While you’re still struggling to finish your first book, you may not see the value of learning to write promotional copy about yourself, your books, or your services. However, it’s a skill you really need to learn – so on those days when your imagination has dried up or the book just isn’t going well, close the file and start doing some research. It’s easy, and you won’t feel guilty because you’ve abandoned your book, because you HAVE to learn to do this.

The most important thing you have to do is step back and write about yourself and your ’stuff’ as though you were a journalist writing about somebody else. (A journalist who just happens to admire that ’somebody else’ greatly!)

What kind of promotional copy might you need to write?

1. A flyer promoting your services. (Remember, you’re writing about somebody else who delivers a terrific, in-demand service.) For this, imagine what you would like people to be saying about you. Why are you the writer everyone wants to hire? Do you deliver great value for money? Are you prompt? Is your work high-quality? Does your writing make people want to act?) Also, what do previous clients say? (Naturally you can’t make this up!)

2. Information about yourself for a local newspaper article about ‘local author makes good’.You will need to have this handy if you win a competition or get a book published. Write about yourself in the third person. e.g. “Author Susie Writer has beaten 3,000 other keen writers to win this years Blankety Blank Competition” or “Susie Writer, mother of three lively pre-schoolers, has published a book on Fun Craft For Kids that is guaranteed to keep your brood occupied for hours on rainy days. Susie has had plenty of experience in keeping bored children entertained. She…”

3. A back-cover blurb for one of your books. This is like a mini-synopsis, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Its job is to hook the reader by making the book sound intriguing. You haven’t got much space, so this is good practice in ‘writing tight’.

4. A press release. You can send this out whenever you give a workshop or publish a book. Make it short and interesting, and get to the point immediately. Read up on how to write a good press release.

These are just four examples. So where does the research come in?

• Look at the books on your shelves. Read the back cover blurbs – at least ten of them! Now try writing your own for the book you are writing now.
• Go through the last few local papers or magazines that you have lying around the house. Look for articles about the achievements of real people. That should be easy! Some of these will be based on press releases; some will be from interviews; others will have been written by journalists. They will all have something in common; they are designed to get the reader interested in the person who is the subject of the article. Read at least ten of these, then write a short promotional article about yourself.

Categories: Marketing & Promotion
No Comments »

OK: I admit it – when it comes to the need for writers to have a website, I am a bit of an evangelist. For years, I’ve been telling writers that I think it’s a good idea. These days, I’m telling them it’s essential – and most editors and agents agree with me.

A website allows you to promote your books and/or writing services, and gives you a platform to show you’re serious about promoting yourself as a writer and being accessible to your readership.

The big barrier for most authors is actually creating the website. If you don’t know anything about site design or HTML, this hurdle can seem insurmountable – and that’s when a lot of writers decide to hire a web designer to do the job for them. For some writers, who don’t need many changes to their site, this is still the best solution.

However, if you use a program like XSitePro, you can do it yourself so easily that you’ll be wondering why you hesitated for so long. (Not only that, but you’re likely to have so much fun that you become addicted.)

But don’t just take my word for it. PC Advisor has given XSitePro its coveted “PC Advisor Recommended” Award for the ease of use of its software for novices at web design. They say:

 “…this is one of the most pleasant to use interfaces for web design that we’ve encountered. Where XSitePro 2.0 really stands out, however, is by applying this ease of use to a wide range of additional features which, if coded by hand or created using Dreamweaver would be considerably more complex. Wizards handle such things as creating a version of your site for mobile users, navigation menus and search engine sitemaps, as well as multimedia, search engine optimisation and PayPal buttons… XSitePro 2.0 is one of the best applications we’ve seen for aiding novices in creating professional-looking websites.”

If you’ve decided to finally take the plunge and create your own website, you will find it hard to go past XSitePro 2. You can read PC Advisor’s review here (don’t forget to click on the ‘Page 2′ at the bottom of the first page or the review to read the whole article). 

Marg

Tags: Writers' Websites
Categories: Marketing & Promotion, e-Publishing
No Comments »

I carried home a new Tess Gerritsen book from the library the other day; happily looking forward to another good read.  A little later I opened it: a nice spanking new large-format paperback entitled DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS. And right away, I found myself staring at a page listing not one, but TWO book titles. Oh no… an omnibus.

I’d been caught again: a brand new release with a new title… containing two ‘old’ novels. 

The first thing I did was turn to the imprint page to check the original publication dates.  WHISTLEBLOWER had been published in 1992 (ouch: 17 years ago…) and the other, PRESUMED GUILTY, a couple of years later.

Sighing, I started to read. The book was a huge disappointment: not at all the standard of Tess’s current body of work. And it was dated… the hero was running around getting rolls of film developed, swishing them through developer trays. These days he would have been able to plug his thumb drive into his laptop, send it to his colour printer and have the pics in minutes. (Come to think of it, for the purposes of the plot he wouldn’t have had to print them out at all; just send the files to the press via email.)

I didn’t finish it: the book simply couldn’t hold my attention. I didn’t bother with the second title.

I took it back to the library, only to find a very disgruntled librarian – another Gerritsen fan – who had gone through exactly the same process and reactions as I had (see two titles, have heart sink, check imprint page, decide not to bother). Only it was worse for her: she’d ordered 8 copies for the various library branches, knowing that a new Gerritsen would be in high demand. I hadn’t been the first disappointed reader to bring it back largely unread, either.

Why would an author do this? I wondered. Surely money isn’t so important that they’d risk alienating a fan base? I decided to Google the title and see if I could find reader comments. Maybe I’d find others had written about the same thing.

They had indeed. Most who had bothered to leave feedback on the book were similarly disappointed in the quality of the writing. Some felt let down by their favourite author – a kind of ‘why would she do this to us?’ attitude. Some vowed never to buy another Gerritsen book.

But… I found something else, too. I found an old (as in two years ago) blog post by Tess herself. And guess what? IT’S NOT HER FAULT. She feels frustrated and annoyed, but there’s nothing she can do… the culprit is Harlequin, the publisher of her early romance fiction titles. They hold the rights to her old titles – and since they can make money out of them, they’re hanging on tight.

Here’s a quote from Tess’s blog post:

“I’m a writer with a past. I’m reminded of this every time I get a note like this one from a reader: “I love your thrillers, but I just read your latest book _____ and it was nothing but a love story!  What happened to you, Tess?” or: “I see from Amazon that you have a new book coming out called MURDER AND MAYHEM.  How come you haven’t mentioned it in your blog?”

The answer is: I never wrote any book with that title.  In fact, there are a lot of books out there with my name on them, carrying titles that are completely unfamiliar to me.  How is this possible?  How can I not know about a book with my name on it?

The answer is simple: I have no control over their release.

Before I became a thriller writer, I wrote eight romantic suspense novels for the huge romance publisher, Harlequin Intrigue. Those books came out in paperback, and sold about average numbers for the genre.  I wasn’t getting rich off them, and neither was Harlequin.

Fast-forward to 1996, when my first big thriller, HARVEST, was published.  Suddenly, my books were hitting U.S. bestseller lists.  And then, in 2001, THE SURGEON was the first of my UK bestsellers. 

In the meantime, Harlequin continued to hold the rights to my eight old romance novels.  I did try to get back those rights, but as any romance writer will tell you, Harlequin never EVER relinquishes those rights.  They hold onto them forever, because they’re not stupid.  And because they know that a certain percentage of their writers will go on to become big bestselling authors. 

Harlequin’s been very clever about re-packaging my old romances to look just like my new releases.  Their covers look almost exactly like my UK thrillers, complete with the “London Times bestseller” label.  And very often, they release these books to coincide with my first-run books, so they can piggy-back their sales onto my current publicity efforts.

But I wish there was some way to let my readers know that I can’t be blamed, since I have absolutely no control over this.  I don’t know ahead of time when the romances will come out, or what their new titles may be, or what the covers will look like…

So there you have it. Loyal readers are being tricked by the use of a brand new title (yes, Harlequin, that’s the way most of us see it: trickery) and we’re not happy. And nor is Tess.

You can read Tess’s entire blog post here:

http://tessgerritsen.com/blog/2007/03/21/funny-i-dont-remember-writing-that-book/

Marg

Tags: publishers and publishing
Categories: Marketing & Promotion
2 Comments »

All over the world, governments are investing in the so-called ‘digital revolution’ in schools. Studies have show the effectiveness of distance education (including online learning) for children between 5 and 18.

The Australian government is planning spending of 2 billion dollars to provide new information and communication technology to schools, including computers to school and broadband facilities, and for training teachers in its use.

Already, authors are participating in virtual classrooms and reaching children in ways that were not even thought of just a decade ago.

What does this mean for you, if you write for children or you speak to groups of children in high schools?

You need to be computer-savvy, or hire someone who is to help you along the way. You need to be ‘available’ online; you need a website where children can read about you and interact with your books. Don’t be left out because you feel overwhelmed by the Internet and all it means. Make it your job to learn, to feel comfortable with the new technology, and to take advantage of what it can offer you.

Categories: General Tips, Marketing & Promotion, Writing for Children, e-Publishing
No Comments »

“Killer Year”, edited by Lee Child, is a collection of short stories by thirteen new authors, plus three with more familiar names, such as Ken Bruen.  The 13 authors all had their first novels published in 2007, but what’s different about THIS particular group is that they decided to band together to create some buzz about their work – something new in an industry where writers usually compete for sales.

Their group set about publicising Killer Year 2007.  They produced a blog to help their cause and drawn some attention in the circles of thriller readers amd writers. It worked… probably to a greater degree than they’d dared hope. International Thriller Writers (ITW) heard about it, and got interested – to the point where members volunteered to act as mentors and generate publicity for the writers.

Below is a condensed version of an essay, “The Class of Co-opetition”, contributed to KILLER YEAR by M. J. Rose. It makes interesting reading, and perhaps points the way to a world in which writers gain more by working together. Try to get hold of the book to read this in its entirety, and to view the work of these thirteen writers who have gained the support of some big names in ITW.

“With margins low, distribution costs rocketing, limited or no marketing budgets for all but the top 15 percent of titles, and little major media interest in all but the biggest authors, book sales drop a little more every year and fewer and fewer authors can live off their fiction efforts… these days even some of the biggest and the best authors will attest that their job is as much about selling as it is writing, because the support they get from their publishers is no longer enough to spread the word among booksellers, let alone readers. Authors hiring outside publicists and webmasters, buying additional advertising, subsidizing book tours, not just talking about marketing but doing something about it… all these things are no longer the exception but the rule.

You might think, because of all this, that there’s an every-man-for-himself attitude among writers, each one trying to outfox the other for limited ad dollars, blog reviews, special events or promotions. Yet one group of writers who routinely practice backstabbing, larceny and murder is doing the opposite: working together to promote each other’s books.

In the fall of 2004, International Thriller Writers – ITW for short – was created at a mystery and suspense book conference called Boucheron. Now ITW, with more than five hundred members who have more than two builion books in print, is changing the rules for how books are sold and marketed, and how writers work together.

Superstars have rolled up their sleeves to work alongside mid-list and debut novelists to apply some fresh thinking to a stale industry.

To support these debut authors, ITW offered to mentor the Class of ‘07 because we recognized our same spirit in them: a group of writers willing to band together and help each other raher than view each other as competition. To do something different. And to do it right.

So over the summer of 2006, the full ITW board of directors approved the idea to adopt Killer Year 2007 and take some of the tough work out of being a debut novelist by helping each author through their baptism by fire into the publishing world.

Lee Child, Jeff Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Gayle Lynds, David Morrell, Jim Rollins, Anne Frasier, Douglas Clegg, Duane Sierczynski, Cornelia Read, Harley Jane Kozak, Allison Brennan, Ken Bruen, and Joe R. Lansdale all signed on  to be mentors.

This idea of cooperation among potential rivals is a variation on a theme we’re beginning to see in other places on the Web, from group blogs to social networking sites like MySpace or cultural hotspots like YouTube.

For an industry losing readers to video games, movies digital cable, blogs, and a creeping apathy about books, it seems a no-brainer.  – M. J. Rose

- Marg

Tags: Killer Year,Lee Child,M J Rose,thrillers,writers
Categories: Marketing & Promotion
No Comments »

A follow-up to the last post about new directions in publishing and the role of eBooks:

Stephen King’s agent, Ralph Vicinanza, approached his famous client with the idea of a writing a book for release as an e-book as a way to build some excitement about e-publishing when the book industry as a whole is going through some difficult times.

They hooked up with Amazon to coincide with the release of the Kindle 2, an upgraded, slimmed-down version of the first Kindle. (If you’re not familiar with the Kindle, it downloads not only books but also newspaper stories and blog post over a wireless network in the USA).

King’s book, UR, is available as a download for $4.66. You can see the parallels here between iTunes cheaper per-tune download in comparison to a physical CD.

Downloads of King’s new book reached five figures after three weeks on the market.

Sign of the times?

Tags: e-Publishing
Categories: Marketing & Promotion, e-Publishing
No Comments »

The great thing about the internet is that the advances in technology are bringing more and more opportunities to promote your books (and yourself as an author).

Here’s an example. A new internet show aimed at kids (specifically, schools and public libraries) is starting in early in 2009. The details are:

KIDZ BOOK CLUB – INTERNET SHOW

Authors Phil Kettle and Deborah Abela are kicking off 2009 by making a show for the Internet called Kidz Book Club. The fortnightly show will review a picture book, younger reader and older reader book, interview authors and illustrators and finish with a book-wrap to show off recently published books.

Kidz Book Club will be delivered by a fabulous new multi-channel Player directly to computers at schools or public libraries, where it can be easily displayed on electronic white board, shared on the school computer network or watched on desktop computers.

There’ll be vox pops from kids and famous people, (including authors and illustrators), talking about their favourite books and why they couldn’t live without them. It’ll feature kids’ emails, letters, photos and video messages all about the books they love to read and the first show will be ready in early March.

It’ll be a fun, lively, fast-paced foray into the world of books, authors and illustrators, that we hope everyone from the reluctant reader to the avid bookworm will enjoy. For more information, go to: www.kidzbookclub.com.au Also see Deborah Abela www.deborahabela.com

Think about what shows like this mean for you to get the word on your book out there…

Marg

Tags: internet shows,kids books,promotion,writers
Categories: Marketing & Promotion
No Comments »

A pet hate of mine is what I call the ‘Nothing’ title. You know the kind of thing: “Treacherous Heart”; “Deception”; “The Wedding”. When looking at the books I own before sitting down to write this, I actually spotted two novels on my shelves both entitled “The Wedding.” Please, a bit more imagination! (Of course, if you’re a best-selling author already it doesn’t matter much. Your name is going to be twice the size of the title anyway. All your readers want to know is: “Have I read this one before…? No? Great, I’ll buy it.”)

Your book title is very important, so it’s worth spending a bit of time on it – no, a LOT of time on it! Your title needs to sum up the theme of your book in a few words… yet be ‘different’ enough to stand out. There’s no doubt that a good title can help to sell a book, although a bad title won’t necessarily affect your chances of acceptance.

Your name is going to be associated with the title of your book forever more. You will be sending out press releases about your book; you may be doing radio or TV interviews; you are likely to be introduced at author talks and on panels as “Jane Writer, Author of “How to Make a Million Before Breakfast”. Your title will be OUT THERE.

So… think about how you can make your title (a) grab attention and (b) have something meaningful to say about your book. (“The Wedding” might say something about the book, but it’s too generic – hardly a ‘grabber’. Sure, romance readers like to read about weddings… but which novel would you pluck from the shelf: “The Wedding” or “Too Wild to Wed” (a book by Jayne Ann Krentz)? Your title should make people want to pick up your book and read more.)

How To Find a Good Title

1. Spend an hour at the library browsing the shelves and writing down titles that appeal – and why. (You’re expected to browse in a library. In a book store you might get a few funny looks.) See if you can figure out, by reading the back cover blurb or reviews etc, how the title is relevant to the subject matter.

2. Use the Internet. Google your way to www.Amazon.com and do the same thing… just research titles. You’ll be able to look at magazine titles as well as book titles.

3. Browse at the newsagent. You can often get ideas for titles from the titles of articles in magazines. Check out the phrases used as ‘grabbers’ on the magazine cover, too.

4. Write down every title you can think of, and all variations of that title. Add different nouns and verbs. Think of how you might be able to use words that relate to colours, numbers, emotions, people and animals.

This post is an excerpt from “Titles That Sell”, a previous Writing4Success Tipsheet Article. To read the full article, with lots more suggestions, go here:

http://www.writing4successclub.com/public/405.cfm

Tags: name of book,novel,title,writing
Categories: Marketing & Promotion
No Comments »