Kelyse Nelson of Writer.ly offers a number of tips here on how to orchestrate your next book launch. And, of course, we agree with her suggestion to check out IBPA and your regional book publishing associations!
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Want to learn more about preparing BEFORE the book is published? Mark your calendar for Book Publisher’s Northwest’s June 19 meeting “Market While You Write” with Beth Jusino! More information can be found under the meetings sidebar on the right.
74th Street Production re-issued their popular speaking guide for writers this month. Revised and updated, Naked at the Podium: The Writer’s Guide to Successful Readings takes tips from the actor’s trade to help authors feel more at ease during presentations. This latest edition is now available as an e-book for Kindle.
From the publisher’s description:
This practical book of tips, solutions and exercises was born of a writer’s angst: how to present material in a way that was appealing to bookstore audiences, flexible enough to use in non-traditional venues, and dramatic enough to keep any audience awake and eager to buy. Adapting the tools actors use to a writer’s particular needs cured the angst and made readings profitable and fun. Drama was the key. Filled with trade tricks, professional preparation techniques and survival tips, this book is an accessory that no author should leave home without.
More than 50 people attended the first 3-Group Social Mingle at Artspace Hiawatha Lofts. The event held by Seattle WriterGrrls, Northwest Independent Editor’s Guild, and Book Publishers Northwest encouraged local writers, editors, and publishers to create some new connections.
Colored dots were placed on badges to identify the primary affiliation of each party goer, and folks started mingling in multi-dot groups long before the organizers introduced the three groups and explained what they do.
With the changes in technology and the publishing industry, members of all three groups quickly found crossovers in skills and interests.
BPNW and the Guild provided wine and light refreshments for the event while Seattle WriterGrrls volunteers helped everyone get their badge and make the most of the mingle.
Like all good parties, folks were reluctant to leave and a mild night encouraged many to continue their conversations on the sidewalk outside the Artspace Hiawatha Lofts.
BPNW thanks Rosemary Jones of BPNW, Jenny Neill of Seattle WriterGrrls, Andrea Leigh Ptak of Northwest Independent Editors Guild, and Amanda M. Vail of Northwest Independent Editors Guild for their work in organizing this event. Another thank you goes to Seattle WriterGrrls volunteers Jenny Hayes, Brie Gyncild, Madeline Ostrander, and Harriet Cannon for helping at the party.
Here’s how to keep in touch with our co-hosts:
Seattle WriterGrrls: This group operates as a Yahoo Newsgroup. Sign up to ask a question about writing and related technology. The organization also holds quarterly mixers in local bars or coffeeshops.
Northwest Independent Editors Guild: Go to the Guild’s website to find an editor for your next publishing project. The Guild holds an annual conference, Red Pencil in the Woods.
by Wendy Hinman, author of Tightwads on the Loose
You’ve spent months or years crafting that perfect book. Now you need to get it into the hands of readers. Readers read to help them make sense of the world and the struggles they face and to explore what interests them. If your book offers this, they will be glad to learn of it. Effective marketing means finding the people who would be most interested in your book and letting them know about it. It’s like finding the right match, so your story can do what it is designed to do: engage your readers.
Get creative. Brainstorm. Just as you spent countless hours finding clever ways to tell your story, you can be innovative with generating exposure for your work. If you use creativity to make marketing interesting, you’ll want to do it. Enthusiasm is contagious.
Below is a list of ideas for marketing that have worked well for me. Each author and book is different, so do what feels most comfortable for you and your book.
Crystallize your book description and bio into 25, 50, 100, and 250 words. Find that universal truth. These blurbs will come in handy.
Identify your audience and the topics your book touches upon.
Create a professional website to use as your home base (see www.wendyhinman.com)
Add your book title and website address to your email signature line and all materials you produce, so people can find you.
Plan to send periodic newsletters with links to information housed on your website.
Draft a press release. Be sure to include images, such as your book cover and a professional author photo.
Keep in mind what’s in it for the reader and why the media would be interested.
Identify local media/publications in each market where you have a connection (an event, an audience, places you lived/worked/studied/are doing a book event).
Tailor press releases for each purpose or event with addresses, dates, times, and contact info
Use various angles to appeal to specific topics that your book touches upon.
Craft a good story and headline (specific event, timely topic, anniversary) so media can use it without extra work.
Send a release one month and, again, two weeks before an event.
Post book events on local DIY website calendars (Chamber of Commerce websites, local blogs, clubs); Look up officers for local clubs and contact them.
Reach out to your community in a mutually beneficial way.
Share your knowledge through articles, blog posts and public speaking. Make sure each party gets something out of it: audience, attendee, and you.
Plan to give away books.
Identify media, bloggers and online publications that are likely to be interested in your book.
Send Advance Review Copies (3-6 months prior to release)
Run ads on Book Bub and Goodreads for discount eBooks.
Auctions, fundraisers where your book is seen by many prospective readers.
Leverage your travel to reach new readers.
Always carry copies of your book or at least promotional materials.
Do something every day
Steadily working at it will produce tangible results and lay the foundation for future success. Think of yourself as an entrepreneur and keep in mind that old saying “If it’s to be, it’s up to me,” because no one is as likely to care as much as about your work as you do. Good luck and happy marketing.
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Wendy’s recommended resources are:
How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead by Ariel Gore
Other authors
Kelyse Nelson organized the February 24 Kickstarter workshop sponsored by Book Publishers Northwest and Writer.ly. She’s also kickstarting her own publishing project: Book Lush, a pairing of cocktails and good reading. Here’s a few of her follow-up suggestions for those looking to learn more about crowdfunding a book:
“First of all, thanks to Bethany Carlson for donating her time to lead the workshop. You can reach Bethany at www.TheArtistsPartner.com (Bethany’s article for BPNW can be found here).
As a convenient example, my own Kickstarter is ending in just a couple days. You can check it out here.
For those of you who struggle with the concept of asking other’s to fund your projects, here is the very inspiration video of Amanda Palmer’s TED talk about the art of asking.”
Bethany Joy Carlson recently gave a special workshop on Kickstarter for BPNW members in February. For those who couldn’t attend, she offers the following advice:
Popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has raised over $1Bn for artistic projects, including over five thousand projects tied to publishing. But most Kickstarter publishing category campaigns fail to raise even a fifth of their targets. Since Kickstarter fundraising is all or nothing, this means only a third of book projects launched actually go on to publication. Data nerds like me may want to visit kickstarter.com/help/stats for the full post-mortem. Suffice to say: raising money to publish your book is really hard.
A book project that was successfully crowdfunded by the author.
But it’s not impossible. I have produced successful Kickstarter campaigns for writers, ranging from a gritty New Jersey mob memoir with a ten-pin twistto an adorable children’s picture book introducing entrepreneurship. Their successes were not a coincidence. Despite their very different audiences, their paths to success were similar.
Three of the ten essentials of Kickstarter success that worked for these books were:
These three tips are the tip of the iceberg. Please feel free to contact me at bethanyjoycarlson@hotmail.com at The Artist’s Partner to discuss your project and how Kickstarter might work for you. If you’re considering Kickstarter to fund your book, it’s hard – but possible. No hocus pocus required.
Bethany Joy Carlson is a co-founder of BACCA Literary, a WriterHouse board member, and founder of The Artist’s Partner.
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Do you provide a service for publishers? Would you like to write a guest article for Book Publishers Northwest? Contact us at bpnwnews@aol.com.
The following article is reproduced with permission of the author.
The Kaling of America: PR for Vegetables
There isn’t a vegetable out there that cares whether it’s popular enough to be eaten. Take kale. Lately there has been an explosion in popularity for this green leafy vegetable. This is an especially important observation because two years ago the consumption of kale was de minimus and now there are mountains of kale everywhere. Kale has become the darling of foodies and celebrity chefs, who are trading recipes across all media points. Some studies indicate kale is now on 400% more restaurant menus that it was before the green explosion. At Trader Joe’s, plastic bags of kale, organic and regular (I can’t tell them apart), vastly outnumber bags of pre-washed romaine lettuce, spinach and arugula, and the lowliest green thing of all, broccoli.
Last week, I was waiting in between meetings and staked a spot at a new healthy fast food eatery called Evolution, where I had a bowl of veggie quinoa soup that was loaded with guess what?? Kale! Soon I found myself in the middle of a marketing event where a detox outreach team showed up to promote colonic cleansing, and handed out little plastic cups of kale juice. Did you know that 1 cup of kale contains sustenance far greater than your daily requirements: 190% of Vitamin A, 90% of Vitamin C, mega doses of B6, Manganese, Calcium, Copper, and Potassium. Studies have shown that kale protects your eyes from the sun and prevents cataracts. The enzymes in kale trigger cancer fighting chemicals that eliminate unhealthy cells throughout your entire body, and when animals with tumors are given a diet of kale, their tumors shrink.
Oh my! Those clever kale PR people! Kale is much more than a vegetable; it’s the holy grail of the 21st century, the fountain of youth and the chief arbiter of world peace. These are just some of the benefits!
When even a vegetable has its own community relations outreach teams, someone has paid a mighty price for an enormous budget dedicated to a full-scale Marketing and PR outreach. Kale is easy to grow, relatively bug and disease resistant, produces a high crop yield and even does well in freezing weather. In fact, a sudden frost actually gives kale a sweeter taste. Why not create a market demand for kale? Behemoth chain grocery stores are getting a higher ROI for selling Kale than for selling other greens. Kale is not alone in its surging popularity. Remember the past campaigns for raisins, prunes and blueberries? If even vegetables need PR, then so do you. People have to create awareness for how well their services and expertise compare to what everyone else is offering. All of which begs the question: What are you doing to create your own market demand? This year, what PR strategy do you have in place for yourself?
–-by Patricia Vaccarino
Vaccarino runs PR for People which provides public relations services for individuals and companies through personal branding, reputation management and media relations. The idea of PR for People came to Patricia in the late 1990s, when she was at Publishing Online, working with individual authors. She organizes the annual Seattle Book Summit for clients and interested author to explore the new publishing scene. The 2014 Summit will take place in April.
Got an article for Book Publishers Northwest? Email it to bpnwnews at aol.com.
Book Publishers Northwest web editor Rosemary Jones recently had another story published in the anthology The Awakened from Dark Quest Books.
“This was a shared world project that will eventually form the basis of a role-playing game,” said Jones. “The game creator, Hal Greenberg, ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to underwrite the costs of publishing and then partnered with Dark Quest to complete the project.”
Jones, who is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, has written for Wizards of the Coast, Timid Pirate, and several other “shared world” publishers. “Many people don’t realize what a huge market there is for such fiction,” she said. “Whether it is fleshing out the world of an established game like Wizards’ Dungeons and Dragons or helping create something new, there’s a lot of opportunity for writers to tell stories that people want to read.”
The Awakened is set in a world where people acquire certain magical powers, usually linked to telepathic communication with animals. “Being a city girl,” Jones said, “I used the wildlife that I see outside my window as the inspiration. So it’s sparrows, and thieves, and bit of Dickensian skullduggery.”
Jones currently is working on a second story for another Awakened anthology in 2014. Her other projects and past publications can be seen at her website.
The Sept. 19 meeting ended with a discussion of ebook publishing with Marcia Breece, SelfpubBooks.com.
One major point raised at the meeting was that ebooks are unformatted text (sidebars, insets, and fancy fonts just cause problems for basic readers like Nook or Kindle). Pictures can be problematic — many authors don’t recognize that pictures are inline and not wrapped by text, she said.. But the readers also like to see pictures and can make them bigger or smaller, something that they can’t do in print, Breece added. A good tip is to include the caption in the jpg file.
Footnotes and endnotes become hyperlinks that jump the reader to the back of the book and then back to the text, another feature available in ebooks and not print. However indexes are still somewhat problematic in the current software formatting programs available.
If working with Word doc, an excellent ebook on how to set up a doc to eliminate common problems with conversion is available for free from Smashwords.
Right now, conversion from other programs, such as InDesign, still isn’t for the technologically challenged, Breece noted. However look for these programs to start including “convert to Kindle” and other shortcuts for epublishing some day soon. She has used Calibre to convert files and recommends the software, but warns it can prove to be buggy and you should probably have a good virus/protection software installed for a Windows-based machine.
Currently, authors and publishers can upload their converted files directly to Nook (Barnes and Noble), Kindle (Amazon), and Kobo (independent booksellers). Other systems, like Sony Reader, will probably require using a service like Bookbaby or Smashwords, which allows the publisher to select several different outlets. Once the “publish” button is hit, the ebook can appear between 24 to 72 hours at the major sites, but services may take several weeks before books are live.
The iBook store is somewhat separate issue, that requires publisher to either own Apple computer to do the proper conversion or to work through a third party. Breece uses Bookbaby to convert for iBooks. She notes that iBooks is particularly fine for highly formatted books, such as picture books.
Another tip from Breece was to set up separate email accounts for your publishing and your purchasing. For example, if you like to buy books on Amazon.com and also want to sell your own books through KDP, use one email for your purchases and one for your sales.
For our June meeting, Brian Juenemann, Marketing Director of Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, shared multiple ways that small press publishers can market to bookstores in the Pacific Northwest through PNBA programs. Juenemann also encouraged interested BPNW members, authors, and publishers to contact him directly to discuss what programs will best suit a particular book or campaign. He can be reached at info@pnba.org.
Programs available through PNBA:
Northwest New Title Preview, $150: Through a specially prepared webpage like this, publishers can offer ARCs and review copies to bookstore buyers.
Bookseller Blast, $250: Allows publishers to send an e-flyer sellsheet, giveaway, or contest directly to PNBA’s bookstore members.
Footnotes Enewsletter, $200 (banners and skyscraper ads): PNBA’s industry enewsletters goes out to 300+ booksellers and an equal number of industry professionals and regional media.
Northwest Book Lovers website, $150: This consumer blog written by PNBA members receives hundreds of views daily according to Juenemann.
Titlewave Package, $450: Juenemann calls this PNBA’s best value package, including advertisements in Bookseller Blast, Footnotes, and NWBooklovers
Trade Show Display
PNBA organizes an annual Fall Trade Show. Space is going fast for the October 2013 event in Portland, Oregon. If you want to reserve a table for the October trade show, contact Juenemann or PNBA Thom Chambliss, thom@pnba.org, as soon as possible. Full booths may be sold out by the time this post is published.
Discounts for BPNW members
PNBA is one of the many professional organizations that offers discounts to paid members of Book Publishers Northwest. The list of discounts available, along with the code needed to receive them, was sent out to BPNW membership on Monday, June 24. Information on how to join Book Publishers Northwest can be found here.
Book Publishers Northwest News 
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