Posts
How do I start a blog? What do I write about? Who will read it?
Common questions for an author to have. It is important that an author have his or her online presence established with a blog prior to book release. Here is some simple information on set up, content, and format.
Structure and Basic Content:
- Choose a blog domain name that is short, easily remembered, and directly connected to your book (This can be part of your website or you can set up one with a site such as Blogger, Word Press, etc.)
- Add your picture and short biography
- Add image of book cover and internal pictures
- Include side list of relevant links and related blogs
Ideas for Blogging Content:
- Book Excerpts
- Extrapolate on interesting concepts, events, or details described in book
- Book Reviews (of your own book or your reviews of books on related topics)
- Comment or feature on other related blogs
- Trends in the research and study of your area of expertise
- Comment on recent news events and articles connected to your book’s topic
- Interview people with perspectives relevant to your book
- Something controversial to spark debate and comments
Additional Tips:
- Link Twitter and Facebook widget boxes to your blog page
- Add video clips and other multimedia content to blog posts
Examples:
http://www.jdpetruzzi.blogspot.com/
http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/
http://ultimatebasictraining.com/blog/
It is important to set up your blog and actively post before your book comes out so your blog will have content, followers, and comments. You will be ahead of the curve. We consider this mandatory for our authors, and absolutely critical today.
(Note: This post is based on an email to our Spring 2010 Authors.)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
January and February are not book signing season months, but in keeping with the “New Year, New Start” tradition, below are some helpful tips on book signing events. They are from Sandra Beckwith’s newsletter Build Book Buzz. Additional tips and programs can be found on her website here.
1. Don't approach a bookstore to discuss a signing unless you've written your book for a wide consumer audience (vs. an industry or other type of niche - lawyers or rock climbers, for example). Many bookstores won't host signings when it's clear that the audience for the book is too narrow. Ask yourself if there's a better place to meet your niche audience face-to-face.
2. Plan an event, not a book signing. The book signing where you sit at a table and try to make eye contact with shoppers is increasingly passé and often a waste of time. You need an event where you can speak to and engage your target audience, whether your book is fiction or nonfiction. My goal buddy Marcia Layton Turner is doing a Barnes & Noble book signing later this month for her newest title, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vision Boards, but she won't be sitting at a table near the entrance. She'll be in the function room teaching people how to create vision boards before they try it themselves with materials Marcia and the bookstore provide. "I'll share the message of the book and show how to apply it," she says.
3. Consider non-bookstore locations. Go where you'll find your audience - it might not be at a bookstore. When Irene Levine introduced her community to Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend, Irene's hair stylist hosted a book signing at her salon. They invited lots of friends - who brought friends. Borders was on hand to sell books to about half of the 150 attendees. Be creative - if your book is a vegetarian cookbook, schedule an event at a natural foods market or the produce section of a supermarket. Your new mystery takes place at a museum? Talk to the most popular museum in your area about hosting a presentation and signing.
4. Market to warm. Are you an active member of a supportive group? Jackie Dishner, author of the regional travel book Back Roads and Byways of Arizona, sold more than 60 books at her signing at the weekly meeting of her businesswomen's group. Members knew she was writing the book and welcomed the opportunity to celebrate its publication with her. Do you belong to a similar group that might support you? For whatever reason, people like to say that they know an author. A signed book is proof of that connection.
5. Do your share to get the word out. Don't expect your event host to do all the promotional work - collaborate so you reach as many people as possible. Contact the press, send an e-mail to locals in your address book and ask them to forward it, and use social networking tools such as Facebook events and Twitter to spread the word.
6. Don't just sign your name. When I sign copies of my humor book about men, WHY CAN'T A MAN BE MORE LIKE A WOMAN?, I write the person's first name, add "It's all true!" and sign my name. For Publicity for Nonprofits," I use "I'll see you in the news!" People like that additional touch because it feels more personal.
7. Be prepared to invest time. Planning, promoting, and executing a successful book signing takes time, thought, and effort. It will all be worth it, though, as you watch those cases of books under your table empty and your hand gets tired from writing with your favorite pen.
1. Don't approach a bookstore to discuss a signing unless you've written your book for a wide consumer audience (vs. an industry or other type of niche - lawyers or rock climbers, for example). Many bookstores won't host signings when it's clear that the audience for the book is too narrow. Ask yourself if there's a better place to meet your niche audience face-to-face.
2. Plan an event, not a book signing. The book signing where you sit at a table and try to make eye contact with shoppers is increasingly passé and often a waste of time. You need an event where you can speak to and engage your target audience, whether your book is fiction or nonfiction. My goal buddy Marcia Layton Turner is doing a Barnes & Noble book signing later this month for her newest title, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vision Boards, but she won't be sitting at a table near the entrance. She'll be in the function room teaching people how to create vision boards before they try it themselves with materials Marcia and the bookstore provide. "I'll share the message of the book and show how to apply it," she says.
3. Consider non-bookstore locations. Go where you'll find your audience - it might not be at a bookstore. When Irene Levine introduced her community to Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend, Irene's hair stylist hosted a book signing at her salon. They invited lots of friends - who brought friends. Borders was on hand to sell books to about half of the 150 attendees. Be creative - if your book is a vegetarian cookbook, schedule an event at a natural foods market or the produce section of a supermarket. Your new mystery takes place at a museum? Talk to the most popular museum in your area about hosting a presentation and signing.
4. Market to warm. Are you an active member of a supportive group? Jackie Dishner, author of the regional travel book Back Roads and Byways of Arizona, sold more than 60 books at her signing at the weekly meeting of her businesswomen's group. Members knew she was writing the book and welcomed the opportunity to celebrate its publication with her. Do you belong to a similar group that might support you? For whatever reason, people like to say that they know an author. A signed book is proof of that connection.
5. Do your share to get the word out. Don't expect your event host to do all the promotional work - collaborate so you reach as many people as possible. Contact the press, send an e-mail to locals in your address book and ask them to forward it, and use social networking tools such as Facebook events and Twitter to spread the word.
6. Don't just sign your name. When I sign copies of my humor book about men, WHY CAN'T A MAN BE MORE LIKE A WOMAN?, I write the person's first name, add "It's all true!" and sign my name. For Publicity for Nonprofits," I use "I'll see you in the news!" People like that additional touch because it feels more personal.
7. Be prepared to invest time. Planning, promoting, and executing a successful book signing takes time, thought, and effort. It will all be worth it, though, as you watch those cases of books under your table empty and your hand gets tired from writing with your favorite pen.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Reporter Connection Launches
We’ve been using HARO, Help a Reporter Out, for quite some time now. Three times a day, I get an email with a list of requests from reporters looking for sources, segment producers looking for guests, bloggers looking for products to review, etc. I scroll through the list to see if any of our authors are experts in subjects that match up with a request. If so, I send the HARO contact an email with more information on our author and his or her book. It’s led to some good coverage for books such as Flying Drunk, Surviving Military Separation, and The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine in newspapers and on radio stations, websites, and blogs.
Bradley Communications, who we turn to for lots of book marketing and publicity help, recently started a service called Reporter Connection. It’s in BETA now and I receive one email a day with a similar list of reporter requests for sources. That might increase to three emails a day as the program grows. So far the only differences I’ve noticed between HARO and Reporter Connection are:
Bradley Communications, who we turn to for lots of book marketing and publicity help, recently started a service called Reporter Connection. It’s in BETA now and I receive one email a day with a similar list of reporter requests for sources. That might increase to three emails a day as the program grows. So far the only differences I’ve noticed between HARO and Reporter Connection are:
- With HARO you send an email directly to the people who make the request (sometimes with a blind email address, like Craigslist uses). Reporter Connection uses an online contact form where you submit answers to general questions in a few different fields.
- The user interface for Reporter Connection seems better, easier to read but still basic enough to scroll through the requests quickly.
Will keep you posted as I compare the two.
Happy New Year to All!Tuesday, December 29, 2009
If Alton Brown Can Make a Book Trailer in His Own Home . . .
. . . So Can You!
For those of you who aren’t “foodies” Alton Brown is the host of the successful show Good Eats on The Food Network, as well as the author of food and cookbooks.
His new book, Good Eats: The Early Years, came out this year. Watch the book trailer that is prominent on the publisher’s website and on You Tube.
It’s a different style than the book trailers that we normally produce. Ours usually have voiceover and music coupled with photos, video, and text. For authors who don’t know how to create this type of book trailer on their own (or don’t know somebody who can), try this Alton Brown model instead. Here are a few of the benefits:
For those of you who aren’t “foodies” Alton Brown is the host of the successful show Good Eats on The Food Network, as well as the author of food and cookbooks.
His new book, Good Eats: The Early Years, came out this year. Watch the book trailer that is prominent on the publisher’s website and on You Tube.
It’s a different style than the book trailers that we normally produce. Ours usually have voiceover and music coupled with photos, video, and text. For authors who don’t know how to create this type of book trailer on their own (or don’t know somebody who can), try this Alton Brown model instead. Here are a few of the benefits:
- Script – write and rehearse your script (note how the last half of the trailer is a huge plug for the book, what it includes, and why you should buy it, complete with repetition of the title and where you can find it)
- Shot on location – from your very own home (use a library bookshelf as a background for a scholarly work)
- Cameraman – a video camera, tripod, and swivel and you are set
- Actors – there is one author on camera the whole time - you just need yourself!
You can produce your own book trailer. Tuna man optional.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Savas Beatie (Sarah, Veronica, Alex, Kim, and Ted). Here's a short video of our company Christmas party, for your viewing pleasure. =)
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/eFyOKPz3Ql6B9fvQ?cmpid=ey_fb_self
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/eFyOKPz3Ql6B9fvQ?cmpid=ey_fb_self
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Some "helpful" advice
This article from The New Yorker is a couple months old, but I received it from a second family member the other day, and I thought it was too good not to post.
I would like to think that Richard Lowry's sound advice below, coupled with the help we give our authors, resonates better than this intern's email.
Funny, just the same.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2009/10/19/091019sh_shouts_weiner
I would like to think that Richard Lowry's sound advice below, coupled with the help we give our authors, resonates better than this intern's email.
Funny, just the same.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2009/10/19/091019sh_shouts_weiner
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Success in the publishing world
Please excuse such a lengthy absence on my part. Richard S. Lowry, author of our Spring 2010 release New Dawn, wrote the article below for the Savas Beatie Author News, a monthly newsletter we send to our authors with ideas, tips, and suggestions. I think it is relevant here as well, and I am posting it as a guest blog post.
----------------------
Success in the publishing world requires 10% writing and 90% marketing skills. Don’t get me wrong, authors need to produce the best possible book they can write: that 10% is extremely important. Unfortunately, many very good books languish on the bookshelves and never achieve literary success.
Authors are usually introverts—observers of the world around them. They are precisely the wrong personality type to market their work. To be successful, we need to climb out of our shell and shout to the world that our work must be read. Today, we have all the tools we need at our fingertips. We can actually shout from inside our cocoon. Today, we have the internet.
In today’s internet jargon, we must do everything we can to take our message ‘viral.’ We can use the internet to acquire needed exposure in ways never possible before. I have built my own website at www.RichardSLowry.com and I am constantly adding to my blogsite at http://blog.RichardSLowry.com. Before I started my own blog, I befriended an administrator of a successful blog (web log – say it fast three times) www.op-for.com. He was eager to have my writing support as it added content to his site and I was happy in that I did not have to administer my own site. It was a way to get my feet wet in the ‘blogosphere.’
In addition, I became proficient enough to start my own facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/rslowry and my own Twitter site too http://twitter.com/rslowry. It is surprisingly easy to start these pages. My only advice is to start small and add posts, followers/friends, and content as you become more familiar with the media. And, be careful to not put too much personal info out to the entire world.
Here is one more useful tool. The Google Alert is very powerful. You can sign up with Google and they will send you an email anytime any of your selected words/phrases are used on the internet. Best of all—it’s free. I use terms like USMC and Fallujah. When you receive an alert, it will direct you to the original post, where you can learn more about the subject, find websites devoted to your subject matter, and even post a comment to help gain even more exposure.
Lastly, I want to give you a place to write and gain exposure that requires little to no internet experience. I recently became a writer for Examiner.com. Check out my articles at http://www.examiner.com/x-30068-Orlando-Military-Headlines-Examiner. I can help you and you can help me. Please visit my posts, comment and subscribe. This will help me expand my exposure on Examiner.com and if you contact me through Savas Beatie, I can submit your name for consideration as one of their reporters.
If you have any questions, or need any assistance, please feel free to contact me through Ted Savas or Sarah. Next time I will talk about going out in public.
- Richard S. Lowry, author of New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah, http://www.richardslowry.com/
----------------------
Success in the publishing world requires 10% writing and 90% marketing skills. Don’t get me wrong, authors need to produce the best possible book they can write: that 10% is extremely important. Unfortunately, many very good books languish on the bookshelves and never achieve literary success.
Authors are usually introverts—observers of the world around them. They are precisely the wrong personality type to market their work. To be successful, we need to climb out of our shell and shout to the world that our work must be read. Today, we have all the tools we need at our fingertips. We can actually shout from inside our cocoon. Today, we have the internet.
In today’s internet jargon, we must do everything we can to take our message ‘viral.’ We can use the internet to acquire needed exposure in ways never possible before. I have built my own website at www.RichardSLowry.com and I am constantly adding to my blogsite at http://blog.RichardSLowry.com. Before I started my own blog, I befriended an administrator of a successful blog (web log – say it fast three times) www.op-for.com. He was eager to have my writing support as it added content to his site and I was happy in that I did not have to administer my own site. It was a way to get my feet wet in the ‘blogosphere.’
In addition, I became proficient enough to start my own facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/rslowry and my own Twitter site too http://twitter.com/rslowry. It is surprisingly easy to start these pages. My only advice is to start small and add posts, followers/friends, and content as you become more familiar with the media. And, be careful to not put too much personal info out to the entire world.
Here is one more useful tool. The Google Alert is very powerful. You can sign up with Google and they will send you an email anytime any of your selected words/phrases are used on the internet. Best of all—it’s free. I use terms like USMC and Fallujah. When you receive an alert, it will direct you to the original post, where you can learn more about the subject, find websites devoted to your subject matter, and even post a comment to help gain even more exposure.
Lastly, I want to give you a place to write and gain exposure that requires little to no internet experience. I recently became a writer for Examiner.com. Check out my articles at http://www.examiner.com/x-30068-Orlando-Military-Headlines-Examiner. I can help you and you can help me. Please visit my posts, comment and subscribe. This will help me expand my exposure on Examiner.com and if you contact me through Savas Beatie, I can submit your name for consideration as one of their reporters.
If you have any questions, or need any assistance, please feel free to contact me through Ted Savas or Sarah. Next time I will talk about going out in public.
- Richard S. Lowry, author of New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah, http://www.richardslowry.com/
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