Book Marketing Blogs

We had an inspirational show with self-published author Randy Kearse, who has managed to sell 14,000 copies of his books – with many of those sales made on the New York City subway. Blessed with a lot of drive and a true entrepreneurial spirit, Randy attributes his success to doing whatever he can, whenever he can, to tell people about his books.

The show kicked off with a segment on what to look for in a web host, with SEO expert Susan Gilbert.

It’s important to select a good hosting company as not all are created equal, she says.

Two of the most important things to consider are: your up time – it has to be 99%, and not many hosts have that. In addition, you need a good 24-hour 800 number to call. Susan says you need to have a phone number, and if your host doesn’t have a number, don’t use them.

Don’t go with free. If you can’t afford $150 a year for web hosting, don’t even bother, she adds.

And be careful, even with big names – Go Daddy, for instance, has security issues.

For the full scoop on what to look for in a web host, including some recommendations, visit Susan’s blog:

http://www.susangilbert.com/how-to-select-a-good-hosting-company-not-all-hosts-are-created-equal/.

For additional resources and tips check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

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About our guest: Once deemed a menace to society by a judge who sentenced him to 15 years in 1992, Randy Kearse, author, motivational speaker and entrepreneur, served 13 years, 6 months and 2 days in federal prison. He returned to society with a new perspective, a fresh focus, and strong determination to succeed. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. Randy grew up in the Farragut housing projects. He provides people with a formula to turn a negative situation into a positive opportunity. He is the author of Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop & Urban Slanguage (first self-published then picked up by Barricade Books Inc. for Street Talk; Changin’ Your Game Plan: How to use incarceration as a stepping stone for SUCCESS; The Writing Game: How to Print, Publish, Profit in the Book Industry; co-wrote From Incarceration 2 Incorporation with best selling author J.M. Benjamin; and recently released The Street Survival Guide for the young Black and Latino Male. Learn more at http://www.randykearse.com/ and http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/nyregion/10books.html.

Randy said that selling his books on the New York City subway happened by chance. He used to set up a table on the street in shopping areas, a tactic he used for about a year until a van accident made it difficult for him and his books to get around the city.

One day he put some books in a bag, jumped on a train, and started talking up his books with subway riders. People were very receptive, and Randy eventually put together a presentation – and the rest is history.

He doesn’t go out every day on the subway to make book sales because it’s not realistic to sell every day at the same level of energy.

While subway riders seem to comprise a tough crowd, he said people have been very supportive. For one, they see in Randy an example of someone who has a passion to do something adventurous, and it excites them.

The book he sells on the subway, Changin’ Your Game Plan: How to use incarceration as a stepping stone for SUCCESS is a nonfiction motivational piece that covers his life journey of overcoming mistakes and adversity. Randy finds his story resonates with a lot of people who have overcome something, and it also appeals to people who love an underdog story.

And Randy has had an amazing comeback – he spent 13 years, 6 months, and 2 days in prison and has since turned his life completely around.

Now he wants to be known for some good in life, not just bad. “Nobody is born bad, we learn to be bad, we make decisions/choices that put us in a bad direction, so we need to go back to that period where we had dreams and choices,” he says.

Randy started writing Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop & Urban Slanguage while incarcerated. He admits prison is a tough place to get creative energy going, and people were saying he’d never sell the book. He never stopped believing, though.

Motivation is not a problem because he’s seen so many lives wasted, destroyed or squandered, and he doesn’t want anyone else to go through what he’s been through.

“It’s about choices, and it’s the choices we make that determine the life we’re going to live,” he says. We all have a certain strength in us, it’s a matter of bringing it out.

Selling books to the public on the street, and later the subway, was not easy at first. Randy said he felt shy about approaching people. Yet when he was living on the street and doing wrong, he wasn’t afraid then. He asked himself: “Why be afraid now, when I’m doing right? That’s how I go forth in my life now,” he says.

What’s surprised him the most on this journey to becoming a successful author is how well people receive him. “A lot of times we have an idea of what a person who has been in prison is like,” he observes, but when Randy speaks to people, he says they tell him they never would have known he’d been in prison if he hadn’t told them. People have not placed a scarlet letter on him, Randy says.

Randy admits it’s still an amazing feeling when someone walks up and says, “I read your book, or it’s changed my son’s life.” He thinks, “You’re talking to me? I’m not sure I will ever get used to that. I never guessed Changin’ the Game Plan would have such an impact, I hoped to provoke some people to change – that they would read the book and say, if this guy can change, I can change, too.”

Although Randy’s stature is growing, he says, “I’m an ordinary guy, you can walk up and talk to me. I don’t think I’m better than anybody just because I’ve written a book.” He went to a book expo with 100 writers, and 99 authors were sitting down waiting for someone to come up to them. That’s not how Randy operates. “I don’t sit down at a book signing. I’m going to meet you and greet you on the same level, eye to eye, I want to shake your hand… people can miss something if they are waiting for others to take action,” he says.

Meanwhile, he keeps on selling; everywhere he goes has books with him. Randy has sold books at Burger King, McDonald’s… and he’s always ready to sell – “anything I can possibly do I’m out there selling books.” He attends conferences, speaks at all kinds of events and has shared his message on boat rides, at barbecues, in schools, at barber shops – he’s open to any and all ideas. You can see Randy in action on this YouTube video.

The most unique place Randy has sold a book is in a bookstore. He walked into a bookstore, started up a conversation with a patron and asked them if they ever read this book (showing them a copy of his book). They asked who wrote it, Randy said he did – and the patron bought it.

It’s that kind of drive that makes a difference. As self-published authors, “we have to grind, be creative. If I don’t sell books, I don’t eat,” he says.

Next up, Randy will start a newspaper in the fall about overcoming adversity, starting businesses, things to inspire people that he hopes to turn into a radio show or local TV access show. “I want to inspire people to live out their dreams,” he says, and these new vehicles will allow him to market his books for free.

In addition, Randy will appear on a book marketing panel at the Self Publishing Expo Oct. 2, 2010 at the Sheraton New York, http://www.selfpubbookexpo.com/.

Randy’s mother is proud of his journey, he says. “That is more priceless than anything I’ve done, just to see the smile on her face.”

His advice to self published authors is simple and straightforward: “Just go get ‘em. Don’t be afraid to approach people about your books, promote them. The worst thing people can do is to say, no, I’m not interested. Give out flyers, beat the street.”

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Upcoming Episodes

Please join us August 24 for our next show, Amp Up Your Online Book Promotion with Jo-Anne Vandermeulen http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/08/24/amp-up-your-online-book-promtion-with-jo-anne-vand. Jo-Anne hosts a weekly live Blog Talk Radio show, “Authors Articulating,” http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prempromotions, where she shares marketing and promotional tips for writers. Learn about the importance of online marketing, as well as tips and insights into top social media networks such as Facebook, Amazon Connect, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads and more! A published author, Jo-Anne’s first book, a women’s fiction (suspense/romance) called “Conquer All Obstacles” was released in November 2009. Her latest book, a non-fiction resource titled Premium Promotional Tips for Writers, was released in December 2009. She recently created a new online business where she supports and markets her fellow writers: Premium Promotional Services, http://www.premiumpromotions.biz.

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We had a great show with a lot of tips and insights, From Blog to Book, with guest Pamela Redmond Satran, who turned her blog, How Not to Act Old, into a book that was published by HarperCollins in August 2009.

Leading into the interview, SEO expert Susan Gilbert noted that success is in the mind of the beholder – and you can measure success of a website or blog in different ways. However, everyone should have long- and short-term goals in mind when they set out.

Goals can include quantifying the number of site visitors, newsletter sign-ups, blog subscribers, comments following each post or retweets on Twitter. The value you assign these items varies based on why you’re doing this in the first place.

“If you have it in mind to build a blog because you’re creating content for a book, then think big in terms of structure,” Gilbert says. Start with a strong back end system for your site that can handle the growth.

How will you know it’s a success? The systems you put in place to measure this from day one will let you know if you’re moving in the right direction. If you’re getting sign-ups, comments, visitors … you’ll have evidence that you’re doing something right.

For additional resources and tips, check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

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About our guest: Pamela Redmond Satran, http://pamelaredmondsatran.com, is the author of the NY Times bestselling humor book How Not To Act Old, based on her blog (http://hownottoactold.com) of the same name, and of five novels, including Younger and The Man I Should Have Married, and the baby name books Cool Names for Babies and The Baby Name Bible, which became the foundation of http://nameberry.com.  She also writes a column for Glamour and also writes frequently for The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post. Learn more about her blog to book experience at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-redmond-satran/how-to-turn-your-blog-int_b_643477.html.

Pamela said she started her blog, How Not to Act Old, with the intention of getting published. When she first had the idea, Pamela thought it would make a quick, fun magazine article, but she couldn’t find anyone interested in the piece. Meanwhile, she had to learn how to blog that summer as her baby naming site, nameberry.com, was going live. She figured she would try blogging and see how it went.

She started How Not to Act Old in June 2008, and she says while evidence of increasing site traffic, visitors, etc. is important, another important factor to consider when blogging is sustainability. Is the blog something you can keep going for a couple of years? You need time to build an audience, sell a book, drum up interest…. you’re basically in it for the long haul.

There is also no guarantee that people who read the blog will buy the book, she says; they may assume they’ve read it all on the blog. Or, if the blog is free online, why pay $15 or $20 for more for a book?

Things to consider when deciding if your blog is worthy of a book: you’ll need a lot of new material, which can take a year or so to build up. “Look at the issue from 30,000 feet – the big picture: probably the best chance of success is if you go out the door with a sharp idea that you know hasn’t been overdone online or in books, and with a url that builds your brand (don’t have different urls for your blog, Facebook page, Twitter, etc.).” In addition, writing, tone and graphics used in print can make it difficult to translate from books to the web, which is a very visual medium. Yet all kinds of elements should be part of your blog package, including video and music – even if those are not part of the book, she says.

Pamela says she knew How Not to Act Old was a fresh idea because no one was writing to new generation of middle-aged people – who swore they would never be middle aged or act old. She sent blog posts around and got a lot of positive reaction from friends and family, who were sending the pieces to other people (of course your friends and mom will love what you write, she says, but if your friends’ friends make it viral, that’s one way to know you’ve tapped into something).

Bloggers entertaining the idea of getting a book deal should pay attention to industry news. Publisher’s Lunch, Publisher’s Marketplace and Publisher’s Weekly are online so you can keep up with book deals: who is getting them, and what kind of books. You can Google popular blogs and blog topics, or check sites like Technorati.com to see what has people buzzing, or if your topic is overdone.

Also, if you’re serious, buy the web domain name that is right for your book and blog. For tracking statistics such as site visitors, Google analytics is a free program that offers a lot of data.

Pamela used a WordPress blog and got her domain name – How Not to Act Old – and she was very happy with it. She used the built-in WordPress measurement tools to learn where traffic was coming from, when her blog was getting spikes in visitors and other details.

Interestingly enough, when Pamela was meeting with publishers about turning her blog into a book, nobody asked her about her blog traffic. “I was surprised. I think publishers have had to get a lot more sophisticated very quickly – two years ago nobody asked me how many unique visitors … and it’s harder now to get the numbers in traffic that will impress a publisher,” she says.

In this tougher market, she says you should use blog and traffic statistics to make a great presentation to a publisher, and use those stats to show growth and provide evidence that your blog will continue to grow.

With digital books so popular right now, writers should probably think “blog to e-book and self publish,” Pamela adds, because it’s so much easier and much more respectable to self-publish now. “If you build an audience for your blog and have something fresh to say in a book, in some ways then why do you need a publisher? Sell your book to your audience directly.” Plus, if you sell a lot of e-books, traditional publishers will take notice.

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Upcoming Episodes

Please join us August 10 for our next show, A Self Publishing Success Story, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/08/10/a-self-publishing-success-story.

Authors can and should look beyond the bookstore for their book sales, and Randy Kearse has found a winning formula selling his books on the New York City subway. Over the past three years, Randy has sold about 14,000 copies of his books at $10 apiece, offering his message of hope, redemption and success. Randy will share his story and his strategies for his successful subway sales.

About our guest: Once deemed a menace to society by a judge who sentenced him to 15 years in 1992, Randy Kearse, author, motivational speaker and entrepreneur, served 13 years, 6 months and 2 days in federal prison. He returned to society with a new perspective, a fresh focus, and strong determination to succeed. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. Randy grew up in the Farragut housing projects. He provides people with a formula to turn a negative situation into a positive opportunity.

Randy is the author of Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop & Urban Slanguage (first self-published then picked up by Barricade Books Inc. for Street Talk); Changin’ Your Game Plan: How to use incarceration as a stepping stone for SUCCESS; The Writing Game: How to Print, Publish, Profit in the Book Industry; co-wrote From Incarceration 2 Incorporation with best selling author J.M. Benjamin; and recently released The Street Survival Guide for the Young Black and Latino Male. Learn more at http://www.randykearse.com/ and http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/nyregion/10books.html.

We added a little touch of rock and roll to Publishing Insiders this week by asking the question: What does Van Halen have to do with book marketing? More than you might realize!

Image via Wikipedia

It began with an article in Entrepreneur magazine about how Eddie Van Halen would test the system when they were on tour. The band insisted their dressing room have a bowl of M&M’s, but the venue would have to remove all the brown ones. Eddie would show up, check the dish, and if brown M&M’s were in the bowl he knew they hadn’t read the contract and there could be something wrong with the setup. Most times he was right.

To take the book marketing angle: What are the telltale signs you need to be looking at to know there is a problem with your marketing? Are you doing the right thing or in trouble?

First, we took a look at a little understood but powerful marketing tool: Autoresponders.

SEO Expert Susan Gilbert explained that autoresponders are the basis of an Internet marketer’s business, a means to bring in prospects to your sales funnel and turn prospects into customers. Internet marketers will tell you the money is in the list, and “we know that’s a fact – the more people you have on your mailing list that are interested in your products and services, the more sales you can make,” she said.

Using autoresponders differs from a newsletter broadcast, which is sent out to all subscribers on the same day and time.

An autoresponder is a piece of software that is incorporated into your website that allows you to send emails automatically. These are not spam or unsolicited emails; people opt in after you give them something of value (some kind of giveaway, it could be a free report, consultation, etc).

Once they have opted in by providing their email address, then they get a series of pre-written emails. The series can be sent a variety of ways; via a course, or one email a day for seven days; the key is to have a series of emails that will be sent to the list on a schedule. All you have to do is to prepare material, upload the material to the autoresponder and anyone who signs up will get the emails. Recipients can opt out at any time; the system will take care of it.

Sending out a series of emails is based on the concept that consumers need to see something seven times before they’ll make a purchase. It’s important to give them good quality information and then just mention your product at the end of the email. Your sales will go up!

The number of messages should ideally be endless. Start with something you can organize, such as seven emails you can set for a sequence once every week or every two weeks so they don’t forget who you are. Sign-ups can take place anytime, and they will receive the emails in their proper order: they’ll get the first message, then the second, and so on, no matter when they sign up.

Susan recommends aweber.com, which keeps lists clean and offers a lot of technical support. You can find them listed on her website, www.susangilbert.com.

For additional resources and tips check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

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Where does the Van Halen book marketing concept come into play? Let’s consider some of the signs with Publishing Insiders host Penny Sansevieri:

When seeking book reviews, if there is no word at all as a result of your pitching, not even a ‘no thank you,’ that’s a big bowl of brown M&M’s. Even with review space being highly competitive (and shrinking), you should get some feedback. At this point you need to ask yourself if you’re even contacting the correct people. Silence means re-evaluate, make sure you are reading the fine print (review policies) on sites you want to pitch, and follow through. Do not pitch reviewers who aren’t in your genre, etc.

In addition, look at all the pieces of your website. Are you getting more visitors to your site? What do they do once they land on your site? You need to evaluate the statistics and make sure your website tells the story about you and your book that needs to be out there – to keep traffic coming to your site.

“There is a business model behind every successful book,” says Penny – including Randy Kearse, who is selling his self-published book on the NYC subway (and has sold 14,000 copies in three years). “Randy found success because he knew where his market was and went after it,” she noted.

Sometimes starting smaller makes sense; be willing to seek local coverage before you try for the big stage, when you’re inexperienced the local venue is the way to develop the skills you need to take you to the next level. Plus, local media is always looking for good stories and the enterprising author knows what to do to give them a good story. The angle is not that you wrote a book or you live in town – it’s your expertise, your ability to tie your book into a larger cultural issue or event in the news.

“And, treat your book as a business venture. It’s going to take more than a few days, or even a few weeks, to raise awareness on the book,” she adds.

Typically a self-published or small press author will sell 100 to 200 copies of their book. Then sales dry up and authors think they are doing something wrong.

“So, these authors start out with some sales, and then it slows down, and then they are blindsided 3 to 6 months later when they aren’t selling,” Penny observes.

However, once you’ve made those sales, now you’re moving on to the next level. This is the stage where authors need to uncover a larger audience beyond their more immediate circle of friends, family and acquaintances who took the book this far.

Now it’s important to find ways to measure that growth in ways beyond book sales: website hits, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, newsletter subscribers – “if you are building and growing your brand you will see the results in your growing number of subscribers, followers, fans,” Penny explains.

Listen to feedback too, especially from peers in your field, someone respected in your area – such as a reviewer known for that genre. Stay away from people you know, it’s hard for them to be totally honest. Ditto for mom, and other family and friends.

If you feel stuck with your campaign, get an assessment from a professional you trust who can evaluate your campaign and what you’re doing.

“In the long runway of promotion it takes a while for things to take off and you may need to make adjustments along the way,” Penny adds. For instance, when AME launched a Twitter account, it required some learning and changing before it started to grow in followers and feedback.

Know your audience and message – that’s the biggest piece of it. And think of ways you can help and be helped by your peers. Last week’s Publishing Insiders guest Arielle Ford noted that successful authors love to help others. It’s a win-win; you get promotion, but so do they. Reach out, explain who you are, what you can do to help them and ask for their help in return, and see where it goes from there!

You can download the show at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/brown-mms-or-what-van-hal_b_561029.html.

Please join us July 27, at 4 p.m. Pacific for a new show, From Blog to Book:

Numerous bloggers feel they are ready to take their work from blog to book. Maybe it’s the influence of movies like “Julie and Julia,” it’s hard to tell, but suffice it to say the idea of selling your blog to a publisher is very appealing to a good many bloggers. But what does it really take to get your blog noticed? Learn what you need to do to establish the kind of blog that gets talked about, and what you can do to compete in this market. We’ll also discuss why branding is so important – social networking too – and offer insights into marketing your blog so it can be discovered! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/07/27/from-blog-to-book.

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• Penny C. Sansevieri: Brown M&Ms, or What Van Halen Can Teach You About Book Marketing (huffingtonpost.com)
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We had a wonderful show with Arielle Ford on Why (Some) Authors Fail. And Arielle knows what’s she’s talking about, since she has been widely recognized as America’s foremost book publicist and was instrumental in launching the careers of many New York Times bestselling self-help authors, including Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale Donald Walsch, and Debbie Ford. Arielle was the publicist for dozens of other top-selling authors such as Wayne Dyer, Gary Zukav, Dean Ornish, Joan Borysenko, Louise Hay, Jorge Cruise, and don Miguel Ruiz.

Arielle Ford is a leading pioneer and personality in the personal growth and contemporary spirituality movement. For the past 25 years she has been living, teaching, and promoting consciousness through all forms of media. Her stellar career includes years as a prominent book publicist, author, literary agent, TV lifestyle reporter, television producer, Sirius radio host, publishing  consultant, relationship expert, speaker, columnist and blogger for the Huffington Post. She is the author of seven books including the HOT CHOCOLATE FOR THE MYSTICAL SOUL series, and her most recent, THE SOULMATE SECRET, now in a 4th printing and 21 languages. Arielle is the creator of the at-home publishing study course Everything You Should Know About Publishing, Publicity and Building A Platform and the annual 21st Century Book Marketing event, which is the premiere book-marketing event for authors.

Website conversion – what you need to know

But first, SEO expert Susan Gilbert discussed website conversion – basically, what happens (or doesn’t happen) when visitors land on your site? The numbers never lie.

Gilbert has been redoing the Author Marketing Experts website, and so has the perfect case study underway. AME has an older site, www.amarketingexpert.com, and she encourages people to visit now and then go back again in about three weeks – because there will be a huge difference.

It was important to give the AME site a makeover because technology changes and the web development environment gets better and better. That means websites need a periodic update to modernize.

It’s vital for a website to be clear on what actions people should take, and that’s where many fail – the site does not direct visitors to do anything, and if they don’t have a call to action, they leave. What constitutes action? Video to watch, e-books to download, newsletter sign-up, catalog requests; all of those things require a visitor to do something.

Website layout should be very clean and clear, so it’s easy for people to understand what to do and how to do it.

Gilbert observes that many authors’ sites don’t have their book on the homepage, nor is there information about the book – yet the author thinks people will spend 30 minutes looking at the site. This is not going to happen, especially if the visitor doesn’t understand the purpose of the site.

To know if your website is effective, you need knowledge on how to convert traffic – or have a web person who understands these things.

How do you know if your site is converting? Google analytics are a little overwhelming for many, but it’s free – so have it installed and then you can see where people land on your site, where they go next, how long they stay. If you’re selling something and getting traffic, but not making sales or getting new sign-ups – you’re doing something wrong.

People do not buy the minute they land at your website, unless they’ve been pre-sold, but not many are in that position. That means you have to have a good marketing system on your website.

For additional resources and tips check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

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When it comes to what authors do wrong – and right – Arielle Ford has seen both sides.

The two biggest indicators of failure, she says, concern attitude. There’s the ‘I’m just too important to do the smaller interview’ arrogance. Additionally, there are authors who don’t want to be bothered building a platform while writing their book. Neither strategy is going to lead to success.

“Successful authors are open, hardworking, and willing to do something 7 days a week… it’s more about having a mission in life to share their message with the world than ‘I have to be on the New York Times bestseller list or sell x amount of books,’ they are in it for the long haul,” Arielle says. An author’s work does not end once the book is out; that’s just the beginning.

Successful people been in the trenches for years, she adds, working smaller circuits that no one has heard of and helping other people. They are the type who will help people who connect with them. There is room for everybody. “It’s a win-win-win universe these days,” Arielle says.

The successful author has to love what he or she is doing and be passionate about it. They have to be really ambitious – it’s a lot of work and takes a lot of time. The passion will carry you during times it looks like book sales won’t, Arielle says.

Authors must also understand the publishing business before they write a book. Just like you would not open a bricks and mortar store without doing research first, the same concept applies in the book world – learn how the industry works before publishing your book. Other considerations before writing your book:

*  a strong book cover, people do judge a book by its cover – and the cover has to look good when it’s tiny (such as in email or on a website – make sure people can still read the title)

* 1,500 books are published every day, so you have to raise the bar higher, your book is your resume

* many write the book too soon. Arielle says you really have to have something fresh to offer, a new perspective, and the writing has got to be great.

The author who is open to feedback is the author who will be a success – especially when it comes to things like titles – and make sure you pick qualified sources for feedback, and then take the advice you’re given.

Never measure your success in book sales. Arielle recalls one client who appeared on “Good Morning America.” The appearance didn’t boost his book sales, but the increase in his speaking engagements as a result of the show took him to a whole new level in his career.

Education is also very important for an author. Arielle created the 21st Century Book Marketing event for that reason. The event will be held Sept 25-26 in San Diego. Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post blog, is a keynote speaker, while business and motivational speaker Harvey McKay is another (he’s also the author of Use Your Head to Get your Foot in the Door).

Such events offer great sessions and also networking potential between authors, marketing people, agents and publishers who attend.

Arielle recommends authors attend three educational events a year in order to learn and network.

When attending events to learn/network, authors should:

* have business cards to give out

* identify their goals (who to meet, sessions to attend, who to seek for book testimonials, etc.)

21st Century Book Marketing is offering Publishing Insiders listeners (and blog readers) a special; visit the site and use the code: penny and you’ll receive $50 off the ticket price. Purchase your ticket by July 15th, and you’ll get another $150 off! http://www.21stcenturybookmarketing.com.

Finally, be grateful: say thank you! Arielle says authors should track down an address following a review or interview and send a note. “It only takes 5 minutes and $3, and it’s such a nice thing to do.”

You can download the show at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/07/06/why-some-authors-fail-with-arielle-ford.

Please join us July 13 for a new show: Van Halen Book Marketing:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/07/13/what-van-halen-can-teach-you-about-book-marketing

Yes, we’re talking rock ‘n roll – believe it or not, there are lessons you can glean from Eddie Van Halen & co. So often, authors plod along, marketing and marketing – and then when their royalty checks arrive they discover that their sales are paltry at best – and so they assume that their marketing isn’t working. Measuring success in sales is not a good barometer for success. There are other triggers to look for. Learn to recognize those key elements that will help you know if your marketing is working, or if it isn’t – and what you can do about it. Learn more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/brown-mms-or-what-van-hal_b_561029.html.

We had a great show this week with Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, a global publisher and distributor of independently published ebooks, http://www.smashwords.com/. More than 3,500 serious writers and 100 independent publishers publish and distribute books through Smashwords, where they have complete control over how to sample, price and market their books.

Coker said the original impetus for Smashwords came after he and his wife Lesleyann co-wrote Boob Tube, a novel that explores the behind-the-scenes world of daytime television soap operas. They shopped the novel around to agents, got two offers from literary agencies, and were excited to sign with a top agency. However, the agency shopped the book around for two years and couldn’t sell it; publishers questioned whether a large enough commercial market existed for a book like theirs.

Their agent then suggested self-publishing. Coker was frustrated that publishers could stand in the way of potential markets. Commercial publishers are unable to take a risk on every author, and they find it difficult to decide which books to take a risk on. So Coker decided to take that risk for every author and let the audience decide, with Smashwords.

By the way, Boob Tube was the third book published on Smashwords. (You can check out Boob Tube at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/3).

Smashwords’ first year, 2008, ended with 90 books published; in 2009 the site exploded, and now, in 2010, approximately 2,000 new books a month are published.

Coker describes this phase as “very early in first inning of 9 inning game,” and notes both Amazon and Sony deserve a lot of credit for driving interest to the digital reader market – they were first players to take it to the next level and now we’re seeing an explosion of digital reading devices.

Consolidation among the competitors is inevitable, but authors and readers will reap enormous benefits from this digital reader explosion.

An author doesn’t need a lot to join Smashwords, the site tries to make the publication process as simple as possible. Authors can upload a Microsoft document to Smashwords at no charge, and there is a style guide to tell them how to format their book for the various digital reading devices on the market. Coker also wrote a book marketing guide for Smashwords’ authors, which is a free download: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/305. The author or publisher sets the price for their books; and they receive approximately 85% of the net.

While Smashwords took off quickly, Coker said he never thought they’d become book distributors. Now, Smashwords titles are available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, iPad (Smashwords had 2,400 books on the iPad from day one), Kobo, Stanza, Android and more … with additional distribution announcements coming soon.

Coker said they are starting to see bestsellers emerge; for instance, at Kobobooks.com they’ve had a few books in their top 50 for about a month and a couple on the top 10, and they’re starting to see the same results at Apple’s iBookstore as well.

Books that sell well are typically from authors who write multiple books; the reader loves one book and buys another. Two of Smashwords’ absolute bestsellers are making at least one book available for free – Coker says they support authors offering books for free – and those authors are getting thousands of readers each month. In turn, some of those readers are converting into paid readers. They are writing good books, and put a lot of effort into them. It’s not all about price, it’s also about quality.

Some authors get lulled into a sense that publishing is easy, but it’s not easy to be successful. “We make it easy to be published,” says Coker – “but a word of advice to authors: respect the reader and put a lot of effort into writing, editing and revising the book and getting reader feedback – before you release it to the world. Respect your reader, and your reader will reward you.”

Book covers are also important, even with e-books, and they’ve seen improvement at Smashwords. Some are works of art, Coker says.

As Smashwords continues to grow and expand, its latest partnership is with wattpad, http://www.wattpad.com/, allowing its authors to publish and sell on Smashwords. Coker describes wattpad as a cool social network for writers that helps introduce readers to up and coming authors. The demographics at wattpad skew younger for both writers and readers, and Coker sees wattpad as a great training ground for breakout authors of the future.

One thing that drives Smashwords’ approach to publishing is the fact that traditional publishing values a book only on its commercial merit. Coker says, “I think that’s wrong… what about a book with 10 readers that means so much to them? That book needs to be available. Writers write for different reasons than publishers publish – it’s a business for publishers.”

What’s next for Smashwords? The site is in perpetual Beta, Coker admits, and they will continue to build the plumbing of the digital distribution infrastructure that helps authors connect with readers. Coker said that at a recent conference he heard a statistic that only 5% of Americans stepped into a bookstore last year; which means 95% of an author’s potential readers are somewhere else and it’s a matter of finding them.

The Internet is like a series of virtual hallways waiting to be adorned with books, and Coker believes we’ll see incredible works break out in indie publishing.

Although e-books are less than 10% of book market right now, this market is growing, and its growth will enable authors to publish content they previously couldn’t publish, such as shorter works. In print publishing there need to be so many pages before going to print, but these shorter pieces are great for digital publishing. While authors are in between books, they can keep in front of their fans with novellas and short stories.

You can download the full show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/29/the-digital-book-revolution.

Please join us next week for a new show: Why Some Authors Fail with publicist extraordinaire Arielle Ford: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/29/why-some-authors-fail with Arielle Ford

An author can be his or her own worst enemy with self-defeating behavior that can sabotage a career. We’ll discuss how to learn from your mistakes in a positive way with guest Arielle Ford, who has been widely recognized as America’s foremost book publicist and was instrumental in launching the careers of many NY Times bestselling self-help authors including Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale Donald Walsch, and Debbie Ford.

Arielle was the publicist for dozens of other top selling authors such as Wayne Dyer, Gary Zukav, Dean Ornish, Joan Borysenko, Louise Hay, Jorge Cruise, and don Miguel Ruiz. Success is not only about hard work, but about making smart, savvy choices and not being so blinded by your ambition, creativity or ego that it undermines your work. We’ll help you uncover the successful mix of perseverance, elbow grease and self-confidence to keep you on the track to success!

More about our guest: Arielle Ford is a leading pioneer  and personality in the personal growth and contemporary spirituality movement. For the past 25 years she has been living, teaching, and promoting consciousness through all forms of media. Her stellar career includes years as a prominent book publicist, author, literary agent, TV lifestyle reporter, television producer, Sirius radio host, publishing consultant, relationship expert, speaker, columnist and blogger for the Huffington Post. She is the author of seven books including the HOT CHOCOLATE FOR THE MYSTICAL SOUL series, and her most recent, THE SOULMATE SECRET, now in a 4th printing and 21 languages. Arielle is the creator of the at-home publishing study  course Everything You Should Know About Publishing, Publicity and Building A Platform and the annual 21st Century Book Marketing  event which is the premiere book-marketing event for authors. For background on this topic, read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/why-some-authors-fail_b_534629.html.

Image by ...?...Chicky Kawaii...?... via Flickr

Postscript: Eclipse, the latest movie in the ‘Twilight’ saga, opened Wednesday with special midnight showings around the country, and AME’s Paula Krapf took her daughter to the event. The line was so massive it took more than an hour just to get into the theater, and due to the size of the crowd, the movie did not screen at 12:01 a.m. as planned but sometime around 12:40 a.m. The crowd loved the movie, and given its reception, the next two ‘Twilight’ installments are going to be huge hits, too. Attendance Wednesday broke the previous box office record for a midnight screening that was held by another ‘Twilight’ release, “New Moon,” which opened last November. What we learned: get to the theater at least 2.5 hours early, have a strategy to buy snacks, and Jacob looks great shirtless, even if Edward is jealous. Yep, we’re team Jacob all the way!

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We had a great Publishing Insiders show on June 15 with special guest Marci Shimoff (Shy-Moff), the author of the runaway bestseller, Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out. Her book, which offers a revolutionary approach to lasting happiness, soared to #1 on Amazon and many other national bestseller lists, and debuted at #2 on The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. It’s now been translated into 31 languages.

Marci is also the host of the Happy for No Reason PBS special that has aired nationwide, and is a featured teacher in the hit film, The Secret.  She is the woman’s face of the biggest self-help book phenomenon in history. Her books, including Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, have met with stunning success, selling more than 14 million copies.  She’s one of the bestselling female nonfiction authors of all time.

Marci is a professional speaker and one of the nation’s leading experts on happiness, success, and the law of attraction, She has inspired millions of people around the world and is dedicated to helping people live more empowered and joy-filled lives. To learn more about Marci, visit her website www.HappyForNoReason.com.

SEO expert Susan Gilbert first offered a tip on the wonderful but lesser known social media tool Squidoo – when people think of social media, they tend to mention Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and maybe Google Buzz (although that hasn’t really taken off the way the other sites have). One of Susan’s favorites, however, is Squidoo, which was used in Internet marketing long before Twitter and Facebook were on the scene.

Susan created a Squidoo lens for Marci two years ago, http://www.squidoo.com/happyfornoreason – and after all this time, the lens is listed on the first page, at #11, on Google search results… out of 202,000,000 total results for a search on “Happy for No Reason.” That puts Marci’s Squidoo lens even ahead of her Facebook page. Squidoo may not be discussed a lot, but it is extremely powerful.

Created by Seth Godin, Squidoo is great for authors, and can leverage an author’s standing in Google and search engines.

Susan also noted that Scribd.com, which she has been using for author promotion, also offers great positioning. The largest social publishing and reading site in the world, Scribd is where 50+ million members share their writing and documents. Ask people about social media, and they will say Twitter and Facebook – but don’t forget about Squidoo and Scribd!

For additional resources and tips check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

Moving into a discussion of book promotion, Marci Shimoff is an example of an author who never lets up when it comes to getting the word out about her book.

She recommends a focus on pre-publication efforts – and in her case, she started promoting Happy for No Reason six months in advance of publication.

Although the book was published in 2008, in 2010 Marci is still working hard. Why? She picked a topic she’s very passionate about – every author needs to do that, she says – and it’s a topic people still need in light of the economy today. It’s a different world in 2010 than in 2008 when the book came out.

And promotion is ongoing, Marci notes. When authors say their book has been out for a while, it’s time to move on – she asks: “Are you no longer interested in your topic, or getting your message out there? That’s what writing a book is all about.”

In Happy for No Reason, Marci explains that we all have a happiness setpoint, which is 50% genetic and 50% based on habits and behavior – and we can change our habits/behavior. Yet most women spend more time on their hair every day then on their happiness – Marci recommends spending 5 minutes a day focusing on your happiness (there are 21 happiness habits featured in her book) .

Despite still promoting Happy for No Reason, Shimoff is finishing next book, Love for No Reason, which will be published in Jan. 2011.

Cover of Chicken Soup for the Soul

Marci learned a lot about promotion from Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, who were Marci’s publishing mentors. They developed the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and pledged to do 5 things a day, every day, to promote their book – which was not an immediate bestseller.

Although Marci appeared several times on national TV for Happy for No Reason, she thinks her social media campaign was actually more effective in getting the word out about her book. And book promotion is a continual process.

“If you want people to read the book, then you have to care enough about marketing it as you did writing it… it doesn’t matter how big a publisher, it’s the author’s responsibility to market the book,” she says.

The three elements Marci says every author needs for his or her book:

* a good title

* to write about a topic that they are passionate about, and that the public needs

* to market, market, market their book nonstop – BUT, look at it as serving people

You can download the show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/15/powerhouse-promotion-with-marci-shimoff.

Don’t miss our next Publishing Insiders Show June 29:

Why (Some) Authors Fail:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/29/why-some-authors-fail

An author can be his or her own worst enemy with self-defeating behavior that can sabotage a career. We’ll discuss how to learn from your mistakes in a positive way. Success is not only about hard work, but about making smart, savvy choices and not being so blinded by your ambition, creativity or ego that it undermines your work. We’ll help you uncover the successful mix of perseverance, elbow grease and self-confidence to keep you on the track to success! For background, read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/why-some-authors-fail_b_534629.html.

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We had a great Publishing Insiders show this week with three guests: erotic romance author Jayne Rylon, Ellora’s Cave founder Tina Engler Keen and cover model CJ Hollenbach.

After a post-mortem on Book Expo America (here’s a more thorough overview, http://ame.wpengine.com/ameblog/publishing/the-week-in-publishing-bits-and-bites-for-may-29-2010/), our SEO expert Susan Gilbert offered her tip for authors:

Image via Wikipedia

If you haven’t worked with Google docs you don’t know what you’re missing! Google docs are a collaborative workspace that allows users to first create a document and then invite others to either view or edit each document. The creator controls access, documents can be view only or you can allow others to edit the documents.

All you need to get started is a free gmail account. Then you can create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, forms and drawings. Instead of sending emails, which can get pretty complicated and contain a lot of attachments, Google docs allows you to create, store and share documents in one space.

Susan uses Google docs for project management, since works with people all over the world, and it’s an amazing tool. Authors are business people and they are working with many different people to bring their project to success, and working with Google docs will make their lives easier.

For additional resources and tips check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

Erotica: The Hottest Genre in Publishing Today

It’s not only the book content and covers that are hot, sales are even hotter for erotica. Ellora’s Cave Publishing offered a few interesting facts:

* They release 10 titles a week.

* Their backlist is over 3,000 titles.

* They publish more than 400 authors around the world (they also have editors around the world).

* While e-books are their bread and butter, Ellora’s Cave also publishes print books, which are available in Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other major and indie bookstores.

* Their books are sold internationally and some are available in Spanish, Russian, French, Japanese, and German.

* Their e-books are now available in almost all ereader formats currently in use, including the Kindle, Nook, and Sony eReader, and will soon be available for iPhone and iPad.

* November 2010 is Ellora Cave’s 10th anniversary, and they will be celebrating it at their annual convention, RomantiCon.

Tina Engler Keen, Ellora’s founder, said there was once a sentiment that women didn’t want to read erotic romance – or wouldn’t – but that is not the case as their sales success illustrates.

E-books equal great sales for erotica, with low overhead, and large profits for authors. The new e-reading devices also make it easier than ever to sell e-books.

Novellas of 15,000 to 20,000 words sell really well in erotica, especially digital versions.

E-books will surpass paper books Engler Keen says; in fact, they are seeing this trend already.

Author Jayne Rylon says erotic romance novels always interested her, and she recalls growing up with an awareness of the genre.

Coffee Time Romance says: “Ms. Rylon is a true talent and her love scenes are scorchers!”

Jayne’s husband has not read her books (yet) and people in her life are only just becoming aware of her books:) Her latest is Kate’s Crew, http://jaynerylon.com/books/kates-crew/. The cover (above) is worth a peek – or two!

Cover model CJ Hollenbach – a hot hunk on the cover of many erotic novels – has been in the romance industry for 12 years.

His start as a Romance cover model began when a family friend suggested he enter the very first “Mr. Romance” contest in San Diego and ended up a finalist. He shot his first romance novel cover, “THE STONE MAIDEN” in 1999, for author Susan King. He can be seen on “With All My Heart” by Caridad Scordado and on the e-books God of Fire, The Jock, and After The Storm.

He’s got a wealth of stories: such as the grandmom type who asked if there was a lot of S&M in the book she was holding, she didn’t want “too much.” Another time, CJ and another model were in a K-Mart, CJ wearing black leather pants, and he had to ask a lady in line to help him get his wallet out of his pants!

Thanks to our fabulous guests! Visit Ellora’s Cave at http://www.jasminejade.com/. You can learn about Jayne Rylon’s books at http://jaynerylon.com/. You can admire many of CJ’s covers at http://www.cjcovermodel.com.

Download the show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/01/its-getting-hot-in-here–erotica-equals-hot-books-.

And don’t miss our next show:

Powerhouse Promotion with Marci Shimoff: June 15, 4 p.m. Pacific

Cover via Amazon

New York Times bestselling author Marci Shimoff will share the secrets to becoming a successful author and discuss what a bestselling author does to stay on top. You won’t want to miss these insights from an author who is behind the biggest self-help book phenomenon in history, Chicken Soup for the Soul. Shimoff’s six bestselling titles include Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, which have sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, as well as the bestselling Happy for No Reason. She is also a featured teacher in the publishing and movie phenomenon The Secret. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/15/powerhouse-promotion-with-marci-shimoff.

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This past week brought Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s annual gathering. The show was a two-day affair although word is next year’s event will be extended to three days.

Aside from new book buzz – which is always a show highlight – topics included the future of the industry, digital books and their impact on publishing and social media.

Suggested BEA reading includes:

Image via Wikipedia

* CEOs debate e-books, piracy, and the value of the book http://ht.ly/1PF4d

* Online communities meet the real world http://ht.ly/1Q9hD

* Global e-books and the agency model at IDPF’s Digital Book 2010 http://ht.ly/1Q9jq

* Publishing for the age of abundance, http://ht.ly/1QmMm

* Technochondria http://ht.ly/1QmNq

* Designing e-strategy for authors http://ht.ly/1QIBb

* Which books are getting big buzz at BEA? PW takes a look: http://ht.ly/1QIHE

Random tips from BEA:

* Authors should own their own e-mail lists! Do not rely on publisher, empower yourself, grow readership

* New term being bandied about at BEA: authorpreneur

* Bowker: Computer is still biggest e-reading device (37%); then Kindle (32%), iPhone (10%), iPad (3% after 3 weeks in market!)

* 9% of the US adult population bought an ebook in 2009. 56% bought actual books.

* SavvyAunty: it’s ok to repeat yourself across different platforms. Goal is to create higher number of impressions and consistency

* Cell phone books were 4 of 5 top titles in Japan last year. All are free online (w/ writer-reader interaction), millions sold in print.

* Solid advice: publishers need to be training authors on social media, starting with goals & philosophy, not specific platforms

**********************************

And… be sure to tune into Publishing Insiders on Tuesday, June 1, 4 p.m. Pacific where we’ll talk about the hottest genre around – Erotica: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/01/its-getting-hot-in-here–erotica-equals-hot-books:

Steamy novels and cover boy hunks have given publishing a much-needed shot in the arm. Learn how the Erotic Romance genre is just exploding. Learn about the skyrocketing sales and the methods erotica authors and publishers use to find their audience. And – wonder how those handsome hunks end up on the cover? We’ll find out how they get there and what it’s like to be on the cover of one of the hottest selling books around! Our guests include author Jayne Rylon, http://jaynerylon.com/, Tina Engler Keen, founder of Elora’s Cave Publishing, http://www.jasminejade.com/ and cover model CJ Hollenbach, http://www.cjcovermodel.com/.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!

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We had a great Publishing Insiders show May 4 on How to Maximize Book Reviews, with special guest Simon Barrett, book reviewer and editor of Blogger News Network.

Image via CrunchBase

It’s not over once the reviews are in; in fact, those reviews give you a great opportunity to spread the word about yourself and your book online, making it easier for others to discover you. Think of it this way: when people want to learn about something, they tend to go online and type words or phrases into their search engine of choice, such as Google or Bing. If you’ve been posting your content online – including reviews, interviews and articles – using those same words or phrases the searchers are using, you increase your chances of being found. How? You can do this via social bookmarking.

Image via CrunchBase

SEO Expert Susan Gilbert explained that social bookmarking involves saving the links to web pages (which can consist of your articles, reviews, interviews, etc.) to share with people or groups. Using tags – keywords or phrases that describe your topic – you can organize your bookmarks so the links can be found by others. Then they can then save, share and tag your links as well as rate and comment on them.

This is a great way to spread the word, perfect for sharing book review and interview links, as well as your articles, your website and more.

Recommended social bookmarking sites include:

Delicious

Digg

StumbleUpon

LibraryThing

Simon Barrett also encourages authors to establish themselves as experts in their field, through branding. This can work for fiction or nonfiction, although nonfiction may seem more logical. However, a fiction author who has researched a particular topic can brand themselves as an expert in that area – for instance, if your book is fiction about a historical period in China that you’ve researched, then that could be your area of expertise.

This concept of branding is probably best covered in Alan Siegel’s Branding and Clear Communications, a book Barrett highly recommends.

Barrett encourages authors to write articles on their topic – some could be tied into current news events if you can make the connection, other articles can be about your topic in general. There are numerous sites online that accept articles, including:

Blogger News Network

Ezine Articles

GoArticles

American Chronicle

Suite 101

BlogCritics

Image via CrunchBase

Each site has its own criteria; some are portals that distribute articles online (Ezine and GoArticles), others are sites that require you to apply to be a writer and you’ll have to meet certain criteria to be accepted. Of course if you have a blog, you should be blogging on your topic a few times each week, and then use social bookmarking to help others find your blog posts.

For additional resources on social bookmarking check Susan Gilbert’s website, www.susangilbert.com.

We’ve got some great shows coming up, and you’ll definitely want to save the date on June 15, when bestselling author Marci Shimoff joins us to discuss Powerhouse Promotion! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2010/06/15/powerhouse-promotion-with-marci-shimoff.