Posted: 12 Mar 2015 05:05 AM PDT
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at [email protected]. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015 Writers write the books they want to write, perhaps even feeling driven to pen them. They feel compelled to share their vision with the world. They teach a lesson to warn us, inspire us, or have us enjoy a good story. Many write with an eye on making their book a commercial success but that is secondary to expressing their art. Authors should consider this about their book: Is it needed? Obviously, when discussing non-fiction books, people have a need to buy such a book because they will learn something of value. Looking to save for retirement, raise a child, or have a healthy body? There are books to fill such needs. Have a desire for self-improvement, to learn history, or see photography of nature? There are books to fill the void. Fiction? People have other needs,,some not so straightforward. But if one has a need to get lost in a good story or to experience a fantasy or to explore worlds not yet in existence, fiction can fill the bill. So it’s obvious that people buy books they need, even if the need is to fill a desire. But the question remains: Do they need yours? How do you know if your book is needed? If it’s non-fiction, ask: · How many other books cover your topic? · Is your book better, just as good as, or worse than them? · Does my book fill a niche – such as being the only book to contain certain information on the topic you wrote on? · Does your book fill a need at a certain price point? · Is your book written from a perspective/experience that has not yet been shared? · Do you raise a viewpoint/opinion that is underserved? Lastly, is the total number of potential buyers for your book a decent size? Will they buy a book on this topic? Is it hard to market to your target readership? Are there free online resources that people will choose to use instead of buy your book? For fiction, people are always looking to escape and discover a well-written book. Determine if the theme or subject matter has been covered to death or if you offer something unique. Who are the leading authors of your genre? Is the voice you present or the style that you use that much better off or different from what they do? Maybe you created your own genre or style or subject matter, not an easy feat. The burden to come up with something new, different or better than the millions of books already published is daunting. With every new book, the competition increases and readers are overwhelmed with more choices than they can handle. But if you can show them it’s a book they need, you’ll get the sale. While I was at sea onboard the USS Makin Island (an amphibious assault vessel) with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit sailing from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Camp Pendleton, Calif., my devoted and very supportive wife undertook the daunting project of cleaning up my office/studio, repainting and reorganizing it. What a home coming!!
Posted: 11 Mar 2015 06:54 AM PDT
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at [email protected]. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015 We celebrate books in so many ways, some significant and some small. Here are 33 ways we can honor books in our lives: 1. Read to a child and teach him or her the pleasure of reading. 2. Do something special on the honorary days/weeks/months dedicated to books, free speech and literacy. 3. Talk to friends and family about authors, who had an anniversary pass – birth date, death or publication of a treasured book. 4. Attend a local book festival or book fair. 5. Donate books to schools, libraries, and the underprivileged. 6. Participate in a read-a-thon to encourage reading. 7. Attend an author reading at a bookstore. 8. Visit library events that feature books. 9. When on vacation, take in a literary moment by visiting a cultural center that highlights books or an author home (like Hemingway House). 10. Join a book club. 11. Tune in to an author webinar. 12. Pay tribute to books through song and dance. 13. Purchase a book at an independent bookstore. 14. Give books as gifts. 15. Write about a book on your blog or post a review on Amazon and elsewhere. 16. Volunteer your time to help battle illiteracy. 17. Support funding for schools, libraries, and organizations dedicated to books. 18. Draw or paint something depicting a positive image of books. 19. Write a poem about your love of books. 20. Create a puppet show or play about an author or a book. 21. Post a video about the impact books have had on your life. 22. Encourage the company you work for to invite authors to speak and to purchase books for employees. 23. Encourage your clergy to hold a sermon on books. 24. Collect stamps or coins that depict authors. 25. Write political leaders and encourage them to pass pro-book, free speech, and literacy legislation. 26. Display books proudly and prominently in your house and on your person. 27. Read up on the book publishing industry and stand up to fight censorship, battle illiteracy and to support the rights of authors. 28. Speak out, candidly and forcefully, to others when it comes to letting others know you are passionate about books. 29. Treat books with respect and care – and encourage others to do so. 30. Put the values, ideas, and principles that you learn from reading books into action. Live out what you read in a way that contributes positively to society. 31. Don’t vote for politicians that don’t support the cultural arts. 32. Write your own book, but do so responsibly. Make sure it is well-written, edited properly, and contributors to the existing literature of today. 33. Read book reviews and subscribe to Publishers Weekly, New York Times, Library Journal and other publications dedicated to supporting the written word. Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:54 AM PST
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at [email protected]. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015 There are two dominant types of advertisements for cars. One tries to sell you on a brand or specific car model. The other showcases prices at car dealers. Could either approach work to sell your book? Authors should never lead with price as the reason to buy their book. Even at free, no one wants to waste their time on a book they believe won’t deliver whatever it is they are looking for. When it comes to cars, ironically, the price is emphasized when, in fact, the price is relatively high. Car ads usually won’t highlight the total sticker price of a car. Instead, it’ll emphasize a low monthly payment, bury the upfront and extra fee numbers, and hope you are seduced by what is in big print. If you sell on price, instead of saying your book is $14.95, say it’s 99c per chapter or 1c for every 30 words. The brand ads for cars are closer to what you’d want to model, except these ads often don’t emphasize substance such as mpg, safety ratings, and the things we should judge a car by. Instead they market an image that appeals to our personality or senses. Don’t you want the car driven by the successful businessman or the one with a beautiful woman draped over it? Commercials emphasize speed, and yet, what roads and traffic conditions – and laws – really allow you to race like a daredevil? Should your advertisement market to consumers with facts and reasoning about your book, or should it sell the ideal, the fantasy, the psychological thrill? Book advertisements may not really have a model outside their industry, but they could learn from the ads of other industries, including film, theater, and sports. Book ads haven’t changed a lot over the years. They still quote testimonials of famous people, pull from reviews and highlight the author’s name if a known entity. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if those ads sold you on the anticipated benefits of reading such a book, whether a novel or non-fiction? Here’s an example of an ad that falls short. A two-page spread in the Feb. 22 NY Times Book Review for A Spool of Blue Threadnever gives a single line as to what the book is about. Knopf spent all of this money to say Anne Tyler has a new book out. But there’s the problem. If you are a fan, you don’t need the ad to remind you. And even a fan wants to know what the book is about. For the vast majority of people who never read her books or even heard of her, they won’t buy a book solely because she got nice blurbs. I think 85% of the ad is great but by not using some real estate to scrawl a few descriptive sentences is a colossal failure. But, to be fair, other publishers take the same approach, hoping you’ll judge a book by its cover – or title or blurbs. The following ads lacked any descriptive copy: The Future of the Mind, Mightier than the Sword, The Room, Redeployment – and that was just to page seven in that same NYT Book Review section. Sometimes the hope is that the merit of who gave the blurb will win you over – or that the blurb will actually explain what the book is about. Books can’t be sold like cars or dresses. Books represent experiences, ideas, emotions and dreams. The ad copy should tap into the core of the human essence. We may be a visual society or one that attaches itself to brand names, but you need to give me more than the Huffington Post saying the book is a “wonderful read” or The Seattle Times saying it “couldn’t put this book down.” Tell me what the book is about! Ads should be like a back cover of a trade paperback – tell me who wrote the book, toss in some blurbs, and give me a bulleted description of the book. Anything less is useless. What does it say about the intellectual process of reading if our reading decisions are made based on skimpy ads that are so far removed substantively from the craft it seeks to promote? Vicky Nelson, Director of Development, for the Kootenai Humane Society (a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter) is happy to accept my check from the royalties I recently received from sales of the new audiobook version of THE PITS.
I look forward to making many more donations to such a worthy cause with the support of you—my readers. Please help me help these needy animals by spreading the word that a major percentage of proceeds from sales of my book series goes immediately to this local shelter. |
Greg Smith -AuthorI have 30+ years as a graphic designer under my belt. During that time I've worked on countless books; designing covers, layout, etc. Now I've decided to "go behind the camera." Now I'm trying my hand at writing. Archives
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