Archive for November, 2009

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

November 29th, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

November 29th, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot

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Innovate with Integrity

November 24th, 2009 by Jenni Burke

The internet is abuzz with chatter from publishers, writers, agents, and other self-professed “word nerds” like myself… tweeting, blogging, and commenting on the rapidly expanding role of self-publishing.

Many industry insiders say that the traditional publishing model is broken. The speed of change taking place in recent years proves that even if it’s not broken, it is definitely evolving. And while those waves of change have and will continue to upset the status quo, the companies and individuals who recognize the inevitability (and potential benefits) of change will find creative ways to adapt and stay ahead of the curve. Those who do this well will keep the needs of their customers in mind and always partner innovation with integrity.

I love the concept of innovation: to create or introduce a new idea or method. Of course, those who lead in innovation will inevitably attract criticism and resistance from those who fear change or like things “the way they are”.  Thomas Nelson’s CEO Michael Hyatt is highly respected in the industry for his innovative leadership style combined with integrity; that combination has led Thomas Nelson on as one of the most successful Christian publishers in the world. Hyatt has also attracted criticism from some lately for his company’s recent bold move into self-publishing.

He posted a thoughtful yet animated response to this criticism on his blog on Friday: Why Agents May Be Opposed to Self Publishing. In the post he examines the three most common arguments leveled against self-publishing by “the guild”, or those within the industry. He also points out that over half the books published in the United States are self-published and that the reason people (especially agents) lash out against the approach may be because they feel threatened by a disruption of the status quo. Interesting, no?

Hyatt concluded his post with this reality-check on the inevitability of change, challenging everyone in publishing to examine how they might be dragging their feet instead of taking steps forward:

“As a form of user-generated content, self-publishing is a disruptive force that isn’t going away. It is arguably the fastest growing segment of publishing. It will ultimately impact everyone in traditional publishing. As a result, publishers are having to change and so are authors. Maybe it’s time agents took a hard look at their own business model and asked how they can add value in the new publishing economy.”

We at D.C. Jacobson & Associates agree with Mike that the “traditional” business models need to be re-examined. Our company was, after all, founded on principles of innovation and integrity. When Don Jacobson sold his successful Multnomah Publishers to Random House in 2006 and asked himself how he could continue adding value to the industry he loved, he saw the need for a new kind of literary agency.

While our primary focus is placing excellent books with royalty publishers, our growing team of specialists is passionate about contributing to the production and promotion of life-changing messages on multiple levels. Together we offer our clients the highest quality of service in three distinct but complementary branches:  Author Representation, market-informed Literary Consultation , and Publicity Campaigns & Consulting. The community at BelieversPress is a great example of vision and values, which is why we love working with them.

Some who prefer things “the way they were” have taken shots at us; maybe they’re the ones Mike Hyatt’s blog post is speaking about. We don’t listen to them; we listen to the success stories of our authors and publishers. We will continue to look ahead and innovate with integrity. As the saying goes, “keep your heart pure and drive on.”

QUESTION: What do you think about the changes you see taking place across the publishing industry?

Posted in Community, Hidden Hazards, Marketplace, Publishing, Subsidy Publishing, Traditional Royalty Publishing, Trends | 10 Comments »

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-22

November 22nd, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-22

November 22nd, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot

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Marketing Your Book with Social Media — it’s a conversation

November 10th, 2009 by J A Heinlein

William Barrett, Professor of Philosophy, wrote back in 1979:

“…our modes of communication and expression take place within the framework (of an increasingly complex technology) and are increasingly shaped by it … the task … in this situation becomes neither the meaningless rejection of technology nor the equally meaningless affirmation of technology, but to try to see where technical and technological thinking, with no other principle but itself, must lead us; and whether some countervailing mode of thought may not be called for.” —Barrett, William, The Illusion of Technique, (Anchor Books: Garden City, New York, 1979) p. 230″

I was just going through my email — clearing the box — while having coffee at one my favorite local community coffee shops (as is my morning ritual). As I read the message (excerpted below) from a new client, it occurred to me that his request contained something that I have been pondering all last week… how do you really “use” social media?

Well, first of all, to “correct myself”, one doesn’t “use it”… one participates… it is simply a conversation. Use beyond that, can quickly just become annoying noise.

Recently, I have been more than impressed and humbled by being able to participate in personal and direct messages and conversations with the likes of Chris Brogan and Danny Brown. These guys (”guys”… they are figurative “giants” really! -personable, nice, “gentle giants”, but giants nonetheless) …find a way to organize their daily lifestyle, moments… precious time to directly answer and converse on a personal level with many, many people… constantly… every day….

It is after all “Social Media”. They literally have 100’s of thousands of “followers”…but, somehow they find a way to “have the conversation…” And, this is what I find to be most impressive and confounding… and, am observing to be the “Secret” to theirs and others like themselves’ success.

I like many, am still learning and trying to figure it out? I suspect and am also learning… that part of it is just to relaxing into the practice…. that is… one must “just be”… and become a willing and calmly active participant in the happening… In other words, don’t “try” so hard…

One thing that is certain and very obvious… The example and model is there — being personal is not optional!

My email conversation:

“Hi Jay,

I apologize for my confusion….I’m not the “brightest bulb in the box” when it comes to Facebook…or computers!!

Can you give me an idea of exactly what to do with each of the names and addresses you gave me? Once I understand it I will never forget..it’s just….understanding it??

Maybe just take one of the addresses like ______and tell me step by step how to get them on my Facebook?

Sorry for the request… but computers and I have not been very close friends….arrrggghhh!!!

Thanks Jay – For Everything!!

========================================

“J,

-no worries… and, I strongly disagree!

You are refreshingly one of the “brightest bulbs” that I have met in a long time…

I am thankful to be in the company of the likes of you, L, and “Dr. Pat”!

re Facebook

You are naturally very social, so once you get “it”…the learning curve will be short…

Think of “it” as just talking…having a conversation…

-that is the true heart of “social media”…

-there is a lot of “noise” out there as “marketers” try to flatten the learning curve…

-and, many are mistakenly just applying old practices to the new medium (including me…I have been guilty…)

…but, this one… “Social Media” is different…

…and, alas, I blab…

one step at a time…

step 1: simply “join”…ask for a “friendship“, become a “fan”, or join the “group” -whichever applies…

step 2: introduce yourself

step 3: join the conversation…or start one…

step 4: post “helpful links”… items of “mutual interest” and incl your own…

step 5: coming soon…. “Earning the right to ask a favor…”

HAVE FUN!!!

: )

Jay

Some other tips for using Facebook

Of course variations of these can be done on other social media platforms… please comment below and I will respond with more suggested ideas…

Add to your page

  • Your bio
  • Description of your book
  • Include your contact information (website, blog, twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Biznik information)
  • Join one of the many groups for writers and authors and be active!
  • Include a graphic of your book cover
  • Invite friends to review your book and post comments
  • Add a Shelfari widget and showcase all of your books or books by other authors you support
  • Create a virtual bookshelf with your books
  • Post updates about your book to the blogs and comments sections
  • Invite other authors to be your friends, build your network

Posted in Community, Engaging Culture, Marketing, Social Media, Tools, Trends, Twitter | 3 Comments »

What it takes from YOU in order to publicize your book – Part II

November 9th, 2009 by Tina Jacobson

Last week, we offered a few thoughts to consider as you are publicizing your new book. It’s not easy work, and sometimes requires sacrifices to get the word out. This week, we will focus specifically on radio interviews, which are still one of the best ways you can get your message out about your book.

If you haven’t read part one, please go back and take a look at the introduction.

A fact: Most authors are not morning people. (And truth be told, some publicists aren’t either and are sympathetic.) However, morning drive time is the best time to reach a large number of listeners. That’s when most people are driving to work and listening to the radio. Morning shows are where you want to be.

And yes, if the program is on the east coast, that’s really early for the rest of the country. It is a sacrifice that you need to be willing to make if you want your book to sell. You didn’t spend all that time working on your book for your book not to sell, did you?

We promise that you will not have to get up every morning to do early morning interviews. Even if it may not seem like it if you live in California, anything after 5 AM is reasonable from time to time. We’ll try to get you the latest time that we can, but it’s just a sacrifice you have to make for having the beaches, palm trees and nice weather year round.

We’ve had authors tell us, “If I have to do an interview at 5:30, it really messes up my schedule and my whole day.” We just ask you to consider, will it really mess up your entire day, and if so, does it really outweigh the opportunity to share your message?

Now that many people have iPhones and BlackBerrys, there is a trend to not having a land line at home. If you work from home and do not have an office to go into, you really need to get a land line, even if it is just for three months.

Radio stations need the clearest connection possible. Think of how many times you’ve gotten disconnected or had to tell the person on the other end “I don’t have a very good connection.” Think of trying to work through that for 30 minutes. Would you want to listen to the radio and try to decipher someone talking on a bad connection for 30 minutes? You would probably change the station.

Here is a true story witnessed first hand. One time an author was in Dallas for media, and a member of our staff was escorting the author to her interviews. The author was also a music artist and had a representative of her publishing company with her. The author insisted on a little shopping trip around the time of a phone interview.  Our staff member was not in a position to demand the author be in her hotel room for a radio interview that had been scheduled by phone. Instead, we were at the mall shopping for shoes. If you’ve ever been in the downstairs of a Macy’s at the mall, you know you aren’t going to have any reception. So, we ran out of Macy’s and headed towards the parking lot as the station called the author’s cell phone.

All was ok for a little while until we got on the highway and lost connection right in the middle of the interview. The station and author had a really hard time reconnecting while the host is on the air floundering to fill time while they reconnected.

Normally, when that happens, the show goes on and you don’t get to end with the program with your best lasting impression.

A member of our staff was recently encouraged when she received the following email from an author who had been doing a lot of traveling and had not had much time open for interviews:

“Here is a little story from this past Monday. You had lined up the radio interview for 6:08 AM EDT and at about 10 PM [the night before] I figured out that with us being in a new city it was going to happen at 5:08 AM, and I thought ‘Oh Happy Day!’ So I set my alarm for 5 AM – and went to bed at about midnight.

“When I woke up I complained as I stumbled out of bed, and then God whispered, ‘just thank me for this opportunity to share my heart through your story.’ I did, and God really energized me! It was a VERY good interview. Then later on (when I couldn’t go back to sleep) I got a song idea and spent about 1 1/2 hours working on it (which is always very energizing for me no matter what happens with the idea).”

Your publicist will do all that they can to help you in spreading the word about your book, but we can’t do it alone. Do you remember the movie Jerry Maguire? In the movie, Jerry is an agent and tells one of his clients, “help me, help you.” If you are able to help your publicist help you, you won’t regret it!

Posted in Interviews, Marketing, Publicity, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-08

November 8th, 2009 by BelieversPress TweetBot
  • BelieversPress.com Helps Publishers (and Agents) Conquer the Slush Pile http://bit.ly/3B3kTQ #askagents #agentpeeves #allaboutagents #
  • RT @ecpa: E-Link Feature article asks "Can we help rejected authors navigate their publishing future?" read & comment at http://tr.im/E2wk #
  • RT @CNewswire: New Publishing Model for Authors: Bethany Press Launches BelieversPress to Give Author's Faith a Voice http://bit.ly/lcdIJ #
  • RT @mdemuth: Writers seeking publishing, find hope in Ashley's story here: http://bit.ly/29HD9P #
  • Just got SPAM that said: "This is not an unsolicited email and we appreciate your subscribing to us." (sigh) Saying it doesn't make it true. #
  • We also just published a new blog post on the "Elements of a Successful Publishing Project" http://bit.ly/38PP5e #
  • RT @DiscoveryHouse: "The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." ~Mike Stachura #
  • RT @RachelleGardner: "When it comes to selling your work, your TITLE has substantial power." ~Jeff Herman #
  • RT @mdemuth: Today begins a 7-week series by editor @andymeisen about the writing craft. Today? Opening scenes: http://bit.ly/2gq481 #
  • Another niche product finds success outside trad. publishing: 'XKCD: Volume 0' is sticking it to traditional publishers http://bit.ly/3XxCqJ #
  • How to avoid killing your chances of getting an agent: http://bit.ly/3w1ajy #
  • RT @RachelleGardner: Writers: Agents really ARE on your side. We represent writers, not publishers. We love books and their authors! #pubtip #
  • RT @RachelleGardner: #pubtip Writers, please do not pre-query. Don't write to agents and ask if we'd like to see your query. Just send it. #
  • RT @WritersDigest: 5 Ways to Start Your Memoir on the Right Foot http://bit.ly/lqCCE #memoirs #

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Color and Cover Design

November 6th, 2009 by Terry Dugan

Pantone-FCR-Spring-2010I’ve always believed a couple of fairly obvious book design axioms:

1. Book cover design is essentially package design.

As with soup, or cereal or any product sold via shelf or photo, the outside must dramatize the inside and resonate with the customer in some way.

2. The task and the joy of a designer packaging your ideas in your book is to find a balance between fashion and originality.

You must look up-to-date, familiar, popular—Fashion, and yet stand out, not look like everybody else—Originality.

Color is clearly a key element in this process. But how to select a palette for each book cover project?

Beyond the obvious markers of feminine vs. masculine, adult vs. juvenile, whimsical vs. serious, one has to choose from a dizzying array of color scheme possibilities.

To know what the reading/buying public thinks of as up-to-date and familiar, authors, publishers and designers are wise to keep an eye on color trends in all design categories: Fashion and home decor lead the way here. What we all tend to “like” is determined far more than we realize by what the NY and Paris folks decided a couple of years ago!

Current color palettes are before us every day in the latest J. Crew catalog, the local Pottery Barn and even your favorite eatery, think Starbucks and Panera among others.

Future color trends are rather mysteriously assembled, then sort of dictated by the clothing and home fashion folks, but worth monitoring.

This is just one website exploring the near future of color: Pantone Fashion Color Report- Summer 2010

It includes an interesting PDF download of Pantone’s (the design industry color monolith) Spring 2010 color forecast.

Some color scheme creation tools:

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Elements of a Successful Publishing Project

November 4th, 2009 by J A Heinlein

1. You need to know Why You Want to be Published

You must ask yourself and answer the question, “…why do you want to be published?”

Some feel called to educate and inspire, while some want to “entertain” and tell a story, either fiction or non-fiction. And, the different callings and writer desires can combine to accomplish both.

What is the objective of your writing? Who will benefit?

I work with a lot of very successful professional speakers/authors, and over the years, the most common mistake has been for them to want to “rush too quickly to write and get published”… and, without having asked and answered those most fundamental of questions:

What is the reason and purpose for me to be a published author?

  • it is my ministry and calling?
  • to help expand my brand?
  • to provide lasting value and impression?
  • to create an additional income?
  • to increase my speaker’s fee value?

What will the reader take away as the value from my book?

How will that help my ministry and/or business? How does this book reflect my personal mission and objectives?

And, once answered, how do I get this done?

See Also: How do you write a book or novel

2. You need to be informed

  • Do your homework – “flatten” the learning curve as quickly as possible.
  • Do the advance work to understand the “basics”– outline your plan for writing, marketing

Basic publishing elements

  1. Editing/Formatting
  2. Packaging: Creative Design: Cover, Layout, Illustration
  3. Production: print options – POD/Digital, offset, ebooks, ebook platforms
  4. Registrations
  5. Considerations of Setting-up Small Business
  6. Pricing, Distribution, Fulfillment
  7. Promotion, Sales, Market Placement
  8. Social Media Marketing – Online Network Management
  9. Online Presence, Search Engine Visibility Development
  10. Experience: Do’s & Don’ts

Related Links:

3. You need a platform

“Platform is a big word in publishing. Seriously, it’s a critical component of getting a book sold. It’s so important, in fact, that many experts recommend that you start to build your platform long before you’re ready to submit your book for publication. What is an author’s platform? It’s what helps sell your book. An author’s platform is the way you reach readers. It’s a network, and it’s notoriety. It’s exposure.”
- Lolaness, Build an Author’s Platform: It’s How to Sell Your Book

“10 simple steps that will take your visibility from zero to standout in a short time, while also giving you ample opportunities to flex your expertise, carve out your niche topic and connect with your audience.”
Christina Katz, Writer’s Digest – How to Build a Marketing Platform

4. You need a plan

The strategic plan is tailored and built upon the idea of developing a niche strategy focus, from the author’s identified platform and intended audience. Its goal is to direct focused efforts toward the right audience for initial sales and ongoing sell-through.

“…the publishing business is all about marketing, and it’s certainly true that books don’t sell themselves. However, there’s a caveat to the idea that anybody who can market books can start their own publishing house, and it’s that you need a business plan in place that will allow you to make a profit on the books you sell.”

-Morris Rosenthal, Self Publishing: Starting Your Own Publishing House

5. You need help

Fortunately, there is now a “one-stop resource” that you can enlist help from! – The BelieversPress Community.

“BelieversPress is a gathering of Christian authors and an elite team of Christian publishing professionals collaborating to bring the message God has placed in authors’ hearts to touch the lives of millions.”

  • If you’re serious about your book, hire a book mentor to coach you and to help in coordination of the publishing process.
  • Educate yourself, by engaging and asking a lot of questions, and sharing your own experiences with the group.
  • Engage with and enlist help by hiring from the variety of related services of the community.

6. You need to execute your plan

The plan should identify:

  • industry professionals and interest “affinity” groups
  • spheres of influence, building “word of mouth” viral campaigns
  • special sales markets – beyond traditional bookselling/bookseller strategies
  • emerging markets to develop new market channel opportunities
  • select bookstore markets and current bookseller relationships

The developed plan will detail:

  • Focused Research of Audience Demographics & Psychographics,
  • Indentified Branding Objectives,
  • Writing Schedule,
  • Production Deadlines
  • Package Planning ,
  • Tactics for Promotion & Marketing,
  • Sales, Market Placement, and Distribution.

Summary

For independently published authors, there is a lot of advance work that must be done by the author and, their “team” can be of immeasurable value, if they are fortunate to have one as in “the BelieversPress Community.

It is the “same” work and objectives that both traditionally published authors or independently published authors must accomplish.

The traditionally published authors would seem to have an edge as a result of having a “bigger machine” backing them.
-but, based on current sales results, the real effort and scaled back resources of brand name companies are being used to mainly push the “A list” level authors.

Bottom line, whether traditionally published or independently published, authors must take a very active role in promotions of themselves and their work. Those who expect to “just write” and let others “carry the load” will likely not be successful going forward.

Yes, advance planning, and taking part in marketing and promotions can be quite an investment of personal resources…difficult, time consuming… exhausting even… but, the rewards are being able to share your unique message with others, building and enjoying enduring reader relationships, seeing your dreams and passionate objectives become a reality…

…and of course, it is nice to be able to buy groceries…

“… authors who survive will be the ones who find ways to authentically grow their platform and meaningfully reach their readership.” “Communities will decide what books are worthwhile, and communities won’t have ego-filled judgments. Publishers will always be giving their authors one thing that is hard to come by: a measure of instant credibility. (That is: Someone thought this was good enough to take a financial risk on.) In good scenarios, there is also collaboration: to make a good book a great book. But soon, communities will have as much power as publishers to decide what books deserve attention.“
- Jane Freidman, My Big Rant on Self-Publishing, Writer’s Digest

Posted in Community, Hidden Hazards, Marketing, Publicity, Publishing, Tools, Trends, Uncategorized, Writing | Comments Off

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