The Fabulist Flash

Issue 55

Pumpkin Patch Mousepad

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. The Writer's Book Shelf
3. Feature Article
4. A Writer Tidbit
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

Welcome to Issue 55 of The Fabulist Flash.

My apologies for the double email last week. We all make mistakes and last week, one of mine was a formatting error. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The Get Motivated! seminar was interesting. It's wonderful to hear speakers who've been through experiences before us and offer their advice. Yet, I couldn't help thinking they were all snake oil salesmen. As each one got the audience hyped into a motivated frenzy they followed up with a pitch for their books and products. Now, I knew this was the point of the event because the tickets to hear these huge names were almost free. I knew they would be making their money on the backend through product sales. That was one of the reasons I wanted to attend, to see how the experts turn a message into book and product sales. What I wasn't prepared for was the sleazy feeling some of the speakers left me with. That feeling made me question the advice they offered. As we move forward on our career paths I think it's important to decide what type of salesperson we want to be. Will you use your powers for good or evil? Will we offer genuine, value added benefits to others or will we use our platform only to advance our own goals? Just a few questions to ponder.

This past week was calmer and focused on submissions and planning. I submitted several new article queries to magazines around the country as well as a short piece for an upcoming anthology. As a rule, anthologies don't pay much, but offer many other advantages. A few of these advantages include:

• Getting your story or article in print, a great resume and self-esteem builder;
• Getting your work (and yourself) promoted by people you don't even know;
• Having your bio published, we never know when someone will read about us and decide we're right for their next project or visit our website and purchase other books we've written.

On the planning side, I find I've always got some new project or idea to research. Reading through books and articles on book promotion spark so many ideas. With each new idea comes the need for more research and that leads to even more ideas. While it can be overwhelming thinking of all the possibilities, it's also exciting to think of all the possibilities. Our lives and our careers advance one step at a time. Brainstorming and planning help us execute those steps to fruition.

This week's issue has a book promotion theme (you can tell what's on my mind!) with a review of The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and the feature article Publicity and Buzz Marketing for Authors by Miriam Silverberg.

Until next week,

Gregory
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Gregory A. Kompes is a writer, photographer and professional speaker. Learn more about Gregory and his work at www.kompes.com

2. The Writer's Book Shelf

The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

A Review by Gregory A. Kompes

We hear, read and are told frequently that publishers won't spend money promoting our books. If they won't, and you don't have a mountain of your own cash for book promotion, what can you do? The answers lie in Carolyn Howard-Johnson's book: The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't.

Step-by-step, from book idea to publication and beyond, Ms. Johnson provides solid advice for building and executing your own book promotion plan. Inside this well-written, easy to understand book you'll discover how to create a publicity foundation, build your media kit, approach the media, plan a book signing event, plan for radio and TV interviews, attend book fairs, get the most of your Amazon.com listing, and much, much more. Along the way, you'll discover hundreds of free or virtually free online and print resources to make your own publicity journey easier.

Whether you're a book PR expert or starting out from scratch on your first project, you'll find helpful advice and examples of how to get your book noticed by the media and buyers. Ms. Johnson is a bestselling author and long-time publicity expert. Her advice is well founded and comes with examples and experience.

Don't wait to pick up your copy of The Frugal Book Promoter until after your book is published. You'll want this advice at hand before you even pitch your first book. And, best of all, this book is available in both paperback and as a downloadable eBook.

3. Feature Article

Publicity and Buzz Marketing for Authors
by Miriam Silverberg

Congratulations, you've written a book and even gotten it published! Now, all you have to do is get people to buy it. Getting people to actually enter a bookstore with the purpose of buying your book is not easy because you're not a "brand name" yet. But you do have a potent weapon at your command-- the telephone. Use it.

Call the editor of the books section of your paper. Say you'd like to send a copy to him or her. Ask if he has a few minutes so you can briefly tell him about the book on the phone. After you send the book, give her a chance to read or at least glance at it, then call again.

If you can possibly tie the book to something in the news, that's great. Let's say you wrote Cooking with Chocolate and the health section of your paper has an article on the health benefits of chocolate. Call editors and reporters in the health, food and book sections.

If there's a human interest reporter or columnist, call and then send them a copy of the book. Human interest reporters can usually write on anything that interests them. Try to interest them in you. What did you do before you wrote the book and why did you write it? Do you have eight children and wrote it at your kitchen table every morning between 2:00 and 5:00 am? Did you gain 20 pounds writing the book? Or, did you lose 20--proving that chocolate really isn't fattening?

Call the assignment editors at television news programs. Frequently, if there's an interesting hook, they will interview you. Track down book shows on radio and television and call the producers.

Don't be afraid to make the phone calls and don't believe someone when he says he'll get back to you. He won't. The person who has the most to gain (you, in this case) has to make the call. Too often people are afraid to call. Ask yourself what's the worst that can happen. They'll say no, right? Editors are not going to gather menacingly on your doorstep or come after you with garlic and torches. They'll say no. Can you live with that? Of course, you can, so call.

Put on a comfortable pair of shoes, gather up copies of the book and hit the pavement. Stop in at every small bookstore and beg to leave copies. I assume you've already called the biggies. Offer to appear to talk bout and read from your book 9or doi a mini-seminar.

You've got to do things to create a buzz. The author of the aforementioned book on chocolate could give away chocolate bars with each copy. Or slices of cake she made (recipe in the book) during her appearance in the bookstore. It wouldn't be a bad idea to drop off a cake with the book in the newsrooms.

Don't forget retailers. They might agree to do a window around your book. I once got a prominent jeweler to do a window with diamonds falling out of toe shoes and copies of the book, written by a dancer, displayed.

About the Author
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Miriam Silverberg is president of Miriam Silverberg Associates, a publicity firem in New York City. Listed in Who's Who of American Women, she has publicized authors, restaurants, hotels, New York City Ballet and people in the fashion, beauty and medical fields. She is a guest on the publicity panel at Marymount Manhattan College's seminar for writers. She may be reached at silverbergm@iopener.net.

4. A Writer Tidbit

I'm a big fan of initiative and new ideas. We never know if our ideas will be successful or failures, but if we don't take risks we can be certain that nothing will ever happen.

A writer contacted me recently about a new start-up site with a unique concept. The site, WriterInU, is based on collaborative writing with many authors contributing to single projects. It's just beginning so who knows where it will lead. If you're a fiction writer it might be of interest to you. Check it out at: http://writerinu.blogspot.com

I'll also let you know that beyond an email address and web address there's no contact information for the owner of this blog site.

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5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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Make plans now to attend the 2006 Las Vegas Writer's Conference March 30-April 2, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada.