|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 by: Jay Johnson Be sure to check out: The Aton Project Newsletters at: http://www.self-publishinghelp.com/TheAtonProjectNewsletters.html. This newsletter, by author Tony VanSluytman, has been receiving rave revues despite it not being directed to writers. and FREE Writing Course http://http://banyonsbookdoctor.com. We are quite proud of the contributions of these two dedicated authors and wish for you to learn more about them. *** Moonspinners Writer's Page (http://www.maureenmcmahon.com), the website of Maureen McMahon, has been voted one of the 101 Best Websites by Writer's Digest 2006 - specifically her Ask The Experts section, created in collaboration with fellow author Fran Silverman (http://www.maureenmcmahon.com/bookmarketing.html). The Experts Site is composed of 150 subscribers to Fran’s newsletter, Book Promotion Newsletter (http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com), who answer book marketing questions at no charge. Download: 10 Ways to Promote Your Book... Welcome our Sponsor... ADRdomainsPlus.com for Your Domain Names and Internet Products GREAT rates and EXCELLENT service.  You are the Box Office Smash: The Personal Screenplay by Gordy Hoffman Right this very second, in the heart of every struggling, undiscovered screenwriter, in the dark, hidden corner deep within, there is a voice, a clear whisper, saying one thing: You're never gonna figure this out. And this is not referring to the story with its gaping hole, the finale missing a payoff, the hit and miss humor, the flat title. I'm talking about freedom. The freedom to work as a screenwriter. Compensation for a home for family and a life. The resources to wake up and ply your craft and pay the freight, without obstacle. The chance to see your writing made into pictures, to work with the industry's best, to fulfill this goal of professional screenwriter. Hollywood success. Behind this voice is the idea that somehow, some way, you'll find the hero, or the hook, logline or pitch that will punch your golden ticket. If you could only figure out what the studio wants, if you can only get a solid bead to this game, you know you can write and execute. What is the script I should write to get an agent? What is the one that will sell? It's not that I don't know how to write, I know how to write screenplays, I just need to know what they want, even though I think I know what they want, but I don't think I have the idea that they want. Yeah. I'm not gonna figure this out, whispers the voice. Why this uneasiness? Does it originate within ourselves? I don't think so. But where does it come from? The daily obsession with box office grosses? The news of the seven figure deals to newbies? The endless procession of boneheadedly conceived franchises-in-waiting arriving in the theatres every Friday? People winning Academy Awards for movies you would not be caught dead writing? Recognizing an idea you came up with years ago on your couch, produced with a $130 million budget drowning in CGI? All these things are but a few of the possible reasons why this seeds unhealthy doubt and confusion in the modern screenwriter. Tracking these forces outside us and beyond our control in an effort to trudge the path to a successful screenwriting career will prove to most to be unproductive and corrosive. Basically, trying to figure out what Hollywood wants will land us in a resentment that makes "giving up" a sane response to the very challenge which used to inspire us. In short, we cannot chase a perceived trend and remember our dreams. You cannot look at the marketplace and find your voice. You can find ideas, trends, and inspiration there, perhaps, but you can find these things driving in traffic as well. But listening to your voice is the key to creating original, compelling stories. Your life is your own story. You have a completely unique thread of experience. By allowing yourself to express these emotional experiences, your screenplay, your story, will be different from any other and powerful, as original as your fingerprint. Why is it powerful? When we have the courage to be specific about what we know about living, we create an authentic world an audience recognizes as the life they are living on planet Earth. This connects your audience to your story. This connection is the foundation of the phenomena of story. Why does story mean so much to us? We recognize the triumphs and tragedies of our lives, with all the hilarity and tears. By seeing it, we are validated and it underscores meaning and purpose to living. If we don't use what we've collected in life in our hearts and spirits, then our story loses its authenticity and the connection the audience should make fails. They do not see themselves, and when they leave the theater, they do not call their friends. When people do not call their friends after seeing a movie, the movie bombs. When a writer opens their person to their work, when they allow themselves to be vulnerable, to risk exposure of the secrets of their life story, they take a huge step towards creating a screenplay of substantial value, a screenplay with a greater potential of a large number of tickets sold. This is precisely why art and commerce have remained bedfellows for thousands of years. To look at the relationship between art and commerce as adversarial or incompatible is just plain foolish. Art happens when people invest their spirits in their work without fear, and story is artful when the writing is truthful and the writer is authentic. And what do we have to be honest about? We can only lie about what we know, and we can only tell the truth about what we know. And that is what has happened to us, our life story. This is what we share. This is not a pitch to write "what you know." This is not about writing stories about where you work or where you live. This is about writing about what you felt. You can imagine characters and worlds and actions and speech you've never personally experienced, but if you remember to infuse your choices with your emotional and spiritual struggles and victories as a human being, your screenplay will be different in the very best sense of the word. The question you have to answer is not what does Hollywood want today. The question is how honest of a writer do you want to be. I guarantee you can write a blockbuster, you can write a box office hit. This will happen when you find an audience. And the correct path to this crowd of people is listening to yourself. If you practice, you will develop an inner ear for who you are and what you know and you will become masterful in loading your work with your fingerprints. Writing is personal work. You are the guitar. You are the box of paint. Give of that and your audience will remember why life is good and they will talk of you. About the Author Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA, Gordy Hoffman has written and directed three digital shorts for Fox Searchlight. He made his feature directorial debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW, which world premiered at the 2005 Locarno Intl Film Festival. A COAT OF SNOW made its North American Premiere at the Arclight in Hollywood, going on to screen at the Milan Film Festival and the historic George Eastman House. Recently, the movie won the 2006 Domani Vision Award at VisionFest, held at the Tribeca Cinemas in NY. A professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Gordy is the founder and judge of BlueCat Screenplay Competition. Dedicated to develop and celebrate the undiscovered screenwriter, BlueCat provides written script analysis on every script entered. In addition, Gordy acts as a script consultant for screenwriters, offering personalized feedback on their scripts through his consultation service, www.screenplaynotes.com. For more articles by Gordy on screenwriting, visit http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com. A new radio show devoted to book marketing made its debut on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 on Achieve Radio, noon to 1 p.m., MST. Host Francine Silverman will talk with authors, publishers and publicists, providing listeners with a unique perspective on book promotion. To access Book Marketing with Fran, go to http://www.achieveradio.com and click “Click to Listen” at top of page. Should you miss the show, click “Shows & Hosts” on the left and scroll down to Fran’s show and click, “More-Click Here” for the archives. Patricia Fry, president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network) and author of 24 books, will be Fran’s first guest. Patricia’s latest book is The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (Matilija Press 2006), a comprehensive guide for hopeful and struggling authors. Fran is author of Book Marketing from A-Z and editor publisher of Book Promotion Newsletter, http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com Issue 127: January 2, 2008 ISSN 1545-5599 BOOK PROMOTION NEWSLETTER Issue 127: January 2, 2008 EDITOR: FRANCINE SILVERMAN http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com http://www.nystatetravel.com Issued every other Wednesday since 2003 INTRODUCTION Subscribers - Make your New Years Resolution to send me your promotional coups and marketing tips. With your help, Book Promotion Newsletter can be the best ezine around in 2008!! In This Issue: 1) Feature Article 2) Grist for your Mill 3) A Good Question 4) From the Pen of............ 5) Surprises 6) Subscriber Seminar 7) Kudos Please consider adding www.AuthorsandExperts.com and www.SchoolBookings.com to your list of resources. These are great places for authors, experts, and speakers to connect with members of the media, those searching for speakers, and schools. Free to schools and media members, and an economical resource for authors and experts. Ask us about partnership publishing! www.PartnershipPublishing.com 1) Feature Article The 5 Best Ways to Get Media Attention for Your Business by Fern Reiss How do you get journalists to write articles about you? In the past year, I’ve been featured in over 100 magazines and newspapers worldwide (including many of the biggies, from The New York Times to Fortune Magazine). How do you get that kind of attention for your book or business? Here are my top techniques. (See my special report, http://www.PublishingGame.com/mediareport.htm for an even deeper look at how to maximize your media attention.) • Be media worthy This should be obvious, but even experienced publicists seem to overlook it. Journalists are looking for news, for trends, for cutting-edge story ideas. They’re not looking for “I published a new book” or “I hired a new employee” or “I have a great new business idea!” Even though those sentences have the word ‘new’ in them, that’s not sufficient for most journalists, whose first reaction is, “Who cares?” If you can satisfactorily answer the “Who cares?” then you’re well on your way to nailing down a story. • Learn to coin juicy soundbites Besides having a newsy story to tell, it’s also helpful if you can present it in a juicy, clever way. Most of the stories that are covered by today’s media profile people who can tell a good story in an interesting way. Get some consulting or take a class with someone whose expertise is coining soundbites in order to maximize your ability to be quoted. (I offer this consulting, as do others.) What do I mean by a soundbite? Take, for example, the time I was featured in a major wire service syndicated news story, in a story on the bankruptcy of WonderBread. My quote — which appeared first in an article that also quoted the CEOs of Krispy Kreme and Bruegger’s Bagels — was “America’s donut days are dead.” (If you don’t understand why that was a desirable quote, quickly run out and get some training!) • Send out publicity releases regularly On a consistent basis, send out press releases on whatever you’re doing. Depending on your business objectives, you might want to send out releases monthly or weekly, but try to develop a regular pattern that reporters can rely on. Barbara Corcoran, whose company became famous as New York City’s biggest residential real estate group, attributes much of her tremendous media success to the regular publicity release of “The Corcoran Report,” where she quantified the average condo and co-op sale in the city. Use one of the low-cost or free press release services for your frequent communications, and a more upscale press release service infrequently for your particularly important communications. • But do targeted publicity too Don’t just send generic press releases to publications randomly; do targeted publicity as well. When you speak to most publicists, their idea of targeted releases is sending to 500 publications instead of 10,000. When I say targeted publicity, I mean zeroing in on one publication, and one editor or journalist at that publication, to whom to address your story. A few years ago, when I wanted some major international publicity for Expertizing, I sat down with all the business magazines and decided which one was most appropriate; then I read back stories by everyone on the masthead until I’d zeroed in on the journalist who was most likely to appreciate my story. I sent him a press release—just one press release, just to him. Two days later he phoned, and a few weeks later he attended my all-day Expertizing Workshop in Boston. The result? A full page story in Fortune Magazine. • Sign up for the Expertizing Publicity Forum If you’re promoting a nonfiction book or general–interest business, consider my new Expertizing Publicity Forum, where each week you can tell top journalists about your business — and hear their personalized tips on how you can best promote it, and whether they’re interested in writing an article about it for their publication. Participants have gotten placement in everything from The New York Times to USA Today, and two participants got literary agents and big publishing deals! For more information, check out http://www.Expertizing.com/forum.htm. If you’d like to get the top 18 tips on getting more media attention for your book and business, get Fern’s $11 7-page special report “Get Media Attention for Your Business: 18 Techniques to Attract Journalists to Write About You” at http://www.PublishingGame.com/mediareport.htm. Or join the Expertizing Publicity Forum where you can pitch your book or business to journalists from national publications each week; spaces are going fast at http://www.Expertizing.com/forum.htm. 2) GRIST FOR YOUR MILL Norm Goldman found a website that he recommends, explaining that "it is a user friendly way to create all kinds of slides. It is a terrific way to promote oneself on sites as http://myspace.com, facebook, the author's own site, emails, etc." In addition, Norm is now offering an e-interview service for $50. The service includes the e-interview as well as postings on http://bookpleasures.com, http://Americanchronicle.com, Amapedia, his own http://myspace.com blog, links with http://authorsden.com as well as some other sites. "It will incorporate a widget from Amazon as well as a link to author's site," he says. Here is a sample: http://www.slide.com/r/mqkti3MV7D8k_c6zDcQQAKzj27KXxdD0?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original You can reach Norm at bookpleasures@gmail.com http://bookpleasures.com The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need To Know About Selling Your Book in 20 Minutes or Less is a new Amazon Short by Carolyn Howard-Johnson that should help writers do what they hate to do most and that is to write book proposals. Many hate the learning process even more. Amazon Shorts also fit into a struggling author's budget. They're only 49 cents! Purchase First Impression Book Proposal at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YG6O5U/ref=cm_arms_pdp_dp. And while you're there, consider how Amazon Shorts might be worked into your writing career. Carolyn likes Amazon Shorts because they're frugal. She also suggests a fellow writer's Short. It's Why Writers Are Cranky and Five Emergency Tools for Writing a Short Story, http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Cranky-Emergency-Tools-Writing/dp/B000A0F6FO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198516549&sr=1-1 by Bruce Holland Rogers. Here's what Amazon Shorts (whether nonfiction, fiction or poetry) can do for readers:. Amazon Shorts are delivered electronically; there are no printed editions. Thus, they can save trees. Amazon Shorts are yours forever - after purchase, you can read them anytime at Amazon.com. (They'll be stored forever in Your Media Library in PDF, HTML and text e-mail formats.) You are free to print Amazon Shorts to read in hard copy form at your convenience. Amazon shorts are very inexpensive (a few pennies more than a postage stamp) and a way to learn something new in very little time. Velda Brotherton recommends going to Yahoogroups.com for writers' groups. "Two Yahoo groups I find informative are Writersresourcecentral@yahoogroups.com, and SelfPromotionforAuthors@yahoogroups.com," she says. "If you don't know what a list serve is, you receive email from everyone on the list serve when they discuss writing craft. Some are better than others. If you belong to any writer's associations, check to see if they have a list serve. Several do and they can be helpful. Don't load yourself up, be picky and opt off those that don't offer what you want, or you'll be inundated with email." Velda's latest books are WANDERING IN THE SHADOWS OF TIME: An Ozarks Odyssey (1st Books Library 2002), and FLY WITH THE MORNING DOVE (PublishAmerica 2007). http://www.veldabrotherton.com 3) A GOOD QUESTION Bernard Fleury wants to know if anyone has had a successful approach to securing a national review/interview for their book. Bernard is author of CALLED INTO LIFE BY THE LIGHT and A BEE IN HIS BONNET, both published by 1st Books Library and both revised. http://www.intolifebylight.com 4) FROM THE PEN OF........ Jeff Crilley is an Emmy Award Winning TV Reporter from Dallas and author of Free Publicity-A TV Reporter Shares the Secrets for Getting Covered on the News (Charisma Press 2002). According to the author, it's “the first book on how to `play' the media from the media's point of view. All the other books on PR are written by PR people. So this is like an IRS agent teaching you how to cheat on your taxes. I started by pitching the Dallas Morning News. One of the things I teach people is to target specific reporters, rather than blindly sending out news releases. So...I targeted a business columnist. I called her on the phone and pitched her on writing an article about how unique it is that a journalist is sharing insider secrets. She blew me off. But another thing I preach is to not give up. So I picked up the paper again and pitched a lifestyles columnist. He too blew me off...Strike two! Then a week later I noticed in the Sunday edition a journalist who writes a weekly column called 'Business Book Briefs.' I called him on the phone, sent him the book and he loved it. He made me the first mention in his next column. It went out to 750,000 readers. The lesson: Every author has a story, but not every journalist will care about your story. Don't give up. Study the news and try and find the person who will 'get you.'" http://www.jeffcrilley.com from Book Marketing from A-Z (Infinity Publishing 2005), by Francine Silverman 5) SURPRISES Feather Schwartz Foster was a star in her hometown of New Jersey - to her surprise. The Newark Star Ledger, NJ's biggest daily, has a new site, http://www.morristowngreen.com Scroll down to "What Would Martha Say!" and turn on your sound card! "I recently did a program for the Morristown Woman's Club, and they came to tape it especially for this new site!," Feather explains. "Now you can actually hear a portion of my talks about the "OLD" First Ladies - Martha thru Mamie! And many thanks to reporter/webmaven Kevin Coughlin for the interview and posting!" Feather is author of LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities (PublishAmerica 2003), covering Martha thru Mamie, and GARFIELD'S TRAIN (PublishAmerica 2005).http://www.authorsden.com/featherschwartzfoster 6) SUBSCRIBER SEMINAR Lisa Lenard-Cook is giving a class on the Internet: Beginning this Saturday, January 5th, for 4 weeks in the Authorlink Virtual Classroom: Re-Vision Means Re-Seeing. That's right -- you can attend this class from home! For more info, or to register: http://www.authorlink.com. Lisa is author of Dissonance (UNM Press 2003), short-listed for PEN Southwest Book Award, and Coyote Morning (UNM Press 2004), a Southwest Book of the Year; coming in April from Writer's Digest Books, Lisa's book about fiction writing: The Mind of Your Story http://www.lisalenardcook.com 7) KUDOS Folks - when you win an award or place in a contest, please let me know. Every time I announce subcribers who placed in the USABook News Book 2007 Awards, another subscriber comes out of the woodwork. Debra A. Kemp's The House of Pendragon II: The Recruit (Amber Quill Press 2007) was a finalist in the historical fiction category. http://www.telltalepress.com/debrakemp.html Betty Jo Tucker and her husband's romantic memoir, IT HAD TO BE US, written under the pseudonyms of Harry and Elizabeth Lawrence, has received a nomination in The Romance Studio’s fourth annual Cupid and Psyche Awards program. These awards are given for excellence in romantic fiction. "Although our E-Book [version] does not quality as 'fiction,' it’s been nominated for a Psyche Award, a category for romances that do not meet the nomination criteria but deserve special recognition. Winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day, 2008," says Betty Jo. For more information about It Had To Be Us, please go to http://www.theromanceclub.com/authors/lawrence http://www.authorsden.com/bettyjotucker Francine Silverman is author of CATSKILLS ALIVE (second edition) and LONG ISLAND ALIVE, both published in 2003 by Hunter Publishing and geared to every interest. To learn more about her guidebooks and for links to hundreds of attractions on Long Island and in the Catskills, visit Fran's one-stop website at http://www.nystatetravel.com BOOK MARKETING FROM A-Z (Infinity Publishing 2005) is written by 325 paid subscribers to Book Promotion Newsletter. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-0106967-2029708?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Book+Marketing+from+A-Z&x=22&y=24 TALK RADIO FOR AUTHORS - Getting Interviews Across the U.S. and Canada (Infinity Publishing 2007) is an intimate look into 230 talk radio shows that welcome guests. Both books are available at Amazon.com and at http://www.buybooksontheweb.com (Category: Marketing). http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-0106967-2029708?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Talk+Radio+for+Authors&x=0&y=0http://www.amazon.com Subscribers are entitled to a 20% discount on either book. Contact Fran at franalive@optonline.net for code. The publisher's toll free number does not work outside the continental US and orders cannot be processed from its website for shipping outside the US. Subscribers in foreign countries who wish to purchase the books with the discount may email Michelle at michelle@infinitypublishing.com or fax an order (610/941-9959). She will provide confirmation that your order has been received and will be processed promptly. When using these options subscribers should put everything to Michelle's attention and reference the Promotional Code (contact Fran for code). If emailing Michelle, DO NOT put your credit card number in any email correspondence as this is not secure. Mail: Infinity Publishing, 1094 New Dehaven St, Suite 100, West Conshohocken, PA 19428 Issue 128: January 16, 2008 ISSN 1545-5599 BOOK PROMOTION NEWSLETTER Issue 128: January 16, 2008 EDITOR: FRANCINE SILVERMAN http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com http://www.nystatetravel.com Issued every other Wednesday since 2003 INTRODUCTION I have bounced around among three publishers. The first seemed interested, then told me my formating is "AWFUL." He proceeded to tweak my proposal and then said my book is not for him. The second publisher also expressed an interest and even wrote me long emails with suggestions and questions. Then he disappeared from the radar screen. The third publisher seemed ideal. He emailed me as soon as he received my proposal and said he'd get back to me early this week. Well, Wednesday afternoon will end "early next week" and if I don't hear back, I'll have no choice but to email him. I tell you, it's been an exercise in frustration. But this silly girl is still hopeful. In This Issue: 1) Feature Article 2) Grist for Your Mill 3) Feedback 4) Contest 5) Progress Report 6) A Good Question 7) Subscriber Seminar 8) Kudos Please consider adding http://www.AuthorsandExperts.com and http://www.SchoolBookings.com to your list of resources. These are great places for authors, experts, and speakers to connect with members of the media, those searching for speakers, and schools. Free to schools and media members, and an economical resource for authors and experts. Ask us about partnership publishing! http://www.PartnershipPublishing.com 1) FEATURE ARTICLE Partnering with Amazon to Help Starving Artists on 49 Cents and 20 Minutes By Carolyn Howard-Johnson I am partnering with Amazon Shorts, a program that brings short pieces from published authors for the amazing price of 49 cents. Shorts include nonfiction and how-tos, short stories, poetry collections and more. The idea to publish The Great First Impression Book Proposal (http://www.amazon.com/Great-First-Impression-Book-Proposal/dp/B000YG6O5U) came to me as I was helping a client to cut through what he called "book proposal muck." It occurred to me that a huge percentage of authors hate, detest, loathe the learning process required by book proposals and further, most of them are unwilling to spend the time or money learning how to do it from the many excellent books on the market. Suddenly it occurred to me that Amazon's Short program was the way to reach these authors because 49 cents and 20 minutes fit into almost any author's budget for time or money. But Amazon Shorts is an idea that can be utilized to meet a whole bunch of goals. Many authors are utilizing Amazon's short program because: Amazon Shorts are uniquely suited to works that appear to require a smaller format. Amazon Shorts allow—nay, encourage—links to a publisher's or authors related publications. Amazon Shorts asks for only a six month exclusive which means that a chapter or excerpt might be used to test the advisability of a book on the same subject or to drum up interest for that topic. Amazon acts as a full-service e-publisher with shorts. That means that Amazon publicizes the work. That means exposure for the author. Authors of anything from poetry to how-to books may find a way to fit one or more Amazon Shorts into their publishing and promotion plans. Amazon Shorts will expose an author's other work to a very important target audience, readers. So, I am quick to point out that the benefits of Amazon Shorts are a two-way street. I'm thinking more and more authors will want to utilize this publishing program for one or more of the reasons I listed above. The author of this blog entry is no stranger to publishing or to awards. Her novel, This is the Place, won eight awards. Her book of creative nonfiction, Harkening, won three and her chapbook of poetry (Finishing Line Press) won the award of excellence from the Military Writers Society of America. The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't are both USA Book News Award winners in the publishing and writing category. Her marketing campaign for those books won the Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award. The author is an extension division instructor for UCLA’s renowned Writers’ Program and speaks at writers' conferences nationwide. She was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by the California Legislature and American Business Women's Association (ABWA) named her Outstanding Woman. Learn more about Howard-Johnson at http://carolynhoward-johnson.com or http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com. She blogs at http://www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com, http://www.sharingwithwriting.blogspot.com, http://www.authorscoalition.blogspot.com, http://www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com, http://www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com 2) GRIST FOR YOUR MILL I received an email from Liz Smith (not the gossip columnist) about contributing articles to her site. Here's what she wrote: "HowToDoThings.com presents unbiased, authoritative information on a wide range of topics. We have a large category devoted entirely to a wide variety of writing topics. Some of our most popular articles are on subjects like "How to Write a Theatrical Review", "How to Find Writing Jobs," "How to Self Publish," and "How to Write a Press Release." Writers can learn about topics ranging from finding a writing space, to dealing with writer's block, to how to promote your article or book." As a trusted expert in the field, we would like to invite you to become a contributor and write "How To" articles of your own. Publishing articles on HowToDoThings gives you access to a large and growing audience, helping you establish credibility and gain recognition for your expertise. You can include a link to your website or blog in your author signature and profile, and you can even earn some money! We split the advertising revenue your articles earn with you, 50/50. Find out more at http://www.howtodothings.com/start?cid=writing. [Editor's Note: You must have expertise in one of their categories, otherwise you can't contribute an article. There is a category on spirtuality, for instance, but none on book marketing or publishing]. Lillian Caldwell sent me the following: Starting January 28th, the Women for Hire website is launching an author segment to run every Tuesday featuring a short three-minute video Q&A with a nonfiction author on a topic of interest to women: workplace, lifestyle, health, etc. The video will be showcased on their homepage. In addition to the video, they will feature an excerpt from the book as well as a link to Amazon so people can buy the book. For authors in New York City, they'll shoot the videos, which is a quick and fun process requiring no more than 30 minutes of their time. For those outside Manhattan, they provide straight-forward instructions to do it yourself and submit to them. The WomenForHire.com website has 250,000 unique visitors each month as well as 300,000 professional women who subscribe to their newsletters. They are looking for authors who will provide valuable inspiration, information, or advice. Send the title, short synopsis, brief author bio, why women would buy your book, the target audience, publication date, and confirmation that the author is willing to do a video to Rachael Chase, Women for Hire; 212-580-6100. Email: rachel@womenforhire.com http://www.womenforhire.com Lillian is CEO/Passionate Internet Voices Talk Radio http://www.internetvoicesradio.com Travel writers Bill and Mary Burham are wondering if anyone has ever conducted a book tour like the following and might have tips for stowing books in a kayak: Bill and Mary are planning a Book Tour like no other: Jan. 31 through Feb. 13, they're paddling 100 miles from Key Largo to Key West to promote their Florida Keys Paddling Atlas. They'll do book-signings, radio shows, slide shows and 'paddle with the authors' events, blogging it all along the way http://www.FloridaPaddling.com). "We welcome ideas for promoting the trip, which will highlight the new Florida Keys Overseas Paddling Trail, as well as green, human-powered travel," says Mary. "And if you're in Key West on Feb. 13, come to the Finale Party! Details and trip blog at http://www.FloridaPaddling.com" http://www.BurnhamInk.com From Linda Radke http://www.AuthorsandExperts.com http://www.FiveStarPublications.com RebeccasReads is once again accepting books for review! If you are an author or a publisher and would like your book/s reviewed please send them to: RebeccasReads Review Request 7101 W Hwy 71 Ste 250 Austin, TX 78735 3) FEEDBACK Bernard Fleury had inquired if anyone has had a successful approach to securing a national review/interview for their book. Carolyn Howard-Johnson responds: "I had some luck with my first book novel, This Is the Place (Carolyn Howard-Johnson 2001). My publisher didn't put out review copies early enough to get reviews from any of the biggies. Is anyone surprised? That's one of the reasons that I wrote The Frugal Book Promoter (Star Publish 2004) - to help keep authors from falling into potholes like this. Anyway, I decided I'd try the back door on a few of journals. I went to the library and got the names of independent reviewers for some of the magazines and queried them directly. Bingo! A woman who wrote the Christian Fiction column for the Library Journal back then said she'd look at it. I didn't exactly consider This Is the Place Christian Fiction, even though it's set in Utah--Mormon country. But I didn't argue with her. It worked. Lots of libraries added it to their collections. BTW, This Is the Place went on to win several awards and is enjoying a revival because Mitt Romney is running for President. He calls Utah his Zion and so there is lots of interest in it again." http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com 4) CONTEST Dotsie Bregel is holding her January contest. Here is the information: Most Valuable Life Lesson The National Association of Baby Boomer Women, NABBW http://www.nabbw.com and http://www.boomerwomenspeak.com are excited to sponsor the NABBW 2008 Contest, Most Valuable Life Lesson. Win $100.00 cash and FREE Membership or Membership Renewal with the NABBW! With age comes wisdom. What wise lesson have you learned that has been life changing? We are publishing a list of The Top Ten Most Valuable Life Lessons. Please tell us what lesson you've learned that has changed your life and may help change another's life. It's that simple. Name the lesson and share how you learned it within 100 words or less. All boomer-age (born 1946-1964) women are invited to submit their most valuable life lesson learned to Dotsie Bregel, Founder of the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, NABBW http://www.nabbw.com and http://www.boomerwomenspeak.com, the number one sites for "baby boomer women" on major search engines. If your lesson is chosen, you win $100.00 in cash and a membership or renewal to the NABBW for F-R-E-E. Your contact information may be included in future publications of the list. Simply follow these Guidelines: 1.) Submit your entry in a Word document with your name, email address, short bio within the Word document. Give the lesson a title and share how you learned the lesson in less than 100 words. 2) In the subject line of your email put "MIDLIFE" and submit your entry to contest@nabbw.com 3) Deadline is January 30, 2008. 5) PROGRESS REPORT These are the spots I found for my clients: Roger Ellerton has two radio spots: He was the guest of Frank Gasiorowski on Power Talk on Blog Talk Radio, http://www.90DayGoals.com, yesterday, January 15, 2008, and of Doug Noll, host of Fix Your Conflicts!, a show dealing with everyday peacemaking and conflict resolution, on http://www.worldtalkradio.com and http://www.voiceamerica.com on January 21, 2008. http://www.lawyertopeacemaker.com Roger is author of LIVE YOUR DREAMS - Let Reality Catch Up (Trafford 2005). http://www.live-your-dreams.biz Michele Avanti was the guest of Stephen Hawley Martin, host of The Truth About Life, on Wednesday, January 9, 2008. http://www.WebTalkRadio.net Michele is author of GreeHee The Journey of Five - Tales of Tamoor Book One (GreeHee Publishing 2006). http://www.astrologyandmore.com http://TalesofTamoor.com 6) A GOOD QUESTION Arlene Uslander had surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and she is interested in hearing from anyone who has suffered from this writer's condition and what their experience with it has been - especially if you have surgery for it. arleneuslander@gmail.com Arlene and Brenda Warneka are co-authors of A Simple Touch of Fate, a compilation of amazing true stories of Fate, Coincidence and Providence. http://www.thefatesite.com Dr. Gilda Carle is having trouble with her computer. "I have been using WORD for writing my books," she says. "It is a perfect system for my columns. But I am more and more bothered that we can put only so many words in a book doc before I end up 'fighting' with the mouse to make changes, etc. In other words, my computer goes crazy with a lot of pages. It happened when I used a PC, and now it’s still happening on my Mac. Finally, I must solve this!! "Here are my questions: How many pages can WORD usually hold? Are other writers experiencing this, too? Is the solution to only write CHAPTERS in each document? Or is there another software other than WORD that other writers use? Gilda is author of Don't Bet on the Prince! (St. Martin's Press 1999); He's Not All That! How to Attract the Good Guys (Collins 2001); and Teen Talk with Dr. Gilda (Harper Paperbacks 2003). http://www.drgilda.com Technology seems to be the most challenging part of my writing!" {Editor's note: I thought it may have to do with storage capacity but felt it was better to throw out the question to the computer gurus out there]. 7) SUBSCRIBER SEMINAR This afternoon, January 16th, Calling All Authors is holding its 4th Teleseminar entitled: IT'S YOUR CALL: Thinking Outside the Book: The Secrets of Successful Book Publicity with Maryglenn McCombs, of Maryglenn McCombs Book Publicity. Maryglenn will join Valerie to shed light on this very murky area of promoting a book: PR Regardless of whether you're a new author or have years of writing experience, you'll need to build awareness in order to create demand for your book. To create awareness, you'll need to promote your book. Effective book promotion is a combination of timing, creativity, contacts and sometimes luck. Just as no two book projects are exactly alike, no two PR campaigns should be exactly alike, either. The key to successful book promotion begins with a targeted approach - one that takes into account the authors, the subject matter, the intended market and the appropriate means of reaching that target audience. With over ten years of experience in the publishing industry, Maryglenn knows first-hand the challenges that authors and publishers face. From soliciting reviews and interviews to creating press kits and coordinating advanced review copy production, she offers individual, personalized attention and targeted media campaigns. • Why should an author consider hiring a publicist? • What exactly does a book publicist do? • Isn’t getting reviews as simple as mailing review copies to reviewers and then letting them review the book? Why would an author need to hire someone to do that? • How far in advance of my book’s release should I start to consider hiring a publicist? • Should book publicists offer guarantees as to how many placements they will generate for me? • What are the benefits of hiring a publicist to represent my book? • What are the most common mistakes authors and publishers make with regards to publicizing books? • What do you mean by “thinking outside the book?” • What is the role of book signings in PR? • I want to do my own PR. Where should I start? • I’m really anxious to get PR for my book, but it won’t be available for some time. Does it make sense to try to get the book reviewed now? • My book has been out for a while. Is it too late to try to get publicity? • Are there any secrets to getting coverage in national magazines? • If I do want to hire an outside PR person, how can I tell if a publicist is reputable or effective? This is a call you won't want to miss! Hope you'll all choose to tune in for this one. Please use this call-in information: 1-605-475-6006 Access Code: 763624# and call in a few minutes before the program. We start at 8PM Eastern, 7PM Central, 4PM Mountain, and 5PM Pacific. We'll lock the portal on the hour and start to program. Please RSVP no later than Wednesday morning, Jan. 16th to reserve your place, by replying to this email or sending your confirmation to info@callingallauthors.org We have room for a good number of participants, but we don't have unlimited space. So, do let me know you're attending. Hope to hear from you and that you can make this program! 8) KUDOS Judy Davids will be a guest on CNBC's The Big Idea talking about her book Rock Star Mommy: My Life as a Rocker Mom. "I'll discuss how my journey from soccer mom to rocker mom led to a book publishing deal," she says. How did this come about? "Here's out it happened," she explains. "I made it my business to have a presence on the Internet...mainly through blogging and responding to blogs and YouTube. Since my book is about being in an all-MOM rock band, I am constantly looking for websites geared towards mothers, and there are A LOT of them. I found a site called HotMomsClub.com and I wrote an essay for them that they featured. (It's been up since January 1.) This morning a producer for The Big Idea stumbled across it and called me. (I am easy to find on the web. I work very hard on keeping my name near the top of all the search engines.) After a brief phone conversation, she looked at my websites, videos, pictures etc...and rang me about an hour later with an offer to be on the show!" The way she understands it, "they will fly me in next Tuesday [January 15] for a taping on Wednesday morning and the show airs the same night." So let's all watch for her tonight at 10pm ET! http://www.rockstarmommy.info Francine Silverman, P.O. Box 1333, Riverdale, New York 10471, is author of: BOOK MARKETING FROM A-Z (Infinity Publishing 2005) written by 325 paid subscribers to Book Promotion Newsletter. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-0106967-2029708?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Book+Marketing+from+A-Z&x=22&y=24 TALK RADIO FOR AUTHORS - Getting Interviews Across the U.S. and Canada (Infinity Publishing 2007) an intimate look into 230 talk radio shows that welcome guests. Both books are available at Amazon.com and at http://www.buybooksontheweb.com (Category: Marketing). http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-0106967-2029708?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Talk+Radio+for+Authors&x=0&y=0http://www.amazon.com Subscribers are entitled to a 20% discount on either book. Contact Fran at franalive@optonline.net for code. The publisher's toll free number does not work outside the continental US and orders cannot be processed from its website for shipping outside the US. Subscribers in foreign countries who wish to purchase the books with the discount may email Michelle at michelle@infinitypublishing.com or fax an order (610/941-9959). She will provide confirmation that your order has been received and will be processed promptly. When using these options subscribers should put everything to Michelle's attention and reference the Promotional Code (contact Fran for code). If emailing Michelle, DO NOT put your credit card number in any email correspondence as this is not secure. Mail: Infinity Publishing, 1094 New Dehaven St, Suite 100, West Conshohocken, PA 19428 Betty B's Arcana Connection by Betty Bradford Byers INNER-VIEWS WITH CELEBRITIES Short Stories Corner Poetry Corner Write On Southwest...Book Reviews by Connie Gotsch The BOOK DOCTOR Book Reviewer's Corner Public Service links And so much more! | Return Home | The BOOK DOCTOR | The BANYON NETWORK | The Banyon Buzz Newsletters | The Aton Project Newsletters | Contact Us | |
||
 |
 |