Writing and Publishing News from

Christmas is over. Unless you look forward all year to the after-Christmas sales, you may be feeling a bit of a letdown today. It’s the same letdown feeling you have once your book is finally completed and you’re holding it in your hands.

You work for months or years researching for and writing your book. You go in search of a publisher or decide to self-publish—making many decisions and maybe putting out money at every turn. Throughout the process you worry and fret. You’re also wildly excited about bringing out your book. And then, one day, it arrives. You can actually embrace your completed book. You are living your dream of becoming a published author.

Once the celebrating is over, however, reality sets in and you wonder, “Now what?” Your sense of joy and extreme accomplishment begins to fade when you realize what comes next. The anticipation is over. The celebrating has stopped. And you’re left with responsibilities and obligations of major proportions.

After Christmas, all that remains are wrappings, trimmings and dirty dishes. You know what’s in the packages so carefully placed under your tree. You’ve experienced the delight in everyone’s eyes when they opened your gifts. What you once viewed with happy anticipation now makes you cringe. It’s a similar feeling for authors who find themselves facing what comes after publishing—the hugely serious job of marketing their books.

If you are working on a book or you’re thinking about writing one, do yourself a favor and prepare for that day that comes after you hold your book in your hands for the first time.

No matter where you are in the process of writing or producing your book, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, NOW. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html. Read the testimonials along the left side of the page. Click to read some of the reviews. This book is serious ammunition for any author who wants to succeed in the highly competitive publishing field.

If you’ve already experienced that post-publication letdown—you have a book that you’re promoting and things aren’t going so well, read The Author’s Repair Kit. It will tell you how to breathe new life into a failing or faltering book. It may be a simple matter of marketing to the wrong audience. http:www.matilijapress.com/author_repairkit.html

Don’t forget to sign up for my online book proposal or book promotion workshops. Read more about the courses in the December 25th blog post.

As a writer of nonfiction, I have always been interested in newspaper and magazine columns. I thought it would be cool to be a columnist like Heloise, Erma Bombeck, Abbey, Ann Landers, Dr. Gott… I wondered, what’s it like to be responsible for writing a daily or weekly column? And how in the heck do these columnists come up with enough material for so many columns?

I actually landed a column in our small town newspaper early in my career (nearly 35 years ago). First, I studied the newspaper to see what was missing. There were already a variety of columns. What could I add to the line-up? I came up with the idea of a business column—Profiles in Business. I interviewed a couple of local business people and wrote up sample columns. I then presented my idea to the newspaper publisher. He hired me on the spot. I was a columnist. I wrote Profiles in Business every week for about three years, earning a whopping 25 cents per column inch.

I almost had a magazine column. In the late 1970s, I contributed a few articles to a new women’s sports magazine. I knew that they were still developing their magazine format, so I pitched an idea for a humor column related to women in sports. I sent the editor three sample columns and they hired me. My good luck turned sour, though, when the magazine went out of business before the column went live.

Isn’t a blog much like a column? As bloggers, we are responsible for filling space with interesting material on our particular topics.

Yes, bloggers are, in essence, columnists. We have the power to write how or what we want in our little blog spaces. We can be funny, sarcastic, satirical, serious or even crass. We create the personality of our blogs. And we can write whatever occurs to us, but it had better relate to our blog topic if we want our readers to return.

If you plan to start a blog, consider what you want it to be. Who is your audience and what will you offer them? How do you want to come across in your blog? Will you entertain, inform or teach? Can you come up with enough material to post at least once a week—preferably every day? Presumably, you will develop a blog related to your book topic/genre or your freelance writing work. So, along with your commentary, interviews, guests columnists, resource lists and solid informational articles, you’ll pitch your book or business.

Here’s your chance. If you’re like me and you’ve ever dreamed of having your own column, maybe the time has come. The blog, it seems, is the new column.

Are you outgoing? Do you make friends easily? Are you an advertising whiz? Do you have great communication skills? Maybe you love to travel, you’re good at small talk or you have some impressive connections. Do you write killer press releases? Are you highly organized? Maybe you have exceptional computer skills.

Although book promotion seems to require a variety of skills and talents, it’s rare that an author would come into this realm with all of the desired attributes. Not every author is a marketing expert or an accomplished public speaker. I know several published authors who can’t or don’t want to get out in public even to promote their books.

The fact is that it’s too easy to get a book published today. Even folks with minimal writing skills and no marketing savvy can become authors. But only those with something more on the ball will experience success with their books.

This blog post is for the unskilled, untrained author. I want you to examine your strengths and your opportunities and use them to get your book noticed. For example:

• Maybe you can’t get out much, but you have time on your hands. Use that time to devise and implement promotional activities on behalf of your book. Develop a website, get involved in websites and organizations related to the theme or genre of your book and participate! Study appropriate magazines, ezines and websites and arrange for book reviews. Learn how to write a good press release and send them to appropriate newspaper columnists (gardening, parenting, spiritual, health/fitness, sports, senior, children, pets, ecology, etc.). Columnists are always looking for interesting news items related to their themes.

• If your strong suit is your ability to communicate, get out and meet people at book signings, book festivals, appropriate club/organization meetings, etc. And engage in public speaking. You might also enjoy and benefit from participating in online discussion groups and on bulletin boards/forums.

• If you’d rather write—develop a newsletter and/or write stories and articles for publication in appropriate magazines and ezines. Use the bio at the end of the pieces to promote your book!

• Maybe you are an idea person. Use your skills to develop promotional concepts for your book. Be creative! If you can come up with the ideas, but aren’t good at carrying them out, partner with someone who can implement them or who can nudge you toward your goals. Maybe you have a book on building miniature trains. You might plan a meet in your community for train enthusiasts, get together with others and set up a booth at the county fair this year, design a specialty book section at your website or become a regular at the monthly swap meets in your area.

• If you have a marketing background, use it to get your book noticed. Create ads and brochures, send them to your mailing and emailing lists, post them in strategic places related to the theme/genre of your book, place ads in appropriate publications/sites, if you have the money to do so. Professionals generally don’t suggest that authors pay to advertise, but there are instances where it is reasonably priced and effective. Be discerning.

Which category do you fit into? Can you see how you can utilize what you have in order to promote your book rather than trying to follow someone else’s program? Of course, I’d like to hear from you on this subject.

Question of the day: What are your strong points and how do you use them to promote your book or your freelance writing work?

Contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com

Visit my website: http://www.matilijapress.com

We talked not too long ago about adding a list of resources to your website in order to attract potential readers who are seeking additional information on your book’s subject or genre. Some of you know that I have accumulated a list of around 200 resources for authors and freelance writers at my personal website, http://www.matilijapress.com

Here’s a sampling of the 33 categories on my resources page: Books for Freelance Writers and Authors; Magazines, Ezines and Newsletters; Publications for Screenwriters; Services for Authors and Freelance Writers; Sites for Children’s Writers; Sites for Fiction Writers; Markets and Jobs for Writers; Newspaper Directories (for sending out press releases); Grammar and Writing Sites; Legal Help for Authors and Writers; Publishing Resources; Book Review Sites; Warnings for Writers; Grants for Writers; Find a Printer and even Writing Opportunities for Young Writers.

Check out my resources page and let me know if you see anything missing—anything you would like to see there that isn’t. http://www.matilijapress.com/forwriters/resources.html

How does one develop a resource list of this size? For me, it involved years of research. Many of these resources appear in my writing/publishing-related books. I did the research for the books and then transferred them over to my website for an even wider audience.

Of course, things change—books go out of print, newsletters come and go, sites close down and so forth, so it takes some diligence to maintain a resource list like this one. The beauty of it is, you can keep a website resource list more up-to-date than one that is in print.

So how do you go about finding the resources for your website—or for your book, for that matter? This question takes us back to research.

• Go through every book on your shelf or desktop on your book’s topic or genre in search of the resources those authors recommend. And don’t forget to add the books you trust most to your resource list.

• List the appropriate newsletters and websites you rely on the most.

• Note all of the best websites you’ve used over time to help you through the work on your project.

• Go in search of additional resources online and at your library/bookstore.

• Open your eyes, ears and mind to resources you see listed in your favorite newsletters and in your online discussions, etc.

• Document those resources you use daily (or even occasionally)—the new link you use to locate material for your press release, the publisher you heard of that is seeking manuscripts in your book’s genre, the informative blog you stumbled across, a report on a new scientific study, etc.

Check each and every resource before posting it. You want to make sure it is still live and that it is still relevant to your audience. Consider this, if it is relevant to you, it is probably something your readers want and need.

If you want more visitors to your site, offer them more. A resource list is an excellent place to start. Good luck with yours. Let me know if you need additional guidance and report back when your resources list is up and I’ll announce it in my blog.

Patricia Fry to Teach Two Online Courses
I’ll be starting two of my online courses after the first of the year. Space is limited, so sign up early. Starting January 5, 2010, I’m teaching the Successful Book Proposal Course. This course runs 8 weeks (or work through the course faster, if you like). Learn more about what to expect here: http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm For $200 you get one-on-one guidance through the process of writing a complete book proposal during the 8 weeks, only.

On January 12, 2010, my online Book Promotion Workshop begins. This workshop runs $200 for 6 weeks. Learn more about what it involves at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

SPAWN members get $25 off each course.

Start the new year on the right path with your book project, sign up today for the course of your choice.

If you are interested in the freelance writing workshop, let me know. If I get enough interest, I’ll teach it early next year, as well.

PLFry620@yahoo.com

Do you produce a weekly, monthly or quarterly newsletter designed to promote your book(s)? I guess some of you use your blogs as a substitute for a promotional newsletter. And that’s okay. But it would be better if you did both! Why?

There are still potential customers who are not going to visit a blogsite regularly. And a newsletter is a good way to reach and remind folks of your book and other products and services. This is still a great method of keeping your name and the name of your book in front of potential readers.

So what goes into a newsletter? It should be more than an advertisement. It should inform, educate and entertain readers. Include material that your potential audience craves, is interested in, needs or that makes him/her think, ponder, smile or want to improve in some way. Strive to gain your potential readers’ trust and you will sell more books. Someone who learns from and/or enjoys your promotional newsletter will most likely want to read your book and purchase copies for gifts.

With this in mind, what exactly should your newsletter contain? If you’re promoting a nonfiction book, consider the following:

• Present an article on a cutting edge experiment, or report on a recent scientific discovery related to the focus of your book.

• Share anecdotes related to the topic of your book.

• Note current testimonials about your book.

• List a few resources.

• Write about some of your recent speaking engagements.

• Post an interesting editorial (which might include some of the above).

• Announce a contest—give a $100 to the 100th person to purchase your latest book, for example.

• Run an interview with an expert in your field.

• Pitch your book—maybe offering a discount during the month of December, for example.

• Announce new books/products/blogsite, etc.

For a book of fiction, your newsletter might include:

• An excerpt from your book.

• Your appearance schedule.

• Anecdotes reflecting readers’ experiences with your book.

• A challenge for readers—give a writing prompt, ask them to write in with the number of times you mention a particular character in your book or quiz them on an aspect of a particular scene in the book, for example.

• Treat your newsletter readers to a short story—yours or one by another writer.

• If you have a pet, a child or an otherwise interesting life, share some of your experiences each month. Maybe you’re an avid hiker, you train horses, you perform in community theater or work at Food Share. Share an anecdote about those experiences and try to connect it to the theme or your book or your writing life.

• Pitch your book—offer a discount during a certain period.

• Announce new books/products.

You are a writer. Why not promote your book using your special talent—writing? Maintain a blog, sure, but reach a wider audience by also producing a newsletter. And let us know how that goes. Those of you with newsletters, we’d love to hear from you. Is it a worthwhile venture? Give us some of your newsletter tips.

As predicted, my books are selling this month. I’m hauling loads to the post office just about every other day. Thank you! Thank you! If you haven’t placed your order for The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, the book that many authors consider their bible, there’s still time to receive it for studying during the long holiday season. Read it now and by the New Year, you’ll have the knowledge, direction and guidance that you need in order to succeed with your book project. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html Perfect bound book $19.95.

Order Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats within the next few days and receive it in time for Christmas giving. Three of these comb-bound books went out the door yesterday. http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapdes.html Comb-bound book $14.00. Ebook $8.50.

Some of you have learned this truth already—that research is forever if you are an author. Others are in complete denial about this fact. You’re sick and tired of research—enough, already!

You had to research while writing your fiction, nonfiction or even children’s book. (I spent 5 years researching and writing The Ojai Valley, An Illustrated History.) You were in research mode while trying to find an agent and/or publisher. If you self-published, your research involved how to set up your company, locating a cover designer, understanding the Library of Congress and copyright stuff, etc. Now you just want to sell books, right?

I just finished writing/compiling the monthly SPAWN Market Update, for the member area of the SPAWN website. And my theme for authors with books to promote was RESEARCH and RESOURCES.

I urge you, as authors, to continue searching for the best book promotion opportunities and to explore and experiment to discover what works for your particular project. This takes constant focus and…yes, research. If you were to read an issue or two of the SPAWN Market Update, you would discover several book promotion ideas and resources. If you follow some of the resources, you will surely discover specific opportunities for promoting your book to a new audience in new ways. If you read the SPAWN Market Update as well as, say, the Book Promotion Newsletter, Brian Jud’s newsletter and A Marketing Expert Newsletter, for example, you’ll be exposed to even more ideas and specific resources. Continue visiting my blog OFTEN and others on your RSS feed or Favorites list and you’ll be exposed to even more ideas and resources. This is a good thing!

But, if you don’t take the time to do the work, you will not reap the benefits. If you don’t read the January issue of the SPAWN Market Update, for example, you won’t learn about an easy and effective way to bring more—many more—of your particular readers to your website. And we all know that the more of the right kind of people who visit, the more books you will sell.

By “right kind,” I mean your particular readers—those who seek out books like yours: mysteries, romance novels, works related to PTSD, child sexual abuse, cooking without sugar, etc.

In 2010, contribute to the success of your book by getting back into serious research mode. Start by vowing to read my blog every day. Spend some time at my website (I have some great articles there and a fabulous Resource List). http://www.matilijapress.com.

No matter what stage you are in with your publishing project, order my book today: The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html (Thank you to all of those who have been ordering it through Amazon, buy the way—but it is okay to order from my site.)

Join SPAWN and you’ll have access to the Market Update and SPAWNDiscuss, where we have some lively discussions related to writing, publishing and book promotion. Freelance writers are welcome, too. http://www.spawn.org. Join NOW as membership dues go up January 1, 2010. We just did our first teleseminar (for members only) on how to create buzz for your book. We’ll be offering the recording (for members only) at the SPAWN website soon.

And don’t just buy, subscribe and join—also SHOW UP! It does no good to rescue a puppy if you never feed it or show it love. And it will do you no good to buy, subscribe or join if you don’t participate and partake of the offerings.

Questions? Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com.

PS This is post number 650!!! Wow!

I told you that a client/friend landed a grant to have her book presented as a play in Griffin, Georgia. Well, I really, really want to be there, so I am attempting to locate writers groups in the area where I can speak, therefore, justify spending the money to go.

Do you see how that works? No, I probably won’t be a paid speaker—although some clubs and organizations do give speakers a stipend of from $50 to $150 or so. I go out and speak to these small groups for the exposure. It is a way for me to promote my books, my services and SPAWN while also helping hopeful and struggling authors to take the steps necessary to succeed.

Those of you with books to promote could follow suit. Do you have a class reunion or a family reunion coming up next summer in Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Miami or Waterloo, Iowa? Contact bookstores in the area and arrange for a book signing. Then make arrangements to do a gig on a local talk radio show prior to the event and be sure to send out press releases to local newspapers. If your book, in any way, relates to local history, see about speaking at the museum or before the historical society.

Maybe you have a nonfiction book featuring pets, natural health and beauty tips or family budgeting. Arrange book signings at appropriate sites—pet stores, veterinarian offices, animal shelters or natural health food stores, beauty shops, beauty supply stores or real estate offices, an accountant’s office, etc.

Do you have a novel focusing on an elderly couple who take a motorcycle road trip? Set up signings/talks at senior centers, bike shops, civic club meetings and so forth.

In other words, use your imagination to come up with good venues for promoting your book and step out of your comfort zone to make the arrangements.

Program directors and bookstore managers who do not know you, will need some proof of your credibility. After telling them a little about yourself, invite them to your website. Send them a copy of your book. Give them a sense of your talk. And be sure to tell them about some of your speaking experiences.

What? You don’t have speaking experience? Here’s what you do:

1. Join a Toastmasters Club. Find one near you at: http://www.toastmasters.org. Toastmasters Clubs are self-help organizations for honing your public speaking and communication skills.

2. Devise a presentation designed to entertain and/or inform audiences.

3. Set up several book signings and speaking engagements locally.
Now you have skills and experience.

To learn more about the dos and don’ts of public speaking as a way to promote your book and so much more related to writing, publishing and promoting your book, read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Those of you who have this book–and I know there are quite a few of you who do–how about commenting on what part of the book helped you the most. PLFry620@yahoo.com. Or leave a comment here.

Most newspapers and magazines have columns. A newspaper might have a book review column, a business column, a pet column, a senior column—even columns related to automotive, local activities, foods and cooking, parenting, gardening and health.

Magazines have columns related to the theme of the periodical. A parenting magazine might have columns in the areas of family activities, family budgeting, children’s books, relationships and child behavior. A women’s magazine may have columns focusing on fashion, beauty, shopping, foods, fitness, home decorating, family issues, career and so forth.

What do these columns mean to you? They could provide book promotion opportunities.

An author friend of mine sold a lot of her specialty cookbooks by tapping into newspaper columns. This was before everyone was using the computer. She collected newspapers from all over the U.S. through friends, relatives and the library system. And she studied each of them to find out if they had a foods column, contacted the editors of those columns and told them about her book. Most of them responded by requesting a copy of the book to review or asking for an interview with the author.

What is the theme of your book? Does it deal with an illness? Locate newspapers and magazines with medical and health columns and ask the editors if they would either review your book, publish excerpts from it, allow you to be guest columnist or interview you for their columns. It would help if you could link your request to one of their recent columns or a current national health concern.

Maybe your book features your family’s mission in a third world country. You might interest the editors of family, travel, religious, spiritual or volunteering columns in writing about your book.

For a book on using basic kitchen ingredients in your beauty rituals, contact the editors of health, environmental/natural health, beauty, senior and maybe even foods/cooking or budgeting columns.

And remember, the easier you make it for the columnist to say yes, the better your chances of getting space in the column. How?

• Study each column so you are familiar with the style, subject matter, etc. of each column. Use an approach and a column idea that fits within this formula.

• Point out two or three strong themes in your book that would make for interesting columns.

• Have some material prepared so the columnist can simply slip it in.

• When it seems appropriate, offer to send the editor a copy of your book.

• Keep researching your topic so you can speak to fresh, new trends.

If you aren’t sure what sort of column to seek out for your particular book, contact us here through the “comments” function and we’ll help you work it out.

Don’t get so busy this season that you forget to take care of your needs as a hopeful or budding author. You won’t get very far in this highly competitive publishing field unless you are armed with knowledge—an understanding of the publishing industry, your options, the possible ramifications of your choices and your responsibility as a published author.

If you have a book in mind or in the works and you don’t know all of your publishing options, you don’t know how to locate and approach a publisher or agent, you are unfamiliar with the process of getting your book noticed by your particular audience, you know nothing or little about the HUGE process of book promotion, you really MUST read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Order your copy now:
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html