Book Publicity

Wanted: Tips to publicize ebook for college students

5/4/2010 By Joan 4 Comments

Katie Schwartz Chattanooga, TN, asks:

“What are some ways to reach education reporters, or parents of students about to enter college?

“I have written an ebook called Portable Parent for parents and college students, with advice the students need on life skills such as time and money management, as well as much more. Parents download it, add their input and upload it to the students’ computers so the advice is ready when they are. Instant info, with a parent’s input, 24/7. How can I publicize this?”

(Shutterstock photo)

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Information Products Tagged With: back to college, Book Publicity, college life skills, college students, ebook marketing, parents of college students

Graphic artist needs ideas for promoting book video business

2/9/2010 By Joan 8 Comments

Jenni Bowring-McDonough of St. Paul, MN, writes:

“My husband, Tim McDonough, is a graphic artist who is now producing book trailers at Standard Book Videos.

“Because I work in publishing, I introduced him to our president who hired Tim to design several trailers (book videos) for us. That’s terrific, but Tim needs more exposure to attract more clients. He advertised in the event catalog for a regional publishers conference and he will be running an ad in ForeWord Magazine’s national online newsletter later this month.

“We have reached out to other local publishers to introduce Tim’s business. He’s on Twitter, and we will be building a Facebook page soon. We have also reached out to other contacts via the local Book Publishers Association, but thus far, to no avail.

“I even pitched Tim’s story of reinventing himself after 20 years in broadcast news to several weeklies and dailies, but no one bit on the idea. We have also begun branching out into web videos and hope to expand into promotional/sales web videos for small businesses. Thanks for any and all advice!”

Filed Under: Advertising, Authors & Publishers, Facebook, Twitter, Video Tagged With: author videos, Book Publicity, book trailers, standard book videos, tim mcdonough

Authors, do these 2 things before writing a book

8/11/2009 By Joan 2 Comments

Here we go again. Yet another author who shall remain nameless emailed me this week asking for advice on how to market her new book and generate publicity for it. She says she’s “too close to it” and doesn’t know where to start.

If you’re thinking of writing a book, I beg you to do two things before investing months or even years writing and editing it, and thousands of dollars publishing it.

First, read my article 10 Questions to Ask Before Writing Your Book. These aren’t trick questions. But if you can’t answer most of them, you have no business writing a book on the topic you’ve chosen.

Second, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, learn from other authors who have figured out how to make their books best-sellers. Join Steve Harrison for a free telephone seminar this Thursday, August 13, at your choice of two times: 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern. It’s called “How To Make Your Book an Almost Instant Bestseller and Sell Tons of Copies Even If You’re A Marketing Novice”, and it will show you an ingenious, yet simple method any author can use to make their book an almost instant bestseller and sell tons of copies.

As a result of applying the “Bestseller Blueprint,” you’ll discover this Thursday how:

Peggy McColl’s book hit the Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and New York Times bestseller lists.
Gary Renard sold over 10,900 books and hit #2 on Amazon.
Kristie Tamsevicius got a deal to sell 25,000 books to ONE company and got national bookstore distribution after becoming an Amazon Bestseller.
Gary Rebstock hit #1 on Amazon and landed a deal with Random House.
Sandy Forster sold over $50,000.00 of books in a week and hit #5 on Amazon.

Plus, you’ll also learn how to adjust your bestseller campaign to accommodate recent rumored changes in how some top bestseller lists are calculated.

Even if your book isn’t going to be out for a while, this is a call you won’t want to miss. Register here for Thursday’s call.

The method you’ll hear requires no marketing expertise, no marketing budget and no technical expertise. It works for works for all types of books, fiction or non-fiction, regardless of subject—whether your book is self-published, POD, or an ebook; newly-published or even a book that has been out for years.

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers Tagged With: author marketing, author publicity, best-seller books, book marketing, Book Publicity, book sales secrets

Social media time-saver: Turn a LinkedIn Q&A into a video

7/31/2009 By Joan 12 Comments

Stop spending precious time creating original content for all your social media sites.

Here’s a valuable shortcut—a quick way to use expertise you’ve already shared with somebody, and turn it into a video.

Several months ago, on LinkedIn, I answered a question about all the ways an author could use Twitter to promote a book. I copied and pasted my bulleted list and turned it into a post for this blog: Social networking ROI: A testimonial more valuable than an ad.

Then I took that list, pared it down, and bought some stock photos. I combined the photos with text to create a video, using Animoto, a program I love that turns your still photos and text into slick videos. I’ve written about Animoto here.

Here’s my Animoto video on how to use Twitter to market your book:

Next, I’ll take the video and post it to my YouTube channel. Then I’ll share it with my Facebook Fans. Failing to create Fan Pages on Facebook, by the way, is a major missed opportunity, because Fan Pages are the only place Facebook allows you to promote. You can also have an unlimited number of Fans. Read about other missed opportunities on Facebook.

And then I’ll tweet about it, leading my Twitter followers to this blog.

There are countless other ways to recycle content, but you get the idea. If you’re writing a string of tweets about a particular topic, can they be turned into article for EzineArticles.com? Can that article then be turned into a video?

When you find yourself creating content for social media sites, stop and ask yourself: How many ways you can milk the cow that’s already in the barn?

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Blogs, LinkedIn, Social media marketing, Social networking Tagged With: author marketing, Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Book Promotion, Book Publicity, LinkedIn tips, Social networking, socila media, Twitter, Twitter promotion

Which of these author TV-interviews-from-hell is the worst?

7/28/2009 By Joan 34 Comments

I love showing you clips of TV interviews that are perfect examples of how NOT to act on camera.

This week, you get not one, but two videos. Each can best be described as, uh, a “teaching moment.” Both authors start stumbling, right out of the gate.

In the first video, author Uri Man’s comments are so inappropriate that he rattles FOX host Ainsley Earhardt. At the end of the interview, she turns to her co-host and asks, “Did that just happen?”

In the second video, the anchors start taunting author Karrine Steffans and things turn really ugly. Karrine’s response infuriates the anchors so badly that at the end….well, I’m not going to spoil it for you. But promise me you’ll watch to the bitter end.

Here’s the first video, from a recent segment on “America’s News HQ” on FOX News:

Thanks to Publicity Hound Jamile White of Bowie, Md., aka @EcommerceDiva on Twitter, for flagging us to this segment from GoodDaySacramento, the CBS station in Sacramento, Calif.:

Now, it’s your turn.

Which of the two do you think is the worst example of an interview-gone-bad? Are the anchors at fault? If you had been either one of those authors, how would you have responded?

Media trainers and book publicists, what would you have told these authors after the fact if they had been your clients?

Ask your Twitter followers what they think by clicking on the green “tweet” button. Or share this with your Facebook friends.