A video can enhance your press release. Even if you’re a novelist, chat with your webcam about some topic or theme in the book. You don’t need more than a few minutes to have a big impact. More info available in this article.
Content marketing for authors doesn’t have to be challenging. Consider making a chapter of your book a free download, writing articles based on the themes in the book (and yes, that includes novelists!), informal chats about the book or its themes, etc. Also try this article for more ideas on how to think about content.
You thought the creative work was over when you finished that book, right? Well, the creative work has only just begun. Here’s an article about how storytelling helps you market your speaking engagements, books, and other things you might have to offer.
No one doubts that electronic devices have dramatically changed the face of publishing today. For years, doomsayers brayed that print would shrivel and blow away. I’ve always held that the new devices would generate shifts but that print would still be alive centuries from now.
In particular, the bad-news prophets claimed that tablets, cell phones and ereaders were all supposed to suck subscribers from print versions of newspapers and magazines. For a time, that appeared to happen.
Now, however, there’s a big shift. Esubscribers are generating new and stronger sources of income for magazines and newspapers. This article presents yet another new way for readers to access their favorite journals…by paying MORE for the eversions than for print.
The Oprah Channel has struggled since day one to reach the numbers it had hoped for. Part of the reason is that Oprah doesn’t show up in much of the programming. Another very real issue is simple oversaturation…the channel can’t offer the same thing all the time.
She’s trying a reboot by building on this interview with Armstrong. The struggle she’s facing is just a reminder that even the biggest celebrities can’t market just anything…and they can’t rely on their name along. Quality must always come first.
Takeaway: Know your audience and what they want. When you deliver it, you’ll automatically provide quality content.
For anyone looking to expand their reach on social media, check out this post.
I recently challenged myself to come up with the top-ten best practices for social media for a presentation. As it turned out, it was hard to keep list to only ten items.
So I did some research and much scrapping of excessive rules and realized that it all does boil down to ten very basic principles to be successful in social media:
Conde Nast magazines like Wired, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair have a new contract that changes the film option agreement (think about films based on articles like Argo, Brokeback Mountain, and Eat Pray Love This article warn writers about some of the pitfalls.
Very good overview article on thinking about your writing career. When the time is right, my clients and I discuss the business aspects of writing. This ranges from our first contact when they’re wondering whether their work is marketable to considering their audience’s needs during editing or rewriting. When the final product is done, we then discuss market trends that will impact their choice of agents and publishers.
Publishing is a business and, as the author, you must consider yourself the CEO of your book. From start to finish—the germ of a book idea to publication (and beyond)—you must take charge. If you make good business decisions, you will surely experience greater success. If not, then, you could be one of the nearly 78 percent of authors who fail.
Writing the Perfect Query Letter with Laine Cunningham, presented by Alice Osborn
Location: Center for Excellence, 3803-B Computer Dr. Suite 106, Raleigh, NC 27609
Saturday, March 9 Time: 1:30-4:30pm
Fee: $55 (Early Bird till March 1st)/$75 after
Registration: Click here
Your query letter is every bit as important as the opening pages of your novel. It’s your first opportunity to show your writing skills to a prospective agent or editor. Make it count! Make it shine! A good query letter should make that editor and agent want to read your material…and it should grab their hearts in the thirty seconds or so they give each query in their pile. In this class, publishing consultant and owner of the Writer’s Resource Laine Cunningham will discuss the three important elements to inject into your query so you can get published. Fiction and nonfiction authors writing books, stories or articles will benefit from this class.
Laine Cunningham’s clients consistently garner attention from the nation’s top publishers and agents. Several of her clients’ books have been shopped around Hollywood and have received film options. She has been quoted on CNN Money, Media Bistro, and The Writer Magazine for her opinion on the end of the Harry Potter series, the “Oprah Effect,” and Sarah Palin’s ghostwriter. She has presented workshops and lectures for The Loft, the nation’s largest independent literary organization; the National Writer’s Union; The Writer’s Workshop in Asheville and writing conferences across the country.
Shelf Unbound is a magazine that is distributed to booksellers nationwide. They accept books from independent, small and self-publishers, which is can still be difficult to find.
Quite an interesting look into book sales in India. They’re nearly all pirated copies. And yet the demand is really of note. In one of the poorest countries in the world, books are so important there are whole industries dedicated to providing them one title at a time, one street sale at a time.
Beth Hayden, a social marketing expert, offers ideas on how to sell books with Pinterest.
GalleyCat’s list of 20 places to market your book for free.
This is a very short essay about one author’s experience marketing her book after a traditional publisher picked it up. Although she’s a children’s book author, the core of her experience is pretty common.
Most important lesson:
Publishing is a business and books are products. Help buyers understand why they should purchase your product over someone else’s.
Writer's Resource/Sunspot Lit 