Archive for December, 2012

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Books and Services for Authors

Monday, December 31st, 2012

It is that time of year when we find ourselves reflecting and setting goals. If your goals for 2013 include starting or finishing a writing/publishing project, please keep me in mind for your editorial needs. If you have gained knowledge and guidance from this blog, my articles in the magazines and newsletters you read, my free offerings, my presentations and my books, you’ll also benefit from my other products and services.

Your Book Proposal
I can help you create and fine-tune your book proposal. Remember, a book proposal is a business plan for your book. Even if you don’t plan to approach a traditional publisher with your project, you should prepare a book proposal for you!!! Think of it as your business plan for your book. And in this highly competitive publishing climate, you NEED a business plan. Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com or sign up for my online book proposal course at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm

Manuscript Editing
All manuscripts (books, stories and articles) should have an editor before submission. Let me take a look at your next project and give you an estimate, a few suggestions or simply a pat on the back and a “you go,girl/guy,” depending on what it needs. PLFry620@yahoo.com Learn more about me and my services at http://www.patriciafry.com

Publishing Consultation
Most new authors are confused about the many publishing options out there. I may be able to help you with some of your decisions. If you are unsure about which direction to go with your project, start by reading my book, “Publish Your Book.” http://amzn.to/Tze53Z or http://www.matilijapress.com/PublishYourBook.html If you still have questions, email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

Book Promotion
If you are facing the huge task of book promotion and you don’t know where to turn. Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com. Remember, I teach an online workshop on book promotion. Also be sure to read my books, “Publish Your Book” and “Talk Up Your Book.” They are at Amazon.com http://amzn.to/ZMJndK and my website http://www.matilijapress.com

Freelance Article-Writing
Do you need help starting or maintaining your freelance article-writing career? Let me help. Sign up for my online article-writing course at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

Download my FREE ebook “50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success.” http://www.patriciafry.com

I look forward to hearing from you this year and helping you with your amazing project.

Posted in Announcements, Authorship | No Comments »

The Book Proposal—a Rundown

Sunday, December 30th, 2012

Yesterday we talked about the reasons for writing a book proposal. But do you actually know what goes into a book proposal? Here’s a rundown:

Synopsis
Whether you are writing a book proposal for a publisher or you’re creating a business plan for yourself, the synopsis is important if it describes what the book is about, who it is for, how large of a group this is and why this book is needed/wanted. Are you contemplating a book that fits into a popular genre? What is the general storyline? Is it a nonfiction book that will fill a need—a current void, perhaps? Who is the audience, how is the book organized, what makes it worthwhile, different, better than what’s already out there on the topic?

Competition
What other books are out there like this book and how are they doing in the marketplace? Is there room for another book on this topic? How is your book different, better? What can you contribute through your book that is needed/wanted and not currently covered adequately? In order to respond to these important questions, locate books like yours, study them and then compare them honestly with the book you have planned or have written.

Your Platform
Why are you the person to write this particular book? Do you have a following? Are you known in this field/genre? Do you have connections that will help you to get word out about your book, market it? An author I know worked for a popular kitchen store chain when she came out with her book on custard desserts. She landed a publisher because management agreed to carry the book in their stores and arrange for signings. And she sold a lot of books through the store chain.That was a major connection that paid off well for her.

Marketing
How will you promote this book? What do you know about book promotion? The fact is that no matter which publishing option you choose, you will be responsible for promoting your book. And the time to start thinking about it is before you write it. There are things you can do to make your book more salable while writing it! And there are ideas you can act on in order to pave the way to greater sales once it is produced. Here’s one idea—find out how others with books similar to yours are marketing their books. How? Snoop around at their websites. Where are they speaking? What type of media exposure are they getting? Where are they posting guest blogs and articles?

Before you launch out with your great book idea, read my book, “Publish Your Book.” You’ll find a plan for preparing your book proposal as well as an education on publishing options and instructions for how to make the right publishing choice for your book. You’ll gain a greater understanding about the whole publishing and book marketing process. As you will see when reading through the reviews at Amazon.com, this book is well-respected among publishing professionals and successful authors. This book is available in print and Kindle. http://amzn.to/Tze53Z

Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com for a free evaluation of your book proposal in progress.

Posted in Book Proposals | No Comments »

Why a Book Proposal?

Saturday, December 29th, 2012

Yesterday, I mentioned that I help authors write and edit their book proposals. I blog about book proposals fairly often, but that’s because it is important. And, though, you may read this blog often and have seen my posts on this topic, there are people just discovering it.

Here’s the drill—some publishers require a book proposal. If you hope to capture the interest of a publisher, most likely you’ll do so with a killer book proposal. And this is true of most publishers of nonfiction and for many publishers of fiction, as well.

But what if you don’t want to land a publisher? What if you plan to bypass this option and go straight to a “pay-to-publish” company? Or maybe you plan to self-publish—become an independent publisher. Then a book proposal is even more important to you.

You see, a book proposal is like a business plan for your book. It will help you to determine whether the book you have planned is actually a good idea or not. You’ll learn what else is out there like your book, whether there is an audience for your book, who this audience is and how large it is. You’ll discover something about your platform—whether it is solid and what you can do to strengthen it.

Most of all, during the process of writing a book proposal, you will learn volumes about the publishing industry and how you can best fit in it so that you can experience a successful outcome.

Go blindly into publishing with an untested book project without a book proposal and you are likely to become one of the majority. You do not want to be among this majority. They are the nearly 78 percent of authors who sell fewer than 100 copies of their books, total.

Do you need to take the time to write a book proposal? I’d say, if you plan to write a book and you desire even minimal success, you must write a book proposal. Tomorrow’s blog post will reveal what goes into a book proposal and why.

If you are struggling through the process of writing a book proposal or even if you feel you have a pretty good handle on it, contact me to take a look at it. I won’t charge you to look at it, but you may want to use my services to strengthen it. PLFry620@yahoo.com

Posted in Book Proposals | No Comments »

How to Prepare Your NaNoWriMo Manuscript for Publication

Friday, December 28th, 2012

Did you participate in the NaNoWriMo (Write a Novel in a Month) this November? Now what? Do you plan to trash it and chalk it up as experience? Or do you feel it is something worth publishing?

If you hope to find a publisher or if you want to self-publish, there’s still a stringent process you should follow before introducing your book to the world (or even to your niche readers). First, you’ll want to go through the manuscript many, many times looking for mistakes and areas that would confuse the reader. A total or partial rewrite is almost always required, especially if you are new to writing. If you’re not sure, let friends read your manuscript and listen to their candid comments. Next, you need to put your manuscript through a self-editing process. Here are some of the things you’ll want to watch for:
• Punctuation mistakes. It is now one space between sentences, for example. Many people have trouble using the apostrophe correctly and creating the em dash.

• Repeated words. Your writing is fresher when you vary your use of words and, by the way, the style and length of sentences.

• Instances where you use the wrong person or place name. Often, authors decide to change a character’s name or the name of a place in midstream. Be sure to make the change throughout the manuscript.

• Clichés. While one of your characters might rely on clichés in his dialogue, you’ll want to keep your writing fresh.

• Inconsistencies in your story or your way of presenting it.

• Muddy writing, run-on sentences and other such problems.

• For a novel, avoid telling the story—you want to show it through action and dialog.

• For nonfiction, make sure your organization is logical and easy to follow.

Once you have corrected everything you know how to correct through your self-editing process, turn your manuscript over to an experienced book editor. This does not mean your former high school English teacher or a co-worker who is good with words. Hire a book editor to do your final edit. And plan to pay him or her somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 to $3,000, depending on the project—length of manuscript, problems occurring in the manuscript and so forth.

FYI, I edit book manuscripts and I can help you fine-tune your book proposal. (Why do you need a book proposal? Find out in tomorrow’s blog post.) I will give you a sample edit on a few pages and an estimate (FREE). If you like free, download my FREE ebook, 50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success. This is an excellent follow-up to this blog post. http://www.patriciafry.com

For your FREE sample edit and estimate, contact me, Patricia Fry, here: PLFry620@yahoo.com

Posted in Editing, Writing | No Comments »

Get Your Book Reviewed at Amazon.com

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

Talk Up Your Book has a new amazon.com review. Check out all of the reviews at the Talk Up Your Book page at http://www.amazon.com

Do you have a published book? Is it showcased at Amazon? Have you been collecting reviews for your Amazon page? Or are you waiting for some to show up? Yes, it’s true that some random people who have read your book will be moved to post a review at Amazon and, perhaps, your publisher’s publicist will garner a few reviews for you. But it is up to you, the author, to make reviews happen. How?

• Ask key players in your field or genre to read the book and write a review.

• Give books away to folks you think might be willing to review it.

• If someone comments to you about how much they liked your book, ask them if they would post that comment at Amazon.

• Contact bloggers on your topic and ask them to read and review your book.

• Approach reviewers and ask for a review. Remember, you do not have to pay for reviews.

• Anytime you discover a review posted anywhere on the Internet, contact that reviewer and ask them to post it at Amazon.

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Want to Sell Books? Take Action!

Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

The hustle bustle of the major holiday is over. Once you finish up the leftovers, toss the turkey bones or use them in soup like we do, put away the tree and gifts, you look forward to getting back to normal.

But is this the best plan? Is it wise to settle back down into your comfort zone or would you be doing yourself and your book a favor if you stepped it up a bit? Perhaps you have been slacking a little when it comes to promoting your book. You haven’t been promoting as assertively as you could be. You’ve been ignoring opportunities to showcase your book and you certainly haven’t been out looking for book promotion opps.

If you are feeling too comfortable in your writing world, you may also notice that you aren’t selling many books or articles/stories. You aren’t stretching, thus sales aren’t improving.

I’ve read articles by a couple of authors lately who say, “Books don’t sell themselves.” It is an almost laughable comment. Who would think anything would sell itself? But there are still authors who expect sales without effort. They believe that there is a system of selling and all they have to do is get their books into the system and it will begin to sell. In other words, write it and they will buy it. But this is not so. You will discover that each book you sell has, in most cases, required your explicit involvement. Either you talked to the individual in passing about your book and they bought it. Or you spoke to an audience and sold a few copies. Or someone emailed you on the topic of your book and you sell him one. Or you sell a few after your article appears in an appropriate newsletter of magazine.

What sells books? Your action sells books.

Here’s a review recently posted about my latest book, Talk Up Your Book. Check it out and then read more reviews at Amazon.com. http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-talk-up-your-book

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Holiday Obstacles for Authors

Tuesday, December 25th, 2012

Merry Christmas. I hope you’ve noticed that I haven’t been blogging daily this week. It is good to be missed—to have people disappointed when they get up and head to their computer for words of publishing wisdom, only to find nothing new posted. It’s not that I want to disappoint you. Rather, I hope that you find value in this blog effort of mine. I’ve been posting here for 7 years and one month. For most of that time, I have posted daily. This is my 1,693rd post. I will hit the 2,000 mark sometime in 2013. Who else do you know who has posted anywhere near that number?

Okay, so it is Christmas day. It has been busy in the family arena and I’ve been enjoying every minute of it. But I am eager to get back to my client work and putting the final touches on my second novel. It will also be nice to feel as though everyone else is back to work. Some of you know what I mean. During the holidays and sporadically throughout the summer, you find it difficult to communicate with editors, publishers, reviewers, your publicists, program directors and so forth. Why? Because they take time off—they leave out-of-office-replies to your earnest emails. You are ready to move forward with your project. You want to set up speaking gigs, submit an article or a book manuscript, get your book reviewed, move your marketing program forward, etc, and they are taking a “much needed break.”

Well, you’ll probably have to wait a little while longer. On the heels of this holiday, of course, is the tradition of seeing in the New Year. Maybe you’ll connect with the person or people who can help you move ahead around January 2. Although, some of the key people may have been waiting for the holidays to be over before heading out to snowboard, ski or maybe vacation in a warmer climate. Sigh!!

If you are a freelance writer or author, you know about obstacles and challenges. If you’ve been earning your living for many years through writing like I have or even just enjoying the writing life for a long time, you’ve experienced many different roadblocks—or potential roadblocks. Here are some words of wisdom from earlier generations: “This too will pass.” Yes, the obstacle may diminish at some point, but what about the opportunity? Often, timing is everything. But as writers who must rely on others, it is difficult to know or have control over the timing of events and activities related to our projects.

It is up to us to do the research in order to learn whether our book, story or article is timely. And when we think we’ve nailed the time element and we move forward with our gut, to have doors to what we believe are the opportunities we need, close is…well, rather disheartening, don’t you think?

But we will survive. As writers and authors, we are creative. We know how to do the research necessary to move our projects forward. We understand the importance of filling many baskets with eggs (possibilities, opportunities, potentialities…).

And here’s another cliché I’d like to remind you of today: “When one door closes, another opens.” But be ever aware because the next door might be a window—a small, nearly invisible window.

If you are a bit out of sorts because you have business you want to conduct this season and you are finding many closed doors despite your attempts, stay calm. Stay focused. Either take a break of your own and enjoy an aspect of the season or move to plan B and see what transpires.

In the meantime, good luck with your current project. May it bring you great joy throughout the process and beyond.

If you are an author in any phase of writing, producing or marketing one or more books, be sure to check out my most current array of books for authors:

Publish Your Book
Promote Your Book
Talk Up Your Book

All available at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. You can also order your copies here: http://www.matilijapress.com

Download my FREE ebook, “50 Ways to Prepare for Publishing Success” at http://www.patriciafry.com

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Your Book According to Amazon

Sunday, December 23rd, 2012

Today is our family Christmas celebration. There will be 23 of us here at my home this afternoon. And thirteen of them call me “Nana.” Eight of them are grandchildren and great grandchildren from age 1 to 31. Another five of our guests, who also call me Nana, are the spouses and girl/boy friends of my grandchildren. Also here will be my 91-year-old mother, all three of my daughters and their spouses and my ex-husband. It will be a crowd and boy, will the resident cats be upset. They much prefer the quiet, predictable life.

I’ve been checking ratings for my three latest books this week. Do you do that? Do you check to see if they’re going up or down significantly or only slightly or not at all? Here’s what I’ve discovered about my books this week—Promote Your Book continues to rank higher and higher. Publish Your Book has a sort of slightly up, down, up pattern. And Talk Up Your Book, while in a fairly good rating range, is slowly going down. But remember, that’s just this week.

So what does this mean? Maybe not a darn thing. Maybe it is significant. I don’t know about you, but I hear from some experts that Amazon’s ranking system is meaningful and from others that it is not. But it does give authors a measure to help them/us, perhaps, determine when our marketing is falling flat and when it is working well. Perhaps it serves to give us some incentive to do more promotion or to change the type of marketing we’re doing. Just being aware that we can’t sit still and do nothing and expect to sell truckloads of books.

I’m off to do Christmas. I wish you a Merry one and a New Year of HIGH Amazon rankings.

Posted in Book Promotion | No Comments »

Top Ten Book Promotion Activities

Friday, December 21st, 2012

Would you like to know my 10 top book promotion recommendations? Here they are:

1: Start Promoting Your Book even Before it’s a Book
Build promotion into your book by involving other people, writing about popular issues, adding elements to attract more readers, etc.

Talk about your book everywhere you go and start building your huge mailing list.

2: Public Speaking
At local civic organizations
Through your affiliations (church, club, etc.)
At appropriate conferences

3: Build a Useful/Meaningful Website
Showcase you book
Install a buy button/merchant account
Offer resources related to your book topic

4: Connect With Your Audience
Use your massive mail/email list
Launch a newsletter
Start blogging regularly
Be guest blogger

5: Get Book Reviews
Solicit reviews in appropriate publications, at blogsites, at review sites and at your Amazon page.

6: Do Book Signings/Demonstrations/Performances
Arrange for signings at bookstores and other venues—be creative
Give demonstrations related to the theme/genre of your book
Perform—do poetry readings, act out a chapter in novel, etc.

7: Promote Through Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, etc.

8: Write Articles and Submit Stories
Magazines, newsletters, websites

9: Hook-Up
Join related organizations and participate
Subscribe to numerous newsletters and read them.

10: Spy on Other Authors
Find out how they are promoting their books?
Where are they speaking?
Where are their articles appearing?

For details for pursuing each of these activities and more, be sure to order your copy of Promote Your Book today. It’s available at Amazon.com as well as most any other online and downtown bookstore. It’s also on Kindle, Nook, etc. To help you get over the fear or aversion to public speaking, read Talk Up Your Book. Or order both books here: http://www.matilijapress.com Both books by Patricia Fry

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When Authors Make the Transition

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

I finished another novel—my second this year. What fun. This one is also what I call a light-mystery. I think they are now termed “cozy mysteries.” It was fun, yet frustrating to present all of the clues in logical order. I found that if I changed the order of an event, I sometimes had to go back and double check to make sure I didn’t also move the discovery of a clue to a place where it comes in too soon or too late.

Those of you who write this type of story know exactly what I’m talking about. Those who read mysteries may take the placement of clues and the flow of a story for granted. Or you marvel at how the writer makes the story work and keeps track of all of the events and activities that move the story along.

I am a newbie when it comes to this type of writing. But I wonder if my years of experience with nonfiction writing—where organization is key—may help some. I’m sure it can’t hurt. Where a lifetime of nonfiction writing may create a problem for someone who wants to suddenly dabble in fiction is when it comes to storytelling. Can a “give-me-the-facts-ma’am” writer turn into a storyteller?

I know of a few who have made the transition beautifully and a few others who, while selling thousands of copies of their nonfiction niche books, have produced novels with multitudes of elementary problems.

As a nonfiction writer turned novelist, what have been your greatest challenges? As a fiction writer turned article writer, what has been the most difficult tests?

Note: If you plan to go out and speak about your novel or nonfiction book after the first of the year, do yourself a favor and buy a copy of Talk Up Your Book. It will help you to perfect your presentations, better understand and bond with your audiences, locate speaking gigs, create speaking opportunities, present yourself and your book more effectively in interviews and so much more. http://www.matilijapress.com Also available at amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

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