Writing and Publishing News

I’ve been silent for too long. Been writing and also promoting my fiction. Today I’m in promotion mode. Some things have come to my attention and I think they might be of interest to you.

First, I’ve said this before—as an author, you should be subscribing to and READING appropriate newsletters (which are mainly enewsletters today). Most are FREE. If you’re an author, you’ll want to subscribe to newsletters related to the topic and genre of your book as well as anything even remotely linked to the process and mindset of book promotion. Now, not every issue of every newsletter will include information you can use. But I’m pretty sure that there are relevant and even money-making/book-selling items in some of the newsletters you subscribe to that you’ve missed. You’ve missed some because you didn’t bother to read the newsletter at all. Others you’ve missed because you thought the idea was too difficult, time-consuming, stupid, or not germane to your project. Sure, you’re probably right in some cases, but not all. I would venture to guess that most of you miss out on some great opportunities because you’re just not paying attention or you’re not willing to meet a challenge.

No one said being an author would be easy. In fact, the crux of most books on publishing is that authorship is darn hard work. And most of the work comes after publication.

The second thing I want to bring up today is the book review. I’ve had hundreds of reviews for my 56 books—some are wonderful, flattering, validating and others, well, not so much. It happens. Not every reviewer or reader will love your book. But that’s no reason not to scramble for reviews. There are dozens of methods of getting book reviews. I talk about them in my books, “Publish Your Book,” and “Promote Your Book,” and even in “Propose Your Book.” It might be helpful if I put together a list of methods for locating reviewers and attracting reviews. Let me know if you’re interested. If not, I certainly have plenty of other things to keep me busy. PLFry620@yahoo.com. (Don’t leave a comment here, I get hundreds of spam comments every week and, I’m afraid I don’t go through them very carefully as I toss them by the dozens into the trash.)

I’ve spent hours and hours as well as $$$ locating and contacting book reviewers over the years—most recently for my Klepto Cat Mysteries. I’ve purchased books of reviewers, I’ve done individual Internet searches, I’ve visited numerous blog sites and reviewer sites, tapped into their list of favorite bloggers and reviewers and contacted them, I’ve attempted to contact reviewers for other books similar to mine. And over these past two days, I spent hours—probably 10 hours in total—chasing down and following up with new book reviewers I’ve found and bloggers who interview authors. I was rather surprised at what I discovered.

I learned how important it is to be well-connected at prestigious/well-known book sites, such as GoodReads. So I spent additional time this week putting my ducks in a row at some of these sites, with a list of sites still to contact. You want to make sure your book is listed at these key sites (including Amazon), post your author profile, and find ways to connect with your particular audience. I’ll be able to tell you more about this once I’ve spent more time pursuing it for my own purposes.

Here’s a tip. Just before Christmas, I sent review copies to a list of 30 reviewers who had requested my Christmas story—“A Picture-Purrfect Christmas.” I received this list from a publicist I was working with. These were reviewers I’d never considered approaching, because I was focusing on those who review Cozy Mysteries and books involving cats and other animals. However, all 30 of these reviewers asked to see “A Picture-Purrfect Christmas” and most of them reviewed it. So I contacted each of them today asking if they’d like to receive my latest book, “Meow for the Money” to review. Those for whom I did not have an email address (they asked to receive a print copy), I sent letters—yes, through the mail—using the note cards I had made featuring some of the covers from my Klepto Cat Mystery books.

I’ll let you know the results.

You can read some of the reviews here, if you want: http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Purrfect-Christmas-Klepto-Cat-Mystery/dp/0996673202/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453329190&sr=1-3&keywords=klepto+cat+mysteries

I’d say that around 17 or 18 of these reviews are from this list of 30. As you may know, some reviewers take a long time to respond. And that’s okay. A good review is important no matter when it comes in.

I’ve been blogging and writing about book promotion for years. I often write about my experiences as well as the experiences of others and what I learn through research. Remember, I used to compile the “Market Update” for SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network), so I had many concepts and resources to share with my readers. But believe me, the playing field keeps changing and so do the players, so this is a constant study. Now that I’m writing and promoting fiction, it’s a whole new game in some ways. Stay tuned and I’ll do my best to keep you up on the rules and maybe you, too, will score in the crazy world of authorship.

Contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com

Visit my Catscapades blog: http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades

Is blogging passé? Should authors sign up for a facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so forth? YES, but not to the exclusion of a website and a blog (or 2 or 3).

I know, I know, it’s darn hard to do it all. But if you’re responsible for a household and a family, you’ve been doing it all, anyway. If you’re a business owner, you’ve learned to handle many fires and stir numerous pots at the same a time. When you enter into the world of authorship, you should know that it will require your full attention and many of the skills you use in running a household and/or a business.

A successful author will provide numerous outlets for gaining more exposure. He will constantly reach out to his audience in every way available—through one or more websites and blog sites, social media, personal communication, personal appearances and even other people’s blog sites. You will provide information and material of keen interest to your audience, and do every promotion you can think of to attract them to these sites.

You probably already know that your basic promotion should answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” Potential readers need to know that what you offer is something they actually want, and your blog posts should follow that guideline, as well.

Post with your target reader in mind. What information do they want? What will attract them, intrigue them, entertain them? If you come up with absolutely nothing—you’d better get immediate help or rethink your book project.

I’m often asked by authors who are keenly aware of their audience and how to reach them, “What more I can do to promote to this audience?” The author might list the activities they’ve engaged in and even admit that they were mildly successful. “When I do this, I sell books. But I want to sell more books, what do you suggest?”

What do I suggest? Do more of what you’re doing. Solicit more reviews, be guest blogger at more sites that are relevant, go out and speak more often to your readers, ramp up your use of social media—including your blog… If sales increase after you’ve done a promotion, do more promotions. If books fly off the shelves at the local museum gift shop when you offer a discount or book sales increase when you appear at a school, for example, definitely do more of this.

But add to your repertoire, as well. Seek out new potential audiences. Try getting your book in a appropriate catalogs or featured at new sites. Create other items related to the theme of your book and use them to generate sales—an adult color book, note cards, tee-shirts, calendars, etc. Entice people to your website for puzzle challenges, freebies, a hint or quote of the day, etc. in order to attract more potential readers.

When I published my first book, back in 1978, just half of this effort would result in an abundance of sales, however we didn’t have the Internet in those days, so promotion was all done in person or via snail mail—remember press releases and promotional mailings? For authors today, the competition is fierce. You probably didn’t realize this when you decided to enter into the world of publishing. You saw other people producing books in your genre or on your topic and thought it seemed like a good idea. If you’d taken the time to study the industry before getting involved (which virtually no one does, yet definitely should!!!), you’d realize how much time, effort, creativity, and work it takes in order to garner a piece of the pie—sell an abundance of your book.

If your sales have dwindled or they never came about in the first place, it’s probably because you haven’t been asking for sales, pushing for them, striving to get them. You’ve done nothing or just the minimum to get your book noticed.

Tomorrow, I’ll offer additional ideas for promoting your book. In the meantime, be sure to check out my books for authors. Allworth Press has produced four of them—Publish Your Book, Promote Your Book, Talk Up Your Book, and the latest, Propose Your Book. These books are in print, e-book, and audio form at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=patricia+l+fry+allworth I’ve also created a series of “50-Ways” e-booklets for $1.99 each. They include, “50 Ways to Promote your Novel,” “50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book,” “50 Ways to Promote Your Ebook” and so forth. http://www.matilijapress.com.