Tag Archives: writers in the sky

The Number One Place to Promote Books

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Writers and published authors need to take advantage of the number one method of book selling-the Internet. The Internet is the greatest selling and marketing tool available to an author. There are many opportunities and different ways to do achieve this. Here are a few online marketing tips for new authors.

One the simplest, most cost-effective ways to reach a broad online audience with your product and urge the reader into action is social networking. I’m referring to sites and online places where people share friendship and information. I love Goodreads and I get a lot of response whenever I post an event on that site. I am signed up not only as a reader, but as an author, which gives me a profile and the ability to promote my products. Other sites such as Ning, and Plaxo are also places you can let others know about you book, blog tour, or other marketing events.

The basic techniques for marketing fiction are the same as those of marketing nonfiction, so the methods work well in either case. However, a new author needs to know her target readership. A romance book will typically draw a different type of audience than a how-to book on gardening or fishing. So, when establishing a following on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, Ning, Yahoo groups, and other sites, search for people by reading their profiles. Look for keywords that describe or relate to the topic of your book. Look for people who read the types of books you write.

The biggest mistake authors make when attempting to market their books is going out unprepared or without having a marketing plan or the information necessary to successfully create the buzz. Many authors do not even have a Web site or blog with a point of purchase that gives the reader enough information about the book to actually make an informed purchase. An author needs to know what components are necessary to have on a site in order to compete in today’s online marketplace. This is where a marketing plan comes in handy. It takes time and consistent effort to build your following and get people interested in your book before they will take action. It’s been said that someone must see or hear about a product seven times before they will buy it. Book marketing success may not happen overnight, but you will begin to see steady progress if you stay at it. It will take you about six months to complete everything in the eBook because some of it has to be set up such as Web sites, blog tours, and social networks.

Yvonne Perry

After spending several years in a corporate setting, Yvonne Perry decided to make a brave move and start her own freelance writing company. Leaving her full-time position as an administrative assistant in the sales and marketing division of a Fortune 500 company, she started her new career in 2003 with very little business experience. Today, she is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services where she serves as a freelance ghostwriter and editor for individuals and businesses.

By aligning herself and her company with other writers and experts in the field, Perry has networked her company to the top as a premier ghostwriter and editor in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team stay busy on client projects such as writing media releases, ghostwriting and editing books, article writing, creating ad copy, and producing business documents. The team provides writing and editing services to individuals while offering a logical way for large corporations to outsource their writing needs. Thanks to the Internet, the company’s reputation has reached international status. With her wide variety of writing experience that includes impressive résumés, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases and articles, as well as case studies, proposals and marketing pieces, Yvonne is ready to work with you on your next project.

For more on Yvonne Perry and a list of her books, please visit Writers in the Sky.

Tips For Writing a Media Release

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As a freelance writer or business owner, you know how important marketing and promoting your business is. Well-written marketing materials are a vital part of your effort to help publicize, advertise, or promote a person, place, or thing. Also known as copywriting, its purpose is to motivate, entice, or persuade someone to take action. Examples of marketing pieces are ads, advertorials, catalog excerpts and item descriptions, biographical sketches, and may even include blogging, Web site text, and media releases.

Because marketing through news outlets plays such a huge role in the successful promotion of any business, I will start by giving some tips on how to write a press or media release. The term “press” release is a little dated because it has to do with the printing press. Many news releases these days are syndicated online, so a more up-to-date term is “media” release since it encompasses both print and online sources. Your media release needs to be news worthy, disseminate information, and give a call to take action (such as “call now” or “visit [URL] for more information”). Ideally, the release should be less than 750 words in the average media release. When possible, tie the release into something already happening in the news. Look for a way to tag onto a political event, action of a celebrity, death of a famous person, etc.

When to Write a Media Release

Any time you have news about your company or an employee, someone gets a promotion, achieves an accomplishment, has a new product to offer, your book wins an award, or whenever you have something to celebrate is a good time to write a media release. There are several things that should be present in a good media release.

· Title

· Subtitle

· Opening or first paragraph

·Body text

·About section

·Closing paragraph

·End of document signal

·Contact info

The Title of your release is very important. It needs to be a concise statement of what the release is about. Think of it as a teaser to get the reader to move to the subtitle to find out more. You also want to use keywords to attract search engines and journalists looking for a story or an expert to interview.

A very common error in many of the books I edit or proofread occurs in the title, headers, and subheaders. The Chicago Manual of Style states:

In regular title capitalization, also known as headline style, the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that, etc.) are capitalized. Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor), and prepositions, regardless of length, are lowercase unless they are the first or last word of the title.

The Subtitle should tell a little more than the title and lead into the first paragraph. It’s a summary that takes the reader one more step into the piece. The subtitle should also use heading or title case.

The First Paragraph of your media release should get right to the point and clearly answer the Five Ws of Writing a Media Release:

1. Who is the story about?

2. What is the story about?

3. When did or will it occur?

4. Where did or will it occur?

5. Why did or will it happen?

The title, subtitle, and opening paragraph are the three most important components so make sure these are as strong and as enticing as you can make them. You want the reader to keep reading!

The Body Text gives more information and fills in the details of the Five W’s to convey the entire story.

The About Section tells more about the company or person mentioned in the release. It is a short bio of about two to three sentences.

The Closing Paragraph may give a call to take action in the final paragraph (such as “call xxx or go to xxx for more info”).

By typing and centering ### after your closing paragraph, you have indicated that the release has ended. The media expect to find your contact information following this signal.

Add your Contact Information so the media can reach you. Include your name, phone number, Web site URL, and email address. A postal address is optional.

Yvonne PerryAfter spending several years in a corporate setting, Yvonne Perry decided to make a brave move and start her own freelance writing company. Leaving her full-time position as an administrative assistant in the sales and marketing division of a Fortune 500 company, she started her new career in 2003 with very little business experience. Today, she is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services where she serves as a freelance ghostwriter and editor for individuals and businesses.

By aligning herself and her company with other writers and experts in the field, Perry has networked her company to the top as a premier ghostwriter and editor in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team stay busy on client projects such as writing media releases, ghostwriting and editing books, article writing, creating ad copy, and producing business documents. The team provides writing and editing services to individuals while offering a logical way for large corporations to outsource their writing needs. Thanks to the Internet, the company’s reputation has reached international status. With her wide variety of writing experience that includes impressive résumés, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases and articles, as well as case studies, proposals and marketing pieces, Yvonne is ready to work with you on your next project.

For more on Yvonne Perry and a list of her books, please visit Writers in the Sky.

Book Writing – Page Count and Chapter Length

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Regardless of genre, there is no hard and fast rule about how many pages or words each chapter should contain or how many chapters should be in a book. However, there are some general guidelines in this article that may help you determine the page count and chapter length needed for your book.

Pages in a Chapter:

Many people read in spurts, at lunch time, or on the subway to work, readers enjoy chapters that can be finished in ten to fifteen minutes.

I try to set my chapter lengths by how long it takes me to read the material. If it goes past fifteen minutes, I may decide to divide a chapter in half and make two chapters out of it. Take into consideration that I write mostly non-fiction.

As you probably know, there’s a difference in the way fiction and non-fiction are handled. In a fiction book, writers use shorter chapters. Some are only one page if that is all it takes to catch the reader up on the action of other characters in other scenes. When writing non-fiction, your chapter content needs to be specific to your chapter’s heading or title.

Twenty pages per chapter is a good rule of thumb, but the most important thing is to include everything that relates to a particular topic in one chapter. For example, if your book is about fishing, you want to include the bulk of your information about fly casting in one chapter. All your info about bait and lure would be in another chapter.

Chapters/Pages in a Book:

These guidelines should give you a general idea of how to determine the length of your chapters and your book.

If your book is titled ”The Accuracy of the US Census” you may have 52 chapters (one on each state). If your book is titled “Ten Tips for Marketing” you may have only ten chapters. There’s no rule about how many chapters a book can or must have.

In order to be considered a book rather than a pamphlet or booklet, a book needs to be at least 10,000 words. If your book has more than 475 pages, you might want to consider producing it in two volumes.

Because you will submit your manuscript as an 8.5″ x 11″ word-processing document, you cannot be certain of its final length until after your publisher formats it for print. I have found that 250-300 words will approximate one page of 12-point font text in a standard size (5.5″x8″ or 6″x9″) perfect-bound book.

After spending several years in a corporate setting, Yvonne Perry decided to make a brave move and start her own freelance writing company. Leaving her full-time position as an administrative assistant in the sales and marketing division of a Fortune 500 company, she started her new career in 2003 with very little business experience. Today, she is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services where she serves as a freelance ghostwriter and editor for individuals and businesses.

By aligning herself and her company with other writers and experts in the field, Perry has networked her company to the top as a premier ghostwriter and editor in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team stay busy on client projects such as writing media releases, ghostwriting and editing books, article writing, creating ad copy, and producing business documents. The team provides writing and editing services to individuals while offering a logical way for large corporations to outsource their writing needs. Thanks to the Internet, the company’s reputation has reached international status. With her wide variety of writing experience that includes impressive résumés, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases and articles, as well as case studies, proposals and marketing pieces, Yvonne is ready to work with you on your next project.

For more on Yvonne Perry and a list of her books, please visit Writers in the Sky.

Going Beyond Online Recognition to Selling Your Book

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Suppose you have a Web presence, but people aren’t buying your book. There could be several reasons why people aren’t buying, but the first place to look for the problem is at your own Web site where you sell your book. Having a well-functioning Web site as a point of purchase is a must. 

I work with authors to help them promote their books online. One author who came to me for marketing assistance asked me to visit his site. What I found surprised me. It was so disorganized that I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know what to look at first. There were Google ads, video clips, and all kinds of things not related to the author’s book, but there was not even a “buy now” button or a click here to purchase link! As simple as it may sound, some authors do not know how to create a site where the book can sell itself. That is why an entire chapter in my eBook Book Promotion in the Digital Age, Online Promotion Made Easy, is devoted to how to set up a site to market a book.
 
Let’s look at some of those things.

1. Don’t throw everything on the front page. The landing page should have a welcoming message and a lot of “white” space where there is no text or graphics. Include a cover photo of your book so people know they are in the right place to learn more. Perhaps set up links that invite your visitor to different pages on your site.

2. Make a separate page for each thing you have to offer. For example, your book may have a companion CD, DVD, teaching guide, testimonials, reviews, or other things related to your book, but each page of your Web site should deal with only one aspect of what you have to offer.
 
3. Be specific about what that page offers. Tell how this particular product, book, or aspect helps the user, and give a link or buy now button so a visitor may purchase it.
 
4. Cross promote all your pages to drive traffic further into your site. Not all your pages have to be listed in your navigation tabs. Some may be back pages that are reached by clicking on links. Let each page cross promote other products or services without distracting from the primary purpose of that page containing the link.
 
5. Promote your Web site online. Once you have your Web pages ready for visitors, start building your network and inviting people to come to your Web site and take a look around. Make sure your off-site marketing includes links that go directly to the page where the reader may find more about that particular topic or product. Don’t make your visitor search for what they are trying to find. Make it easy for someone to buy your book.
 
Give people a reason to buy. Tell what’s in it for them, how it benefits them, or makes their life better/easier. Extend an invitation to take action, and provide an easy way to buy your book.

After spending several years in a corporate setting, Yvonne Perry decided to make a brave move and start her own freelance writing company. Leaving her full-time position as an administrative assistant in the sales and marketing division of a Fortune 500 company, she started her new career in 2003 with very little business experience. Today, she is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services where she serves as a freelance ghostwriter and editor for individuals and businesses.

By aligning herself and her company with other writers and experts in the field, Perry has networked her company to the top as a premier ghostwriter and editor in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team stay busy on client projects such as writing media releases, ghostwriting and editing books, article writing, creating ad copy, and producing business documents. The team provides writing and editing services to individuals while offering a logical way for large corporations to outsource their writing needs. Thanks to the Internet, the company’s reputation has reached international status. With her wide variety of writing experience that includes impressive résumés, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases and articles, as well as case studies, proposals and marketing pieces, Yvonne is ready to work with you on your next project.

For more on Yvonne Perry and a list of her books, please visit Writers in the Sky.

Authors Must Learn to Sell What They Write

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I came across this article written by Yvonne Perry and she gave me permission to repost it here.

Many a writer aspires to be a published author-by any method whether self-publishing or being accepted by one of the “big six publishing houses,” such as Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, Random House, or Simon & Schuster, or one of their imprints (subsidiaries). What most new authors don’t realize is that once a book is published, it requires a lot of time, effort, and money to market it. The book, like any other product other than toilet paper, won’t sell itself; it has to be presented to its target market over and over.

Promoting a book can become a lot like owning a business. I learned this the hard way when I published my first book in 2005. I knew little about book marketing at the time, so the book didn’t start selling until two years later when I published my second book. That’s when I paid a publicist about $3,000 to do my book marketing for me.

The mistake many newbie authors make is becoming too attached to their book and not allowing others to critique it or suggest changes for improvement. Another error is not having a professional editor help them develop the book or at least provide a copy edit. Most authors assume this service is too expensive and will skip this very important step in bringing a book to the market. I’ve heard things like: “I had my friends proofread my book and they didn’t find any errors,” or “My cousin is a high school teacher and she said it is a great book.” That’s like going to the dentist to buy lip gloss! Even an English teacher cannot provide the same level of editorial assistance that a book editor can. Because an editor knows the book industry and the reader market, he or she can offer consultation about publishing methods and important tips about what makes a book appealing to readers. That’s in addition to having extensive knowledge about various style guides, acceptable word usage, character development, transitions, making dialogue work, formatting, and being able to assist with publisher query letters and book proposals.

A book is a product and must be sellable. It’s not just about packaging. A poorly-written book,with a so-so cover, or an ambiguous title/subtitle that lacks keywords is not as marketable as a page-turner that jumps off the shelf and causes the reader to say, “This is just what I’m looking for.” That reader becomes a fan and automatically starts helping you promote your book via word of mouth. If I don’t enjoy a book, I won’t write a review (at least not a positive one) or recommend the book to others.

I had a “first” last week when an author I am working with told me he wasn’t sure he was ready to be an author because of the time he would need to spend marketing his book. Usually, new authors have no idea of the amount of time and energy involved in successful authorship. I recommend authors do as many of the following things as possible:

• Create a marketing plan
• Maintain a blog specifically for the book
• Get domain names and build a Web site for the book
• Query to obtain radio and TV interviews
• Be available to record radio and TV interviews
• Create promotional videos and post them to YouTube and other social sites
• Conduct a book tour (in-person or online)
• Participate in the launch of other authors’ books
• Do an Amazon launch campaign
• Write and send media releases
• Write and post articles to online article directories
• Write and send articles to print magazines
• Participate in online forums pertaining to the topic of your book
• Social marketing such as Facebook or Twitter
• Comment on and link to other peoples’ blogs

In an age of social marketing, authors are able to befriend and interact with their readers. This allows an author to build the buzz while still writing a book. Many authors spend as much time writing and marketing their books as they do marketing them.

After spending several years in a corporate setting, Yvonne Perry decided to make a brave move and start her own freelance writing company. Leaving her full-time position as an administrative assistant in the sales and marketing division of a Fortune 500 company, she started her new career in 2003 with very little business experience. Today, she is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services where she serves as a freelance ghostwriter and editor for individuals and businesses.

By aligning herself and her company with other writers and experts in the field, Perry has networked her company to the top as a premier ghostwriter and editor in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team stay busy on client projects such as writing media releases, ghostwriting and editing books, article writing, creating ad copy, and producing business documents. The team provides writing and editing services to individuals while offering a logical way for large corporations to outsource their writing needs. Thanks to the Internet, the company’s reputation has reached international status. With her wide variety of writing experience that includes impressive résumés, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases and articles, as well as case studies, proposals and marketing pieces, Yvonne is ready to work with you on your next project.

For more on Yvonne Perry and a list of her books, please visit Writers in the Sky.