Writing and Publishing News from

I’m back from Alaska. What a place! Awesome beauty everywhere. So much to do and see. And the wildlife—we never tired of glimpsing a moose or bald eagle. In fact, we visited every zoo and wildlife refuge around. Especially enjoyed seeing the bears up close and personal and the lynx. The caribou are fabulous animals, too. Well, I guess I enjoyed them all—wolves, foxes…

Of course, I went there to work and the Alaska Writer’s Guild Conference was great. I spoke twice and presented a 3-hour workshop within a three day span. PLUS I consulted with five authors with regard to their manuscripts as part of the conference. I was busy. And the people were wonderful. I met so many super friendly authors and some amazing writers/marketers. They were so friendly that there were times when I had to take my meals to my room so I could eat without being constantly put on the spot to respond to questions, participate in consultations, etc.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, I have a lot of work to catch up on. Yes, I had a computer with me, but some things you just can’t handle in brief moments and from a remote place. And things have happened since I left. For one thing, I sold almost out of books at the conference. Yeah!

This morning, Anna Farmery of Engaging Brand let me know that a podcast I did with her a few weeks ago is live. Listen to it here:
http://theengagingbrand.typepad.com/the_engaging_brand_/2011/09/how-to-promote-your-book.html

A reviewer has added her review of Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low Cost Tips and Techniques for Enterprising Authors to the Amazon page. There are now 19 positive reviews. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

Charlene Austin of Las Vegas announced that she has once again launched her Writing Road newsletter at a new site: http://www.writingroad.com And her first issue features my article: Your Audience Has Needs, Too.

Can you sell books by traveling and speaking, by getting reviews, by engaging in interviews and writing and submitting articles or stories? Well, you certainly can. These recent efforts on my book’s behalf have put my book in front of at least several hundred authors. The number could go as high as a few thousand. At the conference, around 35 percent of participants purchased copies of my book. The numbers are always higher when you (the author) are present to talk about your book. But even if 10 percent of everyone who becomes aware of my book through the pod cast, the article and the new review (which has been posted at several sites), purchase it, this could amount to as many as 200 books. Not too shabby.

And the total number of books sold through these activities might be only twenty or ten. But why would you not put the effort in to sell ten, twenty or even hundreds of books?

For much more information, resources and tips for promoting your book, read my book Promote Your Book. Purchase it here: http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

You spent months or even years writing your book. Boy was it a lot of work—fun, enjoyable, inspiring, stimulating—but work, nonetheless. Now you want to give it the best sendoff possible into the world of publishing, critics, readers, reviewers… What are your expectations?

I can tell you what mine were the first few times around. I expected a lot more fanfare when A.S. Barnes published my first book, Hints For the Backyard Rider in 1978. If I’d had one iota of knowledge about authorship, I may have sold tons more books than I did. Or maybe it was the day—the times… Perhaps authors, then, weren’t expected to promote their own books. I certainly don’t recall the publisher asking me about my platform or my marketing plan. I wasn’t even required to write a book proposal. I just celebrated the publishing of that book, did one book signing and went to work on my next book.

I knew and readily accepted my responsibilities for promoting my second book because I was the publisher. That’s the publisher’s job, right? This was a local history book—easy as pie to promote because promotion would occur locally. Easy, maybe, but it still took work, effort, energy, creativity and a lot of stretching. That experience taught me that your book sells only for as long as you promote it.

It was while I was promoting this book that I developed and enhanced some of my marketing skills. I joined a Toastmasters Club and worked hard to become a better public speaker. I read books—many books—on book promotion. And I started taking my book to book festivals and flea markets. I even had a booth at our county fair one year. That was a very good bookselling event.

It wasn’t until twelve years later that I came out with my next book—in fact, two books at once. What was I thinking? And these were my first self-published books for national distribution. Was I prepared for this? I thought so. I had many ideas for promoting these books—I would get reviews published in appropriate magazines and newsletters, speak on these topics, approach specialty bookstores (cooking/foods and New Age/metaphysical) and create marketing material and do mass mailings (I was not on the Internet, yet). I also bought a mailing list and sent fliers to hundreds of traditional bookstores telling them about my books. While I found it quite easy to get my book into specialty bookstores, I was not very successful when it came to regular bookstores. In fact out of the 300 or so fliers I sent, I received exactly 0 responses.

I’ve discovered since, that, at least in that time period, the best way to get a book into a bookstore was to show up in person, book in hand, and offer the bookseller a consignment agreement. That is, “pay me when the book sells.” And I’m talking independent bookstores. Unfortunately, there are not many of them left.

Now, I maintain that the best way to get your books into bookstores is to promote outside the bookstore and send customers to the bookstore. Speak locally, do radio/TV gigs, write articles for local publications related to the theme/genre of your book, etc., to bring attention to it and people will go out looking for it. But I also maintain, as do many other professionals, that bookstores may not be the best place to sell books anymore.

Boy have things changed since I started learning about book promotion. The advent of the computer, word processing systems and the Internet have made it possible for thousands more people to become authors and for thousands more avenues of promotion. There are many, many more reviewers, e-publications, online bookselling opportunities and ways to present a book to the public. The one thing we don’t have more of are readers, unfortunately.

For much more about book promotion in 2011 and beyond, read my latest book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Read some of the 18 reviews at the book’s page at Amazon.com

http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

I’d like to return to our book promotion theme today because I think it is so important. It is also a concept that is misunderstood and an activity that is often neglected by many authors.

How many of you reading this blog today are in denial about the need to really get out there and promote your book? If you’ve been a published author for any length of time, you totally get the concept of book promotion. You may not like it and you may not want to do it, but you are, at least, beginning to get it. How do you know that it is important? Because when you don’t do it, your book doesn’t sell, right?

If you are still working on your book, it’s obvious that you are also studying the publishing industry, which I urge all authors to do—otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post. But have you embraced the concept of book promotion and committed to it? Are you planning your marketing strategies? Are you building on your platform? If not, you are surely sabotaging the success of that book you have worked so hard on.

Here are the three main things that get in the author’s way of success:

1: The author doesn’t believe that promotion is necessary. She says, “I don’t need to promote my book. It will sell itself.” Or, “I’m going to get it into the bookstores right away. People will find it there.” Or “I only want to make $20,000 this year, so I probably don’t have to do much promotion. I already know a lot of people who said they would buy it.”

Authors soon find out that they cannot rely on bookstores for sales unless they’re doing a lot of promotion and bringing hundreds of people in to purchase it. They also learn early on that they truly don’t have as many friends to purchase the book as they hoped for, and the only time the book is selling is when they are putting effort into promotion.

2: The author plans to promote only during the first few months after publication. Authors need to understand that book promotion is ongoing. It should start before you write the book and continue for as long as you want to sell books.

3: The author gives up. I can’t tell you how often I hear, “I can’t sell my book, so what’s the use?” You won’t achieve the level of success you desire if you quit

There’s a lot to consider when entering the huge and competitive publishing business. And promotion is a major consideration. Whether you land a traditional royalty publisher, self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a fee-based POD publishing service, it is up to the author to promote his or her book. And the time to start thinking about promotion is before you ever sit down and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

Order your copy of Patricia Fry’s new book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Read some of the 18 reviews at the book’s page at Amazon.com

http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

I’m still in Alaska at the Anchorage Writer’s Guild Conference. My presentation yesterday went quite well. During the afternoon, I met with authors and did some manuscript evaluations. Last night, I was one of 6 panelists who responded to author questions on a variety of topics. The panelists joining me were 2 agents, a publisher a novelist/screenplay writer and a magazine editor. It was interesting to hear the various responses from these professionals. I agreed with most, but not all of the responses from the others. And I appreciated hearing some of the responses representing the inside view of some aspects of publishing that few of us are privy to.

I did two author consultations this morning and after lunch I will give the closing speech and then participate in another panel discussion. My books are selling like crazy here.

Some new authors come to us at SPAWN or contact me personally and say, “I have a book. How can I get it published?” They hope for a quick and easy answer that goes something like this: “Send your manuscript to xyz.com along with $300 and they will professionally edit your book, design a great cover, do page layout and produce 100 copies for you within the next two weeks.”

Authors also come to me asking, “How can I promote my book?” And they would love to hear, “Call this number and ask for Joe. He’ll get you on the Dr. Phil show and you won’t ever have to promote your book again.” Or they might be satisfied to hear, “Here, let me take over the promotion of your book for a fee of $25 per month. I’ll do all of the legwork and guarantee somewhere between 1,000 to 3,000 sales per quarter.”

Yeah, that’s what every author wants to hear. But this is not the reality of the matter. In fact, some authors, upon hearing the truth in publishing and book promotion, will just throw up their hands and quit.

That’s why I spend so much of my time and energy preaching to and teaching authors that they must study the publishing industry so they understand more about the process, the options and the author’s responsibilities as a published author. That’s why I try to encourage authors to be proactive in their research, careful when making choices and willing to stretch and grow in order to succeed.

As an author, you must approach publishing from a place of knowledge, not confusion. You need to understand your role as a published author from the very beginning. When you decide to write a book and publish it, hoping for wide distribution, you need more than a writer’s desire to share. If you weren’t born with a marketing gene or trained in marketing, you MUST develop this in yourself. If you do not care to get involved in promoting your book, then change your mind about producing it. Instead, write your book for family and friends, offer it as a free marketing tool for your business or plan to donate it to a charity.

Do not go into the business of publishing unless you are willing to face the hard work and difficult choices it takes to produce a book and embrace what comes next—book promotion.

I’m in Anchorage, Alaska today, preparing to present the keynote speech to open the Alaska Writer’s Guild Conference this morning. Weather is beautiful. It’s an absolutely spectacular area. And the people here are genuine and lovely. Yesterday I taught a 3-hour workshop and the reception was wonderful. Great group of authors and hopeful authors. And some of them had really great ideas for books. I sincerely hope that, after the workshop, they are looking at their projects with a lot more business sense and are already considering their marketing plan.

There is a bookstore here at the conference selling copies of my new book, Promote Your Book and their supply is dwindling mighty fast. Sales are brisk. Nice to see.

For much more about book promotion order my new book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author at Amazon.com. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

I see authors frequently reject good opportunities to promote their books. Some of them simply neglect to see the opportunity for what it is. Others don’t want to take the time to respond to it or they don’t know how to follow up.

Here are some tips for shy, reticent, reluctant or overwhelmed authors:

1: You have been invited to participate in an interview to be published or aired soon. You don’t feel you have the time or you are insecure about responding to questions. Suck it up! Find the time—what better use of your time than to accept the opportunity to get publicity for your book? Remember that book promotion is ongoing for as long as you want your book to sell. And since addressing the public is such a huge part of successful book promotion, you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you will overcome your aversion to the limelight.

2: Your book was reviewed in a magazine. Don’t just gloat to a few friends and colleagues and then put the review in your scrapbook. Use this break to get additional exposure for your book. Write about it in your blog, announce it to your discussion group, send notices to the editors of newsletters for your membership organizations, post the review at your website and ask the reviewer to post it at your book’s Amazon page.

3: Someone you meet tells you how much they enjoyed your book. Don’t just enjoy the moment and then walk away. Ask this person to write his comments and send them to you for use in promotion. Or write them down yourself. With permission, post the testimonial at your website. Flaunt it in your blog. Use it in your promo material.

4: You’re invited to sit on a panel of experts in your field or genre or you’ve been asked to speak. If the very idea of public speaking is distasteful to you, do something about your fears. Either push through them and accept the opportunities or get some training. Join a Toastmasters’ Club, a storytelling group or take speaker training through your job.

5: You’ve been invited to participate in a booth at a book festival or flea market, but you’re afraid it won’t be worth your while. Hogwash! Any opportunity to get exposure for your book is worth your while. You may not sell a hundred (or even 10) copies at your local flea market, but your book is getting exposure that it would not be getting if you kept it locked up in your garage that weekend.

6: Someone you meet at a book festival or trade show or even a Chamber of Commerce social expresses an interest in your book and asks you to call him on Monday. Don’t blow this guy off thinking he doesn’t know anything about your book or bookselling in general. He may just be organizing a corporate convention locally and is looking for interesting things to purchase for a goody bag for attendees or he knows someone in the field represented by your book and he thinks he can get you a review in a prestigious magazine.

7: A neighbor or long-time friend wants you to bring copies of your book to a charity function he’s hosting. Take him seriously. He may be interested in buying a dozen and giving them away in gift baskets during the evening.

If your books aren’t selling well, maybe it is because you aren’t noticing or embracing the opportunities that are dropped in your lap or dangled over your head. Do you remember how important it was while you were writing your book to pay attention to detail—to be aware of material and information for your book? This awareness should be fostered into the book promotion phase of your project, as well. It is highly important that, as an author, you develop “opportunity radar” and that you open your mind to every book promotion possibility.

Rejection of opportunities will quickly result in failure.
Recognizing, considering and accepting opportunities is the surest path to publishing success.

I’m traveling this week—posts will be sporadic. So hang in there with me.
This is a great time for you to order and start studying my new book, Promote Your Book. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

I offer something many professionals don’t—I make myself available to respond to your questions. And this is true especially if you purchase any of my useful books on publishing and book promotion. PLFry620@yahoo.com

I’m experiencing the learning curve again—had to buy a new computer yesterday. My five-year-old computer began growling at me from time to time. I knew it was on its way out. Yesterday, it became ferocious—the noise even scared the cats. We were able to replace it and transfer the files without much of a glitch. Some of my photos are missing, however—we’ll have to go back and try to retrieve them from the external hard drive we use for backup. In particular, I need my publicity photo and the image of my new book, which bloggers, editors, conference directors, etc. want when they’re planning some sort of publicity.

Do you have a publicity photo to send when you will be featured in the newspaper, a magazine or at a website? Do you have a professional quality photo you can send for promo purposes when you are scheduled to speak or to be a guest blogger? You’ll also need it for brochures, fliers, posters and, most likely, for your own website. You’ll also want a good image of your book cover at your site and to send out for publicity purposes.

I’ve seen some pretty awful author publicity photos. This is unfortunate and unnecessary. Everyone can clean up their act enough to pose for a decent photo. Some authors prefer using casual shots of themselves in nature or with their dog or horse. I’ve seen some informal photos that are quite appropriate and others that are not—they are blurred, low-quality shots, for example.

I like to advise authors to use photos that depict the subject or theme of their book nicely—a shot with you wearing an apron and holding a plate of cupcakes to promote your book on cupcake baking, for example. If your adventure novel features a lot of scenes in the wilderness, use a picture of yourself posing near an old tree. It is typical for a mystery writer to use a shot of themselves in their office looking pensive, don’t you think? For a book on parenting, you’d want your photo to have a maternal or paternal feel to it.

If you’re like me and you have a variety of books on a variety of topics, a single photo depicting your friendly/professional demeanor is probably in order.

If you’re undecided as to the image you want to portray in your publicity photo, brainstorm this with colleagues and friends. But I warn you, they will choose the photo you dislike most in every case. I don’t know why this is—but others see us so very differently than we see ourselves. And the shot that appeals to others might be your least favorite.

Hire a professional photographer and tell him or her what you hope to portray in your picture. Show the photographer your book(s). He or she may have some suggestions. They might also recommend the best color for you to wear for the shot. A busy print fabric is usually discouraged, for example. And you don’t want to use overpowering colors.

If you are not good with your hair and makeup, get help. You really do want to look your best.

For more about your publicity photo and many, many other aspects of book promotion, order my new book today: Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia