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JD WRITES
Hi everyone!
Thanks to the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop for
mentioning The Update! in their newsletter (and welcome to anyone who comes to us from there!).
The workshop looks like a great event. This year's event is full, but sign up for their
newsletter to get in line for next year.
Thanks also to Inscriptions Magazine
for
reprinting my article "What's In An Author's
Website".
You can also find my new article "Selling Outside
of the Bookstores - 3 Secret Sales Venues" in the May 2002 issue of "Writing Success" from Writer's
Digest - at newsstands soon.
There is an interesting open letter from film-
maker, writer, and rabble-rouser Michael Moore
here. It describes the difficulties he had in getting
his latest book published ("Stupid White Men"). It was on press on Sept 11, 2001 but was almost
pulped when Moore refused to tone down its criticism of the government. Interesting insider
view of how publishing can work (or not work).
This issue of the Update! continues the 10-point checklist of
what to do (and what not to do) when self-publishing. It also features
an article about the 1st Annual Read an E-Book Week and what you can do
to make it work for you. The news and resources section feature many
other great anniversaries, sites, and ideas for promoting your work.
Keep writing,
Julie
NEW THIS WEEK
ARTICLE
It's Read An E-Book
Week
Sunday March 10, 2002,
marks the start of the first National Read An E-Book Week.
Rita
Toews was just another frustrated e-book author this time last year.
This year she is sponsor of Read An E-Book Week.
Promoting a book is hard enough, but
imagine if you also had to explain how a book works ("Well, this is
the cover, then if you turn that you'll find the first page. When you're
finished that, turn it over
and you'll find writing on the back, too."). That is the challenge
faced by many e-published authors.
Toews decided that e-book authors and
publisher needed a special celebratory week to make it easier to spread
the word about electronic publishing.
"I've found it difficult to get
the ear of the press," she says. "Now when I approach them and
ask 'Did you know that the second week of March is Read An E-Book week?'
they pay attention."
Toews says that many librarians and
booksellers are unaware that e-books are often available on CD-Rom or
disk, not just downloads, and that they could be providing them.
The
Challenge
"I'd like to see authors use the
week to promote themselves and e-books in general," she says. She
also issues a challenge to authors and publishers to:
"Step outside of their comfort
zone and approach someone, or some organization that seemed a little out
of reach before. For this one week they've got the power of all e-book
authors standing together
behind them."
Toews will be doing just that,
appearing on her local television station and being interviewed on CBC,
Canada's national radio. She will also be hosting a display at her
library, to introduce patrons to electronic books and the mountain of
titles available to them.
So who are you going to tell?
PROMOTION
ANGLES FOR THE WEEK
Rita Toews provided some great
features and benefits
to highlight when promoting your e-book to a few different audiences.
You can use these ideas in press releases, direct mail, email messages
(to your opt-in list, of course. No spamming, please), and in talks and
negotiations all over the place.
1. Marketing to Readers
Says Toews: "Readers will have
more reading material to choose from...a fresh approach to writing, free
from the formulas that the larger publishing houses impose."
2. Marketing to Librarians
Toews suggested that e-books will encourage younger people to read. She
explains,
"Younger people don't have the
love affair with paper that the older generations have."
As an added bonus, visually impaired
people love e-books because the type can be changed to suit them.
3. Marketing to Booksellers.
Booksellers, says Toews are generally
under informed about e-books. They may think they cannot sell them
because they are only available online, or that people need special
hardware to read the books.
This is just not true: but authors
and e-publishers have
to get out there and make sure their local bookstores know how to get
hold of the books.
***
ARTICLE
10 DO'S AND DON'TS FOR
SELF-PUBLISHERS
Part IV
There
is so much to think about when self-publishing a book. The 21st
Century Publishing Update brings you a 10-point checklist of
what to do and what not to do when publishing and promoting your own
book. Based on conversations with self- publishing authors and
marketing experts, this is not an exhaustive list of everything you
should be thinking about, but it is a list of some of the most
important.
7.
DO: Remind bookstores to order POD books well
in advance of events...
Bookstores usually contact a distributor or wholesaler
for a book, a couple of weeks before a signing -- assuming that the
wholesaler will have it in stock, or be able to get it very quickly.
Even if the preferred wholesaler doesn't have it in stock, chances are
someone, somewhere will, and the store can arrange to have copies rushed
to them.
If your book is being produced Print On-Demand, it may
take longer and there is no back-up stock...but the bookstore clerk
probably doesn't know that.
Contact your POD firm and ask how long books normally
take to ship. Double that, and tell the bookstore that is how far in
advance they must order books. If they say 'no, it'll be OK', be firm.
Tell them that it might not be OK. Tell them POD is a new science, that
things can go wrong and, if they do, there is no alternative stock of
books to order at a pinch.
POD is new, and you should expect to
have to educate book stores, librarians, and sometimes readers.
DON'T: Expect to sell more than 20 copies at a
signing...
In the traditional publishing world, the average book
signing shifts 20 copies. Of course Howard Stern sells more, and John
Grisham sells more, but the average author does not.
Don't be discouraged if your book signings don't make
you rich. That's not what they are for. They are one more way to get
your name and your book's title in front of readers.
Conventional advertising wisdom says repetition is the
key to advertising success - your client (your reader) must see your
product's name over and over...and over again, before they will even
notice it. It takes many more repetitions before they are interested in
buying it.
Book signings are an inexpensive way to create some of
that repeated exposure. Not only will readers see your book during the
event, but most bookstores will display posters of the book or an
announcement for a couple of weeks before the event.
8.
DO: Send customized press releases...
Every book has many themes, events, and characters
that you can highlight in press releases for different audiences - and
don't forget that you, the author, are interesting.
Editors are drowning in press releases. If yours is to
make the cut, it must tell the editor something that will appeal to his
or her readers. Don't just announce your new book and expect the world
to be interested.
Instead, tell the editor of a child-care magazine how
your novel features an inspirational 'everywoman' character who
encounters all the same challenges and triumphs of raising a family that
the magazine's readers face.
Sell the editor of a regional newspaper on a 'local
author makes good' story.
This doesn't have to be as much work as it sounds.
Write a standard press release with bio and summary information that
will not change. Next research your market, and write a customized
introductory paragraph just for them. Last, try to think up a snappy
headline, related to what you have just written.
You may send fewer releases in the end, but 100
well-targeted releases will be worth more than 1000 box-standard press
releases that don't give the editor a story angle, and are destined for
the circular file.
DON'T: Burn your bridges...
...By insulting the agents and
editors who turned down your first book.
You may need them for your second
book, once you have proved yourself!
Part
I
Part
II
Part
III
***
I’d love to
hear your comments on these articles: was it helpful? Have a question
about getting started with self-publishing? Is there anything I
missed that you would like to know about? Send your comments to
jd@jdwrite.com.
See previous Author's
Q&As
NEWS & UPDATES
http://www.julieduffy.com/writing/updates.htm
F & W Publications bought by
Primedia's Reilly
6 March 2002
F & W Publications, home of Writer's Digest,
Writer's Market. Writer's Digest Books and many other niche
publications has been bought by former CEO of Primedia, William F.
Reilly.
Reilly says he has no plans to move F & W Pubs
away from its niche focus into the larger general interest areas served
by his former company.
more:
NYTimes
article
F & W
Publications site
Top 10 Poetry
Books
5 March 2002
The American Booksellers' Association has announced its picks for the
10 best American poetry books - in anticipation of April's National
Poetry Month.
more:
Top 10 Books
ABA homepage
National Poetry Month
UK Bookseller
providing tools to small publishers
5 March 2002
UK bookseller Ottakars has announced that it will launch an online
stock information and ordering system that will help small publishers
get their books into the book chain's sales channels. The system should
be in place by the end of 2002.
more:
The Bookseller article
Ottakars Homepage
Read An E-Book
Week
5 March 2002
Sunday March 10 marks the start of National Read An
E-Book Week. E-Book authors are encouraged to contact their local media
and drum up excitement about this form of publishing.
resources:
Burrelle's media directory
Recent e-book statistics
March Is Small Press
Month
1 Mar 2002
Every year the publishing industry
celebrates Small Press Month, and yes, self-publishers with a single
book do count. This year's theme is "It's What's Between The Covers
That Counts".
Events range from the Small Press Fair
at New York's Small Press Center on March 23-24, to panels and
discussions
More:
ABA article
Small Press Center
23 Things To Do For Small Press Month
Small Press Month Poster
AAP E-book
Findings
28 Feb 2002
E-book sales from traditional publishing houses have
experienced solid growth despite several high-profile closings in recent
months. Covering the Association of American Publishers' annual meeting,
the Associated Press's Hillel Italie, reports: "While annual
numbers for individual publishers remain small — in the tens of
thousands of copies sold — Simon & Schuster, St. Martin's Press,
HarperCollins and others report double-digit growth over the past
year."
In the same report Italie quotes AAP President
Patricia Schroeder as saying she has yet to be able to 'bring myself to
try' the new format.
[I'd like to respectfully
suggest that, as President of the Association of American Publishers
Schroeder has a duty to force herself to at least look at what is
undoubtedly an important development in the field her organization
covers! I don't buy the excuse that she's 61 and can't change. In what
other industry could an opinion leader get away with saying that? -Ed]
more:
AP Story on AAP Annual Meeting
AAP Web site
Confessions
of a Slush-Pile Reader
25 Feb 2002
Salon features an article
for any would-be published author out there. If you thought sending an
unsolicited manuscript might get you published, read this
article by Patricia Chui and think again! Find out how editors
really view authors who submit this way...
Plagiarism
Plagues Goodwin
25 Feb 2002
Popular historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
is the latest author to be swept up in allegations of plagiarism.
Goodwin blames the 14 year old errors on her own sloppy research methods
early in her career. She has offered to foot the bill for destroying the
publisher's existing stock and replacing it with corrected versions.
Her publisher, Simon & Schuster,
decided to pick up the bill.
[Look our for my upcoming article
in Writer's Digest about how to avoid accidental plagiarism.]
more:
NYT
article
AP
article
"Editors
scan POD company pages"
iUniverse author Laurie
Notaro signed a deal with Random House 10 months after her book was
published through POD publisher iUniverse.
Notaro says many editors
look through listings of POD sites for 'the next big thing'. Notaro
herself, did her deal by hiring an agent who shopped the book to
publishers more traditionally.
more:
iUniverse article
RESOURCES
http://www.julieduffy.com/writing/resources.htm
THE RESOURCE section is growing and now includes...
Small Press
Center
'Tucked away in a landmark building' in NYC, The Small
Press Center works to raise awareness of the offerings of small and
literary independent publishers. Sponsors National Small Press Month
each March, and holds workshops throughout the year.
The
Organized Writer
Ooh, this site appeals to everything in a writer's
wishlist: we wish we had more time to write, more organizational skills
so that we don't lose our brainwaves, more motivation. The Organized
Writer offers tools for mastering all these artistic-temperament flaws.
And since it is inspiring you to be the most organized writer you can
be, you will find yourself eager to put the tricks into practice, and
not just browse this interesting site all day!
Association of
American Publishers
Useful site for an overview of developments in the publishing industry -
including monthly reports, industry statistics, conference info, and
campaigns, including the Intellectual Freedom campaign
Baker &
Taylor
1200 U.S. Highway 22
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
(908) 218.3863
Used to be mainly a wholesaler to
libraries. Now wants to be known as the most complete collection
anywhere.
Ingram
One Ingram Boulevard
La Vergne, TN 37086
(800) 937.0995
Ingram is the wholesaler main game in
town, and also home to Lightning Source - the POD printer for many of
the POD companies listed on this site.
NEW LAST TIME
10 Do's & Don'ts for
Self-Publishers Pt III
ABOUT JDWRITE
JDWrite is the online home of writer, journalist and former Xlibris
Director of Author Services, Julie McCarroll Duffy. Julie has expert
knowledge of the new world of publishing: Print On-Demand,
self-publishing, online publishing, eBooks, the evolving publishing
industry and more. Her role at Xlibris was to work with authors to help them understand these developments, to
listen to authors' needs and communicate those to the company. She
has been a speaker at writers' conferences around the US and seeks
to continue to educate authors to understand their ever-increasing
opportunities in the publishing world. Julie is working on a
series of e-books about Print On-Demand Publishing.
All content copyright 2001 Julie
Duffy.
For permission to reprint articles,
contact the editor at
jd@jdwrite.com.
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