Book Marketing Tip of the Week
July 5, 2007: Birthday of the Bikini
and Amazon.com Birthday~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue . . .
-- Big River Distribution
-- Q&A: Marketing a POD book
-- Great website and book trailer
-- IPPL News
-- Q&A: Literary agents
-- Blog Book Reviewer
-- Southwest Spirit magazineBig River Distribution
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Big River is a relatively new book wholesaler specializing in books, CDs, and DVDs about the Midwest or by Midwest authors (Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Send info to Big River Distribution, Mary Thompson, 8214 Exchange Way, Saint Louis MO 63119; 314-918-9800 (after July 1st). Email: mary@bigriverdist.com. Web: http://www.bigriverdist.com.Q&A: Marketing a POD book
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Reader's Question: My book was self-published by iUniverse last year. Naturally one major drawback to POD-publishing is the publisher doesn't extend any marketing or promotional offerings. I never really had my book reviewed by anyone and I don't have a large budget to afford elaborate advertising. I've only sold about thirty books and gave away about as much. I'm now having a website built, which should be available soon. If you could help in any way, of how I can promote my book.John's Answer: For a book like yours (and for most newby authors), you should be doing lots of Internet promotions, creating relationships with bloggers, ezine editors, and website owners targeted at people who would want to read your book. You can use Google and Technorati to target these bloggers and sites. Offer them some good content: an interview with you, an excerpt from your book, a review copy of your book, an article based on your book, a regular column, etc.
Internet promotions are the best first step for most authors who are new and/or unknown. You can do a lot for very little cost, just some time to research the best people to contact and some more time in building relationships with them.
Great website and book trailer
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Kamilla Reid has a wonderful website for her book. As she wrote me, “I was able to have the composer-in-residence of our city symphony orchestra compose the perfect score, a team of twenty-year-old geeks go to town on the website, my ex-husband create the amazing trailer and, being that my background is theatre, all the dramatic elements fall into my lap.” Enjoy the site and book trailer at http://www.rootkarbunkulus.com.IPPL News
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IPPL News is a monthly newsletter of the International Primate Protection League, which works for the protection of primates. Their April 2007 issue featured a review of the World Atlas of Great Apes and Their
Conservation by Julian Caldecott and Lera Miles. If you have related titles, send info to the IPPL News, Shirley McGreal, P O Box 766, Summerville SC 29484; 843-871-2280; Fax: 843-871-7988. Email: info@ippl.org. Web: http://www.ippl.org.Q&A: Literary agents
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Reader's Question: What do you think about literary agents? It seems without them you can't even send a query to any of the big publishing houses or small ones, for that matter.John's Answer: Agents are fine, but you can approach many publishers directly if your book is a how-to book. Novels need an agent. But both agents and publishers are all going to ask you the same question: What's your platform? Platforms are radio shows, TV shows, columns, well-visited websites, blogs that are read, ezines with lots of subscribers. In other words, you need a well-defined audience already anticipating your book to work with an agent or a publisher.
If you want to use a literary agent, you can find a great list of more than 1,400 literary agents (as well as foreign rights agents and sub rights agents) at my http://www.BookMarket.com website. Cost: $30 for a quick download of a Word document for easy search.
Literary, Subsidiary Rights, and Foreign Rights Agents
Blog Book Reviewer
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Nancy Yanes Hoffman, a member of the National Book Critics Circle, writes reviews for her blog at http://writingdoctor.typepad.com. Check out her blog to see the type of books she reviews. In addition to being a reviewer, she is also a medical writerr for physicians, patients, and healthcare professionals. Send review copies to NYH Communications Group, Nancy Yanes Hoffman, 16 San Rafael Drive, Rochester NY 14618; 585-385-1515; Fax: 585-385-3858. Email: nywriter@rochester.rr.com.Southwest Spirit magazine
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This monthly airline magazine covers travel, business, lifestyle, and pop culture. In their April 2007 issue, they reviewed Cheryl and Jeffrey Katz's photo book, Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories; Michael Chabon's novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union; and Klaus Brinkbaumer and Clemens Hoges's Voyage of the Vizcaina. Also in the April 2007 issue, they asked four of their favorite authors to write about their childhood summers: travel book author Doug Lansky, novelist Francine Prose, Anthony Doerr (author of About Grace), and Daniel Wallace (author of Big Fish).Send info to Southwest Spirit, Pace Communications, 2811 McKinney Avenue #360, Dallas TX 75204-8600; 214-580-8070; Fax: 214-580-2491. Email: letters@spiritmag.com or tips@spiritmag.com. For freelance authors, send ideas to ideas@spiritmag.com. Web: http://www.spiritmag.com.
- Jay Heinrichs, Editorial Director
- Brad Cope, Executive Editor
- John Clark, Senior Features Editor
- Michael Buers, author of Long for This World, wrote about old time radio (4/07).
- Novelist Clive Cussler wrote about his favorite old cars (4/07).
- Michael Stern, author of Roadfood Sandwiches, wrote about the best lowbrow sandwiches (4/07).
- Duane Swierczynski, author of The Big Book O' Beer, wrote about his favorite summer brews (4/07).
- Michael Shook, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fly-Fishing, wrote about his favorite spots to fly-fish (4/07).
BookMarket.com Updates
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If you don't check out BookMarket.com on a regular basis, you are missing out on a lot of new stuff.http://www.bookmarket.com/podcasts.htm -- How to do a podcast, plus other resources for promoting books via audio.
http://www.bookmarket.com/socialnetworks.htm -- Features online social networks, wikis, blogging sites, video-sharing sites, content management systems, knowledge-sharing sites, widgets, and more.
http://www.bookmarket.com/files.htm -- John Kremer's rolodex of key contacts for printers, cover designers, PR firms, marketers, and much, much more.
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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. — Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader
More great quotes at http://www.quotablebooks.com.
Index: http://www.bookmarket.com/tipsindex.htm
Copyright © 2008 by John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
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