publishing industry is The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

This book is designed to inform, teach and guide you through the entire publishing process including choosing the right publishing option for your project and gearing up for the huge process of promoting your book. Read some of the testimonials from authors who read this book on the book page: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Let me know if you have questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com

November 13, 2010

When Publishing Becomes an Addiction

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 7:07 am

Sometimes we get so excited about writing and we are so prolific that all we want to do is publish, publish, publish.

Perhaps you’ve published a book or two and you have several more ready to go. There may also be numerous unfinished book projects on your desk which you are eager to produce. It can become all too overwhelming and confusing for an author who has become a bit addicted to being published.

There are a couple of things that can happen to prolific authors. They are so in love with writing that they can’t stop. And they feel they must justify the time they spend writing by doing something with it other than line their drawers or wallpaper their bathrooms. The most logical solution to a filing cabinet full of manuscripts is publishing. Besides, many writers don’t feel validated unless someone is reading what they wrote.

I must admit that I fit into this scenario to a degree. Thankfully, however, I was blessed with (or I somehow managed to develop) a sense of organization and order where my writing projects are concerned. I have gained an understanding of the importance of focusing rather than approaching publishing using a scattershot method—well, most of the time, anyway…

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the many projects you have piling up on your desk—your memoir, a compilation of poems, a couple of children’s books, a manuscript featuring a play on common words and the outline of a mystery or two—you may need help focusing. Try this:

• Choose the one project that you are most eager to produce. Or choose based on the timeliness of that project, the value of it and/or the potential publishability of it.

• File all other manuscripts away—out of sight. If you get an idea related to one of the other projects, you learn the name of a good illustrator for your children’s book, you come across a piece of info for your nonfiction book, open the file and toss that material in. That’s all. Do not direct any more attention to the other manuscripts than that.

• Proceed to complete the manuscript you chose. Write a book proposal. If this is a nonfiction book, write the proposal as one of your first steps.

• Work hard on your platform for promoting this particular book—yes, while you are writing it and revising it and having it edited.

• Decide which publishing option you will pursue with this project and start researching those companies within that option.

• When you have your ducks in a row, begin contacting the publishers of your choice (or start the self-publishing process). Be sure to study each publishers’ writers’ guidelines and follow them with a query letter first or a book proposal first—whatever the publisher requests.

• Focus your writing desires on the project at hand. You’ll be writing your book proposal (see above), writing a query letter, writing promo copy, etc.

• When you decide it is time to start working on another book project, choose one similar to the first one. Why? Because, it makes more sense to address the same audience rather than trying to reach a whole new one with a new topic/genre.

Are some of you having trouble with this very problem? Let me know how you remedy it. Perhaps this post has given you some ideas for handling it in the future. Let me know:
PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Visit my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

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