Yesterday I had a ball joining Brian Jud for one of his Book Marketing Matters webinars sponsored by APSS (Association of Publishers for Special Sales) and the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. I spoke on “How to Craft a Persuasive Book Proposal for any Genre or Topic.” What an enjoyable way to spend ninety minutes.
I want to thank those authors and hopeful authors who took time to listen and I sincerely hope some of my information and concepts were helpful. There’s a lot that goes into successful publishing. And there’s a lot of information out there for authors to sort through. But it’s terribly important that they do just that and attending seminars in person or online is a good way to start the process. I suggest you sign up for some of Brian’s webinars. Learn more here: www.bookapss.org
My presentation was taken from my latest book for authors—“Propose Your Book.” Here’s something I shared from the book yesterday: One aspect of a book proposal is the competition section or market analysis. For nonfiction, you want to know, are there already-published books like yours? What makes yours different? Better? Is there actually a market for your book or are there already enough or too many books like the one you suggest? If you learn that the market is inundated, how can you change the focus of your book to make it a more viable product?
For fiction, you want to find out if you’re writing in a popular genre. You’ll want to find books that are selling well. If you’re bent on writing within a certain genre regardless of popularity, you’ll seek out books in that genre or sub-genre and learn what elements go into them.
So how do you find out if books in your area of interest are selling?
- Ask bookstore managers.
- Check the Amazon rankings.
- Read the reviews on the Amazon book pages.
- Visit the publishers’ or authors’ websites.
- Read the testimonials at the authors’ websites
- Read press releases and other promo at the authors’ websites.
- Study the authors’ social media pages.
You’ll find “Propose Your Book, How to Craft Persuasive Proposals for Nonfiction, Fiction, and Children’s Books” at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Propose-Your-Book-Persuasive-Nonfiction/dp/1621534677/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444395514&sr=8-1&keywords=propose+your+book+fry
My Fiction
Special announcement: The 13th Klepto Cat Mystery has been appropriately published during Halloween month. But it is also appropriately published in time for holiday giving.
“A Picture-Purrfect Christmas” is now available in print and for your Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Purrfect-Christmas-Klepto-Cat-Mystery/dp/0996673202/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444395656&sr=1-12&keywords=klepto+cat+mysteries