Time to Write

A tip if you're trying to find an agent

Here’s a little snippet from the free newsletter, Publishers Lunch, which usually comes out daily:

 Gwendolyn Heasley will join Artisans and Artisans as an agent, focusing on young adult. Her own debut YA novel, Confessions of a Teenage Recessionista, was sold to Harper Collins in a two-book deal in July.

 A good time to approach an agent is when he or she has just been hired or has moved agencies. If you’re looking for an agent, keep your eyes open for little announcements like this, research the person and the agency on the Internet, and send a query letter promptly.

 (You can sign up for the Publisher’s Lunch email at this page: www.publishersmarketplace.com.)

(Want loads more tips and strategies for having  successful writing career? Get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

One way to overcome being pigeon-holed

I had a question from an author who has a bit of a track record in one genre but now wants to write a book in a totally different genre. She is finding that her publisher is resisting offering something different from what her readers will expect from her.

One option is using a pen name for the new genre. Of course it does mean that you have to build a whole new audience, but at least you won't lose fans of your original type of book.

The fact is that readers (just like publishers) generally do pigeon-hole authors and when they find one they like, they want to see more of the same. By creating a new identity you may be able to skirt this problem. Of course this can work for artists, photographers, and anybody else, too.

(Flexibility and creativity are the most valuable tools you have--and for some fresh ideas on how to be even more creative, get my newest book, "Creativity Now," published by Pearson.)

The truth about those big book deals (including Sarah Palin's)

Daily Finance has a long article written by Sarah Weinman about Sarah Palin’s big book deal. Along the way it drops some very interesting tidbits about that deal and others:

 “Until recently, publishers have long split writers' advances, paying half upon signing a contract with the writer, and the other half upon a book's publication. But with the complicated financials of conglomerates in the equation, many publishers now pay out advances in quarters: upon signing, upon delivery and acceptance of the manuscript, upon hardcover publication, and finally a year later, upon publication of the paperback.”

 Apparently the $1.25 million retainer Palin was paid by HarperCollins will constitute the first of four payments to be made to her (for signing and delivery) and the total payout to her will be somewhere between $2.5 and $5 million (better than a governor’s salary…).

 Palin used an uncredited ghost writer, believed to be Lynn Vincent, who will be paid something like $200,000 (all these figures are estimates, as the actual numbers have not been made public).

 The article says, “If Palin's advance is as high as $5 million, then HarperCollins willl need to sell more than 400,000 copies of Going Rogue to cover the advance and expenses for marketing and overhead.”

 These big book deals generate a lot of publicity but not always a win for the publisher. The article points out, “The publisher had a huge bust this year in Jonathan Littell's massively hyped thousand-page novel The Kindly Ones, for which it paid $1 million that it didn't come close to earning back. (Bookscan, which accounts for as much as 70 percent of all book sales, last summer reported a disappointing 17,000 copies sold.)”

 Palin’s appearance on Oprah may help boost sales of her book, but so far, dailyfinance says, the publisher is not out of the woods in terms of making a profit on it.

(Want a big book deal yourself? Get my book, "Your Writing Coach"--it will guide you from idea through to publication. Published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers now.)

How not to do a book signing

Recently I went to a festival that featured an authors’ village—a few tables at which local authors sat with piles of their books and with pens poised to autograph them for buyers. The tables were all joined together and the authors were busily talking to each other…but no buyers approached them.

 Why? Well, of course it’s possible that nobody was interested in their books, but I think the big mistake was having them all sit there in a tribe, looking like they were having a great time chatting with each other and not really wanting to be interrupted.

 Yes, it was more comfortable for the authors, but it would have been more productive if they’d been separated, each one alone and approachable.

 I’ve done a few signings and it’s true that it feels kind of lonesome so the impulse is to chat with a friend you bring along (or with other authors if any are around) but if potential buyers see you sitting there alone they’re more likely to come up and ask a question or make a comment—and to buy.

 By all means, set up an author’s village at your local event--that’s a great idea—but then be brave enough to be lonely!

(two books to get if you're interested in marketing your writing: "Your Writing Coach" published by Nicholas Brealey and "Marketing for Entrpreneurs" published by Pearson, both by Jurgen Wolff--that's me.)

A book marketing idea to inspire you

From the Shelf Awareness bulletin:

Cool idea of the day: for The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman, a novel about a baker's dozen of women who meet the first Monday in December, bring cookies and talk about their lives, Atria is designating the first weekend in December as Christmas Cookie Weekend. People are encouraged to host their own Christmas Cookie Clubs and donate cookies to local charities. For more information, see the Facebook page created by Pearlman.

At the moment I'm brainstorming ideas for how to get some more attention for my newest book, "Creativity Now!" The Cookie story led to the idea of possibly sponsoring a contest for the most creative new way for charities to raise money in these tough times. Maybe I can get the publisher to kick in ten books of the recipient's choice (or even some prize money...). 

If you're looking for ways to market a book or other product, what ideas does the item above (or my variation of it) provoke?

(If you need to market something, get my book, "Marketing for Entrepreneurs," published by Pearson, to go from idea through to a complete campaign.)

Poets - here's how to distribute your poetry

Can what works for music work for poetry as well? The people behind poetryspeaks.com hope so. At their website you can search for poems by topics, by poet, or by name of the poem. You’ll also find the biographies of poets, be able to listen to (or watch, in the case of videos) 30 seconds of any poetry products for sale on the site, and upload your own poetry and get feedback on it.

Regarding this last function, the site says:

“Discover and be discovered! YourMic is your online stage for poetry. Not-yet-published poets can upload their video and audio poetry performances to YourMic. Register for a free account on PoetrySpeaks.com to upload your poetry to the site. PoetrySpeaks.com is a community where you can rate and review poetry performances. Join the community for the opportunity to be critiqued or discovered by like-minded peers. Your poetry performances may also be viewed by published poets who are on the PS•Voices and SpokenWord sections of the site. Build your following on YourMic.”

There’s lots more on the site, both free and for a fee, and the creators (Sourcebooks) say they’ve invested five years and a quarter of a million dollars in it. Using iTunes as a model they’ve set it up so you can download an individual poetry reading for 99 cents, or a video version for $1.99. They’re hoping that the interactive elements will draw people to the site, saying that “in essence, it’s a social network for poets and poetry lovers.”

In my experience, poets have often been more interested in writing poetry and selling it than in buying it. We’ll see whether this venture can find enough of a balance to make a profit.

(Want 100 techniques for being more creative? They're in my newest book, "Creativity Now!" --check it out on Amazon and other online retailers or, in the UK, at WH Smith travel outlets)

Could this be a model for marketing your writing?

According to the blogger Destructive Anachronism, the formula for post-print literature may be “high quality content + innovative marketing + multimedia.” This was referenced in an article in the New York Times about a new quarterly literary magazine called “Electric Literature.”

 The publishers are making the magazine available on paper, as an ebook, on the Kindle, on the iPod and as an audiomag. They’re augmenting it with YouTube videos featuring collaborations between their writers and artists and musicians, and one of their authors is writing a short story using Twitter. For the first issue they had animations created for each of the short stories.

 I admit it: as an old-school reader and writer, sometimes I revel in the silence of paper. But I think it’s important to be aware of the new options available to us. As the article points out, we’re going to have to be innovative because writers “drown in the great middle between the mega-sellers like Dan Brown and the avant-garde work produced in small quantities.”

 At the moment, the magazine is still on the small side: 800 subscribers and 1600 single-copy sales, but their readership is growing quickly. (For more information see the New York Times article, or go to the electricliterature.com web site.)

 I like the attitude of one of the founders, Andy Hunter: “We have an optimistic message at a time of pessimism. As writers, we got tired of the doom and gloom. The future is not something you acquiesce to, it something you create.”

(for help in being more creative and productive sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm ebulletin by sending an email request to BstormUK@aol.com; also get my new book, "Creativity Now!" published by Pearson.)

 

The truth about book reviews

Writing on his Fast Company blog, Adam Pennenberg said this about book reviews:

 “Book reviews don't sell books anymore. All they do is act as marketing fragments for publishers and authors to spin for promotion.

 

Good reviews help, at best, incrementally, and bad reviews hurt, at worst, incrementally. They're published then they disappear, living on as pithy testimonials on authors' Web sites, or on the back covers or in the fronts of paperback editions.

 

It wasn't always this way. A rave review 20 years ago in, say, The New York Times, Washington Post, or Publishers Weekly could usher an obscure author into the limelight.”

 

He mentions that his first book got about 30 reviews in a variety of publications, his second got seven, and his third (and current) looks to get just three, because the number of publications carrying book reviews keeps shrinking. I’ve noticed the same trend with my own books (even though I was never ushered into the limelight…).

 

Now it’s bloggers and Amazon reviews that make a difference. Pennenberg cites a study that shows the impact of a one-star review is greater than that of a five-star review.

 

Of course with Amazon reviews you’re at the mercy of anyone. Some years ago one of my books got a review in which I was called names and was accused of stealing someone else’s book title. It turns out this fellow had self-published a book with a vaguely similar name and had posted hate-reviews for half a dozen other books as well. Fortunately Amazon took down the reviews as well as the reviews of his own book (he’d either written them all himself or happened to have half a dozen reviewers with the same habit of using exclamation marks in every sentence).

 

On the other hand, I’ve been fortunate to receive emails from people who have enjoyed my books and usually I ask them to please post a review on Amazon or their other favorite online site—and some are nice enough to take the time to do it. (Hint: if you’ve read one of my books and liked it, it would be great if you could do the same.)

How writers and others can build a platform (part 8 - the last, for now)

In this final (at least for now) segment on building your platform, let’s look at how you can make people aware of what you’re offering them. It’s one thing to make a video or write a special report, but it’s another to actually get people to watch or read it. Here are six ways to get the word out:

 Write articles for distribution services like ezinearticles.com. They don’t charge you for uploading your articles, and in your bio box you can include a link to a blog, a website, a podcast or the other location where people who are interested can find what you’re offering. Naturally the articles should relate closely to the thing you’re offering.

 Create “trailers” to put up on YouTube. Be sure that the key words you put with the video are precise so that people who are searching for videos on your topic will find them.

 Let bloggers who are in your field but not directly competitive in terms of what you offer know about it. I know from the experience of writing a blog post every day that bloggers are happy to get material they can use.

 Consider the use of low-cost online ads on sites and blogs that are closely related to your topic. These can cost as little as a few dollars or pounds and while the readership typically is low, they will have a high degree of interest in your arena.

 Cross-promote. If you have a blog, be sure people who visit it can sign up for your e-bulletin, if you have one. If you send out a free report, include your website and blog addresses in big print and in several locations. Use the auto-signature feature on your email to include links to your blog or website.

 Consider using ads in offline media. Again, ideally this would be in a specialist publication that targets exactly the group you want to reach. These don’t have to be huge ads—in fact, start by testing whether classified ads work for you, and then try small display ads. Haggle—very few people pay the amounts on a magazine’s official rate cards.

 I hope this series has been helpful. If you have other ideas or are willing to share your experiences in building a platform, please get in touch at jurgenwolff(at)gmail.com. And keep reading this blog because I’ll be adding new ideas and strategies from time to time. You can also get more ideas from my book, “Your Writing Coach” published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers and if you’d like me to guide you through to your writing goal over the course of 60 days, see my new Breakthrough Strategy coaching program at www.jurgenwolff.com.

How writers and others can build a platorm (part 7)

In previous posts, we’ve looked at what a platform is, who to target, how to find them, and the kinds of things you can offer them. There’s one big decision you need to make about how you want to handle the people who you lure to your site. That is whether you will make them register with their name (perhaps just their first name) and email address, or give them the content freely. Let’s see the advantages and disadvantages of both.

 If you ask people to register with their contact information before you give them access to your report or video or audio or other product, you will have the information you need in order to stay in touch with them. You can let them know about your latest products and services, special deals, appearances, etc. Of course you must make it easy for them to unsubscribe from anytime they want to, but this way you can build up a good list of interested people. Some internet marketers stress that having a list like this is absolutely crucial.

 The downside is that a certain number of people will be put off by the need to register, either because they can’t be bothered to fill in the form or they fear that it will lead to getting unwanted email.

 If you make your content readily available without any need to register and specify that you are happy to have anybody distribute it, it will be seen by more people. It’s a good way of building up awareness of your name and what you offer.

One time management coach created a small guide to using your time better and distributed it this way and he said it has been downloaded more than 60,000 times. Because it included his email address and a blurb about his services at the end, it did serve a marketing function. His guess is that if he’d required registration in order to allow downloads only a couple thousand people would have done it. He has gotten business as a result of it, but of course there’s no way of knowing how much more—or less—business he would have had from it if he’d required registration and sent a variety of messages over time to that list.

 Your decision is this: do you want to get your name out there in a general way, or do you want to build a list of people who are interested enough to give you their name and contact information? Of course you can combine the two and use it as a test: create one report or video to distribute freely (from a download site that doesn’t require registration) and another on a related topic for which people have to sign up. Then keep track over a period of several months the contacts and new business you get from each. Overall, I suggest the list-building approach.

(Do you want to be guided through to your writing goal in 60 days? See my new Breakthrough Strategy Program at www.jurgenwolff.com and my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)