Writing and Publishing News from

March 4, 2012

Use Your Competition to Design Your Book’s Marketing Plan

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:09 am

Yesterday we talked about why it is important to check out your book’s competition before producing your book. One reason is to make sure you are writing/producing the right book for the right audience. But it will also help you with your book’s marketing plan.

Find out what methods other authors with books like yours are using to market their books. How?

Do an Internet search for each competing title and visit the authors’ websites. You will discover:

• Who is reviewing these books. What sort of publications are reviews appearing in?
• Where is the author speaking? Remember his audience is your audience.
• Who is blogging about these other books and interviewing the authors?
• Do these authors have an active blog? What types of material do they post?
• Where are these books for sale?
• Who else is talking about these books? Organization leaders, experts in this field, etc?
• Are there any book signings being held? Where—what are the results?
• Are the authors submitting articles or stories related to the topic or theme of their books? Where are they appearing and what angles are they using?
• Are these authors conducting workshops on their own—through conferences? Where? On what specific topics?

Use what you learn about your competition in order to help design your own marketing plan. If another author is getting speaking gigs throughout his local school district, look into doing something similar in your community. If he seems to be selling a lot of books through workshops in his state, consider setting up workshops on this topic in your region. Perhaps she has an extremely active blogsite, she was interviewed on a prestigious blog talk radio station and she has been writing regularly for a trade/industry magazine. Could you arrange to promote your book using these tactics?

You certainly could and you should. Use your competitors as a gauge to find out if your book truly is a good idea before producing it. Then tap into the bookselling habits of those authors whose books are doing well in the marketplace to learn how to market your book more effectively.

I’ve seen authors neglect these steps in the process of writing and producing books. They just focus on their idea without bothering to research the market. While some of them luck out and do well, most never do figure out what went wrong—why their books didn’t hit the big time.

For a complete education on writing, publishing and promoting your book, read my new book, >Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. It’s at amazon.com (check out the reviews coming in for this book—all 5-star reviews, so far).

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

March 3, 2012

What the Author’s Competition Can Tell Him

Filed under: Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:45 am

You hear that you should be aware of your competition when planning and writing a book. If you haven’t heard this, you aren’t getting out enough. You aren’t studying enough about the publishing industry and how to successfully publish a book.

The reason you want to check out what else is out there before writing your book is to make sure the market isn’t inundated with books on this topic—written from a similar perspective. You want to know that there is a need for the book you have in mind. Or, in the case of fiction, you should find out if there is an audience for books in the genre you have chosen and how wide spread it is.

But there is another reason why it is important to pay attention to your competition. They will help you to create your own marketing plan.

Those of you who are just tuning into this blog for the first time and who are in the beginning stages of writing a book, might say, “WHAT? I need a marketing plan?”

Yes dear hopeful author and dear author in denial. No matter which publishing option you choose—self-publishing (where you establish your own publishing company), a pay-to-publish company or you land a traditional publisher, it is up to the author to promote and market his or her own book. And you can learn volumes about how to promote your book by taking a peek into the marketing activities of your most successful competitors.

I’ll explain how in tomorrow’s blog post.

In the meantime, check out my new book’s Amazon page. There are now four 5-star reviews for Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author.

To learn more about me, my work and my books, follow these links:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

February 25, 2012

Bookselling Opportunities and Resources for Authors

Filed under: Announcements,Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 10:45 am

Some of you subscribe to SPAWNews, the free enewsletter distributed by SPAWN on the first of each month. And you read my promo each month for the SPAWN Market Update, which is posted in the member area of the SPAWN site each first of the month. Here’s what I wrote in the March SPAWNews describing what members will find in this month’s Market Update.

The March 2012 issue of the SPAWN Market Update is all about volume. We provide 15 links to literally thousands of writing contests; jobs in the publishing field; writing opportunities for fiction, poetry and nonfiction and publishers for your project. Additionally, we show you how to track your book sales and promote your book through magazine articles. The information in this issue could give you that “award-winning,” moniker you’ve been wanting; land you a sought-after job as an editor, art director, videographer, etc.; finally reveal the right publisher for your manuscript; help you to place some of your articles/stories and so much more.

If you’d like to have access to this and every jam-packed issue of the SPAWN Market Update, PLUS several years of archives, join SPAWN NOW. It’s $65/year. What else do you get? Access to our discussion group so you can “speak” directly to some of the movers and shakers in publishing and join in on discussions related to your areas of interest, you can post your book in the SPAWN Catalog of Members’ Books and Services (it’s online year round and handed out to some of the 140,000 visitors to the SPAWN booth at the LA Times Festival of Books (LATFB) in April), you can sell books from the SPAWN booth at the LATFB or send your book to be displayed in the booth, you can place announcements in SPAWNews (circulation 2,000). Read the additional perks for SPAWN members here:
http://www.spawn.org/member.htm

If you live in Southern California and you have a published book, consider joining us in the SPAWN booth April 21 and 22. Booths are up around $1,000 each. We have secured two booths and are charging members $200 per day (either Saturday or Sunday) to sell books from our booths. You must be a member of SPAWN ($65/year) and we recommend that you have your book listed in the SPAWN Catalog of Member’s Books and Services ($35). So for $300, you get all of the benefits of membership for a year, your book is listed in our catalog (the print edition goes out to 500 readers) and you have the opportunity to connect with your readership in person at the LATFB, sell books and make important contacts that can lead to future sales. Contact me if you have questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com or Patricia@spawn.org.

February 23, 2012

Amazing Resource for Struggling Authors

Filed under: Book Promotion,Publishing — Patricia @ 6:03 am

I now have a pdf file of my latest book—Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. I will send that file of this most valuable book to anyone who is willing to write a review for Amazon.com. PLFry620@yahoo.com

What’s in it for you? Free access to a book that could change your life—that is if you hope to write a more relevant book and become a more successful author. If you know nothing about the publishing process or the business of publishing, this book is your education. And it is vital education. Do you know, for example, that nearly 80 percent of books fail in the marketplace? That is, they sell 100 or fewer copies total.

Why? Because the competition is fierce for authors. And because these authors did not bother to learn enough about the publishing industry to know that it is up to them to promote their own books. This is true whether they go with a pay-to-publish company, self-publish (establish their own publishing company) or land a traditional publisher. The author is responsible for promoting his or her book. Do you know how to do that? Of course, you don’t—if you’ve had no previous experience within this realm.

Are you, like so many other newby authors, planning to sell your book through bookstores? Or do you plan to have simple website designed where you will sell your book? Great! This is a good start. But the big picture in authorship and book promotion is much larger and more complex than this. And it is the author’s job to learn and understand the complexities. The truth is, there is MUCH more to promoting a book in this publishing climate and, if you don’t know what it takes and if you’re not willing to educate yourself, you will fail.

The other point many new authors miss is the fact that authors and their books are not part of a cookie-cutter process. Each author and every book is different/unique and they each require a different approach. Publish Your Book, for example, gives a lesson in publishing options and even helps authors to determine, through a process of elimination, which publishing option is best for his or her project. If finding a publisher or agent is foremost on your agenda right now, you really must read chapters 1 through 3 and 8, 9 and 11. So many authors “settle” or take the easy way out—and believe me, there are many easy ways these days for authors—and MOST authors miss out on the success they could have experienced because of poor choices.

If you are stymied as to how to write that book proposal that most publishers want to see, read chapters 4-7. You’ll get a lot out of the real examples we’ve used in this section.

If you are already promoting a book, you’ll be most interested in studying chapters 12 through 14.

Read what the experts and other authors are saying about this book at the book’s Amazon.com page. And then ask me for a pdf copy of it—but only if you agree to write a review of the book once you’ve finished reading it. PLF620@yahoo.com

If you want a hardcopy of Publish Your Book, you can order it at Amazon.com.

February 18, 2012

FREE Book for Serious Authors

Filed under: Announcements,Authorship,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 7:05 am

Would you be willing to write a review for my Amazon.com page in exchange for a FREE copy of my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author? This is a book for authors in all genres and at any stage in the publishing process. Among many other things, it includes:

• How to write your book for the right target audience
• How to build promotion into your book
• How to write a successful query letter and book proposal (with examples)
• How to choose the right publishing option.
• How to Establish or strengthen your author’s platform
• How to Promote and sell your book.

And it includes many real examples to follow.

Can you use help in any or all of these areas? Is this a book you’ve been wanting to order? Are you a seriously aspiring author who wants to succeed? Do you care what others are saying?

Brian Jud says, “Patricia Fry has written an eye-opening book that tells it like it really is. I believe this is one of the most helpful publishing books out there.”

Jeff Herman says “This book provides generous doses of insider information about the publishing process.”

Do you know who Brian Jud and Jeff Herman are? Brian is the author of “How to Make Real Money Selling Books” and “Beyond the Bookstore.” He’s extremely well-thought of in the publishing world. He writes a newsletter—Marketing Matters. You really should subscribe.

Jeff Herman is a literary agent and the author of “Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents.” He also wrote a book I have used often, “Write the Perfect Book Proposal.”

Let me know if you are serious about writing and publishing a successful book, finishing your fiction or nonfiction book and publishing it (either through a traditional publisher, a pay-to-publish company or self-publishing—establishing your own publishing company) or if you have a published book and it isn’t doing as well as you had hoped in the marketplace.

Contact me today for your FREE copy (US addresses only) and with your promise to review this book for Amazon.com. In the meantime, read all of the reviews for my book, Promote Your Book at Amazon. Just go to Patricia Fry’s Amazon pages. And read the one review we have so far for Publish Your Book.

Note: This offer good for the first five responders only.

If you are one of many who have already purchased this book or you’ve received it from my publisher, I’d appreciate knowing that and I’d love it if you were so inclined to write a brief review at my amazon.com pages.

PLFry620@yahoo.com Put “Publish Your Book” in the subject line and give me your mailing address.

http://www.matilijapress.com/PublishYourBook.html

February 16, 2012

Your Author’s Platform

Filed under: Book Promotion,Platform — Patricia @ 4:07 am

This is excerpted from my book in progress, Talk Up Your Book:

You’ve probably heard the word platform. It is commonly used within publishing circles to indicate an author’s following (who would buy a book by this author?), connections (who can he count on to help him reach his audience?) and way of attracting readers (the author’s popularity, expertise and/or credibility in the topic or genre).

There are numerous ways to establish your author’s platform and to build on it. Basically, it’s a matter of becoming known in your field or genre. You are strides ahead of the competition if you enter into the publishing realm with a solid platform. One way to do this is through public speaking and other activities that put you in front of your audience.
Why build a platform before your book is a book? For one thing, this would go a long way toward impressing a publisher. Traditional publishers are interested in an author’s marketing plan, and a solid platform can be a deal maker. If experience and exposure as a public speaker is part of that platform, all the better.

Additionally, no matter your publishing choice, once your book is launched, if you’ve established yourself as a speaker on your topic or in your genre, you already have a reputation and credentials. You know how to talk to people about your book, and there are at least a few people who trust your expertise in your field or appreciate your skill as a writer in your genre.

Conducting workshops and/or getting out and speaking on your topic before your book is a book will help immensely with name recognition. People are more willing to purchase your book if they already know who you are. If you also provide a signup sheet where you speak, you’ll have a leg up when it comes to promoting your book. Depending on when you start the process, you could conceivably collect the names and contact information for hundreds of people who are interested in reading your book. You will have a following even before you have a book to sell.

Note: If you are new to publishing, you may not know how difficult it is to promote and sell books and how much time and effort it takes on the author’s part. Believe me (and other publishing professionals) it is hugely time and energy-consuming. Anything you can do during the writing process of your project toward establishing and building on your platform, the greater chances you’ll have of success.

See Patricia Fry’s array of books for authors at her website:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Learn more about Patricia’s services and online courses:
http://www.patriciafry.com

January 31, 2012

Help Your Audience Members Form a Bond

Filed under: Book Promotion,Public Speaking — Patricia @ 4:10 am

When you speak to a group about the topic or genre of your book, you want to make a connection with your audience and you want them to connect with one another. If they sit apart from one another, they are individuals either for or against you. Yes, against you. Some people come to your presentation with a chip on their shoulder and they are daring you to knock it off. In other words, “Tell me something I don’t know and that I can actually believe.”

Note: I find that this is actually rare. It happens and I think it is important to mention. But, unless your book and your talk cover something quite controversial, you’ll find most of your audience members congenial, alert and eager to hear what you have to share.

I suggest that you try to bring audience members who are spread all over the room closer together—invite them to come forward and take some of the seats toward the front, for example. Some will and some won’t. A few people will move one row closer. Others won’t budge.

Even if audience members sit apart, you can still pull them together and create an atmosphere of camaraderie, which will greatly enhance your presentation. Here are a few ideas:

• For a smaller group, ask them each to introduce themselves and their projects related to the theme of your talk or their interest or experience in the topic.

• Ask what they’ve come to learn from the session. Some might reveal a problem they’re having. Encourage audience input.

• If someone asks a question or expresses a desire for additional resources or information, respond, but also consider solicit comments from the audience. People will begin to connect. I’ve seen it happen so often.

• If there is time, at some point in the program, assign an exercise that requires audience members to come together in groups—something that depends on teamwork. Try to make it fun.

• Present a challenge to audience members at large—something that requires discussion among the entire group—again, something light, so you get them laughing together.

• Once some of the audience members have revealed something about themselves with relationship to the theme of your talk, mention it a time or two throughout your presentation. Say, for example, “Just as Sonny said earlier, ‘some cats are more trainable than others.’ Does anyone have a cat as stubborn as the one he described?” or “Angie told us that she plants her sweet peas in December—does anyone else have success doing this?” This will endear the individual to you and, again, help to create a connection between him or her and the rest of the group.

This is excerpted from the book I am currently working on—Talk Up Your Book. In the meantime, be sure to order your copy of my newest book, Publish Your Book at Amazon.com or at my website: http://www.matilijapress.com

January 27, 2012

Intimacy Can Sell Books

Filed under: Book Promotion,Public Speaking — Patricia @ 5:04 am

I thought I’d share something from my book in progress this morning— Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.

It seems that celebrities and well-known authors sell books without even trying. Why? Because they are known—their reputation precedes them. Their fans and curiosity seekers are already familiar with who they are and eager to know more about them. They buy these authors’ books simply on name alone. This is an example of personality selling books.

You and I are among the nearly seven million less celebrated authors who are competing with one another (as well as the celeb authors) for book sales in the US and beyond. And competition is fierce. Every year around a million new books and ebooks are produced. And every year, thousands upon thousands of those newly published books fail. The latest statistics indicate that just under eighty percent of all books produced each year sell fewer than 100 copies; and their authors wonder why.

I say it is a lack of personality. Many authors are not willing or able to practice a hands-on approach when it comes to promoting their books. The intimacy the author experiences with his book during the writing process fades once he faces the overwhelming task of marketing it. Yet, you should know that intimacy is at least as important to your project after publication as it was during the writing phase of the book—intimacy with your book and intimacy with your audience.

The first step toward a relationship with your audience is knowing who they are. You hear publishing experts tell you, and you read in books by professionals, that you must write for a specific target audience. Your audience might be comprised of those who read mysteries, romance or young adult novels. Your book might address avid cooks, other writers, educators, parents of preschoolers, dog owners, pilots or people who are interested in World War I, fitness, home decorating or self-help for adult victims of child abuse. A primary rule of successful authorship is to identify your audience early in the process of writing your book and keep them in mind throughout. When you truly understand who your audience is and concentrate on writing expressly for that audience, not only will your book have a stronger audience base, you will have begun the process of establishing a relationship with each and every one of them.

Some of you haven’t created this sort of intimacy with your audiences while researching and writing your book. And many of you don’t even know who your audience is. I can tell you this—it is NOT everyone. Not even close. Your book has a target audience and, if you hope to approach them with live presentations, through social media and so forth, you’ll have to discern exactly who they are.

I’ll include a table of contents in a week or so. Watch for publication of this book in the fall through Allworth Press.

In the meantime, for books with excellent information, fascinating perspective and useful resources for the author, order your copy of my latest two books today:
Promote Your Book (Allworth Press, 2011)
Publish Your Book (Allworth Press, 2012
http://www.matilijapress.com
And Amazon.com

January 26, 2012

Promote Your Book by Strutting Your Stuff

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 3:57 am

Do you write articles to promote your nonfiction book? If you don’t you’re really missing out on an opportunity to strut your stuff. Your informative, educational articles help to position you as an expert in your field. Each article can also serve as a vehicle to promote you, your book and your services.

What if your book is a memoir or a novel? You can still write articles and stories designed to promote it. Here are some suggestions:

1: Offer book excerpts to appropriate magazines, newsletters and websites. Be sure to represent your material as an excerpt when you submit it. You may need to do a minor rewrite so that the piece has a beginning, middle and end.

2: Write new stories related to your topic/genre. For example, if your memoir or novel takes place in Nashville, come up with an article about a recent occurrence in that city or one featuring a little-known aspect of Nashville history. Maybe your memoir or novel features struggles with MS. Write new stories or articles with this theme. I write articles and this blog for writers and authors for two reasons. Because I know I can help you better navigate the murky waters of publishing and in order to get word out about my books on publishing and book promotion because they have even more to help new and struggling authors.

3: Multiply your ideas. You will be amazed at how one idea, theme or topic can grow into hundreds once you get the hang of this concept. Let’s say that your story involves an eccentric woman with lots of cats, publicize your book through articles and stories on many aspects of cats: caring for a cat, unusual cat stories, how a cat colony works, profiles of cat people. Now take each of those topics and watch your list of article/story ideas grow: Under caring for a cat, there’s how to prepare when bringing a new cat home, cat-proofing a home, introducing the new cat to the resident pets, traveling with your cat, grooming the cat, the aging cat and so forth. You should be able to come up with at least a dozen article/story ideas related to your theme or sub-themes in just one attempt.

4: Look for ideas everywhere. Here’s where your observational skills will come in handy. Did you notice a cat wandering through the aisles at your local independent bookstore? Interview the bookseller about his shop cat. Maybe you saw someone walking a cat on a leash. Hey, there’s an idea to research and write about. I met a woman at a cat show once who had her cat dressed up in a little coat, hat, glasses and the cat was even carrying a cat-size purse. Wouldn’t cat lovers be interested in an article or even a fictionalized story about playing dress-up with your cat?

5: If you are promoting a novel, you probably have drawers full of short stories that you’ve written over the years. Dig them out, polish them up and start sending them to appropriate magazines.

Remember, the reason that you are writing these articles and stories is to position yourself as an expert in your field, gain credibility in your topic or genre and generate a following (readers) for your book. Make it your goal to write highly informative and/or entertaining articles or stories. And then include information about your book and yourself in the bio at the bottom of the article.

For details on submitting articles and stories for publication, read my book, A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles. I also include a section on magazine article-writing in my BRAND NEW book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author and Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Amazon.com or http://www.matilijapress.com

January 25, 2012

Create Presentation Topics Based on Your Book

Filed under: Book Promotion,Public Speaking — Patricia @ 5:04 am

Do you have a repertoire of live presentations you do on behalf of your book? When you schedule a speaking engagement designed to promote your book, can you provide a list of possible speech topics? Most program organizers appreciate having choices—topics of interest to their group that they can choose from. And it would behoove you to create such a list.

Post this list at your website to demonstrate your range of possible programs for those who are seeking speakers or for those you have contacted and who want more information about you.

I go out and speak on book promotion, aspects of publishing, writing a book proposal and freelance writing. But I make it easier for a program director to choose an appropriate program by listing more specific topics and even giving the presentations titles. For example:

• Two Key Steps to Successful Publishing.
• How to Write a Killer Book Proposal.
• Book Promotion for the Bold and the Bashful.
• Get Your Book Reviewed Many Times Over.
• Promote Your Book Through Magazine Articles
• Platform-Building Tips and Techniques.
• How to Write the After-Publication Book Proposal.
I’ve recently added, “The Psychology of a Book Proposal.”

For a book on selling real estate, your list of presentations might look like this:
• How to Establish Curb Appeal for Your Home or Office Building.
• Tips for Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent.
• Understanding the Real Estate Market.
• Just What can you Expect From Your Agent?
• Simple Steps to Selling Your Home.
• When to Buy and When to Sell Locally.

For a historical fiction novel, your list of speech topics might look something like this:
• From Banker to Novelist in Five Years. (Your story.)
• How to Research for a Historical Novel.
• Little Known Historical Facts About New England.
• One Family’s Journey Out of the Darkness.
• The Real Story About Self-Publishing.
• So You Want to be a Novelist.

For nonfiction, your chapter titles and subheadings might be appropriate titles and topics for presentations. For fiction, you might tell the story of one particular character—perhaps offering some back-story that is not included in the book. Get into the psychology of why someone would behave in a certain way, as depicted in your story, for example. Do a program on some disease or dysfunction and what you learned about this during research.

You’ll book more speaking engagements if you are well-prepared with potential programs that are of interest to your reading audience. So go to work this weekend creating your topic list and then start contacting program directors for civic organizations, your local garden club, church groups, business conferences, pet trade shows, etc.

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

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