When your traditional publisher is close to finishing up your book, he/she will likely ask you to fill out an Author Questionnaire. This is another reason why you need a solid and varied platform before you become a published author.
The publisher will use the information you provide on the questionnaire for the initial promotion blast. In fact, if you don’t believe me and other professionals in the field when we stress to you how much the publisher relies on his/her authors to promote the book, the questions on this document should bring that truth home to you. In fact, there’s often a note on the questionnaire I just received explaining that they want the author to respond to every question as thoroughly as possible as this information will be referred to again and again by their editors, sales people and publicists. Here are some of the questions you’ll find on a typical Author Questionnaire:
They want to know about your education, occupation, affiliations and honors, citations, prizes and awards and what other books you have authored. They request a 50-word biography to be used in their marketing efforts and then they go into some pretty detailed questions such as:
1: Have you ever been interviewed on TV/radio or in print? List interviews, send copies of clippings, video tapes, etc.
2: Do you have personal contacts in the media, TV/radio, newspapers, magazines, websites. They want any leads to your connections and they want to know about your experiences.
3: List media outlets that might be interested in reviewing this book.
4: Do you have contacts in the book trade—please list.
5: What about special sales—contacts for specialty retailers, for example.
6: What cities would the author recommend this book be promoted?
7: Is your book suitable as a textbook—expand on this concept.
8: Is it suitable for foreign markets?
9: They also want other suggestions where this book can be marketed.
10: They need you to write a summary describing the book, a list of the most important features, etc.
11: And they want to know about any competing books and how yours is better/different.
Obviously, if you’ve written a book proposal, you have a leg up on the task of filling out this questionnaire. If not, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves, begin to think like your audience and spend, potentially, several hours providing the information your publishing team needs in order to more successfully promote your book.
Can you guess, one of my tasks today is filling out an Author Questionnaire for my publisher related to my upcoming book, Talk Up Your Book.
In the meantime, if you benefit from this blog and if you’ve learned lots from my free reports and articles published in the magazines and newsletters your study, you will definitely benefit from the books I write for you. The two I recommend now are:
Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author and
Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. They are available at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. They are both on Kindle, Nook and other readers. And Amazon is bundling them at a special price now. For additional information about these books, visit my website: http://www.matilijapress.com
For a free ebooklet, “50 Ways to Promote Your Ebook,” go to: http://www.patriciafry.com