Tips for Authors - Adding Reviews to Your Book

When your manuscript is finished, consider sending it out to several experts in your field to get pre-publication reviews for the book. These are different from the five or so pre-publication journals (such as Publishers Weekly) that post reviews in their journals. These experts may never have provided a review for any book, but they are well-respected members of the field in which they study/work. You don't need a full-blown, several paragraph review. Rather, ask them to provide a paragraph or so to be used either in the front or back of your book. I've found that including them in the front works best because I've noticed buyers at book signings notice the reviews right away.

Do you need to send them a finished, edited version of your book? No. Since you'll probably be on a tight schedule, it's okay to send the manuscript before it has been visited by your editor. Just be sure to let the reviewer know that the text is going out for editing at the same time so they may find some typos, etc. in the manuscript. You don't want them to think that the finished product will have errors or they may decide not to send you a review.

How do you get well-respected, busy, and perhaps famous people take the time to read your book? Ask them several months prior to publication so that you have plenty of time, but give them a deadline a month or more (if possible) before you need the review. There are always one or two people who take forever and need numerous reminders to write their comments. Make sure you make the deadline date clear! It's amazing how many people will forget and wait until the deadline is past. It's also a good idea to give a follow-up call a week or so after you mail the manuscript to make sure they've received it. There's nothing worse than waiting a few months for a review only to find that your reviewer never got the book. You've just wasted two precious months!

When you ask them, mention where your book will be sold, tell them it will mean national exposure for them/their business. In short, sell them on the idea of writing the review, saying it will help THEM. It also helps if you tell them you only need a few sentences to a paragraph. Readers don't expect longer review quotes inside the book.

Once you have the quote, DO NOT change the text, or reword it in any way with the exception of fixing typos. If there is a problem with the quote (perhaps a character was mentioned in the wrong context), contact the expert and ask their permission to fix the error (although it's best not to use the word "error."). Set the quotes up so that you have the quote followed by the expert's name and his/her claim to fame (business, award-winning author, etc.). Readers will be very interested in these quotes and they DO help sell books!

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

I was forced into Twitter last week. I already had a Facebook page. I already had a blog, but I was FORCED into Twitter last week. Since then, I have already developed a rapport, and posts (140 characters or less) only take about fifteen seconds. However, my blog has BLOWN UP. I broke all my clicks-per-day records last week, over and over, with each passing day. The lesson learned? Social media does work, and as an author, you should get involved. You should have a website, of course. But you should also have a blog, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account. It sounds like a lot of work, but it isn’t. You can set things up to make life easier. (For instance, my Twitter posts to my blog; my blog posts to my Facebook.) It’s all about web presence. The more avenues leading readers and fans to YOU, the better. So get involved in social media, no matter how dumb it sounds to “Tweet.”

For the interested parties:

Sara’s blog: http://saradobie.wordpress.com

Sara’s Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/SaraDobie

Sylvan Dell, the new company blog: http://SylvanDellPublishing.Wordpress.com

Sylvan Dell, the new company Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/SylvanDell

Tips for Authors - Reviews vs. Ads

This week's tip focuses on a marketing tip rather than a book design idea.

Many new authors, in their excitement, will begin to place ads all over the internet as well as through more traditional methods such as newspapers and magazines. They want to get word out about their new book. Is it worth it? Will you, the author, get back your investment plus a little profit from these ads? The simple answer is... probably not.

Large, traditional presses are known to place ads, particularly is places such at Publisher's Weekly and other journals where the important library and bookstore buyers linger. But they also get their books reviewed in those journals. True, they also advertise in newspapers and magazines, but typically, those ads are for books by established, best-selling authors. First time authors with the big presses aren't normally given ads unless there is some unusual buzz about that author/book.

For the small press/self-publisher, ads rarely give a good return on investment. The reason? The buying public is much more likely to buy a book based on a good review or on word-of-mouth. An ad is simply the publisher's hype about a book (in the buyer's mind). Why should they believe it?

What about internet ads? How about placing ads on websites, and/or using resources such as Google AdWords? Talking with numerous authors, we've rarely heard of successes with these venues. True, it can sometimes be hard to measure the success of these ads. They do help build recognition of a product, a key element in creating sales. But do they, by themselves, sell books? For the most part, no. Also, consider how many books you'll need to sell to pay for that ad, let alone make a profit. For example, an ad on a popular website in your book's genre might cost $300/month. The book retails for $9.95, and when sold through Amazon (using Amazon Advantage, will garner the author/publisher $4.48. You'll have to sell 67 books just to break even (and that doesn't even take into account the actual profit on that $4.48 after you deduct shipping to Amazon, printing costs, design costs, etc., etc.)

A few ads placed judiciously might work in your niche, but try and swap ads for services, a free book to the site's owner, etc. Then concentrate your efforts on reviews. Readers trust reviews, readers buy books from reviews!

Technorati Tags: book promotion, book reviews, reviews vs ads, google adwords

Ripple Connects Families with Recorded Children's Books

This article originally appeared in PW's Children's Bookshelf.

By Craig Morgan Teicher -- Publishers Weekly, 8/14/2009 7:11:00 AM

The Internet does nothing if not connect people, and Colorado-based Ripple has created a platform that uses the Internet to transport the intimate experience of reading a book to a child across long distances. Basically, Ripple is a Web-based audio recorder and player that also displays the pages of children's books. The idea is that a traveling parent, a long-distance grandparent, or a deployed soldier, for instance, could record the text of a children's book and then send a file with their recording, along with a digital version of the book, to a child. "We're all about connecting familes," said Mariah York, author/publisher representative at Ripple.
Right now, Ripple is building its library of books it will have the rights to sell recordings of. The deals are still in the works, so York can't announce any particular titles, but she said, "I'm working on some pretty amazing stuff with big names. I am talking to individual authors, indie publishers, and very large publishers about posting their books to our library." Ripple plans to launch to consumers in the fall.

Ripple presents an interesting situation in terms of rights to the books. "Basically what we're asking for is the digital right to post the book in its entirety on our site. One of the reasons it's taking a while is it's a brand new technology and publishers are trying to find a way to fit this into their rights deals. It's not an e-book, not an audiobook, not really software. What's separating us is it's a personal recording, nonpublic," said York.

A screenshot of the Ripple player.The person buying the recording will interface with a special recording site, on which they'll see a large version of the book they pick and make their recording. Then, they'll email the recording to the recipient packaged with a version of the book that will appear smaller on the screen in order to encourage reading along with the print edition. York says the files will have full DRM to protect intellectual property rights. The audio recording is only available through Ripple to the person who recorded it, who can send additional copies to other recipients at a discounted rate. A single recording will cost $9.95, and there will be three other packages available for 4, 12, or 24 recordings, with the price per going as low as $4.58.
A few factors make Ripple an especially attractive deal for publishers: first, the company is asking for non-exclusive rights to post books, meaning a publisher can still sell their books as e-books elsewhere. Ripple also sees the physical book as an integral part of the children's book experience, so the company will initially post a link to whatever e-tailer the publisher wants to buy a physical copy. Down the line, the company plans to sell physical books through its own site. Publishers will get $1 per recording sent, no matter what package the consumer buys.
More news to come as deals are announced.

New Mexico Women Authors Book Festival

‘NEW MEXICO WOMEN AUTHORS BOOK FESTIVAL’
RETURNS TO MUSEUM HILL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

Festival to Feature 71 New Mexican Women Authors in a Variety of Genres

SANTA FE, NM—Seventy-one New Mexico women authors will gather on Museum Hill on Saturday, September 26, for the second “New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival,” the only festival in New Mexico that spotlights the strength of the state’s women writers and celebrates the joy of reading for people of all ages.

Admission is free to the festival, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Milner Plaza on Museum Hill. Guests receive a free book bag and free admission to the Museum of International Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. Food booths will be open on Milner Plaza.

Nationally acclaimed “Chick-Lit” author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Tony Hillerman Prize-winner Christine Barber, award-winning investigative reporter and author Sally Denton, beloved children’s book author Barbara Beasley Murphy, renowned feminist author Sallie Bingham and 66 other notable New Mexican authors will present works in areas of fiction, poetry, history and biography, creative arts, spirit, health and family, and children’s literature. A variety of authors will also explore such special topics as self-publishing, romance writing, memoir, revision and rewriting, and more. (A full schedule of authors, topics and presentation times is attached and at newmexicocreates.org )

Modeled after the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival, the New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival features a series of open-air pavilions where authors read and discuss their craft in 25-minute intervals in a casual, interactive setting. Book signings follow each author’s presentation. In addition, select authors will meet with members of local book groups who wish to make an author’s particular work a selection of their book club. And Santa Fe’s popular Book Arts Group will exhibit a selection of handmade books.

The New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival is a project of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation Shops’ “New Mexico Creates,” program, which provides marketing and promotion opportunities and support to artists, artisans, authors, and other creative entrepreneurs statewide. The event is made possible by a generous grant from the Marineau Family Foundation.

For information about additional festival sponsorship opportunities, or how to become a festival volunteer, contact John Stafford, Museum Shops Director of Retail Operations, at 505-982-3016, ext. 25, or email john@museumfoundation.org.

For more information about the New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival, and for a full schedule of events, please visit newmexicocreates.org.

Self-Promotion or Death: PR Tips from Sara Dobie

Follow up. You have to follow up, and you can’t be afraid of being annoying. Don’t get me wrong—sending an email repeatedly, every day, obsessively, like Andy’s library in Shawshank Redemption isn’t the idea. However, here’s how it goes in promotion. Let’s say you want to do an interview on a certain blog, so you send them an email. You don’t hear back. After a week, you should NOT pout and go eat worms. You should send a follow up email, as in, “Hey, wanted to follow up on that email I sent your way last week. Did you have time to consider my interview offer? Keep me posted!” And always include the initial email, pasted beneath your signature as a reminder. If you still don’t hear anything, start posting comments on the blog of interest. Sooner or later, you’re going to get the host’s attention. Then, you’ll get your interview. Success. So the lesson for today: FOLLOW UP!

Sara Dobie Still Needs YOUR help!

Sara Dobie still needs help with her new short story, “I See Monsters.” She’s up to entry SIX in this writing waterfall, and she would love comments. Head on over to her blog to catch up with Joshua and Caleb: http://saradobie.wordpress.com. The final post will be Monday, August 24!