What's Your Biggest Challenge with Your Book?

[Bill Frank]

I'd be interested to learn what authors/publishers on this network think their biggest challenges are with their book. I wonder if there's any common, pervasive challenge we all face.

[Celina Summers]

My biggest challenge? Quite honestly it's superfluous commas...okay, and dialogue tags. I have to train myself to rewrite--NOT check for typos, but honestly REWRITE my work.

[Bill Frank]

This is great feedback. I wasn't thinking in terms of the craft of writing because this is a book marketing network, so your comments surprised me somewhat. I was thinking in terms of the biggest challenge marketing and selling books.

[Celina Summers]

biggest challenge selling books? *grin* finding someone silly enough to buy them. No, seriously my biggest challenge with selling is quite simply time constraints. I'm already putting in 18-20 hours a day trying to get all my various projects up to date. Of that, I allot at least 4 hours a day to promotional and publicity work but it never seems to be enough.

[Marta Stephens]

Hi Bill,

I feel as if I'm in limbo until my first sales records come in and until that happens, I won’t know if my promotional efforts have been effective. I've done a lot of internet and one on one promotion. If the hits on my website is any indication, (10,085 hits in the first 80 from 25 countries and an average of 160-200/day in June), the word is getting around.

I suppose if I have a challenge, it is to wonder how a first time author who is with a small independent POD foreign publisher can get noticed by reviewers like, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, etc? What is the key factor in getting a foot in the door with these firms that will get me noticed in larger markets?

Being on two different sides of the world has its advantages and disadvantages. The book is available worldwide and I'm getting internationally reviewed but wonder what I can do to make sure the book is publicized equally on both sides?

Marta

[Bill Frank]

HI, Marta. Many authors would kill to be published and distributed internationally. Congratulations on achieving that.

Book reviews are the key to selling books. Reviews are the least expensive form of marketing you can do for your book. They also yield great results. A colleague of mine, Mary Embree, has sold tens of thousands of her book simply because of one review in Library Journal early in her career.

Getting reviews is a numbers game. The more books you send out for review, the more likely you'll get a good one in a major publication. I recommend to send out a minimum of 200 review copies to various publications. 200! You might think that's a lot, but it's not. With the variety of magazines, newspapers, blogs, websites and social networks (such as this one), you'll be able to send out at least that many.

The media can be subdivided into three broad categories: national, regional (or local) and trade. National media is what many authors think of when they think of reviews. Everyone wants to be on Oprah, for instance, because they know that Oprah sells books - lots of them. National media is very competitive.

Local media is becoming more competitive. Newspapers and magazines are cutting back editorial space because the Internet has hurt their advertising base so hard. The space available for book reviews is less than it was in 2006, for instance. Therefore, the newspapers will favor to review the books from big publishers because they are more widely read and more widely available.

Trade media is the easiest to have review your book. What is trade media? It's easier to explain for non-fiction books. If you have a book on World War I, then the trade media would be the history and warfare magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc. If you have a book on printing, then the print management and graphic arts publications are the trade media you'd seek. For fiction, it's a bit harder. You'll have to figure out which media cater to your genre.

Blogs and social networks are replacing the "traditional" media for book reviews, partially. There are any number of blogs or social networks that will review books they think are of interest to their readers. Go to Technoratti.com and look up the blogs in your genre. Identify the top five or ten and start tracking them to see how they handle book reviews.

Blogs and social networks haven't been around too long and are not accepted as a total replacement for magazines and newspapers. It will take time for them to be as widely accepted as newspapers and magazines that have been around for over 100 years.

You specifically ask about Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly. It may be too late to have your book reviewed by these publications. They prefer to review books before they are published, not afterwards.

One final point about the timing of book reviews. Most magazines have long lead cycles; three months or more. Newspaper reviews can be shorter, but they are not instantaneous. Be prepared to send out review copies and then wait. It will take time for the various publications to write and print your review.

[Marta Stephens]

Thank you, Bill. You ARE a wealth of information. Yes, I do consider myself lucky to be with my publisher. I've had a 3-year relationship with them and they've bent over backwards for me. I've lost track of how many reviews I've received. Most have been published online at various social networks my publisher contacted that you indicate are replacing the "raditional media." I've collected them and posted them on my website. Fortunately, they've all been great.

In spite of my PR background, I knew nothing about the publishing world until this year. I've been on a mighty big learning curb. :) The next book in the Harper series will be out in late 2008. Now, knowing what I know, I'll be better prepared to set up an even better marketing strategy for it.

Thanks again. You've been a tremendous help!
Marta

[Constance Lawrence]

Hi Bill, I am having some of the same challenges as other authors. I have been blogging and I have posted on several websites but I have to say I really found some valuable information here today. I am only sorry I did not pay attention sooner. You are really a wealth of information. I also learnt a lot from what Marta Stephens had to say as well.
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/AreMenReallyDogs.html

[Dr. Marlena Corcoran]

Dear Marta, Is your POD publisher by any chance in Germany? I have the opportunity to get a training manual out quickly, and I am looking for a recommendation. The US companies will take too long to deliver, and I'd have to reckon with customs. Best wishes, Marlena

[Angie]

Brilliant to see this written about ! I am in the limbo stage too as my book 'Searching for Mooneyes' has only been out for six months and i have little idea about how well its doing!
All i can say is that one should never give up, keep on blogging, googling, talking and networking, arranging publicity and press releases and just have flyers and business cards with all the details on all the time, that way you can hand them to people all the time to encourage your readership!
I will be looking forward to clinking a celebration glass by january! Think positive and youre a winner for sure!
All the best
Whitefeather

[Marie Pinschmidt]

Hello Marta. This is Marie Pinschmidt from Gather. I notice the above reply was in June, 2007. It seems you have achieved at least part of your goals in two years. Patience is a virtue in marketing.

I'm new to this site, so hope it will be helpful.

[Margaret Guthrie]

Hi, Marta - a question. Is it your publisher who does your reviews? Or do they get someone else to do a review? And what else does your publisher do to promote your books?

To answer the orginal question, from Bill, my biggest problem in getting my books sold, Silent Truth and The Return, are getting people to the web site that promotes them. And how to get reviews? For example, Silent Truth, a murder that happens in a Quaker community, is available at www.quakerbooks.org, and The Return, its sequel, is available at www.thebooklink.com. But what will attract people to even read the blurbs on these sites? Margaret Guthrie

[Marta Stephens]

Hi Margaret.

My publisher wrote the blurb for the book, but they didn't write any of the reviews. They have a list of reviewers they mail out to. They also sent me a copy of the ARC and some review copies of the book when they were available and said that I could send them to anyone I thought would give me a review. About 3-4 of the reviews were given by people I contact. So in that respect, we reached nice mix of comments (professional reviewers and authors). Ironically, in spite of the varied backgrounds, all the reviews seem to be very consistent.

As far as getting a reivew, you basically have to make a cold call (e-mail) and hope you spark some interest. Some have agreed to review the book, but never followed through while others post them right away. Unfortunately, since they're doing it as a favor, it wouldn't be right to bug them about it. Therefore it's a constant effort to find reviewers willing to read it. If you're interested, the reviews are all available on my website under, "The Body of Evidence."

My publisher also posted announcements in various Internet sites that attract buyers, book sellers, reviewers, publishers, etc. One such site out of Canada contacted me for an interview and they're also displaying my banner on their rotating system for free. Always go for the freebies.

The publisher has book seller contacts in the States as well as in Europe (The London Book Depository, Bakers & Taylor, Ingram Books, Betram Books, and Gardners Books.) They've placed "Silenced Cry" online on all the Amazon shops (US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and China), Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Powels, and several others--I keep finding new one all the time. There are numerous online shops in the UK that are carrying it as well. Again, some of those locations are listed on my site. They also have sellers in South Africa. Another thing they routinely do is attend book fairs to promote their authors. The first such event in which they unvailed "Silenced Cry" was at the April 2007 London Book Fair.

Two other things that my publisher is doing is seeking book writing contests to enter my book. We've also had some discussions about selling the language rights.

Now, having said all of this, none of it would make any difference if I didn't follow through with my end of the marketing deal. Placing information in a few locations without follow up is useless. My marketing stratgey has been repeated/constant release of information to a variety of sources. My pub is always sending me links to sites of interest (international news links, author groups, book promotional sites, etc.) that I can take advantage of. As I mentined above, I won't know until I get my first sales report if my strategy has worked. I'll let you know. :)