• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

The Frugal Book Promoter (Second Edition) How to get nearly free publicity on your own or partnering with your publisher By Carolyn Howard-Johnson HowToDoItFrugally Publishing Los Angeles, California Published by HowToDoItFrugally Publishing COPYRIGHT © 2011 by Carolyn Howard-Johnson All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system (except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or other endorsement or in a recommendation to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Internet) without permission in writing from the publisher. However, when contacted the author is generous with reprint rights and articles. Trademarks and myriad names of products, journals, and businesses used in this work are not authorized by, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. No association with the corporations or names is implied or intended. ISBN-13: 978-1463743291 ISBN-10: 1463743297 This book is available at a discount when purchased in quantity to use as premiums, sales promotions, in corporate training programs, or by schools or social organizations for educational purposes. For information, please contact HowToDoItFrugally Publishing at [email protected]. Contents Acknowledgements Before We Get Started Section I Getting Started and Getting On with It Chapter One Excuse Me! I Have To Do What? BIG WORRY NUMBER ONE: Plagiarism Worries about readers accessing our books free Many authors give away their work What if your work is plagiarized? BIG WORRY NUMBER TWO: Oops! Swiping Others’ Work BIG WORRY NUMBER THREE: Being Sued BIG WORRY NUMBER FOUR: Success or Rejection BIG WORRY NUMBER FIVE: I’m Not Enough BIG WORRY NUMBER SIX: Fear of Marketing Chapter Two Marketing Basics: The Short Course A MARKETING UMBRELLA Chapter Three To Hire or Not To Hire a Publicist Chapter Four Promoting Ethically Section II Plunging In: Publicity Basics Now Chapter Five The Three Ps and Your Writing Career Chapter Six Public Relations: The Granddaddy to Great Publicity EIGHTEEN PUBLICITY COMMANDMENTS Chapter Seven Free Publicity Isn’t Really Free Chapter Eight Branding: Publicity’s Cornerstone Chapter Nine Advertising: The Weak Partner Chapter Ten Your Now-and-Forever PR Skills YOUR CREDITS, TAGLINES OR MINI BIOGRAPHIES YOUR BYLINES ENDORSEMENTS, TESTIMONIALS, BLURBS SOUNDBITES YOUR PITCHES Two kinds of pitches Crafting a pitch Pitching the publishing industry Pitching your readers Pitching the media YOUR PHOTO CROSS-PROMOTION TUNING IN THANK-YOU NOTES SECTION III Do-It-Yourself and Partner Publicity Chapter Eleven Media Kit Preparation Now YOUR CONTACT LIST Chapter Twelve The Media Release BUILDING YOUR MEDIA RELEASE WRITING RELEASES Dolling up a release DISTRIBUTION OF YOUR RELEASE Avoid letting your release die a slow death Media announcements Chapter Thirteen The Rest of Your Media Kit YOUR CONTENTS PAGE YOUR ABOUT-THE-AUTHOR PAGE YOUR AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS YOUR LIST OF APPEARANCES YOUR PRAISE AND ENDORSEMENT PAGE YOUR BOOK REVIEW YOUR SAMPLE INTERVIEW YOUR FIRST-PERSON ESSAY YOUR AVAILABLE SEMINARS LIST YOUR FELLOW EXPERTS LIST OTHER MEDIA KIT ITEMS Souvenir and promotional gifts Bookmarks Logo- or bookcover-printed items Buy wholesale ASSEMBLING YOUR MEDIA KIT Chapter Fourteen Your Query and Cover Letters Chapter Fifteen Your Reviews BIG-JOURNAL REVIEWS Making your own ARC or galley ALTERNATIVES TO MAJOR REVIEW JOURNALS ALTERNATIVES TO THE ALTERNATIVES NOW YOU HAVE A REVIEW, WHAT? FACING REVIEWER PREJUDICE REVIEW SCAMS SENDING BOOKS OR ARCS Section IV Promote Your Book by Doing What You Love Chapter Sixteen Loving Writing and Recycling RECYCLE CREATIVE WORK Submitting material for no pay WRITE NONFICTION ARTICLES WRITE A COLUMN OR BLOG Syndicate your articles or columns Self-syndicate PUBLISH YOUR OWN NEWSLETTER WRITE BOOK REVIEWS WRITE FOR ANTHOLOGIES WRITE FOREWORDS AND INTRODUCTIONS WRITE TIP SHEETS WRITE OP-ED ESSAYS. WRITE PROMOTIONAL E-BOOKS The anatomy of a free e-book TRANSLATE WORKS YOU LOVE Chapter Seventeen Learning to Love What You Thought You Couldn’t SPEAKING IS THE STAR OF PR AND LIFE Handling hecklers AWARDS SET YOUR BOOK APART WRITERS’ CONFERENCES WORK Choosing a conference Chapter Eighteen Publishing Dreams vs. Marketing Needs TRADESHOWS ARE NOT WHAT YOU THINK Finding tradeshows Tradeshow signing opportunities BOOK FAIRS ARE FOR THE PUBLIC. Evaluate your fair experience (or any other marketing event) BOOK SIGNINGS AND BOOKSTORE TOURS Make your book signing sizzle Book signing myths abound The untour book tour Your stay-at-home tour LAUNCHES ARE THE BEST Section V You and the Media: What’s New, Old, and In Between? Chapter Nineteen Radio and TV: The Ageless Pair GETTING MEDIA INTERVIEWS BEING INTERVIEWED Your radio interview TV is easy Learning new TV skills TELEVISION IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING Local TV Network TV Public-access TV The public broadcasting systems Get an NPR gig Videos YOUR WEB SITE NEWSLETTERS E-MAIL Your e-mail signature Your other online signatures DIRECT E-MAIL MARKETING AN AUTORESPONDER LIST-SERVES, YAHOO GROUPS Chapter Twenty-One New Net Game Changers BLOGS The advantages of blogging Building a blog is easy Your blog is pivotal to promotion. Keeping your blogging time corralled Using guest bloggers Get partners for your blog Recycle articles, tips, bargains Use the carnival concept Outsource your blogging Use videos Bloggers’ block is a myth ONLINE BOOKSTORES Ahh, Amazon. Manage your book’s sales page on Amazon Amazon myths Other online bookstores Chapter Twenty-Two Using Social Networks SIMPLE SOCIAL NETWORKING About those reader networks? Chapter Twenty-Three The Dangers of Online Promotion Section VI Well Traveled, Oft Forgotten Chapter Twenty-Four Reading Groups Chapter Twenty-Five Catalog Sales BONA FIDE RETAIL STORE CATALOGS COOPERATIVE CATALOGS Chapter Twenty-Six Corporate Sales Chapter Twenty-Seven Retail Is More than Bookstores Chapter Twenty-Eight Library Sales Chapter Twenty-Nine Postcards Chapter Thirty Get Quoted SECTION VII Onward and Upward Chapter Thirty-One Success as a Motivator Chapter Thirty-Two Book Sales Getting Musty? FIGHT THE IT’S-TOO-LATE URGE READERSHIP EXTENDING IDEAS STAY IN THE PROMOTION HABIT PLUMB THE WEB AGAIN Appendix APPENDIX ONE SAMPLE QUERY LETTERS APPENDIX TWO SAMPLE MEDIA RELEASES APPENDIX THREE SAMPLE BLOG ENTRY APPENDIX FOUR SAMPLE INVITATION FOR TRADESHOW APPEARANCE APPENDIX FIVE SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR PHONE PITCH APPENDIX SIX SAMPLE AUTOMATED E-MAIL SIGNATURE APPENDIX SEVEN SAMPLE TIP SHEET About the Author Keyword Index Acknowledgements . traditional marketers count dollars; guerrilla marketers count relationships. ~ Jay Conrad Levinson, author, the Guerilla Marketing series Oh, to remember all those who have been instrumental in the birth of a book! Once, at a writers’ seminar, I overheard a well-known author deride writers who include many thank yous to mentors and helpmates. He thought the process a ridiculous name-dropping tradition. He is a wonderful writer, but he must have an inflated opinion of his own abilities if he believes he writes books by himself. He may also have no knowledge of marketing, for the nourishing elements of PR are helping others, accepting help from others, and being grateful for the growth that comes from that exchange. My thank-you list is long, but probably not long enough. My apologies to the many others who contributed to my success but are not noted. Thanks to members of my most enduring critique group, Leora Krygier, Phyllis GeBauer, and JayCe Crawford; to Emily Heebner who was made to nourish others; to my talented cover designer Chaz DeSimone; to my photographer Uriah Carr; to publicists Debra Gold and Rolf Gompertz; and to all those who cheerfully gave me permission to relate their PR successes and disasters. Thank you, too, to Joyce Faulkner, Kristie Leigh Maguire, T.C. McMullen, and members of the writing and marketing organizations I belong to who have been generous with their time. Oh! And to my teachers. Writing is a never-ending learning experience. Special thanks to my husband Lance G. Johnson, author of What Asians Need to Know About America from A to Z. He is never too busy to apply his organized and unrelenting passion for detail to editing my work. Before We Get Started Knowing the rules of promotion is like knowing the rules for writing. When you have mastered them, you have the confidence to break them when you need to. ~ CHJ Don’t misunderstand the above quotation. I’m not suggesting that an author run willy-nilly breaking the rules of public relations (PR). That will not benefit his reputation as either an author or someone who knows how to brand himself. Many books give you PR essentials, but once you know the rules, you are better able to let your writer’s imagination loose so you can promote yourself and your book with confidence. When you do that, even our rule- oriented culture will appreciate your creativity rather than criticize you for it. Rather than the tinkle of bells, your efforts will be the sound of timpani to the ears of gatekeepers—you know, folks like editors, producers, and anyone else in a position to help you get your message out there. It is an myth that authors—especially the greats—lack the ability to promote. In some circles it appears to be stylish to eschew promotion as vocally as possible. However, many of our most famous and literate authors were very good promoters and some did it without PR classes (or books!) to tell them how. Mark Twain was one of the best. Laura Skandera Trombley, president of Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and a noted Mark Twain scholar, says the image we have of this American icon is the one we have “because that’s the image [Twain himself] wanted people to have,” and that Twain was a man “so gifted at marketing himself that nearly a century after his death, his name still evokes his white-haired likeness.” Branding works so well that Trombley was moved to add, “And [Twain’s image has] been so co-opted, it sells everything from pizza to banks to luggage.

Load more

  373

Copy Link