Archive for May, 2009

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How to Take Care of Your Readers

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

If you are an author, you are in business. You have customers. You must work toward enticing more customers. And you have an obligation to all of those customers.

I still meet authors who do not treat their publishing ventures as businesses. And this is okay, unless they expect to sell lots of books and make lots of money. I actually met a hopeful author once who insisted that he did not have to do anything to sell his book because it would sell itself. He told me this on several occasions. He was convinced that people would flock to buy his book without any effort on his part.

Some authors believe that their stories are so fascinating—they are so attached to their memoirs or their novels—that they won’t need to go to the trouble of marketing them.

Others are out promoting their books, but they don’t connect with their customers.

There certainly are all categories of authors. Some take their published books so seriously that they build companies around them, create brands and spend many hours and dollars promoting.

No matter where you are on the author spectrum, one of your primary considerations should be your customers. Customers are the steam for your engine. They are the measuring stick to your success. And they should be acknowledged, appreciated, heard and utilized.

• Acknowledge your customer at the time of purchase and let him/her know that you are available to address their questions or concerns.
• Thank your customer verbally and possibly through some sort of add-on gift or premium.
• Listen to the feedback you receive from your customers. It can be valuable to your marketing efforts and future books.
• Utilize your customers. Keep a customer directory or database and contact them when you are offering a new service or product, for example.

What about the dissatisfied customer? We all get them. You may receive accolades all over the place, get numerous 5-star reviews and hear scores of complimentary words with regard to your book and then get one customer who dislikes it. He may complain, ask for a refund, spread dirt about you and your “poor excuse for a book” and/or find a reason to take you to court. This can be an awful experience. Why would anyone do this? It could be jealousy, sour grapes or the irate customer might be just an angry, negative individual who has a habit of causing trouble.

I once attended a seminar on how to handle the irate customer. One thing I remember from that seminar is that all the customer wants is to be heard. It’s recommended that you provide them space in which to give their complaint and express their emotions. Once they have that out of their system, commiserate with them. Say, for example, “I don’t blame you for being disappointed. If I had to wait 3 weeks to have my package delivered and then it was damaged, I’d be upset, too.” And then ask them what would make them a satisfied customer again.

Most of the time, they will request something far less than you would imagine. You might be ready to offer them a free book, free shipping and access to your upcoming online course on creating tasty appetizers at a moment’s notice, when all they want is for you to pay their shipping costs.

This makes it sound easy to appease an unhappy customer, doesn’t it? But we’ve all met the customer, client or organization member from hell—the one who is so outrageously unreasonable that there is nothing on earth or in outer space that would satisfy him or her no matter what. What can an honest, hardworking, conscientious author do in this circumstance? Consider this his or her problem and move on. Hopefully, they will move on, as well, and not stick around stirring things up just for the sport of it.

I’d love to hear about your most difficult customer or client. Leave a comment here. Perhaps we can start a movement against bad behaving customers. You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t a website covering this. Maybe there’s even a support group we could refer the bad customers to.

If you haven’t done so already, visit my website. It is completely revised and updated. We had an open house at Matilija Press recently. Stop by and view the wide array of articles. The article that gets the most hits, by the way, is one on how to be a better conversationalist. Isn’t that interesting? Look at all of the books I have for sale. Study my resource list for authors and freelance writers. It’s pretty massive and completely updated. (Let me know of other links I should add.) Learn about my online courses—oh, a heads up. We’re offering two of my courses at a discount for SPAWN members starting July 1 and August 1. http://www.spawn.org Sign up for our free enewsletter. Click on “Free Newsletter.”

Here’s my website link:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Grammar Check for Authors

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

When you’re writing, do you just insert commas randomly? Are you in the habit of using ellipses or em dashes with abandon? Do you add “and” at every opportunity? Does your editor point out an overuse of phrases and words throughout your manuscripts such as, “as a matter of fact,” “suddenly,” “in the meantime,” or “but?” Are you sometimes unsure about punctuation and grammar? I think most authors are at various points in their careers. I still have questions occasionally. Our grammatical trends do change with time, after all.

I loved reading Martha Brockenbrough’s article at the Encarta website called “Errors That Aren’t: 12 Grammar Rules You Can Toss Out the Window.” I think you will, too. To access this article, at Encarta, go to http://encarta.msn.com. Type in “Brockenbrough Grammar Errors,” or “12 Grammar Errors,” at the prompt in order to locate this article. Brockenbrough, by the way, is the founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar.

If you’re interested, get over to Encarta right away and print out the article because this site is set for demolition on October 31, 2009.

In her article, Brockenbrough gives you the gift of wiggle-room when it comes to some long-held grammar rules.

But what do you do when you face a grammatical question or a punctuation problem? I’ll tell you what I do. I head for some of my favorite online grammar sites.

I used to study The Associated Press Stylebook or The Chicago Manual of Style, but I find that if I form my question or my keywords just right, I can locate a clear response to my dilemma in only minutes or, in some cases, seconds.

I just type a question or keywords related to my question, “comma before ‘and,’” for example, “comma before ‘such as,’” “when to use ellipses,” “is it ‘who’ or ‘whom’” and “colon or semi-colon”?

If you want links to some good grammar sites, let me suggest the following. There are many others featured in the SPAWN Market Update at the SPAWN website, members only area. http://www.spawn.org Click on “Join SPAWN now.” Or simply subscribe to our enewsletter and spend a few months getting to know us. Click on “Free Newsletter.”

Guide to Grammar and Writing
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar

Grammar Gorilla
http://www.funbrain.com/grammar

Grammar Girl
http://grammarquickanddirtytips.com

For additional assistance with grammar and punctuation and a lesson in self-editing, purchase my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Posted in Writing | No Comments »

How to Become an Idea Factory

Friday, May 29th, 2009

What do writers and bloggers need more than practically anything else?

Ideas!

Sometimes ideas flow nonstop—in fact, faster than we can utilize or implement them. And other times we struggle and squirm trying to generate an idea for an article, story or blog post. I’ve written often at this blogsite, in my book, A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles and in numerous articles about ideas and how to come up with them.

Today, I’m going beyond the techniques for locating and creating ideas to write about. Instead, I want to attempt a more amazing fete. I hope to instill in you the skill and the habit of thinking outside of your self-imposed boundaries when it comes to generating ideas.

A client told me just last week, “I’m not good at coming up with ideas. I need someone to give me the idea and then I can write about it.”

Of course, that’s not the way it works when you’re trying to establish a freelance writing business or you want to write articles to promote your book. Magazine, newsletter and ezine editors need you to present your ideas to them. Rarely, do they give you the ideas to write about.

So what does it take to become an idea factory? What attributes, skills, habits, talents do idea people have in common?

• They have the ability to explore beyond any self-imposed boundaries.

• They are curious and have a strong desire to learn.

• They value the ideas they come up and will note them when those ideas arrive. How many times have you thought of a good idea, neglected to write it down and promptly forgot it before you could use it?

• They acknowledge all of their ideas even those that might be off the wall, seem like too much work to implement or that might be unpopular with others. They may not use the idea, but they acknowledge it because they know that good ideas sometimes come from a whole list of bad ones—as in brainstorming.

• They look ahead at what can be. They focus on possibilities instead of always looking only at what is. If we chose to act on only those ideas that make sense to us in the here and now, just imagine how bland our lives, businesses and relationships might be.

• They have confidence in their ideas. Recall one of the grandest, most successful ideas you ever came up with. How did you come up with it? How did you use it? Remember the accolades, praise, pay bonus, award you received for that idea. Or simply remember how you felt when the idea that you generated resulted in success. If you have a picture of the result, post it near your work station or on your refrigerator. If not, write a list of the compliments you received from others about your idea or write all of the ways your idea has helped others. Post this where you can see it every day to remind yourself that you CAN come up with good ideas.

• They are not afraid to share their ideas. Keeping ideas inside and not implementing them tends to negate the ideas before they are ever tried. When you share an idea and get validation, or not, that idea becomes more real. By vocalizing or documenting it, you’ve given it life and meaning. Now, if it is, indeed, a good one, or it could become an excellent one with a tad of tweaking, at least it has a chance. Keep it inside so it can’t experience the light of day and it may expire and end up in your graveyard of never tried, abandoned ideas.

How can you become an idea factory? Give these 7 attributes of idea people some thought and start applying some of them to yourself. Afford yourself more credit when it comes to generating useful and unique ideas. Try some of your ideas on for size and see what happens.

For additional help coming up with article ideas, order my book, A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles. http://www.matilijapress.com

Posted in Writing | No Comments »

Perspective in Publishing

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

A lot is happening here in the Matilija Press and SPAWN offices. For those of you who have just tuned into this blog, Matilija Press is my 26 year-old publishing company and the business through which I do my writing, editing, book selling, online courses and so forth. http://www.matilijapress.com

SPAWN is Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. ( http://www.spawn.org) I am the President of SPAWN—soon to move into Executive Director position. We are currently putting together a new leadership team for SPAWN. And it is a bit unnerving to realize how crucial our choices could be to the future of this organization as well as to our current and future members.

I have recently been reminded of the power of perspective in our businesses, in our projects and in our organizations. What is perspective, anyway? It’s a viewpoint, a perception, a way of looking at things. And we all know that not everyone can look at the same thing and actually see the same thing. It’s the glass half full or half empty issue.

As an example, I have clients who greatly appreciate my editing work, my guidance, my suggestions. They understand that they are in charge—that they have the power to veto any advice I might give them. But they will seriously weigh each of my recommendations and usually accept them. Others will fight me all the way. They argue with my suggestions, take offense at my opinions and sometimes eventually walk away. However, they often come back once they begin to understand what I’ve attempted to teach them about writing, about preparing a manuscript for publication, about creating a book proposal and so forth.

The thing is that some authors hire editors in hopes of being validated. These authors don’t want help, they want praise and they perceive my attempt to improve their manuscripts as a personal attack.

If you’ve been with me throughout most of my 500 blog posts, you’ve read my rants about authors and organization members who desire—no, demand—specific results and tangible measures of success in a field where this is impossible.

It’s great to have goals; I recommend goals. But what some people don’t realize is that there are steps to meeting goals and the individual is responsible for defining the steps and taking those that are appropriate. While there are many book shepherds, publishing consultants, educational organizations and authors with expertise, none of these people or the material they produce can make you a success. Success is totally up to you.

Your job is to gather material from all of the best sources, do tons of research, consider all of the pros and cons of all of the possibilities, focus keenly on your ultimate goal and then make an educated decision. After all, your project is unique. It’s a one-of-kind and so are you. Outside of such advice as, “Study the publishing industry, write a book proposal, and be willing to promote your book,” there are no templates you can strictly follow in order to achieve success with your project.

Likewise, when choosing a publishing organization, make sure that it is the type of organization you desire/need. Know what the organization offers before getting involved. SPAWN, for example, is a networking organization and information/resource center for anyone who is interested in or involved in publishing. We constantly provide an enormous amount of updated information, news and resources as well as a discussion group for members, but it is up to members to peruse what we offer, assimilate it, evaluate its value to him/herself and implement it.

It can’t be any other way. Not every agent or publisher, for example, is right for every project. Not every resource or SPAWNDiscuss topic will resonate with every member. But, if you are seeking publication, if you are a freelance writer, if you offer a service to authors or writers,
SPAWN is for you. We won’t serve you a publishing contract on a silver platter. We can’t guarantee you writing work. We aren’t able to promise enough clients to sustain you for a year. But we can and do promise that we will provide the resources and information you need to help you to make these things happen.

Perspective
Here are two opposing views. Which one more aptly describes you?

1: “I did my part; I joined SPAWN. Now you do your part and provide me with something tangible. What do you offer, anyway?”

2: “I studied your website and like what I see. I’m eager to start reading the Market Update (in the member area) and researching the Market Update archives. I have some things that I’d like to share in SPAWNDiscuss and I hope to learn from members, as well.”

What have you learned about perspective as you’ve navigated within the world of writing and publishing? Leave a comment here or email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

Posted in Publishing | No Comments »

Yes You Can Achieve Publishing Success

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

My life has been about kittens, cats and clients for the past few weeks. And I’ve enjoyed practically every moment—except the part where our 11-year-old cat, Max, got sick. We think it was because of an enlarged heart. But his scary episode is over and he seems normal. We have changed one thing—we’ve elevated his food so he doesn’t have to lean over to eat. From what I understand, it can be uncomfortable for a cat with an enlarged heart to lean down to eat.

I learned this, not from our vet, but from the Internet.

Do you use the Internet fully when you have a question about publishing or you’re looking for information about publishers, an editor, a distributor, an appropriate organization to join, a book proposal workshop or guidance through the self-publishing process, for example? Or do you even research these things at all? Did you just go blindly through the process of writing and publishing your book with little or no qualified help?

The fact is that most authors fail. The figures in 2007 indicated that around 76 percent of authors sold fewer than 100 copies of their books over a period of a year. And most of them gave up after selling only a handful of books. Do you know why these authors failed? Because they did not bother to educate themselves about the publishing industry.

• They did not know much about how the publishing industry works.
• They did not know their publishing options.
• They did not know the possible consequences of their choices.
• They did not understand their responsibilities as a published author.

Most authors start the education process too late to create a success of their first book. Those who realize their mistakes, may produce a second book and do much better with it. This time around they will:

• Study the publishing industry.
• Write a book proposal before writing their book.
• Be clear about their target audience and how to approach them.
• Find out what their competition is—is there a market for this book?
• Hire an editor before even considering a publisher.
• Evaluate their options and choose appropriately for their project.
• Avoid signing a “self-publishing” company contract without fully understanding it.
• Be completely prepared to promote their books for as long as they want them to sell.

Those of you who are reading this blog post today probably found it through an Internet search. My hat is off to you. I hope that you will continue searching and evaluating what you discover so that you have the best information available to guide you in creating the success you desire.

Success as an author does not hinge on your audience, the publishing industry or luck. It is all up to you. You can’t rely on forces outside of yourself to make your book a success. It won’t happen automatically just because you believe in your book, you worked hard on it, your friends love it and you once won a literary contest. The success of your particular book depends on your publishing savvy because you’re the one making the choices and decisions on behalf of your book.

So get out there and learn all you can about the industry, how it works and what it takes in order to succeed. Here, let me help you with some of your research. Here are some of the sites, organizations, books and classes/workshops that I recommend. Search the Internet for others that relate to your project and that resonate with you.

For everything you need to know about fee-based POD “self-publishing” companies, read Mark Levine’s book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Highly recommended for those of you going the self-publishing route.

To learn more about the publishing industry in general, your publishing options, how to make the right choice for your particular project, how to write a book proposal (a step-by-step guide), tips for writing that book, book promotion, oodles of resources and much, much more, order Patricia Fry’s hallmark book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org. There are currently opportunities to get involved in the administration of SPAWN. Contact me, if you’re interested: Patricia@spawn.org. This is a great way to become known by your peers and to network with others in the publishing field.

Take one of Patricia Fry’s online, on-demand courses and gain an enormous value for your money. She offers a Self-Publishing Course, Book Proposal Workshop, Article-Writing Course and a course on Book Promotion. You couldn’t get more personalized service if you became Patricia’s private client. This is one of the best bargains out there for authors and freelance writers. http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

If you do nothing else for yourself and your publishing project this year, tap into these 4 resources. The $100 to $300 you spend educating and training yourself through these means could ultimately save you or earn you thousands of dollars. Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Follow me on Twitter. AuthorPLF.

Posted in Publishing | No Comments »

Publishing Blog Celebration: We’re 500 Posts Strong!

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

This is my 500th blog post here at the Matilija Press Publishing Blog. I hope you have enjoyed receiving information, advice, perspective and resources related to writing and publishing, these past 4 years, and that you’ve been helped or inspired by some of the posts.

I’ve enjoyed bringing you this blog and sharing with you some of the things I’ve learned over these last 36 years as a writer, 31 years as an author and 26 years as a publisher. I hope you’ve found my efforts useful, helpful and even important.

Since the day I posted my first blog in November of 2005, I have attempted to bring you what you need in order to successfully run a freelance writing business or simply write a few articles from time to time. I strive to keep you informed and on track with your publishing projects. Many of you have landed publishers, found a decent “self-publishing” situation, or stepped out and published your own books after heeding some of my advice. Others had already made some serious mistakes before discovering this blog site. And some of you were able to recover once you read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and after studying some of my blog posts and pursuing other resources we’ve noted here.

My purpose in writing this blog is to help hopeful authors and freelance writers to experience the success they desire. But as you’ve discovered, success in this field is not something that anyone can hand you. It means gaining a clear understanding of the publishing field, the standards and the requirements and being willing to do the work—the research and the studying. It also means using your head instead of your heart when approaching the subject of publishing.

I hope that this is what you’re learning through this blog. If you are new to this blog site, I invite you to use the search function to locate posts related to your current issues—how to find a publisher, which publishing option to choose, writing for niche markets, book promotion, how to write a book proposal, networking with other authors/writers, how to find a face-to-face writers/authors’ group, public speaking for authors, how to survive as a writer in a sagging economy and much, much more.

KUDOS
By the way, Writing For Dollars Newsletter (May 26, 2009) features my article, “5 Article Types That Sell.” http://www.writingfordollars.com

Announcement
Sales are up for my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Who is this book for? Anyone at any stage of writing, publishing or promoting a book. What can this book do for you?

• Teach you what you need to know about the publishing industry.
• Coach you through the writing process.
• Help you to choose the best publishing option for your particular project.
• Guide you through the self-publishing process, if that’s the route you choose.
• Help you write a book proposal.
• Guide you in approaching the publisher of your choice.
• Help you to prepare a marketing plan.
• Guide you in promoting your book.
• And much, much more.

Order the book here: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Thank you to all who have visited this blog site regularly. I appreciate your interest. Also I thank those of you who stop by occasionally. And welcome to those who are visiting for the first time. I hope you will come back again and again. You won’t be disappointed.

And if there is a subject you’d like me to cover, just leave a comment or email me and let me know. PLFry620@yahoo.com

Posted in Announcements, Publishing | No Comments »

What Good is Exposure in Book Promotion?

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Many first-time authors are so focused on selling books that they neglect a very important aspect of marketing and promotion: Exposure.

I’ve seen authors complain at the end of a day at a book festival because they sold only 12 books. Never mind the fact that hundreds of people saw the book, dozens picked it up and discussed it with the author, 130 people walked off with his brochures, he was invited to appear on a radio show and he met two people who use speakers at their monthly meetings. Yes, he may have lost money overall, if the booth cost him $100, lunch was $8 and he paid $5 for parking. But, in my estimation, he still gained more than he lost.

He has 12 new customers who, if they like the book, will talk about it with their friends. He can add those new customers to his mailing list and let them know when his next book is out. And he collected several leads that, if he follows up on them, could result in numerous sales. This is what’s known as exposure.

There’s an old marketing concept that says someone must see or hear about your product (be exposed to it) 8 times before he or she will buy it. So, as authors with books to sell, we must consider each opportunity to talk about our book or show it to someone as a step toward selling it to that person (or a whole audience of persons).

That’s why I always suggest to those who are out giving presentations about their books, attending book festivals and so forth, to have a signup sheet. You want to establish a connection with people who express an interest in your book. You want to make contact with them again and again. One way to accomplish this is to offer something for free. Have a signup sheet for those who want to receive your free ebook in the genre or on the topic of your book. Offer a “report” they might be interested in—8 tips for using garlic in cooking, tips and techniques for photographing your pets, how to handle your money in this economy or some of your favorite short stories.

Offer services for free. I offer free manuscript evaluations, for example. If you are an accountant with a book on family budgeting, offer a free email consultation for all or a few of those who sign up. Maybe your expertise is health and fitness. Offer your latest reports on fitness tips for the elderly, for example. Come up with something that members of this particular group of people could use and they will sign up for it—providing you with names and contact information to use in promoting this and any future books and/or services.

Do you see how valuable exposure can be? You may decide, “I don’t want to purchase a booth at that small book festival, even if it only costs me $75, because there won’t be enough sales.” But, I suggest thinking like a savvy promoter and signing up for that booth with a whole new attitude. Think exposure! Instead of being irritated with the folks who just walk on by your booth or who pick up your book, listen to your spiel and then put it down and move on, be honored. Be grateful for the opportunity to connect with this person. Make sure he or she takes something with them—your brochure or business card, for example. Invite them to sign up for your freeby. And thank them profusely for stopping by.

Always consider each and every visitor at a book festival and member of any audience a potential customer or client who could purchase your book or contact you for your service at any moment. It may take exposure to your book or you a dozen times or more before they buy. But, if you neglect to connect in some way with that person the first time around, or if you let your disappointment show, you will likely never hear from them again.

For more about book promotion and getting exposure for your book, as well as how to work a book festival so it works for you, purchase my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

You might also want to sign up for my online Book Promotion Workshop. It’s a great way to get hundreds of dollars worth of personal attention from me for only $200. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

This book is also available in libraries internationally. I’d be interested in how many of my blog followers have found it in libraries. Email me with the name of the library where you found it: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

I’d also like to get feedback regarding the blog post, over these past few years, that was most meaningful to you—pivotal in your success as a published author or freelance writer. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Go to a Book Fair and Train as a Public Speaker

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Do you have a book to promote? If you have a published book, you have a book to promote. As you’ve probably learned, if you aren’t promoting your book, it isn’t selling.

I mentioned taking your book to book fairs in yesterday’s blog post. This is a good way to sell books and to get exposure for your book. (I plan to write a blog post about exposure tomorrow—so stay tuned.) But there is another good reason to take your book to book fairs and book festivals and that is to learn to talk about it.

You’ve probably heard professionals suggest that you should be able to describe your book in one sentence. You probably struggled with writing a synopsis for your book. Maybe, along the way, your mentor, an agent or a publisher asked you, “What is the purpose of your book?” and “Why did you write it?” And these are also some of the questions that will come up at a book festival.

Potential customers will ask, “What is your book about?” In order to inspire interest, you need to be prepared with a succinct, tantalizing response.

Not everyone who comes by your booth will stop, nor will they ask you any questions, so you must learn how to engage people in conversation and create an interest in your book.

It’s also important to learn when to keep talking and when to stop. I’ve seen authors inadvertently talk potential customers right out of buying their books.

After attending several book festivals, you’ll learn that not every sales pitch works with every potential customer. This is why you must engage the customer—to find out what concerns, thrills, interests, tickles, entices or soothes him or her, for example. And use what you learn about this person to turn him or her into a customer.

You might start out by asking someone who has stopped at your booth or who is passing by, “Do you know a child who loves to read?” Or ask adults who are walking with children, “May I read a passage from my book to your child?” This is a way of engaging a potential customer.

If someone stops to look at your book cover, you could say, “Do you like good mysteries?” If the answer is yes, then tell a little about your book. This way, you have engaged the potential customer.

When someone stops at my booth and either looks at or picks up my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, I will ask, “Are you an author?” I then ask them about their book. It becomes easy to segue into my sales pitch. If the visitor says, “I’m looking for a publisher,” I talk about the large section in my book featuring publishing options and the pros and cons of each. If they tell me that they have a book and are trying to promote it, I direct them to the book promotion chapters. Let the customer guide you in selling them your book.

Some people will ask questions. Note the types of questions they ask about your book on going green in Idaho, a wild horse rescue in modern times, how to make a smoother career transition or your young adult novel, for example. These are the things you will include in your spiel to other potential customers and that you will incorporate into your future speeches.

Get a booth at a book festival, sit silently behind your display of books all day without ever speaking out to a visitor and you will probably sell very few books. You won’t learn much about your potential customers, either. And you will certainly not gain any public speaking skills.

Go to the book festival with the idea of getting exposure for your book—raising awareness that it even exists—and with the idea of learning something about your customers and what they want to hear, and you will gain incredible insight, tools and skills that you can use to promote your book forevermore.

If you need personalized help with promoting your particular book(s), consider signing up for my online Book Promotion Course.
https://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Learn more about book promotion and, in particular, how to work a book festival in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Take Your Book to the Fair

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Tis the season of book fairs and book festivals. They occur throughout the U.S. and beyond during fair weather—spring, summer, fall. Look for book festivals in your region or in areas you will be visiting this year. Here’s a site listing around 240 book festivals throughout the U.S. and even outside in more exotic places such as Spain, Canada, Japan and Africa.

http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/bookfair.html

Here are a few of the listings from this site:

Alabama Tale-Tellin’ Festival/October
Selma, AL
http://www.taletellin.selmaalabama.com

Amelia Island Book Festival/September-October
Fernandina Beach, FL
phone: 904-261-5845
http://www.bookisland.org

Autumn Book Festival/Fall
Fostoria, OH
http://www.autumnbookfestival.bravehost.com

Delaware Book Festival/November
Dover, DE
http://www.debookfestival.lib.de.us

Detroit Story League Storytelling Festival/September
Livonia, MI
phone: 734-761-5118

Forest Storytelling Festival/Fall
Port Angeles, WA
phone: 360-417-5031
http://www.dancingleaves.com/storypeople/index.html

Guadalajara International Book Fair/November-December
Guadalajara, Mexico
http://www.fil.com/mx

Illinois Authors Book Fair/November
Springfield, IL
phone: 217-558-2065

Louisiana Book Festival/October
Baton Rouge, LA
phone: 225-219-9503
http://www.louisianabookfestival.org

Montana Festival of the Book/September
Missoula, MT
phone: 406-243-6022 / fax: 406-243-4836
http://www.bookfest-mt.org

To learn how to work a book festival so it works for you, read my article on this subject. Here’s the link.
http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/promo_bookFestival.htm

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What’s Happening in Patricia’s World?

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

I’m busy editing this week and taking care of a sick cat and a new kitten, so have little time for one of my favorite pastimes, blogging. I enjoy bringing you information, resources and perspective with regard to the publishing industry. I’ve posted nearly 500 blogs for you. And I blog pretty much every day. This week, however, I’m devoting most of my time to clients and cats.

If you really need benefit of my, ah hem, wisdom, spend some time reviewing past blog entries. And be sure to catch my article in the May 21 edition of Writing World. http://www.writing-world.com. It’s called “What Can a Good Editor Do For You?”

I understand that another article recently appeared in Hope Clark’s Funds for Writers newsletter, as well. And I’ve been invited to speak to a writers group in Las Vegas later this year. More on that as details become available.

This morning, I am being interviewed locally for a program called Finding Ojai. They want to talk to me about the Nordhoff Cemetery—the topic of two of my books.

Keep writing. Keep promoting. And no matter where you are in the publishing process, order my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. You will learn volumes from studying it and you will keep it close by for reference throughout the writing, publishing and marketing of your book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

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