Self-Publishing Resources

Eleven Questions for Today’s Indie Publisher

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:30:05 +0000

Source: http://selfpublishingresources.com/eleven-questions-for-today%E2%80%99s-indie-publisher-2/

Your name: D’vorah Lansky

Your website: http://BookMarketingMadeEasy.com

Your bibliography: Connect, Communicate, and Profit: Build Successful Business Relationships Online Book Marketing Made Easy: Simple Strategies for Selling Your Nonfiction Book Online Promote Your Book with Teleseminars: Simple and Affordable Ways to Turn Your Message Into Money

1. What is your background? I have a Master’s Degree in education and have taught in various places around the globe. When my son was born I began marketing online, that was 1994. This led to many speaking opportunities and the publication of my books.

2. What led you to self-publishing? I like the control I have over to project so I can set the pace. With so many options available an author can accomplish a great deal while retaining the rights to their book.

3. What have you found to be the biggest challenge in self-publishing? Sifting through all the offerings and finding the best book cover designer, editor, etc. Some of the programs where you pay someone to do it all sound appealing. Since I am quite proficient in online marketing I don’t need the support with building sites and social media, so still looking for the right match.

4. What has been the biggest surprise about self-publishing? That an author can write a book and publish it. I thought publishing a book was a huge mystery and rare occurrence. I was delighted to find out that this is not the case.

5. What inspires you? Being around kind, positive, giving, successful people.

6. Describe your writing process. I use the “gatherer” style of writing. I like to outline my project in word or as a mindmap. I then plug in subtopics, idea, resources, etc. Next, I open up word and pop each page/idea onto it’s own page. I format the text so that everything is uniform and then I dig in and begin writing. I like to set a goal for number of sections I’ll work on during each writing session. Sometimes I’ll print off these pages and attach them to a clipboard as I often enjoy sitting in bed and writing first thing in the morning.

7. How do you stay disciplined? I actually am quite disciplined and have to force myself to go to sleep or go have fun, away from the office! To me,work, writing, marketing, meeting people, networking, IS fun!

8. What is your favorite self-marketing idea? Setting up and participating in an online Virtual Book Tour. I was inspired by the book tours of Dana Lynn Smith and Joanna Penn and set up what ended up being a very successful 21-day virtual book tour. If anyone is interested in gathering ideas for their own tour there are lots of tips and ideas right on my tour page and on my blog at http://BookMarketingMadeEasy.com

9. What advice do you have for burgeoning self-publishers? Set up a WordPress blog the foundation of your online platform. Begin promoting your book and developing your author platform when your book is just a glimmer in your eye. In this way you’ll have a strong foundation and solid relationships with people who will support you when it comes time to promote your book as well as a place for people to come to to find out more about you and your book.

10. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun? I enjoy going to the bookstore, playing cribbage, hiking, quilting, dancing, and reading.

11. What project are you currently working on? I actually am working on two projects.

1) The Third Annual Book Marketing Conference Online. Fifteen sessions with top book marketing experts.

http://BookMarketingConference.com

2) A course on Relationship Marketing for Authors that Shelley Hitz and I are teaching together.

http://www.greetingcardsforauthors.com/ecourse/

Your name: D’vorah Lansky

Your website: http://BookMarketingMadeEasy.com

5. What inspires you? Being around kind, positive, giving, successful people.

10. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun? I enjoy going to the bookstore, playing cribbage, hiking, quilting, dancing, and reading.

11. What project are you currently working on? I actually am working on two projects.

1) The Third Annual Book Marketing Conference Online. Fifteen sessions with top book marketing experts.

http://BookMarketingConference.com

2) A course on Relationship Marketing for Authors that Shelley Hitz and I are teaching together.

http://www.greetingcardsforauthors.com/ecourse/

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How to Set up A Preorder Event for Your Book

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:06:50 +0000

Source: http://www.writersdigest.com/qp7-migration-all-articles/qp7-migration-fiction/how-to-set-up-a-preorder-event-for-your-book

Written by: Seth Harwood with Alison Janssen

Online preorder events can be an incredible success. My fellow podcasting authors Scott Sigler, JC Hutchins and Mur Lafferty have all made huge runs up the Amazon charts thanks to this kind of marketing. If you’re dedicated to building an online presence, a preorder event could be a great strategy to try. Here’s how to do it.

1. Affiliate Programs
Instead of asking bloggers and podcasters to post about your book out of kindness, offer them an affiliate code. Their readers can use it to get a discount when they buy your book, and you can give a few dollars back to the affiliate for each referral. Everyone wins!

2. Podcast Marketing
If your books are on Podiobooks.com, you can use dynamic insertion to automatically add short promos to the beginning of your online catalog of content. Since people are always going out and listening to my recorded books (I’ve used podcasting—turning my work into audio files [MP3s]—that I distribute FOR FREE via my blog, iTunes and Podiobooks.com to get my novels out and build an audience) now I can get fresh promotional content to them within these files.

Also, there are a lot of great podcasters who’ll be happy to run a promo or two for you or even have you on for an interview. (See #1 above.) I’ve even lined up live interview shows!

3. Fan Evangelism
Use Twitter and Facebook. Even if you’d rather not maintain a Facebook page or Twitter profile of your own, realize that your readers likely do participate in social media. Ask them to change their profile picture during the week of your online event. Provide easily downloadable avatars for them to use—each time a fan using your avatar sends a tweet, their tweet serves as a reminder of your online event. (For an example of how to offer free avatars, click here.)

4. Point of Sale
Make it as easy and intuitive as possible. Readers are becoming more and more confident with purchasing online, but it’s important that your point of sale works properly, and will keep buyer’s credit card information safe. PayPal is a top choice for online vending, but there are other options. If you’re not confident in your web abilities, ask around. It’s worth the investment in professional help if your point of sale is smooth and appealing.

5. Package Deals
Do you have previously published books? Would your book cover look good on a t-shirt? Don’t be shy about offering package deals as a part of your online presales event.

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A Guide to Creative Writing That Sells

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:00:45 +0000

source: http://www.letinfohelp.com/article/creative-writing/a-guide-to-creative-writing-that-sells.html

Written by: Caterina Christakos

It’s unbelievable that with all the creative writing courses out there, that no one teaches the necessity of researching your market before you set pen to paper.

Yes, we all want to be creative and let our imagination go. At the same time, wouldn’t it be great to have some of your work published? Even better wouldn’t it be awesome to know that you have upped your chances of getting published by around 80% by simply doing a tiny bit of browsing in a library or bookstore?

Here is a way to make sure that there is an interest in your type of story before you pick up a pen or pull out your laptop:

1) Go to the local bookstore and read the writing magazines. Editors actually tell these magazines what they are interested in, in a fairly timely manner. Most of the guess work is taken out for you. You know which editors are looking for what type of stories.

2) Look at the current Writer’s Guide. It is filled with editors and publishers looking for fresh material. And guess what? They also tell you what each editor wants and what they are sick to death of.

3) Check out the bookshelves to see which children’s books are featured. Is there a trend or pattern? For example the last few years Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl and Charlie Bone have all been hot. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that magical characters have taken kids and editors by storm.

4) Ask kids what their favorite books are. Ask them why they like one over the other. Ask if their friends are into the same books. Model these themes.

There is no need to make over the wheel or hire a psychic to figure out what publishers, editors and your audience – kids, are looking for. Gather this information and apply it to your writing.

Watch the number of your submissions rise, while your rejection letters become few and far between.

About The Author

Caterina Christakos is the author of How to Write a Children’s Book in 30 Days or Less and countless articles both on and off the net. For easy tips on how to write a children’s book go to: http://www.howtowriteachildrensbook.com.

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Drumroll Please … The Next Generation of Facebook Marketing is Here!

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:16:15 +0000

source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/drumroll-please-the-next-generation-of-facebook-marketing-is-here/

written by: Vikram Narayan

The problem with today’s Facebook fan pages
So you’re an author with a Facebook fan page. You’ve got book trailers, polls, quizzes, photo and writing contests running on your page. You’ve even got a few hundred “Facebook Likes” for your page. And yet your book sales are not going up. You then compare yourself to popular authors with tens of thousands of Fans on their Facebook fan pages. And you wonder what they are doing that you’re not doing.

Here’s what’s happening.

If you are a popular mainstream author, the people becoming fans of your page are people who already read your books or have heard enough about you that they are likely to soon become readers.

If you are not yet a literary superstar, then the people who are “Liking” your page are doing so because of some other inducement that you may be providing (“get entered into a prize drawing if you Like my page”). They are unlikely to think about you or notice your book even if they “Like” your Facebook fan page. And they are unlikely to return to your Facebook page or tell their friends about it.

Thus, while a Facebook fan page (and associated bells and whistles such as the BookBuzzr Facebook Fan Page Widget) is a necessary condition for entry into the book marketing game, it is not sufficient.

So how do you actually find some readers for your book?

John Locke’s Principle of Transfer of Loyalty
A few months ago, best-selling author – John Locke – wrote a book – “How I Sold a Million Books”. In this book John comes up with the concept of “Transfer of Loyalty”. The idea is simple and fairly well-known. It is best illustrated by an example.

Let us say that you’ve written a vampire romance book and your target audience is the set of people who liked the Twilight movie series. You write a blog post on the Twilight movie series and promote the blog post on Twitter to Twilight movie fans. Some of these folks will read your blog post and get exposed to your book. Some of your blog post readers may now “transfer their loyalty” to give your book a try.

While this is a fantastic, proven concept, we at BookBuzzr, believe that the principle can be extended to find readers on Facebook.

Characteristics of Facebook users
Some of the characteristics of Facebook users are:
1. They don’t like reading lengthy blog posts while on Facebook.
2. They like playing trivia games
3. They like sharing fun stuff with their friends
4. They are usually thinking WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)

Announcing QuizBuzzr – a revolution in book marketing on Facebook

Melding John Locke’s loyalty transfer principle with our insight about Facebook users, we’ve come up with QuizBuzzr.

QuizBuzzr is a quiz that you, the author, create. There are ten questions in each quiz. The quiz would ideally appeal to your target audience. For example, if you think that fans of the Oprah Winfrey show would enjoy your book, you would create a quiz featuring 10 questions about Oprah Winfrey.

QuizBuzzr also features “Lifelines”. Clicking on these will offer you clues to the correct answer with one twist – some of them require you to share the game with your Facebook friends.

QuizBuzzr is also made interesting by the fact that at each point during the game, you can “Walk Away” from the game thereby saving the points earned till that point or risk it all by trying to answer the next question.

And we’ve built in several ‘viral hooks’ which cause users to share information about the specific quiz and about your book with their Facebook friends.

And winning points in the game allows users to use those points on Freado.com where they can win real prizes including Kindles and best-selling books.

Why is this useful for you?

To summarize, this technology is particularly useful because:

1. You can create several quizzes that are likely to appeal to your readers.
2. It shows up your book at strategic points in the game alongside the questions.
3. As described earlier, it appeals to the average Facebook user.
4. Because of the in-built viral hooks at various points in the game, your book will be surely be marketed.

How can you use QuizBuzzr to market your book on Facebook?
QuizBuzzr will soon be released as a test beta product. It comes bundled with a BookBuzzr Author Pro subscription. To use it to market your book, simply sign-up for a BookBuzzr Author Pro account.

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How to Market Your Book with Free Giveaways

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:22:13 +0000

source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/how-to-market-your-book-with-free-giveaways/

Written by: Dan Petrovic

Marketing a book means being creative. After all, there are new book releases coming out every other day. Staying ahead of the competition means thinking about how you can make a title and its author memorable. This is where giveaways really come in handy. People like to receive free things. The usual promotional products such as buttons, t-shirts, keychains, and desk items are useful and popular, however, it is always better to think of book-related giveaways when marketing a book. This is a chance to show people exactly what they are getting from an author. The following are some of the benefits to marketing a book with free giveaways.

Why Use Giveaways?

The key to marketing a book is to make people remember a book’s title, author, and message. This is where free giveaways become so useful. The right giveaway is something useful: An item that can be read or used while reading. By printing a book title on a bookplate, a cover image on a postcard, or offering folks the chance to download the first chapter of a book, a publisher can pique buyers’ interest. This in turn can motivate a person to invest in the book either for themselves or to give as a gift.

Exposure

Today, people do not want to spend their hard earned money on unproven products. This is why giveaways are effective: They give people a taste of what’s to come. By offering up book or reading accessories like reading lights or bookmarks, or even free chapters of a book, an author and his or her publisher give buyers a taste of what’s to come. This is a creative and effective way to spread the word about a new book release. Additionally, it ensures that people are satisfied once they invest in the book since they already have an idea of what it is about.

Book-Related Accessories

The great thing about bookmarks and bookplates is that people who like to read often collect them. Book buyers will not only gain something useful but will be more likely to invest in the title or author marketed on the book lights and postcards complete with the book’s cover art. Readers do not want yet another brochure that takes long to read or even skim. Instead, if free giveaways are book or reading related, people will be more likely to keep them and more likely to invest in the marketed book. Silicone wristbands are another great tool for marketing books, because a publisher can have the silicone accessories printed with fun quotations from the book. People will wear these bracelets around town, which in turn means that other people will see them and will be more likely to buy the book.

Free Chapters

Another giveaway and a great way to show buyers that an author and publisher are confident in a book is to offer free chapters. This can be done online with free downloads or can be done by emailing out the chapter or even printing it in brochure form. A free chapter shows readers what a book is like. This taste could wet the buyer’s appetite so that he or she invests in the book to find out what happens or what else is contained in it.

Giveaways are becoming increasingly popular as a tool for marketing books, since they are cheap, and people will keep them if they find them interesting and useful. People tend to buy books with titles and by authors they recognize. What better way to promote a book than putting the title of your book on a something that people will not throw away or walk by, but keep and look at often? Giveaways are a great, creative way to get noticed.

Dan Petrovic is a marketing specialist who writes articles for several blogs in his free time. He enjoys reading fiction, as well as nonfiction related to marketing and technology. He is currently working for 24 Hour Silicone Wristbands as a consultant.

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6 Simple Ways to Reboot Your Writing Routine

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:13:51 +0000

source: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/how-to-reboot-your-writing-routine

Written by: Brian A. Klems

Trash the brownies. Nix the wine. Cut the Coolatas. Dang. Is it that time of year again? Soon enough, everyone will be turning to those grim New Year’s resolutions.

That roll call of self-deprivation has never been productive. I prefer to look on the bright side.

This year, I plan to live and write large. If I’m making any new year writing plans, it’s to write bolder and happier. This year, I’m going to be the bon vivant of the writing world.

What about you? Was 2011 the year of great and generous writing? Or was your work already trudging toward the winter blahs? Has this been the year when your day job and your family and your pets and the neighbors have demanded too much of your time and sidetracked you from your creative dreams? Or have you been faithfully putting in the time but … well … writing has become just another daily chore? Have you lost your passion?

It’s time to ring out the old writing year and plan for how to build on the past year’s success. And to do that, you may find that you need to refresh your writing routine.

So get happy. Get writing. Here are six questions to ask yourself so you can finish the year right.

1. Your New Year artist statement: You do have one, don’t you?
From those first drafts to that Pulitzer Prize party, I believe that your writing should be inspired by something much deeper than getting rich or getting famous or getting even with your ex. It should cohere with your own personal vision or belief system.

This is a good time to look within yourself and ask some tough questions about what you write—and why. How much does creative writing actually matter to you? Why do you even bother? Your honest and highly personalized answers will help you write a brief artist’s statement. I’m not talking anything Hallmark or biblical here. I’m talking about a simple, heartfelt statement that will sustain you over the next year. It will help you to balance your writing with working and parenting and commuting. It will serve as your daily reminder, your check-in with your creative self.

Already have an artist’s statement from last year? Dust it off and ask yourself if it still applies. A lot can happen in a year. These life changes can shift your worldview and your inner sensibilities. So take these early days of the new year to ensure that your artist’s statement still fits.

2. Your current regimen: Still working?
I put the finishing touches on this article in the beauty salon. It was a Wednesday evening after work. I was sitting in the stylist’s chair, editing and tweaking while she put the finishing touches on my new hair coif. A long time ago, my stylist stopped offering me those glossy magazines. She simply applies my chemicals and says,

“I’ll let you do your usual homework.”

As a busy day-job writer, you need to be ready to mix it up, to write on the go, to always have a draft or a research article or a final edit in your briefcase or under the seat of the car.

Take an honest look at how well your current regimen is really working. If necessary, be willing to experiment or make a change.

Ask yourself: Does last year’s writing schedule still work with your life? If you’ve been promoted or downsized, if your kids have graduated or started school, it may be time to tweak or adjust. Just like in real life, when you get lost in your writing routine, the easiest thing to do is to retrace your steps until you discover the juncture where things went wrong. If you’ve just had a year in which you often got sidetracked, take a diagnostician’s look at the where, the how and the who. Make a list.

In the new year, how can you change or avoid these? Often, this is a simple fix. For example, if you habitually get caught up in the TV morning news or the daily chores the second you go downstairs every morning, then … don’t go downstairs. Keep your laptop or your notebook upstairs, and get in some writing before the day actually begins.

Would mornings work better than evenings for chipping away at that ms? Are there incidental spots (lunch hour, waiting for your kids to get out of sports practice, a half-hour between school drop-off and your morning commute) when, given the right setup and equipment, you could easily fit in a solid spate of writing or editing?

3. Your hardware, software: Time for an upgrade?
Machines will not make you into a better writer. Commitment, passion and self-belief will. If, however, you’ve spent part or most of the past year unjamming your printer or cursing at your computer, then this is the time to upgrade your technology. Or, if you’ve found some incidental times and places in which you can fit in some writing, now is the time to splurge on a portable device that will help you use those times efficiently.

If you’re due for a tech upgrade, do it—it may be tax deductible. Many freelance writers work from a home office, which is tax deductible—including all the equipment that helps you do your job. (The same applies if your creative writing has reached professional status—even if it’s not your full-time gig. Check with your tax accountant about what is required to deem yourself a pro, or do some online research.)

4. Writing extracurriculars: Are you missing out?
Being a professional writer goes way beyond the U.S. Tax Code—but nobody will treat you like a professional unless you treat yourself like one. It’s important to give your writing equal or greater status to the other facets of your life—including your paid day job. And it’s important to utilize professional development opportunities. Workshops, writing conferences, webinars and classes are all excellent venues where you can keep up with developments in the field and network with your fellow writers.

So as you plan the next annual chapter of your writing life, investigate what opportunities are available, and what will work for your budget. Writing conferences fill up quickly. Continuing education classes are enrolling now for the spring semester. Don’t get shut out of those webinars.

Professional education and training—and your mileage—are also tax deductible for professional writers.

5. Your support network: Is it in place?
Nobody really writes alone, without the support of a partner, friend, babysitter, neighbor, cat, agent, local indie bookstore. As you draft your plan for a grand and happy writing year, list the people who can help you make it happen. If you’re a parent, can you and your partner agree to one kid-free night each? Can you trade or pay for babysitting services in your neighborhood? Would joining a local writing group give you the support, friendship and deadlines needed to get your work out of the attic and into the world?

As well as recruiting your cheerleaders, this may be the time to look at the people who have distracted or discouraged you from your writing dreams or plans. Is there a family member who never takes your work seriously? Is there a writing buddy who spends more time moaning about the publishing industry than actually writing or providing mutual support? Trust me, there’s a reason why people discourage you from your creative dreams. And the reason is them, not you. So make a New Year’s resolution to beef up your support systems, and either reduce your time with the naysayers, or at least change your reactions to them.

6. Day planners and deadlines: Have you mapped out a path to success?
I had a college professor who used to tell us evening graduate students, “A good paper is a done paper.” I’ve always remembered her advice. Whatever mood you’re in, there’s nothing as motivating as a fixed date with an editor who wants your work.

But how to find those editors and those calls for submissions? Take the time to research the writing and funding opportunities for the new year.

Many magazines, literary journals and fellowships have long lead times. Study the Standout Markets column in this magazine, and check out books like Writer’s Market to choose the opportunities that either apply
or appeal to you.

Be realistic here. Given your daily schedule, what can you reasonably achieve? Equally, it’s important to aim for some projects that will stretch you as a writer. Once you make your 2012 list, note the submission dates in your electronic or paper day planner. Done? Not yet: Inset those pre-submission dates to make a little project plan for yourself, including the sub-dates by which you need to complete your first draft, get it to your writing group for review or, if you use a copy editor, get it to him for that final pre-submission review and rewrite.

As writers, we often get so caught up in our work that it’s hard to take time to examine how we can make things better and plan ahead. But you use this kind of goal setting and long-range project management at work and at home. Why not finish the year right by setting yourself up for success in the new year with resolutions to approach your craft smarter and happier?

Your writing will thank you.

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11 self-publishing strategies for success

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:56:51 +0000

source: http://selfpublishingresources.com/11-self-publishing-strategies-for-success/

Written by: Sue Collier

As self-publishing continues to go mainstream and lose its stigma, more and more authors are taking the plunge and going indie. Success, however, is certainly not guaranteed. By following the tips below, you’ll avoid many of the pitfalls and enhance your chances of flourishing.

1. Educate yourself. Publishing is a business and needs to be treated as such. There are books, blogs, websites, and associations devoted to self-publishing. Failing to learn all you can about it can mean wasting thousands of dollars by blundering along without knowledge or a plan.

2. Study the competition. Be sure your topic hasn’t been overdone. Check the library, your local bookstore, and Amazon.com. But don’t stop there: Check Books in Print Subject Guide and Forthcoming Books in Print Subject Guide. Then make sure yours is better than what is already out there.

3. Write what other people want. Catering to one’s own personal desires often makes for a blah book nobody buys. Face the facts: Personal journals and impassioned tirades are best saved for family and friends, not foisted upon the general public.

4. Think “marketing” from the start. The time to start generating marketing ideas is before you even write the manuscript. Identify your market. How can you reach them? Start folders of ideas. What catalogs might be interested? Which associations reach your potential readers? Can you sell the book as a premium to companies that would give it away as a gift to entice new customers or use it internally for training? Think about who else reaches your potential customer and how you can partner with them. Do you have contacts who have national name recognition and might write an advance endorsement?

5. Get professional editing. You cannot edit your own work. You cannot.

6. Create a catchy title. The right title can make a book. Short is best. Clever is fine but don’t sacrifice clarity. Include a subtitle for nonfiction books as it gives you extra mileage in ensuring readers know what the book is about.

7. Include all the vital components. Depending on whether your book is paper or electronic, you may need an ISBN, LCCN, EAN scanning code, subject category on the back cover, the title displayed boldly on the spine, and so forth. Don’t know what you need? See item number 1 in this list!!

8. Have a dynamite cover. Get it designed by a professional who knows book cover design, not just someone who does nice logos or brochures. There is a lot of competition out there; this is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

9. Make the interior inviting. Study the insides of books that look clean and user-friendly; use these as your model. The production values of your book must meet the competition to be acceptable in the trade. It is not advisable to do your book layout in Word, so if you are not budgeting for the steep price tag and learning curve of a program such as InDesign, hire a pro.

10. Price properly. Books that are much more costly than the competition—or even sometimes a lot cheaper—can meet resistance. Figure out a per-unit cost that still offers you a margin for profit and enables you to offer booksellers a discount—and that keeps you in line with your competition.

11. Publicize, promote, publicize, promote. Eat, sleep, and talk your books. Ongoing, enthusiastic marketing is the real key to success. Never quit. Always be on the alert for new opportunities; marketing is forever and your efforts today can yield results way down the road.

(Portions of this post have been excerpted from the upcoming second edition of Jump Start Your Books Sales by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier, scheduled for release in late 2011.)

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Promoting Books @ The Speed of Thought

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:19:31 +0000

source: http://www.go-publish-yourself.com/archive/articles/book-marketing/poynterd3.php

By Dan Poynter

Publishing is changing—for the better. There is a New Model for book writing, producing, selling and promoting. One part of this revolutionary change is in book promoting.

Here are several ways to use new technology to promote your book faster, easier and cheaper.

Broadcast email, done properly, is not spam. Book announcements should only be sent to existing customers, potential customers on opt-in lists and targeted members of the press. Most of these people are in your personal address book. Match your offer to those who have already expressed an interest in this type of information.

Make your publishing company Web-site centric. Put your book and all your basic promotion documents on your site and print from the site when you need hard copies. Don’t maintain a stock of dealer bulletins and news releases in your office. Keep the masters in your cyber pressroom and retrieve them when required. For an example of a pressroom, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=pressroom/pressroom.html

If you speak on the subject of your book, set up a speaking sub-site with all the information on what you can do. Post your speech descriptions, client list, fee schedule, facilities forms, speaking calendar, audio/video clips, etc. Replace your press kits; avoid printing and mailing. For an example of a speaking sub-site, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/speaking/index.html

Help the information-seeking potential customer to make a buying decision. Give enough information on the book. Provide the same shopping experience they have in a store. If you are publishing fiction, put the first chapter on your site as a free read. The first chapter in a creative work will give the reader a taste and is designed to keep the buyer reading. If your work is nonfiction, provide the first page or so of each chapter to give the browser an idea of what is in the book. If you need help setting up your web site on this model, contact Mary Westheimer at http://www.BookZone.com. BookZone hosts the websites for some 3,500 book publishers.

For the media, put the entire book in a unique address section (URL) along with your promotional materials. Email a pitch letter to the editors and reviewers and invite them to your web site to see your book, and media kit: bio, testimonials, news releases, etc. Tell them what is in the “media kit” and remind them they will save time because they do not have to retype the material. Let them read the book free online. Capture the reviewer’s address when they log on. Add the reviewer to your list and notify them directly when you are promoting your next book. The mission is to design an online media kit that is so useful, the reviewers will flock to use it. And, self-service will save you a lot of time and money.

Publishers Weekly and USA Today recently reviewed their first eGalleys. Invite reviewers to your site and offer to send an eGalley. Promotion @ the speed of email is the wave of the future.

Do the reviewers want eGalleys? PW, for example, receives over 100 galleys each day. They select a handful and the rest go to a holding room. Periodically, someone comes to clean out the room. EGalleys avoid this solid-waste disposal challenge.

Subsidiary rights. Send an email to editors of newsletters, magazines and ezines and offer them the opportunity to excerpt parts of your book free. Ask them to include source, copyright and ordering information at the end of the excerpt.

To find the email addresses for magazines and newsletters, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/bookprom.html and http://www.opinion-pages.org

Email promotions can result in slightly fewer responses than traditional mailings and follow-up telephone calls. But the costs in time and money are far less and the responses begin immediately.

Foreign Rights. Use email to ask foreign publishers if they would like to buy subsidiary rights and translate your book into their language. Send publishers directly to a rights section on your Website. That section will provide a complete book, author bio, testimonials, cover image, news releases, back cover sales copy and other promotional materials. Capture their address when they log on. Then follow up with email.

For foreign publisher email addresses, see International Literary Market Place. It lists publishers outside North America by country. Start with the major language groups: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. Select publishers that publish in your subject area. If you can’t find many, email the national publishing association for that particular country, describe your book and ask for suggested matching publishers.

See the RightsCenter at http://www.rightscenter.com and PMA’s Foreign Rights Virtual Book Fair at http://pma-online.org/pmafair/index.cfm .

Use every means possible to send people to your site. List your URL in ads, your .sig, and anywhere you might ordinarily leave your telephone number.

Replace expensive four-color brochures with less expensive business cards. Your card should have a photograph of the book’s cover, your usual contact information and a list of all the resources that can be found on your Website. Use the cards to drive traffic to your web site. For great prices on cards, see http://www.MWMdexter.com

Related Web Sites. Surf the Web for sites related to the subject of your book. When you find one that matches, contact the owner and suggest a dealership. Get as many outlets as possible to sell your book.

Newsgroups. Take part in newsgroups related to your book’s subject. Answer questions and become known as an expert on your subject. For a list of newsgroups, see Groups at http://www.excite.com, http://www.YahooGroups.com and http://www.deja.com.

Promotion services. Do not hire the spammers who flood your email box with offers to promote your site or product. Doing so will cost you a lot of money, incur the wrath of potential customers and will encourage more spam.

Direct Contact Media Services will send out your news release to carefully selected media via fax and email. Paul Krupin will rewrite your news release to make it more useful to the media. He will send the announcement to 1,500 to 2,500 targeted print, radio and TV outlets. 1500 one-page releases cost $300. Contact him at dircon@owt.com and see http://www.book-publicity.com .

For more ideas on promoting books online, see U-Publish.com by Dan Poynter and Danny O. Snow. See http://www.u-publish.com .

New computer programs, new printing processes and the Web are transforming the writing, producing, disseminating and promoting of information. Books will never be the same. The winners are author, publishers and readers.

In the future, nonfiction book publishing will see minimized inventories and maximized relationships between authors and customers (readers). Publishing will become customer-centric and “books” will thrive on uniqueness, customization and variety. Book writing, publishing, selling
and promoting are changing—for the better.

Writing periodicals:

Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self- Publishing Manual. For more help on book writing, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

Book Publishing periodicals:

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

Professional Speaking periodicals:

Dan Poynter has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. He is past-chair of NSA’s Writer-Publisher PEG and the founder of the PEG newsletter. For more help on book writing, publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPublishing.com. © 2003