Ready for Writing Success?

When I was teaching a course on writing, one student revealed a major stumbling block. He was writing a book, a decent one at that. I thought he stood a good chance of getting an agent and selling the story to a publisher. But when I came to the marketing part of the series of classes, he balked. "No, I won't be doing that," he said after I talked about being available for interviews in all media, book signings and tours, and appearing at events to promote yourself as a writer or to market your writing.

"I'm shy," he whispered with a slight blush. I was taken aback. How could someone not be aware that public speaking and appearances are part of being a successful author? Selling a manuscript to a publisher is not the same as selling books to buyers. In this era of dwindling marketing and advertising budgets and personnel at publishers, more and more of the burden lies heavily on authors' shoulders.

That's not the only pressure successful writers encounter. Publishers are increasingly demanding that their stables produce books at a faster pace. The old paradigm of taking years to write a sequel or the next in a series is out the window, what with ebooks and electronic gizmos to read them. The public suffers from an ever-shortening attention span, too. This is especially true for readers of the suspense genres.

At least a novel a year has become the norm, the demand, according to an article in the Boston Globe, where local writer, Robert B. Parker, cranks out four books a year. He and Elmore Leonard must be blessed with great staminas. Parker quotes Leonard as saying, "If it takes you more than six months to write a book, you're not working."

In addition to producing reliably on time, authors still must cope with the public appearances that attract book buyers. No pressure, really, for success.

Writing Personal Essays

Writers often ask where they can try to sell short nonfiction opinion pieces. These fit into the category of "personal essays"-- easiest to write, hardest to sell. The usual advice is to query or submit them to general interest and literary publications, but those take precious few such works. Even fewer pay for them.

Think analytically about the subject of your essays. Match them with more specific markets. So-called "niche" magazines and websites provide ready-made homes for such tailored pieces of writing. Sometimes these are called 'front of the magazine' or 'back of the magazine' articles, as well as 'opinion pieces' and 'personal essays'. Sometimes they are simply called 'shorts'.

Incidentally, if you tend to write this kind of work, especially if you want to express your opinions on a specific topic, you're a good candidate for blogging. Blogging isn't just for rants and digital diaries any more. People are blogging for pay, and some say they are making a living at it.

If I were to essay an essay on this post's beginning image, it would be an article to persuade people that it is better for all of us to wear clothing constructed of renewable natural fibers rather than creating synthetics from our finite oil supply and to eat food, rather than convert it to fuel. This addresses several issues: world hunger, the rising cost of food, rising gas prices (and all items associated with petroleum, which is just about everything), global warming, ecology, the "green" movement, even economics and business. It is within those topics that I would look for publications that accept such shorts.

Social Networking for Writing

The other day I mentioned social bookmarking as a social service writers can use to promote themselves and market their writings. The bookmarking services to use with websites and blogs (especially) are both parts of and forms of social networking. The term applies to making connections with people on the Internet. I think cyber-networking or digital- or electronic- or something other than "social" would be a less confusing terminology, but we're stuck with "social". Yes, it's the same as networking socially, in real life, but perhaps with more intensity and intimate overtones.

Just as in the physical world, social networking requires joining, attending, and participating to benefit. I'm referring to those special websites with interactive capabilities: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Orkut, Friendster, to name some of the original and general ones. The concept is simple, really: sign up, add as much information as you wish to a profile, find "friends" with similar interests. Sharing your other social networking connections (sites and friends) is becoming more common, as are niche networks, like Flickr for photography, MyBlogLog, and LibraryThing for booklovers.

If you expand the definition of social networking to include participation in chats, forums and mailing lists, the potential for writers to exploit this newer tool increases. By always using a link or the name of your website/book/business in the signatures used on these types of sites, a writer can custom-build a social network, a fan base, traffic potential. Seeking out and contacting others, making cogent comments, offering assistance -- all are ways to "work" the social network. It isn't enough to just join and not be active. In fact, I think it may be detrimental to your appearance/reputation.

Ah, there's the rub: the work. It takes time, energy and concentration to utilize a social network. That's why writers must carefully select which ones to join and limit participation to a few at a time. Give one several months to show positive results. If it doesn't, then drop "unjoin" that one and move on to another. I find that a focus on one chat, one forum, and one general group are about all I can handle. While writers need to spend about half their time promoting or marketing, more than that becomes counterproductive in that there's no time to produce new writing. These Google search results will lead you to social networking sites for writers.

Social Services for Writing

Every time I've written about Web 2.0, I've been describing the social aspects of using the Internet. Two components are networking and bookmarking. Unless you participate in them, the two aspects can become confused.

Last week a list member asked the value of having social bookmarking on website for promoting his writing, complaining that it was a chore to embed all the various links for deli.cio.us, Reddit, Stumble Upon, etc. His goal was to increase traffic to the site. I pointed out that you can use a service like AddThis for a compact link to a site where users can choose from among what looks like all the services on earth. (Try the button at the end of this post to see what I mean.)

Someone else wrote in, saying he was jumping on the social networking bandwagon, then offered a link to a different social bookmark generator at Social Bookmarket Script, which can produce a multi-functional insert via effort akin to mating elephants. My attempt to include an example in this post totally screwed Blogger's little display. Sorry.

You can play social bookmarking two ways, and it could also be viewed as a networking tool. If you only make the ability for readers to bookmark your post, page, website with one of the services, that's a beginning level. So is simply having a subscription yourself and marking others' items. The area of bookmarking your own work is a murky one. The possibility and appearance of abuse ought to be enough to make you restrain yourself. Sounds like a great marketing ploy at first, but think about it from other people's viewpoints, including those who offer the services.

Both marking and promoting it on your pages can be a network event of sorts, if you have the time to track down those who bookmarked yours and reciprocate on theirs. It is a kludgy, awkward way to build or participate in a social network. Tomorrow we'll look at writers using true social networking to their advantage.

Google Rank Returns, Other Rises

The Google Gods restoreth PageRank to A Writer's Edge! Apparently 3 is the new 5. That's the site's ranking in Google's new scheme to weed out Pay-Per-Post/Click bloggers and websites. I have never participated in those marginally unethical practices, however, to the Google Search system my page looked suspicious enough for them to pull MY rank last fall. (No one knows what formula was used to de-rank and re-rank sites.)

When Google dropped the rank, I cast about furiously for another ranking system and found a good one at SEOmoz.com. In that service's view, the page was a 4.5 to Google's 0. I'd hoped for the covet 6. Well, I have it now with SEOmoz! So, a Google 3 = SEOmoz 6? What does it really mean? A return of advertisers, I hope -- unless that's what Google was punishing me for, not using AdSense on the front page, but displaying ads from others. Call me cynical, but do call.

Writing in Genre

In a chat last night, someone complained that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had been categorized as sci-fi, and that people in general seem confused about a definition of science fiction writing. Equally confusing is the line of separation between horror and paranormal. And what about the space movies with monsters (one of my favorites)? If the monster in space is a blood-sucking demon, does that make it horror, paranormal, sci-fi, or even fantasy? Personally, I have difficulty with the latter, tending to consider most fantasy writing as creations for children. I know I'm wrong in this thinking, I hasten to add.

Wouldn't it be lovely if there were a Genre Court of Last Resort that issues clear definitions of genres? Of course, then there would have to be a Genre Court of Appeals for all those indignant litigants to follow. Alas, no such authority exists, not even the venerable Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Sorry new fiction writers. We can't help you categorize your work. However, what is much more important is the description that applies to the publisher you are aiming for. Pick a publisher before writing? That seems so crass! It's also realistic. More than studying the guidelines for one publisher, I'd suggest you survey many publishers that you think you might submit to. If the general consensus is that vampires don't belong in their science fiction publications, adjust. Sure, you can be free and take a chance that your writing will fit somewhere. Just go into it with your eyes open. And don't come whining later that "no one will publish my work".

Dream Book Store

I did not spend space yesterday describing the clean, neat, tidy, well-lit and crowded BOOKOFF store. Uniform tall black shelving units crowded the length of the building space that formerly held new technical books for sale. The aisles were a little narrow for full-size, luxury-built Americans, I thought. Admittedly, I saw only one side of the store, but didn't notice any place to sit down or to set anything down. That had me musing once again on the fantasy ideal book shop that I've dreamed of for years. It's probably a concatenation of ones I've known all over the country.

Dusty, even dirty, darkish but with easy chairs by lamps on end tables ... a cat to leap into unoccupied laps and purr you into purchasing ... live potted plants ... a feeling of old, old books, old store perhaps run by a patient old person. Mismatched wooden book cases. A wood floor. A spiral iron staircase to a mezzanine overlooking the main floor. Coffee. Board games?

Baby Boomers, at least, probably want a combination old book nook/coffee house, like the "No Exit" cafe, where my fiance and I spent cozy wintry evenings in the early 60s, trying to like espresso, playing chess, reading poetry from the books scattered around the room.

OTOH, wouldn't it be way cool, rad, high rez or whatever is the current slang for the cat's pajamas, if the books were RFID tagged and the store had a computerized system, so the clerk could tell at a click if they had the book you were searching for AND where it was located? Maybe hand-held devices that could lead you to your selection, because even a computer's records can be wrong and books get moved?

Have I left out anything? What would your ideal used book store be like? Do younger generations prefer clean, efficient, no-frills experiences?

Book Publishing Business

Anyone who hopes to have a book published, and everyone who considers self-publishing, will benefit by reading Rachael Donadio's essay on the NY Times website, Why Does It Still Take So Long to Publish a Book? Although she writes extensively about pre-pub marketing strategies, another take-away point is this:

As soon as a literary agent has sold a publisher a book, and even before it’s edited, copy-edited, proofread and indexed, the publicity wheels start turning.

Notice all the editorial steps that take time to accomplish. One would hope that the book had already been edited before it was submitted to an agent, and sometimes agents suggest rewrites (requiring another edit).

All this gate-keeping scrutiny of traditional publishing, that self-published books seldom receive, contributes to the negative impression about and discrimination against reviewing self-publishers.

Now go back and study the marketing description Donadio provides. Could you possibly do all that as an individual? Did you know of these strategies necessary for a published book to become even a mild success? Those who think that self-publishing is a fine alternative because it is faster and cheaper are short-changing themselves and their customers. And I haven't mentioned product quality, fodder for another post.

Book Store Turns Classroom

Apparently in an attempt to attract readers and potential customers, the Borders big box chain of book stores is experimenting by offering free classes, The Sacramento Bee announced. The Borders Live Classes pilot program includes a variety of topics. Here's hoping it's a success, and that they include more classes in tune with books, writing and writers, all over the country.

Web 2.0 Unravels for Writers

Somewhat amusing to me was the Business Week article Generation MySpace Is Getting Fed Up because the local chapter of American Pen Women just asked me to talk with them about using such social nets, as well as websites, to promote members' work.

The average amount of time each user spends on social networking sites has fallen by 14% over the last four months ... MySpace, the largest social network, has slipped from a peak of 72 million users in October to 68.9 million in December.... The total number of people on such sites is still increasing at an 11.5% rate, but that's down sharply from past growth rates. "What you have with social networks is the most overhyped scenario in online advertising," says Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Specific Media, which places ads for customers on a variety of Web sites.

I had always had the impression that the Web 2.0 is a phenomenon for people in their teens to about 35. While many of my clients fit into that demographic, an equal number are seniors, too. The youth factor is what I found participating in Google's version of social networking, Orkut. I think I'll explain to the ladies of the pen that unless they write for the YA (Young Adult) category, they may be wasting their time and efforts with social networks. Better to focus on a website and real networking.

Finding Famous People

Writers often need to contact celebrity and authority figures. Sometimes it's for an interview, quotes, or other content-related reasons. Other times, they're looking for a way to obtain a testimonial, blurb, or maybe a preface for a book. One method of research is to subscribe to WhoRepresents.com. Here are some tips from John Kremer's Book Marketing Tip of the Week newsletter on finding someone famous:

1. Google them. This is the simplest way. Generally you can find an address for someone famous or important simply by Googling them.

2. Use one of the phone book services on the Internet. You can Google "phone book services" to locate some of these. You may have to try more than one to find the person you are looking for. That has been my experience.

3. Ask your friends. You'd be surprised how many of your friends know people that you would also want to know. The six degrees of separation rule is an exaggeration. My experience is that if you are at all active in any group, you are probably three people away from anyone you want to reach. Ask and keep asking until the right person hears your question and answers with an introduction.

Incidentally, you can email John and sign up for his newsletter.

SmartLinks Amazing Technology for Writers

A new-to-me company, Adaptive Blue, is offering "smart links" and SmartLink Widgets to enhance blogs and websites. They come in a variety of flavors (stocks, music, wine, movies), but we'll focus on the one for books. SmartLinks for Books shows an example (image to the right) of the results of clicking on a blue arrow (like this one ) embedded in your text, using the widget to:

* Get a preview of the cover and description
* Choose from book sites like Amazon, B&N, etc.
* Find it in the local library via WorldCat
* Bookmark using a favorite service
* Post book link to Facebook or Twitter
* Access the best reviews from around the web
* Find similar books by subject and customer picks
* Find more books by the same author
* Lookup author's bio and web links

If you scroll down to the lower part of the page, you'll see a visual of a different type of book widget and a link to the widget page itself. Prepare yourself to be amazed, confused, and perhaps overwhelmed at first. The versatility of this technology blows me away! Two other resources on using this tool are the BlueBlog and the Book Widget Gallery.

To Fraser, whomever you are, thanks for the email introducing me to this amazing service.

If any of you readers are already using a SmartLinks widget to enhance your online writing, please let us know about your experiences and implementation.

Are Book Signings so Yesterday?

Last Sunday's chat with writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions, the featured guest in The Writer's Chatroom, proved quite enlightening. I was able to clear up a point of confusion circulating among new authors. That is, whether or not signings (in bookstores) are becoming passe and valueless. Yes and no is the answer. The Big Six (major traditional publishers) are booking fewer signing tours, and when they do, it's really to gain the attention of local media outlets for the author. A signing, I knew, is most effective when it is part of an "event" orchestrated for publicity purposes.

However, Ms. Nunn pointed out, book signings are an important tactic for getting a book into bookstores. I'm guessing she was talking in terms of authors published by smaller and independent houses. Perhaps it also applies to self-publishers, although for placement in major chains, a book must be available for order through Baker and Taylor, usually.

You often hear about bookstore owners "hand selling", promoting a particular book in their store and community. Some authors must similarly "hand sell" their books to independents, and the signing/event remains a tantalizing tidbit to offer store owners. It's good for the book, good for the store and good for the author. Sort of like recycling.

Shopdropped a Good Book Lately?

The next time you stroll through a book store--and please, do support the brick-and-mortar variations of Amazon--you may come across a free book. It might not be labeled as such, but if you try to check it out, the clerk won't be able to ring it up and could ask, "Did you get this here?"

You will be a beneficiary of shopdropping: a growing practice of authors leaving their books lying about in places likely book buyers gather. Michael Quinion calls it a "guerrilla-art movement" akin to "culture jamming"--subverting competitors' advertising to your own benefit. In this case, however, the author use their own products to promote themselves and market the product. Sort of BookCrossing for a marketing purpose. I see nothing wrong with that.

This is my kind of free sample! I'd be delighted to find uncatalogued treasures on my library shelves. How about you?

Writers Can Sell Themselves via Technology

Several newish marketing or promotion notions:

Stamps. Put yourself, logo or book cover on a U.S. postage stamp. Services like zazzle.com, photo.stamps.com, and yourstamps.com can do the trick (thanks to Jim Cox's Midwest Book Review newsletter).

Radio interviews. Ah, but this isn't your grandparents' radio: try the new satellite and Internet radio services like Sirius, Blogtalk, WritersFM, live and recorded MP3s.

If you have a book coming out, be sure to badger your publisher to hook it up to book clubs as suggested in Publishers Seek to Mine Book Circles - New York Times. Several new Web 2.0 social networking sites exist for reading groups.

PageRank Promotes Blogicide!

I debated using "suicide" in the title, but decided that was too misleading. Yes, I did contemplate calling it quits earlier this month. My advertiser dumped this blog and, apparently, so did Google. If you have a PageRank indicator in your toolbar, you'll see that this entire website was demoted from a 5 to zero, "... Google's view of the importance of this page (0/10)". Google is punishing sites with paid links, something that never happened here. My compensatory move was to place the two top graphics in the sidebar, displaying a PR of 4.5 and site value of $17,906. Ironically, the traffic has increased quite a bit in the last few months. Go figure better, Google!

Classics as Graphic Novels

The June 1997 Education Reporter provided a list of 167 "classics that endure", called The Ultimate Reading List. These weren't just any classic tales, however, but really comic books based on famous literary writings.

Since the end of World War II, illustrated comics of literary classics have captured the imaginations of children and introduced them to Western civilization's most enduring stories. Beginning in 1941 with Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers and ending in 1962, 167 titles were published. The first 34 were called Classic Comics, and subsequent issues (including reprints of earlier titles) were known as Classics Illustrated.

The titles span the range of genres and centuries. I spotted Caesar's Conquests (51 B.C.) by Julius Caesar and several of Shakespeare's works from the 1600s. The most recent ones I noticed were dated in the early 1900s. It's fun to wander through this listing and see how many you've read. Do you have any of them in illustrated form? If so, they may be worth something! See Classics Central for more information.

Virtual Book Touring How-To

Several times I've written about virtual books, signings and tours, even hosted a touring guest recently. However, I've neglected to direct your attention to a great resource on how to arrange a virtual book tour. Book Authors Tour the World with Virtual Book Tours by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song, in John Kremer's blog about marketing bestsellers explained the process. Tardif provided multiple links to services, sites and other resources to assist the neophyte virtual traveler. She offered detailed, step-by-step instructions -- way too much to even try to recap here.

The author prepared this article after completing a successful one-month virtual book tour. She wrote from first-hand experience. In a reply to an anonymous skeptical comment, Tardif said, "I found that it was a wonderful way to connect with readers, and I tried to make my VBT exciting and fun for everyone."

Use Discussion Groups Effectively

One of many tactics to promote yourself and/or market your writing is to participate in discussion groups. These are variously called forums, boards and lists. They evolved from the first Internet groups, listserves and BBS (bulletin board systems). Guerilla marketer Jay Conrad Levinson
says, "Discussion group participation is the most effective way to locate and develop a relationship with your online customers."

Find groups appropriate to your writing specialty. Look for ones that attract the readers you want to reach: horror, biography, fantasy, education, romance, etc. Plug your topic and "groups" into any search engine, or better, visit the directories for the biggies, Google Groups and Yahoo Groups. You may have to register first.

Once you're in some groups, DO NOTHING for several visits. Observe the topics, interplay, and others' signatures. Your signature will be your opportunity to advertise your book, services or other product. Never use the body of a message to advertise! This activity is an investment requiring time and willingness to "give away" some of your expertise. Start responding to topics with thoughtful offerings. If you don't have an answer to a question or something pertinent to say, keep quiet, at least until the others get to know you and recognize your name/photo/avatar. Hit and run tactics don't work in discussion groups, neither does barging in with mouth blazing or an authoritative attitude. Humor always helps.

Strategies to Sell More Books

Scott Jeffrey of Become a Best-Selling Author offers a free eBook, 60 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR SELLING MORE BOOKS (.PDF format). Not only does he list the strategies and write about implementing them, but he also suggests tools for the processes, including creating an author's website. The 76-page eBook also contains links to other useful resources.

When I mentioned this fabulous FREE resource on the Writer's Digest Forum, I just knew it would appeal to Jeff Yeager, The Ultimate Cheapskate, as he prepares for his new book, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches, to be published in January 2008 by Random House (Broadway Books). In fact, he responded:

Thanks Geo. This is a TERRIFIC resource. So good, in fact, that I'm actually going to spring for the ink to print myself out a hard copy (ugh) [ed. note: typical Cheapskate attitude] ... much of the advice re: things authors should do is useful to all writers, whether you have a book that's already published and needs selling, or if you're just starting to write, looking for an agent, publisher, etc. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.

Repurpose, Recycle, Rewrite

All three of the title terms are used to describe an old practice. The current lingua franca is repurpose, which sounds like bureaucratese to me. The advice used to be to change the slant of an article to resell it to another market. Thinking has expanded to include books, even novels. Examples: sell parts of a novel as podcast short stories, create a blog centered around the book or its main character; offer website content about the book's topic (a good way to use up all that research for a fiction piece that didn't make it into the story.)

If you've become a specialist, an expert in a particular field, the only different material you have to work with is news: discoveries, innovative applications, scandals. Continuing sales depend on your ability to rework what you already know, taking alternative approaches to it, or mining one aspect for details. This is what novelists do when they create a series, sometimes erratic in timeline, such as prequels.

Look at your best work (most popular or highest paid, something that won a prestigious award). Turn it around and over, examine how you can elaborate, extend, deepen or explore different facets. Perhaps you can even resell it, with minor alterations, to a noncompetitive market. Slap a new opening on that baby and send it out again on the cycle that leads to sales.

Get Books in Barnes & Noble

One of the many myths about self-publishing is that if you pursue that course, you can't get your book carried by major stores like Barnes & Noble. Let's see what Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble says:

The process for contacting Barnes & Noble for our decision about whether or not we want to distribute the book into our stores is pretty straightforward and pretty simple. All you need to do is send a copy of the finished book to us along with a cover letter letting us know how you're going to promote the title, what you're marketing and publishing plans are, when you plan to publish the book and what your credentials are for writing it.

Sounds simple enough. You might also consult the book store's online help desk's Publisher and Author Guidelines and the details about Submitting Content for a heads-up on what is involved if B&N accepts your book.

Perfect Pitch Calls for Writers

Some time ago I wrote about pitches replacing press releases, but here's a new twist: making your pitch by phone. I found some tips for the successful execution of pitch calls on the Your Communications Plan page of the Communications Consortium Media Center. They explain that "The purpose of a pitch call to a reporter, editor or producer is to propose a story idea, an interview or coverage of an event." This could be a promotional tactic for your new book, CD, course or class, or writing service. For a successful pitch call, the CCMC recommends (in more detail):

* Be succinct and persuasive.

* Make your calls in the morning.

* Follow up with written information.

* Use pitch calls to build relationships.

I'd suggest that even if your pitch is turned down, follow up with a written thank you note and include your business card. The thank you will get attention, and the card may get you business or promotion eventually.

Book Marketing, Self Promotion

Tim Ferriss blogs about his formula for hitting highs on bestseller lists in How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on the New York Times.

The conclusion, in retrospect, is simple... It all came down to learning how to spread a "meme", an idea virus that captures imaginations and takes on a life of its own.

Doing that, however, included skipping the traditional book tours and signings and hitting the blogs:

* Go where bloggers go
* Be there with a message and a story that will appeal to their interests, not yours
* Build and maintain those relationships through your own blog