September, 2011 - Writing and Publishing News

Archive for September, 2011

Can You Publish Without Money?

Friday, September 30th, 2011

I get this question in an email every once in a while: “I am an author, but I don’t have any money. Is there any way that I can get my book published?” Here’s how I typically respond to that question:

Sure you have a chance of getting published without spending money. Here are my recommendations:

1: Study the publishing industry so you know how it works, what your options are, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibilities as a published author. There are good books on publishing and book promotion in the library system. There are many FREE enewsletters you can subscribe to, blogs by successful authors and professionals you can visit regularly and useful articles and resources at the websites of professionals and publishing organizations. There are writers’ groups and free programs for hopeful authors in most communities. I know if three going on in our county just this month. Sometimes you can get scholarships to writers’ conferences, which provide great opportunities to learn more about writing and publishing as well as to meet author’s agents and editors from publishing companies.

2: Become the best writer that you can be. Practice, practice, practice. And attend critique groups to find out how your writing is affecting others—because it is others that you are, presumably, writing for. Sign up for free or inexpensive writing workshops through your community college or arts program.

3: When you are ready—you have done your work well—approach some of the many, many traditional royalty publishers with your project. A traditional publisher will invest in your book—no need to put out any of your own money. Your studies will help you to approach publishers in an appropriate manner with the appropriate material—a book proposal, for example.

4: If the publishers you want to approach require that you engage a literary agent, locate an appropriate one through Association of Author’s Representatives. A legitimate agent does not charge you. They take a percentage of what you negotiate with a publisher.

5: Some authors can find investors for their projects or advertisers. If you book is a local history, for example, you might be able to get a local bank or another business to advertise in the back of your book, thus help with the production of it. If it is on a topic or has a theme of interest to thousands (or millions), you might be able to get funding from an appropriate entity (organization, agency, institution, or even individual, for example). In other words, if your book focuses on caring for feral cats, going green or how to feed a family healthy meals for less, you might find an advocate or group that is interested in spreading this message to fund your project. A college or university might help you get a book on astronomy for beginners, cancer research, job search tips or parenting for the single mother produced and help you distribute it.

Can you get published when you don’t have any money? Certainly, but you’d better rely heavily on other attributes, such as creative-thinking, ability to think outside the box, persistence, patience, and the willingness to be proactive on your own behalf. Here are some additional suggestions:

• Read this blog regularly.
• Ask for the information you would like to see included in this blog.
• Visit my websites for information and resources.
• Sign up for my FREE ebooklet at patriciafry.com
• Read my books—you’ll find them in the library system.
• Sign up for SPAWNews. It’s FREE at spawn.org.

For those of you with a little money and a huge desire to succeed, order my latest book today: Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author.
http://www.matilijapress.com/promoteyourbook.html

Posted in Publishing | 1 Comment »

Write Books That Are Fun to Read

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Some weeks ago (September 2, 2011, to be exact) I wrote a blog post about how it’s okay to have fun while promoting your book. We keep talking about how much work it is—and it is. But it can also be fun and I urge authors to let it be fun and to make it fun. I’m speaking to a group at the Camarillo Library tonight in Camarillo, California and I expect to have fun meeting authors and hopeful authors and helping them understand more about the publishing industry.

Most of us have fun when we’re writing. We enjoy the process. We look forward to the time we set aside or can eke out to write each day/week. But what about your audience? Are you striving to make your book enjoyable for your readers, as well? Or do you even think about your readers while you’re writing your book?

I’ve written other posts (and articles) focusing on the importance of your audience. Sure you want to impact your audience with your words. That’s why you’re writing—to inform, entertain and/or share your story with others. But most authors don’t keep their audience in mind throughout the writing process.

Perhaps you are better at this since you’ve read my posts on this topic and realize how important it is. It might be that you consider your readers before deciding how to organize your business book or you give your audience a quick thought as you construct a scene in your story. But what about the fun aspect? Will your readers enjoy reading your book? Are you writing it so that they will have as much fun reading it as you did writing it? Even a mystery, how-to book or memoir can be fun to read if the right elements are present. For example:

• Is your how-to or business book written in a friendly, light manner? Or is it too stiff and serious? I can’t tell you how many people tell me how much they appreciate my easy-to-read, friendly writing style in my informational books.

• Is your historical novel or travel memoir actually enjoyable to read or is dry and mechanical?

If you’re having fun writing your book, try to pass along some of that fun to the reader. They will appreciate it. No one wants to spend their reading or studying time trying to work through difficult phrases and dour thoughts. We don’t pick up a book because we want to be talked down to or scolded, for Pete’s sake. We read for enjoyment. Whether we choose a book for entertainment value or we strive to learn something, we want the experience to be enjoyable.
Think about that this week as you work on your latest writing project. How can you make your book more fun for the reader?

And don’t forget to start (or continue) working on your marketing plan. Order your copy of Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author today. Amazon has both the print version and the Kindle: http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

You can also purchase it from bn.com and IndieBound.com or Patricia Fry’s website: http://www.matilijapress.com/promoteyourbook.html

Posted in Writing | No Comments »

To Critique or Not to Critique Your Writing

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Do you know what effect your words have on others? Certainly, you hope to move readers, inspire them, make them think, cause them to smile, give them hope, teach them something new, give them a different perspective—touch them in some way. But how do you know that your attempts are successful?

One way is to test your writing before it goes live. How? Join a critique group.

Sure, there are good ones and bad ones. You’ll come across individuals in some of these critique groups who don’t have much tact or taste. You’ll meet people who are way too opinionated to be useful critics. There are, of course, all kinds out there.

But for the most part, if you go into a critique group with an open mind and a willingness to learn, you’ll grow as a writer. What will you learn?

• How your words affect other people.
• Whether your favorite scene actually works.
• If your message is getting across or is it falling flat.
• Are your characters believable?
• Is your dialog working?
• Does your story flow or are there things that stop the reader?
• Can you write or do you need help?

You’ll also learn how to critique the works of others. A critique group is a give and take proposition, you know. You’ll discover that some people are more sensitive than others about their stories. Some have chips on their shoulders and resist most ideas if it means change. And some welcome any and all suggestions as if they don’t have a mind of their own in the matter of their manuscripts.

Writers of all experiences and skill come to me for help. While some present me with a well-written, well-organized manuscript to edit, others want to know how to go about writing a book. I can usually identify the stage or level of the hopeful author by their email. If they write a coherent, grammatically correct email, they generally have a well-written or fairly well-written manuscript. Those who approach me with an email full of errors or a writing sample that needs a lot of work, I suggest the following:

• Join a writers’ group.
• Participate in a critique group.
• For some, a basic English class is in order.
• I also recommend creative writing courses for some would be writers.

Do you belong to a critique group? I’d like to hear how it has helped you to be critiqued and to critique the works of others. Has it been a good learning experience for you? Has it made you a better writer? Leave your comment here.

Posted in Writing | 2 Comments »

Subscribe to Succeed

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

There’s so much to learn and take in and so little time. At least that’s what it feels like and that’s what we believe when we try to accomplish all that we want in a day or week. Yet, we need the information, resources and tools in order to become the best writer/author we can. We need help with the details of publishing, with book promotion, with the basics of writing. And there is help out there if we would just take the time to locate and study it.

I will help you with the locating part right now.

I just finished proofing SPAWNews, SPAWN’s monthly enewsletter. I’d like to invite those of you who haven’t done so already, to sign up to receive this FREE enewsletter from Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN). http://www.spawn.org

In the October issue alone, you will learn more than you’ve even known to ask about blogging and social media—how to take a virtual blog tour, how to promote through social media in thirty minutes per week, passive promotion through blogging, and more. Victory Crayne shares an article featuring the beginning writer’s journey and offers tips for staying on course. Linda Formichelli writes about how to get that writing assignment. Barbara Florio-Graham shares some differences between ethical and unethical promotional tactics. And our Q and A expert talks about the importance of the book cover, working with an agent from abroad and steps to successful writing. Also contributing to this issue is Darrell Laurant of Writer’s Bridge, Carol Upton and Cheryl Patrice Derricotte.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to attend the Bouchercon Mystery Writers’ Conference? Experience it from a first-time attendee’s point of view. Are you looking for a good book on book promotion—our editor has reviewed my latest book, Promote Your Book for this issue. And you’ll meet some of our members and find out the types of book promotion and writing they are doing this month.

As a huge bonus, you will have access to all of our back issues of SPAWNews—this includes around fifteen years worth of news, information and resources.

Sign up today for your FREE copy of SPAWNews and you’ll receive your first copy October 1, 2011. You’ll also be invited to download a FREE copy of our booklet, “Promote Yourself! 25 Ways to Promote Your Work Whether You’re an Artists, Author of Small Publishers.” http://www.spawn.org

Posted in Publishing | No Comments »

Book Promotion Help for the Reluctant Author

Monday, September 26th, 2011

I spent the entire weekend promoting my book, Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. I must have sent out 500 or more press releases by hand to individuals—no mass mailings to people unknown. And I watched the numbers at Amazon change throughout the last two days. They dropped lower and lower as I did this promotion. And that’s a good thing. You want your book to be number one at Amazon or at least in the low thousands, which would be more likely for a niche book.

Amazon’s ratings include all books in every category. So when your book is ranked number 345,898, this means it is the 345,898th most popular book of all the books they carry. I’ve noticed that Promote Your Book has been ranked over a million and yesterday it dropped down to under 50,000. It’s interesting to watch the numbers—but confusing, too.

What did you do to promote your book this weekend? What do you plan this week? If you are weak when it comes to book promotion and if you want your book to sell, you’d better pump up your book promotion activities. Here’s what you can do today:

• Seek out speaking venues—what groups would like to know more about your book’s topic or be entertained by the theme of your book?

• Write (or even outline) a press release to send out to members of your reading audience. Point up a new finding in your topic, share some interesting news related to your book or your topic/genre or make an announcement—the book has just come out in Kindle, for example, or it has won an award or you are doing a book signing soon.

• Purchase or create lists of people to send your press release to.

• Brainstorm to come up with an activity you could get involved in related to the theme of your book. If it is a novel featuring a homeless family, you could start a coat drive or start serving sandwiches in the park for the homeless every weekend. If your book focuses on cat stories, establish a food drive for the many feral and stray cat organizations in your community. Maybe your story has an elderly character or is about eldercare, start a volunteer service of taking care of yards for the elderly or those who are temporarily disabled, etc. This is how you make news.

• Locate conferences and trade shows where you could speak or exhibit your book and sign up for a few of them.

• Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and participate in the discussion group and read both newsletters that come out each month. You’ll be blessed with ample book promotion ideas and resources. http://www.spawn.org

• Purchase Patricia Fry’s new book, Promote Your Book, not to watch the numbers go down, or to pad Patricia’s pockets, but to treat yourself to a huge supply of ideas, tips, techniques and resources that will encourage, inspire and direct you in your own book promotion efforts.

Here are two links to talk segments I have done recently. I interviewed with Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand earlier this month: http://theengagingbrand.typepad.com/the_engaging_brand_/2011/09/how-to-promote-your-book.html

Last week, I spoke with Stacy Lynn Harp at Active Christian Media
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/acmedia/2011/09/20/250-ways-to-promote-your-book–patricia-fry

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Tips for Maintaining Your Author’s Website

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

Do you keep your author’s website up-to-date? It’s easy to just let it ride—assume that it is doing its job of showcasing your book, introducing you and your qualifications/attributes, offering ordering options, etc. But wait—is what you posted three years ago or even last year still accurate? Is there anything new there to attract visitors and more search engine activity?

Here are some tips for maintaining a viable author’s website:
• Use dates in your bio instead of years/time spent, etc. Then you won’t have to change the text every year. Say, for example, “I published this book in 2001 in order to…etc.” rather than, “It was 10 years ago when I produced this book…”

• Keep your appearances page up-to-date. Continually add book festivals where you will be exhibiting your books, book signings, conferences and other venues where you’ll be speaking.

• Add to your media page regularly. Include published press releases, announcements and book reviews.

• Post testimonials at your site as they come in—or once a month or so.

• Create and maintain a resources page listing other materials on this topic or in this genre, organizations, news, trends, etc.

• If you don’t have a blog, establish one and post to it often.

• Establish an articles/stories page and add to it every three months or so. Not only are you providing something of value to visitors, you have links where you can send people to view specific articles that might be particularly useful to them.

• Offer something FREE to site visitors—an e-booklet, for example. Ask them to sign up for the free download. This will give you some concrete idea of how many people are visiting and who are interested in your offerings. Change your offering from time to time.

• You might even change your home page message every few years. Or change the design of your website. I just established a second website a year or so ago. My Matilija Press website now is a showcase for my books and my Patricia Fry website focuses on me and my services.

Check my sites out at http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com (Order your copy of 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book here.)

Order your copy of Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author at http://amzn.to/oe56Ia
Or you can order it at http://www.matilijapress.com or http://www.BN.com or http://www.IndieBound.org

Posted in Authorship, Book Promotion | 1 Comment »

Why is Your Book Bombing in the Marketplace?

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

What good is promotion? You may sometimes wonder why you spend so much time promoting your book when it seems for naught. You create press releases and send them out, sit for long days at book festivals, talk about your book all the time and you even have a few copies in book and specialty stores downtown. But sales are sluggish and you are discouraged. Is it time to stop the madness? Should you just forget about becoming a successful author?

Welllll, let’s see. Is that what you really want to do? Or would you rather open your mind and try to discover WHY your book isn’t selling? Here are some possibilities:

• It isn’t a subject or angle that is of interest to very many people. I met a doctor a while back who is working on a book on vital organs. He told me the book would be for the layperson and he planned to market it to a general audience. I think this author will have more success if he creates booklets—one on each organ and then makes them available through doctors’ offices, pharmacies, online health/medical sites and so forth. If he comes out with the book he plans and tries to market it to the general public, I think he will be terribly disappointed in the results of his efforts. This is a case of the wrong book marketed to the wrong audience.

• The cover is blah and uninteresting. I’ve read many books by authors I’ve met through SPAWN, at book festivals and at writers’ conferences that I would probably never have bought, but I very much enjoyed reading. Why wouldn’t I have purchased the book? Because the cover was not enticing. I’m working with an author now who had someone (obviously not a professional) design a cover for his upcoming book. I was able to convince him that the cover was pretty awful. He had a cartoonish style for a book on a rather serious topic. The design gave absolutely no indication of the book’s true purpose or focus. Fortunately for him, he listened to reason and created a much crisper, more simple design for his book before publication—one that is conducive to the theme of the book. A good cover designer might charge up to $3,000, but, if you have a quality book on a topic or in a genre that is wanted/needed, and you promote adequately, you will earn that money back in a year or so—maybe less.

• The book has not been professionally edited. Way too many authors skip this step or hire the wrong editor. This is usually because they are in a hurry to get it published. Think about it, what is your impression when you start reading a book that’s riddled with spacing, typing, spelling and grammatical errors? Isn’t it distracting? It takes away from the story. And when the story doesn’t flow nicely or the material in a reference book isn’t organized appropriately, the reading experience isn’t as enjoyable or productive. A good book editor might cost you anywhere from $500 to $3,000, depending on the shape of your manuscript. If you skip this step, you will certainly regret it as reviewers refuse to review it or they point out the clutter of errors; readers won’t recommend your book and it isn’t accepted in book clubs, libraries, school districts, etc.

You have a huge responsibility as an author. And I can tell you that the effort and, yes, money you put into your book during the production phase is almost as important as the energy and time you pour into the promotion of your book.

Some of you have run businesses before. Many of you know people who are successful in business. Do you know of anyone who was successful in business and who went into that business without knowledge of the industry, a plan and funding? You need these three things whether you open a restaurant, a pet spa, a computer repair company, a nursery, a daycare center, a tax service or a retail store. And your business, like your book, must have a welcoming and professional persona about it.

Cut corners with your business—neglect to have the necessary equipment or space, show up to work in your upscale retail store wearing dirty sweats and flip flops, slap up a hand-painted sign made of butcher paper identifying your business—and you are not going to attract the clientele you hoped for.

How many ways have I attempted to make this point in this blog, books, articles and presentations over the years? Yet, I still see authors making the same mistakes. Why? Some of them do not study the industry until after they’ve produced a book. And some just don’t have or don’t want to spend the money to do their book up right.

Folks, don’t cut corners with your magnificent masterpiece. If it is worth publishing, it is worth publishing it in its full splendor.

Whether you are just starting to write a book, you’re almost finished or you have been involved in book promotion for a while, order and read my latest book: Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

Read all 19 reviews at the Amazon book page. And contact me if you have any questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com

If you need additional assistance jump-starting the promotion of your book or if you’d like to learn how to build your author’s platform, sign up for the appropriate online course at http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

For my FREE ebooklet, “50 Reasons Why Your SHOULD Write That Book,” go to: http://www.patriciafry.com

Posted in Authorship, Book Promotion | No Comments »

What Kind of Author Are You?

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

There are different types of authors. I had a little fun in my workshop conducted at the writer’s conference in Alaska a few weeks ago when I labeled writers. Here’s what I presented.

• There are those who write purely because they have something important or amazing to share and plan to do so in a one book blast. Often, writing is a struggle for them. They don’t consider themselves writers. They are simply using this means to get their message or their story out. I call them One Book Blasters.

• Then there are those who just want to write. They love to write. And they hope to write numerous novels or nonfiction books. How about if we consider these authors Writing Fools?

• There are also Niche Authors—they might write just a few or many books in the same genre/topic. They are attached to or passionate about saving trees, elder care, establishing new FDA regulations or finding a cancer cure, for example, and they produce books in order to do so.

• There are those who are practically plagued by a story or a perspective and they just have to put it in a book and get it published. This might be a children’s book with a message, a memoir they want to write as therapy or an amazing story of survival. The story (true or not) rolls around in the author’s head practically every waking hour and he decides he just must write it. We could call this person an Author Obsessed.

• How about the author who writes books simply to add credibility to the type of work he or she does. An accountant might write books on family budgeting, how to teach kids money-awareness and tips for skirting the mortgage scams, for example. Maybe you’re a job consultant, photographer, veterinarian, plastic surgeon or even hairdresser and you write a book designed to help promote your work or your business. If so, you could be considered a Career-Driven Author

This is fun, isn’t it? Where do you fit in? Do you have another category you’d like to add?

For more fun and for additional assistance with your writing and publishing efforts, check out my websites. Read my articles, sign up for my online courses, purchase some of my books, consider using some of my services and/or ask me to speak at your conference or to your writers’ group.

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

Posted in Authorship, Writing | No Comments »

Tips for Writers and Authors

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Things are hopping here in the offices of Patricia Fry and Matilija Press. My most recent interview—related to book promotion and my new book, Promote Your Book, is live. Listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/acmedia/2011/09/20/250-ways-to-promote-your-book–patricia-fry

Also, the book is reviewed in the October 2011 issue of Freelance Writer’s Report.

I’m receiving inquiries as to my editing work from all over the world—several are from authors I met in Alaska a few weeks ago. I had a booth at the Central Coast Book Festival Sunday. I will speak in Camarillo, California next week. I will take my books to a book festival in Ojai next month and I will sit on a panel of authors later in October. I teach a freelance writing session at the Ventura College in November. And I still must find time to spread the word far and wide that Promote Your Book is now on Kindle. This means doing an email blast to my list of hundreds of clients, customers, colleagues, acquaintances and so forth.

Is your book promotion dance card also full? If not—and if you want to sell books—you really do need to start reaching out and promoting your book. If you need help with that, sign up for my online Book Promotion Course. Check it out here: http://www.bookpromotion.htm

I want to share with you a really clever and useful article I read yesterday in my recent copy of Freelance Writer’s Report. This article was written by a savvy freelance writer/author whom I happened to meet a few years ago in Arizona. We’ve stayed in touch. She is quite prolific and professional—I see her writing-related articles everywhere. Often, they appear in the same issues as mine do. The writer’s name is Kathleen Ewing. If you are doing your homework and studying the world of freelance writing (if that’s your field) and publishing (if you are an author), you are probably familiar with this name.

Her recent article is called “The Writer’s Toolbox.” She wrote that she found herself recently in a situation where events and activities were happening all around her that were article-worthy or, at least, that rated a photo account in a local publication and she was caught without her writing tools.

She has since created a writer’s toolbox which she keeps in her automobile. I’d like to urge you to read the article yourself, but I can tell you that her suggestions are excellent. She recommends, for example, that you put together some items to keep with you in your purse, backpack, glove box… They include a disposable camera, a lens cloth, a photo-release form, a small tape recorder, mechanical pencils (she says that pens stored for long periods can be unreliable), etc. And she even explains how to safely store some items and which brands of some items are best.

Now there’s a writer with ideas, imagination, grit and she is a self-starter. I’m impressed. We should all be so clever and disciplined. Way to go, Kathleen.

Posted in Book Promotion, Writing | No Comments »

Promote Your Book by Spying on Other Authors

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author is getting lots of attention. I did a podcast yesterday—I’ll let you know when it is available. Writing for Dollars published my piece on “8 Tips for Successfully Promoting Your EBook” this week. And the numbers at Amazon are looking good. The rank for Promote Your Book was in the 200,000 range a few weeks ago. Yesterday it was up over 1,000,000 and now it’s down around 400,000.

Don’t forget, you Kindle owners—Promote Your Book is on Kindle now. Yay! Order your print or Kindle copy here today: http://amzn.to/oe56Ia

Do you have a book to promote? If you have come out with a book, it is your job to promote it, you know. How do you get your book promotion ideas? Do you read books on the subject? Articles? Do you get ideas from speakers and members of your writers’ group? Do you attend writers’ and authors’ conferences? Perhaps you’ve received some tips for promotion through this blog. These are all good activities for any author.

Here’s one of my favorite book promotion tips. Snoop on other authors. Visit the websites of authors of books similar to yours and find out how they’re promoting their books:

• Where are they being interviewed?
• Where are they submitting articles/stories?
• Where are they speaking?
• Who is reviewing their books?
• Who is writing about them and their books?
• Which book festivals are they attending?
• Where do they have their books displayed/stocked?
• What unique promotional tactics are they using successfully?

Find out by studying their media pages, appearances pages, blog posts and reviews posted at their websites and at their Amazon book page, etc. You’ll also want to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry by joining appropriate organizations, reading periodicals related to the theme or genre of your book, subscribing to newsletters on this topic/genre, etc.

Promote Your Book is brimming with book promotion ideas such as this great one and it also helps authors to organize their ideas so they are pertinent and manageable. Buy your copy today in print of Kindle. I believe it is also on the Nook—not sure how to find that out. Anyone got any ideas?