Writing and Publishing News

How many free copies of your book do you send out for promotional purposes? Five, twenty-five, ninety-five or more? Most authors provide free copies to contributors—those experts and other people who provided quotes and/or information for their book. The editor generally gets a copy and the cover designer, as does anyone else who offered a service or financial or editorial support during the writing and production process.

And then there are reviewers and others who might assist in promoting the book. Sometimes that number can reach into the triple digits. But there are some authors who can’t bring themselves to give away their books. They can’t see the benefit of providing free copies to supporters and the media.

Does the practice of giving free books compute into sales? Some authors think so. In my new book, Promote Your Book, I recommend sending complimentary copies to people who were key in the process of writing/producing your book. They, too, have an interest in the book. They will be eager to show it off to their friends and colleagues. This could be a good way to make sales.

I also suggest giving copies to influential people in your genre or topic. Here’s an excerpt from the book: “Nothing helps sales like having prominent spokespersons talking about your book. Do you have any idea how sales soared when Oprah introduced a book on her show? While your book may not get that kind of recognition, you can still increase your sales by involving the right people.

“If your book is about parenting, send copies to well-known psychologists and family therapists along with a note suggesting they read it and recommend it to the families they work with. Ask each of them for a testimonial for your website (and future reprints) while you’re at it.

“Send a copy of your book featuring pet care for beginners to the directors of every humane organization in the country (or at least in your region). They meet people every day who could use this book.

“Send copies to everyone you know who writes for periodicals or hosts a radio or TV show. When I was writing for periodicals, I often received complimentary copies of books from authors whom I’d interviewed. If I wrote on that topic again, I’d mention that book. Subscribe online to HARO (Help a Reporter Out) http://www.helpareporter.com and Reporter Connection http://www.reporterconnection.com. You’re bound to discover many additional journalists and experts who might be interested in reviewing your book or quoting from it in upcoming articles.”

And I suggest, “Put your book into the hands of people who will recommend it to others—those with good networking skills. We all have friends who have a wide range of acquaintances and contacts and who love to talk up a good product.”

I use a lot of real examples throughout the book. Here, Bobbi Florio-Graham tells how she sent a copy of her Mewsings and Musings to the Canadian prime minister for his birthday. She says, of the practice of giving books away, “It increases awareness of the book and may lead to subsequent sales.”

Another author I know gave a copy of her children’s book to a friend who tutored her young son in math. The tutor volunteered at the local library. She showed the book to the librarian. Not only did they order a dozen copies for their branches, they invited the author to participate in their summer program for young readers, through which she sold several additional copies.

One author handed her book on ornamental gardening for the beginner to a local landscaper. The landscaper took the book to the next nurserymen’s conference and several owners of nurseries contacted the author asking to sell copies through their businesses.

While there is little or no return on some of the free books you hand out, others may result in many sales. Do you have a new book coming out? Start now listing the people who might help you to spread the word about your book. This would be—depending on the book genre/topic:

• Well-connected friends and acquaintances who are great networkers.
• Professionals in your field.
• Avid readers in your genre.
• Book club organizers.
• Reviewers in your genre/topic.
• Appropriate organization leaders and web hosts.
• Editors of appropriate magazines and ezines.

For hundreds more book promotion tips and resources, order your copy of my new book—a serious, well-organized and easy to follow volume, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. Order it from Amazon.com, B&N.com or IndieBound.org. I will let you know when it is available at my own website.

Tomorrow I will write about free copies to book reviewers.

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

Some of you are aware that I’ve been questioning why some authors of fiction have trouble seeing the value for them in a book like my new one on book promotion.

As you may recall, some fiction authors took one look at my book and said, “It’s a good book with some good ideas, but it is designed for the nonfiction author.”

In my mind, this is so not true. I wondered, why can’t authors of fiction see the value for them in my book? So I polled some fiction authors I know. I approached a couple of reviewers. I ran this question by members of SPAWN through our discussion group.

The general consensus from those who could articulate it and those who tried, demonstrated to me that, while fiction authors certainly use many of the very same ideas I present in my book, they use them differently. And most fiction authors need a certain type of guidance. They need someone to demonstrate other ways to use some of the marketing activities I outline in my book—ways that work best for promoting fiction or for promoting their book in particular.

Now, of course, I do this in some of the listings in my book. I talk about dressing up as one of your book’s characters when giving a live presentation or having audience members participate in a scene from your novel, for example. There are other such suggestions specific to novelists—how to build promotion into a book of fiction while you are writing it, for example, and how to locate nonfiction hooks in your novel to use in promotion. But I am beginning to see that the mind of a fiction writer works a tad differently than some writers of nonfiction and the approach to the concept of book promotion must be a little different in order for most of them to appreciate the value in a book like mine.

Let’s face it, most authors today of any genre or topic do not have a marketing mindset. We may know our topic or how to write in our genre, but the concept of promotion is foreign. New nonfiction authors need guidance in how to pursue some of the various book promotion activities. But, it seems that fiction writers need even more help in this area. It may take some stretching and hand-holding for some fiction writers to look at a list of book promotion ideas and be able to apply them to their own situations.

And that’s why some authors of fiction say that my new book—in fact, almost any book on book promotion—is designed more for the nonfiction author. Nearly every idea and tip in my book, “Promote Your Book,” is equally intended for fiction as well as nonfiction authors. In the future, I just needed to give more detail showing the fiction author how to apply them.

Would you all agree?

Check out my new book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. If you are the author of a fiction or nonfiction book, children’s book, reference guide, etc., this book is for you!
http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

I believe that we all have favorite methods of promoting our books. And we also have techniques that work. It’s grand when both are the same. But, what happens when they are not? What are the consequences for authors when their favorite promotional activity isn’t the one that sells the most books?

Logically, you would make a shift. You would spend more time with the marketing ploy that works best. But those authors who aren’t really committed to the task of promotion or they just don’t understand their responsibilities in their book’s success, often choose their area of comfort over what is actually necessary in order to meet their bookselling goals.

Margery really enjoys sitting at home in front of her computer and searching out booksellers and reviewers for her book. But she has discovered that she sells more copies when she appears in public with it—when she stands before an audience and speaks about it or does a book signing, for example. It’s also popular at book festivals and flea markets. She hates doing public appearances, and does them rarely.

Greg prefers going out and talking to people about his book. He spends little time at the computer. Yet, he finds that when he does take time to seek out new websites related to his topic and submits excerpts and articles to a variety of industry newsletters, he gets a more impressive response.

While there are several books, online courses, teleseminars, workshops, articles and even newsletters on book promotion, there really is no set rule for approaching this vast task. Since every book is different and every author has different levels of interest and skill, the author is free to devise a marketing plan that work for him or her.

But first, as an author, you must ask yourself what success means to you. If success means selling hundreds of books each month and the proven way to make sales for this particular book is to present programs in the schools, then it’s logical that this should be your primary promotional activity. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of cold calling, setting up meetings, developing programs and making travel arrangements, you could be sabotaging the very success you desire.

What is the best way to sell your book? Is this the activity you are pursuing most often? Maybe you haven’t hit on your market, yet—you don’t know who your audience is, or the best way to approach promotion with your particular book. Or perhaps you are new to publishing and don’t know much about promotion at all. This is a good time for you to read my new book: Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Trips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. It’s available at amazon.com http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

It’s also available at Barnes and Noble dot com. http://www.barnesandnoble.com Be the first to leave a comment. Or purchase it at http://www.indiebound.org

It will be available at my website soon. And you can also order it at the publisher’s website after August 1—they are revamping the site as we speak.

Questions about the book? PLFry620@yahoo.com

I’m having an interesting email debate with a novelist—and I hope to get more fiction book authors involved. The debate involves the differences between the way fiction and nonfiction authors promote their books. Is there any difference? Some of you may have both fiction and nonfiction books. Are there differences in the methods you use to promote them?

Sure the speaking venues might be different, the reviewer list may have different names on it, your press releases might read differently, your presentations will have a different flavor, you might join different organizations, your blog and Facebook entries will read a bit differently, you’ll seek out different media to approach with your promotional material, but you are still going to go out and speak, get reviews, send press releases, join appropriate organizations, blog, engage in social media, contact the media and so forth. Right?

You’ll reserve space at book festivals for your fiction or nonfiction book. You’ll talk about your book everywhere you go. You’ll send notices about your book to your massive mailing and emailing list. You’ll seek out appropriate websites, specialty stores, etc. through which to sell your fiction or nonfiction book. You’ll add to your line of books—for fiction, a sequel, a play, an audio book: for nonfiction, a spin-off booklet or a related item, for example. Whether your book is a romance novel, mystery, how, to, self-help or spiritual book, for example, you might enter it in contests, run contests, do book signings, do seasonal marketing, employ sales representatives, have your book available on Amazon, tweet and submit articles/stories as a way to increase sales.

So what is the difference between the way nonfiction and fiction authors promote their books? Why would the author of fiction say that a book brimming with these very book promotion activities (and many more) would say that book is designed more for the nonfiction author? I still don’t get it. Do you? Here’s another question, if you believe, as I do, that there is little or no difference in the basics of book promotion for the fiction or nonfiction author, why do you think novelists believe there are? Why are they so eager to discount books like mine as not relating to fiction authors?

I will send the person with the best answer to my questions a free copy of my latest book, “Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.” Leave your comment here or email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

Visit my websites:
http:/www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

This week finds me busily trying to coordinate tasks in order to properly launch my latest book. There are so many details to handle and the timing depends on other people—the publisher, the publishing staff in charge of shipping books, my web master, reviewers, etc.

For those of you who are just tuning in, the book is “Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.”

I have a box of books now. The book is on amazon.com. Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/oe56Ia It won’t be on Kindle until the end of the month—bummer. The five-star reviews are accumulating at the book page. Be sure to stop by and read them.

The book isn’t up at my site, yet. I’ll let you know when that occurs. Hopefully this week. The book is in the hands of around two dozen key people within the publishing realm and I have a few interviews scheduled.

I’ve been in contact with all of the contributors for this book. They all have copies and are busily posting the book at their websites, telling others about it, writing reviews and so forth. What is the general consensus? OMG, people LOVE it!

But I can’t stop to bask in the glory—there is still SO much more to do and I must wait to do a lot of it until the book is available at my website. Today, however, I will work on listing additional appropriate book reviewers and check to see if the publisher will send books to them or if I’ll have to do that. I’ll start contacting reviewers. I’ll also submit articles to the many writing/publishing magazines and newsletters with a bio that includes information about the new book.

I have some speaking engagements coming up, so I’m glad to have books to show and sell.

What I’m itching to do is contact those on my email list. I’ll do so once the book is up at my site and again when the Kindle is ready. And that’s also when I’ll go into high gear promotion mode.

I just finished editing this month’s SPAWNews before sending it over to the proofreader. My announcement about the book is included. This is quite a fully-packed issue with information about writing, illustrating and promoting children’s books, how and where to plan and present a successful book signing, how to work with illustrators and more. SPAWNews is FREE. Sign up for your free subscription of this monthly enewsletter and receive a copy of “Promote Yourself: 25 Ways to Promote Your Work, Whether You’re an Artists, Author or Small Publishers.” http://www.spawn.org

And keep an eye on my website as my new book will appear there any day:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Do you need editorial help? If you are an author who hopes to publish your book, you need an editor. Learn more about me and my work:
http://www.patriciafry.com

Sign up for a free copy of my ebook: “50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book.” Around 200 people have downloaded it so far. Let’s hope that it has helped each and every one of them to write the right book for the right audience.

Some new authors still believe that everything comes at a price. Not book reviews—unless you consider the searing pain you feel when you get a bad one.

There are many ways to get free book reviews and I believe you should strive to get as many as you can from colleagues in your field, authors in your genre, readers and others who just love reviewing books in your category. Solicit reviews in publications related to your topic/genre. This might include newsletters and magazines. Arrange to have reviews posted at various related blog sites and web sites.

And don’t forget to ask reviewers to post their reviews at your book page on amazon.com.

There are even free book review sites. So don’t feel that you have to pay anywhere from $25 to $400 for a review. Here are a few directories of, at least, mostly FREE reviewers.
http://www.acqweb.org/bookrev.html
http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/book-reviewers.html

Also check out book reviewers in the Literary Marketplace (in the reference section of your library).

I’ve probably had 300 reviews of my books over the years and I’ve never paid for one of them, except occasionally with a bruised ego. Remember, you can’t please everyone all the time.

Here’s a freeby for you. If you are thinking about writing a book, you really should check out my FREE ebooklet—50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book.
Get it FREE here:
http://www.patriciafry.com

http://www.matilijapress.com