I promised you that I’d post a blog entry after the Santa Barbara Author and Book Festival. Here I am. The festival was yesterday. The weather was lovely. The people of Santa Barbara were charming and the SPAWN members who joined us in our large booth were delightful. It was a wonderful day, but it sure wasn’t a very busy day.
Typically, Virginia Lawrence (Executive Director of SPAWN)—that’s Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network—and I are slammed all day long, when we work a book festival. It is nonstop questions about publishing and about SPAWN’s benefits from the minute we arrive until we finally make it back to our cars and close the doors behind us. This book festival was different in that the foot traffic was very light. We talked to maybe only two or three dozen people about publishing and SPAWN. I actually ate my lunch in one sitting—no interruptions.
I notice that the questions from authors and hopeful authors are becoming more sophisticated. This is a good thing, for the most part. It means to me that more people are doing the study that I recommend before getting involved in the publishing industry. Some are still misinformed, however. And that’s a shame. It can prove to be costly and time-consuming for authors when they make decisions based on erroneous information.
Here are some of the questions I got yesterday, “Do you know a good publicist I can hire to help me promote my children’s picture book?”
Well, it’s unlikely that a publicist would take on a picture book or that you would need to pay a publicist to help you promote it.
“Can you recommend an agent for my historical fiction?”
I suggested to this young man that he use the Association of Author Representatives directory at http://www.aar-online.org and search for agents that typically represent books of this type. He can also go to the bookstore and locate the area where his book would most likely be displayed. Look at the “acknowledgements” pages of some of the books and see if these authors thanked their agents. Contact those agents.
“All I’ve received from publishers so far for my memoir are rejection letters. How can I get Simon and Schuster or Random House to give my book a chance?”
I recommended that this elderly woman lower her expectations to a more realistic level and give some of the hundreds and hundreds of smaller publishing houses a chance.
“I want to self publish through a self-publishing company so I don’t have to promote this book.”
I had to break the news to this author that if he wanted a successful book, he would be required to do the majority of the promotion no matter what publishing option he chose. I also told him that he would have more freedom and control and receive more of the profits if he self-published—established his own publishing company.
Do you have any questions you’d like to ask me? You can do so by using the Comments function at this blog site. Or email me at PLFry620@yahoo. Be sure to order your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and get all of your writing/publishing/book promotion questions answered in one fell swoop. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Patricia,
My question is why do you think the attendence was down at the Santa Barbara book show. I was thinking that a downturn in the economy would prompt people to start working on their books. Was this just a fluke or do you think fewer people are writing books?
Hi Phil,
Thanks for stopping in. I don’t see that hopeful authors are putting their books aside because of the economy. In fact, it does seem as though more people are writing books in order to supplement their incomes. More are probably reluctant to spend the money they should in order to learn about the industry they are entering or to properly prepare their books for publication. But I’m not experiencing that trend, yet, either, except maybe in the sale of my books.
No, I think that the book festival was poorly attended because readers aren’t buying books. Also, I hear that the promotion was weak for this event. There are a lot of causes and events going on in Santa Barbara practically every weekend and the fact that there were four large events this particular weekend was cited as another reason that attendance was down. On a dreary day, people will say the bad weather kept people in. On a sunny day, they say that everyone went to the beach instead of the festival.
Hopefully, authors will keep writing and will produce their books only when they can afford to pay for the services they need in order to make the best presentation.
What do some of you other authors/readers think?
Patricia