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Two friends with a book idea attended a “How to Get Published”
workshop three years ago. After 30 minutes, one leaned over and whispered, “What the
hell is a platform?”
“I dunno. Maybe a portable stage for book signings?”
“He said we have to build it, and I don’t get along with power tools.”
This was us. If we ever wanted our project to have a shot in the field of dreams that
is today’s publishing industry, we’d have to navigate new waters. Platform: “If you
build it, they will come.”
Guest column by S. Jane Gari and Heidi R. Willis,
co-authors of two projects for which they are
submitting: Flush This Book: True Tales of Bodily
Malfunctions and I Am Woman, Hear Me Fart:
Stories Only Best Girlfriends Know. If you saw
the movie Bridesmaids and laughed, then you’re
their kind of people. Heidi has been published in
Newsweek and Country Discoveries. Two of S.
Jane's works were published in The Petigru Review,
one of which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
She also performs stand-up based on material
from Flush This Book. See their website and blog.
But how do you create a following and public visibility without even having a book
out yet? It’s counterintuitive, but agents and editors are more eager to take on writers
who have proven their self-promoting hustle pre-contract. After shifting our perspective,
we realized it wasn’t just about the book. It was about us and our writing in general.
Doing our homework meant figuring out what kinds of people would be interested in
what we had to offer, which was, and is, Chicken Soup for the Soul meets potty humor.
DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Define your target audience and design every platform outlet with them in mind. We
defined our audience in terms of what other books they would buy, what websites they
would visit, what television shows they would watch. Then we made sure that we appealed
to them. The first pieces of the platform puzzle were the website and blog. The colors,
the layout, the font, our blog post topics, everything revolved around the promise
we were making to readers: an irreverent laugh without apology.
WHAT'S IN IT FOR OUR READERS?
Building the website forced us to brand ourselves and constantly answer the question:
What’s in it for our readers? Our logo, our slogans, our blog topics, a forum where
readers could share their own stories with us, these all evolved from thinking like
marketers. Anyone in advertising will tell you, never underestimate the power of free
stuff. We used our website to launch contests that awarded readers with free copies
of our promotional mini-book and offered a free story to anyone who signed up for
our mailing list. Our website enjoyed more traffic, we built a mailing list and people
who participated in the contest became contributors on our forum.
SOCIAL MEDIA
<
On Book Touring: Nobody goes there anymore ... it's too crowded.
If you're a New Yorker, you grow up with Yogi Berra-isms. They're delivered in utero
like collective memories, and this one has been coming back to me lately as I hear
over and over again that authors "aren't touring" because "it never pays for itself"
and the publishers are only touring "bestselling authors who don't need it." I say
hogwash. People are touring, they're just defining it differently.
Rosemary is excited to give away a free copy of her
novel to a random commenter. Comment within one week; winners must live in Canada/US
to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you've won before.
Guest column by Rosemary Harris,
Anthony and
Agatha-Award nominated author of Pushing
Up
Daisies, The
Big Dirt Nap, Dead Head and Slugfest
featuring amateur sleuth Paula Holliday. Her books
have been called "Hilarious" (Kirkus), "a nifty
puzzle" (Publishers Weekly)
and "a perfect
summer read" (NPR). Check out her tour
schedule at her website.
It's become fashionable to say that blog tours make so much more sense "and I can
do it in my jammies!" You won't hear me say I don't engage in social media—I
blog with a group of very talented writers,
I've got two pages on Facebook, a fan and a personal, and I've recently crossed the
Rubicon into Twitterland where I have an embarrassingly low number of followers—please
follow me. Still, I guess I'm old school. I want
to meet booksellers, librarians and readers in the flesh, particularly if I've met
them already online. Few things match a face-to-face meeting for generating that all-important
word-of-mouth.
A recent survey conducted for Sisters in Crime revealed that word-of-mouth and personal
recommendations were still the biggest motivations to purchase books and although
I can Meet, Friend and Like as many people as I want to online, it's the ones I've
met in person who have been the strongest advocates for my work.
And where do I meet most of them? At shows and conferences. If the book to
Every day is a learning opportunity for marketing a published
book using regular media (TV, radio, and newspapers) and social media (sites online
that are interactive—sharing public thoughts and opinions.)
Promoting yourself isn’t getting any easier because of
the many local bookstores that are out of business. It is time to be creative and
find other venues for meeting the public. Connecting to people with the stories we
write makes the world go round like this chain of events poem.
NEWS ARTICLE CHAIN OF EVENTS POEM:
In the paper
On my blog
LIKED on Wordpress
Opened door
Worked together
MEDIA
Book signing
In real world
IN THE PAPER
I read an article in the Chagrin Valley Times about local musicians helping
soothe the loneliness of our deployed soldiers by giving them the gift of music. Warren
Henry Music is collecting old guitars and refurbishing them free of charge thanks
to co-owners Aimee Zeller and Warren Henry. The USO of Northern Ohio is shipping these
guitars overseas to our regions deployed service members.
ON MY BLOG
This
turned out to be a perfect post for my blog. Warren explained, “One of our instructors
is a veteran and told us how helpful it was to have his guitar to play while deployed.
Our troops and their families sacrifice so much. This is our way of thanking them
for their service to our country.” The Help Fight the GI Blues Campaign was launched.
LIKED ON WORDPRESS
Shortly after my post about donating guitars, I received a comment from a band, Select
Start in Tampa, Fla: “We have a day off in Bainbridge on May 15, during our month
long District Lines sponsored Go Radio headlining Tour. We plan on dropping by to
donate a guitar to Warren and the USO.”
I said, “You guys rock!”
Select Start replied, “As does
Readers of this column who are seeking representation by an
agent often feel as though they’re in a valley, with a mountain before them that looks
like Everest. If they have an agent and are awaiting a decision from an editor
or pub board, they may get the impression they’ve moved to a camp halfway to the summit.
And Sir Edmund Hillary never experienced more joy at planting his flag atop Everest
than is felt by the writer who has that longed-for contract safe in his/her hands.
Richard is excited to give away a free copy of his
latest novel to a random commenter. Comment within one week; winners must live in
Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you've won
before.
Guest column by Dr. Richard Mabry,
who retired
from medicine after building a worldwide reputation
as a clinician, researcher, and teacher. He is the author
of the Prescription
For Trouble series of medical thrillers,
which began with Code Blue in 2010 and most recently
added Diagnosis: Death in April 2011. He is represented
by Rachelle Gardner. You can learn more about
him at his website.
For most of us, it’s a long climb and there’s a lot of waiting involved. Are there
things we can do, other than writing, to make the time we spend more productive? You
bet. Here are some lessons I learned in my own climb toward a publishing contract.
I hope you’ll find them useful.
DON'T BE A ONE-TRICK PONY
Agents and publishers don’t envision you as the author of just one book. They’re interested
in your career as a writer. It takes time to get a contract offer, and by the
time my first one came along, I had already written a draft of my second book. By
having it ready, with the skeleton of a third sketched out, I landed an additional
two-book contract before my first book ever saw the light of day. Even while you’re
editing that first book, work on the second. Try to stay one book ahead. Editors will
love you for it.
BUILD A PLATFORM BEFORE YOU NEED IT
A platform for a writer is a necessary marketing tool, and if you wait until you have
a contract to build one, you’re already behind the curve. Having your platform in
place with a cadre of followers, even if it’s a small start, strengthens your case
with a potential agent or publisher. I started my blog long before I got my first
contract. On it, I posted about my writing journey, included tips on the craft gleaned
from experts, and occasionally featured interviews with established authors. I also
established a Twitter and Facebook presence. Why? Name recognition. A reader who sees
a familiar name on a book cover might be more inclined to buy it. And, of co
Ah, that tried and true marketing tool: The author reading.
If you have books to sell (or one day hope to), it’s a good idea to remain in the
good graces of your supporters. Getting published isn’t license to act like a jerk.
Following are all mistakes I’ve seen authors (some famous) make at their readings.
The result? Pissed-off bookstore owners and audience members. Guess what that does
to sales?
Guest column by Marianna Swallow,
who teaches
public speaking and presentation skills, and is furiously
working on her business book, Stop Whining, Start
Speaking. A latent actress, she reads her personal
essays all over Chicago, and she’s always nice to
her audience. See her website here.
1. Respect your audience. The most valuable thing anyone can give you is time
and attention. Arrive early and start on time. I’ve seen authors waltz in 45 minutes
late to their own reading—because they were next door enjoying a leisurely dinner.
(Planning, people!) During Q&A, remember there is no such thing as a dumb question.
I’ve seen famous authors scoff at questions and even respond with, “That’s a stupid
question, someone else ask another one.” Yeah, I’m not buying your book, sweetie.
2. Respect your host(s). No matter where your reading takes place—a large bookstore
or a quaint vegetarian café—remember you are a guest. Behave as such. The owner
or manager is giving you a platform to help sell your product. Don’t demand the proprietor
change the chairs around 5 minutes before your reading, and if offered a drink, don’t
demand or quaff an entire bottle of wine. Be gracious. Your host is your partner in
sales. Don’t defeat your purpose by uttering something negative like, “You don’t have
to buy my book.”
3. Read for 10 minutes—tops. Adults have a short attention span. Heads start
to nod and minds start to wander after 10 or 12 minutes. I don’t care if you’re Stephen
King. Keep it brief, keep ‘em wanting more, and make ‘em want to buy your book. I’ve
seen writers turn a 10-minute poem into a 45-minute manifesto. If your audience is
fidgeting, looking around or at their cell phones, it’s time to wrap it up.
4. Be your own billboard. Don’t expect your hosts to drum up all your business.
It’s the age of Twitter and Facebook. You have no friends in Bozeman, Montana? Your
friends or their friends probably do. Reach out to your network, ask for help spreading
the word, and take some initiative in promoting yourself locally. This is super important
if you don’t have a publicist promoting you. Know that you’re partially responsible
for getting yourself an audience. And no matter how big or small your audience is,
bring your A-Game. No matter what. Which means you need to…
5. Prepare, Practice, and Project. I rolled my eyes when I saw an author, book
in hand, step to the microphone and say, “I didn’t prepare anything, so I’m just going
to open to a page and read whatever I find. Here goes.” Choose an appropriate 10-minute
segment from your work, and type it up with a 14-point font, double spaced. When presenting,
reading from plain paper is easier than reading from a book. And when you do, speak
from your gut. If you’re not a seasoned public speaker, you will likely fall into
the habit of speaking in your normal, every day voice. That ain’t gonna fly in a crowd.
Imagine that your voice originates in your gut and speak from th
As writers, we tend to focus entirely on the manuscript. We
sweat over it, we curse it, and we pace the floor worrying over one sentence, or even
one casual phrase. Because of this obsession, we often believe that our Dream Agent,
the one who is patiently sifting through the slush pile, will instantly connect with
us when she spots that brilliant string of words.
Well, maybe. But it’s more likely that Ms Dream Agent will be wowed by the ancillary
items in your arsenal. Sure, your writing needs to knock her socks off, but today
it takes more than that.
Dom is excited to give away a free copy of his novel
to a random commenter. Comment within one week; winners must live in Canada/US to
receive the print book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you've won before.
Ancillary is one of those words that I hate to speak aloud but don’t mind in print.
In this case it refers to all of the supplemental tools that you bring to the table,
along with your manuscript. They just might be the tools that alert an agent to your
ability to help sell the work.
I come bearing examples. For my Young Adult science fiction series, I created a fan
page/website called Club Galahad. That in itself isn’t groundbreaking. However, within
those pages I made sure to incorporate tools that my publisher (Tor/Macmillan) can
use to impress the market most likely to gravitate to my books: the education market.
First of all, not a week goes by that you won’t find on the site helpful articles
and links embracing the world of science. It might be video of the latest shuttle
launch, or news about the discovery of Super Earths in our galactic neighborhood.
Additionally, I’ve developed a classroom study aid called The Science Behind Galahad.
Each of these three-page, downloadable units is a quick synopsis of a real element
of science that is mentioned in the book series. One includes a fun peek at the world
of Artificial Intelligence; another explores the fuzzy snowballs we know as comets.
Teachers are able to print these mini-lessons and immediately use them in their classrooms.
On top of that, my lead character writes journal entries not just within the books,
but for the website, too. Students can create a bond with her, and contribute their
own comments.
These are all ancillary items that go beyond the manuscript. They cost me nothing
but a little bit of time and research, but go a long way in providing helpful material
for my publisher. Are you doing the same for your work?
Currently I’m writing a nonfiction book that will have a unique piece of ancillary
ammunition. The book covers the workings of my non-profit educati
Unfortunately, finishing your book is only a portion of the
writer’s job. Publishers increasingly expect writers to serve as their own publicists—in
an inundated market whose audience is ever-shrinking. On the positive side, writers
now have more power than ever to get the word out about their books via the Internet.
Here are some publicity tips I’ve learned after publishing my debut novel, Kapitoil,
last April, for both before and after your book comes out.
Teddy is excited to give away a free copy of his novel
to a random commenter. Comment within one week; winners must live in Canada/US to
receive the print book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you've won before.
Teddy Wayne is the author of the
novel Kapitoil
(Harper Perennial, 2010), which was named one
of Booklist's Top 10 First Novels of 2010 and The
Huffington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year. His
work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New
York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, the Wall Street
Journal, and elsewhere. He lives in New
York. See his website here.
BEFORE YOUR BOOK IS PUBLISHED:
-
Make a Web site, preferably from your name (not your book’s
title—it’s a long career you’re trying to build). Author pages on publishers’
sites rarely do a good job. A decent site costs $500-1,500, depending on the designer
and the complexity, or you can make one on the simple-to-use weebly.com that's either
free or low-cost (pay to use your own domain name, not one with weebly at the front).
Use your book cover as the graphical theme. My
site displays review excerpts on the homepage, and has separate pages for additional
press coverage, a summary of the book, events, news, my freelance articles, my biography,
and contact information; you shouldn’t need much else except a blog link, if you maintain
one. Simple is fine; unprofessional-looking is not.
-
Tactfully prevail upon any media friends and acquaintances. Ask
politely if they’d like a galley, and if they accept, let them know you’re available
to contribute something to their publication or do an interview down the road.
-
Likewise, cold-email people you don’t know at media outlets
with the same (tactful) offer.
-
Pitch your hometown newspaper and alumni magazine; they’re
more likely to run a profile on you.
-
Diversify. This is common sense, but print plus online
exposure remains far more influential than solely online.
Editor's note: I am declaring November 2010 to be
"Agent Column Month," and therefore, every weekday, I will be posting a guest column
by a literary agent. Day 1: Today's guest agent is Rachelle Gardner of Wordserve Literary.
As a literary agent, I receive queries every day. When a query interests me, I ask
to see more material. If it's fiction, I'll ask for the manuscript. But if it's nonfiction,
I'll ask for a book proposal. Occasionally I receive an e-mail back from the writer:
What is a book proposal? Needless to say, that's not the answer I want. A book proposal
is the basic sales tool for a nonfiction book—a business plan, if you will. An agent
can't sell your book to a publisher without it. You've got to have one, and it's got
to be good.
Let me put it to you straight: If you don't know what a book proposal is, you're not
quite ready to approach an agent. You shouldn't even query an agent with your nonfiction
project until your proposal is complete. So if the proposal is your key tool to getting
an agent’s attention for your book, let’s review why you need one and how to compose
it.
5 REASONS YOU NEED A PROPOSAL
If you have a completed manuscript, you may be tempted to think that’s enough. It’s
not. You still need a proposal. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Publishers usually don't look at nonfiction manuscripts. The proposal itself
provides information publishers need in order to make a purchasing decision. Before
they even want to read sample chapters, they will review elements such as the author's
platform, how the book fits into the marketplace, and what titles already exist on
your topic.
2. The book proposal can be used throughout the publishing process to help the
editorial, marketing and sales teams understand your book. They’ll refer to it
when they write copy for your book—copy that goes on to your book cover or into marketing,
advertising, and sales pieces. Therefore you’ll want to write the best and most effective
“sell language” into your proposal.
3. Your efforts in putting together a complete book proposal (believe it or not)
can be instrumental in your own understanding of the structure, theme, and execution
of your book—and you may be able to identify and correct any problems. If done
correctly, your proposal will also help you understand and be able to explain who
your audience is and why they would buy your book.
4. The proposal shows the publisher that you’ve done your homework. It shows
you’re a professional, and you have a good understanding of the business of publishing.
Alternatively, a shoddy proposal makes it easy for an editor to quickly say “No” and
toss it in the reject pile.
5. Reading entire manuscripts is extremely time-consuming. Proposals give editors
the information they need to make decisions as quickly and effectively as possible.
I recently attended “Publishing
Books, Memoirs, and Other Creative Nonfiction,” at Harvard Medical School. Rusty
Shelton, managing director of Phenix and
Phenix Literary Publicists, gave a great talk on book publicity. Here are
seven of my favorite tips.
Guest column by Livia
Blackburne, an MIT
neuroscientist by day and a YA writer by night.
In her blog, A Brain Scientist's Take on
Writing,
she studies writing from a neuroscientist's
analytical perspective.
1. Media is changing. Before the Internet era, the media landscape was like
a classroom. The teacher (i.e., The New York Times or the Washington Post)
stood at the podium and disseminated information. Now, with social media, the students
are passing notes amongst themselves. Plus, if a note gets very popular, the teacher
picks it up and reads it to the class.
2. Your website is not about selling your book. Many authors mistakenly
think their website is about selling their book. But in that case, people would have
no reason to visit your website except to buy your book. Instead, make your website
useful to people so they keep coming back. Keep a blog so there’s always fresh information.
Then, you start building up a base of followers who may not only buy this book, but
future books as well.
3. It’s more important than ever to write a good book. With the old media landscape,
you might have been able to trick people into buying a bad book with advertising or
a high-profile review. But now with social media, people are sharing information,
and people trust their friends more than they trust professional book reviewers.
4. Don’t be a media snob. There is an urban legend about an author who went
to New York City for a book signing. He couldn't book many venues, but he was offered
an interview in a small upstate New York radio station. A NY Times reporter
was driving through, heard his story, and write a feature story on him. The moral
of the story? You never know who’s watching or listening.
5. Not everyone can benefit from a publicist. If you are super niche, a publicist
may not be able to help you. The same is true if you’re self-published and your book
is only available online. Your book needs to be in stores if you want to benefit from
a publicist.
6. On choosing a publicist: Look at their recent media bookings to see what
kind of media contacts they have. Also, be wary if the publicist agrees to take you
on without even looking at your book. The publicist should be interviewing you the
same way an agent does so he can make an educated decision about whether he can help
you.
7. The media outlet’s priority during interviews is to entertain and inform their
audience, not to sell your book. Don’t be “that guy” who plugs his book every
other sentence. It's annoying. Also, research the outlet beforehand so you make your
responses relevant to their audience. Remember that if you give a good interview,
the reporter might invite you back in the future.
“Publishing Books, Memoirs, and Other Creative
Nonfiction” is a three day course covering the entire publishing process from
writing to submission, publication, and publicity. For other helpful tidbits from
the conference,
When it comes to first-time, do-it-yourself publicity for your
book, jumping into the unknown can seem a lot easier said than done. You may find,
though, that simply having a great respect and adoration for the book(s) you seek
to publicize will enable you to sprout the wings that you need to soar, right off
the steep cliff walls of doubt.
Eleanor D. Van Natta founded her
own book
publicity service. She is a freelance writer, and
brings to each client and each job over 15
years of sales and marketing experience.
See her website here.
LEAPS OF FAITH
Last fall, an author friend of mine offered me a wonderful opportunity to be her publicist.
She was taking a giant leap of faith since I had no publicity experience, no media
contacts, and not one clue how to begin. I was just recovering from a string of rejected
query letters and didn’t even have a published book of my own. But who says you need
to publish your book before learning about the publicity end of things?
What I did have, and I suppose what she saw in me, was an extensive sales background,
a love of books, and a powerful drive to promote others. When I accepted her offer
and leaped into the great unknown myself, I found that I had wings as well! In two
weeks I had this author booked on a show that was her #1 goal as well as the #1 show
in her niche. I didn’t have as much at stake or as much invested in her books as she
did personally; they were her life’s work. However, I felt so privileged by her faith
in me that from the very beginning I treated her books like adopted children of mine,
mothering them, nurturing them, and gently raising them up and into the world. I would
leave no child behind.
BOOK PUBLICITY TIPS FOR AUTHORS
Getting your book onto a show is like getting that child of
yours into the right college and beyond. I have learned a few things over the last
several months about sending your babes out into the world:
-
Target, target, target your shows. Your book must be
a good fit to even be considered by the host or the producer.
-
Hook them quickly. The most important part of your pitch
most likely will be your e-mail’s subject line—spend some time and thought on these
very few words (“the hook”) that will determine whether the rest of your e-mail/pitch
is even read.
-
Follow up. If you don’t, you may never know if no reply
means “no” or simply “didn’t read the e-mail.”
-
Reveal details about yourself. Don't forget to put somewhere
in the pitch where you are located, what time zone you are in, and your availability
for interviews (e.g., need advance notice, same-day interviews possible, etc.).
-
Read, read, read what other people have written about publicity—specifically
book publicity, on blogs and in books; you will be amazed at how many great tips and
examples are out there—even example pitch letters—mostly free via your local library
or the web.
-
Believe in yourself! The media needs information and
guests; why not you?
-
Start early. its never too early to start learning about
publicity a
Anne Lamott begins a chapter of her wonderful book Bird by
Bird like this: There’s an old New Yorker cartoon of two men sitting on
a couch at a busy cocktail party, having a quiet talk. One man has a beard and looks
like a writer. The other seems like a normal person. The writer type is saying to
the other: “We’re still pretty far apart. I’m looking for a six-figure advance, and
they’re refusing to read the manuscript.” If you find
yourself pretty far apart from publishers, perhaps you need to consider using the
following building blocks to construct your career as a successful author. (This is
Part III of this guest column. Part
I is here and Part
II is here.)
14. Be an authorpreneur: Speaker Sam Horn’s brilliant
word which, for me, means:
-
having the entrepreneurial ability to create something out of
nothing: an idea; a book that you can sell in more forms, media and countries than
ever ; an international 365/24/7 business; and a career
-
coming up with ideas that you can sell in as many forms, media,
and countries as possible
-
being responsible for your success
-
being unique by being creative in writing and promoting your
books
-
being resourceful in meeting challenges
-
looking at everything you experience and reflexively wondering
if there’s a way to use it to enrich your personal or professional life
-
using speed, creativity and flexibility to compensate for size
-
embracing and taking advantage of new information, technology,
and opportunities created by accelerating change
15. Have courage: Believe in yourself
and the value of your books. You will overcome the obstacles that await you.
16. Take the long view: A writing career isn’t one book but ten or twenty, each
better and more pro
