Writer's Tips Newsletter — February 2006

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Preditors & Editors Poll: Jorlan Publishing was well represented in this year's Preditors & Editors contest! Editor and Book Designer, Jill Ronsley took First Place in the Editors category; Jorlan Author Margy Ohring (Cat-House Sonnets) took First Place in the Poet category; and Illustrator Bonnie Everett-Hawkes placed 7th in the Artists category. Congratulations to them!

NEW Self-Publishing Service: Do you already have your book design done, or plan to do it yourself? Let us take care of the ISBN, LCCN, and bar code for you! The Jorlan Self-Publishing Service is a convenient and economical way to incorporate these essential elements into the production of your book. For just $175 you get: assignment of ISBN and LCCN numbers to your title; listing in Bowker's Books in Print database; ISBN (Bookland EAN) Bar Code with your retail price; and placement of the ISBN, LCCN, and bar code in your prepared design files by a professional book designer. Click here for more information.

by Lars Clausen

Top ten benefits of an effective Website:

  10.    Confirm credibility as a serious writer

9. Give readers direct access to you and your writing

8. Create a network of supporters and followers

7. Promote events and book signings

6. Develop distribution lists for marketing and newsletters

5. Test new ideas

4. Provide accurate, immediate resources to the media

3. Supplement query letters, submissions, and important communications

2. Present you to the world’s ONE BILLION internet users

1. Sell your books

Ten steps to optimize your Website:

Almost all of us think “Search Engine” when we think of optimizing our Website traffic. Yes, search engines are important, but so are general promotion strategies. Here are ten steps to getting more visitors.

1.      Your Book:  Book promotion centers on word of mouth, and the web increases the importance of person-to-person recommendations. Always carry a copy of your book. Print your Website address on your cover. Word of mouth will drive the inquisitive to your web site.

2.      Everyday Announcements: Your Business Card: Send people home with your Website address in their pocket. Your answering machine: Invite people to check your latest updates and tell them your web address. Your email: Use your automatic signature on your email. Send out every email and reply with your contact information, book description, and Website link. Your car bumper sticker: Bumper stickers prove we’re still a nation of readers. Get one made for your car and include your Website address.

3.      Presentations and Book Signings: Include your Website whenever you give a presentation. Mention additional content that listeners can access when they get home and visit your Website.

4.      Excellent Content: Content attracts both readers and search engines. Ensure that visitors to your site receive well-organized and valuable information. Provide background material about your book, yourself, your subject area. Include attention getters; little-known facts, eye-catching statistics, quotes your readers can use. Use high-quality images to highlight your story. Search the web for resources that will improve your own Website.

Article continues, click here to read more.

Lars Clausen works with American Author to help authors get online (www.AmericanAuthor.com). His book, One Wheel – Many Spokes, is a 2005 Benjamin Franklin Award recipient. He is the first person to unicycle through all 50 states.

Book Signings and Book Fairs: How to Sell More Books

by Fern Reiss

Ever do a booksigning where you didn’t sell a single book?  Ever go to a book fair where you ended up spending more than you earned?  It doesn’t have to be that hard. Here’s how to maximize your sales at any book signing or book fair:

Jazz up the table. Most bookstores and book fairs provide plain, uncovered tables at which to exhibit, and most authors don’t think to bring much beyond their books. If you want to maximize book sales, it helps to make your table look inviting. Purchase the nicest, heaviest tablecloth you can afford, preferably in a color that goes well with the cover of your book. Turn your book cover into a color poster and have it mounted on an easel backing (Most copy shops will do this for under $75.) Next, think accessories: When I exhibit my book, The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage for example, I scatter pregnancy test kits around the table—because they’re eye-catching, so people walk over to find out why they’re there. For one of my PR clients, Katie Jay, who’s publicizing NAWLS.org, her national weight loss association, I’d put up a huge poster showing her spectacular before-and-after photos. Think flowers, smells, colors, textures—be creative!

Offer food. The most successful authors know that the surest way to rope in a potential buyer is by offering them something to eat. Some books lend themselves to food displays: If you’re selling a cookbook, consider a few sample treats from the book; if it’s a book on travel in Tuscany, try morsels reminiscent of that part of the world. Even if yours is not a food book, however, you can do creative things with food. For my Publishing Game books, for example, I bring fortune cookies which simply say, “Writers make their own fortunes” and the PublishingGame.com website. Almost no one will turn down food. And once they’ve eaten your munchies, most people feel obligated to at least slow down enough to leaf through your book.

Display the book nicely. So many book signings and book fairs feature authors who have dumped a pile of their books sloppily in the center of the table and are waiting for sales. If your stack of books doesn’t look inviting, it’s unlikely that you’re going to attract buyers. Go look in a bookstore for ideas, and work with the theme of your book to invent new display hooks. For my book, Terrorism and Kids: Comforting Your Child, I feature a very stark, somber display. But if I were marketing a book on babies, I’d bring along a small wooden cradle and stuffed animals to surround the stack of books; if it were a book on gardening, I’d put the books in a wheelbarrow. Even if there’s no logical display tie-in, put up a provocative sign: For author Margaret Benefiel, whose book, Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations I helped publicize, I’d put up a sign reading, “What do the Band U2 and Southwest Airlines Have in Common?”  (The answer, of course, is that both follow the principles of Soul at Work that Margaret outlines in her book.) Don’t forget to set out a stack of your postcards; some people won’t want to buy on the spot, but might buy online later.

Engage customers. So many exhibiting authors sit behind their stack of books and wait. The best way to sell books is to be proactive.  And the best kind of proactive is to ask people a question—one that does not require a yes/no answer. “Would you like to look at my book about pets?” might get a no. “Do you have a pet?” is a bit better. But “Which do you prefer, dogs or cats?” is a sure-fire winner. In publicizing my Publishing Game books, I could ask people if they want to hear more about publishing.  But instead, I ask authors, “How many books do you want to sell this year?” – a great lead-in to explaining the many ways the Publishing Game books and workshops can help them to sell more books. So ask a controversial question, a perplexing question, an inviting question. And keep the conversation going until the customer asks about your books.  You’re always more likely to make a sale if you’re not the one who initiates it.

Then make the sale. It’s hard to sell books if you’re ambivalent about selling. Once you’ve captured their interest—once you’ve explained the book—once you’ve outlined the benefits—close the sale.  Better than asking them if they want the book, assume they want the book. Try something like, “Should I dedicate this to you or is it for a gift?” or “Would you like this wrapped as a gift for someone?” (Don’t forget to bring some gift wrap and bows!) Or how about, “If you’d like to buy one for a friend as well, we can ship that for you directly.” Sometimes people need a little nudge. So nudge.

And don’t forget to smile and have fun! The more fun you’re having, the more books you’ll sell—guaranteed.

This month's writing tip is actually a book review. I've been re-reading Phyllis A. Whitney's Guide to Fiction Writing. She was one of my first favorite authors. Back in the day, I could hardly wait for her new releases to show up in my dad's monthly book club mailings. He would always buy them for me because, of course, he wanted to encourage a lively interest in books.

Phyllis Whitney fueled my love of reading then, and now, years later, she fuels my love of writing. Her Guide to Fiction Writing covers all of the basics including plot, characters, outlines, research, conflict, suspense, revision, etc. She delves into the craft of writing and expounds on the finer points such as "show, don't tell." The whole book is written in a comfortable, casual style, as though she is having a private discussion with the reader—who she clearly respects as a fellow writer. She's not sitting on a high horse looking down her nose at all of us. It feels more like she's sitting on the other end of the sofa.

What I like best about this book is the way the author projects enthusiasm for the business of writing and stays positive about finding success. "Good fortune and opportunities are always coming along," she writes. "Perhaps opportunity is like a train on an endless track. Now and then it makes a stop at your station, often without fanfare, and without warning...When the breaks came for me I was doing the right thing. I didn't know it was the right thing, but even when there was no opportunity in sight, I was working. You, who may be just beginning: What you do now counts. Never mind the rejections, the discouragement, the voices of ridicule (there can be those too). Work and wait and learn, and that train will come by. If you give up, you'll never have a chance to climb aboard."

Although it was written over twenty years ago, this book is timeless...as is Phyllis Whitney herself—alive and well at the age of 103!

Lana Jordan is the founder of Jorlan Publishing, for which she does consulting and editing. She is the author of two books, Journey to Motherhood (pregnancy and childbirth from a mother's perspective) and The Sleepytime Ponies Trick a Trickster (bedtime read-aloud for ages 4 and up featuring magical flying ponies; humorous Mouse Deer folk tales; and dreamy illustrations). Available from the Jorlan Bookstore and Amazon.com. Lana was also a contributor for Book Marketing from A to Z, by Francine Silverman and Megan's Party, by the Megan's Party Mom Squad (free eBook from the Jorlan Bookstore).