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Are you the author of more than one book in more than one genre or topic? It makes the tough job of book promotion even tougher, doesn’t it?

Some of us with multiple book topics/genres have multiple blogs, twitter accounts, Google alerts accounts, websites, and so forth. We promote to different audiences in different ways for our different books. And sometimes we have trouble keeping up with it all.

I mean, how in the world can you do justice to promoting a young adult fantasy and a business book at the same time? I have trouble maintaining two blog sites. In fact, the reason why this post is going up so late in the day is because I decided to post on my Catscapades blog today, as well. Have you visited my cat-related blog? I established it in order to help promote my book of cat stories, Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats. See the book here: http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.html

Visit my Catscapades blog here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades

How do I handle promotion for books related to publishing, cat books and local history books, for example? Not very well. For me—especially since I also run a full-time editorial business, I’m the executive director of SPAWN (another nearly full-time position) and I am writing another book—I must make choices and establish priorities.

After 25 years of promoting my local history books, I pretty much let them sell themselves now. My website and Amazon.com attract those buyers who are looking for something on the history of the Ojai Valley. And the museum is my outlet for tourists and other walk-ins.

I rely almost totally on the Catscapades blog and word of mouth to sell copies of the Catscapades ebook and comb-bound print book.

And this leaves the majority of my promotional time and energy for my writing/publishing-related books, which I promote via this blog, articles in numerous appropriate magazines, speaking engagements, word of mouth and so forth.

It doesn’t seem to me that it is humanly possible to do a really proper job of promoting two or more books on different topics and in different genres, unless those two books are your absolute total focus. This means no family interaction or commitments, no friends, no extracurricular hobbies or interests, no household obligations or responsibilities…no life outside of promoting your books. Don’t even think about having a job.

I have learned my lesson a couple of times about the dangers of trying to juggle two or more books on diverse topics. It’s darn hard work and it tends to create a failure out of at least one of them. That’s why I recommend to anyone who is contemplating a second book project, to produce a book similar to the one they are already promoting—at least for the first five or ten years of its shelf life. If you have a nonfiction book and you want to try writing a novel, at least try to use the same theme as your nonfiction book. For example, maybe your nonfiction book is about stamp collecting. Write your novel around a philatelic (stamp collector). Maybe your nonfiction book features short-cuts for dog groomers. The main character of your novel could be a dog groomer.

My point today is to think before you act when it comes to your publishing decisions. Think with your head instead of your heart. If you truly understand what is expected of you—what your responsibilities as a published author are—before you get involved, you’re more likely to make the right choices.

Another good reason for staying within your genre or subject when coming out with a new title, for example, is that you’ll have a better opportunity to build your platform. It’s tricky to establish a perceived expertise in more than one area. What is a platform comprised of, anyway?

• Recognition.
• Trust.
• Connections.

Doesn’t it make sense to focus all of your promotional efforts in one area?

Be sure to purchase your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book now, while you’re thinking about it and while you have that $20 in your pocket. This book will teach you more than you can even imagine that you need to know as a published author. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Yesterday I blogged about how to use competing books to promote your own book. And when I indicate “competition” I mean it in the kindest, friendliest sense.

Your “competitors” are simply other authors with books on a similar topic or in the same genre as yours. And I’m not suggesting stealing from them or undermining their efforts in any way. Instead, I want you to learn from them and align with them, where possible. Here are a few more ideas for doing that: (Read the post for November 14, 2009 for additional tips and ideas.)

Find out who is reviewing their books. Where did they get book reviews? Perhaps you could solicit reviews from the same reviewers.

What publications have supported their books in some way? Consider contacting editors of similar magazines and newsletters.

Some new authors might wonder how to locate authors of books like theirs.

• Do a Google search using key words related to the topic/genre of your book.

• Subscribe to Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts

• Use the books you chose for the competitive books section of your book proposal.

• Locate books like yours in the section where your book would be stocked in local bookstores.

• Keep a watchful eye on the books and authors mentioned in the trade, consumer or genre publications you subscribe to and at the sites you frequent related to your book’s topic/genre.

Book promotion is hard work. Making a sale is getting harder and harder. It is to our benefit to connect with others who are also struggling (or who are succeeding) in this effort. That’s why we recommend that authors at any stage of their project join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). Check it out at http://www.spawn.org. You will be amazed at the value provided for a $45 annual fee.

Here’s a book promotion tip you may not have thought of. It’s one that I suggest to my clients, but I don’t know how many of them actually follow through with it.

Snoop on your competition. In other words, find out how authors with similar books are selling theirs and emulate that. How? Spend time at these authors’ websites.

• Visit their media page to see what they’ve been up to. An on-the-ball author will post media coverage showing where he’s been speaking, what conferences he has attended, what activities he has been involved in, etc.

• Check his “Speaking” or “Activities” page to find out where he plans to speak in the future.

• What are the topics of his presentations?

• Does this author have any contests or other interactive projects going on?

• Does he have a FaceBook, Twitter, etc. account? How is he using it and how does this seem to be serving him?

• Look at the testimonials page—which experts have commented on his book? Maybe these are people you would like to connect with.

• What are his readers saying? Perhaps their comments might give you some ideas about promoting your book.

• Study his blog entries. What is he talking about? Does he have a large number of followers? What can you do get as many or more followers?

• Be sure to comment at his blog site and others related to the genre/theme of your book. This will give you some exposure.

• Study his promotional material.

• You might also start a dialog with some of these authors and actually discuss some of your promotional ideas. Maybe you can do some piggyback marketing (he’ll promote your book through his channels if you’ll promote his through yours).

How do you use this knowledge once you get it? This suggestion is not meant to create pirating among authors. No way! Rather, use the information and leads you get to inspire your own promotional material and activities. Get some ideas for groups you can speak to. Learn a few tips and tricks for reaching your audience. Maybe you’ll find ways to make more sales. And, perhaps, you’ll even develop some new friends and allies who really do know what you’re going through as an author and who can help and support you. Use some of these ideas and report back how they worked for you.

Selling Books Isn’t Always Easy
I sold several books yesterday—on Friday the 13th. Guess it was a good luck day for me. But every book sale had many extra steps to it. None of them went smoothly. I had to take extra time and extra effort to nail down the sales. I want you to know that I am not complaining. I met some lovely people. But I do want you to know that, no matter how much you streamline your ordering system, you may still have to end up hand-selling each book. Not always—but often enough that this needs to be mentioned.

As an author, you will also have to be a salesperson and a pitchperson. You’ll be called on to personally make the sale when your website and brochure didn’t quite do the job. You’ll have to handhold some customers and spend a lot of time responding to questions. Sometimes you’ll go out of your way to deliver a book or to ship it in an unfamiliar way. I had one customer in Australia who placed his order for one of my books something like 11 times. Yes, he hit the buy button 11 times (he admitted to “maybe a couple”). It took me a good part of the morning trying to make that transaction right for both of us—I had to get techi help from my merchant account company and hand credit each of the erroneous orders. What a pain!

In the end, the customer was happy and I lost out. How could that be? Wellllll, in my eagerness to make things right, I accidentally typed in the wrong credit card number and credited the wrong account with one charge (thankfully, it wasn’t all of the charges). I didn’t know this until the customer came back to me and said that there was still one credit left that I needed to do. I had to go back through the process to figure it all out and that’s when I discovered that I’d credited the wrong account one time. I went ahead and credited his account once more, which meant that he had paid once for his order—he was straight. But I was upside down!

The merchant account representative told me to go back and charge that card that I’d erroneously credited. When I did, I got all kinds of red flags and loud whistles. There was something wrong with this card—it had been stolen, perhaps…I don’t know. But I never got that credit back.

If you want to try out my slick ordering system and experience my excellent customer service and prompt responses to your questions (whether you are a customer or not), order books here: http://www.matilijapress.com and contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

It’s been a week of variety here in the Matilija Press offices. I’ve had a mix of book sales to handle, the processing involved with welcoming new SPAWN members, several inquiries from authors who need a little help, interesting questions from clients, two manuscripts to evaluate and I’m planning for my presentation next week at the Cat Writer’s Association Conference in New York. Of course, I have also kept up with this blog by posting something every day. I’ve written a few articles and submitted them. And I’ve attempted to keep my finger on the pulse of SPAWN, my own writing business and the publishing industry at large.

As if I’m not busy enough, I’ve been seeking out speaking opportunities in order to fill my schedule for 2010 and I’ve volunteered to promote a friend’s new animal-related business through my cat blog. I’ll let you know when the new blog is posted at Catscapades.

Yesterday, I pulled out my book in progress and actually got to spend a few hours working on it. Now that’s where heaven is for me—engaging in the actual process of writing something I want to write—something significant.

Have I told you the title, yet? It’s Your Guide to Successful Authorship. I plan to produce it as an ebook, at least, for now.

The Heart of an Ebook
Do you read ebooks? I do if that’s the only format available and it is something I want to read. But I print them out to read them. How about you? When you read an ebook, is it on the computer screen, on a handheld device or do you print it out? Do you clip the pages together or hole-punch them and put them in a binder? I’ve done both.

Do you have ebooks for sale? How are sales? Some authors are giving away their ebooks—offering them for free at free ebook sites. I suppose that these are authors who are using the ebook to promote their print books. Makes sense to me.

My most valuable ebook, in my opinion, is The Author’s Repair Kit: Heal Your Publishing Mistakes and Breathe New Life Into Your Book. But I don’t sell very many copies of it. It’s only $5.95 and it features a fresh concept that no one else is promoting. Yet, how many authors are struggling to sell their books? I can tell you that most of them are—the huge majority.

Think about it, how many authors do you know who are as successful with their books as they would like to be? Are any of them earning a living with their books? Have they even paid their publishing or printing bill, yet?

If you have a book that is struggling in the marketplace or if you know someone who does, check out my book, The Author’s Repair Kit—as I said, it is designed to help the author to breathe new life into a floundering book.

Learn more about it here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/author_repairkit.html

Are you an author who is running out of ideas for promoting your book? Are you at a loss for fresh blog entries or article ideas? Do you draw a blank when trying to plan a presentation? Why not rely on your audience to lead the way? How?

Listen to what your readers say. Then incorporate these comments into your promotional material, blog posts and articles. In other words, use testimonials to point up your book’s best features. You might consider your book useful to one audience, when there’s another distinct group of people who are also benefiting from it. You might feel that one aspect of your book is most valuable to your readership, but customers are saying something different. If a portion of your audience appreciates the case histories above all else, be sure to play those case histories up in your promotion, for example.

Return to where your audience congregates. Through trial and error, you will learn which promotional activities and which venues attract more of your readers. Use this information to make your marketing plan. Likewise, you’ll soon learn which article and blog topics are most popular with readers. Use this knowledge in planning your promotional strategy.

For example, readers for my publishing-related books attend writing conferences that focus on publishing. My material doesn’t usually resonate with writers who are still working on their style and those who are writing for their own pleasure. My readers (and potential clients) attend book festivals in search of publishing information. Do they attend flea markets? Not so much.

Respond to the questions you get. If you have a nonfiction book on practically any subject, if you are getting lots of exposure and if you make yourself available to your readership, you will get comments and questions at your blogsite and via email. Treasure these questions as they are the basis for blog entries, articles and speech topics. They may even inspire online courses/workshops or even another book.

I have to credit my readers and those who follow my blog, read my articles and attend my workshops with many, MANY of my article, blog and workshop topics. The comments from numerous disheartened authors over a two year period sparked me to write, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. What were the comments? They boiled down to these: “I wish I’d met you before I sunk all of that money into the [pay-to-publish] company.I wish I knew then what I know now. I should never have rushed my project. I didn’t know anything about what I was doing.”

This week, think about the comments and questions you get related to your nonfiction book. Go through the questions that have come to you since you wrote the book. And use them to promote your book to your true audience.

Visit Patricia Fry’s website: study the articles, use some of the resources, consider purchasing one or more books, sign up for an online course, email a comment or question and you may become an inspiration for one of my future books, articles, speeches or blog posts. http://www.matilijapress.com

Are you still trying to get your book reviewed? What’s holding things up? Most new authors simply don’t know how to approach the process of book reviews. They don’t know the scope of their book review opportunities. Maybe this will help:

1: Write a book that reviewers will want to review. Follow my advice and build promotion into your book while you’re writing it. In other words, add wider dimensions to attract a larger audience. This practice will also attract a greater array of reviewers.

2: Seek out magazine book reviewers. Not every magazine runs book reviews, but many of them do. Editors of some literary magazines and others that publish fiction, review books. Some genre fiction magazine editors publish book reviews—this might include science fiction, romance, horror, young adult and children’s.

Likewise there are hundreds of consumer and association/trade magazines that run book reviews on appropriate books.

3: Make the most of what you have. Okay, your book is a done deal. How can you maximize your book review options? Get personal with your book. Dissect it and jot down what you find. For example, what city is the story set in? Pursue reviews in regional magazines in that area. Do you have a section in your budgeting book for teaching children money-awareness? Parenting magazines might be a good secondary review option for this book. Is your book clean and honorable? Consider reviews in religious magazines. Maybe your novel has a séance scene. This may provide an opportunity for a review in a metaphysical or New Age publication.

4: Locate appropriate publications. You probably have magazines in your genre or topic on your own book shelves. Start there. Scan magazines at your local library and bookstores. Study Writer’s Market to find additional magazines related to your book’s theme. Do a Google search to locate even more magazines and newsletters. Here are a few newsletter directories:
http://www.newsletteraccess.com.
http://www.mediafinder.com
http://www.oxbridge.com/ODNCluster/theODN.asp

5: Contact appropriate publications with your review package. I suggest sending a query/introduction letter or email asking if you can submit your book to them for review. Include a flyer, brochure or simply a description of your book. (A color image of the cover is always a good idea.) Be sure to point out what makes it appropriate to their audience.

If you are invited to send the book, package it carefully along with your brochure, promo postcard, business cards and a cover letter. In the letter, remind the book reviewer that they requested the book for review. Be sure to include your contact information and website address, in case they want to look up additional information about you or your company, for example.

6: Keep accurate records. Log every review package and book that goes out—when, to whom and be sure to log contact information.

After about three weeks, if you have not heard from a reviewer who requested your book, contact him/her and ask if they received the book and when they have it scheduled for review

7: Express your gratitude. Once the review has been posted, send a thank you note to the reviewer.

Unless your book is seriously obscure, you should be able to land book reviews in dozens of publications. And the book doesn’t have to be hot off the presses. Maybe you neglected to solicit book reviews when the book was fresh. Don’t let that stop you from trying to get some publicity now. Go ahead and contact appropriate book reviewers. If it is a worthwhile book, most of them will say, yes.

How much will this cost you? Absolutely nothing! It is a rare reviewer that will charge for a book review in a magazine or newsletter. Sure, there are book review site where they charge. There are publications devoted to book reviews that charge. But, magazines and newsletters that include a book review section, rarely charge for a book review. They offer them as a service to their audience.

For more about how to get book reviewers, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Sign up for my on-demand, online book promotion course: http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

A blog can be many things and serve many purposes. When you have a product to promote, it makes sense to turn your blog into a promotional tool. Let your blog entries spread the word and you will attract more business. Here are five ideas for using your blog to promote your book:

1: Stay focused on your topic. Make sure that you are providing the information your audience wants in a way that makes it palatable. Stay on track when adding to your blog so that you are always addressing your target audience. Sure you can write about something personal if you want, but tie it into your primary topic—the topic of your book.

2: Turn your blog entries into articles. Either submit them as is to appropriate sites and publications or tweak them to fit. Most of my blog entries are suitable for publishing, as I’m mindful to create stand-alone articles. Sometimes, however, a newsletter or magazine editor wants a longer piece or a more condensed version. Not a problem—I just rewrite the blog to fit their submission requirements. An article can be a sales tool. How? In a word: exposure.

• When you publish informative articles related to your field, this adds to your professional credibility.

• You can usually include a few lines at the end of the article in which to promote your book.

3: Create handouts. Use specific blog entries as handouts when you attend events with potential readers.

4: Compile a booklet of blog entries. If you’re a dedicated blogger, you could actually produce a booklet every six months or once a year and offer them free to anyone who purchases your book.

5: Write a book based on your best blog subjects. Review your blog entries. If you’re like me, you may occasionally hit upon a topic that would make a good book. So start writing. With thought and research, your blog on favorite misused words or how to work with an editor might become a book featuring how language has changed in the last century or a guide to being your own editor.

You started blogging because you heard that blogs can get you noticed. Use these five tips and you’ll reach even more potential customers.

For hundreds more tips and techniques for writing, publishing and promoting your book, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

If you are just starting to write a book, this book will help you to write the right book for the right audience. It outlines your publishing options and helps you to determine which one is best for you and your project. It also guides you in understanding your responsibilities as a published author and in pursuing the promotional activities most appropriate for your book. You’ll learn what you need to know about the publishing industry and how to successfully navigate it on behalf of your particular book.

December could be the best month for book sales all year. After all, books make great gifts for every reader on your list. If Uncle George or Aunt Flossie are not what you’d consider avid readers, they might still enjoy a book in their area of interest—wood carving, for example, stream fishing, bulldogs, quilting or entertaining large groups.

Most authors and publishers strive to bring their books out in time for holiday sales. We typically shift our promotional efforts into high gear for the holidays. In case you haven’t noticed, we are a scant 8 weeks from the biggest giving day of the year. So what are you doing to promote your book?

Yes, it’s time. In order to make the sales, you really must be pounding the pavement. Gosh, I guess that’s an outdated phrase, isn’t it? For those of you who are too young to remember, it refers to getting out into the public—out on the street, making cold calls and promoting your wares. Now, we do a lot of our pavement pounding online.

Do you have your face-to-face AND Internet marketing plans in place? What are you doing to draw attention to your book as a gift for the holidays? Here are a few ideas:

• Offer a discount or add a value item to your book and announce this in all of the appropriate places—magazines, newsletters (both print and electronic), websites, bulletins, etc, related to your book’s topic/genre, your blog, your website and so forth.

• Create an absolutely irresistible package. If you have a series of poetry books, tie them together with a lovely ribbon in complimentary colors. For a cooking gift book, package it in an organza gift bag and tie cookie cutters, a small whisk or your signature measuring spoons to it. For a romance or adventure, wrap the book in theme wrapping paper with a dramatic bow or a pair of skimpy panties. Use your imagination.

• Seek out local flea markets, book fairs and bazaars and rent booth/table space to promote and sell your books. Remember, people are in a buying mood this time of year.

• Approach booksellers, gift store owners, museum and resort/hotel gift shop managers or other appropriate retailers about making a consignment agreement with your book over the holidays. If you manage to bring in enough sales, the retailer may agree to make this a permanent agreement.

• Get some press. This is a good time to get some newspaper publicity. If your story—local author pens book—isn’t newsworthy enough, go out and make news and then report it to your local paper. Create a volunteer program, for example.

• Take out a small ad in the newspaper and other relevant publications.

• Arrange to speak to at least a couple of groups within the next month. Make contact now—it sometimes takes time to get on the schedule.

• Ask a few friends to invite their neighbors and acquaintances over for a fun night of demonstrations, play-acting or something else related to the theme or genre of your book.

For example, if your book features how to give your home curb appeal with little expense and effort, choose a nice Saturday morning to demonstrate this at a friend’s home. Few people would turn down the opportunity to have their homes upgraded. And numbers of homeowners would certainly be interested in this unique experience. I would!

Maybe your book is a flaming romance. Help a friend create the mood in their home with candles and music and then invite guests to take turns reading from your book.

If it is an adventure, fantasy, science fiction thriller or mystery, for example, bring costumes and ask guests to act out the parts in one particularly action-packed chapter.

Certainly, you will sell books while also making a lasting impression on everyone involved. And you know how valuable word of mouth is.

My readers would like to know some of your unique and even some of the practical ideas you have for promoting your particular book this holiday season. Please share by leaving a comment.

Remember, I am offering a discount on my book (a great gift for you and for another author you know). Order The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book by check before end of day November 5, 2009 and it’s yours for $15.00 plus $4.85 shipping (US only).

If you want to use your credit card, go ahead and order the book at my website AT FULL PRICE with your credit card and I’ll include a free copy of a book of your choice: “A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles,” or “Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book.”

Send your check to Patricia Fry, PMB 123, 323 E. Matilija St., Ste. 110, Ojai, CA 93023

Check out the book here: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html