Writing and Publishing News

Most first-time authors dream of—no, they expect to—sell their marvelous new books through bookstores. However, few of us take time to learn how the system works before getting involved.

In 1996, when I decided to produce not one, but TWO books that would be of national interest, as opposed to just local interest, my main promotional plan was to sell books through bookstores. I bought a mailing list for booksellers in every state and sent flyers to all of them announcing my two wonderful books. Do you know how many responses I received?

None, nadda, zero, zilch!

Today, with fewer independent bookstores and thousands more books being published each year, competition for bookstore space is even greater. But I understand that some of the fee-based, POD publishing services are helping their authors get into bookstores. Yes, you put up several hundred dollars and they will arrange for you to have your book in a bookstore of your choice. ONE bookstore. One location. Well, I guess that’s better than nothing.

Some independent bookstores will take your book on consignment. All you have to do is visit the bookstore with your book in hand and convince the bookseller that there are customers for it.

The mega bookstores have a warehouse program through which they will accept certain books to stock. They keep your book hidden away in their warehouse so that, when customers order it, they can send it out right away without having to order it from you.

There are also specialty bookstores in many categories: Christian, children’s, metaphysical, cats, history, cookbooks/foods, academic, college, fiction, science fiction, mystery and collectibles, for example. This is where I started in my effort to break into bookstores. And I suggest that you consider it, too. These stores are much easier to get into.

Some fortunate authors get into bookstores nationwide either through their publishers, because of their diligence and persistence or by some lucky fluke. This is all good. But this honor comes with a price. Once your book is in bookstores, you must start a campaign to keep it there.

It’s up to you to bring customers into the bookstores and entice them to purchase your book. But first, you need to know where they are. What is the best way to reach your audience? What are their interests? What magazines do they read? Where do they shop/travel? What radio/TV programs do they turn on? What events do they attend? What activities do they pursue? What Internet sites do they visit?

When you understand this concept, you begin to realize the value in writing that book proposal you’ve been resisting, right?

So where are your readers?

If your book is all about kites, you might find your readers in beach communities, in hobby shops, reading kite magazines and visiting web sites featuring building and flying kites.

Maybe your book is a historical novel featuring a hog farmer in the Midwest. A good portion of your audience may live in the Midwest, they might listen to farm and agriculture reports on the radio, read magazines and newsletters related to history and they might attend stock auctions.

Let’s say that yours is a Christian children’s book. Your customers are most likely parents and grandparents with a strong faith. They read religious publications, attend church, shop at Christian bookstores, listen to faith-based radio programs and most certainly read their local church newsletters.

Penetrating the bookstores is difficult, but keeping your book there is next to impossible unless enough people are coming in to buy it. This is why it is so important to consider your audience, their habits, their taste, their interests, their travels, etc. even BEFORE you sit down to write your novel or nonfiction book. And then focus your promotional efforts on appropriate magazines, newsletters, web sites, radio/TV programs, places of business and other venues in order to reach them.

The prepublication discount for the revised second edition of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and the NEW Author’s Workbook ends Monday, October 1, 2007. If you’re reading this after that date, you can still order these books. I’m offering both books together for $30.00. If you already own The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, order The Author’s Workbook for $10.00. Or order The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book only for $19.95. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html Email me with your comments, plfry620@yahoo.com

Writers are not necessarily hotshot promoters—and this goes for authors of nonfiction as well as fiction and children’s books. But we know that promotion is required if we want to sell books, so most of us make the effort. We reach out to our audiences in all of the most creative ways and attempt to entice buyers. Unfortunately, our promotional methods aren’t always as effective as they could be. Here are some common mistakes:

Authors use vague promo babble terms. Recently, I’ve been running a prepublication discount offer for books that are currently with a printer and aren’t scheduled for publication until later this month. Several customers who ordered these books through my Web site became upset with me when they learned that the books wouldn’t arrive within the usual week (or so). My attempt to explain the prepublication discount offer through my promo material and on my Web site ordering page seemed to fail about 30 percent of the time.

When I pitched these books and the prepublication discount offer in person, I’d get blank stares and few orders. So I stopped using the term that I’d so carefully designed and I began stating simply, “Place your order for the revised edition of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and the new Author’s Workbook by September 20, 2007 and get 25% off. All orders will be shipped after September 21.”

Be careful when you coin a catchy buzz phrase to use in promoting your book. It could just steer customers away rather than draw them in.

Authors promote features instead of benefits. Customers don’t care how many awards your book has won, the number of tips you’ve included, the fact that your book was reviewed by five magazines. They want benefits. In other words, they want to know, “How will this book assist me; give me more quality of life, make me richer, thinner, prettier, stronger, healthier or happier?”

Let’s say that you’re promoting a book on how to create greater curb appeal when selling your home. Instead of telling a potential customer, “I’m the expert who wrote this book. I mention Martha Stewart’s ideas for instant climbing porch plants.” Say instead, “Follow the guidelines in this book and you could earn an additional $5,000-$30,000 on your next home sale.”

For your romance novel, rather than saying, “This is the story of two misfits who find themselves homeless and then fall in love,” you might say, “If you enjoy reading a touching story that requires a box of tissues nearby, this book is for you.” or “Do you like really feel-good stories?”

For a book of offbeat humor, don’t say, “There are 102 hilariously funny jokes.” Use this approach, “Be the hit at the office Christmas party, when you hand out copies of this book to all of your co-workers.”

Authors tend to oversell their books. Give your spiel, answer some questions and then pause. Watch for an indication of how to proceed. If the potential customer lingers over your book, engage him or her in conversation. Ask what type of books they like reading or inquire as to their interest in the topic of the book. Let the customer’s responses lead you from there. Keep droning on for too long about the features and you may chase him away.

I watched an author lose a sale this way recently at a book festival. The customer had his checkbook out. Instead of giving him a total, the author kept going on and on about how wonderful her book was. Pretty soon, his wife came along and drug him away to look at something across the aisle. He got distracted and never came back.

Authors neglect to ask for the sale. This may sound elementary, but most of us tend to refrain from taking that one last step to actually making the sale. We assume that the customer knows the book is for sale and we figure that if he wants it, he will plunk down the cash. Not necessarily. I find that I sometimes miss out on sales unless I say, “Would you like me to autograph it for you?” or “Will that be check, cash or credit card?” Or “How many copies would you like today?” Sometimes the customer just needs that little nudge. Without it, it’s easier to just walk away intending to “think it over.” or “come back later in the day.”

Promotion is not usually a writer’s strong suit, but creativity is. Authors, I urge you to use that creative edge toward the huge task of promotion and you’re bound to sell hundreds if not thousands more copies of your book.

Comments? Contact me at plfry620@yahoo.com. Be sure to visit my Web site: http://www.matilijapress.com And buy my books. You know you’re going to want a copy of the revised edition of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and the Author’s Workbook. You might as well buy it at a discount before September 20, 2007

Patricia Fry here:
It’s that time of year again when I’m wishing for fairies to come in overnight and take care of some of my office tasks. Actually this happens several times a year—most predominantly Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall.

I’ve actually hired a friend to do various projects for me over the years. In 1998, she typed the entire 300-page Ojai history book into the computer. That book was created on a typewriter some 20 years earlier. She used to send out query letters for me during really busy times. Most recently, she has been doing some online research for promotional purposes.

As an author, aren’t there jobs that you could hire done so you can be productive in areas of more importance? Wouldn’t you accomplish more if your office was organized? Just think of the mundane tasks related to your projects that could be handled by someone else. The someone else could be from a secretarial service, an intern, a friend who wants a project and a little spending cash, one of your grown or growing kids or…

Here’s my list of “fairy” tasks:

• Clean equipment. When is the last time you got serious about cleaning your keyboard, for example? Is it becoming as grimy as mine? And have your computer vents sucked up another big batch of cat fur? If your office is like mine, there are areas where the vacuum cleaner can’t go and there are places where I simply dust around things.
• Filing. I cannot keep up with my filing. In fact, even after I’ve just finished filing 3 weeks worth of stuff, I still have a stack of things left over and no ideas about where to put them or how to label them.
• Research. I’d love to have someone else spend a few hours each day searching for appropriate sites and magazines needing books to review, article submissions, authors to interview and so forth.
• Locate promotional opportunities. I am in constant promotion mode when it comes to my books on writing/publishing. How nice it would be to have someone sharing in this duty—someone with a different perspective, fresh ideas, maybe even better computer and research skills.
• Submit articles. There are hundreds of little-known newsletters and magazines related to writing and publishing. I locate new ones every week and I submit reprints or fresh articles in an attempt to become more widely known. A helper could certainly handle this task for me while I’m writing new articles or even a new book!
• Locate new organizations and groups. Of course, my topic is writing and publishing, so I am interested in finding groups and organizations within this realm. What’s better than promoting to a single person? Promoting to a group. And what’s better than having to sit in front of a computer for hours trying to locate obscure orgs and groups? Watching someone else do it.
• Find writers/publishers conferences where I could apply as a workshop leader/speaker.
• Send out email and snail mail press releases to a targeted audience for promotional purposes.
• Design promotional material.
• Run surveys to discover what authors really want to know so I can write articles, books and workshops on those topics.
• Visit related forums and discussion groups and leave informative posts with my name attached and mentioning whatever book I’m promoting at the moment.

I’m sure that this list has conjured up all sorts of ideas for things you’d like your overnight fairies to handle in your office. Wanna share some of them with me? Email me at plfry620@yahoo.com.

In the meantime, there’s just a little over 2 weeks left to take advantage of the prepublication Discount offer. I recommend the Combo—The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (366-pages, revised edition) AND The Author’s Workbook (brand new) for $25.00 through September 20, 2007. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Why do you absolutely need this book? Not only is it an amazing guide for anyone at any stage of authorship, it is an extremely valuable reference book. Readers tell me that they refer to The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book frequently throughout their writing, publishing and promotion process.

Now, for those of you who are having a little trouble writing that book, deciding on a publishing option, finding a publisher, self-publishing, writing a book proposal or understanding the publishing industry, for example, The Author’s Workbook is coming to your rescue.

http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html and http://www.matilijapress.com/workbook.html
Books by Patricia Fry