Writing and Publishing News from

When you are pursuing book reviews as a way to promote your book, don’t bypass newsletters. Web hosts have newsletters, organizations produce newsletters, individuals publish newsletters. There are thousands of e- and print newsletters being produced throughout the U.S. Some of them have huge circulation. Others are small. But many of them are quite effective in helping you to reach your audience. I believe it was newsletters that launched my luau book into the success it became. I printed that book, The Mainland Luau, three times and then a publisher took it over. One of my favorite methods of promoting it was through book reviews and articles (which we will discuss in another session) in appropriate newsletters. Use these directories to locate newsletters in your genre/category, http://www.newsletteraccess.com or http://www.ezinehub.com

You’ll also find appropriate newsletters through sites related to your book’s theme or topic. Many of these sites include resource lists of newsletters, other sites and publications and so forth. Take the time to study these lists and visit the appropriate sites. Links can be a goldmine for book promoters.
For my personal use, I have created a list of about 75 writing/publishing-related newsletters and their contact information. All of those that will review books have reviewed my books. I also keep their contact information so I can send them announcements (new books, courses starting, etc.) and articles. I keep this information in a binder for easy reference. And I add to it whenever a new newsletter or magazine comes to my attention and I note when their policies or editors change.

Join SPAWN and read the monthly SPAWN Market Update (in the member area of the SPAWN website). I write this newsletter and frequently include updates related to book review sites and other opportunities for book reviews. http://www.spawn.org

It has become more and more difficult to have your book reviewed in newspapers with a few exceptions. Your hometown newspaper will likely be interested in your story—local author pens a book. Don’t wait to be invited—contact the appropriate reporter and ask for an interview. Entice him or her with a hook for your story. It could be simply, local author pens a book. Or it might be, local author writes first history of the area, long-time resident writes her memoirs, local resident writes children’s book based on a child living in the community…

You may be able to get into newspapers nationwide, as well. Most newspapers have columns featuring such themes as health, fitness, travel, hobbies, foods and cooking, pets, crafts/building, teens, religion/spirituality, parenting, real estate/business, sports, seniors/retirement, etc. And yes, many newspapers have book review columns. Find the right hook for your book and you might be able to land several reviews throughout the country. Here are some examples: Your book on how to sell your house without a realtor might be a natural for the paper’s business column. Pitch your book on grief to the editors of senior or health columns. Suggest a review for your historical fiction book in newspapers within the area where your story takes place. Contact editors of both pet and travel columns for reviews of your book on traveling with your pet. Approach editors of New Age or spiritual columns about your inspirational book.

As you can see, you can remain busy for a very long time just soliciting book reviews. Can they be effective in selling books? Certainly, when they are well targeted. I’ve had numerous reviews for my book, “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,” in writing/publishing-related magazines, websites and newsletters.
To be continued:

I keep writing about my online courses. Today, I’m going to give you a treat&#8212a sampling from the second lesson in this 6-week course. Here it is in condensed form:

There are some basic book promotion activities that everyone can and should pursue. And that’s what we’re going to discuss today.

By now, you probably know that book promotion isn’t an event&#8212a one-time activity&#8212or even a timed (one- or two-year) project. Book promotion is ongoing for as long as you want your book to sell.

Likewise, book promotion isn’t generally a one or two activity proposition. It used to be that we relied on bookstores to showcase and sell our books. Our books were there on the shelves in bookstores nationwide. If a customer wanted a book to read, he walked into his neighborhood bookstore and bought the book of his choice.

Things are different today. Competition is absolutely fierce. There are about 3.5 million books in print and just last year, in 2007, there were 411,422 new books produced. Bookstores today can carry only a small percentage of books in print. The mega bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, can hold around 8 to 12 percent of all books in print.

When I travel around speaking to authors, I say to them, “You’ve been inside some of those mega bookstores. You’ve seen all of the books. Are you sure you want to subject your book to the enormous level of competition evident in bookstores?” Then I tell my audiences that, if they want their book in bookstores, I know the secret to getting in. I call it the backdoor method. And I’m going to share this secret with you in this session.

Here it is: If you want to see your book on the shelves in bookstores nationwide, all you have to do is to create enough of a desire for it that readers are going into bookstores asking for it by name. If there are enough people requesting it, of course, booksellers will carry it.

And that brings us to the reason why you are taking this course. How can you create that desire? What can you do to entice that audience? Here are a few suggestions to get you started. These are some of the basics that everyone should be pursuing as zealously as possible. And you can start pursuing some of them even before you finish writing the book.

1: Develop and use a massive mailing list. Even while you’re writing your book, begin collecting business cards, addresses scribbled on restaurant napkins and email addresses. Whose contact information do you want? Family, friends, business associates, your kids’ school teachers, neighbors, merchants and service people with whom you do business and other people whom you meet on and off line and so on.

It is never too late to use your mailing and emailing list. Even if your book is several months or several years old, mail or email announcements from time to time attempting to generate sales. Reasons for sending announcements might include:
• The book just came out.
• You hit a milestone in sales—500, 1,000, 5,000 or so.
• The book is in its second printing.
• You’ve launched a contest related to your book.
• You have a book signing scheduled or you’ll be speaking about it.
• You’ve come out with another book, booklet or other item (toy, game, puzzle, etc.) related to the original book.
• You’ve had an article or story related to the book theme or genre published.

2: Create a website for the sole purpose of promoting your book. (I offer web design suggestions in the course material.)

3: Add related amenities to your website. This might include a blog, through which you communicate with readers interested in your genre/topic. Consider signing up for a merchant account so that you can make sales at your site. Run contests, launch treasure hunts, devise puzzles, etc. and create a book trailer. A book trailer is a short video “commercial” reflecting your book. For information and expertise in creating a book trailer, contact: Circle of Seven Productions, ( http://www.cosproductions.com) Do a Google search to locate others.

4: Get numerous book reviews in appropriate publications and at appropriate websites. Many authors stop seeking reviews after the prepublication reviewers (Library Journal, Kirkus Review, etc.) turn them down. But there are hundreds of review opportunities out there for most books after they’ve been published.

You’re probably already aware of websites related to your book’s subject or genre. Start there. Visit those sites and check to see if they review books and/or recommend books. Some bloggers and web hosts interview authors with books related to the theme of their site (childcare/parenting, retirement, travel, pets, writing/publishing, boating, water sports, death and dying, inspirational/spiritual, romance novels, real estate, historical novels, etc.). Do an Internet search to locate additional sites related to the genre or theme of your book.

Besides theme websites, there are also book review websites. Here are a few. Do an Internet search to find others: Danny Yee’s Book Reviews, ( http://dannyreviews.com), Get Book Reviews, ( http://www.getbookreviews.com, http://www.dustjacketreivew, http://www.kikimag.com, http://www.christianbookreader.com)

Locate appropriate periodicals. There are hundreds of magazines and ezines that publish book reviews. Some are review publications&#8212they review books of practically any type, like Midwest Book Review and then there are specialty magazines whose editors review books related to their theme. Not all magazines carry reviews, so check them out before sending your book for review. I would not recommend sending your book without an invitation, in most cases, anyway.

Locate magazines through references such as, Writer’s Market (available online and through most bookstores. You may also find a current volume in the library). Purchase for around $30. A new edition comes out each year around September. You can also use Literary Market Place online or use it at your library. Writer’s Market is also online for a fee at ( http://www.writersmarket.com) Also check out Wooden Horse Publications at ( http://www.woodenhorsepub.com) for magazine listings in a variety of categories.

To be continued: If you want more information about the online courses, visit: ( http://www.matilijapress.com

I’ve been learning a new word processing program. That’s what happens when you buy a new, more advanced computer. Oh my! The learning curve can be brutal, or it can be fascinating. It depends on one’s mindset.

I am vacillating back and forth between “Yikes, I don’t know what to do!” and “Yeah, I figured it out!”

In the meantime, I am working daily with clients and students. My online Book Proposal course is winding down and I’m in the middle of the online Book Promotion course with a new group of students. When I started working with authors on my new Book Promotion course, I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t have much to offer one particular student. Before moving into the first class, I ask students where they are with their books&#8212what sort of promotion have they done so far? One student sent me an extensive list of the promotion he had done. And it was impressive, indeed! I was afraid that I couldn’t offer him anything new.

But, here we are in our second week of lessons and, already, he is expressing his enthusiasm for some of the book promotion ideas I’ve presented. He said, “That isn’t something I’ve thought of before. I didn’t know you could do that!” And he said he is eager to pursue these new avenues of book promotion and sell more books.

This taught me that, while all successful authors have some strong suits and are pursuing some promotional activities with success, not all of these authors are involved in or even aware of every activity that could result in generous book sales. That’s why courses such as mine, where the teacher works one-on-one with students, and networking with your peers are so valuable to authors who are promoting their books. And that’s why I steer authors and hopeful authors toward my courses as well as membership in SPAWN, Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. Not only does SPAWN offer a forum and an email discussion group where members can discuss publishers, agents, distributors, promotional ideas, etc., but we have a huge list of resources for authors and others interested in publishing and a newsletter that surpasses most others out there when it comes to information and resources for authors and hopeful authors. The newsletter we post in the Members Only area is the SPAWN Market Update and it comes with your membership.

But you can sign up for SPAWNews, our FREE enewsletter at
http://www.spawn.org.
Click on “Free newsletter.”

My Online Courses for Authors and Freelance Writers
It’s too late to sign up for the Book Promotion Workshop in progress. But, a new course is beginning soon. So stay tuned. In fact, you can sign up now and your credit card will not be charged until the day I send you your first class. (We will agree upon this date in advance.) Also starting soon is my Magazine Article Course. Check both of these out at
http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm
Let me know if you have any questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com

Do you have a book manuscript ready to send to a publisher or an agent? Are you aware that most publishers and agents won’t give your manuscript a second look if it appears to be unedited? What are dead-giveaways indicating that the manuscript is unedited?
• Two spaces between sentences.
• Typos&#8212typing “than” when you mean “then,” for example.
• Muddy writing.
• Grammatical and punctuation errors.
• Words repeated unnecessarily.
• Incomplete sentences.
• Improper handling of dialog.
• Passive sentences.
• The overuse of qualifiers such as “really,” “very,” etc.
• Improper use of apostrophes&#8212boys’ when you mean boy’s, for example.
• Improper use of quotation marks and Italics.
• Too many clichés.
In these difficult economic times, many of you are polishing your book manuscripts and your magazine articles in preparation for publication. You feel this is a good time to bring out your book or to start submitting your articles or stories and, hopefully, bring in a little extra money. And why not? It was actually during an economic downturn when I developed my freelance writing business while working a full-time job. I built my business to the point that I could quit the job and concentrate on my article-writing career. There’s no reason why you can’t do the same. But be sure that you make only the wisest decisions along the way.
Is it wise to bring out a book in a poor economy? That depends on you, your project and whether you use your mind to a stronger degree than your heart in making the decisions related to your book.
Here’s what I would recommend&#8212and it may require a bit of an investment&#8212work with a mentor or coach toward establishing your freelance business or toward publishing your book. Hire an editor to make sure you are on the right track with your writing skills and presentation&#8212at least for the first project or so. (A teaching editor is preferred.) Read good books on the subject of your publishing interest. I am a teaching editor. I also offer excellent books for freelance article writers and hopeful authors. Check out A Writer’s Guide to Article Writing and The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com.

When you hire an editor, consider one who can also offer you coaching and consultations regarding publishing&#8212someone with experience within the publishing industry.

I was talking to someone the other day about how important it is to work with someone who has been experiencing publishing at the author level for enough years to matter. Some publishing professionals, who are now working with authors, have actually never been in an author’s shoes. They came from corporate headquarters or maybe they have been in the printing business for many years. Sure, these experts can certainly offer valuable advice and information, but not always the kind you need at the moment.

If you’re considering a freelance article-writing business or you think this is the time to produce your book, contact me for a free manuscript evaluation. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

You hear about people having computer problems&#8212the computer is down, the computer crashed, the computer is in the shop, etc? Well, it is happening to me. My old computer, which I’ve had for probably five years, is getting tired and I bought a new one. But the transfer of files from one to the other did not go well. So both the old one and the new one are in the shop. I’m blessed to have a temporary computer to use, so I don’t get too far behind on my work. I’m treating it gently, though, because it is about 8 or 10 years old.

In the meantime, I am teaching my online (via email) Book Promotion Course and I want to invite you to sign up. The second lecture and assignment goes out today. Sign up at least by Tuesday, November 4 and you will be able to catch up. The cost is $200 for the 6-week course. What’s the purpose/objective? To guide you in promoting your fiction or nonfiction book through a variety of avenues.

If any of the following describes you, you probably need this course:

• Do you have a novel, memoir, book of poetry, how-to, self-help, informational book, recovery book, children’s book or reference book, for example?
• Have sales slowed to a dead stop?
• Are you running out of ideas for promoting your book?
• Is it much harder than you thought to market a book?
• Have you come to a place where you need help with promotion?

Sign up today for my brand new book promotion course and, together, let’s jumpstart sales for your book. What better time to invest in your book’s future than right before the holidays&#8212the most opportune time to sell books.

Remember, no one will buy your book if they don’t know about it.

Learn more about the online Book Promotion Course and sign up at
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Check out my other online courses at
http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com

Friday October 24, 2008&#8212mark this date on your calendar. This is when my NEW 6-week online Book Promotion course starts. If your book sales are lagging&#8212if you want to increase sales by Christmas and start the New Year out with higher sales&#8212then sign up NOW. Space is limited. Your credit card will not be charged until the day I send your first lesson (Friday, October 24).
Learn more at: http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

FREE Book Offer
If you’ve been wanting my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, but you couldn’t put out the money? First of all, if you want to succeed in the publishing arena, this is an investment. And that’s why I’m offering a special for my blog readers through December 25, 2008. Order my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book for $19.95 before Christmas and you’ll receive The Author’s Workbook and Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book FREE. But you’ll only get the free books if you email me after placing the order and let me know you are a blog reader. If I do not get the email from you, I won’t know to send the free books. PLFry620@yahoo.com. If I have to send the free books in a separate package, you will pay the extra shipping charges. Order The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
And then email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

Make Plans Now for Spring Promotional Opportunities
Did you know that organizers are already planning book festivals and writers conferences held in the spring and summer? Some coordinators are even putting the finishing touches on their fall 2009 events. If you want to attend such events next year, start now scoping them out.

Use your favorite search engine. Type in “writers conference” or “book festival” and the city/state. Whether you want to attend events close to home or take advantage of those in areas you’ll be visiting, it’s wise to locate the possibilities and compare the important elements. For example, how many visitors does the book festival generally attract and how much do they want for a booth? If the foot traffic is minimal (or not available) and the cost high ($400 to $900), keep looking. Likewise, make sure that a writers conference has the elements you seek&#8212agent meetings, workshops related to publishing protocol, well-known professional presenters and/or high profile authors. Match the conference or the book festival to your particular needs and desires. Compare prices against value. And be sure to take into consideration the location. Will you have to pay travel expenses or is it local or in an area where you can stay with friends?

Share Your Successful Book Promotion Activities
For most of you, book sales are slowing down. This is no reason to stop promoting. In fact, this is a good reason for stepping up your promotional activities. Get creative and try something new. Climb into the head of your customers and try to give them what they want/need. We’d all like some help with promotion. Do you have an idea that is working for you? Have you discovered a way to increase your book sales? How about sharing it with us. Just leave a comment at this blog site. And don’t forget to take steps to improve your sales figures. Sign up today for my brand new Book Promotion Workshop. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Does anyone need help with book promotion? Are you an author who is struggling to sell the quantity of books you desire? If you’re like most authors, bookstores are shutting you out&#8212and those booksellers who do accept your books are not selling any. You’ve given up on sending press releases because they are always ignored. You don’t really understand how to get book reviews. You’ve done a few speaking gigs and would like to do more, but don’t know how to go about it. If this describes you, you are in the majority of authors today.

Book promotion is darn hard work. I actually had a hopeful author tell me once, “I won’t have to do the usual promotion because this book will sell itself.” How naïve, short-sighted and immature is that? Even if the book is so amazing that it sells itself, you still have to introduce it to your audience. You still have to make it known. And this means knowing who your audience is, knowing where they are and understanding how to approach them. These are the beginning steps for marketing a book.

Add to this, an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, the willingness to grow and improve in areas that will compute into book sales and the huge task of discovering what book promotion is all about and choosing those promotional activities that suit you and your project.

The fact is that most authors need help in the areas of mindset/understanding, knowledge and motivation when it comes to book promotion. Generally, author types are not natural marketers. That’s why I have written books and hundreds of articles on the subject and that’s why I have devised a brand new Online Book Promotion Course.

I will be starting the first course very soon&#8212probably this week. So, if you are interested sign up NOW. I’ll let you know what day of the week the lessons and assignments will arrive in your email box. For additional information and to sign up, go to http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Your credit card will NOT be charged until we agree on the day of the week I’ll send the lectures, etc.

It’s a 6-week course. I will work with authors of fiction or nonfiction, including children’s books. I work one-on-one with each student privately. So you get what you need/desire related to your specific project. The fee is $200 for the 6-week course and my regular feedback.

Contact me with questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Hurry, I expect this class to fill quickly. Sign up today and you’ll have a solid marketing plan in place in time for holiday sales. And, keep in mind that when the economy is weak, people turn to books as cheap entertainment. Let me show you how to reach your audience.

http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

The orders are coming in. Yes! I am so pleased to know that you will be studying The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book before you get too far into producing your book. This book will guide you in understanding the publishing industry to the point that you can navigate it more successfully. It will apprise you of your options and help you to select the best one for you. And it will lead you through all of the steps toward successful publication and successful marketing and promotion.

Two questions I get regularly are: What’s the best publishing options? And What’s the best way to promote a book?

Here is my response&#8212one response for both questions: It depends on you and it depends on your book. And my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, will give you the information, resources and understanding so that you can make the right choices and decisions on behalf of your project.

Patricia Makes the Big Time
I received a newsletter from Anvil Publishing, Southern Review of Books this morning. (This is one of about two dozen newsletters I receive each month.) Publisher, Noel Griese, created a chart showing the top selling (most popular) books on book promotion as far as Amazon’s sales are concerned. My book, Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book ranks as number 13 out of 27, beating out books by Brian Jud, Fern Reiss, Marilyn Ross, M.J. Rose, Penny Sansevieri, Shel Horowitz, Rick Frishman, to name a few.

And you (my blog readers) can get this book for FREE through Christmas, along with The Author’s Workbook (the companion book to The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book) when you order a copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.

Take two simple steps:

1: Order the book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

2: Immediately send me an email letting me know that you ordered the book and that you’d like to receive the FREE Author’s Workbook AND Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book. PLFry620@yahoo.com

I must receive your email before I ship the book, otherwise, you get to pay the additional charges for shipping the free books separately.

So far everyone is following the rules perfectly. Thank you!

We all feel it. We’re all aware of the economic downturn and none of us knows what will happen next. Will things improve or keep tumbling downward? We fear for our futures. As authors, we wonder if we’ll ever reach our goals. The timing stinks. Just when you thought you had a handle on the mysteries of book promotion, everything seemed to come to a halt. Book sales are even more sluggish. Everyone says it will only get worse. You might as well go back to work or get another part-time job. Or you can get creative and kick up your promotional efforts!

We’re hearing that library use is way up. This is typical in times like these. It is common, during difficult economic times, that people turn to books as cheap entertainment. Some seek comfort, solace and healing through inspirational and spiritual books. It’s cheaper than hiring a therapist. When things are hard, we crave something to laugh about and we buy more books of humor.

When times are financially tough, we start thinking of ways to improve our personal economic situations. We navigate toward how-to and self-help books. We might want to learn more about how to budget, how to travel for less, how to save money by grooming our own dogs, how to get a better job or how to feed a family for less. When things around us change, we know that we must change and the most economical way to learn something new or improve a skill, for example, is to buy a book on the subject.

As you can see, for some authors, the economic situation is an opportunity. If you have a book that is entertaining, humorous, inspirational and/or helpful, you might want to amp up your marketing program. Instead of throwing in the towel and giving up on your book, perhaps this is the time to shift into high gear and promote the heck out of it. Here are a few off-the-wall ideas that you might want to try:

1: Arrange home parties related to the theme of your novel. Involve guests in an enactment of your story during the evening. Bring simple (or elaborate) costumes, give participants scripts and share just enough of the story to entice guests to want to buy the book. Most of all, make it fun.

2: Package your romantic novel or thriller with a candle and bubble bath or cocoa mix and mug or, perhaps, chocolate and a CD of classical music. In other words, create a mood to go along with your book. Help readers escape from the harsh reality of life into your story.

3: Offer two books for the price of one during the holidays. This might encourage sales&#8212one for the customer and one for him to give as a gift.

4: For your nonfiction self-help or how-to book, arrange for workshops and/or demonstrations at appropriate venues. If your book features budgeting tips, gather at an accountant’s office. The accountant might even send invitations to his clients. Program chairmen for various civic organizations are always seeking speakers for their weekly or monthly meetings. Contact them and offer to present a workshop related to the theme of your book. For a cookbook featuring quick, easy and cheap meals, give demonstrations at local kitchen stores, PTA meetings, for church groups as well as in the homes of friends and neighbors.

5: We all need and desire to have as many warm fuzzy moments as we can muster in these uncomfortable times. It is a good time to promote your feel-good spiritual book. Again, you can develop workshops and demonstrations and present them at any number of venues. Maybe you can arrange to share your relaxation tips at gatherings in local therapists’ offices, the hospital, various doctors’ offices, businessmen’s and women’s club meetings and so forth.

Additional Tips
Use your imagination when planning your presentations and venues. And always keep your potential reader in mind.

Consider dropping the price of your book, especially if your POD company has jacked it up pretty high. Remember, we’re looking for bargains now. We need value for our dollar.

And speaking of value, this would be a good time for you to purchase my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book&#8212the book that will guide you on your journey toward publishing success. I know that, if you are an author or hopeful author at any stage of your project, you NEED this book. I want you to have this book. So here is my special offer to you.

Order The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book from me between now and Christmas day and I will send you a FREE copy of my companion book, The Author’s Workbook. I will also give you a copy of my book, Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book. Just place your order for The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book at my website. (It’s $19.95 plus tax (California only) and shipping.) Then send me an email (either through my website or using the email address I’ll give you in this blog entry). Tell me that you ordered the book through my website and ask for The Author’s Workbook and Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book. Order the book here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

My email address: PLFry620@yahoo.com