| janfields |
JULY 14 NIGHT OPEN
FORUM will begin in 5 minutes. Today's topic is Self Promotion. What
do commercial publishers really expect authors to do? How can you
promote yourself without going broke? Can you actually make money
while promoting? Come on in and ask...in five
minutes.
|
| janfields |
JULY 14TH NIGHT OPEN
FORUM begins in 2 minutes. TODAY'S TOPIC: Self-promotion. Bring your
self-promotion questions and ideas in and let's do some
brainstorming...in two minutes.
|
| janfields |
If you want to ask a
question and be sure it has a chance to be posted, you'll need to
use either the "ask a question" button on the bar across the middle
of your screen. OR type /ask...then space once and type your
question. That passes the question to me and I can post it for
answer. If you type the question in the bar at the bottom of you
screen, I may not see it.
|
| janfields |
Welcome to a crowded
Friday Night Chat-fest
|
| janfields |
Tonight we're talking
about self-publishing.
|
| janfields |
NOT
self-publishing
|
| janfields |
Self
PROMOTION
|
| janfields |
If I could type, I
would be dangerous.
|
| janfields |
TONIGHT, we are going
to talk about self-promotion.
|
| janfields |
Pay no attention to the
typo behind the curtain.
|
| janfields |
I wanted to give two
GREAT self-promotion links.
|
| janfields |
http://www.raabassociates.com
|
| janfields |
Susan Raab is a
publicist...and most of us are in no need of a
publicist
|
| janfields |
But she also shares her
knowledge of publicity
|
| janfields |
with amazing generosity
in the column TO MARKET that she does for SCBWI
|
| janfields |
And she puts ALL of the
TO MARKET column questions and answers on her
website.
|
| janfields |
Wonderful
stuff.
|
| janfields |
The other links was one
I just learned about today...
|
| janfields |
An article with a case
study of one group's promotional efforts is available at
http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbcmagazine/perspectives/200607.html
|
| janfields |
This article includes a
press release
|
| janfields |
that focused on a
specific timely news event -- namely some sort of literacy
drive
|
| janfields |
And used quotes from
the children's authors who went in together to produce the press
release.
|
| janfields |
And I'm pretty sure
they ended up on Television as a result of this press
release.
|
| janfields |
Huge free
publicity.
|
| janfields |
So that's a great link
to look at.
|
| janfields |
Many years ago, a
writer named Lloyd Little (not a children's author) told
me...
|
| janfields |
that there is one fact
about writers...
|
| janfields |
especially professional
writers...
|
| janfields |
they never spend money
they don't have to.
|
| janfields |
And he went on to teach
me things like how to just the ends of Jim Beam boxes to make photo
mailers to accompany articles.
|
| janfields |
Never say a college
education isn't worth a lot.
|
| janfields |
Anyway, I have kept the
"be cheap" mantra for many years.
|
| janfields |
So...I pass it on to
you -- good promotion should not be financially
crippling.
|
| janfields |
Because the return is
simply not that great....wait, I think I have a present question
along this line...
|
| janfields |
Katarat: I read an blog
by a best-selling author and he said he invests his advance into
promotion. Do you have to do that? I was hoping to make money if I
ever sold a book.
|
| janfields |
I actually read that
guy's blog too...he's a writer for adults...a mystery writer or
thriller writer or something.
|
| janfields |
At any rate, not many
folks do that.
|
| janfields |
The reason is that you
really aren't going to see a visible return on that
money.
|
| janfields |
Publishers say that
author-side promotional efforts make a difference in author-name
recognition for a career, but not a huge difference in sales of
single book.
|
| janfields |
Book sales are a
mysterious thing...unless you can get some national exposure for
something controversial, book sales mostly depend on whether readers
like your book enough to talk about it to others.
|
| janfields |
Thus, the sales of a
single book tend to be all about the book.
|
| janfields |
BUT, Susan Raab says
that promotion DOES make a difference in your overall
career.
|
| janfields |
It improved your name
recognition among readers, buyers, book sellers, and industry
folks.
|
| janfields |
And name recognition
makes every step easier.
|
| janfields |
And sometimes makes a
difference in sales over time.
|
| janfields |
But investing your
whole advance = bad idea.
|
| janfields |
A book publisher once
explained to me what an advance is...from the publisher's
side.
|
| janfields |
An advance is the
publisher's GUESS at how much money they will have to pay you over
the life of the book.
|
| janfields |
They try to guess how
much the book royalties are likely to be and they pay you that
amount.
|
| janfields |
as
advance.
|
| janfields |
So...if you clear your
advance and start getting royalty checks...
|
| janfields |
that means your book
sold better than the publisher expected.
|
| janfields |
If you don't clear the
advance before the book goes out of print, that means you didn't
sell as much as they expected.
|
| janfields |
You do not have to meet
the advance for the book to be profitable for the
publisher.
|
| janfields |
Their profit break is
well before your advance is met.
|
| janfields |
in
sales.
|
| rainchain |
So what kinds of things
do authors spend on for promotions?
|
| janfields |
There are good
investments....
|
| janfields |
Susan Raab recommends
creating a "book signing kit"
|
| janfields |
With reusable
high-quality signs for the bookstore windows
|
| janfields |
Good quality
free-standing display with easle
|
| janfields |
easel
|
| janfields |
How do you spell
that>
|
| janfields |
Anyway...and with some
decorative items related to your book that could be used in
the
|
| janfields |
store window to create
a display.
|
| janfields |
For example, if your
book was called "The Ragdoll Kid" -- and featured a raggedy kid who
achieves popularity through baseball
|
| janfields |
You might include a
vintage ragdoll and a baseball and mitt
|
| janfields |
Those items beside the
short easel in the front window would be very eye
catching.
|
| janfields |
And that "kit" could be
offered to each bookstore when a signing is booked.
|
| janfields |
Oh and it should have
high quality photo from promotion.
|
| janfields |
And a short fake
interview with you (since some bookstores have newsletters and the
newsletter could include the interview in advance of the
event.
|
| janfields |
Anyway...those items
would be an expense but they would be a fairly small expense and
could be used again and again.
|
| janfields |
Susan Raab also
recommends having nice bookmarks made and magnets (she loves magnets
as give aways since they are kept far more often than
bookmarks)
|
| caq |
What do you mean a short
"fake" interview? Do you invent one?
|
| janfields |
Right...you come up
with questions you can answer well about your
book...
|
| janfields |
especially questions
that can lead to clever or witty anecdotes as
answers.
|
| janfields |
So that you come across
sounding lively, bright and fun to meet.
|
| janfields |
People like to know
where the idea for a book came from...
|
| janfields |
if anything interesting
happened when researching...
|
| janfields |
how many times it got
rejected...
|
| janfields |
any funny rejection
tales.
|
| janfields |
Weird stuff about your
family or dog...or cats...lots of folks are oddly into their
cats.
|
| janfields |
Since you're creating
the questions, you can have fun with it.
|
| caq |
And then you answer them
yourself? I mean, are they submitted for someone else to ask
you?
|
| janfields |
Right, you set it up as
a Q-and-A as if someone asked you the questions and you answered
them.
|
| janfields |
For
example
|
| janfields |
Q: Did you always know
you wanted to be a writer?
|
| janfields |
A: No, when I was five,
I decided I wanted to be a hooker,
|
| janfields |
because when I asked my
mother what a "hooker" was...
|
| janfields |
she told me it was a
woman who sleeps with men for money.
|
| janfields |
I thought that had to
be the best job -- you had your days free,
|
| janfields |
all you had to do was
sleep,
|
| janfields |
and you didn't have to
be alone in your room after dark (I was very afraid of the dark),
but my first school essay
|
| janfields |
on "What I Want to Be
When I Grow Up:
|
| janfields |
and a few hours with
the school guidance counsellor convinced me to choose a new
career.
|
| janfields |
Now, that's a true
story so in MY fake interview, I would use that.
|
| janfields |
Because folks like
it.
|
| caq |
This is then printed off
and handed out? I don't mean to sound dense, but I never heard of a
self-down interview that was not frowned on. Who do you say the
interview was done by? You can't say, "Here is an inteview I did by
myself."
|
| janfields |
Fake interviews are in
every single solitary press packet from every single publisher I've
ever gotten press kits from.
|
| janfields |
They all put them in
when they send books to reviewers.
|
| janfields |
That way the reviewer
can pull quotes
|
| janfields |
Or just use the "facts"
in the interview.
|
| janfields |
They are actually
standard in author press kits.
|
| janfields |
Many times if you send
a press kit to a local newspaper...
|
| janfields |
you'll have an article
in there...completely done in newspaper style
|
| janfields |
Tying your book to some
event or newsworthy something...
|
| janfields |
and you'll also put in
the fake interview.
|
| janfields |
And Many times the
newspaper uses stuff from the article, the interview and MAYBE they
call you for another quote or two.
|
| dell |
I bet many self-done
interviews are also up on author web sites under the guise of
FAQ
|
| janfields |
Right, lots of stuff in
FAQS...were actually not FA'ed
|
| janfields |
Especially if it's an
author's first book and recently released.
|
| janfields |
They pick questions
they know folks want to know the answers to (because they ask around
or visit other author sites)
|
| janfields |
And they answer
them.
|
| caq |
So does the publisher
make up your fake interview or do you do it up yourself and send it
in to your purlbisher?
|
| janfields |
The publisher asks you
to do it...but if you don't produce somethign cool enough, they will
send you more questions.
|
| janfields |
But the publisher
(depending on who it is) maybe print them for you.
|
| janfields |
On pretty
paper
|
| janfields |
And make up the
presskits
|
| janfields |
And give you some if
you want.
|
| janfields |
And send the rest to
bizillions of interviewers.
|
| janfields |
I don't get presskits
from authors, I get them from the publisher.
|
| dell |
LOL sounds like I could
do that at my site!!! You sparked a good idea for me,
Jan!
|
| janfields |
I like to be
sparky.
|
| janfields |
Let me hit another of
my pre-asked.
|
| janfields |
AskAnne: I was reading
an agent's online journal and she was talking about platform -- what
is platform? How do I know if I have one? How do you get
one?
|
| janfields |
When an agent or
publisher is talking platform...
|
| janfields |
they mean "reason
people would notice you and buy your book"
|
| janfields |
If you are the member
of an organization ...that's has a certain amount of
platform.
|
| janfields |
That's why publishers
often ask you to tell them every organization you've EVER belonged
to from Daisy Scouts on...
|
| janfields |
Then they try to figure
ways to turn those small slivers of platform into
sales.
|
| janfields |
Another type of
"platform" is "reason why you are the number one most best person to
have written this book"
|
| janfields |
So, if you are writing
a mystery that takes place at sea and you started out as an
oceanographer -- that's platform.
|
| janfields |
Most writers have more
platform than they think.
|
| janfields |
Sometimes it takes
creativity to come up with ways to utilize what you
have.
|
| janfields |
Bonnie: When should I
get a website? What should be on it?
|
| janfields |
A lot of folks will
tell you that you don't need a website until you've sold a
book...
|
| janfields |
and TECHNICALLY you
probably don't.
|
| janfields |
But it's good to go
ahead and create a website NOW
|
| janfields |
because by the time you
have a book, you'll be more adept at handling your
website.
|
| janfields |
All the embarassing
typos will be pointed out and dealt with.
|
| janfields |
People will have told
you that flashing pink text against a black background has been
known to make folks go blind.
|
| janfields |
Stuff like
that.
|
| janfields |
Most folks don't grasp
the "less is more" school of website design until they've had one
for a while.
|
| janfields |
I have seen some really
painful first websites for writers.
|
| janfields |
So if you can get those
over with before a huge hoarde of folks are looking for your site
because they want to know about your book...well, it's good to do
that.
|
| janfields |
My website...which is
horribly wretchedly out of date
|
| janfields |
has my resume...and
surprisingly, that alone has caused me to be offered
work.
|
| janfields |
Because I once did a
series of books work-for-hire for a toy company, so work for hire
folks sometimes contact me with offers.
|
| janfields |
I also have my presskit
(photo, bio, really a lot of stuff that needs
updating.)
|
| janfields |
But I liked messing
with the idea of a presskit
|
| janfields |
Because when I have a
book, my kit will be both in print and online
|
| janfields |
You honestly want to
see that awful website?
|
| janfields |
It's actually a very
nice design...my husband did it.
|
| janfields |
http://www.janfields.com
|
| janfields |
Which reminds
me...another good thing about getting a sight early...you'll have
your name already bought.
|
| janfields |
Nothing worse than
having a book and finding out that when readers type in your
name...they get a porno site.
|
| dell |
Can you elaborate on the
'less is more" concept, Jan?
|
| janfields |
Sure...don't make
readers wait for tons of photos and graphics to
load.
|
| janfields |
Keep graphics to a
minimum.
|
| janfields |
Don't make fancy
graphical headers.
|
| janfields |
Don't use things that
flash or dance around or chase cursors.
|
| janfields |
They are cute at first
glance but they can mess with slow computers.
|
| janfields |
And they won't render
on some systems.
|
| janfields |
Keep scrolling to a
minimum per page.
|
| janfields |
I know one writer whose
first page scrolls like 35 times.
|
| janfields |
It goes on and on and
on and on and on
|
| janfields |
With pictures
too.
|
| janfields |
That is NOT
good.
|
| janfields |
Takes a long time to
load and NO ONE...probably not even her mom would read the whole
thing.
|
| janfields |
Better to put separate
things on separate pages.
|
| janfields |
If you want to ask a
question and be sure it has a chance to be posted, you'll need to
use either the "ask a question" button on the bar across the middle
of your screen. OR type /ask...then space once and type your
question. That passes the question to me and I can post it for
answer. If you type the question in the bar at the bottom of you
screen, I may not see it.
|
| janfields |
CATHIE: Is it a lot of
work getting a website set up?
|
| janfields |
YES...and no and
maybe
|
| janfields |
It helps if you decide
EXACTLY what you want first.
|
| janfields |
Visit lots of author
sites and decide what you like and what you don't
|
| janfields |
Think about clean looks
and readability.
|
| janfields |
Readers want to find
stuff fast.
|
| janfields |
Notice how the other
writers are using navigation (those links that help folks find what
they want)
|
| janfields |
Write all the "stuff"
you want on the site BEFORE you start trying to build
it.
|
| janfields |
Write it in NOTEPAD so
you don't have format issues when you put it in your
website.
|
| janfields |
Once you know what you
want and have written the text...the site will still take hours but
it will be far less frustrating.
|
| janfields |
Does anyone in the
audience have a website -- Dell?
|
| janfields |
Can you tell me the
urls?
|
| dell |
www.DellaRossFerreri.com
|
| janfields |
Thanks...
|
| janfields |
What software do you
use to make yours?
|
| janfields |
My husband uses
Microsoft Front Page for ours.
|
| janfields |
Dell uses the built in
webpage creation tools from One and One (which is a good webserver
-- we use it too)
|
| janfields |
Dell, says she picked
an online template that looked cute and matched the style of my
books.
|
| janfields |
I know some children's
writers also use the template and services available through
smartwriters.com
|
| janfields |
For the web editing
stuff I do here at ICL, I use Coffeecup
|
| janfields |
It's a very basic web
editor...and you really have to know how to do the html
codes.
|
| janfields |
So it's not for the
first time web builder so much.
|
| janfields |
There is also a free
web editor packaged with Netscape, I believe.
|
| janfields |
There was...long ago
and I built a couple sites with it.
|
| janfields |
CATHIE: Does the web
site list the software usually?
|
| janfields |
Not usually on the page
where you see it in your browser.
|
| janfields |
But if you go to your
menu and click on VIEW
|
| janfields |
and then
SOURCE....somewhere in the mess of code is OFTEN the name of the
software used.
|
| janfields |
I know FRONTPAGE leaves
a source stamp in the code
|
| janfields |
And so does COFFEECUP
(though I often take it out...I hate messy code.)
|
| lorib |
can we borrow your
husband :)
|
| janfields |
Nope, I work him like a
dog...he does all the web work for Janfields (granted not much these
days) and KidMagWriters (much busier)
|
| caq |
I have looked at dell's
site. It is very very cute and well done.
|
| janfields |
I just wanted that
noted for the transcript.
|
| doug |
One place people may want
to look first is their own ISP-many service agreements come with
free webspace-but so few of us use more than 1 email account and the
web access-and forget that a free website is included in our monthly
fee agreement
|
| janfields |
All of my first
websites were with the free space provided by my internet
provider.
|
| janfields |
Sometimes that space is
not the fastest you can find, but for a small site.
|
| janfields |
Especially one you're
mostly making to learn what you're doing.
|
| janfields |
Free is THE WAY to
go.
|
| dell |
And I know some authors
who are happy with Author's Guild
|
| dell |
But I believe you have to
be a member (of Author's Guild) to get a site through
them.
|
| janfields |
Good
suggestion.
|
| winterstitcher |
Can you use your own url
with the free spaces from your ISP?
|
| janfields |
Usually you'll need to
do some kind of URL forwarding...one write I know has her own
domain
|
| janfields |
But she's using free
space for her actual site
|
| janfields |
So when you type in her
domain name...you get her site...but the url you see is actually
just for the site "frame" and the real meat is being served from a
different url.
|
| janfields |
It can be done...and it
isn't as hard as I just made it sound.
|
| janfields |
It's one of those
things that sounds worse and worse as you explain
it.
|
| janfields |
So -- websites -- yes,
don't wait for your first book.
|
| janfields |
Make one now, get a
feel for how it works.
|
| janfields |
What you
like.
|
| janfields |
stuff like
that.
|
| janfields |
A couple
things...IMPORTANT THINGS....
|
| janfields |
don't put anything on
there that you don't want an editor to see (they can google
too)
|
| janfields |
Don't complain about
your rejection letters on your website.
|
| janfields |
It's okay to say you've
had them...but don't post them or rant about them.
|
| janfields |
Don't get too
personal.
|
| janfields |
No one wants to know
about your embarrassing person hygiene issues or how you got
creeping crud on your foot...stuff like that.
|
| janfields |
If anyone sees your
site, ask yourself...are you scaring them?
|
| janfields |
Aside from my photo...I
try to keep more of my site pretty free of things to freak out an
editor.
|
| caq |
Wouldn't a biggy be: Dont
exaggerate and lie on your website? They are really checking resumes
now for that sort of thing, that applicants thought was okay not so
long ago.
|
| janfields |
Oh, yeah, don't lie
about credits.
|
| janfields |
Though...well, some of
my witty stories might be the eensyest bit
exaggerated.
|
| janfields |
But I'm strictly honest
about anything to do with my profession.
|
| janfields |
Editors want to know
they can believe you.
|
| janfields |
Though I don't always
put all my credits on my site.
|
| janfields |
I like the feel to be
toward work I actually want to do MORE of.
|
| janfields |
I found out the hard
way that if you feature credits you hated doing...folks will pop out
of the woodwork to offer you money to do more of the icky
stuff.
|
| janfields |
CATHIE: Can you set upt
he site as you learn but not make it available to the general
public.
|
| janfields |
Not really unless you
password protect access to the site.
|
| janfields |
Spiders crawl sites
without invitation and then you'll turn up in the deep deep pages of
Google.
|
| janfields |
But unless you're
TRYING to get good hits, mostly no one is going to find you that
way.
|
| janfields |
Unless you write
somethign like : My aunt Linsey suggested we always use silicon
nipples on the baby's bottle. But my cousing Lohan said rubber is
the way to go...
|
| janfields |
The combination of
Lindsey Lohan and nipples gets you great google rank so I'm
told.
|
| janfields |
The weirdest google
searches have turned folks up at my site of Kid Mag Writers because
of words that appear in a way the googling person clearly didn't
really want.
|
| janfields |
Wow...yeah...this will
be my number one transcript.
|
| janfields |
Okay...it's after 10
here and my husband is telling me the time every sixty
seconds.
|
| janfields |
So, that's about it for
tonight...though we're never really done with
self-promotion.
|
