How Long Is Too Long To Market A Book?

So how long is too long to market a book? According to some studies (both formal and informal) marketing (and seeing the results in the form of book sales) can take anywhere from six months to two years, it all depends on what you want to get out of it.

Ideally though, you should plan to market your book ongoing -- if, that is, being an author is a career choice and not a hobby. If it's a hobby then don't put any more time into it than you have to, or you might not choose to market it at all. For some, having the finished book is sufficient. But generally authors don't write and publish a book just to see it "done;" they publish it to further dreams of seeing their careers flourish. If that's the case then your marketing plan should last as long as your career does and hopefully, that's a really long time.

But how long should you stick to marketing one book before moving onto the next? The answer depends on a lot of things. Topic, for one, will often drive the wheels of a campaign and it's often said that the best way to market your first book is with your second and third and forth and well, you get the idea. But now comes the most challenging question: if you're extending a marketing campaign beyond what you originally had on your marketing outline, what on earth will you do to promote it?

If your book is new and your promotional wheels are just hitting full steam the answer to how you might promote your book should be easy. But if it's a year down the road and you feel you've done everything you can do to market your book you might be asking yourself: what's next? This is a great time to assess what you've done, what's worked and what hasn't. It's often in our nature to stare at a closed door begging for it to open, but if the doors you're knocking on still aren't opening, then perhaps it's time to move on to marketing items better suited to your book.

By this I mean that when you go through and evaluate all you've done, it might be easy to say, "You know, I spent a lot of time on this and it's still not doing anything for me, I'll think I'll invest more time on it and see what happens." This might seem like a good idea. Certainly the folks at Oprah might not want to hear from you the first 20 times you pitched but on 21, you could strike gold. The likelihood is, however, that you're just barking up the wrong tree and need to move onto greener pastures.

For example, let's say you've done some speaking engagements in the past year and every time you do them you get tons of new sign-ups for your newsletter, you sell lots of books and best of all, you get asked back! So why don't you do more of them? Well, probably because the rest of your book marketing is taking up so much time that you're unable to devote as much time to this as you can. Now you're in a perfect position. Why? Because you can dump the stuff that's not working so well and focus on the things that are working well, like your speaking engagements. The same is true for media, if you get a lot of it when you're pitching it, then why not pitch more?

For many of us, deciding what to do and when to do it can be confusing, but after you've spent months doing everything you've ever read or heard about, the obvious successes start to clarify themselves and then, what you need to do becomes crystal clear.

If you've only got one book to promote, here are a few tips that might help extend the life of a campaign and give you more ways to market:

* Creating spin-off products: special reports, eBooks and audio product are a all a great way to get some additional mileage out of your book. Creating products that lead to a product line can help leverage more sales. Often when consumers buy one product in a line, they'll buy all of them.

* Speaking events: speaking on your book's topic can really lengthen a campaign. By setting up speaking engagements you're getting the message out there on your book, selling books to the audience and keeping the wheels on your campaign turning.

* Gather your evergreens: an "evergreen" is a topic that's consistently viable from year to year. This means that if you have a news peg on the topic of Labor Day, you can trot this pitch out year after year and the media will love it. Understanding and building these evergreens into your campaign will greatly help extend your marketing campaign.

* Updating your book: with the exception of fiction, most books could stand a refresher every so often. For some books it's yearly, while others can wait a bit longer. The updated version is a great way to capture additional promotion. I update my books yearly and provided that I've added new content (and not just changed a few URL's) I will re-promote each of these as they come out -- just like I would a new title.





Author: Penny Sansevieri

Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

Your Love Affair With Your Muse

How's your love affair with your Muse?

That's right, your Muse. Your creative source. Your inspiration for all the kooky, creative things you do. The voice that whispers, "Hey, why don't you try encaustic painting? That looks like fun!"

Or maybe your voice has a more, well, cranky tone. Maybe your Muse's voice gets snarky when she sees others creating. Maybe she feels abandoned in the corner, tucked away behind the towering to-do lists.

It could be time for a relationship check-in. My boyfriend and I do these periodically. We take a walk and discuss the state of our relationship. These conversations clear out any resentments that have been piling up. They offer a safe forum for checking in with our shared dream. And, these tete-a-tetes invariably bring us closer.

Try this with your Muse. Plan a few minutes of quiet time to get connected to your creative source. Use your journal to deepen the connection and listen to what your creative source has to say. Let your pen move on the page and don't censor anything that comes up.

Interview your Muse. Ask the kind of questions that you would ask a really fascinating person that you have always wanted to meet. What motivates you? What do you love? What do you do for fun?

Ask what your Muse wants. Find out if there are any gifts, real or energetic, that she needs. Let her explain whatever she needs. What she writes may be a rant; if you haven't been listening to your creative impulses, she may have some resentment stored up.

Make requests of your Muse. You may ask her for help with finishing projects, rather than confetting you with more ideas, more inspiration, more projects.

Redesign your alliance. What would a really fabulous year with your Muse look like? What do you want to celebrate with your Muse at the end of the year? Look at what kind of relationship would make you eager to get to the studio or the writing desk. Brainstorm how much time you would spend together, where and when you'd meet, what you'd do when you got together.

Complete the check-in with some kind of celebration. Go to a museum or gallery, or a shop devoted to your craft. Take your Muse to tea or happy hour, just the two of you, and giggle together over your plans.

Using these prompts is a great start to cultivating a deeper connection to your creative source. But an ongoing dialogue truly feeds you and your Muse. Make sure that you give yourself this very vital relationship. One of the side benefits of doing so is better relationships with the others in your life.

Other benefits include feeling more fulfilled, completing projects that have been shelved for too long, and gaining a sense of self-confidence and satisfaction from having a truly dynamic creative life.

Sounds good, doesn't it? So take some time to connect with your Muse and see what she has to offer.


Author: Cynthia Morris



Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

Description: the Element of Every Great Story

When I was in the 7th grade, I learned the secret to great writing. It had nothing to do with syntax, vocabulary, sentence structure or tone. The secret was one word; one single, solitary command to be adhered to like a strict diet if you ever wanted to be a great writer. The word? Describe.

If I learned everything perfectly the first time around, I guess I wouldn't have needed all those extra books and English classes that consumed my time throughout high school and college. But, at 13, I didn't quite understand the importance of my teacher's words when she said, "Don't tell me; show me." That, right there, is the key to great writing.

At some time, all of us have heard someone tell a great story. We have sat straight up in our chair, completely enthralled in the words and movements of someone on the other end of the table. With eager eyes, we followed the swing of their hand gestures and noted every swift change of their facial expressions. We were like putty in their hands, eating up every word and ready to go wherever their story led us.

What is it about a good story that has this effect on us? Well, it’s not so much the story itself, but rather the delivery of that story. Anyone can tell a story, but not everyone can make you relive it. A great storyteller puts you in the action of the story, turning a memory, an idea, or a dream into an interactive experience.

In writing, we don’t have the option of great physical gestures or facial expressions. Everything we do relies on words. Therefore, our words must be powerful enough to stand on their own. They must be strong enough to place the reader in the story; to make them feel as if they are in the very shoes of the one who wrote or experienced it.

As E. L. Doctorow says, “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.” This distinction is what separates writing from good writing. It is what produces an effect on your reader that cannot be easily shaken. Sure, anyone can tell them it’s raining, but not everyone can make them feel it.

As a writer, my job is not to make you think of rain, or remember the last time you felt rain, but to have you experience a specific rain -- my rain. No, not the warm, gentle rain that lulls you to sleep at night. Not the cool and refreshing rain that sweeps in the crisp autumn air. The kind of cold rain that bitterly pecks at the back of your exposed neck like a hungry crane. Yes, that kind of rain.

Writing, in essence, is all about communication; and the clearest form of communication comes with vivid and detailed description. So if you want to be a good writer, don't just write for the sake of telling a story. Write for the opportunity of sharing the experience. Use your words to make those who read your writing feel and experience your story just as you have.



Author: Gina Sares

Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

Small Wonders: The Power Of Independent Publishers And Invertebrate Creatures

Over the course of the past decade, authors and readers alike have been heard to utter a collective groan of dismay as the once elite publishing industry continues to resemble the multiplex tripe factory of Hollywood, churning out one cookie cutter product after another.

This situation would be funny (considering the supreme cultural snobbery most New York-based editors feel for their moviemaking brethren on the opposite coast) were it not for the fact that each new conglomeration in publishing has a chilling effect on both the quantity and quality of new books released.

This law of diminishing returns is frightful in its implications. With every major publisher looking to balance out its annual loss leaders with one big Potter-esque mega-hit, it's inevitable that midlist authors are all but ignored. What chance do aspiring voices have in this environment, particularly those who seek to produce works of bold innovation?

Though the situation looks bleak, there is one very bright silver lining. The recent emergence of independent publishers has brought to light many excellent books that would have otherwise languished in obscurity. A prime example of this happy trend is Borderlands Press. Since 19989, publisher (and prolific award-winning author in his own right) Thomas F. Monteleone has been putting out deluxe limited edition releases of works by some of the biggest names in genre and horror fiction. Starting in 2007, Monteleone decided it was time to broaden his horizons with a new line of trade paperback originals.

Having already released Virgin by esteemed horror scribe F. Paul Wilson earlier in the year, Borderlands is now offering a wildly original collection of three new stories in one volume. Fables From the Mud by Erik Quisling is already being hailed as an instant cult classic that will rank along with "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" and the collected works of Shel Silverstein.

Applying robust humor and a decidedly philosophical approach to some of life's greatest mysteries, Quisling introduces us to three extraordinary invertebrate heroes: the Angry Clam, Glen the Ant, and Julius Gunther Weems the Warrior Worm. Page by page, Fables From the Mud dazzles readers with the gripping stories of these three small wonders. Though at first glance it may appear to have the simplicity of a children's book, be forewarned this is one tome that packs a king-sized wallop.

Hilarious and thought-provoking by turns, Fables is sure to challenge even the heartiest of readers. It is a book to cherish long after you've finished it for the first (of many) times.

Meanwhile, Thomas Monteleone continues to push ahead with his ambitious trade paperback line. In late October, Borderlands Press releases his own novel, Serpentine, and January of 2008 will see the release of Crimson Orgy, the much-anticipated debut novel by Austin Williams. As long as Monteleone and other trailblazing publishers of his ilk keep promoting quality fiction from talented new voices, book lovers across America can feel confident there will always be something interesting to read outside the narrow parameters of what the elite publishing industry deems "commercial."





Author: Erik Quisling


Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

The Reality Of Publishing Your Book

According to a recent survey, more than eighty percent of Americans want to write a book. This shocking statistic is somewhat puzzling because the National Endowment for the Arts estimates that only fifty-seven percent of Americans have read one book in the last twelve months!

What is it that makes people -- even non-readers -- want to put pen to paper?

Perhaps it's the desire for fame and fortune. Maybe it's the need to earn respect from others. Or maybe it's the hopeful wish to leave some mark on the future, a permanent record of a life lived.

Whatever the reason, for those who actually complete a manuscript, the odds of seeing it published by a reputable book publisher are slim to none.

For the estimated two million manuscripts that authors complete, there are only 64,000 publishers of record, and only a fraction of those publishers actively seek new manuscripts.

So what are the millions of hopeful authors to do?

The first step would be to ensure their manuscripts are the best they can be. This is usually accomplished by re-writing, editing, and proofreading by an outside firm or by a well-read and literate colleague.

Even then, most of those two million books stand no chance of being accepted by a traditional publisher. Authors who do make the cut are not necessarily the best writers, but rather they are writers who can sell themselves and their stories most convincingly.

Some authors, after rejections from the trade, will find themselves victims of vanity publishers, who take advantage of the hopes and aspirations of writers to extract an exorbitant fee to publish their book. Writers are better off publishing through firms like iUniverse and Lulu. Although their books will likely never see wide distribution, at least their losses will be minimal.

Finally, there are the select few who decide to become publishers themselves, even if it is only to self-publish their own book. These self-publishers will find great obstacles, and a great deal of work in this route. The challenge and reward of having one's success or failure entirely in one's own hands is a powerful feeling.

Whether they choose to publish electronically, or use short run printing service like Lightning Source, or even to go full boar with a print run of 1,000 or more, their success depends on how well they sell themselves and their story to others.

There's an age-old debate about which method is better; using a publishing company or self publishing your own book. You know your situation and you know what will work best for you. You'll want to consider how much time or money you have to invest in the project. That should give you an idea as to which route to take. Using a publisher takes less time on your part, but you'll forfeit some of the royalties by using this method. If you self publish, you'll have to pay "up front" and do the initial work to get the ball rolling on sales of your book.

If you are about to embark on a new manuscript, educate yourself thoroughly about the industry, its scams, and potential pitfalls. More importantly, learn to market yourself well, for this, more than any other skill, is the determining factor in your success or failure.




Author: Brian Konradt






Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

Does Your Book Have a Website?

One of the newest trends at sites like myspace.com, and facebook.com, and gather.com, is to create a website for your blog. The website www.bebo.com has a 'book' feature built in that lets writers build a website for their book, feature it, and then link it to their bebo websites.

Not all free site hosts are equal. I have checked all sites mentioned above, and they all are searchable by google.

This is the URL of my book's website: http://www.bebo.com/The-Pledge

This is the URL of my profile: http://www.bebo.com/KatherineH75

You'll notice that the urls are not that good, so you might want to link them. To make the most of these sites you need to do a lot of promoting. Building links is a good way to promote, also, use the links in your signature line.

I created the site so I can write more about my characters. However, I am also creating a blog that is similar to my friend's. http://bloodstonecastle.blogspot.com/ If you want to see an amazing book website -then go to my friend's site.




Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

Are You a Published Author?

Despite what many people think, it is fairly easy to become a published author. Many freelance writers limit their opportunities by avoiding real publishers. They publish ebooks or self published, but never actually become a published author. This limits their opportunities.

CLICK THIS LINK to Preview "Make Good Money Writing & Ghostwriting Books"

A writer's income doesn't need to come directly from writing articles and blog posts. Instead, it can come from a wide variety of venues. Writing courses, books, public speaking, and other aspects of writing will work together to help a writer earn a living while they promote themselves.

THe hardest part is already done - you learned to write, and write well. The next step is to join authors groups and learn how to sell books. The important thing is to keep your options open.

How Do You Start a Book?

The first thing isn't writing. The first step is doing some market research and finding out what information people need. Then, make sure they are willing to pay for it. There are millions of people trying to start work at home businesses. You may have started a successful one, and may be enjoying a pleasant life. However, most work at home business people have a 'my way is good enough' attitude. They really don't care about the 'profitable and foolish' ways to manage business. All they care about is their own self-satisfaction.

Solve Problems For the Audience

Once you find a niche that people will pay for information, make sure that there are not millions of websites or books offering the same information. There is more money to be made teaching people how to grow day lillies than there is on 'Starting Your Garden.' This is because people can buy a 'getting started' book anyway.

One way to find a niche is to solve problems. Starting Your Garden in a dry climate - this idea is a step in the right direction.

Teach People HOW to ...not WHAT to

There are too many people that teach writing. Most of them say, you need to write a book. Just find a topic and then go and write. This is telling people 'what' to do, not how to do it.

A book that teaches HOW will include step-by-step methods and strategies, things to watch out for, check lists, assignments, examples, and stories from the writer's life.

This is just a basic tutorial. I've done these things in my book on book writing, which is why it is a good seller.

Click This Link to Preview Make Good Money Writing & Ghostwriting Books

Learn How to Get Published and Sell Books

I have never had a blog where I mix my book publishing and Internet Marketing businesses/information. I thought long and hard about making two blogs at www.communati.com and then decided that was a waste of time. First, because most of you know that I do both. The second reason is because of a comment made in one of my posts "Writers do not know how to promote their books."

How better to gain writer's respect and teach the that, the information in this blog will work for them too. Yes, what works for raising PageRank for blogs will also help writers get published and sell books.

At Enspiren Press, I tell the author's that they can become famous by using the Internet in the same way bloggers do.

Fear of Being Published

The third reason why I decided to start helping writers learn how to promote is because of a post I read from Litekeeper today. I never realized that someone with her level of success would ever have a 'fear of being published.

We all collect rejection letters - They mean nothing. At Enspiren Press we have rejected books that were picked up by another publisher in less than 24 hours. Why would a publisher reject a good story? Simple - it didn't fit the audience demographic and 'wants' that we are targeting. That is why I say that Rejection letters do not matter...because they rarely have anything to do with the quality of the story.

This fear of being published also stops writers from promoting themselves as authors. How did the Hollywood celebs become famous? They were promoted as such. You saw them in the 'right' place. They belonged to the 'right' groups. These people are seen. In many cases, they don't have a movie out yet - they are seen.

Then, when the movie comes out the Public Relations company does a "You know this person" campaign. You can do that. But, do you want to get published first so you 'feel' more legit? That is easy write a 20 page book and have it published at Today Books and/or at www.lulu.com - now you are published.

The first goal of author publishing is to make you famous. The second is to sell books.

Here is a list of the books I have published on this page - Suzanne Jame's Page

There is a short book on getting published. It basically focuses on writing a book so publishers can handle, and some basics. This is like an introduction/basic 101 version of my famous course How to Write and Edit a Novel.

Anne Whitfield is the marketing agent for Enspiren Press, and she trains the authors how to get promotion - but I'll do my best to teach you.

Here is a book I published at TodayBooks as a promotion tool.





Here is a book I published at lulu.com as a promotion tool.






Amazon Can Help You Sell Books - Even if you are Not Listed There by your Publisher - Here is How

Behind The Editor's Desk

UK Copyright Law: A Quick Guide For Freelance Writers

UK Copyright Law: A Quick Guide For Freelance Writers

Summary
As a freelance writer, you'll need to be aware of the legal protection your work enjoys so you don't sign away rights that you should retain. This is a guide to some key aspects of UK copyright law.


As a freelance writer, ideas are your bread and butter. Getting a commission means revealing your idea for a great article to an editor or someone else. There's no way around it, but how can you prevent people from ripping you off? Here's what you need to know about UK copyright law.

In the UK, copyright is an automatic and unregistered right. That means there's no need to apply specially or fill in any forms. Copyright takes effect as soon as certain works (this term applies to all copyright protected material) are created and there are nine types of work that enjoy this automatic protection. These are literary work (including newspaper articles), dramatic, musical, artistic (photos, drawings, diagrams, maps etc), sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes and published editions of works. All of these are known as intellectual property. Intellectual property is a bit like real estate - it can be bought, sold, transferred and inherited, though only with your written permission.

The key thing to remember as a writer is that ideas themselves are not protected but the way ideas are expressed is protected. So if you think of an idea for an article, that isn't protected; when you write it, it is. It's the information you select and the way you arrange that information that makes it unique.

In order for material to have copyright protection it has to result from independent intellectual effort. In other words, you must have put some work into it. You'll need to be able to prove this if challenged, so although it's not obligatory, you can protect yourself by sending a copy of your work to yourself by recorded delivery and leaving it unopened. Recorded delivery post is date stamped so you'll be able to prove that your work existed on a particular date.

Copyright lasts for the duration of the author’s life plus 70 years for literary, dramatic or musical works. Different periods apply for films (70 years after the last to die of the director, screenplay authors and musical director), sound recordings (50 years) and published editions (25 years). People are allowed to publish excerpts from your copyrighted work for the purpose of news, review or criticism. This is known as fair dealing. Works used in this way should be properly acknowledged.

When you give someone the right to publish your work, you are assigning that right temporarily (a bit like renting out your house). As a writer, you'll want to avoid signing away any of your rights permanently. Instead, be clear on what rights you are assigning. First serial rights are normal. This gives the publisher the right to publish your material first in whatever country or region (for example, the UK or US) the rights apply to. Once the material has been published, all rights revert to you. Some publishers will also request online rights and the right to keep your work in an online archive. You'll want to make sure these rights are for a limited period or are non-exclusive, so you can make the most of your material.

A key term to be aware of is moral right. This is the right to be credited as the author (have a byline) and to object to alterations or errors which might damage your reputation (known as derogatory treatment of your work). It also includes the right not to have work falsely attributed to you. In other words, no one should say you wrote something if you didn't.

So what do you do if someone tries to pass off something you've written as their own work? If your copyright has been breached you can take the infringer to court but beware. There are two things that could damage your case. The first is if the person commits innocent infringement, which means the person genuinely didn't know you owned the copyright; the second is if you have previously allowed someone to use copyrighted work without complaint. This is known as acquiescence.

Summary
So there you have it: the lowdown on UK copyright law. In essence, freelance writers need to be aware that their written work enjoys automatic copyright protection, that they are entitled to be credited as the author of any work they right, that they should only assign limited rights to their work and that they have the right to sue if their copyright is infringed.












Learn to Write Free
Novel Writer Magazine
Writers Online Courses
Get Paid To Write

Novel Writing

It is summer. Every summer I work on a novel. This year, I am finishing a Scot Historical based in 1550. However, at Enspiren Press, we have been doing a lot of work on Victorian and Edwardian novels.

At a recent editor's meeting we discussed the aspect of helping writers visualize their setting. It is hard to visualize something you have never seen, but that doesn't mean you cannot see it.

There are ample opportunities to see something with the lustur of old wood, the design of a time gone by, and the size of an era when space and resources were not at a premium. I like to direct writers to online furniture stores. Many of them carry reproductions. While bathroom vanities did not exhist back then, the image in the writer's mind, can help them write something that has tone, mood, and 'feels' real to the story's reader.

After all, a story must come to life or it isn't worth the time needed to write it.

http://www.writersonlinecourses.com

Subscribe to Inspired author by Email - Click Here

My long awaited book on passive writing - showing not telling - and narration is finally out. It isn't a big book - about 70 pages, but it is at least 1/3 full of examples, and edited excerpts from The Pledge, showing both the before edit and the after edit.

I am excited about this book and hope that it gives writers what they need to write better fiction and get published

Click here and then click 'preview book' to read the first chapter. Let me know what you think.

Learn How to Write a Novel, Work at Home, and Get Published

First Aid Kits

One popular way to make money from home is to write for advertisers. You are paid between $5 - $10 for each post. It can take a while to find the agents who work for advertisers, but there are a few of them out there. The important thing is 'not' to write advertisements - and don't mislead your readers.

You'll notice that this post makes it clear who is sponsoring this blog - a company that sells First Aid Kits. I am not going to mislead my readers until the very end, and then hope they will willingly visit the advertiser's site.

In many cases, bloggers will also add the word SPONSORED to their tag line. This may not be obvious to the general public, but it is obvious to the blog's dedicated readers.

Many new writers misunderstand the purpose of the ad. It is not important to promote the product. All the advertiser is paying for is a link. If you do not write about the product, you should also use the keyword phrase in the link in both the title and the tagline. It might be good to also include something at the bottom that includes the sponsor's tag - First Aid Kits. Remember, search engines do not want more than 2% keyword density - so one or two keywords (including title) in a 100 word blog post is adequate.

New Resources

The problem with new technology is that most people learn about it after they need it. I never knew that some real estate companies operated websites that did more than list homes. We spent months looking for a home, a neighborhood, a lifestyle. We thought we found it, but there are always those intangibles that creep in, things only a resident would know.

My friend moved from England using a real estate website like blue ridge real estate. It made the job so much easier.

There are tools out there to make every job easier - you just need to look