MARKETING STORMS FROM MY BRAIN
These articles are devoted to out-of-the-box marketing ideas for book writers. They are my gift to you as a first step to start the storms brewing inside your brain. It is my hope that you will take your own book and the kernel of my idea, and create a personal marketing tornado that lands in your very own house in Oz.
If you use any of these ideas as a launching point to market your book, please let me know by emailing me at carolwritesbooks@gmail.com It would be my pleasure to include your ideas and comments—as well as your book title and link—on this site. It is my wish both to encourage your efforts and to encourage others to think outside their own brain-storm-drain-clogged boxes.
PART 1: PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES AND GO CLUBBING
Do you love books? Of course you do. That’s why you write books in the first place. Guess what? Lots of other people love books, too. In fact, so many people love books that they get together and form book clubs so they can share why exactly they love those books.
If book clubs are looking to read books, why not suggest they read your book? “How do I find out what book clubs exist?” you ask.
If your book is for young people, phone your local schools and libraries. See if there are local book clubs for kids. If not, could you start one, perhaps as part of an after-school or library program? Some schools even have book clubs that meet before school. Imagine kids getting up EARLY to go to school! That’s the power of books.
If your book is for adult men or women, contact local women’s clubs, men’s organizations and libraries to see if they know of book clubs in your area. Offer to be a guest at their meeting and lead a discussion after they have read the book. Offer a group discount for buying your book. And, of course, autograph every one of them.
If your book is for the Christian women’s market, join the book club on Women of Faith and see if it can be one of the books they select for discussion. Get involved with Girlfriends Unlimited and find churches that have active Lit n Latte book clubs. Many large churches have independent book clubs within their women’s ministry.
It’ll help you get your book selected by a book club if you can offer something special—along with your terrific book, that is.
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Create excitement for your book on your website by giving readers reasons why your book is the perfect book club selection. Part of the fun of book clubs is meeting to discuss the book.
Perhaps you’ve attended a book club meeting where members sit silently, flipping through pages, hoping someone will start the conversation. Don’t let that happen with your book. Give them something to talk about.
In other words, create discussion questions about your book. Make them intriguing and open ended. Provide a few questions that might lead to controversy, a few that tug at your heart and a few that bring a smile.
Then post those questions on your website. Make them easy to find and easy to print out. And ask for feedback on the questions. Invite your readers to share the most interesting points about your book; what touched them deepest or what they will remember most.
BUT NOT ALL TALK
Have you seen the TV ad for pizza, where the gals at the book club confess, one-by-one that they are there for the pizza? No matter how much folks like to discuss your book, they also want to have fun. So make that easy for them, too.
Show them how to have a themed party related to your book by providing them with a few fabulous ideas. Would you like to see what I mean?
WESTERN THEMED BOOK PARTY
Recently our Christian women’s book club read Linda Yezak’s novel,
Give the Lady a Ride.
Click here to see our book club party. This fun book was set on a cattle ranch in Texas. What better way to get together to discuss the book than to have a Western Hoedown?
Table settings included a red plastic table cloth, bright blue placemats, red plates and bold red and blue neckerchiefs that we used as napkins. Our potluck lunch included pigs in blankets, fried chicken, popcorn trail mix, Jell-o, cornbread, iced tea, apple pie and peach cobbler. All with a “hee-haw” and a “go, cowgirl!”
If this were my western book, I would post these ideas on my website to provide my readers with a way to have fun with my book. I would also:
* provide clever and colorful book club announcements or invitations that the hostess could download, complete and print out to ensure enthusiastic attendance at the meeting where my book were featured.
* include one or two of my personal, easy-to-make recipes named after characters in my book.
* suggest table settings:
Mason jars for drinking
Mis-matched dishes
Cowboy hats, ropes, horseshoes and daisies for centerpieces
Red and white checked plastic tablecloths
* suggest ideas for costuming:
Cowboy hats and boots
Red bandanas at neck
Ponytails
Western wear
Jeans with a belt
Vests
*provide links to websites with western music in the public domain that could be played during the party.
*make sure my discussion questions were posted right there on my website next to the other party information, easily printable.
* create a link on my site directly to my book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble where folks can post a review while they’re enjoying the party and while enthusiasm for my book is at its highest.
*provide an request for book clubs to send me photographs of their party for posting on my website. Then I would make sure I posted the photos quickly and acknowledged the group with a big “thank you.”
Need another example?
HEAVENLY THEMED BOOK PARTY
You can create different themed parties for other books. For example, has your book club read Lisa Grace’s terrific new book, Angel in the Shadows?
Click here to go to her site.
Lisa has a great tag line: The difference between vampires and angels is that angels are real.
Because of her friend Linda’s blog, showing our book club party based on Linda’s book, Lisa is now thinking of creating suggestions for her readers, to hold a book party based on heavenly themes.
Our book club is now reading Todd Burpo’s
Heaven is For Real. Naturally our next meeting will have a heavenly theme, too. So let’s look at how a book club could throw a heavenly themed party for either of these books.
Our tables will be covered with sheets of polyester fiberfill—you know, that cloud-like stuffing used inside quilts. Guests will wear halos and some of us will find ways to incorporate feathers into our hairdos, jewelry and clothing. Everyone will be sprayed with one of the Victoria Secret Angel colognes.
Luncheon items will include ambrosia, Cloud 9 Casserole, Heavenly Hummus, Harp String beans; Tossed-Out-of-Heaven salad; hot wings, and of course angel food cake for dessert.
If this were my heavenly themed book I were marketing, I would post discussion questions on my site along with downloadable invitations. I would also include other suggestions for a heavenly themed party and include the link to Amazon and BN and an invitation to post photos.
WHERE DOES YOUR BOOK FIT IN?
Take these two examples and look closely at your book. Think creatively outside the box. In fact, take your box and stand on top of it. You’re gonna need it when you practice your acceptance speech for all those awards your book will garner, as a famous author.
Oh, back to reality. Think through these questions:
1. Is your book something that members of a book club would enjoy reading? Of course, it’s wonderful, but does it lend itself to discussion? It could be either a fiction or non-fiction book. The question is whether it is a book club book.
2. If so, create several interesting questions that will spur active discussions about your book. Then post those questions on your website so folks can print them out and discuss them. Even if your book doesn’t end up as a book club selection, many people appreciate questions that will get them to think deeply about what they’ve read.
3. Create a theme around which a group of people could have a fun book party. Is the book set in an interesting time in history? A unique location in the world? Are any of the characters from a unique culture or with an interesting background or vocation? Is there a specific theme, such as education, childhood or courage that would give you some creative ideas for a party? Go with those ideas and see where they lead.
4. Create invitations that readers can download and print.
5. Include ideas for food and share at least one of your personal recipes. Don’t underestimate the value of your personal touch as an author to your readers.
6. Include ideas for costumes, table settings and decorations.
7. Encourage folks to send you a photo of their party that you will post on your site. Then post it, with a note of thanks to the group for the encouragement they have given you.
I hope this gets you started thinking. Now, button up your raincoat and prepare for the storm brewing in your brain!
Click here to return to top of Index.
MARKETING STORMS PART 2: SHARIN’ THE JOY
When we’re thinking about out-of-the-box marketing, we sometimes need to remember that when we’re inside the box, we’re in there all by ourselves.
One great way to market is to get out of the box and join up with others who are struggling with the same problems you are.
There’s creativity in numbers. There’s also courage.
Maybe you’re like me: you’ve got a couple of published books. A publisher saw enough value in your concept to pay the thousands of bucks to put it in print and slap their name on it. But still, you are more comfortable sitting in the corner of your office, tapping out the zillion words that will become your next great book. You feel uncomfortable tooting your own horn.
Maybe what you need is to become part of an orchestra and let the sounds of other people’s horns blend with yours. Put into my personal perspective, I may not be able to promote my own books without feeling self conscious, but I can certainly tell the world about my friends’ books.
And as I am busy promoting my friends’ books, they’re happily promoting mine.
Or perhaps you don’t mind tooting your own horn; but your horn is brand new and you’ve never had any horn-tooting lessons.
If you join a music class, you’ll be able to learn from others who have expertise in horn tooting. Or maybe they have a special tooting style that can complement your fabulous skill in horn polishing.
In other words, maybe you need to look into joint marketing.
Before you get started on any type of joint maketing, you first need to know people who are like-minded writers. This is the easy part. Join with established writing organizations, such as
SCBWI. Attend conferences and follow on list serves and forums. Get to know people and let other people get to know you.
Then send out feelers to see if others would be interested in joining up with you in a cooperative marketing venture.
More than likely you'll find that there are loads of folks out there just like you--needing a push to get them started or keep them going in the marketing game.
When you settle on a group of friends and a type of joint marketing you’d like to embark upon, make sure you each understand what you’re trying to do and what each person is committing to do. Write it out so there is no confusion and so there is commitment. Keep it focused and make it clear.
What type of joint marketing can you do? The following is the first in a series of ideas for possible joint marketing ventures.
EVENTS
If there is a local event coming up, share an author’s table and share the expense. Recognize that one or all of you may not sell a single book. But you will be there--stepping out of your comfort zone and gaining experience in being in the spotlight.
Foster an “one for all” mentality. If your friends all sell books but you don’t, rejoice in their success. You might be the big seller at the next event.
If you have ties with other writers in your genre who may not live in your geographical area, consider sending each other copies of books to sell at events. My friend, Linda Yezak recently did this at a festival she participated in. She set a pile of books written by her friends on her table and sold them along with her own. (Go to
her site and see how she did it.)
If nothing else, offer bookmarks or postcards touting your friends’ books at your event table. And ask that your friends do the same whenever they are at an event.
Brainstorm events locally: city events; library events, school events; cultural festivals; church events; Chamber of Commerce meetings; alumni open houses. Several of us UC Davis alumni are also published children’s authors. Several years, we participated in the annual alumni day, sharing the stage and the fun by interacting with children and offering our books for sale.
These are two of my UCD alumni writer friends:
Erin Dealey
Lynn Hazen
See how easy it is to promote your friends?
It's time to start thinking about joint marketing and ways you can toot your horn and make beautiful music with like-minded horn tooters.
This is the first of several articles about joint marketing. Stay tuned. As in "tune up your horn" and get ready to play beautiful music.
Click here to return to top of Index.
MARKETING OUT OF THE BOX PART 3: JOINT MARKETING - WE BLOG
Did you know that the word “blog” is a shortened version of the original word “weblog”? Weblog stands for web log; as in logging (journaling) on the web. For purposes of this article, Part 3 of Marketing out of the Box, let’s divide the word, weblog this way:
we blog.
In other words, let’s look at some ways writers can band together and increase their national platform through blogging.
Blogging is becoming more important to marketing and promotion than Facebook and Twitter. It is one of the main ways writers now work towards creating a national platform and building their brand name as a writer. It is a way, not only to gain name recognition, but to showcase our craft.
Technology has made blogging simple. Even I—Carol the non-techie—set up my own blog
From Carol's Quill without shedding a single tear. Wordpress and Blogger have made the process simple. And free.
The main complaint about blogging for most writers is that it takes time to keep up with a regular blogging schedule. That writing time could be spending writing books and articles for publication.
So how can writers make the most of their writing time, while still participating in the blogging phenomenon? By remembering those two words—we blog.
1. BLOGGING SCHEDULE
One of the first things to do when beginning a blog is to set up a blogging schedule you can live with. Other people might blog seven days a week but if your life doesn’t allow that, then be realistic. What will your schedule allow? One day a week? Monday-Wednesday-Friday? Tuesday-Thursday? Which days of the week will best fit with your personal schedule? Or can you post your articles with an automated posting schedule so that they post even if you’re not paying attention? On which days of the week do most people in your blogging audience follow blogs?
Even if you can’t commit even one day a week consistently to blogging, there are still ways for you to create a blogging presence. But what does this scheduling have to do with joint marketing? Keep reading.
2. CREATE A JOINT BLOG
Gather together a number of like-minded writers and agree to contribute to a blog posting schedule.
For example, if a group of six writers create a blog and establish a M/W/F blog schedule, that means each person is generally responsible for posting twice a month. That might feel immensely more doable than trying to write and post 12 times a month. An example of a successful joint blogging site is:
Author Culture.
3. GUEST BLOGGING
Create an even larger community of writers by guest blogging on each other’s sites on a regular basis. Writing posts to share with others can benefit you by enabling you to have a “day off” from time to time.
Similarly, on days when an individual blogger simply cannot post on her own site, she can simply post a link to her joint blogging community and send her readers there. Her joint bloggers will appreciate the referrals and your readers will appreciate that you haven’t ignored them entirely.
Having a large community of guest bloggers allows each person the opportunity of a day off from time to time and helps each blog site attract and hopefully maintain new followers.
4. CREATE STANDARDIZED INTERVIEWS of other authors, teachers, editors and agents.
Create a template of several terrific interview questions fir other authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, editors and agents and add one or two specific questions personalized for the interviewee. Or create interviews of kids about what they like to read.
Send several interviews out and then hang on to the finished interview so that you can post one when your schedule gets tight. Make sure to link your site to your interviewee’s site—and vice versa. Announce the upcoming interview everywhere you can and announce later when the post is up. And of course, let your interviewee know well ahead of the date of posting, so he can do promoting beforehand as well.
5. SIMPLIFY
Make life easy. Not each and every post needs to be ground breaking. Consider creating a standardized topic that you can easily post and manage when life gets rushed.
This could be in the form of a roundup of the week’s or month’s posts; a thought for the day; a link to a book or author you like; a rotation over time to link to your joint blogging members’ sites; or a re-posting of the month’s most popular post. (A re-post should be done on the day of the week your stats say has the least traffic.)
Whenever possible think about how you can promote others. Make sure you tell them you are promoting them. And request that they link back to your site. Remember the joy of joint marketing.
Joint marketing can be a terrific way to help each other promote work and develop a national platform. It can also be a terrific way to help manage writing time so that folks can participate in blogging, while still having energy left to write the books that reside in our hearts and minds.
Stay tuned for Part 4 of Marketing out of the Box.
Click here to return to top of Index.
MARKETING OUT OF THE BOX PART 4
JOINT MARKETING: BOOK REVIEWS
Book reviews are one of the most important parts of book marketing today. With the thousands of new books being published each month, it’s difficult for readers to be able to tell the good from the bad or simply to understand what the book is all about. Especially when it comes to online purchases.
That’s one of the great things about online book reviews. They can be helpful not only to the author’s marketing campaign. They can also be helpful to people looking for a book to purchase.
There are three ways book reviews can be a form of joint marketing.
1. Review other people’s books and ask them to review yours. Then post the reviews on your blog or website. Or, if you don’t have a blog or website, allow your review to be posted on the reviewer’s website. Even better, create a group of 7 or 8 authors and post reviews on everyone’s sites.
The group of writers need not be genre specific. We can read and comment on books of all genres, because we all know the craft of writing and we can all find something great about every book.
If possible, meet in person and let each member have some hands-on time with each other’s published books. If folks can’t meet in person or can’t find a book at a local bookstore, go online and flip through the book’s pages on Amazon or Barnes and Noble and get a good feel for the content and look of the book. Focus on what strikes you as unique or compelling about that book.
2. After becoming familiar with each other’s books, have each member post a short book review on both Amazon.com and Barnsandnoble.com. Or Goodreads. These need not be lengthy or detailed. But from personal experience, you probably know how important these short reviews can be when you’re thinking about buying an unknown book online. One or two favorable reviews can really sway your thinking. Imagine having seven or eight!
3. Setting up a reviewing personality at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, gives you additional online exposure and helps you with your own marketing. If someone reading one of your reviews likes what you’ve written, they might head over to see what other reviews you’ve done. That helps other writers as well as giving you additional name recognition. In fact, you might find yourself being approached by other writers to review their book. You could suggest a reciprocal review and crank the joint marketing up one notch higher.
Stay tuned for Part 5 in Marketing Storms from My Brain: Joint Websites
Click here to return to top of Index.
WHY DO YOU WRITE?
Do you dream of being a writer? Of capturing a story, creating characters and situations and helping others grow and change as a result of reading your created world? Do you have an expertise that you want to share with others? Are you afraid to begin such a daunting endeavor of an entire book? Or a story? Or an article? Or a poem?
Do you have no interest in publishing yet still the desire to write is strong? Is it a sense that you have something to say? Something interesting? Or important? Or helpful?
If you dream of being a writer, one of the first things that could help you find your focus is understanding why you want to write.
Do you write to share your knowledge with others? To instruct? If so, do you seek to write a non-fiction book? A how-to?
Do you write to explore your own feelings? To share them with others?
Do you write to understand something new? If so, do you enjoy research and the finding-out process?
Do you simply enjoy formulating ideas and expressing them? Do you seek to share with others or do you simply want to write to explore ideas for yourself?
Do you have stories and characters shifting around in your head, longing for their story to be told?
Are you a poet? Rhyming or not?. Haiku? Odes? Songs? Sonnets?
Tony Robbins says, “If a life is worth living, it’s worth recording.” Are you a memoir writer at heart?
Do you have parts of family heirlooms or history you want to preserve? Or a family cookbook of grandma’s best recipes before she passes on?
Or maybe you don’t want to write books at all.
Are you a journalist? Do you dream of writing newspaper and magazine articles? Can you begin at the local level and work your way up to regional, national and world-wide publications. Can you pursue any of the well-respected online e-zines?
Whether books or articles, consider what genre you love. Is it romance? Thriller? Sci-fi? Intrigue? Political? Humor? Self-help?
Once you settle on a genre, determine your audience. Is it adults or children? If you want to write for adults, will your audience be young women? Young men? Middle aged? Seniors? Christian? People in the business world?
If your audience will be children, then what age? Very young? Early reader? Middle Grade? Young adult? What do those terms even mean?
Know your audience and you’ll know how to focus your writing.
If you understand your genre and your audience, then it’s time to learn all you can about that genre and get a feel for your audience. That means read. Read other books in that genre. What about those books do you admire? What feels different from your style?
Don’t just read the books, but study them. Outline them. See how the plot is structured. Get your head back to your high school English class. Figure out the theme of the story. How did the protagonist change from the beginning to the end? What was the conflict—both internal and external? Where in the book did the climax come and how long after did the book end? Did the ending satisfy you? Why or why not?
Your writing may lead to a best-selling novel. It may not. Your manuscript may get snatched up by the first lucky publisher you send it to. Or it may receive a hundred rejection letters. You may publish it yourself or stick it in the bottom of your drawer, never to see light again.
Whatever is at the end of the journey, the process itself is valid enough reason to begin the journey and to stay the course.
Learn all you can about the craft of writing in the style and genre of writing you want to do. Then sit your bottom in the chair and write
Dream your dreams. Then live them.
Click here to return to top of Index.
+++++++++++++++
ON MOTIVATION
I have a small garret for an office. It is about 8' square with windows on 3 walls, an overlook on another wall and an open doorway. A bookcase covers 1/2 of a wall. There is very limited wall space. On the 3 walls surrounding my desk I have framed my 3 published book covers. But I have said OUT LOUD
, "I can't sell any more books until we move because I have no more walls to hang my book covers." And after I said that, I had not sold any books because I hadn't sent any out.
One night as I was dropping off to sleep, my eyeballs flew open and I realized my self-defeating statement, even though it was made in jest. The next morning, I sat down and created book covers for my middle grade novel and 5 of my best, most ready PBs. I printed out the title and "by Carol Peterson" in bold letters and even downloaded some nifty illustrations to paste on top of some and used clever kid-like stationery for others. Then I matted and framed them in frames identical to the ones I used for my published books and hung them on a wall space surrounding my overlook, even though it's an odd space for them.
This WILL DO several things:
1. It will remind me that these books are good and they are ready to be loved by kids and editors and that I am not being prideful but am being GENEROUS by wanting to share them with the world;
2. It has changed my mindset away from feeling limited. Thus I will be more inclined to send things out;
3. It will be a constant visual reminder - I can't sell the books if they're not being submitted and I won't submit them if I forget they're there; and IWILL forget them if the only place they reside is inside my computer file.
Additionally, doing that exercise also motivated me to create new book ideas. The result is that I sold a fourth book within a month. That book comes out this month: FUN WITH FINANCE.
Click here to return to top of Index.
+++++++++++++++
GOALS 1: SETTING GOALS
Every year in December we sit down and with best intentions define our new year’s goals. And every year in January we forget all about them, right? No! Not all of us do forget! Surprised?
We’ve all heard the stats about how much more likely you are to achieve your goals if you write them down. But just knowing them and writing them down isn’t usually enough. How can we increase our likelihood of working toward and actually achieving those goals we so diligently set out in December?
Here’s what I do when setting my writing goals. Every year from late November into December, I keep little notes about what writing projects I’m working on and what projects are calling to me. Having those thoughts in my head for a few weeks helps me know if they are important enough to become official goals or are just passing fancies. So by the time I sit down to define my goals, what I want to focus on is more solidified.
When setting the goals, I divide them into categories. I might have goals for picture books, MG, YA, non-fiction, adult, marketing, and education. Under the picture book category I would list which books I want to revise, what fledgling ideas I want to develop, what books I particularly want to focus on selling. Under education, I would include upcoming conferences, any new skills I want to learn (this year it’s Power Point for those school visits), and any classes I’d like to attend.
Once I have my bulging list, I then break it down into something manageable. First I set time tables. If I have a contract deadline, that project becomes my #1 focus and I set up a schedule for when each part of the project needs to be completed. For example, on a non-fiction project, I might have “complete major research by February 28; complete rough draft by March 31…complete revisions by April 15; complete front and end matter and formatting by April 30.” By breaking down larger projects this way I can visualize how my year’s schedule will shape up.
When my goals are trimmed to something manageable, I announce them. This is the accountability part you’ve heard about. If you have secret goals that nobody knows about but you, it’s too easy to just let them slip away. But if you announce them to your support group, then you have that extra pressure to stay focused, to live up to your word, to do what you said you were going to do.
The final part of the goal process is the review. Even if we announce those goals on January 1; even if we have a plan and a schedule for completing them; even if we’ve told our friends what we intend to do, if we don’t review our progress, then often those goals slip away, just as if we’d never done them. So every quarter, I review my goals. What were those goals anyway? Did I focus on one project and never reach my self-imposed timetable on the other goals? Are those other goals still important or did a different project jump up and yell “Here I am – focus on me!”?
Now is not the time to abandon those goals. But it IS the time to revisit them. And revise them, if they need revising. Us creative geniuses are always getting new ideas and so new projects continue to come up. A plan is there to follow. But a plan is also there to evolve as we evolve.
So when you review your goals at least once a quarter, maintain that accountability and review them with your support group. Encourage each other. Forgive each other if we slip away from our stated goals. Support those new goals and keep the process going.
By setting goals, creating a way to manage and accomplish them, and reviewing and adjusting those goals throughout the year, you are more likely to continue to work toward them and be successful in the areas that are most important to you.
Click here to return to top of Index.
+++++++++++++++
Q2 GOAL REVIEW
We did it. We set those new writing goals. But that was January. April has arrived, and with it, a quarter of the year has slid off the pages of our calendar, leaving the edges worn and crumpled. How did you do? Did you march triumphantly toward your goals? If so, Wahoo! Yippee! Good going, friend!
Or did you wander into a ditch?
Now is the time to take our bearings. Where were we headed? How far did we get? Did we take a scenic path toward a new goal? Part of setting goals is re-evaluating them from time to time. Quarterly review works perfectly. It gives us enough time to make progress; but not enough time to stray too far off track.
I found myself taking a new path this year. I had prioritized my original goals to
1) Work on marketing and promotion;
2) Learn Power Point;
3) Work on 3 specific picture books;
4) Revise my MG novel; and
5) Finish a HRD (“horrible rough draft”) of my YA.
By mid January an idea for a teacher resource refused to sit politely in the corner. By February I had prepared a proposal; by March I had a contract. That meant I was committed to writing and illustrating a 350-page manuscript.
So now I had a new goal that took priority over all the others because it was bound by a contract. Meanwhile I had made progress on marketing and Power Point and still wanted to keep my other goals in mind even if they moved down in importance. So now my goals for the rest of 2008 (prioritized) are:
1) Complete the Fun with Finance manuscript, including illustrations, and front and back matter. Submit to my editor by the end of the year (ahead of schedule);
2) Work on marketing and promotion;
3) Learn Power Point and
4) Work on PBs, MG and YA as time allows.
Hey that works!
Separately I planned how I intend to accomplish each of these 4 goals by creating mini goals with deadlines and more detailed thoughts on how to accomplish them. I encourage you to similarly detail the specific “hows” and “whens” (like a map) to keep you from getting lost.
So sit yourself down and analyze your goals. We still have 9 whole months; 3 whole quarters; more than 250 days left in this year. How do you want to spend that time pursuing the craft of writing?
Accountability helps. So please post your review—what you originally set out to do; how you’re doing now; and any goal revisions you are making for the rest of the year.
Whatcha waitin’for? Q3? It’ll be here before you know it!
Click here to return to top of Index.
++++++++++++++++
Q3 IS HERE! GOAL REVIEW
Wow, half of the year is over and done. Are we half way to reaching those goals we set back in January? It’s time to see where we are; where we’ve been and whether we’re still on that road to where we were headed.
Dig out your original goals. Then dig out the goal review you did in April. What? You didn’t do a review? OK, then dig out your original goals and let’s do a review now.
Look at them one by one. Do you still feel the same passion for each goal that you did in January? If not, why not? Have you worked toward those goals and been frustrated? How can you renew your enthusiasm? What have you learned that might head you in a new direction or change your focus?
Have you made forward progress? Celebrate that progress and focus on ways to keep moving. Here’s the summary of my 2008 goals:
1) Work on marketing and promotion;
2) Learn Power Point;
3) Work on 3 specific picture books;
4) Revise my MG novel; and
5) Finish a HRD (“horrible rough draft”) of my YA.
Early this year, I was blessed with a book contract. So in April I revised my goals:
1) Complete the Fun with Finance manuscript, including illustrations, and front and back matter. Submit to my editor by the end of 2008 (ahead of schedule);
2) Work on marketing and promotion;
3) Learn Power Point and
4) Work on PBs, MG and YA as time allows.
Here’s what has happened since April:
1) I am continuing to work on Fun with Finance. Since I have a contract, this is my number one writing priority. I am working on the second revision of the complete manuscript. That means I am a little over half way through the project. I am retaining my Q2 revised goal of submitting the finished manuscript to my editor by the end of 2008.
2) Work on marketing and promotion. I am scheduled to speak at the Association for Library Services to Children (division of ALA) in September. So I am working on that presentation as well as ideas to improve my website (www.carolsmagicquill.com). So I count this goal as successful forward movement and intend to work toward this through Q3.
3) Learn Power Point – I’m doing it! My presentation at ALSC is the focus for learning power point.
4) Work on PBs, MG and YA as time allows. Time hasn’t allowed much this past quarter. Although the goal slipped in priority, I have spent some time brainstorming and submitting. I hope to move this goal back to the forefront after Fun with Finance is off my desk.
One problem I have had this quarter was carving out writing time. As a left-brained writer, I crave schedules and structure. So a new goal for Q3 is:
5) Establish and maintain a daily writing schedule.
My thought for this is a simple 2 hours a day; 5 days a week. I would love it to be mornings, M-F but I am not willing to put that much specifics into an official goal yet. I’ll let you know how it went, come October.
Now it’s your turn. Please drag those goals out and dust them off until they sparkle. Post your goals and your thoughts on my blog. Maybe it’ll encourage someone else to do the same!
Best wishes!
Click here to return to top of Index.
++++++++++++++++++++++
FINDING THE PERFECT PUBLISHER
You’ve written a wonderful book for children. You’ve revised it and polished it. You’ve sent it through your critique group. You’ve revised it some more. And now you’re ready to send that baby out into the world to find a publishing home. Where do you send it?
Every advice you get says: “research publishers.” That means 1) don’t just send it out willy-nilly starting with ABC publisher and ending with XYZ; 2) don’t flood the publishing houses so that they’re forced to close even more doors to unsolicited submissions; 3) don’t waste your postage sending it to a house that doesn’t publish the genre you’ve written.
So you’re going to research publishers. How in the world do you do that? You’ll get advice that says “go to the bookstore/library and read. Find books that are similar to yours and send your manuscript to them.” That’s fine advice, but pretty limiting in scope. Other advice will say “Check websites and publications to see who’s looking for what.” This advice includes SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). Other advice says “Check the most recent CWIM (Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market) or Children’s Writers Marketplace. To me, that’s the best advice.
But once you buy one of those daunting 2” catalog and lug it home, how exactly do you research it? Here is what I do.
1. First, I make a list of all of the manuscripts and book proposals I am looking to sell. I list them by name and then divide them into genres. Give each genre a code, such as PB (picture book); MG (middle grade novel); YA (young adult novel); NF (non-fiction); R (religious). You can subdivide your books any way that makes sense for you, but doing this helps clarify what you’re looking for. For example, there are fewer publishers for a book with a religious angle, so separating that category will help you sort out unlikely publishers.
2. Be aware that these resources are published each year. That means the information in them may change from year to year. And in fact, by the time the book arrives on the bookstore shelf, some of that new information is already out of date. Once I have my list of genres, I then go through my market guide one publisher at a time. Using either a different colored marker for each genre, or simply circling phrases in the publisher info section or writing in the margin, I note which publishers do which genres. I also circle or highlight whether the publisher accepts unsolicited manuscripts.
3. I then go back through the guide and select the most promising publishers. If they have a website, I go directly there and glean more information; especially checking their online catalog. If it’s an obvious mismatch, that publisher is crossed out from my guide. If it looks promising, I move to the next step.
4. I go to the library or bookstore and check out any books that look like they have the same flavor as mine. If my book very closely resembles the story of that book, then chances are they will not be interested in mine. But if it feels like my book would generally fit with their list, then I add that publisher to my list of houses to submit.
5. I then check through any sources I know to confirm the information I have. These include SCBWI, Jan Fields site, Verla Kay’s site, Jacketflap. Remember that as soon as the market guides come out in print, some of the information is already out of date.
6. With my list, I begin submitting. If the publisher doesn’t allow simultaneous submissions, then I have to decide if I want to put that manuscript on hold until I hear back from the editor. If the publisher DOES allow simultaneous submissions then I pick 2-4 publishers and in my submission letter I state that it is a “multiple submission to a very few selected publishers.” I also state any compelling reason I may have for selecting that particular publisher, based on my research. Remember that publishing is a business and an editor may be more impressed by you if she knows that you understand that, too.
You may be saying, “I’m exhausted!” Yes, it is a lot of work. But take it step by step. And remember that once you’ve done this research, you’ve got it set up until the next market guide comes out. Also remember that after you’ve done the research once, you’re much more familiar with which publishers do what and how. So next year, the process becomes simply confirming information, keeping up with new books, and researching new publishers that have come onto the market since last year.
Good luck!
Click here to return to top of Index.
++++++++++++++++++++
CREATING WORKSHOPS
Ever since I was fortunate enough to get my first book published, (5 years now) I’ve known I needed to do presentations/workshops. But except for 2 that I did with other people, I let my terror and insecurity hold me back from doing them. Finally, I set myself a summer goal to create 3 workshops but still allowed the lack of confidence to keep me from doing anything until this week – now that the summer is already almost gone! Anyway, I still have work to do on preparing the particulars of the workshops but played with my brain to get myself started. Here’s what I did:
First I told myself, I’ll just settle on who the presentations will be for. That was easy – one for teachers, one for students, one for writers.
Then I told myself to just give each one a title. Also easy and completely non-threatening. And titles can always be changed.
Then before I knew what I was doing, the titles took hold of my brain and I’d fleshed out a paragraph of each workshop, had expanded the student one into 3 separate presentations and the writer one into 2.
In a blink I’d created 6 workshops and presentations with a fairly decent idea of what each will cover. Now all I have to do is go back through each and create an outline and more coherent thoughts.
Of course, I still have to overcome the terror of actually approaching schools and ultimately giving the presentations but I’ve already decided that the first one will be free and that takes tremendous pressure off my weary brain which has been whining, “they’ll surely demand their money back – after all, what could I possibly say that is worth anything?”
Anyway, if any of you are plagued with these thoughts, I hope my experience will help you through it. It’s the same mentality that tells you to go ahead and write that horrible first draft (HFD) because at least then you’ll have “something” to revise.
Click here to return to top of Index.
