AuthorSmart.com Blog

Don't Forget eMail

Don't Forget eMail                    

 

With new technology popping up everyday, it can be tempting to follow the shiny objects. Go ahead and check out the new toys and techniques, but don't discard the tried and true just yet. Here are some tips for keeping a strong connection with your audience using email:

• Best Practices and Tips from eMailLabs
• eMail Tips galore from About.com
• 8 eMail Marketing Tips Experts provide common-sense advice about 'one of the most powerful and yet one of the most dangerous mediums of communication.'
• Six Tips for Winning Back Inactive Subscribers from iMedia
• Wrap up your emails in a distinct package! Be sure to have the sound turned up for this one.

                                 

Bringing Home Baby

My family has just returned from our annual spring trek to the Colorado mountains. Each passing year I've wistfully dreamed of the day the my little boys would be able to get up, eat, dress themselves, find matching gloves and somehow end up on the mountain with all of their ski gear, in under an hour, without too many knock down drag out tantrums. It seemed like an impossible dream year after year, but I've kept hoping.

This year, those little boys suddenly now are young men. One of them not only shaves but drives and neither needed any help from me getting out the door aside from a ceremonious handing over of the car keys.

It seems like just yesterday my husband and I giddily returned home from the hospital with our first little bundle of joy. We gingerly removed the baby from the car and went inside. We set the baby carrier in the middle of the living room floor. We looked at each other. We looked at the baby. We looked back at each other.

My husband said aloud exactly what I was pondering:
"so, now what do
we do with it?"

When you bring home your bouncing baby book, what will your next steps be? As young parents, we had the benefit of sensory clues to help us know exactly what we needed to do next. 

Your book will not be as forthcoming with clues. Once you bring it home, will you have to start figuring out what to do next, or will you be a parent with a plan?

The anticipation of giving birth to your book can be overwhelming,  but don't let the excitement keep you from preparing to become its parent and planning how you will shepherd it, once it's made its debut.
 
As your book moves toward publication, "get the nursery ready" for its arrival by turning your attention to how you will introduce it to your target audience and maintain a consistent presence in that marketplace. It's never too early to work on marketing your book.

What? You were hoping your to-do list would get shorter now that the book is finally being published? Sorry! The good news? With some thoughtful planning now, you'll know exactly what to do when your baby arrives. And, it won't take 18 years before it's ready to go out on its own.

12 Strategies for Success at Book Expo America

Talk to anyone who has attended BEA in the past and one of the first words out of his or her  mouth will be, "overwhelming!" It's truly impossible to comprehend the scope and expanse of this event until you've been there and impossible to maximize of the opportunity without a plan of action.

While BEA is the place to make connections to agents and publishers, this event can be quite intimidating. It's full of over-stimulation, with thousands of people running in all directions. The Expo goes non-stop every day for the entire three days.  There also are educational events and parties each evening.

Publishing houses and literary agents are not always easy to approach, as they are primarily interested in promoting the work of their current clients. Here are a few tips to increase your chances of making the connections you want:

1 · Know what to expect from BEA and make a plan of attack for your time there.  Pace yourself and know what you must do and what you would like to do if time permits.

2 · Do your research in advance. Come with a list a preferred publishers right for your book.  If possible, make appointments to meet acquisition editors at the Expo.

3 · Create a book proposal to maximize your preparation to meet publishers.  Not only do you want to have a proposal prepared so that you can send the proposal to the publisher as soon as the Expo ends, but also going through the book proposal process will prepare you to answer any questions the publisher will naturally will ask you (the audience, the size of the market, competitive titles, your platform).  It is rare for a publisher to ask for your proposal, manuscript or book at the Expo, but make sure you bring them just in case.

4 · Create a sell sheet to leave with interested publishers and others.  It will work for you long after the Expo is over.  Giving them only one sheet of paper with all of your relevant information shows them that you understand that they are overwhelmed with books and paper at the Expo and that you recognize the demands on their time and will be there later when they have the time to talk with you in more depth.

5 · Prepare a pitch sound-byte pitch about your project to present to publishers.  Just 200 words, or something you can say in less than 15 seconds.  Prepare to answer follow-up questions.      

6 · Get your registration badge and program the day before the Expo opening, if possible.  Take time to study the map and the program.  Each exhibitor is described and the exhibitor representatives at the booth are identified by name and title.  You can use this information to know who you would like to connect with at the booth.

7 · Pitch your project to the editors at your preferred publishers at times when they are least likely to be busy with booksellers - probably early morning. Be aware that the primary staff at each booth will be sales reps selling their books to retail and other booksellers.  Be friendly and conscious of what their mission is and ask if you can speak to an editor.

8 · Collect catalogs and business cards from everyone who indicates they are interested in you or your book.  Make a note on the back of each card so you will remember what you need to do when you get home.  Come prepared with labels to be able to ship things home that you cannot carry in your luggage. You can accumulate many free books, as well as catalogs at BEA.

9 · Attend educational and social events.  You are just as likely to meet an editor or media representative there as you are at exhibit booths.  Be personable and friendly, not pushy and insistent. 

10 · Have fun and don't expect to walk away with a publishing contract.  Don't look at this as your only opportunity to sell your book - it isn't.  Your goal at the Expo is to allow people to get to know you and have a face to put with the name on your book proposal or book.  You are starting relationships you hope will turn into book contracts.

11 · Follow up as soon as you can after returning home.  The best way to make sure your time was well-spent is to do what you committed to doing at the Expo.  Many good first impressions have resulted in book contracts.  This is your opportunity to differentiate yourself from the thousands of authors who are only known to publishers on paper.

12 · Don't go it alone. Join peers for the guided tour experience like the one offered by AuthorSmart.com.

How Big Is Your Spider Web?

Okay, okay, I did it. I "googled" myself. Actually, I googled "authorsmart" today and I got a big surprise.

When we first coined the name and launched a website back in late September 2006 I thought it was cause for celebration when a Google search turned up a handful of results. How pathetic was I? They were all links on our own site. No contact with the outside world whatsoever.

Now, six month's later, our spider web has gotten a bit bigger. Today, I got 396 results. A whopping nine pages. Okay, so it's still not one for the record books, but it did make me want to find out what had happened.

It seems that everywhere we have left a footprint in the past months, our web had grown a strand. Blog comments, event listings, book professionals mentioning our classes, organizations I had connected with, and even an article bank deposit that had paid interest in the form of eight different sites featuring an article I had submitted---one on an Hispanic community site even though my article wasn't translated. (I'm honored!).

I tell you this so that you can do something I didn't think about doing. You can start building your spider web BEFORE you launch the business of your book! Get out there... start a blog, comment on other people's blogs, write articles and submit them to article banks, join organizations, give classes.

Get out there and leave your footprints starting today! I challenge you to google yourself today, and report back here in three months to tell me about how big your spider web has grown.

Fresh Perspectives

I want to share a podcast I just listened to with everyone... it offers great insights on marketing... marketing your book, marketing other things, and how your audience and the internet come into play. It's not very long and well worth the listen.

Check out: Citizen Marketers by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba and listen their recent podcast.

If you're like me, the next thing you'll have to do is buy the book!:

Patience is NOT My Virtue

The older I get (which I did last week by an entire year), the clearer I become about where I begin and end. I have developed a real sense of my genuine strengths and weaknesses. Like it or not, one of my latest realizations on this front is that patience is not one of my strong points...which is why I share the following musings with you: when your book is done and out in the world and you are working dilligently to market it, know that not much happens over night.

I wouldn't say that I am impatient, however, when it comes to building AuthorSmart.com into what I hope it will become...well, just imagine my surprise when it wasn't an overnight sensation! :) I realize now that it is definitely moving towards it's The Tipping Point" but that it will simply take... time.

• I launched the site with a few pages and was frenzied to add ALL of the pages I wanted. And with every page I developed, ten more ideas have been logged for future enhancements. Can't wait, can't do it all at once. **sigh**

• I started a blog. I see that people are reading it, however, so far no comments, no trackbacks, none of the "virtual conversation" I hope to engage. (In fact, here's a test: I will send a copy of the Publishing Pathfinder Trail Guide to the first three people who comment on this blog entry.)
  
  
• We offer teleclasses from the best and brightest in the business (how's that for alliteration?) and it has taken from August until now to build momentum. This is largely because we've lived and learned and now offer the classes at no charge. Enrollment has skyrocketed!

• We have created new products and programs (in response to what our audience tells us) faster than we can post them---2007 is going to be spectacular on that front, but I wish I were sharing it all now.

  I check traffic on the site, the blog, the emails everyday. It's all growing slow and steady. I know this is a good thing for the long haul, but I want a gazillion people visiting the site, commenting on the blog and signing up for classes each and every day. Is that so much to ask?

  Well, okay it is. And, I know better. But sometimes I just need to vent on the adventure between what things are today and what I have plans for them to become.

Blogging & Your Book

Here's a great way to connect with other authors--- not to mention see AND hear them. Check out the wonderful new spotlight Typepad.com is shining on authors.

Maybe we'll be seeing you there someday.

Fear of Success

Tonight, sometime after midnight, AuthorSmart.com officially, publicly, irretrievably launches. Sometime after I'm in bed asleep (okay, assuming I can sleep at all) an email campaign will kick off and tell the world, or at least a small highly targeted piece of it, about AuthorSmart.

I'm scared to death. Yargh!

That's the funny thing about marketing. You finally get your book, your product, your service... ready to share with the world. Then, you do all the right things to make that happen and ironically you find yourself terrified that it may all actually work. What then?

I've always paid lip service to the concept of "fear of change" and always thought I would be up to the task of facing whatever I needed to. Be it a good response, or a bad response to AuthorSmart, nothing after today will be the same. My work routine will change. My focus will change. My energy will change. And while I have some idea of what that could mean, I really have no idea what it will mean. And that scares me.

As authors, the fear of success sneaks up on us. While we are working we picture our book launch as a release, setting our work free. When we are done and ready to actually do this, we are letting go of what's been familiar for so long. Surprise! It's not that your book is complete, it's that a new adventure is beginning. One way or the other, nothing will be the same.

So, taking advice from a pop-psyche title, I invite you to start your  publishing journey and join me to Face the Fear And Do it Anyway...