February, 2011 - Writing and Publishing News

Archive for February, 2011

Book Printing Resources, Capitalizing Mom and MORE

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Yesterday I sat on a panel with three esteemed authors and we talked about publishing. It’s always interesting—and possibly a bit confusing for the audience—when each panelist comes from a different publishing experience. On the other hand, audience members certainly get a wide range of possible scenarios—they are privy to, perhaps, a larger picture than they would be with just one author speaking from one perspective.

While chatting with members of this audience after the program, I discovered that many of them were narrowly focused. They had no desire to go into the business of publishing. They wanted only to print a few copies of their memoir for family members or produce a booklet to hand out to friends and others interested in their topic. One woman was working with a museum to produce a book on local history. If there were any hardcore writers interested in writing as a career, I didn’t meet them. But this is the author the panelists were addressing as we responded to the commentator’s questions. Audience questions went a completely different direction. They wanted to know about printing companies—who would we recommend?

Being unprepared for that question, I jotted down email addresses, did a little research and responded to these folks this morning. Maybe you would be interested in the directories of printers that I sent them. Here are two:

http://www.printingnews.com/content/documents/2010OnDemand.pdf

http://printing.directoryusa.biz

I use 360 Digital Books
http://www.360digitalbooks.com

Here’s a question that comes up once in a while and it came up yesterday. When do you capitalize mom, father, dad, mother, etc? When I responded to the gentleman who asked, he attempted to argue with me. He said, “That’s not right.” I think he misunderstood me.

This morning I sent him this from the Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition, which is the style manual authors should be using.

On page 400 (item 8:35), “Kinship names are lowercased unless they immediately precede a personal name or are used alone, in place of a personal name. Their examples are as follows:

my father and mother
the Bronte sisters
Let’s write to Aunt Maud.
I believe Grandmother’s middle name was Marie.
Please, Dad, let’s go
She adores her aunt Maud.

So, you would write, “I adore my mom.” but “I adore Mom.” See the difference?

Do you have questions such as these that I might be able to help with? Situations like these come up daily when you are writing. At least these are things that, if you don’t know the answers to, you should be inquiring and/or researching.

Here are a couple of other things that came up yesterday. I found them interesting. Maybe you will, too. Someone said she heard that if you were to read everything that was posted to uTube just yesterday, you would be reading for 100 years. Zowie!

Someone also stated that, while there are thousands of books being produced each year, there are still hundreds of authors who only talk about writing or publishing a book and never actually follow through.

Are you one of those authors? Or are you on a path to living your publishing dream? If you are stalled—you need help moving forward—contact me and let’s see if I can help you experience the success you desire. PLFry620@yahoo.com

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

Posted in Authorship | No Comments »

Test Market Your Book

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

It’s sometimes overwhelming and intimidating to think of finally producing that book you’ve been dreaming about and/or working on for months or years. You’re afraid of what the response will be. You’re concerned that you won’t find a publisher. That’s why some authors come out with a test copy first.

For some, the term, “test product” is just psychological—the author isn’t ready to commit to being an author. He doesn’t want to put himself out there and become vulnerable, so he produces a book and calls it a test product. Others don’t want to spend the money to do it up right, so they have a few copies of their books printed and bound at a business store. Still others self-publish or hire a pay-to-publish company to publish their book in order to test it.

If their book is well-received, they go forward with their projects. Some authors move ahead even when the test isn’t all that successful. If they do decide not to publish, they aren’t out much. Sure, their ego will be a bit bruised, but not as severely as if they had done a bona fide printing of the book.

Some authors who do a test product, will actually listen keenly to their audiences—find out what they like/don’t like about the book—and make appropriate adjustments on the second printing. Others, after test-marketing their books, do more editing (or not) and begin the process of finding a traditional publisher, even if the results weren’t very good. Some authors actually like the idea of self-publishing and, based on feedback from their audience, they establish a serious company around their books and develop a hard-hitting marketing plan.

Testing the market with your book isn’t a bad idea. But it is important that you enter into this sort of experiment with your eyes and your mind wide open. Leave your expectations behind. Listen keenly to the comments from and the actions of your readers. Make your ultimate business decision based on what you learned during the test period. Did folks love your book? How do you know? What were their words/actions? Did they buy more than one copy? Did their friends buy a copy? Did they offer any suggestions? Were their words full of encouragement or were they reluctant to comment? Did they go out of their way to comment on your book or did you have to drag the words out of them? Is everyone saying pretty much the same thing? Are you paying attention?

Through the process of test-marketing your book, you may discover the following:

• Your audience is not who you thought they would be.

• You have a strong secondary audience you hadn’t expected.

• The outlets you planned to sell books through did not pan out.

• Book promotion is much harder than you thought.

• You need to go back to the drawing board with your book.

• You are right on target with your book and should move forward and seek out a publisher.

Even experienced traditional publishers sometimes get it wrong and they rarely put any emotion into their projects like you and I tend to do. So I’m a fan of test-marketing your book. It can be an eye-opener for the hopeful author. But it is only useful if you approach the test project from a solid business standpoint and truly look, listen and learn from the process.

Check out Patricia Fry’s array of books—some of them are discounted!!!
http://www.matilijapress.com

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Book Promotion Opportunities and Help

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

I have a lull between jobs (in case anyone needs an editor right away) and I’m writing a series of promotional booklets for authors. They will each include a different book promotion activity such as article-writing, getting book reviews, promoting through public speaking, etc. They will be ebooks and I will charge something like $3.00 for each booklet and $12 or $15 for the series (depending on how many booklets I include).

What do you think? Good idea? Do you have any thoughts on subjects for these booklets? Which book promotion activities would you like to know more about?

The thing is, we each come into publishing with our own set of skills, interests and experiences. For some, it is a stretch to even consider some of the traditional book promotion activities such as arranging for speaking gigs and standing before an audience or locating and selling books at book festivals or submitting articles or stories to publications. How many authors come into publishing knowing how to work with booksellers or with the resources necessary to get involved in appropriate conferences, for example?

Most authors need help with book promotion. And that’s why they purchase hard-hitting book promotion books. But sometimes they are interested in just one facet of book promotion and that’s where these non-intimidating booklets will come in handy. And they’ll be green—no paper involved unless you print them out.

Send me your Book Promotion Collection topic ideas. PLFry620@yahoo.com

Major Book Festival
Are any of you planning to take your books to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (LATFB) in late April? Did you know that the booths cost $950 this year? You can promote and sell your book from the SPAWN booth for $200 per day. Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) at $65/year ($55 if you belong to one of our affiliate organizations such as IBPA or SPAN). Place your book in our catalog (to be handed out to around 400 people at the LATFB) for $35 and sign up to either display your book in the booth ($20) or reserve space for yourself and your book(s) in the SPAWN booth at $200/day. Learn more about your options here:
http://www.spawn.org/latfb2011.htm.

Join SPAWN here: http://www.spawn.org.org. Click on “Join.” Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com or Patricia@spawn.org.

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Sell More Books Through Benefits Than With Features

Friday, February 25th, 2011

I heard it said again this week that we don’t buy a product, we buy what it can do for us. I’ve been pondering the concept and I notice that it is fairly accurate. I did a little mall shopping yesterday and bought myself a new pair of walking shoes (at 70, I’m still a dedicated power walker). I chose a pair that looked good to me (so I will look good wearing them), that have a familiar brand name (so I’m assured that they will hold up) and that were on sale (now saving money is always a benefit).

But what about benefits in books? Are you writing a book with benefits or are you writing it primarily for yourself? When you plan a book, do you do so with your audience in mind or because it’s something you want to do—you have something to say or share?

Before you finish your book—even better, before you start it—consider first, your audience. Who is your target audience? Then think about the benefits they will be looking for in a book like yours.

Do you know the difference between features and benefits?

A feature is what a book or another product has—four-color cover, spiral binding, resource list, thirty recipes, tips and techniques, etc.

A benefit is what the book does—puts the reader with a fear of flying at ease, teaches readers how to make crème brulee, causes readers to relax and smile, saves readers time in the kitchen, and so forth.

If you are promoting a book, keep these descriptions in mind. As you represent your book in press releases, ads and verbally, be sure that you promote the benefits to readers instead of always spouting the features.

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

I believe we will be starting a “Build Your Platform” course next month. Check out the description and course outline at the link below and sign up. There’s still room. You can join the course that will begin probably during the first week of March or you can set your own starting date.

What does one of Patricia Fry’s online, on-demand courses involve? A weekly lecture and assignment and valuable one-on-one assistance throughout the course.

Platform Course:
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_platform.htm

For the complete list of 7 courses:
http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

Posted in Authorship, Book Promotion | No Comments »

Public Speaking for Novelists

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

It is common for nonfiction authors to go out and speak about the subject of their books. Children’s book writers promote their books by doing readings where children congregate. But what about novelists? How can you promote your mystery or your historical, fantasy, period, adventure, etc. novel by doing speaking gigs?

Use some of that imagination that you poured into your story. Yes, book promotion is serious business. But the activities you choose in order to get your book known do not have to be rigid and boring. And your venue doesn’t have to be ordinary.

You can do readings, but only if you can pull this off really, really expertly. If you cannot read well out loud or you do not have a nice voice, do not attempt this in front of your potential audience. It will not be effective. Either have an actor do the reading for you or take steps to improve your speaking voice and your reading skills.

For example, hire a voice coach to help you with the quality and projection of your voice. (Look in the Yellow Pages under singing teacher.) Join a storytelling group. This will help you to learn how to push the limits of your voice so it is more effective for your purposes. Practice reading out loud to children. Use a lot of vocal variety in the process.

Where can you do readings? At writers’ conferences, writers’ group meetings, book clubs, bookstores, specialty shops, public or private/specialty libraries, home parties featuring local authors or just you, coffee and tea houses and just about any place where people gather. I heard authors reading from their books while I was eating pizza on n outdoor patio at a local gourmet Italian restaurant last summer.

Fiction authors can present programs just like their nonfiction counterparts do. You can talk about the story in your book or your personal story of becoming an author. But there are many other ways to present your book to audiences.

Let’s say that your novel features a lifelong love story between two professors beginning in the late 1890s and covering a sixty year period, and it is set in the south. You could dress in vintage clothes while telling parts of the story. You could talk about what went into writing the story.

You don’t have to stay locked into your story. You could create an interesting talk wherein you analyze the mindset of various lovers in classic stories over time. Compare life in the south during that time period to life elsewhere on this planet. Describe how your characters tried to hide their love affair from students and colleagues at the university where they worked. Talk about how some well-known fictional characters (or one of your characters) would be handling the technology age. Or, as I sometimes suggest, let audience members help you act out a section of the book. Bring props and costume accessories such as boas, hats, a pipe, a crown, an extreme example of a period shirt or tie, for example.

Use seasonal prompts for your speech themes. If we are nearing an election, discuss how your character and/or other well-known characters would handle being president—what would they bring to the position? If you are promoting a Christian novel in March or April, you might use Easter as a theme in your presentation. Maybe your story features a strong father figure, you should be able to focus on that aspect of your book when speaking to a group around Father’s day, for example.

What are some other themes you could use when planning presentations around your novel? World events, disasters, legends from the past (how does your modern day adventurer or rebel compare with the activities or the character of Billy the Kid or Butch Cassidy…), technology—space travel, computers, the era of the cell phone, etc.

You don’t have to stick solely to the story you tell in your book. You can dissect your story and create a larger picture, get into your characters’ heads, discuss your characters’ life choices and the what ifs that could have occurred instead. As you can see, you could get creative with your presentations related to your novel no matter the genre or theme.

I’d love to hear from those of you who have additional ideas for promoting a novel or a children’s book through live presentations and/or if you’ve used any of these.

Find articles on public speaking for authors at my website:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Posted in Fiction, Public Speaking | No Comments »

No Two Publishing Experiences Are the Same

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

So you have published your SECOND book—congratulations. Since you’ve already had experience bringing a book into the marketplace, promoting this one should be a slam dunk, right? Not necessarily. If the book is different, most likely the promotional activities around it will need to be readjusted.

Let’s say that your first book is a how-to book for realtors who want to increase their sales. And your second book is a novel. These are very different books with a widely different audience. Sure there could be some crossover—some of your real estate customers might be interested in a period novel. So be sure to use the customer-base mailing and emailing lists you have accumulated to promote it. But beyond that, your marketing tactics and strategies for the second book may send you on a completely new path.

Your business book sales might rely more on face-to-face connections—in workshop and speaking environments, for example. You might sell a lot of copies of this book through articles and ads in regional real estate magazines, through local board offices and at sales meetings for real estate personnel, for example. You novel sales might rely more on book reviews, word-of-mouth, your interactive website and your name recognition through stories published in major genre publications.

If your first book was a young adult fantasy, you probably sold copies through pretty much the same channels as you would the novel. You may have added school visits and book parties designed to entice teens at bookstores and other venues. But now you have come out with a book on creative writing for publication. You have a different audience—again, sure there could be some crossover, so don’t toss out any viable promotional ideas. But you’ll also need to go where your new audience is—writing sites, writers’ magazines, writers’ conferences and club meetings, etc.

In some cases, you’ll need strong speaking, communication and teaching skills in order to promote your book. You might use a lot of creativity in your promotional strategies and your readers might be easy to locate and approach. In others, you must reach far and wide to find your readers and use unique tactics to entice them. Your niche might be small and easy to approach or widespread and difficult to discover.

This is just one more reason why you should be thinking about your promotional plan and building your platform before you finish writing the book.

I received a Google Alert today reflecting a question that came across the Yahoo Ask site. It is a question that comes up often at these sites: “I want to write a book how will I find a publisher?” The answers most generally are, “Just write. Wait until you’re finished and then look for a publisher.”

Unfortunately, this is the attitude of many inexperienced writers—at least writers who are new to publishing. And it is so, so wrong. In order to enter into the highly competitive publishing arena, you must know something about the industry and become familiar with other books on the topic/genre and how they are being presented. And you really should have an idea of who is publishing material like yours and what the current criteria is. What you learn may change the focus of your book. And that can be a good thing.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for my newest online course—Build Your Platform. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_platform.htm This could be your ticket to publishing success.

You could do what way too many new authors do: go ahead and finish writing your book, hire a pay-to-publish company to produce it and pay way too much money and then begin to flounder around trying to figure out how to handle promotion.

Or you could spend time learning something about the publishing industry, all of your options, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibilities as a published author—yes, you have some serious responsibilities as a published author. You could take this course and prepare yourself for the world of publishing and book promotion and give yourself a much better chance of succeeding.

Which way do you want to go?

Posted in Book Promotion, Platform | No Comments »

Promote the Book You’re Writing NOW

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Are you in the process of writing a book? What are you doing to promote that book?

I’m serious. In this fiercely competitive publishing climate, book promotion isn’t something you engage in as an afterthought. It is not something you put off until you are holding your book in your hands. It is such a major part of producing a book that it should be one of the first (not last) things you consider when you decide to write a book for publication.

What can you do to promote your book before your book is a book?

• Talk about your upcoming book everywhere you go so people will already have a mindset to purchase it when it comes out.

• Start compiling a massive mailing and emailing list. Collect business cards from everyone who expresses an interest in your book. Add in your former classmates, hairdresser, teachers at your children’s schools, coworkers, clients/customers, neighbors, former neighbors, shirttail relatives, email list, everyone in your Rolodex and so forth.

• Build promotion into your book by including other people and agencies where appropriate (interview them, quote them, list them in the resources section, list recommended books…).

• Make your novel appeal to a wider audience by giving one of your characters a horse, autism or a brain injury, for example. Give more appeal to a nonfiction book by bringing in additional aspects of your topic—add a section on senior dating to your relationship book, for example. Include a chapter featuring indoor crafts in your book of summer activities for children.

• Build a website. When I work with authors on their book proposals, I notice that often they write, “I plan to build a website to promote this book.” I say to them, “Build it now!” And this is what I urge you to do.

• Become known within your genre/topic by submitting stories/articles to appropriate publications. (Sign up this week for my online Article-Writing course. It’s not too late.) http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

• Go out and speak on your topic. The point of submitting articles and doing some workshops or public speaking is to become known as a credible expert in your topic or an entertaining writer in your genre. So what if you don’t have a book, yet. You will within the year (public interest will help keep you motivated). During presentations, have a sign-up sheet and collect names to add to your mailing/emailing list. And offer a handout related to your book.

• Listen to your audience members. One reason why you want to do some public speaking
now is to become acquainted with your audience. You’ll find out what they want. You’ll get some excellent ideas for tweaking your book. You may discover some great resources. Networking during the writing process is always a good idea.
There you have 8 things that you can be doing NOW to help make your book the success that you dream of.

For additional assistance with your project, check out my array of books for authors:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Visit my personal website and check out my author services. If you are pleased with what you find in this blog every day, just imagine how much you could gain from my courses and services:
http://www.patriciafry.com

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Let Me Help You Develop a Powerhouse Author’s Platform

Monday, February 21st, 2011

There seems to be quite a bit of interest in my newest course—Establish Your Author’s Platform. And this is as it should be. Authors, in this highly competitive publishing environment, MUST have a solid platform in order to experience success with their published books.

What happens if you don’t have a platform?
• Your potential readers won’t know about you or your book.

• When someone finds out about your book, they may not consider you credible and will not purchase it.

• Your attempts at promotion will fizzle.

• Your book will fail.

• You will lose money.

Now that’s a grim prediction, but an accurate one. Think about it, if you don’t have a following or a way of attracting readers, who is going to know about your book and buy it? If you do not continuously work to build your credibility in your field or genre, who will learn about you and want to read your book? If you keep yourself and your book hidden from the public eye, how will people find it? Here are the facts:

• Most of you have a platform, but you need help in recognizing it. Through this course, you will discover it.

• There are tons of things you can and should do in order to strengthen your platform—to build it into a powerhouse platform. This course will help you do that.

• Few of you know how to present yourself even when you have an impressive platform. You will learn valuable techniques through this course.

An author without a platform is like a merchant without a storefront or a play without actors. You may have a good book, but no way to entice your audience.

If you are planning a book, you should already be taking steps to build your platform. If you have a published book, and it is pretty much at a standstill, it is crucial that you get going on establishing and building a stronger platform immediately. Even if your book is a year or more old, if it isn’t selling as well as you think it should, perhaps your platform is lacking.

If you need help with your stalled book or if you are in the writing stages of a new book, consider signing up for my newest course and let me show you how to Establish Your Author’s Platform. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_platform.htm

Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com

Posted in Authorship, Publishing | No Comments »

How to Design Your Author’s Platform

Sunday, February 20th, 2011

I’ve added a new course to my repertoire!! And it’s one that countless authors can use.

You’ve heard the term “platform,” and you’ve heard that this is something authors need. But some of you are still wondering exactly what it is, why you need one and how to get one. Here’s the scoop:

In this highly competitive publishing arena, not only is it necessary for the author to adopt bookselling strategies, he must groom himself as a representative for his book. He must back up his book with the appropriate elements of influence. How? By establishing a platform and continuously building on it.

A large majority of traditional royalty publishers require that their authors have a platform—a following, connections, a sphere of influence and name recognition within the genre/topic of their book. A publisher wants to know that you can attract readers for your book—that you have a built-in audience or can easily generate one.

If you choose to self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a pay-to-publish service, you will still need a platform in order to position yourself and your book in the marketplace. As you are aware, readers of fiction generally choose books based on author name recognition and consumers of nonfiction are more interested in the author’s level of expertise and/or experience.

Authors need to ask themselves, “Why will people be interested in my book?” “What will entice them to buy a book that I wrote?” Not only will this course help you respond to these questions, it will coach and support you in establishing your personalized author platform.

Through this course, you will learn:
• What a platform is and why it is so valuable.

• How to identify the elements of your current platform and use them to your benefit.

• How to add to your platform in order to position yourself as a trusted expert in your field or genre

• How to develop a following.

• How to more effectively represent yourself to publishers, the media and your potential customers.

Within the realm of bookselling, it isn’t about the book as much as much as it is about the author and his or her sphere of influence. Let us help you to design your author platform which is a major step toward creating a successful publishing experience.

Sign up for this one-of-a-kind course for personalized assistance with your all-important author’s platform today. While I teach all of my SEVEN courses on-demand (on your schedule), I am starting this 6-week course next Friday, February 25, 2011.

Be among the first to sign up. You won’t be disappointed!

http://www.matilijapress.com/course_platform.htm

Check out all of my courses here: http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

Question? PLFry620@yahoo.com

Posted in Announcements, Authorship, Book Promotion | No Comments »

The Creativity and Strategy of Publishing

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

You’ve heard it before, “writing is a creative endeavor and publishing is a business.” While you must engage your right brain during the writing process, publishing takes left-brain power. Most new authors understand this—or think they do—until they finish their manuscripts and are faced with the realities of publishing.

Many authors spend about two hours studying the publishing industry. They might attend a local writers’ group meeting and listen to a speaker who describes the publishing process. The speaker’s experience sounds rather daunting, so the author opts for an easier path. Then the author turns on his computer, uses “publishing” or “get published” as keywords and promptly locates a list of publishers eager to publish his manuscript (sight unseen). You know the rest of the story—his publishing path is littered with disappointments, misunderstandings and a failed book.

What went wrong? He called upon their creativity while writing the book, but he neglected to use necessary strategy when it came to publishing.

You use strategy when playing a sport or a card game. You strategize in the course of your job. You use strategy when dealing with people—even, sometimes, those close to you. Strategy even comes in handy when you are training a pet, teaching a skill, putting on your makeup, paying bills, decorating a room or planning your vacation. Why, then, do you approach publishing with little knowledge using a scattershot method? Why do you pay large sums of money to the first “publisher” that expresses an interest in your project and then sorely neglect to follow-through with your responsibilities as a published author? I know why. It’s because you enter the publishing industry with little knowledge and unrealistic expectations.

It’s true, most new authors learn about publishing the hard way. They take a crash course in publishing by diving right in without a life preserver. (A life preserver being a synonym for knowledge, of course.) Sure, some of these authors survive the treacherous waters, but most do not.

So what is a better approach? I say that an author, once he has finished his book and he wants to be published, should lighten up on creativity and begin to apply strategies. The artist with a coffee table book, the homemaker with a book of recipes, the retired school teacher with a children’s book, the minister with a Christian novel, the grandmother with a young adult fantasy, the florist with a gardening book—each and every one of them, if they want to succeed as a published author—MUST enter into the world of publishing armed with knowledge.

Study the publishing industry—learn what your options are, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibilities as a published author. Once you have a better understanding of the publishing industry, then start strategizing.

• What are your short-term/long-term goals related to your project?

• What can you bring to the table in order to meet your goals?

• How far are you willing to stretch to create the level of success you desire?

• Based on your responses to the above, what is the best publishing option for you and your project?

There is a whole lot more that goes into creating a successful book than most new authors can even imagine. What most authors learn much too late is that the level of success they experience is directly related to the author. I have to tell you that there is no easy road to publishing success. And the strategies you used to produce and market one book might not work for another. But then, once you take the time to really study the publishing industry, you will begin to understand that.

FREE Ebook
Here’s an ebook that will definitely help you inch your way toward success with your book project. Download your FREE copy of, 50 Reasons Why You Should Publish Your Book.
http://www.patriciafry.com

Article-Writing Course Sign-Up
It’s not too late to sign up for my online article-writing course. It started last Tuesday. The second lesson and assignment will be sent to students Tuesday February 22. If you want to learn how to supplement your income through article-writing or you would like to promote your book through articles, sign up for this 6-week course ($125). Learn from someone who supported herself through article-writing for 25 years and who currently promotes her books through articles for appropriate publications.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

Posted in Publishing | No Comments »

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