Who would have thought … two giants in publishing are doing the merger waltz? —this times it’s Penguin and Random House. The negotiations are on for what the surviving and new publishing company will look like including who will be exiting the building. The new company, to be called Penguin Random House, will boast $4 billion in revenue and control about 25 percent of the worldwide consumer book market.

There will be obvious changes: to save money … to make money. When two companies, any company that has a similarity such as Penguin and Random House, Noah’s Ark doesn’t work. Picture this: Between the two, there are over 9,000 employees across the globe. Some, maybe plenty, are going to go—it’s the Noah’s Ark factor. Expect to see imprints disappear; with them, editors will get the pink slip. The multiple duplicate accounts—the warehousing, distribution, accounting, technology and operations in general … all will most likely come under a single operation when it’s over.

Oh my, many of Author U’s members can fondly remember Leave It to Beaver and Roy Rogers’ TV shows—it’s their day today …  if you are a musician and the flute is your instrument of choice—get it out … it’s Toot Your Flute Day!  In the heart of falltime, if you who love carrying around sticks and hitting a ball, it’s National Golf Day.

Today, it’s all about niche markets on Your Guide to Book Publishing. It will focus on getting your books into all the nooks and crannies you may not think that book sales can occur. Tune in at 6 Eastern, 5 Central, 4 Mountain, 3 Pacific and for our out-of-the-country members and followers … you are going to have to do the clock crunching for your time zone. Remember—you can go to the AuthorU.org website, scroll down on the Home page and see the last five shows—just click and you are instantly there!

Today is Fight Procrastination Day … get it done!  Here’s your Top Ten Twitter Tweets:

Tweets are faster than a speeding bird … below are Author U’s Top Ten Tweets from the past week that you may have missed …

Success & Resources

Authors-Want an Agent? Tips from the newest Writers Digest w/ 25 agents looking for new clients: http://t.co/3Pwfe8BC

Authors and writers can dominate w/ Personal Brand On Google 14 Point Checklist http://t.co/KX1Ew1wD

Great INFOGRAPHIC : “How To Plan Your Blog”  http://ow.ly/drXB2

Author tips on creating an informational empire around book. Podcast. http://ow.ly/dmsyj

Authoring & Writing & Speaking

6 types of writers according to Ezra Pound  http://t.co/mgYaEQRJ

Social Media and Marketing Strategies

Social Media Myths and Realities. Cindy Ratzlaff interview with SCORE – supported by SBA, here: http://t.co/3V23RRUW

Got lots of blogs? Here’s 4 tips for authors and writers to manage them: http://ow.ly/dum2F

It’s National Toasted Marshmallow Day — perfect for the end of summer BBQ!

Tweets are faster than a speeding bird … below are Author U’s Top Ten Tweets from the past week that you may have missed …

Success & Resources

Wise words from famous http://t.co/Y0Z3PeAN

The One Thing Top Gun’s Maverick Knows About Blogging That You (and other authors) Don’t  http://ow.ly/deKpH 

Social Media

18 Steps To The Perfect LinkedIn Profile for authors and books http://t.co/5mFRyCfz

Authoring & Writing & Speaking

12 cliches for writers and authors to avoid.   http://ow.ly/d8iv0

Writing—why your 3rd grade teacher was wrong. http://ow.ly/d527j

Savvy writing lessons. http://ow.ly/dde23

Want to improve your author content? 13 Hot Writing Tips To Make You a Better Blogger http://ow.ly/de5Tz

Social Media and Marketing Strategies
9 Facebook Marketing Tips From Top Experts http://ow.ly/d7wwq

6 Tools to Learn More About Your Twitter Engagement bit.ly/P5Wf7K [Excellent list of tools!]

                  As summer comes to a close, authors start thinking book marketing and business again. … your email may be loading up with a variety of solicitations to enter book awards. Do you … or don’t you? Are they worth the entry fee? Which do you submit to? And what do you do if your book is recognized … besides telling all your friends?

Can book awards make a difference? Yes, if they are the right ones—

Below are a few recommended by Author U and The Book Shepherd that receive ongoing national attention and are worth investing some of your marketing/promotional dollars for submissions. Some give stickers; some give cash prizes; all do national media releases/promotion with winners and finalists and have national recognition. None require that you become a “member.” Deadlines and entry fees for submissions are varied. Submissions and guidelines will give you the details on each site included—deadlines could mean books need to be in hand or merely postmarked. Read their rules.

Question: If you are an Author, are you happy with your book sales?

Question: Would you be thrilled with a few hundred copies of your book sold (average is less than 500) or would you like to sell thousands?
 

Answers: Author U Partners with the Tattered Cover in LoDo for an evening about the book—YOUR BOOK-getting it into the Tattered Cover and SELLING on Monday, July 23rd. If you live in the Colorado area, YOU want to attend. Why—simply this—the Tattered Cover is one of the United States’ premier bookstores, that’s why.

You will come away with:

The Mansoons have hit Colorado …amazing thunder and rain storms this past week … If you are in Colorado and new to authoring and publishing, don’t forget to register for the August 18^th Is There a Book In YOU?  half-day program designed for the Eaglet—the newbie—to the authoring and publishing worlds. It’s only $47 and includes breakfast, workbook and a copy of Judith Briles’ book, Show Me About Book Publishing ($20 value). Early bird deadline is July 31^st. Register at: http://authoru.org/is-there-a-book-in-you.html

And definitely don’t forget to attend the Author U-Tattered Cover event on Monday evening, July 23^rd …  http://authoru.org/tattered-cover.html

ALL profits for both events will go to support the fire fighting efforts that so devastated major areas of Colorado in June and July. Come and out and let your educational/investment in your book dollars count.

Tweets are faster than a speeding bird … below are Author U’s Top Ten Tweets from the past week that you may have missed …

You Deserve a Break Today …

There are two BIG Rules to becoming a successful writer and author.

Rule #1: Write, Write, Write
Rule #2: Read, Read, Read

Here’s Rule #3: Take a Break, Take a Break, Take a Break aka, a vacation from your authoring hat for a few days.

It’s summertime—the outdoors beckons. A warm day in the sun, a day on the lake or at the beach, river-rafting, a movie marathon, a week of dinners with friends, flying a kite … even reading a fabulous book that you’ve been dying to dive into ( or re-read).

Yes, it’s a savvy author who reads up on the latest marketing strategies, book design—you name it. But it’s also the savvy author who knows that a time-out may be the single best thing to do to kick-start the creative juices.

Everywhere you turn, there is info via the Internet , on the bookshelf,  via videos,  and certainly from workshops. You would think that any beginning author would start with a quick search on the Internet to begin their quest. It would certainly reveal a plethora of information—how to do it; what not to do; publish your book for a few hundred bucks, become a best-seller; sell books by the boatloads—you name it, it’s out there.

Yet, a huge number of would-be authors start the process clueless … compounded blunders and mistakes … many that could have been prevented with a little prep work. Starting with these first five:

1     Believing that your mom, brother, sister, pal, neighbor will do the editing that your book—every book—needs. Unless they edit for a living, do ask them to read your book for a basic “flow”—does it flow, is the story/concept connected? Is there a beginning, middle, and end? If it’s non-fiction, does it provide solutions? Is it clear, to the point? If it’s fiction, is the story engaging? Are the characters interesting? Does the reader care about them what they do, become, happens?

Your Book Success Is Up to You … and ONLY You!

This week, I send three emails to three separate authors that I had shephered and agreed to co-publish their books about the lack of sales. Publishers don’t love the term, “lack of sales.” None of these authors should have got the “Wake up and smell the book roses … possible death toll bell” from me.

I hated writing them … I hated sending them.

And, I had to do it. As the publisher, because it’s business. As The Book Shepherd, because they chose to ignore the hours of brainstorming about strategies to market, position and sell their books. As the publisher, I got the books into national distribution at all major channels—even Barnes and Noble ordered them.

And they failed. Two of them have done zip in marketing support. ZIP. The third did an announcement on her Facebook page and has created a few speaking engagements. Granted, those sold books on site, which is a great strategy and was part of the game plan. But, that’s it.