Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category
Editing IS Marketing: Boning Up on First Impressions
Since we are on the topic of editing (see yesterday’s post), I thought we should follow that line of thinking into another area: marketing. This gives us another way to look at what we do when we edit our work or have professional editors help us polish our writing.
To do this, I’ve asked Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, back again to write another blog post—this time about the relationship between editing and marketing. She explains how the writing we send out into the world—especially the writing we are trying to sell—must put our best foot forward. As the adage goes, you only get to make a first impression once. If your writing is making that first impression, you better make sure it “looks good” or reads well
Editing IS Marketing: Boning Up on First Impressions
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
First impressions are important. We all are aware of that as we brush our teeth and try to unknot the rat’s nests from the back of our hair each morning. In fact, first impressions are part of our marketing efforts, whether we are marketing ourselves (for example, an interview or a TV appearance) or marketing our books. And, yes, editing is an essential part of that first-impression effort, thus an integral part of marketing and promotion.
Here are a scattering of helpful tips gleaned from my HowToDoItFrugally Series of books.
Five Editing Myths Waiting To Trip Up Your Campaign to Market Your Work
If your English teacher told you something is OK, it is.
No! Language rules and style guidelines have changed since you were a sophomore. And your English teach may not be familiar with the variety of style choices.
If a manuscript or query is grammar-perfect, you’ll make a great first impression.
No! Lots of things that are absolutely grammatically correct will annoy publishers, agents and others.
Always use your Spell and Grammar Checker.
Maybe. Some well-known editors suggest you don’t use it at all but The Frugal Editor gives you dozens of ways to make it your partner instead of your enemy.
Your publisher will assign a top-flight editor, so you don’t need to worry about your manuscript or article.
Maybe, but don’t count on it. Besides, you can be a better partner for an editor if you know something about the process—and you’ll also know better when to nix her suggestions! In any case, I suggest hiring an editor of your own before you submit your copy.
Formatters and editors will take care of the hyphens, ellipses and all the other grungy little punctuation marks that English teachers avoided teaching, because they didn’t know how to use them either.
Chances are, you’ll catch even great formatters and editors in an error or two if you know your stuff!
About the Author
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction, a former publicist for a New York public relations firm and an instructor for the UCLA Extension’s renowned Writers’ Program. She is a former journalist and editor with years of publishing and editing experience including national magazines, newspapers and her own poetry and fiction. Her The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) won USA Book News’ best professional book award and the Irwin Award. The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor ) is a top publishing book for USA Book News and Reader Views Literary Award winner.
http://HowToDoItFrugally.com
www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo
www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor
Please visit www.copywrightcommunications.com and sign up for the free newsletter to receive a gift at the end of the Write Nonfiction in November challenge!
Don’t forget to sign into the WNFiN social networking and chat room and tell us what you are writing about or start a discussion. http://writenonfictioninnovember.ning.com/
Vote WNFIN One of Writer’s Digest’s Annual 101 Best Internet Sites for Writers
Is Blogging Really Writing?
An earlier posting on the need for writers to have either a website or a blog – or both – generated a bit of debate. However, those of you reading this blog have not been privy to those comment, because they were left on identical posts published at www.redroom.com. I’m proud to say Write Nonfiction in November actually was featured for a whole week (from Nov. 17-23) in the Red Room as part of their “Best Blog” series. In any case, I’d like to address the topic of that debate: Is blogging really writing?
The debate began when I told a reader that the time they spent blogging should, indeed, be considered writing. This was followed by a comment by another reader that seemed to think if someone wrote something, a blog being the “something” in question, not worth writing, then the blog post didn’t really consist of writing at all. So, at the risk of boring those who read the comments in Red Room and repeating myself, here’s what I have to say on the topic.
Blogging allows a writer a forum never before available. Free publishing! You can become a published writer in minutes.
Now, whether or not you gain any readers has a lot to do with my blog reader’s complaint about writers who write and have nothing of importance to say. Some blogs consist of daily accounts of taking the dog for a walk, cooking dinner and interactions with friends. To most people, this seems like meaningless drivel. And a blog on these topics probably won’t attract many readers – except maybe family and friends. Unless you’re really funny…or very judgemental…or write with a strange, twisted perception of these mundane, daily events.
Blogging is writing – no matter what the blogger writes about. Now, in the mind of a drivel-writing blogger, he or she still is performing the act of writing. In my mind, they are writing – yes, even if they have little to write about that would make me subscribe to their blog. They might even write badly, but if they sit down every few days and write a blog post, they are writing. Even if I see their writing as a bunch of worthless words, it doesn’t matter. And, they may even have a huge readership despite my judgement about their writing. (If someone is reading, they must be writing, no?)
Many books have been published that aren’t worth reading. Does that mean they don’t contain pages and pages of writing? No. Their authors participated in the act of writing. (I’ve even edited a few self-published books that fall into this category…)
One more point about whether or not drivel represents writing: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) doesn’t ask fiction writers to write well or to produce good writing; it only asks fiction writers to write. They can write 50,000 words of drivel – worthless, not-worth-reading copy. I understand that sometimes that is, indeed, what the participants turn out. The point, however, revolves around the fact that NaNoWriMo participants are writing about 1,500 words a day. They are sitting down and turning out words. Are they worth reading? Maybe not, but it’s still considered writing.
Blogging also allows a writer to participate in a writing practice every day. The only way to become a good writer is to write, preferably every day. Writing takes practice. Now, not all of us want to publish our practice writing, but a blog does give us a format that almost requires us to sit down every day or a few times a week and actually post something – hopefully something of value that we feel represents good writing. Many writers like to do “morning pages” or some sort of journaling exercise. Blogging can serve the same purpose, only in a much more public venue. Writers write. Bloggers blog. It’s the same thing.
Blogging allows you to test market your ideas. By blogging on the topic of your writing projects, such as your nonfiction books, you can test market the material. If it’s of interest, you’ll gain readershp. You also can get feedback on your writing (given that anyone actually reads your blog). If you develop a readership, that says something about both your writing and your subject matter. If no one ever shows up to read what you have to say, that also tells you something.
You can find many stories these days of bloggers who have become published book authors simply by choosing to blog. I met a women just the other day whose niece had a book published by a major publishing house; they found her blog, which was about her experiences raising a coyote pup. She didn’t even have aspirations of becoming an author. However, her blog attracted a big following. And that attracted the editor of a publishing house. So, if you are an aspiring author, you should think about using your blog as a way to see if interest exists for your book. Or you might consider blogging your whole book; that’s been done as well. It’s a great way to sit down every day and write your book – much less intimidating, I think. Just write a few paragraphs a day, and see if anyone starts showing up to read it!
Blogging provides a great way to promote your book and to build a platform. The more readers you get, the bigger your platform. The bigger your platform, the easier it becomes to sell your book idea to a publisher and to sell your book to potential readers once published. All the people reading your blog on a regular basis – or even occasionally – represent potential book buyers.
Blogging helps writers find their voice. I love the fact that blogging allows me to “be me.” I find that as a blogger I’ve developed a much stronger “voice” than I’ve ever had before. I’m much more able to say what I want in a natural manner. This ability is beginning to melt into my other writing – my books, my articles and my essays. I especially see the benefits of my blogging practice when I sit down to write an essay; I can write them more quickly and easily than ever before, and they come across as much more authentic and less stilted. They have a more organic flow to them.
Blogging allows a writer not to write alone.If you can get a readership that actually wants to comment on your blogs, this allows you to leave your lonely writer’s garret occasionally to simply read a comment or post a comment – and you actually haven’t gone anywhere. At least you know, though, that you aren’t alone. You know someone is out there with you…reading what you wrote. And isn’t that really what ever writer wants? For the beginning writer who may not have ever seen his or her writing in print, the fact that their blog has attracted even one reader can be thrilling!
So, is blogging really writing? By all means, I say, blogging is writing. Sometimes it’s good writing and sometimes it’s bad writing. Sometimes it’s drivel and sometimes it’s a meaningful and inspirational masterpiece. Blogging encompasses a myriad of types of writing. Blogging can be a daily writing practice. Blogging can be published writing. Blogging is writing in an authentic voice. Blogging is a way to write a book. Blogging can be a way to make a living as a writer. Blogging can be a continual letter between author and reader. Blogging can be any type of writing you want it to be. You choose…and then begin blogging…begin writing.
(As you think about beginning – or continuing to blog, don’t forget to finish up your Write Nonfiction in November project. This is day # 28. You have two days left. Your fingers may be weary and your eyes bleary (no this isn’t about poetry…), but I can assure you the end is in sight. You can do it!)
How Writers Can Create Their Own Media Brand
“Branding” has become quite a catch word these days. As nonfiction writers, we, too, need to “brand” ourselves and our work. We even need to go so far as to become a “media brand.” In the process, however, we can make our writing more marketable to publishers, and, ultimately, to readers.
What exactly is a media brand and how do we as writers go about accomplishing the creation of our own media brand? Back today to tell us is entertainment professional and consultant Philippa Burgess of creative convergence. I’ve heard her speak about this topic, and I’ve always found what she has to say fascinating. I know that by applying the principle of branding to myself and to what I write, I can not only make myself more-marketable as a writer, but that I can help myself build a platform across all media – all of which will make my books sell better as well.
So, today, take of your writers hat and put on your marketing hat. Or, better yet, wear them both. That, I think, is the idea.
The Power of Your Media Brand
By Philippa Burgess
Entertainment Professional and Consultant
Partner, Creative Convergence Inc.
As nonfiction writers, I encourage you to think about becoming a media brand. In my previous post we talked about how to create compelling content. Beyond that, the success of your project lies in your ability to market it to the greater public. The easiest way to do this is to cultivate a relationship with your audience that includes desire, familiarity, and value using a myriad of media channels. In doing so, with a certain amount of consistency and growing visibility, you become a media brand. The additional benefit to doing it this way is that you are able to develop your content and your platform concurrently. When your book is ready you’ll have a better product that’s knows its place in the market primed with a ready audience.
Here are some key points you need to know and keep in mind when creating your media brand:
A media brand is a promise. If the expectation is a positive one, every time it delivers on its promise it deepens the loyalty of its audience. A brand seeks to earn mindshare, which is a general awareness that it exists. From there, it has the aim of creating top of mind awareness in its category. This means that if someone says, “Toothpaste,” and you say, “Crest,” this brand of toothpaste not only has mindshare, but represents the category leader in your mind. This holds true for media brands such as Dr. Phil, Oprah and Martha Stewart, who all have vast mindshare and are category leaders in their respective arenas.
See your media brand as a relationship that creates and fulfills a desire for its audience. A brand is not just a fancy logo or a catchy tag line but an experience that is shared between the company, product or service and its audience. Therefore, a successful brand is able to become a proven commodity in the marketplace. Writers, celebrities, and titles are just as much as brands as Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Tiffany’s.
This is important to you as nonfiction writers, because today’s audience encounters over 60,000 marketing messages a day. Everyone is vying for our attention while looking to make a positive impression. If your brand has rooted itself within the hearts and minds of your audience through repeated interactions over time, then it has established value. From there it can be promoted across larger and larger media channels with greater traction and ultimate success.
Build your media brand so you can distinguish yourself and your message from other nonfiction writers in the marketplace. If you are writing a memoir or offering practical advice on anything from how to run a business, a family or a hi-tech gadget, then you need to be sure you are distinguishable in the marketplace from all others. You want your audience to develop a relationship with you, and then consistently seek you out for the fulfillment of their desires – be it for information, inspiration or entertainment.
Your media brand builds on its success and provides additional opportunities to get your message out. There are many who come to nonfiction writing with academic or real world credentials, but all nonfiction writers need to start thinking along the lines of gaining media credentials. If bloggers, magazines, conferences and talk shows want to talk about what you’re doing because they think you’ll entertain and inform their audience, thus making their brand look good, then you’re on your way to being able to successfully grow your brand into the publishing arena, television or even film.
Your media brand helps you to consistently reach and call your audience to action. We often hear “platform” as a buzzword in the publishing industry. It is becoming more essential to have a platform, because it means that you have cultivated an audience so there is less risk involved for publishers when it comes to investing in your project. They know that when you speak, your audience listens. They have confidence that you have learned to navigate the infrastructure you need to reach your audience and have proven your value through repeated interactions. Moreover, you know how to motivate (or ethically bribe) your audience into action. It also becomes easier to move a story across media channels, such as articles, books, graphic novels, television, or film, if the story or its author, are branded.
Your media brand gives you the opportunity to monetize yourself and your project. Given your ability to deliver an audience, you have created more opportunities for speaking, articles, book sales, film rights or other business transactions. You’ve proven that you have something to offer; now comes the time to start packaging it to sell across media platforms. The more established your brand becomes the more value is attached to what you are selling. The term “rich and famous” is just simple math. The more people a brand is able to connect with powerfully, the more revenue it can generate for you and others.
Start small and grow it with steady efforts. As you look to establish your brand across media channels, remember that every oak tree was once an acorn. Trust that you will get experience as you go – “ready, fire, aim.” You won’t do all of this perfectly, so don’t worry about it. You’ll need to step out and jump. Then you can adjust course along the way. The idea of starting small can help you get practice, but it can also help you learn what your audience really wants and needs from you. When you make mistakes, they are in front of a smaller audience who are more forgiving. Plus, your brand will still be emerging and less will be at stake.
Cultivate your relationship with your audience as you develop your content. In this way you’ll get to work on your material and see how you are able to deliver the most value. Writing articles or giving talks is a good way to find the parts of your story that are the most compelling and valuable based on audience feedback. As you develop your stories, join writers groups or speaking clubs, such as Toastmasters, to polish your skills.
Take the time to go to the bookstore, the video store and Amazon.com and look at competing authors and titles. You want to find authors and titles you can point to in your space that have been successful, but you also want to find ways to distinguish yourself from them and fill a gap in the market. Think in terms of presenting your brand as “the fresh in the familiar.” Doors in entertainment and media are not difficult to open if you have the key. It is a very doable process if you take the right steps to fashion such a key by creating a strong media brand.
Not only do titles, books and authors become media brands, so do particular niche markets and categories. Find your category, take the steps to developing your media brand and look for the audience that is looking for you.
About Philippa Burgess
Philippa Burgess is a partner at Creative Convergence an entertainment company in Los Angeles that specializes in literary development and marketing across media. The company has recently sold client projects to Warner Brothers, Paramount, Lifetime, and ABC Family. Recent TV production credits include “52 Fights” for ABC/Touchstone and “Men’s Guide the Women’s Bathroom” for CBS/Paramount. Among their nonfiction film projects were “Thieves of Baghdad,” “Queensized” and “52 Fights.”
Philippa oversees the consulting division of the company. The department provides a collaborative creative and business development process for a dynamic list of consulting clients that include emerging nonfiction writers, experts, authors, and content creators who want to establish a media brand. She teaches at conferences around the country and facilitates the popular “Your Signature Story: From Content Creator to Media Brand” and “Million Dollar Screenwriting & Content Career” teleseminar courses.
Creative Convergence Inc.
An Entertainment Company
4055 Tujunga Blvd., Suite 200
Studio City, CA 91604
Tel: 310-926-0290
www.creative-convergence.com
Sign up for our newsletter at: www.creativecvg.com/connect.php
Check out my blog at www.creativecvg.blogspot.com
Learn more about our new member site: www.yoursignaturestory.com
Four days and counting down…Write Nonfiction in November is almost over. Are you almost done with your project? Don’t leave it unfinished after November 30th! The whole point of the WNFIN challenge is to start AND finish a nonfiction project in 30 days. You’ll feel so good if you meet the challenge. I know you can do it! Leave me some comments and tell me how it’s going and what you wrote about this month.
Marketing Yourself and Your Book on the Cheap
Let’s say you managed to land that publishing deal, or you’ve successfully self-published your book. One way or another, to get those copies selling you need to market not only the books but yourself.
You can choose for a variety of ways to do this, including hiring someone to help you do the job. You can also do the job yourself – and get it done on a shoestring budget. How do I know this? Because I’ve watched my friend and fellow writers’ group member do it. In fact, as I’ve said before, at this moment he is not participating in Write Nonfiction in November, because he is busy marketing himself and his book all across the country. All by himself, he’s also managed to get himself spots on a PBS special, into national and regional magazines, on panels with other well-known authors, and onto numerous talk shows.
For this reason, I asked Ron Arons, author of The Jews of Sing Sing, to take just a little time out of his busy book tour schedule and tell the readers of Write Nonfiction in November how he markets, or promotes, himself and his book on a budget. He agreed, and his valuable tips follow.
He did, however, leave out one tip: Check your local office supply stores for sales! Every time our writers’ group meets, Ron tells us about something or other that we can get at a vastly reduced price or for free…yes, for free. For example, if you keep you eyes peeled, you can even get 10 two-pocked folders, which you will want to use for your publicity kit (see below), for free at Staples every once in a while. (And, if you are very crafty, you can get 10 in the morning and 10 in the evening…or…well, I won’t give away all of Ron’s secrets.)
Marketing Yourself and Your Book on the Cheap
By Ron Arons
The Jews of Sing Sing
So you want to market yourself and your book, right? But, how do you do so without losing an arm and a leg? Professional book publicists typically charge thousands of dollars. If you have absolutely no time on your hands and have sufficient funds at your disposal, maybe a book publicist is the way to go. However, if you believe, as many do, that it’s difficult to justify the cost of a publicist and/or you think you can do an equally good job of marketing your book for less money, read on…
One of the simplest and least expensive marketing tools is the old fashion business card. I recommend you have these made up long before your book is published. Invariably, office supply stores (e.g. Staples and Office Depot) have discounted offers on the printing of postcards. Vistaprint.com offers very nicely printed business cards for very reasonable prices (the company also offers a variety of templates so that you don’t have to go through the process of designing your own). There’s always the option of designing your own business cards and printing them out on your own printer, but this might zap a bunch of your time and printer ink.
One step up from the business card is a postcard. The larger-sized postcard increases the possibilities of what you can design. Online companies like Vistaprint.com (no I do not have any business relationship with this company), modernpostcard.com, and rocketpostcard.com all provide fast turnaround and reasonable prices. Long before my book was published, I created a postcard graphic that included various big-name gangsters, photos of Sing Sing Prison, and illustrations of various punishments given out at the famous correctional facility in New York. Almost everyone who saw the graphic was captivated by it. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This original postcard suggested more with a bunch of small photographs than I could explain in words that could fit on the same postcard. The postcard explained in an immediate fashion the nature of the topic I was writing about. The postcard was a launch pad for deeper discussions of what the book was about.
After my book was published, I created new postcards with the book’s front cover as the graphic. These cards can be used in lieu of or in addition to a business card to instigate a conversation about the book. I have also created custom mailing labels that I have placed on the back side of the post cards and sent them to the bookstores (or other venues) where I have had plans to speak so that they can promote both my book and my speaking engagements. Bookstores and other venues typically do not have large marketing budgets to promote author events beyond simple email blasts to attract audiences/buyers. Bookstores and other venues LOVE it when you the author take the initiative to save them money and help them promote you.
The next step up from postcards is a full blown hardcopy press kit. While the entire world is going digital, I have found there still is value in having something in your hand to hold onto. That’s why newspapers are still around – many still like the tactile feel of a newspaper more than viewing an article online.
Then of course, there is the author’s individual website. Companies like Google and Microsoft (just to name a few) offer both website development tools and hosting services at nominal prices, if not for free. If you want to build just a simple website without too many frills, this is a good way to get your feet wet. If you outgrow this approach, you can build a more sophisticated website as your needs and desires grow.
You will also want to join websites for authors. There are many websites that allow you to join fellow authors to promote your books and upcoming speaking engagements. Two that I use are booktour.com and redroom.com(where Nina Amir actually posted Write Nonfiction in November and ended up having it featured on the home page for a week). Both are FREE. Note: if you do sign up for either of these sites, please (seriously) tell them that I sent you (and I’ll get a bonus).
Assuming you really want to promote your book, that means travel. This means you’ll want to find ways to travel on the cheap. There are many websites that can help you find low airfares, discounted hotel rates and low car rental rates. I personally stay away from booking at sites like Expedia.com, Orbitz.com and Travelocity.com. These sites not only tack on an additional if nominal service fee, for hotels and car rentals they also lock you into the reservation, so you might lose your deposit – or more if you cancel. I much prefer other websites that you can use to compare low rates such as Kayak.com (for airfares, hotels, and car rentals), Travelzoo.com, and Carrentals.com. I also use the entertainment book to obtain lower rates for hotels and carrentals.com. It also helps if you can coordinate multiple speaking engagements in a particular area, if possible. Then, you can have the different venues share/split the travel expenses, making it more likely that they’ll invite you in the first place.
Happy selling.
About Ron Arons
Born in New York, Ron Arons was reared a goodie-two-shoes. Aside from four moving violations (including a “California” roll through a stop sign, doing 40 MPH in a 30 MPH zone, and driving with his brights on), Arons has never been afoul of the law.
Arons earned a B.S. in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He worked for many years as a marketer at many high-tech companies, including Texas Instruments, Ashton-Tate, and Sybase, before deciding to work full time on this book. Arons became interested in understanding his roots after he lost both his parents to cancer 16-18 years ago. In the process of researching his criminal ancestor’s past, he has traced his roots to England, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
In 2005, Arons won a Hackman Research Residency Award from the New York State Archives to continue his research of New York Jewish criminals. In January, 2008, he appeared on the PBS television series, The Jewish Americans, as the acknowledged expert on Jewish criminals of New York’s Lower East Side.
Arons tours the country giving educational and entertaining presentations on Jewish criminals and Jewish genealogy.
This is it – the last week of Write Nonfiction in November. We’ve covered a lot of ground with this blog, and I hope you’ve each done the same with your nonfiction writing project. However, it’s time to think about wrapping things up. As I prepare another six blogs, you need to prepare to complete your project. And don’t forget there’s a holiday in this week – Thanksgiving. I’ll be traveling on Tuesday and Saturday, and I’ll have sketchy dial-up Internet service some of the time, but I’ll still be posting blogs…so keep reading and keep writing. And we’ll cross the finish line together.
Also…If you like this blog, consider voting it a 2009 Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers. To do so, simply send an email to: writersdig@fwpubs.com. Write “101 Best Websites” in the subject line. Place the link to this blog – www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com – in the body of the email. If you want to add why you like the blog and the challenge, that’s helpful. If not, just send the link. Thanks!
How to Make Your Prose Marketable
Today’s agenda: Learning ways to make our writing more marketable, a necessary skill for writers to learn if they are to successfully sell their writing. After all, if we want to be published writers, or authors, we have to be able to sell our writing. That means what we write must be marketable. Makes sense, no? Sounds simple, but it isn’t.
To help us learn this all important lesson, Write Nonfiction in November welcomes guest blogger Philippa Burgess, an entertainment professional with Creative Convergence in Los Angeles. She specializes in developing and marketing literary content across Hollywood and the publishing and publicity industries. Out of all her experience, she’s culled three guideposts to help us hone our prose into marketable manuscripts.
Marketable Prose Informs, Inspires and Challenges Readers
By Philippa Burgess
Entertainment Professional and Consultant
Partner, Creative Convergence Inc.
I commend you on your participation in Write Non-Fiction in November. I know you’ve already received a ton of invaluable expert tips, and I have no doubt there will be more to come. I’d like to offer three of my own signature guideposts in order to help you develop your content so that it is inherently more marketable: to inform, to inspire, to challenge.
1. To Inform
What type of non-fiction are you writing?
Broadly speaking there are two types of non-fiction. You may want to consider which one you are writing because that will help you think about what types of media you can use to best share your story.
Type 1 – Narrative Non-Fiction - This tells a true story about your or someone else’s experience using a clear narrative structure. This type of story can be told in any particular literary genre, such as romance, comedy, thriller or adventure, but all the facts, characters and timeline are true and corroborated by primary and/or secondary sources. There are a lot of opportunities to publish these types of stories and they can take the form of articles, memoirs, biographies, and other types of non-fiction narrative books. They also may be pitched or adapted for television and feature films.
Type 2 – General or Prescriptive - This offers information that is either a newsworthy account of facts or a how-to approach that provides the audience with a way to save time, money and/or energy to achieve a desired result. Another popular style is to offer an opposing view to conventional wisdom. In either case, you are coming to the conversation with a certain amount knowledge that gives you credibility based on a combination of experience, education, and research.
2. To Inspire
How can your story generate the greatest impact?
For maximum impact you want to make sure your content is authentic and compelling. I offer you a simple but effective “Your Signature Story” formula that you can use to hit your mark with any story or message.
Picture a triangle and each side answers a different question: Who are You? + What is Your Mission + Who is Your Audience? In the middle of that triangle is the answer that comprises an authentic and powerful story or message.
Who are you? What experience or expertise do you have? What human and emotional truths can you share? All notably authors (either fiction or non-fiction) have a clearly defined voice and point-of-view about the world. Take for example John Grisham, JK Rowling and Sebastian Junger, who all brought part of their own story to their writing. Grisham was a Southern lawyer (writing about Southern lawyers), Rowling lost her parents (remember, Harry is an orphan), and Junger writes about dangerous jobs (he’d had his own workplace accident while cutting trees and was a war correspondent for many years).
What is your mission? Whether it is to inspire, inform or entertain, you’ll do best with a clearly defined agenda when you enter the marketplace. Grisham spins tight thrillers that take us inside the justice system and into world of high powered business professionals; Rowling shares a philosophy of life and entertains with spellbinding magic and lore; Junger tackles what it is like to take serious risks with your life and in your work, because he believes humans have a greater capacity for physical risk than we normally acknowledge.
Who is your audience? It is important to know the audience your story or message is meant to touch. Think about what other books they might read, what TV shows and movies they watch, what magazine they buy, and what internet sites they surf. Surely, you might say that your story is ideal for everyone, but it helps if you have a primary demographic in mind when you start. This helps you in three ways: 1. You focus your voice. 2. You can explore the marketplace and see how else it has been served and where there is a gap for you to fill. 3. You’ll know exactly where to find your audience when you are ready to get yourself and your stories in front of them.
What is your signature story or message? Your particular story or message should serve each side of the triangle. It’s a good way to start for whatever type of writing endeavor you are initiating or a tool you can use as you approach rewriting your material.
3. To Challenge
But really, who cares?
I trust you’ve been informed and inspired, and now it is time to challenge you. You’ve got a great story to tell. You know what type of non-fiction story you are writing. You’ve done well to ask those hard questions about you, your mission, and your audience and crafted a story or a message that supports it. But then someone turns to you, as I have done to many writers, and asked the most challenging question of all, “Who cares?”
I am not trying to insult anyone in asking this hard question; it is a “tough-love” challenge. Many writers have stared at me in wonderment (or great disdain) at that moment. The key here is that the story may be about anything and just because you wrote it, you think I should care. The truth of the matter is that, as a reader, I want to know (I mean really know) that there is something in it for me. I want to know that I will uncover some secret knowledge that will make my life better or be moved by our human condition and get in touch with my own emotions. I want to be empowered either with information or with a renewed confidence in my own strength and abilities.
The answer then, when you are posed with the question, “Who Cares?” needs to be a resounding, “You.” The person you are pitching your idea to at that moment should be able to find something of value in it for them. And if they are really not your audience, because they don’t happen to fit the demographic you’ve defined, then jump right in and enthusiastically answer with great detail who you know cares and why.
With my three tips – to inform, inspire and challenge – in mind, I’m going to use myself as an example, so we can look at them in action. I’ll do this by asking myself the same questions and answering them. Here goes:
What type of nonfiction do I write?
I write prescriptive non-fiction on marketing for writers.
What kind of impact do I want?
(Formula is You + Your Mission + Your Message = Your Signature Story)
I am an entertainment professional, and my mission is to inform, inspire and challenge writers to achieve greater success. My audience is writers, authors, experts and content creators who are interested in working across media channels.
Who cares?
I trust those writing Non-Fiction in November or those who want greater success in accessing and leveraging the power of Hollywood, publishing and publicity can benefit from my experience, guidance and message and that of my company.
I encourage you to continue on your road to Writing Non-Fiction in November. My thanks to Nina for inviting me to share on this blog. You are invited to learn more about our professional services at Creative Convergence Inc. and our teleseminar courses, resources and free member site for writers, authors, experts, and content creators. All of this is all part of Your Signature Story: From Content Creator to Media Brand.
About Philippa Burgess
Philippa Burgess is a partner at Creative Convergence an entertainment company in Los Angeles that specializes in literary development and marketing across media. The company has recently sold client projects to Warner Brothers, Paramount, Lifetime, and ABC Family. Recent TV production credits include “52 Fights” for ABC/Touchstone and “Men’s Guide the the Women’s Bathroom” for CBS/Paramount. Among their non-fiction film projects were “Thieves of Baghdad,” “Queensized” and “52 Fights.”
Philippa oversees the consulting division of the company. The department provides a collaborative creative and business development process for a dynamic list of consulting clients that include emerging non-fiction writers, experts, authors, and content creators who want to establish a media brand. She teaches at conferences around the country and facilitates the popular “Your Signature Story: From Content Creator to Media Brand” and “Million Dollar Screenwriting & Content Career” teleseminar courses.
A Platform Built One Talk at a Time Leads to A Published Book and More Talks
I’m a member of a very unique writing group. We call ourselves a Jewish writing group, but we focus less on the writing – we don’t critique each other’s writing (although we would if asked) – and more on the business end of writing. By this I mean, our meetings, which happen in a teleconference room (by phone), deal primarily with platform building. We discuss how and where to get speaking gigs, where to publish our work (articles and books), where to post blogs and articles and bios on the Internet, etc. We have edited each other’sbook proposals as well. Because we are all working on Jewish books, we are able to share important leads and contacts that particularly serve Jewish writers.
In this group we have one shining star. He has not only managed to build himself a phenomenal platform based on speaking engagements, but he also used this platform to help him get a book published. Now he draws on that platform (and strengthens it) by publicizing his book with more talks. In fact, at this moment he is not participating in Write Nonfiction in November (other than writing two blogs for me), because he is too busy criss crossing the country several times in 30 days on his self-created book tour. He’s managed to get himself spots on a PBS special, into national and regional magazines, on panels with other well-known authors, and onto numerous talk shows. (And he serves as his own publicist, PR rep and media coach…)
For this reason, I asked Ron Arons, author of The Jews of Sing Sing, to tell the readers of Write Nonfiction in November how he built his expert speaker platform. I learn something from him every time my writers group meets. I’m sure you’ll learn something from him as well. If nothing else, you’ll find his success story inspirational.
Public Speaking: A Central Component for Building a Platform
By Ron Arons
The Jews of Sing Sing
For the longest time I avoided public speaking. Throughout my schooling, including college and graduate school, I was afraid to get up and speak in front of fellow students to give a report. When I entered the workforce, I was forced into giving presentations about the results of the marketing research project I had conducted while working for Texas Instruments in their consumer electronics division. Questions raised by senior management in those meetings were frequently embarrassing, exposing weaknesses or inaccuracies in the presentations’ analyses and conclusions. What a humbling experience that could be.
Realizing my weakness and discomfort in public speaking, I joined a Toastmasters chapter, which held its meetings at TI’s facility. This set of experiences boosted my confidence to some degree, but, at some point, I dropped out of the chapter, stunting any further growth as a speaker.
Years went by before I would subject myself to public speaking again. This time I was a product marketing manager at Sybase, a vendor of database software that competed with a much larger company – Oracle. As the product champion for Sybase’s products that ran on Macintosh and Hewlett Packard computers, I was called into sales meetings on a regular basis to answer questions that the Sybase salespeople could not. My ability to speak before groups of 10 to 15 people grew by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, I remained uncomfortable with the thought of talking to larger-sized groups.
A few years ago I attended the San Francisco Writer’s Conference where the mantra of “platform” was drilled into my head. One could not get a book published without a platform. Furthermore, I understood that the platform was necessary to sell the book once it was published.
Originally intending to publish a memoir about my criminal ancestor, I started to build my platform. Given my genealogical approach to writing my memoir, I thought I would apply to be a speaker at the international Jewish genealogy conference held in London in 2001. I thought I stood a good chance of getting accepted as my criminal ancestor’s childhood and his family’s story took place throughout England and because I could talk about how I did my research from afar using the Internet. My proposed talk was accepted, and I flew off to England.
My audience at the conference was much larger – almost 90 people – than I had ever spoken in front of before. I was a bit nervous, but fortune was on my side. Two minutes into my talk, people were laughing hysterically and falling into the aisles. I thought to myself, “Gee, this is fun!”
Good things continued to happen to me at the conference. Over the next few days, several people walked up to me and, in a completely unsolicited fashion, told me how much they enjoyed my presentation. One person went so far as to say that my talk was the best she had heard at the conference (which had more than 100 sessions). She continued by asking me whether I would consider giving a repeat performance at one of her local society’s meetings in Los Angeles. My speaking career was about to take off.
With every talk I gave, I not only gained additional confidence, but also built up a sizable and impressive resume. Every talk I gave made it that much easier to get the next gig. Every gig expanded my reputation as a “national” speaker.
This, of course, is what every literary agent and publishing editor seeks in a book proposal. Small or no platform, no publishing/book contract. It’s also what you need to secure speaking engagements once the book is published, whether they’re at bookstores, churches, on the radio, on TV, or elsewhere. For example, I can’t tell you how much easier it has been to get speaking engagements after appearing as a talking head on the PBS TV series, The Jewish Americans. (Admittedly, I had a bit of luck getting this gig, which is another story.)
No, I did not get on TV overnight. Building my platform took years – about seven or eight years. It started very slowly by first fighting my way into an international Jewish genealogy conference in London. The next year (2002), I gave two presentations in the U.S. The number of engagements grew like the Fibonacci series of numbers – each number in the series is calculated by adding together the two numbers that precede that number: 4 engagements in 2003, 6 in 2004, 7 in 2005, 15 in 2006, 20 in 2007, and finally, 48 engagements this year. So, you get gigs without having a book published. Mine was published only this past June.
Over time, I also expanded the types of venues I would go after. My bread and butter has always been Jewish genealogy societies. But, over time, I secured gigs at synagogues, history conferences, and Jewish community centers. Now that the book has been published, I still go back to these same organizations but have recently gone after bookstores (I’ve spoken at some of the most respected independent bookstores across the country) and book fairs/festivals. (By the end of this year I will have appeared at three of the country’s largest book fairs – the Brooklyn Book Festival, the Miami International Book Fair, and the San Diego Jewish Book Festival.) With a built-up resume, it also has become easier to obtain invitations to be on radio shows as well.
So…all of this take a great deal of time and effort. The good news is that anyone can do it if you put your mind to it. It does take patience and persistence, though. So, if you have not already started to build your platform, the time is NOW. Good luck.
About Ron Arons
Born in New York, Ron Arons was reared a goodie-two-shoes. Aside from four moving violations (including a “California” roll through a stop sign, doing 40 MPH in a 30 MPH zone, and driving with his brights on), Arons has never been afoul of the law.
Arons earned a B.S. in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He worked for many years as a marketer at many high-tech companies, including Texas Instruments, Ashton-Tate, and Sybase, before deciding to work full time on this book. Arons became interested in understanding his roots after he lost both his parents to cancer 16-18 years ago. In the process of researching his criminal ancestor’s past, he has traced his roots to England, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
In 2005, Arons won a Hackman Research Residency Award from the New York State Archives to continue his research of New York Jewish criminals. In January, 2008, he appeared on the PBS television series, The Jewish Americans, as the acknowledged expert on Jewish criminals of New York’s Lower East Side.
Arons tours the country giving educational and entertaining presentations on Jewish criminals and Jewish genealogy.
Top 10 Ways for Writers to Establish Expert Credentials
Back to the topic of building platform, your goal as a nonfiction writer needs to revolve around becoming the expert on your subject matter. By that I mean that the media needs to see you as an expert. Actually, you don’t just want to be seen as an expert; you want to become THE EXPERT. This needs to happen not just before you write your book, but while you write your book and long after you get your book published (not just for that three-month publicity window you have heard about). You need to become the “go-to guy or gal” for your subject matter from this moment on into eternity. Whenever your subject ends up in the news, you want the media to immediately think of you as the source for information on this subject as well as for great quotes and interviews for their stories.
I spend a lot of my time promoting myself as the expert on practical spirituality, human potential and personal growth from a Jewish perspective. However, I am by no mean THE EXPERT yet. I do this in a variety of ways, including sending out news and press releases that end up in front of the media. One way I do this is through my subscription to ExpertClick.com and the Yearbook of Experts. There I’m actually listed as an expert on my subject matter (as well as in 39 categories). Because of this, I’ve been contacted three times by The Star, once by a regional magazine, once by a podcaster who interviewed me and then signed me up as her monthly holiday and spirituality expert (Conversations with Mrs. Claus is listened to by 85,000 people in 90 different countries each month), and once by a radio show that interviewed me and ran the two radio spots on their news show. I have a small niche, but the media can find me, on this website I’m perceived as an expert. (If you are interested in a subscription, see my discount link below!)
How do you become the expert in your field? Writing a book and getting it published helps, but it’s not the be all and end all to becoming an expert. So, I asked Mitchell Davis, the publisher of the Yearbook of Experts, to write a blog for Write Nonfiction in November offering writers tips on how to develop expert credentials. PR Week called the Yearbook “a dating service of PR.” The following represents his top 10 tips for accomplishing this task and helping you build a really strong platform from which you won’t have to shout, “I’m the expert!” Hopefully, if you take his advice, this fact will be obvious to everyone.
Top 10 Ways to Establish Your Expert Credentials
By Mitchell Davis
Publisher of The Yearbook of Experts
Editor of Broadcast Interview Source, Inc.
- Figure out your “needle-in-the-haystack” uniqueness. Use those phrases as your meta-tags, on your Web site, in your “elevator speech.” It should be two or three word and put it everywhere — from your business cards to your vanity license plate. Use WordTracker.com and KWMap.com. Watch my videos at www.WebHandbook.com to learn how. — Says Mitchell Davis from www.ExpertClick.com — who has published the Yearbook of Experts since 1984.
- Give face time. Make sure people know and see your photo. Do you have an “official” current photo? Have you plastered it as many places as possible? I was flabbergasted at a recent association board meeting when it was asked if you should have your photo on your Web site. You are the brand: People have to know who you are. (GlamourShots.com will even do your hair!)
- Use Skip’s 20-20 media rule. First, make a list of your best 20 revenue customers. Then, figure out which media outlets they follow. Make up a list of the 20 editors or journalists that most influence your 20 money makers. Create a media tip list for those 20 journalists: On an IRREGULAR basis, only when you have ideas or things you know they want, sent it to them. Don’t fall into the trap I saw when I interned at the Larry King Show decades ago. I asked the producer why he was throwing away some of mail unopened, and he said: “I’ve seen stuff with that return address before and it wasn’t interesting.” Send out good ideas, not just about you, but as a “cub reporter” for your list. (Thanks to Skip Weitzen, author of “HyperGrowth,” for his added advice here.)
- Don’t just donate time, stake out a leadership position. At an association that can benefit from your participation, you’ll meet and help others. I’ve volunteered at International Platform Association and will be part of its 2009 Washington, D.C., conference.
- Publish a bio. Make sure it comes up #1 at Google when your name is searched. Make sure when people “Google” you they see your bio and your accomplishments first. Remember this is very different than #1 where you are creating a “search phrase” so that people who don’t know your name can find you.
- Be seen and travel. Take clients, current and former, as well as prospects to dinner. You can listen to what they want, and learn how you can serve them. Even if people cannot make the event, they are pleased they were invited. One on one, the ideas can flow over a bottle of wine. One dinner at the Rainbow Room in New York this year has resulted in so much referral business I can’t believe it. This is just #2 “face time” in person.
- Speak? Train? Consult? Coach? You’ve bottled a lot of information and experience over the years. Are you re-packaging it? Sure that “book as a credential” is what everyone says you need, and that’s a great welcome token, give-away or deal sweetener. I’ve left it off this list, for I don’t think “having a book makes you an expert.” You have to be an expert before you are able to author the book. A book is a fancy business card, as most people never get past the dust jacket. Want to hire a great dust jacket person and write four chapters? Then, be very careful which chapter you run first, for consultants have to listen and come up with the solution. Speakers offer a great overview and insights but often are not responsible for client success. Trainers help you with defined problems and offer programs, and coaches seem caught in a time warp of pay, based on time not success. What are you selling? Solutions, ideas, driving lessons or therapy? If you have a book, it should start conversations which end in conversions and business for you.
- The news media is now everyone who can find you on the Web. Are your ideas being “broadcast” so more people find you? Are you creating new ideas, and moving forward and bringing those who search on problems to find your solutions? Please read that once more: People know their problems; they don’t know your solutions. That’s the commonality, and why a campaign we’ve run for a year on the phrase “disgruntled employees” that was based on an Alan Weiss news release headline — “Creating Loyal Employees” — has had thousands of click-throughs. Have you made a list of your clients’ problems? The blogs, comments and news releases you push via our system, reach the media, the Internet, syndication – and, most importantly, your buyers, the public that search the Internet.
- Have testimonials available and check them. What do people say about you on “the street”? Find out by asking around. Yes, have those mystery shoppers call your business, and report if someone trying to book you for a speech can — ask them to call speaker bureaus and ask about you. Search the Web. What information do they get? What kind of follow up?
- Get inbound links to your URL: ExpertClick.com has 48,000. Test your count by entering “links: and your URL” into Google. Try it with both the “www” and without. Ask for text links with your special words in them. Ask for links from sites that have better rankings than you have; search Alexa.com or DMOZ.org to find them. Get and read the new Bruce Clay Search Engine book. I spent thousands to earn Clay’s SEO training certificate. For $27, you can buy their new book, due out in November. I’ll be blogging about it, once my copy arrives. Read the back issues right now at http://searchoptimizationnews.com/
- Maybe if you have a great idea, I’ll add it as #11 and give you credit and a link.
About Mitchell Davis
Mitchell P. Davis has been helping connect journalists and experts since 1984, when he published his first directory, the Talk Show Guest Directory. Today, his Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons is the “brand” for those in the media seeking swift contact with experts on an extraordinary range of topics. The Yearbook of Experts is so influential, Davis was invited to be on the International Advisory Board of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts.
Davis is a 1984 graduate of Georgetown University, where he won the prestigious Bunn Award for Journalistic Excellence. He holds a B.S.B.A. from the Business School, chosen over his first major of history.
Frequently invited to speak on the synergism of ExpertClick, Davis addresses the best ways to become an expert, his marketing theories of always reaching for best target, about the way the news media pyramid works, and how to maximize results of a news release with a “top twenty” relationship list. Davis often advises clients on getting maximum return on even a single news release. Davis travels extensively attending a variety of trade shows in many industries where he’s found a wide variety of experts from shows as diverse as the World Futurists Show to the Search Engine Optimization show, and Speakers to Coaches to Consultants.
Mitchell Davis
Broadcast Interview Source, Inc.
Washington, DC
202-333-4904
Save $100 on getting listed at www.ExpertClick.com and in the Yearbook of Experts when you click from my discount link:
https://www.ExpertClick.com/Discount/Nina_Amir
How to Get a 6-Figure Book Advance
We are at the end of week #1 for Write Nonfiction in November. Is your nonfiction project unfolding easily and effortlessly? Are you learning new and useful information by reading this blog? I hope so.
Today we combine a bit of information about platform building with some great tips on writing the all-important platform, markets and promotion sections of a proposals. Media coach and marketing specialist Susan Harrow, the author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul, has spent the last 17 years running Harrow Communications, a media coaching and marketing firm in Northern California. From this host of experience, Susan offers us advice on how to land that coveted book deal with more than just a $1,000 advance. (Yes. Sorry to say, often these days $1,000-5,000 seems to be the common offer from small — and even some medium-sized publishing houses, which is why agents won’t represent writers to anything but the large houses.) She stresses some things we’ve already talked about but offers great advice and tips. And don’t forget that tips #2-6 all relate to information that goes into your proposal. (Go back and reread Mike Larsen’s post, and apply what Susan has written about.)
How to Get A 6-Figure Book Advance
By Susan Harrow
Media Coach & Marketing Strategist
Harrow Communications
Eighty-one percent of the population wants to write a book. THe writer’s life seems so glamorous and romantic and dreamy, filled with imagination and magic. And it can be.
For other people, writing is a job. They may see it as a quick path to the how-to or literary lottery and instant fame. And it can be.
Whatever you want, romance, fame, connection, storytelling, the good life, or just the satisfaction of saying, “I wrote a book,” getting a six-figure book advance is possible — if you have the skill, drive and know-how. Here are five tips to get you started on achieving the dream of becoming a well-paid, respected author.
1. Understand the Publishing Industry
The publishing industry has a specific set of rules. They like it when you follow protocol. They also like to receive book proposals in a standard format that you must know. Most publishers’ top priority is to sell books. Lots of them. And mostly it’s you who is going to do the selling. I remember one of my first clients tell me, “Think of your publisher as a distributor.” I’ve never forgotten that. It’s still wise advice.
When I was traveling in Mexico a few years ago, I met a woman whose husband has been a best-selling author for 20 years in England. He has had the same agent and publisher for those 20 years. Every time he came out with a new book, his publishers expected it to be “number one” on the English equivalent of the New York Timesbestseller list. They worked with him to make it so. In America the bottom line is king. You must be able to substantiate your claim that your book will fly off the shelves without any help from the publisher.
2. Prove There is a Market for Your Book
You need to show that your book will sell to one large audience, or many smaller niche audiences that add up to a large market. Publishers are looking for you to substantiate your claims with statistics that prove your audience buys books on that subject. It’s not enough to say that this audience would be interested in your topic. You must be able to prove beyond a doubt with your well-researched facts that your readers are a “book buying” audience. For example, I interviewed a best-selling ghostwriter for Get a 6-Figure Book Advance, who specializes in health and had coauthored a book on breast cancer. Women with breast cancer buy books. But when she was approached to write a book on lung cancer, she discovered that people with lung cancer dont’ buy books, so she didn’t take on the project. Do your research before you write your book proposal so you know you’re writing a book that has a built-in audience.
3. Develop a Platform
This is the most important aspect of your proposal after you’ve proven that there is a pressing need for your book and that book buying audiences will snap it up. A platform is a fancy way of saying YOUR ability to sell books to the audience that you have said will buy from you.
A platform is all about numbers, prestige and popularity. You’ll want to state the number of people on your e-zine list, the amount of traffic to your blog, and how many times a week you podcast and how many people listen or download it.Site the articles you’ve written. List your speaking engagements. How many people buy your products and services now? Do you have big name corporations or organizations that will buy your books in bulk? Do you have a regular column or write for publications? Are you a regular media guest?
If you don’t have an impressive platform, you don’t get a 6-figure advance. But you can always start now and build your momentum. Sometimes with a blog your platform can be created virtually overnight.
4. Map Out a Marketing Plan to Promote Your Book
Your plan should include a wide range of mediums–everything from speaking engagements, online marketing, licensing, and media placements. The key is it must be realistic and do-able. In other words, you can’t say that you’ll speak to organizations of 1000 people or more if you’ve never done it.
What do publishers hat most? When you say that you’re right for Oprah. Unless you’ve already been a guest the show has taped and aired, please NEVER say this if you don’t want your reputation instantly dirtied.
Instead, show how you will build on your past publicity. If hosts or producers say that they want you back for another segment because you did such a good job the first time, say it. But if you haven’t done much media to date, dont’ fret.
You can begin today and get a substantial number of profiles , features, and comments in the media in a few months by joining PRLeads, a service that delivers reporters queries (the stories they need experts for) daily to your email box. I’ve had clients quoted in the New York Times within a week. You can be one of them.
5. Get Endorsements
Big names sell products. Getting well-known names of celebrities, best-selling authors, actors, athletes, respected experts in your field, media personalities, any famous name that has a shine give you the kind of credibility that can’t be bought.
One of my clients, who got a number of New York Timesbest-selling authors to write about him, accomplished three things with his endorsements. Each person who wrote about him told a different story about why he would be a a winning author. The first one championed him as a talented and successful professional. The second one noted that my client’s book filled a gap that her book had failed to address. The third one demonstrated that the people my client was trying to reach were an avid book buying market longing desperately for his type of book. She added that since they bought hers, they woudl want his as well. Nice.
These meaningful endorsements made it easier for him to get his 6-figure advance. (And he got media coached by me before he met the editors at the big New York publishing houses, who then bid on his book at auction–which upped the price substantially.)
Don’t just get endorsements saying you’re great. Make your endorsements do double duty by helping you prove there is a market and that you’re the one they want to buy from. This is the type of information that gets you noticed from the other 150,000 authors who are published every year. Follow this advice, and you’ll be well on your way to earning a 6 figure book advance. Good luck! And keep me posted.
About Susan Harrow
Susan Harrow specializes in presentations and media coaching and creating marketing strategies for Fortune 500 CEOs, Internet millionaires, world renowned speakers, successful entrepreneurs and best-selling authors. She has also worked with award-winning documentary film producers, leaders in banning racism, maverick publishers and people in unusual occupations. Dozens of Susann Harrow’s clients have earned 6-figurebook advances and have appeared on Oprah, GMA, 20/20, Larry King Live, E!, CNN, MSN, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade, People, O, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Inc.
Get Susan’s free tips here: http://prsecrets.com/store/sixfigurebookproposal.html
Listen to a free teleseminar here: http://ww.prsecrets.com/free-audio-signup-6f.html
Join Susan’s ezine here: http://ww.prsecrets.com
Order Susan’s book, Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul (HarperCollins), here: http://www.presecretstore.com/sywssbook.html
Harrow Communications
P.O. Box 543
Larkspur, CA 94977-0543
888-839-4190
http://www.presecrets.com/publicityblog.html
Promote Your Book — and Yourself — with Online Articles
You can gain exposure for yourself and your books by using your nonfiction writing ability to write articles and “news releases” (short articles) that you post to online article directories and distribution services. You can also submit them to e-zines, which represents a more targeted approach. I’ve done this consistently for more than a year, and if you Google my name, you’ll find load of entries. Not only that, if you search for any of the many subjects about which I’ve written – all of which pertain to the books I’m trying to promote – you’ll likely find something I’ve written on that very subject.
Let’s start with e-zines. These are magazines published on the Internet. Some print magazines also have e-zines, and sometimes these carry different articles. I tend to go for the e-zines that are published only on line and that carry articles solely on topics related to my books. Therefore, you can often find my articles in Jewishmagazine.com or Interfaithmagazine.com. The latter pays me a little for my articles; the former does not, but it affords me its 3,000 unique visitors a day and a link to my web site. That’s great exposure and publicity, especially since my bio mentions my book or books.
As for article directories, many of these are free, and you can submit to them yourself. This can be very time consuming, however. Instead of doing this myself, I choose to use a service called SubmitYourArticle.com (There are others out there.), which costs me $37.00 per month for unlimited article postings per month. They are sticklers about what you post – no outright promotional stuff that sounds like a press release, for instance, but they then submit it to a huge number of article directories for you. (There is some upfront work involved; you have to get a Yahoo e-mail account – or some place where the tremendous amount of posted articles will show up – yes, other people’s articles arrive in your inbox — and give it to all the directories, which takes a lot of time. Once it is done, though, it’s quick and easy. I never even look in that Yahoo e-mail box, by the way. I have to say that the upfront work has deterred me from leaving the service and trying another. I wouldn’t want to start all over again if I came back to them!) I am happy with the number of places I find my articles published, and I seem to get a lot of web site traffic from these listings.
Another service can be used to submit articles all over the Internet; I can’t even begin to tell you where all your news release will go, but boy it goes. It’s called PRWeb.com. They offer a range of services, the cheapest being $200. I posted a news release there last December, and it received 82,000 hits! My web traffic increased quite a bit, and I did find part of the news release used in a newspaper article in the South. I was hoping to enroll some people in a teleseminar, however, and that didn’t happen. Lots of people I know swear by PRWeb.com, but it isn’t cheap. I’m planning to use it to promote a teleseminar a friend of mine and I are running this January. We’ll split the cost, and see if we get some enrollment this time. Be sure when you write your release, however, that you use lots of key words, so people can find your article.
The more exposure you get online, the better when it comes to building your platform. You just never know what will come of it. I spent a year writing news releases almost every week and paying money to submit them on line or giving them away for free. I paid to have myself listed as an “expert” on Expertclick.com, where I can post four news releases a month and have them read by journalists. I thought it was for nothing, even though I knew that I’d plastered myself all over the Internet and increased my web site visitors from an average of 500/month to between 2500 and 4000/month in a year. (My unique visitors went from an average of 300/month to an average of 2500-3000/month in a year.) Oh, some lady did mention something I’d said in a blog once and, as I said, one part of a news release ended up in a newspaper article, and there were all those pieces picked up by e-zines. But nothing big happend. The media weren’t calling me as an expert for interviews.
Then, after a little more than a year, suddenly things started to happen. I was contacted by a regional magazine for an interview for an article. I was asked to do a podcast interview (for a show with 38,000 listeners/month), and it looks like I’ll be asked back as a regular guest. And I received a request to participate in a virtual book launch party wehre a possible 500,000 people might see my name and face — and download my free gifts (related to my books). Then someone asked me to write a blurb for the back of their book, and now I’m speaking with someone about writing a piece for an anthology that is closely related in subject matter to one of my book projects.
It’s taken more than a year, but my platform is building a little bit at a time, and I’m becoming an “expert.” So use your nofiction writing skills to promote yourself online. It’s time consuming and hard work, and it costs a bit of money, but I do think it pays off in the end.
A Nonfiction Writer’s Identity Crisis
I promised to tell you about my writer’s identity crisis. I’m not sure that fiction writers suffer from this affliction, but I’m fairly sure that many nonfiction writers suffer along with me.
All indicators point to me being a writer, but some days I’m not sure that is who I am.
I have a literary agent – two actually, since my agent’s husband is also an agent. That must mean I’m a writer, right? Actually, I had three agents representing three book projects of mine at the Book Expo America this past year. So, I must be a writer.
I don’t have any books published by publishing houses, but I did have one book contract for about a year, but the book never was published. (That’s a long story not worth going into here…) I have several short books, or booklets, that I’ve self-published. So, I must be a writer.
As I’ve already shared, I have a degree in magazine journalism, and I’ve written for more than 40 different magazines, newsletters and newspapers. I’ve also written for a variety of e-zines, and I’ve had three essays published in three anthologies. So, I must be a writer.
I also work as a freelance non-fiction book editor and coach. I guess that makes me an editor more so than a writer, but it at least shows that I know something about writing. I’ve had several jobs as a magazine editor as well.
So, what’s the problem, you ask? It’s obvious that I’m a writer, you say? Why am I having an identity crisis? Because I spend about 75 percent of my time, if not more, peddling myself as an expert speaker and a teacher or writing news releases and press releases (free articles) and posting them on line or sending them out to the media promoting myself as an expert. These days, I spend very little time, if any writing articles for pay or writing books. (No wonder I wanted to start the Write Nonfiction in November challenge. I needed the challenge myself so I would actually WRITE something.)
Why? Because to become a published author – to have a publisher actually accept one of my book proposals and offer me a contract – I have to have a “platform.” No, not a wooden box or stage to stand on, but a speaking platform from which I can sell my books. I have to be perceived as the expert in my “field,” and I have to become well-known to many people. I have to be able to help market my books through “back of the room sales” at lectures, workshops and talks that are attended by hundreds, if not thousands, of attendees. I have to become a regular guest on radio and television talk shows, so I get lots of media exposure and can tell lots of people about my book. I have to be featured in national magazines or in magazines that pertain to my field of expertise. I have to find creative ways to build a big mailing list or e-mail list to which I can market my book, thus helping sell them over time.
If you still harbor the belief that a publishing house will market and publicize your book for you, think again. While they might do so on a small scale, in today’s publishing world, this job has fallen onto the nonfiction writer’s shoulders.
Today’s publishing environment demands that we nonfiction writers become expert marketers and publicists — of ourselves and of our books. If we can’t prove to publishing houses that we can wear these hats as well as our writer’s hats, we can kiss our dreams of that publishing contract goodbye. (Here’s where some of us might want to consider moving over to the fiction side of writing, where none of this platform business applies…)
So, am I a writer or am a marketing and publicity pro? Am I a writer or an expert speaker and media source? Am I a writer or a PR wiz? Mostly these days, I’m the latter in all cases. And that doesn’t leave me feeling much like a writer.
But…I am determined to be a writer. A nonfiction writer. I set out to help people through my writing, and my writing serves no one if it goes unread. Therefore, I will write, and I will publish. Where once I said I would never self-publish (although I have on a small scale), I will if necessary.
There are so many publishing avenues available to writers today, no reason exists for us to wait around for someone to tell us we’ve proven we can be something other than a writer so they’ll publish our work. Our writing should speak for itself and be published on its own merits. I, for one, am tired of waiting around for someone to decide that my platform is big enough rather than that my book idea or my writing is good enough. I’m tired of being told to be someone I’m not. I’m off to write…because writer’s write. Surely in the process my identity crisis will come to an end, and I’ll feel like a writer once again. I’ll remember who I am — a nonfiction writer.
ninaamir