Publishing Insiders Wrap-Up: Special Guest Arielle Ford

We had a great show with Arielle Ford, author and publicist, who discussed her latest book as well as what she did to market this book (compared to past books).

The show opened with some industry news from hosts Penny Sansevieri and Paula Krapf.

A lot of publishing news these days is tied to the letter “A” for Amazon. On Feb. 13, author J.A. Konrath wrote a post titled “Amazon Will Destroy You” for his blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. He noted that Amazon is focused on the future – 2018 to be exact. Meanwhile, in his opinion, the New York publishing industry has not changed and is not competitive. Konrath feels the traditional publishing industry has been too slow – too slow to adapt to the Internet, to sell books through their sites, etc. He concluded: “Amazon is going to destroy the Big 6, destroy bookstores, destroy 95% of all agents, destroy distributors (Ingram, Baker & Taylor), and revolutionize the publishing industry by becoming the dominant force.” You can read the entire blog post here:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/02/amazon-will-destroy-you.html

What Amazon has done is offer tremendous exposure to a number of authors who self-publish. Penny recently experimented with the Kindle Direct Program using Candlewood Lake, a contemporary romance she self-published six years ago. During the KDP free five-day promotion, 5,000 copies of Candlewood Lake were downloaded; since then, another 2,000 ebooks have sold at .99 cents.

Those sales numbers are amazing for a six-year-old title. It also shows the power of the free Amazon promotion – once the book is free, people start talking about it. As an author, you look for exposure and that’s what Amazon provides.

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.

As the president of The Ford Group, Arielle was 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 is a gifted writer and 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 20 languages.

Arielle is also the creator of the at-home publishing study course Everything You Should Know About Publishing, Publicity and Building A Platform as well as the annual 21st Century Book Marketing event which is the premiere book-marketing event for authors: http://www.21stcenturybookmarketing.com

Arielle’s career as a relationship writer just fell into her lap, and in her latest book she’s writing about manifesting love.

Wabi Sabi Love: The Ancient Art of Finding Perfect Love in Imperfect Relationships is about the secret to the success of relationships in which the partners seek to find beauty and perfection in the imperfection. Wabi Sabi Love is the practice of exploring, embracing, and cherishing the quirks, irritations, and limitations that make you and your partner unique and that form your shared history as a couple.

Promoting the book

This time, 90 percent of campaign went into an online campaign. Arielle says she’s done very little TV and half the number of the radio gigs she did three years ago. Social media is also a big part of this promotion.

On the traditional side, Arielle has done some book signings, but the focus has been online.

Arielle says she’s trying to be innovative in terms of marketing the book. There’s no real reason to tour anymore. It’s expensive, time-consuming and tiring. It’s also difficult to get people to fill seats. Touring doesn’t make sense unless you’re an A-list author.

Online promotion does require advance planning. Arielle’s new website was up six months in advance. She also lined up support six months in advance, when she knew people weren’t booked. Friends did email blasts to their lists, and Arielle offered readers a number of bonuses. The early, pre-publication blast didn’t convert and it gave Arielle time to tweak her site to be ready for the launch. Visit http://thewabisabibook.com for an example of what a book website should look like in today’s book promotion environment.

It’s important to plan your launch and test your promotions to make sure everything works. It’s the same concept when writing a book, Arielle notes. The first thing an author must do is learn how the business works, then build a platform, then write a book. Don’t quit your day job and start writing first.

Download the full show at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2012/02/22/special-guest-arielle-ford

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Upcoming Episode:

“Like” My Stuff, Tuesday, March 6 at 4 p.m. Pacific:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepublishinginsiders/2012/03/07/like-my-stuff

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