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!

… Speak About and Market It, Of Course!

When the book deliver euphoria wears off, every author has the gaze in the belly button moment … what do I do next?

Two quick responses:

1     Market, Market, Market. Eighty percent of your time will now be directed to this single word.
2     Speak, Speak, Speak. You will enjoy the reprints, not to mention the book sales.

I am a firm believer that speaking is one of the best ways to move a book—when you connect with an audience, they want to take you home with them. Your book may be the best thing and the least expensive. They are impulse buys—meaning you need them onsite. You must take credit cards. My personal record was speaking at a conference in Utah for 60 minutes. In 5 hours, over $16,000 in book sales happened (560 books to audience of 800) … one book at a time.

Book Publishing Savvy Today:

Do You Know Where Your Book Sales Come From?

       Do You Know Where Your Clients Come From?

              Do You Know Where Your ____ Comes From?

Having a marketing and sales background, it was drilled in that I had to follow my leads, track my leads and know where my business came from. Maybe. Maybe not … at least today. The Internet has changed a lot of the rules of yesterday … yesteryear. It’s fast forward time…

If you have a product—a book, consulting services or any other product—today, it’s all about being “out there”—exposed, talked about, findable.

Maybe it’s time to stop asking the question, Do you know where your business is coming from? Because there isn’t a definable answer. Maybe the answer is in the response zone of “… just because.”

Authors: You Don’t Have to Answer Every Question When Doing Media

Ha! You’ve landed an interview on your book; you’ve prepped, only to discover that they person interviewing you is clueless. The odds are that they have not read your book–the back cover, yes; flaps, yes–their producer has supplied the questions that will come your way.

Or, they have their own agenda. What to do?

Your answer: Why take control, that’s what you do!

Remember growing up, you were told to answer any question an adult asked you? With the media–forget it. Authors need, no must, learn how to deflect a question when appropriate.

How about:

You: If I understand your question correctly, you’re really asking is/if …

Now, give your take—it doesn’t matter if it’s not directly connected.

You: Your question triggers another I need to address first …

Take this and run with it.

The Passion Factor

I’m lucky. I’m passionate about what I do when working with authors and their books and about the books that I write. When authors attend my various Publishing and Speaking Salons, they know what they are writing or want to speak about. They come with enthusiasm … and passion. And many show up a bit overwhelmed with the whole process.

It’s their passion that fuels their engines and enables them to work one more hour, take one more step to write their “baby” and get it to lay-out and design and on to the printer. It’s their passion that allows them to roll up their sleeves and create a marketing and
promo plan and even speak about it.

If you want to write a book, you’ve got to love the topic/cause. If it’s just something to do, my question to you is this: “Why do it?”

What is Independence in the Author and Book Publishing Worlds?

As the Author and Publishing Worlds Turn, the words “self” and “independent” have almost become interchangeable. There is a difference, agreed, a fine line at times. What is independence in publishing?

A self-published book
can mean almost anything … from what gets spilled out of the fingers and mind of the author to the presentation from the local printing shop and sometimes looking like it was put together at the kitchen table with a glue-stick; to a vanity press like a LuLu, AuthorHouse; or an Outskirts Press that offers different types of packages/templates for the author to select from; to
Amazon’s CreateSpace; to the author doing the publishing himself with his name or a “looks like a publishing company” name on it.

As a Presenter, Being Boring Isn’t an Option … The last thing a presenter wants to do is use a white background with a black lettering. Can you spell B.O.R.I.N.G?

As the presenter this is you, your work, expertise, or book that is being presented to the global world. Pick a color—not any color—and start to build your theme image. Do you have a favorite one (bright red will earn you an “F”—it’s a killer on the eyes and can make some feel downright hostile if exposed too long to it)?

Is there a great icon or logo that is used in your work or your book that you want carried on every slide to brand you? How about using a color that you like that you can create a gradient background with? Do you use a specific type of illustration or clip art to enhance your slides? How do you position them—are they straight or angled? How do your slides present—do you fade, fly or flip?

Is There A Book Signing In You? Author U isn’t a fan of indiscriminate book signings—ask an author and most will tell you that they can be downright awful. Do them, but be selective. To enhance your event:
1 Do make sure that the bookstore has ordered a sufficient quantity of books and bring extra books for signings—stores do sell out and most will happily “buy” from your stock, paying you later.
2 Do be pro-active. Don’t expect people just to “show up”. You’ve got to be the key factor that they come. Send post cards, emails—anything to encourage them to come.
3 Do make it festive. Bring cookies, colored napkins. Ask your contact before if it’s OK. Do think about give-aways. Your book is a celebration. The only folks who get to truly sit are the literary celebs whose name alone brings in the crowds—you know…the ones that the book store says that tickets will be available starting at 5:30PM.
4 Get Active. Don’t just sit behind a desk expecting the world to come to you. Boring!
5 If you read from your book, make sure you read a powerful section that leaves them wanting more, asking questions.
6 Do a mini-work shop (my favorite) … lead with something from your book, then launch into a few points that include your point, a story or illustration to support it, your point again, then to the next point. This is old fashion sales.
7 Don’t forget visuals … graphs, photos, your picture, giant poster of your book cover—at the front of the store and by you.