Use Independently Published Media to Promote Your Writing Career!

 

 

 

 

The Incredible Power of “Hidden Gems”

 

Ode to Small Magazines and Author-Published Promotions

and
A Free Model to Use for Your Own Independently Publishing
Marketing Purtsch

 

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, multi award-winning novelist, poet, and author

of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

 

Many of my readers have heard me talk about saving marketing time and budget dollars by using marketing campaigns aimed at related media to build networking opportunities and to query for reviews among a battery of other exposure opportunities that will nudge our book sales in other (preferred!) ways than saying “Buy my book.”

 

You even might have heard me tout “the free advertising/promotion opportunitities  made of real paper and get delivered directly to our mailboxes” as a good place for new writers on a strict budget to start that kind of campaign. You know, the kind of promotional material we have produced ourselves. The kind we can put in the hands of our readers free at our events and trade shows. 

 

Well, one such publishing effort with a twist just landed in my e-mail box in a media release. I finagled a free print copy to review so I could determine if it qualified for my top ten recommendations for a frugal but truly professional promotion. It gave me a few more ideas for using our own publishing skills to increase our exposure for whatever niche of the publishing industry our book, writing career, or even small business occupies including those of publishers, editors, writers of fiction or nonfiction in any genre, and even as projects for writers and other professional groups.

 

Don’t you dare go away. I’ll use bullets so you can see how you can use it as a model for your own project and tell you how to get a freebie so you can give yourself a break from chasing the brightest media stars that give you few results, anyway. And this one is literary so you’ll find darn good reading here which is likely to introduce you to part of our good old USA you know little or nothing about. 

 

UP Reader is named after a writer’s organization called UPPAA (Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association) in upper Michigan that happens to be a substantial literary journal like the ones so many authors submit their work to, often with few if any results. The issue I have is a concept that’s designed to: 

 

1. celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of the sponsoring writers’ group; in this case it’s the 10^th anniversary of the journal.

2. bring “Upper Michigan Literature to the World” with a “special edition honoring the Spirit of Mackinac Island.”

3.to expose more than seventy of their writers’ works to a wider audience including the extraordinary contributor/members. 

 

An anthology, UP READERS is published by Modern History Press and available as a paperback, hardcover, e-book, and audiobook. It takes only a first glance at the cover to see how to put this idea to work for your personal needs or for a literary/writing centered group you belong to.

 

Here are some of what this project achieves, but you might think of others. Each of their ten issued is different:

~It features the top 3 winning submissions to UPPAA’s Dandelion Short Story Contest that recognizes young writers from Upper Michigan area of the United States in grades 6 to 8 (Junior division) and 9 to 12 (Senior division).

~Royalties from the UP Reader supports UPPAA’s operating costs, and educational efforts like the UP Notable Books Club and Young Writers Storytelling Workshop that aim to showcase northern Michigan life from the Keweenaw to the Soo and from Menominee to Ironwood, but it could be adapted to support your career efforts no matter what they might be.

~Though it offers works and the voices of authors of this far-flung area, it is also mindful of the broad tastes for readers from speculative to historic fiction and poetry to nonfiction, thus making it great reading for naturally curious readers everywhere.

~It uses backmatter effectively including a “history” of the nine previous editions/issues of the Readers’ covers using glorious CineYooper Color. (What will you name you’re the color you use for the cover—inside, out, or both? 

~All ten can be ordered at upreader.org/comprehensive-index.

~Interested Reviewers are invited to spread the word about this anthology and the sponsoring group with its inclusive platform and open membership requirements. To receive a free paperback ARC of this newest edition contact Victor Volkman president@uppaa.org. If you haven’t time for a review, Victor also says, “…I would be happy to send a freebie of the e-book version of UP Reader Volume 1" to serve anyone anywhere!” 

§  Learn more about UPPAA and membership www.UPPAA.org. And experience a zoom keynote I did for this generous group on YouTube on great ways to avoid Imposter Syndrome and other debilitating fears like fear of marketing. (I first learned of Imposter Syndrome in Psychology Today when I was preparing a keynote sharing ways writers can avoid that condition as well as writers’ block and just plain moments of depression familiar to many who work with only a computer as a companion.) It’s one of those slick trade magazines with targeted distribution we authors love to query with our ideas for free ink mentioned in this article above!)

 

You will be adding UPR to my list "Top Ten Hidden Gems,” periodicals and others that are more accessible than the more competitive supermedia. If we never pitch our books for reviews or feature stories about ourselves as an author or some other related topic to more accessible publications, we might never get the recognition we need to succeed in our pursuits of those brighter stars and, sadly, never experience the opportunities they offer in the meantime. When we build our lists with readers and media in new regions (and among new demographics), we expand on the possibilities for own work. Sometimes we need to reread our own books in search for possible new audiences. Here are some already on my list to consider when the free copies get delivered to your USPS PO box just because you do business with them:

§  Westways, distributed free only to AAA members, lands in the mailboxes of over five million readers, far exceeding some of the more avidly pursued journals and trade magazines.

§  Sierra Club and a variety of other charities distribute beautifully designed publications you will be proud to appear in.

§  AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) sends genuinely helpful periodicals to their members in huge quantities and yes, many are made of real paper, exude bragging rights, and provide moments that inspire. You could be one of their stars.

§  The periodicals that come to us from our alma maters work the same way. (And yearbooks across the nation cater to avid local readers; you might be impressed—and surprised!—with the literature assigned to their senior-year English classes!)

§  Don’t forget to offer your talents to the free newspapers (known as throwaways!) you find stacked in racks in front of bookstores, drugstores, and our favorite restaurants.

§  The organizations that you have touched as a writer probably have online newsletters, often chock full of writing tips and writing news and might be open to featuring you and your suitable idea for a regular column or occasional article.

§  Generally we writers are curious travelers and our experiences can often relate in some way to our last book…or our next.

§  Don’t neglect possible Opinion pieces (my Los Angeles Times calls them “Voices) on the Op-Ed page. These pieces always include a byline and usually a credit line with the title of your book linked to your website.

 

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S “WritersontheMove” CONTRIBUTOR

 

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a multi award-winning author of fiction and poetry but is best known for her how-to-books for writers. Find all of that series in one place on Amazon, but it’s her poetry that addresses the ills of cultures across the world. Imperfect Echoes is her Writers’ Digest honored book, self-published in the tradition of poets since the advent of the Gutenberg press, it defies #bookbigoty as well other biases we are experiencing after a period—decades—of progress on that front. Find a laudatory review by Jim Cox, editor-in-chief of The Midwest Book Review, and its Amazon buy page at  https://tinyurl.com/ImperfectEchoes.

Remedies for Disappointing Marketing Efforts

A Consideration for Do-It-Yourself Book Promoters

 

 

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, multi award-winning novelist, poet, and author
of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

Every author wants their marketing efforts to be super successful.

And most of us spend an inordinate amount of time chasing big coverage in big media. That’s our dream. Trouble is, it is often a failure.

So, as a book marketing consultant, I tell my clients a little story from my early consulting days. I met June at a writers’ conference about two years after she had hit the big time with a featured four page spread in a slick, trade magazine including being its cover girl. There she was posing apparently nude but with a bathtub full of bubbles protecting her reputation—bubbles, her book, and her iPhone and were her only props. It was tastefully done. It was the perfect theme for the news cycle of the day about the advantages for working from home—and being a happily independent self-publisher. She had been the envy of many authors. Two years after that magazine was issued to tens of thousands business people across the US, she still had entire box-fulls of some 2,000 copies of the title she had published hanging around her garage. She had been absolutely sure they would sell quickly after this marketing triumph. She was for sure one disillusioned cover girl.

I gave her a 50% discount on her consultation and found myself coaching her at no charge for a year as she slid into an “I’ll-never-write-again funk.” She made a mistake familiar to authors. She reached for the stars. She did so when it seemed logical and right. She had learned to write a knock-out query letter and knew the standards for submission. She even did post promotion touting her success at events designed to help other authors. Her story was a trove of wisdom for those who long for independence.

BUT SHE ALSO VIOLATED A BASIC MARKETING RULE. GREAT MARKETING IS RARELY A MIRACULOUS COUP. MARKETING THAT INCREASES BOOKS SALES AND BUILDS CAREERS IS PROPELLED BY ENTIRE CAMPAIGNS AND REPETITION. CAMPAIGNS GROW REACH LARGE NUMBERS OF READERS  AND REPETITION REMINDS READERS TO ACT ON WHAT THEY’VE SEEN.

Here’s the saddest part.  She could have done much better with less expenditure of time and more successes that would have could have fed that repetition machine. Here the kind of media that might that might have helped her reach her sales goal as well inspire her with more positive marketing experiences--enough to keep her going for another book and then another.

Let local media keep your campaign going as your success stories proliferate including awards, local events built around holidays, local politics--whatever you can associate with different aspects of your book. 

§  Don’t neglect free media.

§  Don’t forget media from your alma maters—from newsletters to their quarterlies to their e-magazines, high school, community colleges where you took night classes...and above. 

§  Don’t ignore querying for reviews, or exclude the less prestigious ones.

§  Don’t underestimate yucky commercial stuff you find in your mailbox. Read them. Get creative. One or more could be a goose that lays the golden egg.

§  Don’t disregard throwaway newspapers found in a rack outside CVS, printed on paper that isn’t slick, edited by professionals who need tons of content to fill many pages on a weekly basis.

§  Actively seek marketing opportunities other than media. Most are great for building the kind of readers who become supporters. Have them sign a guest book complete with e-mail addresses. Then ask them to tell others. Find them at places like these:

~Seminars and readings at retailers that match your reading audience—boutiques, bars, coffee shops, yogurt shops, anyone located along the main street of your home town. Events using your personal mail list can increase their much-needed profits by 10% a day. Get them to agree to stock your book while you continue to make others aware of where to buy them, even in your e-mail signature. Have you heard of point-of-purchase sales? All they have to do is perch you book near their cash register with a little stack of your business cards and when someone looks, touches, or comments, keep the conversation going.

~ Local and not so local fairs and trade shows. 

~ Let your library’s event director know about your release. They need panelists. Volunteer for to do or help with their book displays and window arrangements. 

~ Pitch newsletters or weeklies for seniors and medical communities.

~ Don’t underestimate the reach of online entities like blog tours, articles for newsletters. You can produce your own to encourage loyal fans and readers, but a very wise Dan Poynter once told me that we reach a greater number and variety of readers—and save lots of time—when we offer content for others’ websites and blogs in exchange for nothing more than a glorious byline and bio.

~ If you are enamored with being on a big morning talk show (a danger sign by the way!), explore the local cable channel that runs your city’s meetings and determine what theme, topic, or genre of your book or your own backstory would interest their audience.

All of the editors, readers, and business leaders you meet are your future supporters. Keep accurate contact and mail lists. Using them frequently is as important as knowing how to write s smashing query letter or media release. 

Somewhere lying fallow in a musty library there is sure to be an old marketing tome—perhaps once a textbook—that would tell you about the “rule of seven.” People must be exposed to a message at least seven times before they act on it. 

If you still aren’t convinced, here’s how to combine the possibilities. Don’t think Time, Vogue, or CBS (unless it’s local CBS in a small town or region). Think obscure. Think big charities and organizations. Jim Banning, Editor-in-Chief of AAA’s Westways says the term hidden gem is a one of the most “cringe-worthy” clichés he comes across in descriptions of his free periodical. And he has first-hand experience of its value. The editors of AARP’s (American Association of Retired Persons) and the Sierra Club’s magazine editor would agree with him. They send out hundreds of thousands of magazines to their members/clients. The beauty is they’re slick, professional and did I say have a rather large distribution list? Their readers are not monolithic. If accepted an article you wrote (and pitched) would carry a credit line with its title and website address. You might also suppose they don’t hear from new authors with a great story to pitch nearly as often as The New Yorker or Playboy that might not be as impressed by your name or the title of your book—yet.

An appearance in one of these  niche periodicals expands the fairy dust around us that builds careers. But mostly their positive and frequent acceptance keeps us writing (and reinvigorated) on even our bluest days.

 

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S “WRITERS on the MOVE” CONTRIBUTOR

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a multi award-winning author of fiction and poetry but is best known for her how-to-books for writers. Find all of that series in one place on Amazon, but it’s her poetry that addresses the ills of cultures across the world. Imperfect Echoes is her Writers’ Digest honored book. Self-published in the tradition of poets since the advent of the Gutenberg press, it defies #bookbigoty as well other biases we are experiencing after a period—decades—of progress on that front. Find a review by Jim Cox, editor-in-chief of The Midwest Book Review, and its Amazon buy page at Https://tinyurl.com/ImperfectEchoes.