Writing and Publishing News

I’m often asked, “What is the best way to promote a book?” My response is always the same, “It depends on the book and it depends on the author.”

You see, beyond the topic and genre of the book—beyond the proposed audience—beyond the author’s limitations, capabilities and skills—book promotion is a rather variable concept. It is not an exact science. So what works for one author and one book, might or might not work for you.

I liken book promotion to gardening. From my own experiences and those of my clients and SPAWN members, I find the task of book promotion to be a pretty much an experiment. And the experimentation may go on for the life of the book.

In my garden, I am constantly trying new plants and moving plants to new spots. Amazingly, while something might struggle and even die in one flower bed, it may thrive in another. One year, I might prune a plant to keep it healthy and two years later, it grows better without pruning. There are constant questions: to mulch or not to mulch; what type of fertilizer should be used and how often; whether to start plants or plant seeds; to plant in the ground or in a pot and then there’s the issue of watering—when, how much, how often… There are thousands of plant choices and landscaping designs.

And there are wide varieties in how people approach their garden spaces. While some homeowners choose to neglect their yards—leave the plants to die and the weeds to take over—others spend hours each week tending their expertly manicured gardens. The care of these yards is not left to chance. The owners experiment and they study. They are in a constant state of activity and nurturing. And the results of their efforts are noticeable.

It’s the same with book promotion. As an author, you must study the world of bookselling and book promotion. In order to hit upon the promotional activities that work best for you and your book, you may need to try many different things. And once you hit upon those that work well for your book, it’s a matter of continuing along this vein, maintaining your momentum.

It seems, sometimes, that my garden is in control. The various plants have their specific needs and requirements. It’s up to me to discover exactly what they need and provide it. If I don’t get it right, the plant will not thrive—it may not even survive. It’s the same with a book. As an author, you may not be absolutely in control. Your idea of promoting your book might be to get it into bookstores or to promote online, only. But if your primary audience is not looking for books like yours through these avenues, that book will not thrive.

In order to succeed in gardening, you must do what’s in each plant’s best interest. The same is true of successful authorship.

For more words of wisdom, author services and books on publishing and book promotion, visit my websites:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

You really can’t do it all. This hard lesson comes clearly into focus once you become the author of a book. With the added responsibility of promotion on top of everything else that’s going on in your life, something has to give, right? And this is one reason why so many books fail or why they don’t live up to our expectations as far as sales go.

One solution is to hire someone to help. Of course, you could pay a hefty sum and get a lot of help and expertise from a publicist. But you’d better be ready to go out and do a lot of speaking and signings and other activities he or she will arrange for you.

Or you can hire a friend, colleague, acquaintance, intern or even a high school student to take on some of your book-related tasks. So what can others do for you to help with your workload? Plenty!

1: Have your helper email and/or mail news releases and press kits, requests for book reviews, and even compile and distribute your monthly newsletter, etc. You can create the template or train him or her to.

2: He or she can research various speaking venues for you and contact the program chairmen to set up a presentation schedule for you. This could include conferences related to your topic, book signings and so forth.

3: They can keep your website updated with your list of speaking engagements, news to report, posting new articles and resources, etc.

4: Have someone handle your shipping responsibilities, including sending out review copies.

5: They can research review opportunities for your book and other opportunities for your book.

6: Ask this person to follow-up on review copies sent, your requests to give presentations, etc.

7: Have this helper set up radio show interviews and invitations to be a guest blogger at appropriate blog sites. They can also comment for you at appropriate blog sites.

8: They can seek out contests you can enter with your book.

9: The right person can post to your blog every day or several times each week.

10: Have them seek out article-writing opportunities related to the theme/genre of your book and send queries.

11: Following up is one of the tasks authors tend to neglect. But a paid helper can take over this job. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone else make those mundane, but all important, phone calls to book reviewers, reporters, editors and others who might need prodding with regard to promoting your book?

12: This person could also make sure that reviewers post their reviews at your amazon.com page and they can post them at your website.

13: Perhaps he or she can go through the process of getting you set up at amazon and other online bookseller sites.

14: She can collect and keep track of favorable comments from readers and post them where appropriate.

15: This person could also do your filing and keep your office more organized.

Doesn’t the idea of having these things taken care of without actually having to do them yourself sound heavenly? Just imagine the time you would have to use in writing those articles you should be submitting, developing and presenting presentations, being interviewed on radio/TV, writing your next book and maybe even taking a stroll along the countryside occasionally.

How much is this liable to cost you? Not nearly as much as it would cost if you neglect to pursue these promotional activities at all due to lack of time or organizational skills.

Think about it. I’ve hired people to help in my office over the years and I’m seriously thinking about doing it again. While I am so busy editing and coaching, my promotional efforts are being sorely neglected. I could use some help keeping up my Catscapades blog, promoting the Catscapades book, doing follow-up work and keeping up with my attempt to organize my office. How about you?

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

Do you believe that exposure is important to a book? Do you take advantage of the promotional opportunities that come before you in order to get exposure? Do you seek out ways to get additional exposure for your book?

I happen to know that some of you do and some of you don’t.

I’m in the process of offering authors exposure for their books. I’ve broadcast my need for authors to participate in a project that will give their books FREE visibility. I’ve contacted dozens of authors in recent weeks asking them to participate. And the response has been interesting.

First, very few authors have responded to my “broadcasts.” And about 1/3 of those I’ve contacted personally have either neglected to respond or they couldn’t figure out a way to participate.

You’ve probably heard/read me talking about the author’s responsibility. I firmly believe that once you decide to produce a book, you have accepted the responsibility to give it a good ride. The fact that so many books fail or fall by the wayside shortly after being published is testament to the author’s lack of responsibility, don’t you think?

Look at it this way, if you open an ice cream parlor and keep forgetting to or getting too busy to order the ingredients to make the ice cream or if you decide you don’t feel like opening your parlor every day, your business is not going to survive. It’s the same with publishing. If you want to succeed as a published author, you really, truly must find a way to be invested in your project to the point that you make sacrifices. Again, here’s the recipe for publishing success:

• Write a book that is actually needed/wanted.
• Have the book professionally edited.
• Study the publishing industry.
• Make informed choices.
• Commit to the enormous task of promotion.

I often hear authors bemoan how hard publishing and promotion is. Yes, it is—so is maintaining good relationships, staying healthy and fit and running any business. So what? Either decide to do it or not.

I had a discussion recently with another book marketing professional. She brought up the idea of authors hiring people to help them with the enormous amount of work involved with book promotion. I felt like giving her a big high five right through the phone lines as this is something I’ve recommended to some authors for years. And I need to do more of it, as well.

I’m not going to go into a big spiel about who to hire, what types of jobs they can handle for you, etc. as I may devote a blog post to this subject in coming days/weeks. In the meantime, you might have some comments or some experiences you would like to share with me for this pending blog post.

Have you hired people to help you with aspects of your publishing project? Do you have built-in help? Some authors work with a co-author and they spread out the workload. Others have talented husbands or kids who help with the technological functions that keep their businesses going. Send your comments to me at PLFry620@yahoo.com or leave your comments here.

Personally, I’ve hired my grandkids to help me with mundane tasks—such as getting out mailings. As they got older, my grandsons have helped me load and unload large shipments of books over the years. I hired a friend to send out article queries for me once. She also typed an entire book into the computer so I could do a reprint one year. I’ve hired webmasters, editors and proof-readers as well as printers.

What sort of help do you get from family or do you hire out? My readers would like to know. Do you pay your helpers or barter for services/goods?

Stay tuned—this could be an enlightening discussion.

In the meantime, go to my Patricia Fry website and sign up for your free gift

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

Do you want to be found? If you have a book to promote, the answer should be yes. Your website should come up immediately when your name is typed into any of the major search engines.

As you may know, I am contacting authors to interview for my latest book on book promotion. And I am constantly amazed and shocked to discover how difficult it is to locate some of them—even some who are rather high-profile in other ways: they show up in industry publications, they frequently participate in seminars, etc. But when you attempt to find their contact information, you are given links to press releases, mag/newsletter articles, blogs where they commented or where they were mentioned and so forth.

When I first wrote the book I am currently revising, expanding and updating, I stated that many authors have websites. Today, if you have a book to promote you must have a website; that’s all there is to it. It’s mandatory! It’s necessary. And it’s good business. Like it or not, authorship is a business. Writing may be a craft, but once you slip into the realm of publishing, you have entered a highly competitive business and, in order to have even minimal success, you must approach it as such.

Have any of you ever Googled my name? There are scads of other Patricia Frys. I come across new ones fairly often. Yet, when I Google my name, it is my websites that come up first, links to some of my published articles and interviews appear. This is as it should be. In fact, a funny thing happened a few weeks ago. A gentleman contacted me saying that he is writing a book about a woman named Patricia Fry and, in the process of seeking more information about her, he came across me. Of course, he had questions about publishing and marketing and asked them during our email conversations.

If you plan, anytime soon, to enter into the world of publishing, have a website built. Establish a blog. Submit stories or articles to appropriate publications. Comment at other blogs related to the theme or genre of your book. Be a guest blogger. Join organizations related to your book topic or to publishing. (Often, here at SPAWN, we get inquiries about one of our members or former members. Evidently, the only way these folks could be tracked down was through their membership in our organization.)

Another mistake I see authors make is to change their email address without telling anyone. How many times have you gone in search of someone, locate their websites and attempt to contact them, only to have your email returned to you? It happened to me again this morning. I read in one of my newsletters about an author I want to interview for my book (she would be getting FREE publicity for her book, after all) and the email form I filled out bounced. What’s up with this?

Unless you are wanted by the police or in some sort of witness program, if you are an author and if you want to sell books, you must find ways to be available to your public. And this generally means more than using social media sites. It means building and maintaining your own personal website or one focusing on the title of your book, perhaps. Your next responsibility is to make it easy to navigate and to contact you. Otherwise, you will miss out on sales and promotional activities.

Sometimes a customer wants to ask some questions before purchasing a book from you. Sometimes someone only wants to ask questions, but ends up buying your book or signing up for your services. Other times, there’s a promotional opportunity that you did not expect, which you will miss if you are not easily accessible.

If I had been difficult to locate in 2006, I would never have been the first woman ever invited to be the keynote speaker at a Toastmasters Convention in Dubai. I would not have experienced first class International flying. I would not have met some fascinating people and had the opportunity to tour areas of the Middle East.

Two things I need from you: Contact me with your book promotion experiences. I am particularly looking for stories focusing on affiliate marketing for authors, successful use of the press release for authors, interesting seasonal marketing experiences, selling books through specialty stores (jewelry store, pharmacy, auto parts store, hobby shop, etc.), selling through schools, how joining an organization helped your book sales, spin offs that were successful and book to film—making it happen and making it work.

Contact me here or at PLFry620@yahoo.com

In the meantime, visit my websites and check out my offerings:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

There’s lots happening in the Matilija Press/Patricia Fry offices and at the Matilija Press and Patricia Fry websites. I’m offering a free ebook—a condensed version of my latest book, The Successful Author’s Handbook, for FREE at http://www.patriciafry.com

I produced The Successful Writers Handbook in 2003 and it has been a popular book with many writers and authors. So, last year, I compiled The Successful Author’s Handbook and produced it as an ebook. Recently, I condensed that ebook in order to offer it FREE for serious authors who visit my Patricia Fry website and sign up to receive it.

I’m still collecting quotes from authors who have used unusual means to promote their books and/or who have had relative success with some form of book promotion. It’s a good opportunity to get exposure for your book as many of the quotes—mini-interviews—will appear in my new book on book marketing to be published by Allworth Press. If you wish to participate, contact me here PLFry620@yahoo.com.

I’m even interested in hearing about some of your book promotion disappointments. One of mine involves bookstores. Years ago, when I came out with my first book of national appeal, I bought a mailing list of bookstores. My grandchildren and I spent hours preparing promotional packets to send out to hundreds of bookstores throughout the U.S. The results of this effort were zilch, zero, nada—absolutely nothing.

I had come out with two books at that time—a metaphysical memoir and a book about preparing a luau on the mainland. As it turns out, I was able to get the luau book into several specialty bookstores—those related to cookbooks and foods, but this was through an entirely different promotional effort. I did the research by hand—no computer involved—to locate such bookstores and contacted them individually. This effort was a success. I’ve also had success approaching independent bookstore managers in person with my various books over the years.

What about you? What book-selling stories can you tell? What have you learned about book promotion over time? Leave your comment here.