1st Turning Point

Posted By Robert W. Walker on July 29, 2010

Following up on some of the glaring differences between traditional and non-traditional publishing discussed in Part 1, allow me to add some other hard-won lessons to the list.

The traditional publisher determines design matters such as single or multiple volumes or a series, and in ebook publishing, the author has control over such issues as series, stand-alone, or three volumes in one.

These differences are due in large part to the medium.  The medium is the message.  What I can add is that with traditional publishing comes “traditional” notions of prestige, as in “real book publication,” which grants a writer a certain prestige among readers, critics, and other writers.  However, a new attitude is being seen, an attitude among readers and writers that says the text is of tantamount importance, not the way a book is delivered.  While this notion and ebook publishing have been around for approximately thirty to forty years, young people, new generations, are embracing it completely.  The idea that a book delivered in sixty seconds on a Kindle reader is as viable a piece of writing as if it is delivered between the covers of a hardbound book—this is something of a radical shift—not in publishing but in readers.

Many traditional publishers either do not get this or simply wish to fight for the old standards of ‘proper’ format and delivery of books.  In the past and now, many people believe that a book showing up in hardcover is a better book, better vetted, better edited, and certainly written better.  However, we have all encountered hardbound books riddled with problems from grammar to concept.  More and more, readers are learning about the struggle that goes on behind the writing of a novel, the research, the rewrites, the editing, vetting, and more rewrites that go into the creation of an ebook by a writer, and while some ebooks display a lack of talent, nowadays more and more display genius “outside the bun,” or in this case, “outside the covers.”  “Never judge a book by its cover” takes on a whole new meaning, despite the fact ebook cover graphics has spawned a whole new industry as has ebook digital platform and editing services.

Publishing with a major traditional publisher certainly can win one respect and sometimes critical acclaim, neither of which are automatically going to increase sales, but awards and accolades are a wonderful thing.  However, the drawbacks can be many for the author, not the least being a far smaller percentage (12 vs. 70).  Notably, traditional publishers, since the state-of-the-art Kindle device has skyrocketed in sales, are suddenly insisting contractually that authors turn over their electronic rights to the publisher.  Some authors have been savvy to maintain their ebook rights regardless.  However, traditional publishers holding your ebook rights—especially the majors—as a rule will set your ebook price far too high to the detriment of ebook sales.

E-readers are savvy and will turn away in droves if an ebook is priced too high.  Several of my books are saddled with this problem as the publisher set the price, while ebooks priced by me are selling a thousand books a month nowadays.  In short, the e-reading public will seldom to never purchase an e-novel or ebook priced at the same or nearly the same as the paper or hardbound book.  Not to mention that an author will always make more money putting his ebook rights to work on his own rather than through a publisher.

Working directly with Amazon.com, the author is basically given—at no charge—the opportunity to become a franchise.  Most traditionally published midlist authors are given no advertising budget, no coop monies, nothing, as any ad dollars go for the stars alone.  With Amazon/Kindle and other ebook publishers, every ebook an author places on digital platform gains instant distribution (distribution with traditional publishers presents both publisher and author with stripped, returned books, a nightmare in bookkeeping, and a sure path to remainders).  Reading a royalty statement from a traditional publisher is always a guessing game; reading the daily ‘ticker’ on each ebook with your name on it is as easy as reading the stock market and about as addictive.

Going back to ebook distribution—In the ebook world, distribution = advertising & promotion, and advertising and promotion = distribution, as having one’s book automatically on Amazon.com/Kindle’s bookshelf (without need of trucks and unloading trucks) is online distribution.  You have a place to send to anyone and everyone at the click of a key and wink of an eye.  Whispernet allows the reader to have the ebook in hand within sixty seconds!  And that kind of distribution is at no cost to the author and a great service to the reader.  With Kindle ads going out on national TV and Kindles being used as props in major motion pictures, the author can only benefit more.

There are no doubt many other comparison points between traditional and non-traditional publishing, but you know what?  Non-traditional modes of publication are getting to be part of the mainstream and hardly ‘non’ anymore.  Many authors are going the Indie Author/Publisher route as it makes perfect economical sense to do so.  This is especially true for authors with large backlists of otherwise dead books known as out of prints.  Already edited and vetted books that have seen returns, remainder days, used bookstore days—all of which pulls money from the pocket of authors.  Now, such lost titles are working for authors to the tune of thousands going back into the author’s pocket.

I hope my compare/contrast articles have been of help to you personally, if not professionally.  Hope to see you on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere online.

Children of Salem, Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge, and soon at a Kindle near you, Titanic 2012 Free: first 14 chapters of Titanic 2012 available here Children of Salem by Robert W. Walker Author & ebook publisher Publisher: Amazon Kindle An eccumenical spy, Jere Wakely returns to Salem Village Parish where it has become obvious to church athorities that this parish is in serious trouble. Wakely works for Increase Mahter. But he is reluctant for many reasons, not the least being that his heart is broken and returning to his boyhood home means he will inevitably run into Serena Nurse Jere assumes that Serena is by now married with children. He had left her without saying goodbye to go off and make something of himself. He has no their love would be rekindled, but it parallels a greater fire—one of terror amid the infamous Salem Witch Trials. A witch hunt in this important election year of 1692 is backdrop to a romance filled with intrigue and mystery; the history is accurate, and the truth is disturbing yet fascinating.

Category: All authors, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Name Recognition, Platform Building, Robert W. Walker, Staff | 4 Comments »
Tags: 1st turning point, advertising budget, all authors, amazon, backlists, book delivery, book series, bookstores, digital platform, distribution, ebook rights, editing, epublishing, Facebook, franchise, hard-bound books, kindle, non traditional publishing, out-of-print books, paperback books, props, remainders, robert w. walker, sales, traditional publishing, tv, Twitter, vetting, whispernet

Posted By Robert W. Walker on July 28, 2010

In any non-traditional publishing, as in ebook publication, there is no such thing as an advance against royalties.  In Traditional Publishing, now often termed DTBs (Dead Tree Books) by our younger generations, the advance has always been there.  This is a significant difference.  For the older generation—my generation—the first phrase that comes to mind for the author is “an advance against royalties,” and what this means is the author gets a lump sum loan payment to start work on the process of crafting a book or novel.  However, in ebook non-traditional publishing, wherein everything is lower case, there are no advances.  In fact, in “non-publishing” as some like to call it, there are a lot of no’s to the traditional model.

However, before we get too far afield, an advance against a royalty of a $100,000 is a thing of beauty on the surface.  No doubt about that.  A writer can rejoice.  However, if it is for four books to be written over four years, that’s pretty much slave wages, or $25,000 a year, which if one is independently wealthy makes for nice pen money.  Not so with most people who are attempting to make a living (no joke) at writing.

To the midlist author who wins this arrangement or spin of the publishing wheel, $25,000 a year does not go far.  It’s about minimum wage if that.  Whereas in ebook publishing, there are no advances and no paying back of that $25,000 a year.  On the one hand, your publisher grants you a “loan” to be paid back via your royalties (if royalties even occur); on the other hand, every cent of an advance must be paid back to the publisher via your royalties, and until that hundred thousand is worked off by your royalties (if at all), you see no additional funds from royalties.  Should your sales be too low to return that advance to your publisher, you are left with a bad business loan, and your name or reputation as a writer is mud thereafter.

The above is one area where traditional and non-traditional publishing go in very different directions. But there are far more differences for the writer-as-businessman as well.  Below are some of the glaring differences between the two, other than the way they deal with advances:

Traditional Publishing	Ebook Publishing
They contract for all rights including ebook	You are in a partnership with Kindle/other
Your royalty rate for paper is 10 percent/12 hardcover	Your royalty rate is 70 percent
Your chance of having returns is 100%, & remainders, too	So few returns, negligible/no remainders
Your chance of getting a rejection letter 90 to 100%	No rejection letters
Prestige of publishing with 1 of the big six…	Little to no “prestige”/much criticism
Professional, topnotch editorial help at no charge	Editorial help at your expense
Author pockets 10-12% of a $25 book *	Author pockets 70% of $2.99/3.99
9 months to 2 yrs. from acceptance final MS till pub date	Author publishes when s/he wishes
Publisher provides overworked PR person	You are the PR person or you hire PR
Publisher determines everything on cover	Author decides all cover art matters
Publisher writes copy/description of book	Author writes copy/description
Publisher can/often does change title	Author determines title
Publisher determines price of book	Author determines price
Publisher dictates/curtails length of book	Author determines length
Publisher’s royalty statement routinely confusing	Ebook gives clear daily sales report
Publisher’s royalty statement not seen for 6-12 months	Ebook statement daily report
Royalty statement/payment confusing 90% of the time	Payout arrangement clear
Publisher may/may not find review outlets	You seek out reviewers

* This means an author makes more on each $2.99 ebook than each $25 traditional book

Next time, some other hard-won lessons regarding the above points.

Children of Salem, Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge, and soon at a Kindle near you, Titanic 2012 Free: first 14 chapters of Titanic 2012 available here Children of Salem by Robert W. Walker Author & ebook publisher Publisher: Amazon Kindle An eccumenical spy, Jere Wakely returns to Salem Village Parish where it has become obvious to church athorities that this parish is in serious trouble. Wakely works for Increase Mahter. But he is reluctant for many reasons, not the least being that his heart is broken and returning to his boyhood home means he will inevitably run into Serena Nurse Jere assumes that Serena is by now married with children. He had left her without saying goodbye to go off and make something of himself. He has no their love would be rekindled, but it parallels a greater fire—one of terror amid the infamous Salem Witch Trials. A witch hunt in this important election year of 1692 is backdrop to a romance filled with intrigue and mystery; the history is accurate, and the truth is disturbing yet fascinating.

Children of Salem by Robert Walker

Category: All authors, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Name Recognition, Robert W. Walker, Staff | 13 Comments »
Tags: 1st turning point, advance against royalties, author advance, book titles, contracts, cover art, ebooks, editing, epublishing, kindle, midlist, pr, rejection letters, remainders, reviewers, robert w. walker, royalties, royalty statements, traditional publishing, writers

Posted By Amber Scott on July 26, 2010

by Amber Scott
1st Turning Point First Mate
Copyright © 2010 Amber Scott

It is my great pleasure to share this month’s round of promotion Q&A with bestselling author Bob Mayer.

AS:  Through your Warrior Writer class, Ancient Whispers author Marie-Claude Bourque discovered why she wants to write—that deep down core reason she has chosen the writing path and why it helped her succeed.  How can our individual ‘why’ impact our self-promotion approach as well?

BM:  Many writers hate self-promotion. We don’t promote because:

a.     We don’t want to be considered arrogant.

b.     We don’t want to get confronted by people telling us we’re self-promoting.

c.     We’re not sure what we’re promoting is really worth it.

d.     We don’t want to be wrong.

Bottom line is it makes us uncomfortable.   Under the Myers-Briggs, an INFJ is labeled author.  The exact opposite, ESTP, is labeled promoter.  Huge problem there.

The first Force of Warrior Writer is WHAT.  What do you want to achieve with your promoting?  Usually, it’s more sales.

I think the second Force, WHY, is important because if you understand the real reason why you want to sell more books, it becomes more palatable.  For most authors I know, the reason WHY they want to sell books is to make money in order to be able to keep writing.  The money is just the means to the end, which is writing.  So if we can understand our motivation for promoting, I think we can get more excited about it.  Accepting promotion as an integral part of being a successful author is part of the maturation process.  The thing is, you don’t have years to grow up any more.  You’ve got to do it right away.

AS:  In a recent Romance University article by Ann Charles, you commented, “…in reality, content is king and promotion is queen.  You need both to rule.”  Can you elaborate?

BM:  Going back to c—We’re not sure what we’re promoting is really worth it. Promoting a pile of crap is doomed to failure.  You won’t be able to do it enthusiastically and the negative feedback will overwhelm you.  You have to really believe in your book.  Now, there are those who believe in a really bad book they’ve written.  Nothing you can do about that.  But if you are a realist, and know you’ve truly written a great book, that helps a lot.

But if no one reads your great book, that’s also a waste.  You need both.  Publishers are pushing more and more promoting onto authors, to the point where you sometimes wonder what publishers are actually doing other than making and distributing the book (both of which can be done at home with eBooks).

One the hardest things I’ve had to accept as an author is that promoting is an integral part of my job.  When my first book came out in 1991, I pretty much did nothing in terms of promotion.  For years, I trusted the publisher to do that for me and was constantly let down.

It’s only in the past year, really, that I let go of my negative reaction to promoting myself and accepted that it’s not only a necessity, but something I have to get enthusiastic about.  I just looked and Atlantis, the first book in the series, is in the top 100 in technothriller on Amazon Kindle.  I’ve got to move that book up—when it was first published, it was #3 in that genre.

The good news is, with social media an author can do a lot of promoting from home, although you have to be very careful that you keep it ’social’ rather than blatant promoting.

To rule in the publishing world, you need content (king) and promotion (queen).  And honestly, my time is split 50-50 between the two.  This article is a form of promotion.  Every blog I write.  Every class I teach.  Every tweet and retweet.  We are in the entertainment business and a large part of that is selling the product.

For example, I did something in this article I hadn’t done before interviews.  I’ve added hyperlinks to the web pages for things I reference.  I’m constantly learning to do new things.

AS:  In this rapidly changing industry, in what ways do you foresee an author’s tools to success evolving?

BM:  So much is happening so fast, few people can keep up with it.  I think there is a lot of misinformation out there.  I just looked at an agent’s blog where she said a couple of things that were flat out wrong, and if I had followed her advice, I’d be out of the business by now.  Everyone is trying to protect their piece of turf.  Thus, blogs/articles by agents, editors, publishers, bookstores, etc. are all slanted in their favor.  One of my sayings (stolen from the Infantry) is lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.  Right now, a lot of the people are in the way.  Writers produce the product.  Readers consume the product.  Everyone else either help or get out of the way.  In my Warrior Writer program and book, I emphasize that authors have to take charge of their careers.  Your agent can’t plan your career for you.  A big mistake I made with my first three agents.  You come to them with your plan and they can help you implement it.

In one sentence:  Where do want to be in five years with your writing?

That’s your strategic goal.

On the flip side, I see way too many people self-publishing.  They see the few successes, like J.A. Konrath, and think they can do it too.  But you have to really study the successes and see if you have the same platform and capabilities.  A simple answer if you are a previously unpublished author for fiction is:  NO.  Unless you are the world’s greatest promoter and have a very unique book.  Yes, I know there will be those occasional successes who will be trumpeted in the media, but for 99.9% of unpublished fiction writers, it’s not a good idea.  Back when POD was starting, around 2004, there were 1.2 million titles available.  And 950,000 of them sold less than 100 copies.  It’s not going to be much different with eBooks.

I started Who Dares Wins publishing back in January 2010.  We’ve learned a lot in just six months.  Some things we thought would work, didn’t.  Here are some key lessons learned:

• Make really good book covers that pop in thumbnail. We just invested a lot of money in a design program just for covers. Yeah, you can knock it out on some program that comes with your computer, but it just doesn’t look the same. We’re in the process of redoing all our covers, one by one.

• We thought serialized books would work. We envisioned a book version of a season of TV. A pilot and then episodes, each somewhere from 10,000 to 20,000 words. People didn’t go for it. They want the book in its entirety. Which is interesting because I’m currently writing a TV season concept based on my book Bodyguard of Lies for Joel Silver.

• I think the iBookstore is the wave of the future, and Kindle might be our current Betamax. I think the Kindle will be around for a while, but with 3 million iPads sold in 80 days, the handwriting is on the wall. Which brings up the interesting question of what happens to those authors who have signed exclusive deals with Amazon? Look at what iTunes did for the music business. However, we also can’t confuse device with medium. What that means is you can put a Kindle program on your iPad.

• Getting your book in the right format for all the various platforms is a lot harder than people realize.

• Too many authors are going lone wolf. A few will succeed, but I think banding together as a team and utilizing the strength of the team for promotion is the key to success. We’re finally bringing out titles from other authors and it’s helping us a lot.

AS:  If writing your best book comes first, what is the second crucial component of author name building and self-promotion?

BM:  Platform is key.  I’m a West Point graduate, former Green Beret and best-selling author.  My agent can sell that.  When I write a book about the military, we use West Point.  She can’t use it much if I’m writing a fantasy with unicorns and ninja nuns.

Platform is your PASSION.  People think it’s something outside of them.  But I use the example of Johnny Cash in the movie Walk The Line.  He’s auditioning, singing some old gospel tune, and the producer rejects him in 15 seconds.  Cash asks questions, listens, then sings a song he wrote.  In 15 seconds the producer knows he has a star.  The key is Cash used his platform—his real emotions.  He sang an angry song he had written and never showed anyone, not even his bandmates, because that was his platform based on his experiences.

There are many simple things people do wrong.  Hell, I did about everything wrong, which is why I wrote Warrior Writer. We also have a book coming out, We Are Not Alone: The Writers’ Guide to Social Media (should be published by the time this article is released, which gives you an idea how fast a small publisher can work compared to NY), which lays out a step-by-step plan to build your online presence and promotion.

Your question points out one of the first and most basic rules:  use your name, not your book title (unless you’ve written To Kill a Mockingbird).  Use your head shot as your avatar, not your latest book cover.  Because repetition is key to marketing and brand-making.

AS: What lesson from your book, Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way to Conquer Fear and Succeed, can we apply today to our author promotion strategy?

BM:  I wrote Warrior Writer:  From Writer to Published Author using the Who Dares Wins strategies and tactics and making them specific to writers.  I took what I had learned in Special Forces, both as an A-Team leader and an instructor at the Special Force School at Ft. Bragg (which trains new Green Berets) and applied it to the world of publishing for authors.

There are nine Special Forces in Warrior Writer:

1.     Have a specific goal:  WHAT you want to achieve.

2.     Know WHY you want to achieve that goal.

3.     Study WHERE you will be achieving that goal—your own creative world, your business world, and the publishing business.

4.     Understand your CHARACTER.  What are you good at?  What do you need to improve?  What is your blind spot and how is it crippling you as a writer?  Answer this question:  I will do whatever it takes to succeed as a writer, except don’t ask me to do X.  Whatever X is, is the thing you have to do.

5.     Understand the three steps of true CHANGE and the five emotional stages.

6.     Use COURAGE to overcome your fears.

7.     Utilize effective oral and written COMMUNICATION.

8.     Take COMMAND of your writing career.

9.     COMPLETE the circle of success and then start over again at a higher level.

I’ve made it as simple as possible, but it’s not easy.  However, the fact that you are reading this article means you are open-minded to learning new things.  So, congratulations, you’re ahead of the power curve.

AS: Thank you so much, Bob for your time and insight.

Play Fling by Amber Scott

Available In PRINT!

Ebook: Smashwords, AMAZON, Barnes & Noble

Face Your Target…

Brooke Munkle didn’t leave a lukewarm marriage just to flounce into the first hot bed. She is focused on re-creating her life and too young, too hot, Elliott Jovovich has no business distracting her. If only he’d get out of her head. Maybe if she keeps things simple, she can allow herself one indulgence.

Pull The String…

Elliott Jovovich sees through Brooke’s stiff facade. Underneath her struggle to hold it all together, a vibrant woman is waiting to be freed. He tells himself it’s not the chase but the reward he’s after. To win her heart, he’ll even play by her rules, which would be a helluva lot easier if her hostile best friend didn’t fight so dirty.

Steady. Aim. Release…

Playing cupid wouldn’t be punishment if it was easy. Millie’s had ti. The sneaking around, the spying, compatibility issues, blind chemistry. Brooke keeping secrets. Elliott constantly getting in the way. If she doesn’t match her first best friend in two lifetimes with true love fast, Millie’s will lose the one thing in this life sentence to fight for: her partner.

Category: Advertising Basics, All authors, Amber Scott, Branding, Marketing, Name Recognition, Platform Building, Social Networking, Staff | 10 Comments »
Tags: 1st turning point, agents, amazon, amazon kindle, amber scott, ancient whispers, ann charles, articles, atlantis, author, betamax, blog, bob mayer, bodyguard of lies, bookstores, Branding, career, career goals, ebooks, editors, green beret, hyperlinks, ibookstore, infantry, interviews, ipad, itunes, ja konrath, joel silver, johnny cash, marie-claude bourque, myers-briggs, online courses, online presence, Platform, pod, promoter, publishers, readers, romance university, Self Promotion, self-publlishing, special forces, to kill a mockingbird, tv, tweeting, walk the line, warrior writer, we are not alone: the writer's guide to social media, webpages, west point, who dares wins publishing

Posted By Kris Tualla on July 25, 2010

by Kris Tualla
1st Turning Point Staff Reviewer
Copyright © 2010 Kris Tualla

Knight Errant: Death and Life at the Faire by Teel James Glenn

Kris’s Rating
1.5 Parrots

Knight Errant: Death and Life at the Faire By: Teel James Glenn Publisher: ePress-Online ISBN: 097722454 Buy link Release Date: September 2006

Kris’s Comments:
Good things:  The use of moving “period” video makes this trailer stand out.  The music was very appropriate.

Things to change:  The book cover has a lot of writing on it, but the initial graphic was blurry and gone too quickly to read.  Next came 20 seconds (one third of the total video) of silent film dueling with no explanation as to why it was there.

The use of capital letters in the text was inconsistent.  The font was Arial; a Renaissance-era font would have been more interesting.  I could not figure out if this book is historical or contemporary, and where it takes place.  I was more confused than enlightened.

Teaching moment:  Don’t waste time on unexplained photos or video clips.  And be very specific about your plot points:  be certain that your script tells what is unique about your book.

This book is about a best friend being killed and—since all the people in the video were men—I assume the protagonist is male.  How was he killed?  No idea.   Where? Clueless.  Maybe Scotland, based on the pipe music.  When?  Sometime after 1400 a.d. And that’s all I got.

Parrots:  1.5 for using video instead of still shots, and for the music choice.

Follow Eric Knight, professional fight choreographer and jouster as he tries to solve the cold blooded murder of his best friend while trying to create and perform a season of make believe medieval mayhem.

For the first time in print the behind the scenes of the renaissance faire world is revealed, the humor, the comraderie, the jealousy and the lustful, adventurous lives of the rennies are laid bare.

To submit your book video to us for review, send the following information to crowsnest@1stturningpoint.com with VIDEO REVIEW in the Subject line and the following information in the body of the email:

Title
Author
Publisher
ISBN
Buy Link
Release Date
Word Count (40k minimum)
Cover Blurb
YouTube URL of video
Book cover jpg

Category: All authors, Book Reviews, Book Video Reviews, Book Videos, Kris Tualla, Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »
Tags: knight errant: death and life at the faire, Kris Tuall, kris's kompass, teel james glenn

Posted By Diana Coyle on July 24, 2010

A Website Review by Diana Coyle
Copyright © 2010 Diana Coyle

Diana Coyle, Writer and Reviewer Author Name: James Hartley URL: http://teenangel.netfirms.com/ Diana’s Review: 4 Parrots

First Impressions

As I watched Mr. Hartley’s main page load I noticed that the author has a very simple website that he offers his fans or first time visitors. He uses two of his book covers, silhouetted in the background, which gives it a nice personal feel to his main page.

General Web Features

Looking more closely, it’s obvious that he isn’t a fan of Bill Gates or any Microsoft product because he pokes fun at sending hate mail to Mr. Gates near the bottom of his homepage. Knowing his strong distaste for Mr. Gates and all Microsoft products, it’s obvious why the author’s site is as simplistic as it is. The author offers the viewer enough information to walk away feeling satisfied of who he is and what he has published or will have published in the near future. He also offers an array of free stories that you can find on a separate page by clicking his Free Stories banner. In addition to these stories, he offers plenty of links to other stories included in various anthologies that have been published with other authors. Mr. Hartley also offers us a brief, but satisfying bio in which I found out a few interesting facts about him while reading it.

Ease of Navigation

I had no problem navigating Mr. Hartley’s site and he labeled everything for his visitors offering an enjoyable visit during your stay.

Load Time

Because of the simplicity of the site, load time wasn’t an issue either. There are plenty of graphics offered, but all are tastefully done and never drag the loading time down on any of the pages.

Content

One of the first things that struck me about the author is his sense of humor. He has planted a few things throughout his pages that if you look close enough you’ll find things that will have you laughing out loud. The first example that caught my eye was a blog entry done by his character Ken Parker, a noted Paranormal Lecturer, from Mr. Hartley’s upcoming release on December 1, 2010, The Ghost of Grover’s Ridge. I thought by presenting a blog entry done by his main male character was fun and different. By doing this, he’s showing a creative side for doing a little humorous promo work for his upcoming story.

As I mentioned earlier, at the bottom of his page you will find links you can click on to email him. All the links - Send Comments, Send Questions, Send Inordinate Praise and Send Honest Criticism all link to his email address if you’d like to drop him a line. But the one link that really made me laugh out loud was Send Hate Mail which is the one I mentioned earlier that opens an email addressed to Bill Gates. To further reinforce his hatred, he has placed a separate banner stating, “A 100% Microsoft Free Site.” This is definitely an author that likes to use his sense of humor and I think his strategies work well for him!

As I continued to browse this site, I found most of what I was looking for with exception of not finding a Media Kit. As a visitor, I was satisfied with the information and picture he provided of himself, the direct buying links to the works he already has available for each of his books and the information he provided for his upcoming releases that we can watch out for.

Book Information

Putting humor aside, although Mr. Hartley doesn’t have separate tabs at the top of his main page directing you to different pages of information, he does offer a wide array of the same sort of information linked to banners he uses throughout his site or links he provided us to click on. His books offer direct buying links to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble sites - allowing us to go directly to his book without having to search for his work on these sites. These little touches are helpful to buyers and are appreciated by any fan wanting to buy his published work. He also provided blurbs to all his stories (already available or soon-to-be), excerpts to his already published works and a banner link to his publisher MuseItUp Publishing.

I do have a few suggestions that Mr. Hartley may want to take into consideration. When I clicked on the MuseItUp Publishing banner it took me directly to their homepage. He might want to consider linking his profile page offered by this publisher to that banner link he offers on his website. I had to do a little digging on the publisher’s page to find information regarding Mr. Hartley and his upcoming work. He may even go one step further and under each story he has on his site, link that release to its direct web link once the publisher puts that book’s page up on their site. This will save some search time for his visitors and might even prevent someone from leaving his site prematurely because they don’t have the time to search for the information.

Still another suggestion I’d like to offer is to provide review links or direct quotes of reviews received that can be placed on his site for other visitors to read. By doing this, it could increase his sales because a good review speaks volumes!

Overall, although simplistic in design, I found this site to offer a vast array of links and information regarding his already published work and his soon-to-be releases. I enjoyed getting to know him and he provided me a few laughs with his comical sense of humor. I feel he has done well in setting up his site the way he has and can only make it sparkle even more by taking into consideration the few suggestions that I offered. I walked away pretty satisfied with what I found on his site and feel that he had provided the pertinent information I was searching for.

My final rating: 4 Parrots

Website Review Submission Guidelines

To submit your website for review, send the following information to:
crowsnest@1stTurningPoint.com
with WEBSITE REVIEW in the Subject line and the following information in the body of the email:

Author name
Web designer name
Website URL

Optional: a short paragraph of where you are in your career and a few items about your website that might be of interest.

Category: All authors, Diana Coyle, website review | 6 Comments »
Tags: James Hartley, Jim Hartley

Posted By 1st Turning Point Guest Columnist on July 23, 2010

by Laurie Schnebly
1st Turning Point Guest Columnist
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Schnebly

Note: This is part 3 in a series of 3. Click the following to read Part 1 or Part 2.

Wrapping up this discussion of which promotions work best for your personality type, let’s look at the three enneagram subtypes.  (For the nine main types, see the past two Fridays.)

As with the nine, we all have some of each type in us.  But it’s pretty rare to find someone who spends the same amount of time in each subtype: social, intimacy, and self-preservation.

The Three Subtypes

The self-preservation person is concerned with basic survival issues, whether the survival is of the body or the spirit.  Where can they find their favorite kind of soda?  How are they gonna pay their kid’s tuition?  Is there anywhere they can get some privacy?  If they were stranded on a desert island with plenty of survival gear, they’d just as soon be by themselves.

The intimacy person is concerned with one-on-one relationships…not just a lover, but every individual friendship.  They want to spend time alone with everyone they care about, just the two of them, talking as intimately as they can.  If they were on that desert island, they’d want one other person with them—just one, who’d be just as involved with the relationship as they are.

The social person is concerned with the community as a whole.  They want their entire gang on that desert island, and they want to do their part.  They’re less interested in what’s going on within themselves, or within a particular person, than what’s going on in the whole group—whether it’s their critique partners, their co-workers, their online buddies, whatever.

Just like with the nine personality types, none of these is better or worse than the others.  Everyone needs to be concerned with the “Me,” the “We Two,” and the “All of Us” to have a truly well-balanced life.

But we all tend to hang out more in one or two subtypes than strike a perfect balance among all three.  So it makes sense for writers to choose promotions that match the areas where they feel more comfortable.

Subtypes’ Best Promo

People who feel most at home with self-preservation care about being safe and secure.  Whether they achieve that by turning to experts or by relying solely on themselves, they’d just as soon keep promotional efforts focused in areas where they can feel secure.  Whatever a writer’s personality, the self-preservation subtype will magnify it.

For intimacy-subtype people, the most natural promotion is whatever builds a sense of intimacy.  Writing personalized notes.  Sending emails offlist.  Asking the reporter or publicist or bookseller to a private lunch.  Anyone these writers deal with will enjoy knowing they have a one-on-one relationship, and appreciate that sense of exclusivity.

Since the social subtype is all about groups, these people feel very much at ease when surrounded by readers at a booksigning or writers at a conference.  They’ll build relationships in online communities and social networks, making everyone around them feel like part of their team—and making word-of-mouth promotion a virtual guarantee.

Mind-Body-Heart

In addition to those three subtypes, the nine enneagram types also tend to fall into three other areas:  Nurturer Twos, Achiever Threes, and Romantic Fours are known as coming from the heart; Observer Fives, Skeptic Sixes, and Adventurer Sevens from the head;  Leader Eights, Peacemaker Nines and Perfectionist Ones from the gut.

Which ties in perfectly with the traditional mind-body-heart types.  Again, we usually have some of each in us, but they don’t tend to be equally weighted.

A Mind person is very logical, rational, analytical.  They live in the future, analyzing possibilities, rather than in the present (experiencing whatever’s going on around them) or in the past (remembering wonderful and awful moments).

Body people live in the here and now, focused on what’s happening.  They’re comfortable with all kinds of action, because they’re totally at ease with their body.  They don’t mind thinking or feeling if necessary, but they’re a lot happier doing.

Heart people are the most emotional, the most sentimental, the most thoughtful and caring…and also the most screaming-nasty-vengeful should things go wrong.  Forget rational thought; forget physical reality.  What matters to them are feelings!

So you can see where these types are more likely to succeed in their promotional efforts:

Promo for Each

Mind people connect with the world on a cerebral level.  This makes them highly competent at examining various types of promotion, evaluating the cost vs. benefit and the pro vs. con of various choices.  If a certain kind of promo requires careful thought and scrupulous follow-through, they’ll be great at it.  A scheduled list of teasers?  A monthly newsletter?  A timeline for reaching every bookstore in the market?  No problem—such planning is right up their alley.

Body people like to participate, favoring hands-on involvement in whatever they do.  They’ll be happy to show up at a workshop and chat with readers, move chairs at booksignings, cheer for friends at award ceremonies, and they’ll invite the reviewers to lunch without hesitation.  Their instinct for action makes them great at brainstorming ideas, tossing off freewheeling possibilities in all directions.  Then, all they have to do is decide which to pursue, and dive in.

Heart people connect with others on an emotional level, so they find it easy to recognize what readers, fans, judges, bloggers, and editors want.  They treasure connections that involve sharing feelings, which makes them fabulous confidantes, and they’re willing to share their own experiences with the world at large.  Blogging, speaking to groups and posting online are all completely natural for them, and people respond by feeling like they’ve met a new friend.

And finally…

What’s your best bet for promotion?  Whatever feels comfortable for YOU.  That’ll be easier, more instinctive, something you can sustain without taking too much time away from writing…and that’s what all of us want!

Laurie, who’ll check back for questions, comments and the prize-drawing later today.

 

Note: This is part 3 in a series of 3. Click the following to read Part 1 or Part 2.

Believable Characters: Creating with Enneagrams by Laurie Schnebly Writers are always looking for new ways to create believable characters. One great tool is enneagrams (ANY-uh-grams), a system used by managers and counselors to identify the nine personality types. Each has its own wonderfully heroic traits, and each also has a fatal flaw that will bring these characters into conflict with other people…and with themselves. See why Linda Lael Miller called this 250-page book “a must-have for all writers who want to create deep, well-rounded, flesh-and-blood characters.”

Category: Advertising Basics, All authors, Booksignings, Branding, Email Promotion, Guest Columnist, Marketing, Name Recognition, Platform Building, Public Speaking, Social Networking, Staff | 47 Comments »
Tags: 1st turning point, bloggers, book reviewers, book signings, booksellers, chats, editors, email, enneagrams, Fans, Laurie Schnebly, monthly newsletters, online communities, personality types, promotion, publicists, readers, reporters, social networks, team building, teasers, word of mouth, workshops, writing conferences

Posted By Theresa Meyers on July 22, 2010

by Theresa Meyers
1st Turning Point Staff Columnist
Copyright © 2010 Theresa Meyers

Television interviews aren’t all they are cracked up to be.  They can be fast and often leave authors feeling like they didn’t get much from the experience, but they can also be a great window of opportunity if you know how to leverage it for yourself.

First, you need to know what you’re getting into.  Let’s say you’re lucky enough to score an appearance on Oprah.  Since her show format usually includes several guests as well as comments and questions from the audience, you can expect about four minutes if you’re lucky.  With Oprah’s intro, comments, and segues to commercials, you’ll get about 2 minutes and 45 seconds of actual time to talk.  This gives you an understanding of why it’s so critical to distill your message down and repeat it often.

To give you an idea of how the process works, a television show traditionally has received a pitch from your publicist either by phone or email.  The segment producer will call and ask for a press kit from you or your publicist.  Those materials are received by a segment producer, who’s usually a female in her 20’s.  She takes the material and goes through it.  The press kit is the blueprint for the interview, since they don’t usually read the book.  The press kit should provide them a question and answer section, the focus for the audience, and an introduction of you.  The segment producer will then create questions for the talent on cue cards or the little 4X6 blue cards you see them holding.  She’ll probably go through the book, picking out interesting things.

The talent gets this maybe the night before, more often that day.  You’ll arrive and wait in what’s known as the green room, which is usually a vending-machine-stocked waiting area.  The only info they have is your press kit, which is a good thing since you put it together.  You’ll then be brought in live onto the show.  You’ll get about two minutes on air, then there will be a cut for a commercial.  When they come back from commercial, you’ll be re-introduced and talked to for another forty-five seconds, then you’re gone.

Your goal in those precious few seconds should be to get control of the interview.  You don’t control the questions, but you sure as hell control the answers.  You’re going to need to control the venue to be able to get your points across in that 2 minute 45 second window of opportunity.  If you’re busy answering the questions the way they’re asked, you’re going to waste about two minutes of your time.

Your three key message points are important in broadcast, but a study at UCLA revealed that 93% of the message an audience receives from television is from your nonverbal cues and attitude when you’re in front of the camera.

Your image and the perception it creates is as vital as your verbal message.  This is not to say that the words you speak during your interview aren’t important—they are.  In essence, that 7% is the engine that drives the interview.

This is why professional media trainers suggest you wear age-appropriate clothing.  Avoid flashy jewelry, small prints, and white, which don’t look good on camera.  Primary colors tend to work best.

Working in television and radio requires a new way of talking and selling.  The reductive process of the media is like talking to the wrong end of a megaphone.  You need to condense, condense, condense—which is where your three tightly worded key points will be the most helpful.

If you haven’t had any media training to know how to ace a broadcast interview (radio or television), get some.  It can make all the difference in how your interview turns out.

If you’re aiming to get on daytime talk shows such as Oprah, Ellen, The View, etc., there are specific topic categories that really catch their attention.  The highest rated daytime talk show topics are:

5.    Home and family

4.    Health topics

3.    Children—”how to”

2.    Celebrities

1.    Self-help—The audience wants to learn something, but are not intellectuals and want down-to-earth advice

How can you take advantage of this information?  Remember that your goal is to become a social or media comment waiting to happen.  The pitches that work the best involve answering a problem, pointing to an opportunity, or exploding a myth.

When we got Carly Phillips on LIVE! With Regis and Kelly, it was a combination of factors that came together to make it happen.  She loved LIVE! and had been a Kelly Ripa fan forever.  When they were joking one day about a possible book club because Oprah had discontinued her club, Carly called me up and said she didn’t know if it was real, but if it was, she wanted to be on it.  I then got hold of producers at the show and kept calling once every two weeks until they actually confirmed that yes, they were doing it and then who the producer for the segment was going to be.  By that time we’d already decided to do something fun and Carly suggested a cookie basket and I came up with shaping the cookies like the lips on the cover of her book and the sayings on each of the cookies.

When I pitched Vicki Lewis Thompson for LIVE! Kelly had just come back from maternity leave.  I sent a combination Hawaiian floral/spa basket with a copy of Vicki’s book which was set in Hawaii directly to Kelly with a welcome back card.  I find that if I send something directly to the talent as a personal item, they tend to get a little more excited and then pass it along to the producer.  You still have to work with the producer in the end, but sometimes it helps get your foot in the door.

One way to reach television producers and gain their interest is through direct pitches.  For this you’ll want to know exactly who you are talking to and what they want to see. To find this information, the best resources are professional media database services such as Cision, which is used by the largest publicity agencies in the world.  You can order individual media databases from them with a minimum order of $200 and target it as specifically as you like. There are additional options to have them blast a fax or email to those producers.

Another venue is to advertise in the Radio Television Interview Report, which is used as a kind of booking resource by producers in charge of finding guests for television and radio shows.  Usually, it takes repeated ads in the publication to capture a producer’s interest, but it is effective.

The third way to reach a media outlet is to find the information on the internet, in a phone book, or for magazines, look in the front where they have the one or two columns listing all the editors, sales staff, etc.  They usually have a phone number listed there where you can call for the address if it isn’t listed.

If the prospect of asking someone for information seems daunting, you can always use my favorite trick.  Play dumb.  Honestly, I’ve gotten more information from a receptionist who figured I was some dumb blonde who wouldn’t have a clue what to do with the information once I wrote it down than in acting like I knew what I was doing and asking to be put through to the producer.  A lot of the time, I find my job as a publicist is to figure out what the journalist does for a job and then do it for them and hand it to them.  The better I do their job for them, the better my success rate is.

Once you’ve sent a pitch letter via fax or mail, give it about a week to two weeks. Then call the editor/producer and follow up.

This is important.

If you don’t follow up, they won’t know you are serious and may file the pitch in the trash.  In general, publicity is a numbers game.  It can take 20-30 pitches to get one media hit.

The key is not to give up.  Keep trying, but be smart.  Do your homework and know who you are pitching or sending materials to and what he or she wants for the show.  It’ll go a long way to making a producer interested in putting you on television.

The Spellbound Bride by Theresa Meyers Diversion Books - Scottish Historical May 2010 ISBN: 978-0-9845151-0-3 Twice a widow and now suspected of witchcraft, Sorcha MacIver must find a man who can overcome the curse that haunts her, or burn at the stake at the hands of her own clan. Mercenary Ian Hunter thought marrying her would be easy money and a way to escape Scotland, and his treacherous brother who stole his first bride. But neither counted on Sorcha being a pawn in a deadly play for the throne of Scotland by King James’ cousin, the Earl of Bothwell, where witch hunts are only the beginning, and a trial judged by the king himself might be their ultimate demise…

Category: Advertising Basics, All authors, Branding, Marketing, Name Recognition, Platform Building, Public Speaking, Radio Broadcasts, Social Networking, Staff, Television, Theresa Meyers | 5 Comments »
Tags: 1st turning point, advertise, all authors, booking resource, broadcast, Carly Phillips, cision, commercials, daytime talk shows, direct pitches, editors, ellen, email, fax, internet, journalist, kelly ripa, key points, Live with Regis and Kelly, magazines, media trainers, message, message points, nonverbal cues, oprah, phone book, pitch, press kit, producer, professional media database service, publicist, publicity agency, Radio, radio television interview report, receptionist, sales staff, segment producer, television interviews, the view, Theresa Meyers, topic categories, tv, ucla, verbal message, Vicki Lewis Thompson

Posted By John Klawitter on July 21, 2010

by John Klawitter
1st Turning Point Staff Columnist
Copyright © 2010 John Klawitter

Why does this all have to be such grim stuff—blogs vs. book trailers, websites vs. book fairs, virtual tours vs. small space ads?  Advertising and marketing can be exciting and fun, and you’d do well not to miss a second of it.

UNIVERSAL CRAVING:  Old Leo Burnett, some said, was way past his prime.  He had shaggy white eyebrows and looked like an old owl, and the young turks in his company were circling about, looking for weakness.  Once, the night before a major pitch to Kellogg’s, he ordered all the proposed new designs for the Corn Flakes cereal boxes to be placed around his office.  The next morning he declared the winner.  It wasn’t a design anybody else in the room liked, and the pack pounced on him.

“How did you pick that one?” Gene Kolkey, his quick-tempered senior art director snarled.

“Cleaning lady liked it,” Leo said, tapping out a Marlboro and lighting up.  We did the Marlboro Man ads and Leo always said, “If you’re gonna smoke around here, ride for the brand.”

Gene jumped to his feet, waving his fists and shouting.  “You picked a design because the lady who cleans your office liked it?!”

“Cleaning ladies eat cereal, too,” Leo said.

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

THE BEAR WHO OWNED ME:  Cleo Hovel created the Hamms Beer Bear.  That chubby, jovial bear sold billions of cans of beer, and Cleo devoted much of the time he used to spend creating things entertaining clients who wanted their own forest creature to shill their toilet paper, floor wax and other goods.  “Be careful what animals you invent,” Cleo advised me.  “They can put you in a cage.”

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

STUNNING CLARITY:  Ron Miller became president of Walt Disney Studios after Walt, always a heavy cigarette smoker, lost his battle with lung cancer.  Rash and impulsive Bob King, ex-fighter pilot in Korea, was head of publicity and my boss at the time.  After a string of failed movies, the L.A. Times came out with an article pointing the accusing finger at Miller, who at about six and a half feet wasn’t anybody you wanted to mess with.

Miller slammed into the dailies screening room waving the offending newspaper, “They say right here that I’m an ex-Rams football player!  And that I married Walt’s daughter!  And that I’m the creative head of the studio!”

“But Ron,” my boss replied, “you were and you did and you are.”

I thought Miller would kill him.  I’m sure he was thinking about it.  But he just stared for a moment and then stormed out of the room.

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

JUST REWARDS:  Creative Director Carl Hixon, five minutes after he heard the political documentary I’d created while moonlighting had won an EMMY:  “Klawitter, you’re fired.”

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

EMPLOYMENT MIRACLE:  New York Agency Head Bob Palmer, to West Coast Head Richard Harris five minutes before Richard was going to fire me:  “Harris, you’re fired.”

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

EXERCISE IN FUTILITY:  In spite of being warned by everybody at Hanna-Barbera that Bill and Joe were the idea men, I went ahead and presented my Fire Fighting Frog to Bill Hanna, who’d said he was looking for concepts to top his own Woodsy Owl.  I’m a decent pitch guy, and I had them howling in the aisles … everybody except Bill.  Pitching Bill was like running into a brick wall.

I finally cried out in despair, “But Bill…why not?”

“Frogs ain’t funny,” he said.

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

ADRENALINE RUSH:  I was the agency producer out of Grey Detroit and we were in San Francisco, shooting Ford commercials.  Peter Miranda was the big-time NY director, and he’d hired a bald little cameraman with a confident air.  The footage turned out creepy—all dark and foggy.  The client was having fits, and I felt close to a heart attack.  The little cameraman grinned and took the film cans down to L.A., assuring me “it just needs the right soup.”  He came back that afternoon with some hot girl he’d picked up and they spent the night together.  The film came tagging after, we had an early morning screening, and it was wonderful.

The little guy gave me his quick grin.  “There was only one setting on the Hazeltine that would work.  But I knew it would be there.”

He kissed his hot girlfriend adios about thirty seconds before his wife came boiling in the lobby, looking for trouble.  But, of course, trouble had departed a half-a-minute before.

“Living on the edge,” he said, shooting me a cheery little wink.

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

TAKEOVER:  When I first met Sid Ganis (current head of the Motion Picture Academy), he was a marketing exec at Cinema Center Films.  CCF had a three pic pac (three picture deal) with Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions, and Niki Knatz and I were producing the documentary featurette to market Steve’s racing picture, Le Mans.  Our project was all but in the can when Sid began carping and haggling about small stuff.  “He wants to take over,” Niki warned.  “Get his name above the title.”  I felt Niki was paranoid, but I had second thoughts when Sid arranged a screening the morning after Southern California endured a moderate jolt earthquake.

Steve zoomed in from Palm Springs on his Bultaco, and it had to be a hairy ride because he slouched in a back seat in the screening room with a sour expression on his face.

Sid bustled about, very much in charge.  “Roll the damn film,” he said, waving at the projectionist.  Fifteen minutes slid by, and I thought it was pretty good, but nobody said anything.

As the lights came up, Sid bubbled, “Now don’t worry, Steve, I have a few ideas how we can fix this.”

“Steve stood and stretched, looking past Sid to Niki and me.  “Goddamn great job, fellows,” he said.  “Anybody want to see the new flame stripes on my bike?”

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

So, I say enjoy the ride even though you never know quite where it might take you.

Another Rave Review
for John Klawitter’s latest release!

The Rogue Pirate’s Bible Heretical ISBN-10: 1-55404-716-1 ISBN-13: 978-1-55404-716-1 Genre: Science Fiction eBook Length: 214 Pages Published: December 2009 Imprint: Double Dragon Publishing http://tinyurl.com/PirBib1

The Rogue Pirates Bible Heretical Tales from the Biblical Zone by John Klawitter Review by Mary Therese Burns-De Francesco, Rome , Italy ~~ Rome correspondent for the La Gazzetta Italiana newspaper Whymiscal, very human take on previously chiselled in stone biblical characters by author John Klawitter, who did for the Bible what Douglas Addams did for space travel with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Klawitter brings home the characters and shows us they’re good old guys and gals just like us, who happened to live in an amazing time full of burning bushes, angelic apparitions and thunder strikes on cue. Not to mention neanderthals, aliens and pirate spaceships…. Klawitter’s other works also show an admirable capacity for understanding human nature and society as is, not how we wish it were, and his characters often feel like we already know them, they are quite believable, in effect. Many of his books are chock full of action like a Hollywood movie and it’s hard to put them down, he did the same in this collection of short tales, one wants to read it over and over again and wishes there were more stories to read. I am an old fan of John Klawitter’s work, I enjoy his mature tales, like only a master storyteller can tell them. I am enamoured of this world he invented, of the frame of the Rogue pirates to tell these age-old stories with a new twist, I really would love to see more development of the space pirate theme, I can’t get enough of it, my mind keeps wondering about that world in my free time, I hope that John Klawitter will reveal more of that world to readers in the future. A thumbs up to The Rogue Pirate’s Bible Heretical.

Category: John Klawitter, Miscellaneous, Social Networking, Staff | 13 Comments »
Tags: 1st turning point, advertising, bill hanna, blogs, bob king, bob palmer, book fairs, book trailers, carl hixon, cinema center films, cleo hovel, corn flakes cereal, emmy, ford, gene kolkey, grey detroit, hamms beer bear, hanna-barbera, hazeltine, John Klawitter, kellogg's, l.a. times, le mans, leo burnett, Marketing, marlboro, motion picture academy, niki knatz, peter miranda, rams football team, richard harris, ron miller, sid ganis, small-space ads, solar productions, steve mcqueen, virtual tours, walt disney, walt disney studios, Websites, woodsy owl

Posted By Judith Laik on July 20, 2010

Carol Strickland’s website

Media: acrylic landscapes, portraits, and abstract paintings; romance author

JL:  Thank you for joining us at 1st Turning Point.  I enjoyed browsing your website, appreciating your lovely art and your versatile interests.  Tell me a little about your background in art.  How did you get started?

CS:  Like just about all artists, I was always drawing.  Unfortunately, my high school had a rule that if you were college-bound, you couldn’t take art, so I learned what I could from books.  In college it was tough to choose between majors: art or astrophysics?  When my brain decided it had had quite enough of higher math, thank you, I took the art route.

I have two degrees, one in fine art and one in commercial art.  The latter has kept me in rent money these many years, but when Mid-Life Crisis hit, I returned to my old love, fine art.  What a ride it’s been since!

JL:  Besides your art, you are also the author of two romances.  It sounds daunting to juggle two such time-consuming and diverse professions.  I find it difficult to pursue even one.  How do you manage your time and what dictates which of the muses you follow?

CS:  It’s simple: I don’t clean house.  Ha ha!  You think I’m kidding!

My muses tend to speak to me in waves: one week art; the next, writing. These days I’m trying to schedule them so that I’m prepared, they develop good habits, and the work progresses at an even pace.  Since daylight is so much better than even the best studio light, weekends are preferred painting time, whereas evenings are for writing.

I have a timer, daily, monthly and annual goals, an occasional deadline, and good intentions.  Sigh.  It doesn’t quite work.  The only thing that does is (for writing) “butt in the chair,” and (for art) “feet in front of the easel.”  The trick is getting there and not being exhausted when you arrive.

While everyone was taking their seats before a writing workshop I took once, the speaker had us list ten things each day we had to accomplish.  Later on, the speaker asked us: “Where is writing on your list?”  Most people hadn’t listed it.   The conclusion: make what you want to do a real priority that bumps less important things off your “must do” list.

Of course, once that lottery hits and I can lose the day job, I figure all muses involved will be ecstatic and my production will soar!

JL:  I noticed that you sell your work from your website.  What challenges does this present, and would you recommend that other artists adopt this strategy?

CS:  First and foremost is getting that website in front of people.  If no one sees the work, they can’t buy it.  People are more prone to buy art if they can actually see it and touch it in person, so that’s a drawback for a website.  I don’t expect my site ultimately to be my main venue, but I do think it’s a great starting point.  I can show my work to people in Australia or India without leaving my home!  That is so cool.  The site also has a guest book from which I hope to increase my mailing list.

I’ve also been able to run contests.  In April, I ran a “win a free painted portrait” contest to celebrate my snappy new url, www.RealPaintedPortraits.com .  People had to sign the guest book to enter.  As I write this I’m working on the winner’s portrait.  I’ll be blogging and Facebooking to show its progress, which is another way to interest people.

One of the handiest things about a website is that you can put PayPal buttons next to each painting.  That makes it easy for both buyer and me.  Plus, we have sites like Etsy that are getting tremendous traffic.  I hope to have a shop up there tout de suite, linked to my site.

Since I have distinctly different sections on the website, I’m planning to put ads for my art business on my writing pages, and vice versa.  That’s free advertising!  I have a huge section concerning Wonder Woman.  Maybe some WW fans will feel the need to buy a star-spangled abstract painting.

My day job is a sidebar of a marketing department.  We constantly experiment to find out what customers will respond to.  Then we discover that what worked yesterday is not necessarily what will work today.  Finding your market is a continual process of trying new things.

JL:  Is your work also available in galleries or other venues?  Besides your website, what promotional tools have you/do you use?  What additional tools do you see yourself using in the future?

CS:  This past year, I’ve been taking many art marketing courses.  Bob Burridge does a great class and publishes an accompanying workbook that caters to the gallery/art festival crowd.  Another interesting course is a kind of “practical artist” course given by M. Theresa Brown and her husband, Stephen Filarsky.  They call themselves the Art Career Experts. They’ve both had to learn nuts-and-bolts art marketing the hard way and manage a good living from it.

Because I went to art school, I was told that galleries were the only way to go, else I wasn’t “serious.”  Now I know other ways to sell.  I don’t have an exhibition tent yet, but soon will.  Once the heat recedes, I’ll be painting regularly in public venues so people can check out my work in person, sign my guest book, and get a business card and a friendly spiel.

Speaking of business cards, I pass mine out every chance I get.  You never know who’ll be interested.  Mine have color examples of my work on both sides.

That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on galleries!  I enter contests where selected works are hung in the host gallery for a while.  I do have some interested local galleries and government venues that I’m working on, plus my work hangs in restaurants and coffeeshops, where many people will see it.  If they forget to write down my information, they can be reminded by the vinyl sign my car now sports.

One of the perks of being a writer is finding good online writing workshops.  A recent one on writing for magazines and newspapers has spurred me to work up some articles that will include references to my work in some fashion.  It’s all a way of getting the name and website out there.

JL:  What are your goals as an artist?  Where would you like to see your work shown/sold?  What plans do you have for achieving those goals?

CS:  I’m not out to conquer the world.  Though I paint in a number of different styles, they have a unified theme: to display the joy of life.  I want to communicate that joy to others so it lifts their spirits as well.  Can art make the world a better place?  We all know the answer to that!

My more mundane 2010-2011 goals (besides painting more) are to keep getting my name out there and to hang my work at any high-traffic venue that will take them.  I’ll be entering some higher-stakes art competitions to attract attention.  My new written marketing plan should show what works and what doesn’t. Eventually (soon?), I’d like to be able to quit my day job and travel the world, painting (teaching?) en plein air as I go.

JL:  What’s your take on the art world today?  Has the economy affected the atmosphere and sales?  What strategies can an artist use to overcome a tough economy?

CS:  Most people have had their budget for extras cut, but the well-off are still well-off and still buying large art.  (I wish they’d buy my large art more often.)  Many artists are making their art into prints, which can be sold at a lower price than a painting.  EBay buyers love prints, especially when they’re called giclées.  I do only a few prints now, but am planning to expand that once I get my own printing setup this winter, where I can keep a close eye on quality.  With all that, I’m still reminding people that buying art is an investment for something they’ll treasure for years to come.  It’s worth paying a little more for.

JL:  Is there anything else you’d like to share with 1st Turning Point readers?

CS:  Yes. I need to find a housekeeper who doesn’t share horror stories about the state of clients’ homes.  Know any good ones?

JL:  Thank you for taking the time to visit with us today and sharing your insights on the art world.

CS:  Believe me, I am thrilled to be here!  I invite people to stop by my site.  There they can check out my art, read from my novels, and learn far too much about Wonder Woman.  Be sure to sign my guestbook while you’re there.  Thank you so much for inviting me!

Quiet Afternoon 18x14", oil, 2007 Hillsborough, NC, $350

Late Afternoon Tracery 18x14", oil, 2007 Hillsborough, NC, $315.00

Judith Laik lives on a mini-farm in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, daughter, three horses, two cats, approximately a dozen Collies (they’re a dog show family), and one Scottish Deerhound that doubles as a sofa cover.

Blue Moon Enchantment

The Lady In Question

The Lady Is Mine

Under Whose Influence

A Horse’s Tale

Around The Circle Gently

Category: Advertising Basics, All authors, Branding, Email Promotion, Entering Contests, Guest Artist, Having Contests, Judith Laik, Marketing, Name Recognition, Platform Building, Social Networking, Staff, Websites | 7 Comments »
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Posted By 1st Turning Point Guest Columnist on July 19, 2010

By Jonathan Papernick
1st Turning Point Guest Columnist
First published at Beyond the Margins

Within weeks of publication of my first collection of short stories eight years ago, I received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and a full-page rave review in the New York Times. My name was mentioned in the same breath as other successful young, Jewish authors—bestsellers and award winners, names you would immediately recognize. I felt that I was on my way. Only I wasn’t—not really.

Nobody ever told me that the real work begins once a book is finished and that you need to spend a good six months to a year getting out there and promoting your own work, otherwise it risks dying on the vine. By the time my book started disappearing from bookshelves a few months after publication it was too late for me to traction those early positive reviews into sales. In the end, my collection sold fairly well for a first-time author, but the sales numbers were not high enough for the publishing industry to take notice. After many rounds of submissions, I finally gave up on U.S. publishers and instead opted to publish with a small Canadian publisher who expressed great interest in the book.

Now that my second collection of stories is out, I am taking the hard lessons I learned from relying on a disinterested publisher who did next to nothing after the book was orphaned by the acquiring editor, and have set up a war plan, a campaign to follow through to the bitter end.

Not a day has gone by since December when I have not done something to promote the book, whether I was contacting bookstores about carrying my book, or setting up readings in support of the collection.

Six months ago I started gathering names of potential reviewers, people who had shown favor to my writing in the past, as well as names I was able to gather from supportive writer friends, and sources on the internet. I sent personalized e-mails with a description of my collection and blurbs to each potential reviewer and let them know that the book would be coming in May. By making the personal connection with potential reviewers and creating a sense of anticipation, I raised the likelihood that the book would actually be reviewed.

I convinced my publisher to give me fifty review copies and I told him that I would send out review copies on my own, rather than relying on him to do it on my behalf. Sure it cost me for envelopes and postage, but I know that I am my own top priority, whereas any publisher has numerous authors it needs to consider at any given time. In fact, I did try hiring two former students to work under my guidance as publicity associates, but neither of them ultimately felt they were up to the task—I guess they just didn’t think they had enough skin in the game. I grew up listening to independent punk rock bands and I understand the power of a  DIY ethos—there is no shame in doing it myself. In the end, I labeled and stamped envelopes myself, made sure to put in a press release and clippings with each review copy and I fired off another e-mail letting reviewers know that my book was on its way.

No matter how uncomfortable or not-in-your-nature it may be, it’s critical to get out there and talk to people about your work, as you are your own best resource and promoter. I attended several conferences (AWP, Muse and the Marketplace, Jewish Book Network, Book Expo America) in the months prior to publication meeting other writers, reviewers, agents and editors, putting my name (hopefully) into the zeitgeist so that my name would be familiar next time they encounter it. One influential book blogger did not receive my review copy in the mail the first two times I sent it. I could easily have given up at that point, and I was tempted to out of sheer frustration, but I knew that she was going to be at the Book Expo in New York.  I sought her out at the table where she was signing books, introduced myself, and personally placed my book into her bag.  She was very appreciative of my persistence, and wrote to me yesterday: “Brilliant collection. Truly amazing.” She plans on pushing my book on her blog in the coming days.

It is important to make sure that you have an attractive, updated website, a blog, a Goodreads profile, a Facebook fan page, a personal Facebook page that you use selectively to promote your work, (I’m not yet sold on Twitter, but I’m not ruling it out either) update your Amazon author page and make sure that your book page on Amazon.com has updated reviews as well as the Search Inside the Book feature and availability on Kindle. Unfortunately, I’ve been asking my publisher since December to make sure that the Search Inside the Book feature and Kindle is ready ASAP, and nearly six months later neither are up on the Amazon site. I’ve actually called Amazon myself and the book’s distributor, but it seems in this case that will and persistence are not enough and I can only hope that it will be taken care of soon.

Many of you might think that Amazon.com is the evil empire, and perhaps it is in some ways, but Amazon is also a writer’s best friend as it is a simple way for readers to buy your books, especially backlist titles that are likely not available in bookstores. I am encouraging my readers to post reviews on Amazon.com and have promised to send out a free copy of my novel to anyone who does so. I think people are more likely to buy (and review) a book that has been reviewed positively by a whole pile of people rather than by one or two of the author’s close relatives.

Your writing—and bank account—might take a hit during the months that you’re a promoting your work, but you need to honor your book and give it a fighting chance. It will certainly be time well spent, as little by little your writing emerges from the shadows.  There are ways to continue writing in service of your promotional campaign as well.  I strongly suggest writing for blogs, websites, newspapers etc. on any subject that you feel you have the remotest level of competence, and whenever possible, ask that your article/review/essay is linked directly to your website or an online source where your book can be purchased. I have some other promotional ideas in mind for the fall, but I’ll keep them to myself for now as they’re still in the planning stages.

Jonathan Papernick is the author of the short story collection The Ascent of Eli Israel, and Who by Fire, Who by Blood. Please encourage your local independent bookstore to order his new collection of short stories There Is No Other.  He teaches fiction writing at Emerson College and lives outside Boston with his wife and two sons.

Category: Advertising Basics, Guest Columnist | 15 Comments »
Tags: amazon, awp, beyond the margins, book expo america, Facebook, goodreads, jewish book network, jonathan papernick, kindle, muse and the marketplace, publisher's weekly, search inside the book, Twitter