Writers On The Move: Terry Whalin

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Avoid Publishing Pitfalls

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

It’s rare that I see this perspective but, in this article, I want to give you a reality check. From my decades in this business, I understand book publishing is filled with possible pitfalls and errors.

I witnessed another one recently. One of my bestselling author friends was about to release a new book. This new book was from a major well-known publisher. The book was designed well and edited and included endorsements and practical information. I’ve supported this author in the past, so I was on the list of people who got a pre-release copy of the book. This pre-release included a personal handwritten note from the author and information about the date of the book release.

It was a push for my schedule, but I managed to quickly write a review and be ready to post it on the launch date. Then I noticed the page on Amazon. It was not the typical pre-release page. Instead the book had already been released a couple of days before the launch date. The book had zero Amazon reviews on the page. How did this happen? Someone at the publishing house set up the wrong Amazon date for releasing the book (my guess).

This author has a launch team and other elements in place to promote her book. I was not surprised to learn this team was in place since she is an experienced author and knows the elements of launching a new book. It is important to have a launch team because there are over 4,500 new books being released every day. Other places say 11,000 new books every day. Whichever number you want to use, it’s a large amount of new books entering the marketplace. I regularly hear that most publishers are selling about 50% of their books through Amazon, that leaves another 50% for brick and mortar, other online retailers, and other places. Still 50% is a large number at Amazon for the book sales.

I’m writing these details about this cautionary tale which contains a number of lessons:

1. Details matter. The release date of your book should match up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other places. As an author, you can check some of these details but depending on how you publish, they are usually handled internally inside the publishing house.

2. With the launch of a book, things can go wrong. When this happens to you, acknowledge it and keep moving forward.

3. Nothing is fatal in this process—unless you quit. Even when something goes wrong or doesn’t happen, you can still recover from it and sell books. The only way for you to be stopped is when you give up and quit. Almost anything can be overcome with action.

4. Marketing is an ongoing process for every book. Recently one of my books got a new review. I was interested in reading it. When I looked, it was a one-star review with hardly any information. If you only have five star reviews for your book and then someone gives you a one-star review, it validates all the other reviews for the book. In other words, there is nothing to do about the negative review but keep moving forward. In fact, if you get enough five star reviews, the one-star review will have little or no impact. I encourage you to do the same.

I hope this story helps and encourages you with your own marketing efforts for your book. It is not easy for anyone, even people with a lot of experience in this area. The key is to keep going and keep moving forward no matter what happens.

From the stories that I hear I understand authors are trying to find the magic bullet or the perfect place to tell people about their book. The reality is success and book sales are not based on a single event or single television appearance. Instead, success comes from continual and steady efforts from the author to promote their book. Your publisher may be able to get the books into the brick and mortar bookstores. It is the author who drives people into the bookstores to sell those books and move them into reader’s hands and not be returned to the publisher.

As the great hockey player Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Opportunity is around us and you need to keep seizing it and going forward even with the pitfalls. The authors who continue are still writing and still touching lives. I want you to be among this distinct group.

Your publishing pitfalls will be different from mine or those possibilities that I detailed in this article. When they happen (and they will happen), it’s critical to not give up and keep going.

Tweetable:

According to this prolific author and editor, publishing has many pitfalls. This article gives a cautionary tale and a series of actions for every author. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. Get Terry’s newsletter and a 87-page FREE ebook packed with writing insights. Just follow this link to subscribe. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Hidden Costs of Publishing

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

Because we have computers and can produce stories, everyone assumes writing is easy. From my experience, any skill (including writing) takes hours of practice to become excellent. For example, one of the most successful basketball players of all time is Kobe Bryant, the winner of five NBA championships and two Olympic Gold Medals. He accomplished this success through deliberate practice with a purpose. Bryant was on the 2012 Team USA. One of the trainers, Robert, talks about his first experience with Bryant, who started his conditioning work at 4:30 am. He shot baskets for several hours, then did conditioning work for the next hour, then made 800 jump shots between 7 am and 11 am. Bryant was a skilled professional yet took nothing for granted in his practice and work outs. His work showed because Bryant knew how to grind then grind some more. This type of effort in sports is generally lost in the writing world. There are hours of work and effort behind the scenes that no one sees but is necessary to achieve success.

There are many things in the world of publishing which simply add to the cost and effort to happen but are never documented or talked about. In many ways, these elements become some of the hidden cost of publishing. In some ways publishing is like an iceberg. We can see the top on the water but don’t realize all that is below the surface. In this article I wanted to tell you about a couple of these hidden costs and then give you some tools and basic principles for your own writing life.

People look at my large X/Twitter following (over 175,000) and would like to have that ability to influence and touch others. Yet are you willing to do the work to build that following? I’ve written in my blog about the five actions I take every day. I use a program called Hootsuite (other people use Buffer) to schedule 12 to 15 posts every day. I’ve developed a pattern or system which I use repeatedly to handle these posts—and it only takes about 30 minutes a day to handle.

Many people have started on X/Twitter but have given up the consistent posting. It’s the same with my blog on the Writing Life. I’ve been writing my blog articles each week since 2004. It has totaled over 1,700 articles. Several years ago, I found an article which estimated there are over 600 million blogs and named the top 27 content producers. My name and my blog were one of those listed. You can get my new articles on your email with this form. The consistent effort pays off.

Over the years, I’ve created a number of online information products like Blogging for Bucks (http://bucksforblog.com/ ) or my Write a Book Proposal course (http://bit.ly/wbkpro). I’ve automated many of these products through autoresponders and other tools. Each of these products include my 100% Love it Or Leave It Guarantee. If the buyer isn’t satisfied in a period of time, they can send an email and ask for a refund. This guarantee is a key part of selling products online and it is rare that someone will ask for a refund. One email arrived at a time when I was challenged with other things—yet I took the time to make the refund. Carrying through with your promises is a key part of having an online business and successfully selling products online. It doesn’t make it simple or easy.

Here’s some basic principles for every writer to get beyond the hidden costs of publishing:

* Understand the costs and keep going in spite of them

*Automate when you can. Investing in tools like Hootsuite allows me to continually grow my presence and saves time. I’ve recently added PodMatch and in six months I have booked or recorded over 50 podcasts.

*Keep growing in your craft of writing, attending conferences, taking online courses and reading books. I’ve got shelves of how-to books I’ve read over the years and continue to read them.

*Timing is critical and often out of your control. Numerous times I’ve had authors who have looked for an agent for years (not found it) then return to Morgan James and ask if they can sign our book contract. A recent author signed, who I have been speaking with off and on for three years about her book.

*Take the long view of success yet keep doing the little things and working to promote your writing.

Over and over, I speak with authors who continue promoting yet have stopped telling their publisher about their promotion (big mistake in my view). The publisher is going to assume they are not promoting and have stopped talking about the author with their sales team and the sales team to the bookstores since it is tied together. Yet if the author continues to promote and tells the publisher, then the communication and promotion to the bookstores can continue. Consistent communication matters. No little elves come out and write this material for us. Active authors are the ones to tell the stories and complete the work.

What proactive steps can you take to learn a new skill or try some new way to sell books? It doesn’t matter if your book is brand new or has been in print for a while. Keep the experimentation going until you hit the elements which work for your book.

Tweetable:

Publishing has a series of hidden costs. In this article, prolific author and editor Terry Whalin details some and provides basic principles and resources to move beyond them. (ClickToTweet)

Authors Have a "Magical" Life

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

Whether you have never published a book or published many books, you may have this concept that authors have a magical life. They get to travel, attend amazing events and talk with well-known people about their book. Bestselling authors must have a wonderful life because they have sold so many books. This concept that the writing life is glamorous is another publishing myth. I wrote the words “magical life” with quotation marks to indicate “tongue-in-cheek” or exaggeration.

In my 20+ years in publishing, there are remarkable moments. I want to begin this artice with a couple of these moments. Early in my writing career, I attended the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Located in the California redwoods, the event is known for their premier faculty and facility. At the end of this event, they give out some writer awards. During one of these early conferences, to my complete surprise, I was given an award for the Writer of the Year. The moment was outstanding to me because it is the only writer award I’ve ever received.

Fast forward years later, I was writing a book with the leading African American in Promise Keepers, Bishop Philip Porter. At the time, Promise Keepers was the fastest-growing men’s movement in America. I worked with a New York literary agent, and we crafted a book proposal that launched a bidding war between two large publishers. It was an exciting moment in my publishing life to sign a book contract with a six-figure advance. I worked hard on the writing for this book and it was published. Yet the truth is the book was unsuccessful and did not sell for several reasons. The publisher never showed the cover to Bishop Porter before it was published. Bishop Porter’s picture filled the cover of this book, but he did not like it. He disliked it to the point of not promoting the book and it did not sell. The publisher took this book out of print after six months. How is that for a glamorous writing life? Most of those out-of-print books were destroyed—the truth of what happens to many of these books.

Met Former President Jimmy Carter

“We can’t say anything about it,” my literary attorney and writer friend Sallie Randolph began. “But President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn are going to be at our member luncheon tomorrow.”

I was in New York City for the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), the leading nonfiction writers’ group in the nation and originally known as the Society of Magazine Writers. Each year, the organization holds a large public conference on a Saturday in a hotel in New York City. Before this public conference, the ASJA has a much smaller member day meeting in the same location. One of our members had written a book with Rosalynn Carter and the authors were going to be given an award from the Society. The award winners were invited to attend the member luncheon and the Carters had accepted the invitation. There would be about 200 members and special guests at this luncheon.

While Sallie and I were not sitting at the table of honor with the former president and his wife, we figured out where the secret service would be sitting and were able to sit at that table. My business book, Lessons from the Pit, A Successful Veteran of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Shows Executives How to Thrive in a Competitive Environment which I wrote for Joe Leininger, had just been released and I had a copy in my briefcase. During the meal, I asked the secret service agent when I could give President Carter a copy of my book. He said, “Do it right now because we’re going to eat, speak, and leave.”

With his permission, I walked over to the former president, introduced myself, and gave him a copy of my book which was published from B & H Publishing Group (formerly Broadman & Holman). I knew Broadman had been one of Jimmy Carter’s publishers and he would be familiar with the company. He was interested in the topic of my book and mentioned his son, Chip, had traded at the Chicago Mercantile.

As the meal concluded, the program began, the Carters spoke to the audience, and then quietly slipped out of the room—the president carrying one book out of that meeting—mine. It was a great experience to have met a former President and spent a few minutes with him.

I’ve interviewed more than 150 bestselling authors in many different settings. I’ve been inside the professional baseball locker of the San Diego Padres or been one of the few journalists who has interviewed bestselling author and pastor Chuck Swindoll. During our lunch, Chuck told me, “There are no heroes in the Body of Christ. We are all like a bunch of guys in the back of a pick-up trying to get our stuff together.” The experience of meeting various bestselling authors and hearing their stories has been enriching to my life but is not glamorous.

The real story is that writing books is hard work and selling books is even harder. From my experience there is often little glamour attached to such work. I’ve never met a book author who didn’t want to sell more copies of their work. It doesn’t matter if they are published through one of the largest publishers or Podunk Press (I don’t believe there is such a small publisher named Podunk Press but maybe, since there are many of them).

If you bring up the topic of selling more books, almost every author has a story about something they tried yet failed to work. Often these stories are filled with the author blaming someone else for the lack of sales. They blame:

• their publisher

• their publicist

• their agent

• their editor

• the wrong title

• the wrong cover

• the missing endorsements

• _____ you name it

It’s rare that I hear the author blame the real culprit: themselves. Yes, it’s hard to admit but it is the first step toward selling more books and understanding who bears the true responsibility for selling books—the author.

Many authors long to have their book appear on the bestseller list. For some authors they equate getting on the bestseller list as their benchmark of success for their book. Over ten years ago, I read Michael Korda’s Making the List, a Cultural History of the American Bestseller 1900–1999. Korda at the time was the Editor-in-Chief at Simon and Schuster, one of the largest publishers. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it.

In the introduction, Korda writes, “The bestseller list is therefore neither as predictable nor as dominating as its critics make it out to be. Plenty of strange books get onto the list and stay there for a long time…at least half of the books on any given list are there to the immense surprise and puzzlement of their publishers. That’s why publishers find it so hard to repeat their success—half the time they can’t figure out how it happened in the first place.” (Page xv) I love his honesty. There is no magic bullet and it is different for every book. The author is key.

Some books start slowly and steadily sell then catapult in sales. Other books begin strongly then sales drop to nothing. There is no consistent pattern.

My encouragement is for you to keep experimenting with different methods to sell your book. Each author has a different experience. Recently I spoke with an author who had sold 8,000 to 10,000 copies of his self-published books. He had held over 300 book signings for his book. For many authors book signings have yielded almost nothing but not for this author. He regularly speaks at schools and service clubs and even AARP meetings.

Every author needs to keep experimenting until you try something that works for you and your book, then continue on that path.

Tweetable:

Authors have a “magical life.” In this article, prolific author and editor @terrywhalin uses “magical” as an exaggeration then gives the reality of the author’s journey. (ClickToTweet)

Jumpstart Your Magazine Writing

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

How can you write and submit exactly what the magazine editor is looking for? You get some insights from reading the submission guidelines but I’m talking about something much more specific and a simple list of topics and ideas for this publication. Seasoned magazine writers know about this tool and after reading this article, you will know about it too: a theme list. Publication editors will brainstorm this list of story ideas, post it on their website and also send it to their regular contributors. Using a theme list is a sure way to grab the reading attention of the editor.

Recently I attended a Christian writers’ conference. It’s one of the key places where you can build relationships with editors and learn how to meet the needs of editors. If you write what an editor needs, then you are much more likely to get published than randomly writing something and sending it into the publication. If a writers’ conference is not in your plans, make plans to get to one soon. As editors, we publish people that we know, like and trust and you can build these relationships at a conference.

During an editor’s panel at this conference, I heard an editor’s cry for help. I’m not going to give the specific magazine but use this incident as a way to help you be more successful and on target with your magazine submissions. This magazine editor leads a 200,000 circulation Christian publication which publishes a theme list with their guidelines. With each monthly magazine, they publish articles outside of their theme but in particular they need articles tied to their theme. In front of the entire conference, this editor mentioned several of his projected themes did not have a single article ready for publication.

As I listened to this editor’s cry for help, I recalled my work at Decision, the publication of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. As associate editor, I was looking for theme related articles. For example, I needed articles about love for a February magazine (Valentine’s Day). It was not easy to get these articles even for a large circulation magazine like Decision whose circulation at that time was 1.8 million. To gather these needed theme-related articles, I would call or email some of my author friends and ask them for submissions.

If you want to be published in magazines, in general there are two options. You can write whatever you want (inspiration) and then try to find a publication for it. Or you can look at the themes an editor has created for their magazine (their needs) and write an article to meet those needs. The second approach of writing for a particular theme is more likely to be published from my experience.

The Christian Writers Market Guide includes over 150 magazine listings. Many of these listings include the location of their guidelines and theme list. Another way to find these publications is to use Google with the search words “Christian editorial theme lists.” I instantly found several pages of Christian publications with their theme lists.

As you meet needs of the editor (use their theme list) you will be published in magazines and become a dependable resource for your editor. Don’t overlook this important resource for your magazine articles. Writers do much more than publish books. If you write for magazines and have never published a book, call yourself a writer.

Tweetable:

Jumpstart your magazine writing and use a publication theme list. This prolific writer and editor gives the details here. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Why I Give Away Books

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

If you have a published book, you have a powerful tool in your arsenal. I hate to admit it but when I entered publishing years ago, I was tight with my books. Each time I gave away a book, I was thinking about what that book would cost for me to purchase it. As the years have passed, I’ve become less cautious about the actual cost and more aware of the way books can help others. In this article, I want to give you some reasons to give away your books.

Several years ago at a Morgan James author event in Nashville, I asked one of the authors for her business card. She didn’t have one. Immediately she said, “Why don’t I give you a book and I will write my website into my book?” Your book can be the perfect business card in that situation. This author has been around publishing many years. I’m certain she had no idea that I’ve written hundreds of Amazon reviews. I gratefully received her book and carried the book home. A week or so later, I read the book cover to cover. It was excellent and I wrote a short book review on Amazon and Goodreads. While this author had recently launched her book, she only had eight book reviews. My short review helped her add to this number and I told others about my review through a short tweet with the book on X or Twitter.

To be realistic, I understand that my response to the gift of a book is not your normal response—but you can suggest readers post a review on Amazon and Goodreads as you hand them your book. Simply from the power of your suggestion, some people will do it.

At the same event, another Morgan James author asked for a copy of my Billy Graham book. I pulled it out, autographed it and handed it to her. She promised to read it and write a review. Each time I discover a new review, it gives me an opportunity to tell others about this review on social media (X/ Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Marketing people understand a reader has to hear about your book seven or eight times (at least) before they decide to purchase your book. With each new review, you should seize the opportunity on social media to tell others. That exposure is building and adding to the time when that reader will purchase your book.

Here’s several reasons to give away your books:

1. Books change the lives of readers. I know books change lives because years ago, I read a book changed my life. You can read my story in this article: https://terrylinks.com/twowords.

2. Books in the right hands can help you promote your book. Be watching for other readers and others who write reviews of books and give them a book. Also be generous with people who are in the media to give them copies of your book. Be prepared to give away your books. Carry the books in your car or briefcase and use them as you have the opportunity.

Finally, follow up with the individuals after you have given away your book. In your follow-up note, tell them what you would like them to do and make it easy for them to do it. If you aren’t telling them (asking), they may not think of the idea on their own. Your follow-up note can be simple saying something like:

“I’d appreciate it if you could leave your honest review of my Billy Graham book in three places:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1gYtzbx

Barnes & Noble.com: http://bit.ly/1zLviz6

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1rTDzYB Your review will be a huge help.”

Notice several details about my follow-up note. It was short, specific and I gave them the actual links to go to the right location online to leave their review. You can use my follow-up note as a template for your own actions with others.

If you are generous with your books (give them away) and tell people what you need from them, many of them will be glad to help you. Do you give away your books? Let me know in the comments.

Tweetable:

In this article, prolific author and editor Terry Whalin explains why he gives away books—and you should too. (ClickToTweet)

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How to Repurpose Your Radio Interviews

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

As an author, you want to hire a publicist who has connections to radio and podcast hosts and can book you on those programs. As an editor, I’ve encouraged some of my authors to book radio interviews. After the interviews, one author told me he didn’t believe they helped sell books. Then I asked some follow-up questions. Did you get the recording from the interview? Are you storing that interview on your website, so it does not disappear? This author was not taking any of those important follow-up actions. In this article, I want to help you increase the effectiveness and longevity of your interviews.

As an author, your publicist will schedule you on various radio programs. These radio programs are wonderful opportunities to talk about your book. The talk show host normally receives a series of interview questions ahead of time. These radio hosts interview different authors day after day on their program. You can’t assume the host has read your book—and you are better off assuming they have not read your book. Instead, they will use the interview questions to speak with you about your book.

For example, I’ve done more than 50 radio interviews about Billy Graham and my biography. I’m asked the same questions over and over. Yet each time, I answer them with enthusiasm as though I’m hearing the question for the first time. Depending on the radio program, often these shows only cover a certain area of the United States. How do you get more mileage from these interviews?

First, ask for a recording of the interview. Sometimes the radio station will put it on their site after the interview. Other times if you ask, they will email the audio file to you. You have to ask for it or search for it and preserve this audio file.

With this audio file in your possession, the next step is to listen to it. Is it a solid recording? Do you need to cut out local commercials or anything to make it universal and just your interview? I use an audio program called SoundForge for this editing process. Just like Microsoft Word edits words, you can use SoundForge to edit audio files.

I create or check to make sure I have a solid recording of my interview. Next I upload the audio file to my own hosting site. If I just link to the interview from someone else’s site, they are in control and I’ve had these links disappear. When I put it on my own site, I know the interview is always going to be available online and never disappear. You have to make sure you preserve the interview on a site that you control.

The final step is to incorporate this interview into your on-going social media efforts (X/Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn). Here’s an example from one of my radio interviews about my Billy Graham book: http://terrylinks.com/KPOFGrahamInt The interview was recorded months ago, yet because it was a morning radio show, it sounds like it happened yesterday. The listener doesn’t need to know the real date.

Because I reuse these interviews, people will regularly email me saying they heard my interview and compliment me. I respond with gratitude and never say when it actually happened (not relevant information for that listener). These recordings continue to promote and drive book sales and exposure for my book—long after the interview. Like many of these actions in the marketing area, they do not happen unless the author takes control of the interview (storing it on your website) then continues to promote it.

Promoting your book on the radio or a podcast is important and something every author should actively pursue and continue. In my view, it is equally important what you do with these recordings after the interview. Use these live events for on-going and continued promotion of your book and work. These interviews are essentially timeless and can be used repeatedly if you take action.

Tweetable:

When you record a radio interview, how do you use it for on-going promotion? Get specific action steps from this prolific author and editor in this article. (ClickToTweet)

How to Hire the "Right" Publicist

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

An effective publicist can be a great asset to you as an author when you launch your book into the world. Yet like hiring an editor, literary agent, or anyone else in publishing, you have to use wisdom and all your resources to find the right publicist. Rick Frishman who ran one of the largest public relations firms in the United States for many years, often tells these firms have a solid “guarantee”: that they will charge you every month. A typical publicist fee is $3,000 to $5,000 each month. With these amounts of money, you can quickly spend a lot of resources with little results if you aren’t careful.

As a cautionary story in this area, several years ago I acquired a book for Morgan James Publishing where I had a lot of hope for great success. One of the co-authors had sold their company for millions of dollars and they had a large publicity budget to launch their book. As these authors told us their plan, it had one glaring red flag: their publicity firm. We had never heard of this firm and we’ve worked with many different publicists over the last 20 years. This firm may have a great reputation for getting their clients on television programs. These authors produced an excellent book, but they ran through $30,000 on their publicity campaign with this firm and did not sell books.

To avoid this type of disappointment, I recommend several steps to hire a publicist:

• Get a number of recommendations

• Interview each one and speak with their clients about their results

• Check their reputation online (type the name of the company + complaints)

• Check with your publisher for recommendations

Ultimately, you are making an important decision to hire a publicist and you want to make sure you get value from this expense.

Understand the Role of a Book Publicist

Whether a traditional and recognized publisher launches your book or a self-publisher, the author has to be engaged in the promotion and marketing of their book. One of the key players in this process is the book publicist. Many of these publicists have valuable connections and relationships with the media and others to help you promote your book.

Recently I finished reading a book from publicist Claire McKinney, who has worked in publicity for major publishers for over 20 years and is a recognized expert in self-publishing appearing on The Today Show for example. Do You Know What A Book Publicist Does? is the name of McKinney’s book with the subtitle, “A Guide for Creating Your Own Campaigns.” As the number of new books entering the market increases every day, authors need to understand the role of a book publicist and how to work with them in the process of book promotion. Managing expectations about what a publicist can do for a writer is great information and woven into the fiber of this book.

The promotion or sale of any book is tied to key connections and relationships—for example to the media. Book publicists like Claire McKinney have been building these relationships for years. Every author needs to understand their role in publishing. Do You Know What A Book Publicist Does? fills a critical role in this process with pointed insights throughout.

McKinney answers common author questions like what is a press release and what is a book launch and the best time to launch a book? The answers are packed with her years of experience in such tasks.

In the section on Reaching the Media, McKinney writes, “I’ve found that “fear” is the one thing that holds most people back from reaching out and from developing good pitches. Of course, you don’t want to be insulting, use the words “extraordinary” or “dynamic” just to create hype doesn’t help either. If you are honest about your intentions and what you are looking for, you are more likely to get a response. It takes extra effort, but that is also how you will build a relationship with the contact that could benefit another book or could enrich your experience in another way. If you don’t ask, you don’t get it. I’m sure you know that expression. If you get a snappy response, chalk it up to a bad day. What is the worst that can happen?” (Page 100-101)

Like many other aspects of publishing, I encourage you to move carefully and ask many questions before hiring a publicist. If you do, then you will locate the right person for you and your book.

Tweetable:

What steps do you take to hire the “right” publicist for your book? This prolific author and editor gives insights in this article. (ClickToTweet)

Do You Want to Write a Bestseller?

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

As an acquisition’s editor at a New York publisher, I often speak with authors about their dreams and ambitions for their book. Many authors want their book to become a bestseller. Every business has a pinnacle of success. It is the ultimate mark of achievement. In book publishing, this mark of success is tied to winning a particular award or getting your book on a particular bestseller list. Many writers proclaim their book will be a New York Times bestseller. While it is an admirable goal, just making such a statement is another publishing myth because of the difficulty involved. It is equivalent to a brand-new actor proclaiming he is going to win an Oscar. Eventually, this actor may win an Oscar, but rarely does it happen right away.

When an author lands on the New York Times list, the achievement is forever carried with their publishing life. They are introduced as a New York Times bestselling author. In many ways, it is the holy grail of publishing to achieve such a milestone. I’ve never achieved such a milestone, but I know a number of authors who have reached this goal. Several years ago, I moderated a panel with three members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors who have become New York Times bestselling authors.

As the moderator, I pulled together the speakers and organized the session into three parts: the pitch or the proposal, the writing, and the promotion and life changes that came from the experience. I asked each speaker to pull together some tips and suggestions into a handout.

This event is at a “members only session” for the ASJA. In other words, you have to be a member of this organization (about 1400) and have registered for the conference and traveled to New York City for the event (an even smaller number). Here’s the handout for this event (www.terrylinks.com/nytwh). This document is nine pages of solid information and insight.

I encourage you as an author to continue to market your book, yet understand reaching the New York Times bestseller list is not easy or simple. Many people seek it but few attain it. For the majority of authors, it is a myth for them to reach any bestseller list—not just the New York Times bestseller list but others like the Los Angeles Times or Wall Street Journal.

In this article, I want to focus on several practical steps every author can take to help generate additional book sales on an ongoing basis. One of the most neglected areas for authors is the book launch. From working with authors on book production, the final push to complete a book and get it ready to print can be grueling. There is a lot of detail work to finalize a book for printing and when it is finished, there is a huge relief. Yet it is not a time to stop and do nothing. This silent period is called the pre-launch stage. To become an effective book selling author, it is time for you to crank even more energy into this pre-sales process.

Many authors let down and do nothing during this stage. The exceptions and successful authors will use this time to promote the pre-sales on the book, write press related materials, hire a publicist and gather a launch team or at least people to write reviews. I’m going to give you more details about each of these activities.

Create a Pre-Launch Campaign

The period when the book has been completely produced and finalized but not released into the bookstore is called the pre-sales season. As an author, one of the most effective actions you can take is to organize a pre-sales campaign. Dave Jarworski, was one of the early employees at Microsoft and the winner of the first Microsoft sales award from Bill Gates. He ran an effective pre-sales campaign for the launch of his book. After he left Microsoft, Dave and I worked together at Christianity.com. We kept in touch and Dave wrote a book about Microsoft called Microsoft Secrets (www.microsoftsecrets.com). Dave gathered unusual resources with his book such as some unpublished videos and launched a pre-sales campaign for this book. If you pre-ordered the book, and after your order, returned to Dave and told him (giving an order number for example), you got access to these extras. The pre-sales campaign drove people to pre-order the book from different bookstores.

Also the pre-sales campaign is something Morgan James can promote to our bookstore sales team who in turn promoted it to the bookstores. When Microsoft Secrets launched, the physical books were sold into the majority of the bookstores throughout North America and Canada. Authors who do not have a pre-sales campaign will sell into a limited number of physical bookstores, but because of the pre-launch campaign, Microsoft Secrets received much broader distribution than normal (and increased sales as a result).

Because a successful campaign was launched for the book, this author activity spilled into other areas such as foreign rights. At this writing, Microsoft Secrets has been sold into two additional languages besides English, Vietnamese and Simple Chinese. Ironically after 22 years away from Microsoft, Dave Jaworski rejoined Microsoft as an employee. Worldwide Microsoft has over 154,000 employees. To create this pre-sales campaign, you can study the activities of other authors and watch how they launch their books. You may need a website or other help with this process. Get several recommendations before selecting the right person to help you. The key difference maker to become a bestseller it to take consistent action to be telling people about your book and where it is available. Finally, every author needs to have a realistic view of their book and what can happen with it.

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Why Even Self-Published Books Need A Proposal

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

No matter what method you choose in the publishing world, I encourage you to create a book proposal. Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, you need to create this document because it is your business plan for your book. Years ago, as a frustrated acquisitions editor, I wrote Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success. This book has over 150 Five Star reviews and many people have used it to get published. I also have a free book proposal checklist at: www.terrylinks.com./bookcheck and a free teleseminar about proposals at: www.askaboutproposals.com.

I’ve read thousands of book proposals as an acquisitions editor and a former literary agent. I continually teach on the topic because I believe many writers don’t understand the critical nature of this specialized document called a book proposal.

On the traditional side of publishing, editors and agents read proposals. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve written nonfiction or fiction because this document includes information which never appears in your manuscript yet is critical in the decision-making process.

Many authors have not written a book proposal because have written a full manuscript. From my perspective of working in book publishing for over 20 years, every author should create a book proposal for their book—whether eventually they publish the book with a company where they pay to get it published (subsidy or self-publishing) or whether they find a traditional book publisher. In the proposal creation process, the author learns critical elements about their book concept plus they are better positioned in the marketplace.

Here are four of the many benefits of proposal creation:

1. You Define Your Target Market. Many authors believe their book will hit a broad target—everyone. No successful book is for everyone. Each book has a primary target audience, and the proposal creation process helps you define, pinpoint and write about this audience. It is important in nonfiction but it is also important in fiction. For example, romance is the largest fiction genre yet there are many divisions within the romance genre. The proposal helps to define this division and helps the publisher understand who will be creating the sales.

Every proposal needs a target which is defined—yet large enough to generate volume sales. You learn and achieve this balance when you create a page-turning book proposal.

2. You Understand Your Competition. Book proposals force writers to take a hard look at what is already on the market, and what if anything they bring to the conversation. Many new authors believe they are writing something unique with no competition. It’s not true. Every book competes in the marketplace, and you will be a better equipped author if you understand your competition.

3. You Create A Personal Plan For Marketing. As you create a book proposal, you will include practical, specific and measurable ideas that can executed when your book enters the market. The proposal will be a valuable reference tool for you because you’ve done this important evaluation process.

4. You Possess A Valuable Tool To Pitch Agents and Editors at Traditional Houses. Literary agents and editors do not read manuscripts. They read book proposals. Even novelists need a book proposal for their initial pitch to an editor or agent. And if you self-publish and are successful with selling your book, because you own everything, if you receive an attractive offer from a traditional house, then you can move the book. Without a proposal you can’t properly pitch the concept and you’ve eliminated this possibility.

Throughout my years in publishing, I have made multiple trips to New York City and met with some of the top literary agents and editors. Almost each time, I am asked, “Where is the next Prayer of Jabez or Purpose Driven Life or Left Behind or ______ (name the bestselling book)?” Each of these books sold millions of copies. The Left Behind books continue to sell over 100,000 copies a year—and they were originally published over 20 years ago. These professionals are actively looking every day for the next bestseller. Yes, they may be telling you their agency is full and they have no room on their list for your book—but the reality is something different.

I encourage you to keep looking for the right fit for your manuscript. It’s part of the editorial search that every writer undergoes to discover the right place for their book to be published.

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Even if you self-publish your book, you need a book proposal according to this prolific writer and editor. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

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