Writing and Publishing News from

I’ve been traveling, but you may not have missed me because I discovered how to schedule posts to appear automatically on certain dates—at specific times. How cool is that? I simply wrote several blog posts before I left and scheduled them to go live every other day or so while I was traveling. I hope you found them useful.

Before I left for the Cat Writer’s Conference in Dallas last week, I also spent quite a bit of time contacting book reviewers to let them know about my latest mystery novel, Cat-Eye Witness. And a few times while traveling, I found new reviews posted at Amazon. As you will notice, if you go to this book page at Amazon, not every reviewer agrees. While I’ve had five 5-star reviews—five reviewers have given high compliments to this book—there are also reviewers who did not care much for the book. It’s true—I have a 3-star, a 2-star and even a 1-star review for Cat-Eye Witness.

The first in the Klepto Cat Mystery series, Catnapped, came out earlier this year and has racked up twenty-six reviews. Fifteen of them are 5-star reviews and there are also 1, 2, 3 and 4-star reviews. The thing is, everyone has an opinion and they don’t always agree. But I notice that reviewers and other readers of fiction are much more subjective than those of nonfiction.

My nonfiction book, Promote Your Book, has thirty-four reviews and twenty-nine of them are 5-star reviews. All but one reader/reviewer gave Publish Your Book a 5-star review.

I want to learn what I need to know in order to write good fiction. I want to know how my novels are being received. But it is difficult to determine whether you are hitting the mark with your work when readers and reviewers don’t agree.

From some of the comments I receive, both in posted reviews and from the mouths of readers and critics, I’ve come to realize that life events and experiences as well as perspective and attitude play heavily into our opinions and judgments when it comes to the books we read. There are many countless personal factors that determine our opinions and views. I’m beginning to understand that reviewers and readers of fiction scrutinize fiction from a more personal perspective based on things they’ve seen, experienced, feel, etc.

Do you write fiction? Have you received a wide range of comments, critique and reviews from your various readers? Are you going crazy trying to figure out if your book is good, bad or mediocre? I think we should all relax a bit when it comes to the reviews and comments we receive. Let’s celebrate the accolades and avoid dwelling on the criticism, except that which provides useful/helpful insights we can use to improve our work.

So why continue to reach out to reviewers? Why ask readers to post their reviews at your book’s Amazon site? For the same reason you write articles/publish stories related to the topic or genre of your book, go out and speak on the theme of your book, do book signings and book festivals, write a blog, have a Facebook page and so forth. It’s called exposure. Reviewers and bloggers often post their comments at their own sites and other sites as well as Amazon and this brings even more attention to your book.

Would love to have you share your experiences and thoughts on book reviews for fiction.

4: The author neglects to establish a platform. Many new authors don’t know what a platform is. It’s the author’s following, his reach, his way of attracting his audience. Most successful authors today have a platform in place before they produce a book.

My platform for my writing/publishing-related books revolves around my experience in this field: my exposure through previously published and distributed books and articles on these subjects, my affiliation with SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and my active and far-reaching speaking and workshop schedule, for example.

Your platform for your book on phobias might be the fact that you’re a psychologist in this area of study, that you suffered a severe phobia for years, that you work with women with phobias or that you’ve written on this topic for years.

Even as a novelist, you’ll need a following and this can be established through previously published novels, of course, published stories, a popular Web site or the fact that you’re a widely-known master storyteller.

How can you play catch-up with regard to your platform? Start now getting exposure and establishing credibility in your field. Participate in online forums on your topic, submit articles to appropriate magazines and newsletters, set up speaking engagements, write letters to the editor of pertinent magazines, make news by starting a volunteer organization, for example, and then tell the press about it.

5: The author has unrealistic expectations. Many first-time authors (we’ve all been there) expect to sell their books by the truckloads through mega bookstores. They believe that any good book will be eagerly welcomed by bookstore owners and managers. The reality is that few people outside of traditional royalty publishers with track records can get new books into bookstores—no matter how brilliant and beautiful they are.

And here’s something to consider—do you really want your books in mega bookstores? Just look at the competition. Space on bookstore shelves does not guarantee sales. In fact, books that are not selling will be returned—sometimes within the first six months.

If you are determined to have your books available through mega bookstores, there is a way. How? Make a big enough splash with your book that readers are swarming to bookstores asking for it by name. This might mean appearing on TV and radio with your book, presenting large seminars all over the U.S. related to your book and getting tons of press by creating news and submitting press releases to newspapers everywhere. Become high profile and get enough exposure for your book and, even if you are self-published, when enough readers start asking for your book by name, it will be accepted by bookstores everywhere.

6: The author gives promotion just a lick and a promise and then wonders why his book didn’t “take off.” Authors need to understand that book promotion is ongoing. It should start before you write the book and continue for as long as you want to sell books.

Remedy this mistake by establishing a solid promotional plan immediately. Start by compiling a mailing and emailing list. You’ll use these lists to announce your book, publicize any specials you’re running, inform folks of new additions to your products or services, let them know about upcoming appearances and so forth.

Your list should include everyone you know. Combine your Rolodex, Christmas card list, address books and club rosters. Add business colleagues, former classmates, your children’s teachers, neighbors, your hairdresser, Yoga teacher and then continue to collect business cards everywhere you go.

This is just a start. Once you’ve notified your massive list about your book, research book promotion ideas and create a plan. You might pursue some or all of the following: build a Web site, launch a newsletter, write articles to promote your book, send press releases to newspapers everywhere, give presentations and solicit book reviews. In order to succeed as a published author, you must take promotion seriously. And do yourself a favor—don’t stay too cozy inside your comfort zone.

7: The author gives up. I can’t tell you how often I hear this from disillusioned authors, “I can’t sell my book, so what’s the use?” There’s one thing for sure; you won’t achieve the level of success you desire if you quit. Successful promotion takes time, energy, patience and lots of persistence.

Think, for a moment, about an author you admire—someone who is rather high profile. You see her name everywhere. Every time you visit a site related to this author’s genre or topic, there’s her book, her byline or her quote. This is no accident. This author spends many hours every week making sure her name is constantly in front of you. This is the sort of commitment you must make if you wish to experience a level of success as an author.

There’s a lot to contemplate when entering the huge and competitive business of publishing. And promotion is a major consideration. Whether you land a traditional royalty publisher, self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a fee-based POD publishing service, it is up to you—the author—to promote your book. And the time to start thinking about promotion is before you ever sit down and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

Order Patricia Fry’s books today: Publish Your Book and Promote Your Book available at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio.

You wrote an amazing book, designed it to perfection and even managed to get it published. But it isn’t selling as well as you thought it would. What went wrong?

As the executive director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and an international speaker, I meet many authors who are disappointed in their book sales. I think it’s fair to say that 100 percent of the time, the fault lies with the author. Fortunately, he or she has the power to change the situation. Here are seven common mistakes that authors make and tips for how to repair them:

1: The author writes the wrong book for the wrong audience. Way too many authors write the book they want to write without truly considering their audience. It’s no wonder they fail in their attempt to promote the book. They’re trying to reach an audience that doesn’t want or need the book. Gerald is a case in point. I met this author in St. Louis. He wrote a book featuring scientific proof that there is no God and planned to sell it to a general audience. As it happens, the audience for this book is most likely comprised of people just like him—people with the same belief system.

There are two things this author can do:

• He can start marketing to the right audience.
• Once he sells enough copies of this book, he can go back to the drawing board and create a book that may actually appeal to a larger target audience.

In the meantime, he can write and submit articles on his theory to help establish a platform to use when he finally produces the right book for the right audience.

2: The author doesn’t know that he is responsible for promotion. Obviously, this author didn’t take the time and initiative to study the publishing industry or he would have known that his job isn’t over once the book is published. Hopefully, the author will turn to informative sites, newsletters, forums and books where he’ll quickly learn that authorship requires a commitment beyond the proper dotting of i’s and the crossing of t’s.

It’s never too late to promote your book. Start now soliciting book reviews in appropriate magazines and at related Web sites and set up speaking engagements, for example.

3: The author neglects to build promotion into his book while he’s writing it. Savvy authors think about their target audience while they are writing and designing their books. If yours would make a good reference book, for example, you’ll want to include a complete index. For a novel, choose a setting that is conducive to promotion—a town that others want to read about and that would welcome your promotional appearances.

You could build promotion into your how-to book by involving a lot of experts and/or organizations. These individuals and organization leaders will promote the book to their contacts. For a novel, give a character a popular ailment. If you present it in a positive light, related associations might agree to help with promotion.

If you didn’t think to build promotion into your book as you were writing it, dissect it now in search of possible promotional opportunities that are imbedded within. Does your young adult novel feature a girl with a horse? Perhaps horse and riding magazines, newsletters and Web sites would review it, publish excerpts or welcome your targeted article on an aspect of horsemanship. Maybe you could get some press related to your self-help book for women with phobias through health columns in newspapers nationwide, women’s magazines or on radio talk shows such as “The Satellite Sisters.”

Did you interview a high profile individual for your book? Ask her to promote the book to her audience. Request an interview with her for a major magazine. Do you have some impressive expert testimonials in your book? Play them up in your promotional material.

Watch for four more book promotion mistakes in the next post. In the meantime, avoid all publishing and book promotion mistakes by reading Publish Your Book and Promote Your Book. Both available in print, digital and audio at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

Here’s a tip for authors who travel. Whether your trip is for pleasure or you’re traveling to speak at a conference, make it a habit to schedule additional engagements.

When I arrange to speak at a writers conference out of state, for example, I might contact writers’ groups in the area to ask if I can be a guest speaker for a meeting that week. I might work with a local librarian or booksellers to set up a workshop or other presentation in a neighboring city. And if I’m able to do so, I will call a local radio show host and ask to be interviewed just prior to my arrival.

Depending on the genre or theme of your book, you might contact a school, college or university and schedule a visit to a classroom or two. Perhaps your audience attends church association meetings, gather once a month at a local hobby shop or meet in a downtown coffee house, for example. If you have an interesting presentation or some valuable resources and information you can pass along related to the interests of these people, they would undoubtedly find a way to accommodate you—and you would sell books.

Pages 50 through 54 in my book, Talk Up Your Book, walk you through the process of setting up out-of-town speaking engagements. Order your print, Kindle or audio copy at Amazon.com.

Do you subscribe to Brian Jud’s Book Marketing Matters eNewsletter? You should—it’s a good newsletter for any author with a book to promote. Check the October 28, 2013 issue and you’ll find several very good articles, including one of mine on the author interview.

I planned to focus this blog post on things you can do to promote your book from the comfort of your home. That’s actually the theme of the talk I’ll be giving soon at the Cat Writer’s Association Conference near Dallas. And being interviewed is one thing you can do without venturing out into the weather and traffic.

So who’s going to want to interview you and why?

If you have a nonfiction book—let’s say a how-to, self-help or informational book on a topic of interest to a large audience, there are plenty of people who will be eager to interview you for their radio show, newsletter, magazine or blog site, for example. And your book probably is of interest to a large audience or a strong niche audience. Why else would you go to the trouble of producing it?

Here are a few steps to help you land and successfully participate in interviews:

1: Locate newsletters, blog sites, radio shows, Internet radio/blog radio, magazines and so forth where the hosts/editors typically run interviews on topics similar to your book. Study them so you understand the type of interviews this individual typically conducts.

2: Contact the interviewer/editor/host with your resume/bio and let them know you are interested in being interviewed. You might even give them a couple of ideas for the type of material you can provide. For example, let’s say your book covers overseas travel. Offer to respond to questions on travel tips, how to avoid the tourist crowds, money-saving travel tips or a list of the best sights to visit abroad. For a book on web design, come up with the 10 things you should know before you build your website or the 10 best ways to promote a website, for example.

3: Make it easy for the interviewer. In other words, be easy to contact and respond promptly with the exact information/material he or she wants.

4: Always keep your audience in mind as you respond to the questions. Remember, you will be tuned out if you spend too much time in promotion mode. Sure, you want to talk about your book—but the focus of your interview should be to provide value to your audience. The best way to turn listeners into customers or clients is to demonstrate your credibility rather than talking about it. Show, don’t tell.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about landing and conducting interviews for authors of fiction.

In the meantime, you’ll learn tons more about how to participate in interviews as well as everything you ever wanted to know about personal appearances for authors in Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More. It’s in print, Kindle and audio at Amazon and at most other online and downtown bookstores. Or order it here– http://www.matilijapress.com/TalkUpYourBook.html

Sign up for Patricia Fry’s new enewsletter, Publishing/Marketing News and Views. http://www.patriciafry.com It comes to your email box only 6-times per year. Request a sample. plfry620@yahoo.com

Yesterday, we talked about where to find book reviewers. If you missed that post, go back and take a look because I gave you links to book review directories. You will want to access those directories and contact some of those reviewers.

The next obvious question is how do you approach book reviewers?

Some of them have submission guidelines at their websites/blogsites. Check them out and follow them. What genres does the reviewer accept? Does he/she review self-published/independent published books? How do they prefer to be approached—via a contact form at their site or by email? Will they review ebooks? In which formats? Some will accept PDF files. Others use only Kindle or Nook readers. Of course, there are those who read only print books.

Unless the particular reviewer requests otherwise, I generally email a request for a review. I put “Request for Review” or “Request for Review—Cat-related mystery” or “Review Request for Mystery Involving Cats” in the subject line. I start out with the title of the book, what format it is in (print, Kindle, etc.) and publication date. I may say, “Please consider reviewing Cat-Eye Witness, the 2nd in my Klepto Cat Mystery series.”

Then I will provide a brief synopsis of the book and I offer a shortened Amazon link to the book (or you could give the link to the book page at your website), so the reviewer can see your amazing cover. You could post the cover in your email if you want, thus saving the reviewer a step.

It is customary to send a free copy of your book to reviewers. My novels are both in Kindle, so I offer to send them a gift copy. Sometimes reviewers want the print copy and some will agree to take a look at the PDF version.

Make a note of the reviewers as you contact them and then write down their responses. Some won’t respond at all. Others are very friendly and like to communicate with authors.

Most reviewers keep pretty busy reading and reviewing. So don’t expect to see your review posted for several weeks—in some cases, months.

And you can’t always expect a good review, either. Remember, you are asking for a personal opinion. Some reviewers are bound to find fault with your writing, something they dislike about your story or your characters. Some of the bestselling books get mixed reviews. Just look at the blockbuster “50 Shades of Grey.” Book one garnered 21,807 reviews and only 9,575 are 5-star reviews. “The Hunger Games” has a better overall rating with 17,684 reviews. 1,393 are only one, two or three-stars. My various books have received a one or two-star review in the same week they got one or two rave 5-star reviews.

Why solicit reviews? It’s another way to get exposure for your book. Reviews stacking up at Amazon give your book more credibility. Many of those reviewers also post your reviews at their websites or blogsites. They may use Twitter and/or Facebook to bring attention to your book. And so can you. When your book gets a new review, you should go into action Tweeting, blogging, posting it at Facebook and so forth.

Yesterday was a day filled with trouble-shooting tasks. In fact, it took such a strange series of turns and twists that I left this blog post unfinished around 6am, and never found my way back to it. In the midst of the hassles, problems and annoyances, my computer shut off without warning. Wasn’t my fault. But I still got the message admonishing me for turning it off improperly.

But there were some positives in the day. One was, I got to spend time downloading my photographs and enjoying my creations shown on the computer. I photographed a lot of birds this year—in particular, hummingbirds. Interesting little critters.

Also, I got another great review posted at Amazon for Cat-Eye Witness. This is my latest Klepto Cat Mystery novel. Check it out and order the Kindle book here: http://amzn.to/1bJiq0x

How does one get reviews? You can wait and hope that people will read your book and leave reviews at Amazon.com. You can promote like crazy and hope that some of those who buy the book will like it enough to post a nice review. Or you can contact reviewers of books like yours and suggest that they read and review yours. Actually, you should do all 3—leaning more heavily toward numbers 2 and 3, of course.

I also recommend that you study publications related to the genre or theme of your book and contact the editors of those that publish reviews.

Did you know that there are book review directories? Here are a few:
http://acqweb.org/bookrev.html
http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/humanities/literature/reviws
http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net-free-book-reviews.html

Or purchase The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages, a Promotional Reference Guide for Authors and Small Publishers. It has 777 pages, is well-organized and easy-to-use and sells for around $20.

You can also run Internet searches for reviewers in your category: mystery book reviewer, for example.

For more about how to locate and approach book reviewers, read my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon in print, Kindle and audio and at most other online and downtown bookstores. I saw it in Barnes and Noble in Ventura, CA just the other day. Yay!!

So far this week, we’ve talked about your book promotion mindset and I tried to drive home the importance of actively promoting your book. But what are some of the activities you can pursue and which ones are best?

I’ll give you an idea of the scope of activities in a moment. First, let me respond to the all-important second question: What is the best way to promote a book?

Here’s my standard response: “It depends on you—the author—and it depends on your book.” There is no plan or program, no specific activity or pursuit that is right for every author. Remember, you are the CEO of your book. You and your book are unique. You have a unique set of skills and contacts. You have a unique audience. It is up to you to determine the following:

• Who is your audience?
• Where are they? Where do they learn about the books they want to read? Where do they buy books?
• What is the best way to approach your audience?

I can and will make this strong suggestion: Do not purchase a marketing package from your self-publishing company. Instead, use your head. Get creative. And come up with a marketing plan that will reach and address your particular audience in a way that is suited to your personality and skill level. Individualize your plan. You’ll have much greater success.

Another blanket tip involves exposure—while you believe the majority of your potential readers are not computer literate, for example, don’t discount opportunities to promote your book using social media, by having a website and so forth. Exposure is the name of the book promotion game. You want your book mentioned and showcased as many places as is at all logical or possible. While you’ll most likely put most of your energy in activities you believe will reach the largest numbers of your audience, it is still wise to take advantage of many other opportunities to get exposure for your book.

Okay, so what are some of the ideas most authors should take advantage of when promoting their books? Here they are in no particular order: (Note: I might recommend a certain order for specific authors. The order can differ from author to author.)

1: Build your own website. Even if your book is showcased at your publisher’s website or at your self-publishing service’s website, you need your own website with clear, easy-to-locate contact information.

2: Get involved with social media. Have a blog and post often. Sign up for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and/or any of the other social media sites where it makes sense to do so and participate.

3: Go out and speak to your audience. For an enormous amount of information about locating venues, preparing presentations, handling potential problems, being interviewed, speaking at conferences, doing podcasts and MUCH more, read by book, Talk Up Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/TalkUpYourBook.html

4: Get your book reviewed many times over. (You’ll find blog posts here with links to review directories. Type in “book review directories.”) Make sure reviewers post their reviews at all of the most appropriate sites, including your book page at Amazon.com (see below). Post excerpts from the reviews at your website.

5: Secure booths at book festivals. This is a great way to introduce your book to the general public—some of those people who might not find you through your more targeted venues. Some of them would buy the book as a gift, they might want to interview you for a radio show, etc. Some books sell very well at book festivals.

6: Make sure your book is at Amazon.com. Most people may see the book someplace else, but they buy it from Amazon.com.

7: Set up signings and presentations at bookstores and appropriate specialty stores related to the theme or topic of your book. And then publicize the event widely and with enthusiasm.

8: Contact other bloggers and set up a blog tour or simply ask to be a guest blogger at sites related to the theme or genre of your book and that get a lot of traffic.

9: Locate websites related to the theme/genre of your book and ask to have your book featured or recommended there.

10: Develop a massive email list by collecting names of interested customers and potential customers at book festivals, presentations, signings and at your website. Include neighbors, friends, colleagues, customers, coworkers and so forth. Use the list to announce new books, awards won, special pricing, etc. Where appropriate, you might want to establish a newsletter.

Obviously, there are hundreds more book promotion ideas out there and you will most likely devise some of your own as you practice promotion techniques. You might find that giveaways with the book’s title and your website result in sales. So have magnets, pens, bookmarks, etc. made and be generous in handing them out.

If your book relates to something such as travel, parenting, senior living, pets and so forth, you would have a good chance of having it mentioned or reviewed in newspaper, magazine and newsletter columns related to this topic.

If your novel features a particular venue such as a botanical garden, zoo, race track (cars/horses, etc.), movie set or airport, for example, you can promote to readers within these areas of interest and, perhaps sell your book in botanical gardens, zoos, airports, etc.

For over 250 book promotion ideas, tips, techniques and more, be sure to order your copy of Promote Your Book today. It’s available in print, Kindle and audio at Amazon.com and at most other online and downtown bookstores.

Book promotion is a lot of things. Let’s see how many descriptive words I can come up with: It is hard work, energy-draining, time-consuming, on-going and it takes some level of creativity. There’s a lot of competition out there for authors who are marketing books.

Different authors view book promotion from a variety of perspectives, including unnecessary, intimidating, confusing, fun (but only for a while), overwhelming, all-consuming, too darn much work, and/or a big waste of time.

Some authors roll up their sleeves and get busy promoting once their books are published. They may even devise a long-range marketing plan. Others jump in with both feet, engaging in a few ambitious promotional activities right away and then go back to whatever they were doing before they became an author. Still others never even devise a plan or launch any activities to speak of. They just sit back and watch their books die, along with approximately 78 percent of all other new books.

What is your attitude about book promotion? What is your mindset? Have you done enough studying to understand how successful books become successful? Are you open to learning, not only how to write a book and how to get one published, but also how to introduce it to the public, how to elicit sales—in other words, how to promote your book to your particular audience?

Beware. If you haven’t written the best book you can, if you haven’t hired a good book editor and become educated about the business of publishing and marketing, your publishing experience may not be as exciting as you hoped. You must also be willing to give your book the push it needs in order to be noticed.

Book promotion is not an option for authors who want a successful publishing experience. It is a necessity. And the earlier you start your education, the more potential you’ll have for success.

So start your training today, no matter where you are in the writing, publishing or book promotion process.

If you were to start a new job in an industry you weren’t familiar with, the first course of action would be training, right? You would be trained to understand the scope of the job and to handle the various tasks involved. Well, authorship is a business. Think of it any other way and you are doing yourself a huge disservice. I often tell authors they should consider themselves the CEO of their book from day one.

There are many places where you can get an education in book promotion. Most professionals recommend that authors learn from several teachers and train in a variety of arenas. Here are a couple of places to start. Read these books:

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
Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.

All of these books by Patricia Fry (Allworth Press) are available at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio as well as at my website: http://www.matilijapress.com

As you put the final touches on your book manuscript, you may be planning your marketing strategy. If you’ve been following along with this blog these past few days, you know that I’d prefer you start that activity as early as possible.

However, few authors do. They make sure their wonderful manuscript is carefully put to bed (in other words published) and then they begin thinking about the marketing aspect. Hundreds, if not thousands, of authors engage in just a few promotional activities and then stop. They might set up a book signing at a local independent bookstore, speak to a group at the church, build a website and maybe even write a few articles or stories designed to promote their book. They put it at Amazon, tell a few people about it and then get caught up in their former lifestyle and leave the book to fend for itself. You wouldn’t treat a kitten or a puppy that way. Believe me, a book destined for success needs at least as much care and consideration.

There are hundreds of ways to promote a book. I write about over 250 of them in my book, Promote Your Book. John Kremer lists 1001 book promotion activities. The Internet is brimming with ideas, companies, sites, services and more designed to help you promote your book. All you have to do is understand who your audience is, where they are, how best to approach them and then devise a logical plan.

Let these two books help: 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

These books by Patricia Fry (Allworth Press) are available at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio as well as at my website: http://www.matilijapress.com