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My webmistress sent me a print-out this morning reflecting the number of visitors to my website and my blog. It seems that 347,843 people have visited my website during the last two years and I’ve had over 25,000 visitors to my blog. I’m happy and I want to thank all of you for your interest.

However, I can’t help thinking that if each of those 347,843 site visitors had bought one of my books, I’d be a millionaire today. Sigh! But it seems that millionaire status is not in my chart for this lifetime. And that’s okay. Money may have kept me from reaching out to help all of you through my site, blog, books, articles, online courses, workshops, affiliation with SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and the work I do with clients. Instead, I’d be out spending money like Paris Hilton.

Are you blogging? Does your blog site attract an abundance of visitors? If not, why? Are you familiar with the concept that abundance brings about abundance? As I see it, the key to a successful blog site and web site is…well, abundance.

Advertise abundantly. I’m not talking about paid advertisement, although you can certainly do some of that. But, if you want people to visit your website or blog, you must promote. Here are some ideas:

1: Talk it up. Mention your site to people you meet in line at Starbucks, while returning Christmas gifts to the department stores, at work, during meetings and conferences, at your class reunion, in the neighborhood. And be sure to hand out your business card or promotional brochure with your site address on it.

2: Leave comments at related blog sites. Visit appropriate sites regularly. Sign up for Google Alerts ( http://www.google.com/alerts) and use keywords related to your topic/genre. You’ll receive alerts telling you about pertinent blog entries at key sites.

Note: My blog shows up every day in my Google Alerts list because I blog every day and I always use key words in my blog that relate to authorship, writing, publishing and book promotion.

3: Regularly submit articles or stories related to your topic/genre to magazines, newsletters and websites, and always include your website/blog addresses.

4: Send occasional notices to your email list letting people know about special topics you’ve covered at your blog, lately. Help fans establish a habit of visiting your blog regularly.

In addition, you need to blog often. If people visit a couple of times a week and see the same blog entry each time, they may get discouraged and stop visiting.

Provide abundant value/benefits to your readers in your blog entries. None of you really care that I’ve had over 25,000 visitors to my blog and 347,843 to my website, but many of you are interested in how to increase interest in your site and blog, right? Brag a little if you must–it’s your blog, after all, but focus on giving, teaching, sharing. This is what will keep your readers coming back.

Learn more about building an effective website and blogging as well as practically everything else you need to know about the publishing industry through my outstanding book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. If your book project is stalled, be sure to order the companion book, The Author’s Workbook. If you diligently complete the exercises in the workbook, you’ll have a much greater chance of experiencing publishing success. Order these books together at a discount at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Your website and your blog should represent only a portion of your book marketing plan, but your attention to detail and your willingness to promote them as outlined above could greatly increase your reach, thus your book sales.

What do you see when you look at your book sales ledger? When you review those figures, do you feel like celebrating or do you want to cry? If the latter fits your situation, maybe it’s time for a change in tactics. You know the concept—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; but if it isn’t working, it’s time for a change.

Following are some common book promotion failures and potential remedies:

1: Your book didn’t win any of the contests you entered in 2007 and you’re discouraged.

This year, forget about contests. That sticker on your book that says, “5th place pick at the Timbuktu Literary Arts Society” probably won’t draw many customers, anyway. Instead, promote your book as a premium item. Banks, mortgage companies and other large corporations sometimes purchase books to give as customer gifts or as incentives for their employees. Sometimes companies will purchase thousands of copies of a book to use as an in-house training tool or a give-away at a conference or convention. Generally, they want discounts for bulk orders.

What type of books might qualify? Novels or historicals related to local or regional history; personal finance or marketing books; self-help or how to books on a variety of topics—employee relationships, for example or even a fairy tale with a meaningful message. Scrutinize your book from various points of view and see if you can determine a slant you can pitch to companies and corporations in your area.

Here in Ojai, the realty board keeps copies of my local history book on hand for new realtors coming into the valley. Various local businesses purchase it occasionally as employee gifts. I’d probably get more such sales if I’d promote it in this way. The key is, don’t wait for these prime customers to find you—get out there and solicit sales.

2: Your book was reviewed at a few book review sites, but you didn’t notice much return from this effort.

This year seek reviews at topic/genre-related sites and appropriate publications. For your fantasy, thriller, science fiction book, solicit sites that focus on these genres. This is where you’ll find your readers. Contact editors of appropriate magazines and newsletters and ask for a review or offer to submit a short story. For a book on parenting, contact some of the many parenting sites and publications related to this subject. You see, here is where you will find your readers.

3: You did a book signing and no one showed up.

Yeah, that’s typical, unless your name is recognizable OR unless you actually invite people to come. In my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, I devote 6 pages to how to have a successful signing. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html Read a condensed version at http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/booksigningtips.htm

4: Your newspaper press releases were ignored.

Maybe that’s because you neglected to make the right connection. This year, consider tying your book to a theme or a season or an event. Send press releases about your relationship book or your romance novel for publication around Valentine’s Day. Pitch your historical novel during appropriate historical events. My book on how to present a Hawaiian luau on the mainland is popular around Fathers’ Day. And the one I wrote on long-distance grandparenting always gets press in honor of Grandparents’ Day in September.

Make news. Start a volunteer organization related to an aspect of your book. Maybe your novel reflects the life of a homeless family. Get friends to help you make sandwiches every Sunday and hand them out to the homeless in the park. I know a young woman who got national press doing exactly this, only she didn’t have a book to promote. If your book features the new wave of businesswomen on motorcycles, establish a charity ride and be sure to tell the press about it. Perhaps your’s is a children’s book. There are oh, so many children-related charities that you could become involved in—corral a group of teens to read to homeless children, collect books for group homes and children in foster care. Then be sure to tell the press about it.

If you’re unhappy with your 2007 book sales, don’t give up. Use your imagination to come up with new ways to promote your book this year. The key is to put yourself in your target customer’s head. What sites do they visit? What publications do they read? What newspaper stories pique their interest? What are they passionate about? Where do they purchase their books? Gather this information, compile it, study it and then go out and introduce your book to them through the avenues most likely to reach them.

Yesterday, Angela Hoy, editor of Writer’s Weekly, passed along an email from a reader. Josie (not her real name) had read my recently published piece on establishing a platform. She wanted to know how to establish a platform for a poetry book.

It always surprises me when authors of fiction, poetry or children’s books seem to miss the points I attempt to make loud and clear in my articles—points designed to include them. Any author should be able to take the instructions and information in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book or one of my articles and immediately begin to build their author’s platform. I’ve decided that their stumbling block isn’t ignorance, it is denial. Most authors of creative endeavors simply do not want to face the reality of promotion.

Here’s what I wrote to Josie:
Platform is not just about nonfiction hooks and expertise. You can also establish a platform related to your genre. Here are a few ideas for establishing a platform for a book of poetry:
• Get involved with appropriate poetry sites—become acquainted with the hosts, participate in message boards, write letters to the editors, submit your poetry to be posted at the sites, see about promoting your book at these sites, etc. Do everything you can to become known in the world of poetry.
• Submit your poetry to magazines, newsletters and sites in order to establish yourself as a poet.
• If your poetry focuses on a specific topic or theme, promote your work and yourself through related sites, magazines, newsletters and venues. Promote inspirational poetry through religious/spiritual sites, for example, poetry featuring parenting moments through parenting and baby sites, mags and so forth.
• Build a website and advertise (announce) your book widely at other sites and through newsletters and magazines related to poetry and literature.
• If you are involved in a church or club or you help edit a newsletter, talk up your poetry book there in and through these venues.
• Get your poetry book reviewed at as many literary, poetry and fiction sites and through as many magazines and newsletters as you can.
• Enter poetry contests.
• Run poetry contests.
• Participate in poetry slams.
• Teach poetry classes to adults or children and be sure to tell the local newspaper editor about it.
• Create a newsletter about poets and poetry for those interested in writing and/or reading poetry.
• Collect contact information and build a huge mailing list you can use in promotion.

A platform is your means of getting your name and your work out there. What you’ll notice is that this list, which is designed specifically for poets, is really no different than the list of platform-building activities suggested for authors of nonfiction books. As I said, most poets and many novelists and children’s book writers either don’t want to face the reality of promotion or the concept of promotion just doesn’t compute in their creative brains.

If you are writing a book—it doesn’t matter the topic or genre—you should also be building your platform as you go. Let these suggestions guide you in this effort. And for additional information, instructions, education and resources to see you through the writing, publishing and book promotion process, read the revised edition of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and use the companion book, The Author’s Workbook. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

As an author, you’re quick to tell others about your fabulous book. You beg and bribe your friends, reviewers, site hosts, magazine/newsletter editors and everyone else you meet to promote your book. And you expect radio personalities, librarians, educators, bookstore managers, newspaper columnists and mere acquaintances to spread the word about your upcoming signings and readings. This is all good. But what do you do to help other authors along their book promotion journey?

Do you try to give other authors a boost—a leg-up? Do you sometimes network on behalf of your author friends’/colleagues’ books? If not, why not?

Some authors are afraid that if they put energy into someone else’s project, it will minimize the worth of their own. Others just don’t feel they have the time to promote other books. Some of us simply don’t think about helping someone else or don’t quite know how to do it. The truth is, that by reaching out to help others, you are actually bringing attention to yourself and to your book. You are making friends, creating comrades and possibly helping yourself in the process.

Here are ways you can help your fellow authors that might result in benefits to you and your project:

1: Talk to your customers about his or her book. If it is a book similar to yours, promote it as a companion book to yours. Tell readers if you think that this book would enhance or add to the information in your nonfiction book. If readers love your novel, generously tell them about other novels with similar storylines or formats. When you come out with a sequel to your novel or another nonfiction book on your topic, you’ll have a strong base of potential repeat customers.

This gesture may be rewarded in other ways, as well. Let the other author know that you’ve been recommending his book and suggest ways that he can promote yours.

Tip 1: Piggyback marketing can be an effective way to promote books to a wider audience. Arrange with authors of books similar to yours to include your promotional material with his when doing email or postal mailings. You can do the same for him.

Tips 2: Exchange promotional material with other authors who have compatible or companion books. Include his material when you ship your book orders and ask him to do the same.

2: Create a recommended books section at your website or in your newsletter. Make sure that you inform the authors when you recommend their books and encourage them to do the same for yours.

3: Spread the word when an author is coming to town with his book. This morning, I sent an email to over 40 friends and acquaintances who I thought might be interested in meeting an author that I know through SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). He will be signing books at a local bookstore and he asked me if I knew anyone to invite. Hopefully, he will have a full house and I will get additional kudos from him over time because of it.

4: Promote non-competing books when you lecture, do signings and present workshops in your topic or genre. Of course, your main promotional effort is your book, but you can mention books of others while speaking and in your handouts.

I met an author of a spiritual book in Atlanta last year. I noticed that she was recommending some writing-related books to some of the people she spoke with. I made it a point to have a conversation with her and discovered that she travels extensively promoting her book and always responds to questions from hopeful authors. She likes to have books to recommend. Of course, I gave her a copy of my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. I asked her to read it and then let me know if she would like to recommend it in her travels. She loved it so much that she bought 5 copies before the Atlanta seminar was over and places a new order every few months. I give her a booksellers’ discount of 40 percent.

5: Offer to take other books to book festivals with you. Again, this would be non-competing books and books that would enhance yours. When you are selling books for someone, be sure to negotiate a percentage of the profits for yourself. And encourage other authors to take copies of your book to the bookselling events they attend. Promotion is tremendously time-consuming and all-consuming. We can’t be everywhere. This is why it is so helpful to have others spreading the word about your book in venues that you might not reach.

Some authors actually believe that when they give to someone they lose something. I’m here to tell you that it is just the opposite. The gesture of giving always comes with a generous payoff. Give and you shall receive.

Now that the dust of Christmas has settled, don’t stop giving. Consider how you can contribute to someone else’s success. If it is publishing and book marketing guidance they need, be sure to tell them about my hallmark book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. and the companion, Author’s Workbook. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html Your friend or colleague WILL thank you and, most likely, reciprocate in a meaningful way.

Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

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Am I up to the challenge? I promised you a blog-a-day, which means I have to come up with something meaningful to say each and every morning of the year. Yikes! What have a done? Hopefully, I can keep my word and keep the words flowing in your direction. Your job is to remember to visit this blog. Support my efforts while learning, gleaning information and becoming aware of resources you might have overlooked.

I spent most of yesterday in follow-up mode. I contacted all of the magazine and newsletter editors, etc. who had received review copies of my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, and the companion Author’s Workbook, but who had not responded. I followed up with a few editors who are still holding my articles. I emailed reminders to people who offered testimonials for my website. And I checked in with some of my clients who hadn’t been in touch for a while.

Follow-up is an important part of any writing or publishing business. Not everyone is on your schedule. There are always those who are lackadaisical about responding or too busy to return your emails or calls. In most cases, the bookseller, web host, editor, reviewer, etc. is not anywhere near as interested in your project as you are. You can’t expect these people to have the same level of attachment to your book as you do. They don’t have the same motivation to see your book succeed as you do and you can’t always count on people to do what they say they’ll do on behalf of your book. Instead, make sure that they do it. This means following up. Here are some pointers:

Schedule Follow-up Days
It’s easy to get busy and forget the promise the ABC Bookstore manager made to get back to you about carrying your book. You’ll work right past the date your review was supposed to appear in XYZ Magazine. You may even miss the opportunity to be interviewed on local radio because you sat around waiting for the producer to call you. Don’t automatically expect people to do what they say. Make sure that they do it. Why not dedicate one morning each week to making follow-up contacts? Devise a schedule and stick to it.

Keep Good Records
Write down the name and contact information for everyone to whom you communicate with regard to your book project. Note the date of your conversation/email messages and the expected outcome. Once the book has been reviewed, the bookseller has called you with his decision, your article has been accepted or you have been approved to speak at an event, for example, log the details of this information. If you do not hear back from the individual within a certain time frame, you need to contact him or her.

Log the Tracers
Note the date and content of each follow-up transaction or communication. Over time, you’ll deal with a whole lot of book reviewers, editors, etc. and it’s easy to lose track of who’s who and what’s what.

Keep it Cordial
You may be frustrated, angry or down right upset because someone didn’t call or write when they said they would. But don’t let it show. Keep your email and phone messages professional and cordial. As a friend used to tell me when I’d become angry with someone who cut me off in traffic, for example, “You don’t know what’s going on in his life—he could have just lost someone or received a bad diagnosis from his doctor.” There could be a good reason why this person neglected to contact you, but there is no reason why you can’t follow up and find out.

The follow-up process is almost as daunting as making cold calls, but it is so very important to the health of your writing or publishing business. If you’re a freelance writer or published author, you are a business owner. Do the best job that you can on behalf of your business. Get into the habit of following up.

Read more about operating a writing or publishing business in The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Use the Author’s Workbook to help you move more smoothly and successfully through the writing, publishing and book promotion process. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html And sign up for my online courses-on-demand at: http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

Read some of my articles on publishing at http://www.matilijapress.com/articles.htm#publishing

The first thing most authors do once their books are finished is to contact the media. And this is a good thing, if you are media-savvy and well-prepared.

The truth is that most newspaper editors and columnists do not care one iota that you’ve written a book or that another book has been produced. This is not news, unless your publisher is one of the majors, you are famous or infamous or the book is on a hot, current and/or highly controversial topic.

Sure, you can get media attention in your home town. Go for it!! Contact the local newspaper publisher and tell him about your project. The smaller the paper, the more likely you’ll get press. Local publicity is a good start. In fact, I recommend it. It will give you media experience as well as exposure and something to include in your portfolio.

Now, if you want wider recognition for your book—don’t we all?—you’ll have to come up with a publicity hook greater than simply the fact that you have written a book or that a new book has been published. Bring this fact to an editor’s attention and he/she will say, “So what?” In fact, that’s the question you must answer—“So what?”

What makes your book newsworthy? What is interesting about your book and/or you? What can you come up with that will intrigue the public—thus the media? What makes the story of your book worth printing in any newspaper, let alone major papers throughout the U.S.?

What is a good hook? What type of book/author rates space in newspapers? Books produced by major publishers have a definite foot-in-the-door. But what about independently published books—self-published and fee-based POD published books?

I have four ideas for you:

1: Study book reviews for independently published books and stories featuring new books in newspapers nationwide. Some newspapers and magazines have policies against publishing reviews for independently produced books. And it may be a bit time-consuming to locate those that welcome books like yours. Do a Google search to locate the newspapers/magazines you want to check. There are sites that might help with the process. http://www.booksindepth.com is one. Also, use some of the online newspaper directories: http://www.newspapers.com http://www.newspaperlinks.com http://www.thepaperboy.com Read random newspapers online. Go to your largest local library and read newspapers from major cities.

2: Note the newspapers that publish stories and/or reviews for independently produced books and then put yourself behind the readers’ bifocals and in the editors’ shoes to discover your book’s media hook.

3: Seek out newspaper columnists in the genre or topic of your book—mysteries, Christian/religious, inspirational, gardening, auto mechanics, pets, foods, literary writings/poetry, children’s books, personal finance, agriculture/farming, relationships, seniors, etc. Contact the columnist directly and be prepared to wow him/her with a hook they can’t resist.

4: Locate magazines, newsletters and ezines that publish articles/stories in your genre/topic. Contact them about reviewing, featuring or mentioning your book. Use Writer’s Market to find appropriate magazines. Subscribe to Wooden Horse Pubs at http://www.woodenhorsepub.com You can get daily or weekly rates as well as annual. Scan the plethora of magazines at a nearby major mega-bookstore.

For more on book promotion, study the articles posted at http://www.matilijapress.com/articles.htm You’ll find around 2 dozen articles just on book promotion. Pay particular attention to Tips for Becoming More Media-Worthy at http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/promote_mediaworthy.htm

Patricia Fry’s book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book also includes lessons in getting media attention. Order your copy of this 366-page book and the companion Author’s Workbook today at: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

My online courses-on-demand have been so popular, that I’ve decided to add another category. I’ve been teaching 3 successful online courses featuring article-writing, how to write a book proposal and self-publishing for several years. Starting in January, I’ll offer a 6-week Personalized Book Promotion course for authors of both fiction and nonfiction books. This includes memoirs, most children’s books (for children ages 8 and over) and books of poetry. It doesn’t matter if you are an author with a brand new book or you’ve been marketing your book for years.

The course fee is $200.
Prerequisite: I want to know about your current book marketing plan—what promotional activities you have pursued, to what extent and your degree of success. I’ll also want to know about your limitations—what are you able and willing to do/unable and unwilling to do?

Here’s how a course-on-demand works: You sign up with me (payment by credit card or check in advance). You tell me when you want to start and I will send you a lesson and an assignment each week for 6 weeks thereafter. The lessons will go out to you on consecutive weeks—no skipping.

Additional information about this course will appear at my website soon. In the meantime, let me hear from you if you have an interest in this new course and if you have questions. Plfry620@yahoo.com. Also be sure to visit my website and read student and client testimonials at http://www.matilijapress.com/testimonials.html

Promotion and marketing are foreign to most authors, yet so important to the success of any book. Sign up for this course and learn how to successfully promote and sell your particular book in the highly competitive world of bookselling. Become aware of useful resources. Learn new techniques. Most of all, be willing to step outside your comfort zone and stretch, at least a little. Let Patricia Fry help you to find your hook(s), discover your true audiences and locate them, determine appropriate promotional ploys, locate the resources you need to successfully implement your marketing plan and offer direction toward the successful launching (or re-launching) of your book.

Talk to me: plfry620@yahoo.com.

We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. And, yes, it’s important to maximize our pluses and work around our limitations. But, when you decide to enter the competitive publishing industry, your failings or frailties might just create roadblocks that, if not checked, will halt your potential success.

This is no time to reveal your perceived shortcomings and hide behind your fears. You’re playing with the big boys (and girls). Once you’ve become a published author, in order to succeed, you must push your strengths to the limit and shore up your weaker areas. Now, you must tell the world (or at least your target audience) that your book exists. And this could mean jumping, with both feet, outside your comfort zone.

Unfortunately, publication doesn’t come with automatic public awareness that your book has come into being. Telling two dozen of your closest friends and family about it probably won’t result in thousands of sales. Hiring a service to send hundreds of press releases doesn’t mean that even one of them will be published or acknowledged. Getting any book noticed takes a concentrated and constant effort. Selling it to even a small portion of the public is way more difficult. This is not something you can do solely from the comfort of your home office. It’s not a task for a self-proclaimed anti-social introvert.

You believed enough in your book to invest a lot of time and money producing it. Now you must reinforce your commitment to your project in a much bigger way. Folks, it’s show and tell time! Some might consider this truth or dare time—will you dare to spread the truth about your book to enough people? Can you commit to creating the success you have dreamed of ever since you sat down to write this book?

Publishing success is not random. Whether you land a traditional royalty publishers, self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a fee-based POD “self-publishing” company, you have the power to make or break your book. So stop looking to others for your success. Don’t expect your book to sell just because it’s what you think people should read. Give promotion just a lick and a promise and forget about selling books in this publishing climate.

So what if you hate and/or stink at public speaking, you can’t get out to do book signings or to hand-sell books, you don’t have time to or interest in sending press releases or soliciting book reviews, you have no desire to or talent for writing articles or submitting stories for publication and you’d just rather write than be bothered marketing a book? If you are unwilling to change any of the above, go ahead and write, my friend, but stay out of the publishing realm. You’ll only become one of the 75 percent of authors who fail.

Wait, you could hire a publicist. Sure, you can. But, as one author said after a whirlwind of TV appearances, book tours, book signings, etc., “I’ve never been so busy promoting my book until I hired my publicist.”

If you have a truly good, viable, useful, valuable, highly entertaining book to publish, you know your target audience, you understand your responsibilities as a published author and you are willing to do whatever it takes to promote your book, welcome to the world of publishing.

No matter which of the above categories you’re in, you’ll find my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and the companion Author’s Workbook extremely helpful in the process of writing, publishing and promoting your book. Read the 366-page book and you’ll begin to understand more about the publishing industry, your publishing options and the possible consequences of your choices. You’ll learn how to practically guarantee the success of your book before it is a book. The Author’s Workbook will walk you through the important process of planning a more potentially successful book, preparing yourself for the daunting and competitive world of publishing and establishing a viable marketing plan. Order both books at a savings now: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html. Do you need help establishing your target audience, writing a book proposal, editing your book, creating a marketing plan? Visit my consulting page: http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html. Contact me at plfry620@yahoo.com. Sign up for my online book proposal, article-writing and self-publishing courses-on-demand. http://www.matilijapress.com/couses.htm.