Writing and Publishing News from

March 4, 2013

Sell More Books Through Your Personality

Filed under: Book Promotion,Public Speaking — Patricia @ 4:34 am

If you’re not going out and speaking to groups about your book, you could be missing out on sales. I’ve heard authors say, “I’m not doing any more signings, I don’t sell enough books to make it worth my while.” Or “There’s no sense in spending my time speaking to groups, they never buy many books.”

Well, how many books do you sell when you stay home and watch television?

It’s true, you don’t always sell as many books as you hope when you go out and speak. On the other hand, sometimes you sell more than you expect to. And have you ever considered the other benefits of speaking to groups about your book? Here are a few:

• You get practice talking about your book. This is important if you want to stay on top of your marketing game.

• You get ideas for future presentations, blogs, articles/stories, your elevator speech and even additional books.

• You meet people with connections to library or bookstore sales, media, other groups that need speakers, conferences and so forth.

• It’s usually a fun, inspiring and interesting way to spend a few hours.

This week, why not start seeking new speaking opportunities through a local bookstore or library, at a specialty store related to the theme or topic of your book, at a church, for a civic group or organization, at a school or at a planned community event. If your presentation is conducive to the corporate sector, connect with hotels in your area and perhaps you can get on their list of programs to consider for their next big conference or convention. Locate clubs and organizations in the front pages of your phone book or at your Chamber of Commerce of city website.

Sure, you might only sell three to three dozen copies of your book at each event you schedule. But that’s still more than you would sell if you did nothing. Here’s a challenge: Plan three signings this year, speak at an event at your local library, have a booth at a flea market or book festival, present programs for three civic groups and you could sell dozens or hundreds of copies of your book. You could make meaningful connections that would result in additional opportunities and sales. And you could just have a really good time.

To learn more about promoting your book through your personality, order your copy of “Talk Up
Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.” It’s at amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio. You’ll also find it at other online and downtown bookstores. Or order it here: http://www.matilijapress.com/TalkUpYourBook.html

March 3, 2013

A Passion for Writing

Filed under: Creativity,Writing — Patricia @ 6:03 am

I heard a radio interview with a policeman last week. He said that serving as a peace officer was his passion. He couldn’t imagine doing anything else with his life. I realize that some of us are “called” to do certain types of work, such as nursing, fighting crime, volunteering within the community, building things, preaching, teaching… But it hadn’t occurred to me that there would be “passion” involved with something like police work.

Most of you reading this are authors. And you probably feel a passion for writing. If you’re like me, you can’t not write. It’s your creative outlet. The desire to write just bubbles out of you and it’s something that haunts you until you actually sit down and start writing. Only, there is no end. Your passion continues on after you finish your novel, write a few poems or complete your memoir. Is this you? Do you have a passion for writing?

Or are you writing simply to pass along information, share a concept or a story or preach, teach and nag on a topic of importance to you? Is your passion tied into the process of writing as it is for some of us or is it the passion for your topic or cause that excites you down to the bones?

I have been writing for over forty years. Early on, I discovered that I enjoyed composing stories and structuring articles so much that it felt almost sinful to spend time doing it. I was so in love with the process of writing that I had to find a way to justify doing it as often and for as many hours as I wanted. That’s why I started writing for publication. Well, then I got hooked on being published. The thrill and the challenge became almost as exciting for me as the process of writing. I guess that’s one reason why I was able to push through the constant rejection and keep on keeping on. (Well, there were many acceptances amidst the rejections—but as a writer, as many of you know, we do face rejection along the writing journey.)

I remember times when I was sitting at my electric typewriter composing a story or constructing an article and I would suddenly feel giddy because I was enjoying the work so much. I’d get a thrill from the creative process and watching the project come together. This still happens on occasion.

Forty years later, I still wake up eager to get to the computer and start my day of writing.

Over the years, however, my hands-on work requirement has changed somewhat. As an editor and teacher working with clients and students, a speaker and the head of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network), I have a variety of responsibilities that are not writing-related. That’s why I enjoy writing this daily blog. I’m also currently working on a new ebooklet for you to download free from my website. I’m writing a few speeches for upcoming events. And, when I have time, I work on my latest novel—number four since last summer. What a joy this process has been.

So why do you write, is it your calling…spurred by a passion within your soul? I do meet authors who claim, “I am not a writer. But I just had to write this book.” The process of writing is more drudgery than pleasure for these people. But they are, no doubt, spurred on by their passion for their purpose.

Which author are you?

No matter where your passion and how strong your creativity urge, if you are writing or have written your book for publication, please educate yourself so you are prepared to succeed in the highly competitive publishing climate we’ve developed over the years. Read the book I wrote for you: “Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author.” It’s at Amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio as well as at most other online and downtown bookstores.

March 2, 2013

Tough Love For Authors

Filed under: Book Promotion,Publishing — Patricia @ 5:44 am

You’ve all heard of “tough love,” related to an errant teen. If your book isn’t performing as you had hoped, you might consider using tough love with it.

Sure, you want to coddle your wonderful book. You hope millions of people will buy it and love it as much as you do. But you don’t particularly want to put in the effort required—you don’t want to cause ripples or bother people. You expect interested readers to recognize the value in your book and rush to purchase it without your interference. Perhaps you find promotion distasteful. You really dislike hawking your book. The reality of today’s publishing climate, however, is such that you must be involved. Your dedicated, persistent attention is needed if you hope to sell more than a handful of copies of your fiction or nonfiction book.

In other words, you can’t just create it and then expect others to find it, recognize the value in it and grab it up all on their own. You must stand strong beside your book, confidently introduce it to the world and continually strive to convince your potential readers to buy it.

A meek author who does not wish to participate in marketing his or her book, who doesn’t have the time to do so and/or who doesn’t understand what it takes to sell books today, will be among the nearly 78 percent of authors who sell fewer than 100 books total. If this describes you, I suggest that you do one of two things:

1: Start training NOW for the marathon marketing program you must engage in if you want to sell books by the hundreds or thousands. Read “Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author” and “Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.” Read them, study them and constantly refer to them.

OR

2: Give up the idea of writing a book for publication. If you aspire to succeed without knowledge of the publishing industry and if you enter into this competitive industry without a clear understanding of marketing, you will be wasting time and money.

Order Patricia Fry’s books at Amazon.com and other online and downtown bookstores.
Publish Your Book
Promote Your Book
Talk Up Your Book

March 1, 2013

Be Proactive in Promoting Your Book Events

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:42 am

Here’s another concept that I’ve included in my book, “Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.” I’m also touching on it in the new freebie I’ll be posting at my website soon.

Did you know that I offer a free ebooklet at my site: http://www.patriciafry.com Right now the ebooklet is “50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success.” I’ll announce the new one once it is posted. Here is an excerpt from the new one:

If you are speaking before an organized group such as a civic club with regular meetings or at a conference or convention, the organizer/program director will promote your presentation. But you’ll want to promote it, too. Let everyone on your email list know when and where you will be speaking. Some might not live in the area, but they may know someone who does and who would like to attend. So one reason for promoting your presentations is to entice people to come, but also to remind everyone on your list that you are credible in your field and available to speak.

Post your list of speaking engagements and other activities related to promoting your book at your website. Blog about upcoming events. Post this information at your FaceBook, LinkedIn, etc. pages. Mention it in your newsletter.

Stay in close communication with the program director or organizer to make sure they are doing the publicity they promised. In fact, you’re going to want to know exactly what they plan so you can make up the difference. If you learn in the beginning that the organizers aren’t going to promote, in order to get good attendance, you need to pick up the slack. Send press releases and notices to appropriate newspapers, newsletters, blog site and websites, for example.

If you are doing a signing or demonstration at a place of business that doesn’t generally have this sort of event, discuss publicity with the owner/manager. Perhaps they can promote your signing in their regular monthly advertisements. Suggest they make posters to put in their window or you do this for them. Create flyers and ask the clerks to place them in bags with purchases.

For added publicity for your speaking engagement, post the press release at your blog site, at your website, on your facebook page, etc. Make small posters and get permission to post them at the library, bookstores and other places related to the theme of your talk. If your presentation will be on model airplanes and held at a local hobby shop, by all means put posters on the hobby shop window, at any local small airports, at craft stores and other places where model airplane hobbyists shop or hangout. You get the picture.

Many authors neglect to take into consideration the exposure at hand. You might be surprised at the type of publicity available if you would just reach out a little farther. While many authors focus on those who will attend the activity and buy books, you should also consider the dozens to hundreds of others who will become aware of you, your book and the presentation through these publicity efforts. Don’t discount this opportunity. While these dozens or hundreds of people may not be able to attend the event, some may go to Amazon and purchase a copy of the book. They might see you later at a book festival and buy the book. They might stumble across it on your website and purchase it. When you promote a book, always, always keep in mind the residual effect as well as the immediate effect. This is what we call exposure. Honor it, create it, rely on it.

Order your copy of Talk Up Your Book at amazon.com or any other online or downtown bookstore. It will teach you volumes about how to promote your book using the most effective tool in your toolkit—your personality.

February 28, 2013

Promote Your Book Out of Town

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 6:07 am

This is excerpted from my latest ebooklet which I will offer for free as soon as I get it finished (maybe today). It’s called, “50 Ways to Sell Your Book Through Your Personality.”

If you have a book to promote, you’ll probably be out doing some public speaking to bring attention to it. This is highly recommended. Well, you’ll most likely be more warmly welcomed and your programs more well-attended when you speak locally, where you are known. But if you have a trip planned or your book is connected in some way to another city or state, I urge you to consider traveling and speaking. Maybe you live in Mississippi, but your novel is set in Connecticut. See about speaking to residents at various venues in this state. If you’re planning to visit family in another city, set up radio interviews, book signings and speaking engagements while there.

I often combine pleasure and business when I travel. Once when I visited a friend in Arizona, I arranged to speak to a group of writers at a local library. We took a trip to Nashville and I met with a group of writers in a large bookstore there. I find that it helps to have the assistance and support of locals to help you set up these out-of-town events. This is just another reason why it is important that you spend time researching organizations online and connecting with others in your field, industry, interest or genre.

In my situation, I am already known through many channels related to publishing and book promotion because of my longtime and ongoing article contributions to industry publications, my appearances at so many writing conferences, my high-profile status as executive director of SPAWN, my eight-year-old daily blog and so forth. So when I plan a trip out of town, I do an Internet search for writers’ groups in the area. I contact group leaders as far in advance as I can—a year or several months is ideal—and try to set something up. In this case, the writers’ group leader already has venues in mind, she or he has access to their groups’ email list. They do the promo. All I have to do is show up.

But keep in mind, that I may not have been invited if I hadn’t taken the initiative and made the contact. Here’s another reminder that YOU need to think of yourself as the CEO of your book—foremost and always.

This ebooklet will cover 50 types of promotion you can do personally and many tips for participating in them. Watch for this valuable freebie to come to Patriciafry.com. In the meantime, you can still download 50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success. FREE. http://www.patriciafry.com

If you missed my other two ebooklets which I offered for free for a period, you can still order them for $3.95 here: http://www.matilijapress.com They are “50 Ways to Sell Your Ebooks.” (You’ll be amazed at some of the ideas) and “50 Reasons Why You Should Publish That Book.” (This ebooklet will let you know if you are ready to publish or not.)

February 27, 2013

50 Ways to Market Your Ebook

Filed under: Book Promotion,E-Books — Patricia @ 5:01 am

Are you aware of my ebook, “50 Ways to Sell Your Ebook?” I offer it for sale at my website for $3.95. http://www.matilijapress.com

Here is an excerpt from the Introduction to this ebook:
Some of you may recall when the big six publishers looked down their noses at the ebook concept and refused to get involved with something so new fangled and risky. They allowed the small and independent publishers to pave the way and prove the value of the ebook. Now, some of the big publishers are earning as much as 22 percent of their revenue through digital book sales.
Statisticians are busy keeping track of ebook sales. But few dare to guess at the number of ebooks available. Internet news source, Publicola, recently did some serious research through Amazon.com, RR Bowker, Barnes and Noble and others, and concluded that there are more than ten million ebooks available in the US. Publishing Industry stats show that 85 percent of print book publishers plan to produce both print and ebooks in the future.
Yes, ebooks are here and, apparently, here to stay. So it’s no wonder that authors are interested in exploring the digital publishing avenue. Many of the questions I field these days as the executive director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and a workshop leader and speaker at writers’ conferences and writers’ group meetings, relate to publishing and marketing ebooks. That’s why I decided to prepare this report for you.

Note to Novelists
In case you’re wondering if the material in this ebooklet is for you, let me say that at least forty-eight of the fifty ideas relate to fiction ebooks as well as nonfiction. In most cases, I’ve pointed out exactly how to incorporate these activities and ideas in the promotion of your novels. If you have trouble wrapping your artistic brain around some of these ideas, just email me for further instruction and support. PLFry620@yahoo.com

How to Locate Ebook Publishers
In this ebooklet, I address book promotion as it applies to ebooks. For information about ebook publishing, let me direct you to the Internet. When I did an Internet search using keywords, “publish ebook,” I got over sixty-eight million results. I suggest that you use these keywords, note several links, study the companies, compare them, do additional research on those you may consider and make an informed decision. Here are a couple of directories of ebook publishers: http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/epublishers.html (includes around sixty companies). http://www.publishersglobal.com/directory/media/ebook-publishers (nearly 900 ebook publishers listed).

Order this ebook today and discover many additional useful links and tons of ideas for promoting your book using your personality and through the Internet.
http://www.matilijapress.com

February 26, 2013

Tips for Children’s Book Authors

Filed under: Authorship,Writing — Patricia @ 5:10 am

Are you writing or thinking about writing a children’s book? It’s not as easy as you might think. There are standards and rules for children’s literature. And in children’s book writing, age makes a difference—not your age, but the age of the audience. You need to understand the vocabulary for the age group you are writing for and the recommended page number, words per page, types of illustrations, etc.

Here are three things I’d like you to take into consideration when you are writing for children.

• Take a course in writing for children. Read books by professionals.

• Read books in the age group you are writing for. Lots of them. Study the style, the vocabulary, the structure, size, number of page, illustrations.

• Read your book to children and let children read it before you ever approach a publisher. If dozens of children in your target age group go bananas over your story, perhaps you are on the right track.

How do you find children to read to? Perhaps in your neighborhood. With their parents’ permission, of course, see if you can gather them together some sunny afternoon and read to them. Or hand out copies of a prototype of your book and ask them to read it.

Volunteer to read to the children in the Sunday school program at your church some Sunday.

Connect with your local library. Do they have story time for kids? Ask if either you or the regular reader could read your book during a session. If there is no scheduled story time for kids, set one up. Observe the children carefully as you read.

Get into the schools. It can sometimes be tough to get in. Private schools might be more flexible. And if your book teaches a character lesson (gratitude, thoughtfulness, honesty, etc.) you may have a better chance of being invited to come in and read it to the children.

I have some great ideas for promoting children’s books in my book, “Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.” It’s available at amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio. It can also be found at other online and downtown bookstores. Or order your copy here: http://www.matilijapress.com

February 25, 2013

How to Start and Maintain an Active Blog

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 4:44 am

Most mornings I have no problem coming up with a message to share via this blog. Other times, I don’t feel so inspired. Well, how many of you have written 1,749 posts or articles over a period of 7 ½ years? Yes, this is post number 1,750. At this rate, I will reach number 2,000 by the end of the year.

Some people think it is amazing that someone could maintain a blog at this pace. Others think it’s rather crazy. Why do I do it? Why do I suggest that other authors take time out of their day or week to post blogs pertinent to their book topic or genre? It’s another good way to get exposure for your book(s), to gain credibility in your field or genre, to attract customers/readers and to give something of value to your potential readers.

It may seem daunting to be responsible for writing a blog post every day or even every week. But think about it, if you could write a whole book, if you can write promotion copy, if you can write articles/stories for publication and speeches, you can probably come up with topics to maintain a valuable and/or entertaining blog.

Here are some tips to help you get started and that will also serve to give you more confidence as a blogger:

• Dissect your book and see how many subjects and sub-topics you can list.

• Dissect these subjects even more, slice and dice them into miniscule topics.

• Study other books and articles on your topic and come up with even more ideas.

• Study other blogs to see what others are talking about. Read their comments to learn what their readers are interested in.

• Learn to take small topics and write big about them.

• Practice creating several posts on one sub-topic.

• Ask friends to help you come up with blog topics. Bring together a group of good friends, a little wine, a few snacks and just watch the ideas flow.

Learn more about starting and maintaining a blog as well as article/story-writing as a way to build your platform—your credibility—and get more exposure for your books in my books: Publish Your Book, Promote Your Book and Talk Up Your Book. All three books are at Amazon.com available in print, kindle and audio.

February 24, 2013

You are in Control of Your Publishing Success (or Failure)

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 5:56 am

There are certain things that I constantly harp on. And sometimes I repeat my mantra over and over to the same clients, audiences and students. When speaking to groups of writers in various cities, often a hand will go up during the Q and A session and the individual will ask me something that I covered quite sufficiently in my spiel. How did he miss it? Why don’t some of my clients/students get what I so carefully and thoroughly pass along to them? Am I a poor teacher?

No. Some authors are in deep denial. They ask the same question again and again hoping for a new answer—one that they can accept and digest—something that is more within their comfort zone.

Some new authors don’t want to write a book for their audience. They want to write it strictly for themselves and, once they pay to have it published, they wonder why they can’t get people interested in reading it.

Many authors won’t accept responsibility for promoting their books—they don’t believe they should have to do anything other than write it and make it available. Later, they chalk up their failure to the fact that bookstores won’t carry their books or that they didn’t get that big break on the Jay Leno show like they should have.

Authors don’t believe me (and other professionals) when I say they need a platform—a following, credibility in their field or genre. When their book doesn’t perform the way they hope, they figure it’s because their editor screwed up, their cover designer led them astray or their webmaster didn’t build a good enough site.

Authors, pay attention to the experts—those professionals you trust. Listen to everything they say, not just those things you want to hear. Avoid reading falsehoods into what they tell you. Stop resisting those things that make you feel uncomfortable. Look at the big picture so that you can understand what you’re being told and why. Take the initiative on behalf of your book project. In fact, from day one—when you decide you want to write a book for publication—you should consider yourself the CEO of that book. This means that you must make educated decisions—that you need to take full responsibility for your project.

Now, do you want to pursue a project that is doomed to failure? If not, you’d better begin your education. Start by studying the publishing industry, read good books on the subject, attend writers’ conferences and writers’ group meetings where there are speakers from the publishing community. Once you truly understand the highly competitive business you are about to enter, you’ll be able to make better decisions on behalf of your book. And you’re more apt to be among the twenty-two percent of authors who sell more than just 100 books total.

Start by reading Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. Available at Amazon.com http://www.amzn.to/Tze53Z and most other online and downtown bookstores.

Plan to attend the huge Tucson Festival of Books and sit in on some of the panel discussions with industry professionals—agents, publishers, successful authors and others. I will be on four panels over the weekend (March 9 and 10) on publishing, finding a publisher, building your platform and marketing.

February 23, 2013

Make Sure Your Book is a Good Idea

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 4:49 am

Is your book a good idea? Are you sure? Do you have a potential customer base for the book you want to write? How do you know there are people out there eager to read your book?

When I ask new authors if they read books similar to the one they’re writing, most say, “Well, no.” But they are sure there are people out there who will seek out and read their book featuring their thoughts on cloning, their predictions about the economy of America, their story of illness and recovery, their collection of poetry or their modern rendition of a folktale.

They haven’t done any research. They haven’t tested their book idea. They just know that if they write it, readers will come because that’s what they want to believe. They want to write it and they want justification for taking the time to write it.

Nearly 78 percent of these authors eventually prove themselves wrong. That’s how many authors sell fewer than 100 books total.

Some of these authors may have a great idea, may be wonderful writers, could have a book with success potential, but they don’t know how to market it. In fact, most don’t even know they will be expected to promote their own books. Of those who are aware of this truth, many don’t truly understand the scope of this responsibility.

If you are new to writing for publication and if you hope for some measure of success with your project, I urge you to take a break and do some studying. Here’s an inexpensive ebook to start the process of learning what it takes to successfully publish in today’s highly competitive publishing climate.

50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/50ReasonsWhyToWriteBook.html

If you have already published an ebook, which is how many authors start out these days, and you are not selling many, here’s an ebook that will help immensely.

50 Ways to Promote Your Ebook
http://www.matilijapresss.com/50WaysToPromoteEBook.html

Both of these books are only $3.95 each.

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress