Author phone call

This video is hilarious. It’s an author on the phone hashing out ideas with his publisher, and getting a bit of a reality check.

The video was posted in the most recent issue of the newsletter Publishing Poynters, Book and Information-Marketing News and Ideas from Dan Poynter with the following caption:

“Whether you sell out to a publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion. Publishers do not promote books. The challenge is that most authors don’t.”

At Savas Beatie we are lucky to have some great authors who work tirelessly to promote their books. Still, this is . . . hilarious. =)

Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads is a great website and resource for book lovers. While browsing the site the other week I noticed there was a section on their Help page titled “Tips for Book Publishers and Authors” their Giveaway program looked interesting. Using it, publishers can list upcoming books that they will donate to a drawing and Goodreads users can enter to win free copies of the book. The publishers can submit whatever title they choose, how many copies they want to give away, the length of the entry period, and where they agree to mail the books to (within the United States, within North America, etc.) I submitted our upcoming book The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln to give it a try last week and so far almost 500 people have entered to win a free copy! This seems like a great program to increase pre-publication notice about a book and it will surely lead to some people buying the book who wouldn’t have known about it otherwise.

Summer Schedule

Are you an author who is going to be traveling for business or pleasure this summer? If so, make sure to let your publisher know now to see if you can latch any bookstore or museum gift shop discussions and/or book signings onto your trip. Some bookstores will schedule table book signings on short notice. All they need is enough time to order additional copies of your book from their warehouse. Other bookstores that do a lot of promotion for events by posting the listing on their website, adding it to their newsletter, and creating fliers need more advance notice. For example, Community Relations Managers at Barnes and Noble bookstores usually work three months in advance. In other words, they have to turn in their July event line up calendar in April.

Radio interview recordings

When you are going to be interviewed on a radio show, there are a couple questions you should ask ahead of time.

1. Can people listen live online? Many radio stations have a “Listen Live” button so anyone anywhere can listen to the station’s programming live from their website. If you are going to be interviewed on a station with this capability, then be sure to send out an email blast to your contacts with details on when and where they can tune in online.

2. Will the interview be archived on the station’s website? If yes, then ask for a link to where it can be found. Make sure to download the file so you have a copy that you can use as a sample and to post on your website. Some radio stations only keep programming archived for a certain amount of time (such as a day or a week) so make sure you do this quickly. If you want the producer to email you an mp3 file of the interview, make sure to ask if this is possible BEFORE the interview. Once you hang up the phone, the host and producer are on to the next thing. You and your interview are probably long off their radar ten minutes later. (Even so, make sure to send them a thank you note!)