THE REVIEWS:
Reviews are the goals and the bane of a writer. We need reviews to sell a book, and we need reviews for our own self-confidence. It’s great when friends tell us our work is fabulous, but to hear it from professional reviewers is incredibly important.
With Traditional publishing, the publisher handles the review submissions, so for the author it is a transparent process; however, with Non Traditional publishing, it is the author’s job to get reviews.
In my last blog, I told you that my novel, Angels In Mourning, was not accepted by Foreword magazine, because it was submitted to late. I also explained that with 99% of Non-Traditional POD books, when the first copy is printed, it is now considered published, so this can disqualify most POD’s from reviews by many of the Industry Standard Review sources.
However, there are many other avenues that a book Non Traditionally published book must follow. There are dozens of Internet book review sites. Most of them do not charge, some of them do, and others will charge for rush reviews.
Following this necessary path, I sent out 30 copies of my novel to the various review sources - both Internet and print. Of course I disregarded the fact that most print medium will not take it, on the off chance that it would be considered. (To date the three major print based players - PW, The NY Times Review of Books and ALA’s Booklist have not taken it on.)
I did have several reviews go through, for local papers and magazines, but nothing nationally. While this is good for the ego – to be recognized by your own community – it is a limited market.
While the Internet proved to be rich in resources, it’s still tough, but not quite as tough as the print resources. Book Ideas (http://www.bookideas.com) was the first to review Angels In Mourning. One of their senior reviewers, Kelly Davis, gave Angels a glowing review and featured it on their home page. (http://www.bookideas.com/reviews/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayReview&id=4339)
PopSyndicate (http://www.popsyndicate.com) is another great outlet for reviews and marketing. Angela Wilson of PopSyndicate did both a Virtual Sit Down Interview (http://www.popsyndicate.com/books/story/introducing_david_wind/ ) and a “Sneak Peek”, which featured a short excerpt followed by a short review. (http://www.popsyndicate.com/books/story/sneak_peek_angels_in_mourning_by_david_wind) Both of which have been very helpful. I have included a short list of Internet review sites at the bottom of this blog.
AUTHOR QUOTES:
Another type of review type marketing and help comes from fellow authors in the form of quotes & reviews. Roberta Gellis and Ken Isaacson were both kind enough to give me this style of quote/review for Angels, and while these can be used for advertising/marketing and cover quotes, because of the nature of Non Traditional POD publishing, they usually come after publication and to use them on the cover can require redoing the artwork with all associated costs. I chose to use them on both of my websites and made sure they were used on Amazon, in the editorial review section of the products page. You can see how that works by clicking on http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439203512/ref=cm_pdp_arms_dp_img_1
BOOK AWARD MARKETING:
Another avenue of marketing that is open to Non Standard published authors is via the book awards route. Be warned, this method takes time, as the awards come out in the Spring months of April May and June. They all carry entry fees ranging from $25 - $100 plus the cost of your book. The upside to this is that if you win, you get to promote the book as the winner of the award. While there are a ton of awards out there, I tried to be as selective as possible and entered 4 award contests: (IPPY) Independent Publishers award; Foreword Magazine - Book of the Year Award; Books and authors net award and, the (NIEA) Indie Book Awards.
A WORD OF CAUTION:
One thing my experience had taught me at this point is there is a huge difference between marketing Non Traditional Published nonfiction and fiction. Nonfiction seems to have more outlets and an easier pathway through the Non Traditional world than does fiction, so please beware that when marketing fiction, it will take some doing.
ONE MORE IMPORTANT MARKETING VENUE:
A veritable world is open to you when you use social networking. It means you must keep up and keep pace with everything, but it can pay off in added sales. These outlets are, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and a dozen others. Do not hesitate to utilize these sources.
And that’s it for this post. More to come, for sure!
David
#######################
SOME BOOK REVIEW SOURCES:
bookideas.com
PopSyndicate.com
reviewingtheevidence.com
forewordmagazine.com
compulsivereader.com
Biblioreveiw.com
thebestreviews.com
bookforum.com
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Traditional Vs. Non Traditional Publishing…. Continuing The Process: Publishing Reps and Reviews
As I said in my last Blog, the proofreading was done and we were ready. Almost….
I called my Publishing Rep, to ask a one of my always ongoing questions: This man was patient, seemingly well informed, and the ideal listener. When I called, I received a message saying that he was unavailable. I tried later that day, the next day, and the day following that. When I received no callbacks, I took another path. I called BookSurge and explained that I need to speak to my Publishing Rep, and was informed that he was “no longer with the company”. Then I was transferred to my new rep.
Meeting your new Rep, (read editor) can be a daunting experience – especially after spending six or seven weeks working closely with one person. And I was pissed as well. Didn’t the publisher think enough of me, as a writer/client, to inform me of what was happening? Apparently not, I’d decided.
After several phone sessions with my new rep, John Rizzo, I began to feel more confident. John seemed well informed, highly professional and willing to do whatever it took to keep the process rolling and get Angels In Mourning published. But…
My previous rep, the nice soul he was, had made me certain promises about book length, costs, etc. John was somewhat surprised by this, as there were no notes about anything in the old rep’s files. One of the reasons I had decided to go with BookSurge, was the final cost of the book to the end purchaser.
Non Traditional, Print-On-Demand publishing is more expensive to the reader. Where an average paperback might sell for $6.95 to $8.95, POD books sell from $12.95-$25.00. To my mind, the higher prices meant less sales, which translated to my head as FEWER READERS. Not Good.
The initial estimate for the pricing of Angels In Mourning was between 15.95 and 19.95. I asked for, and was promised that despite its 414 page length, it would retail at $15.99. This, John explained to me, would impact my royalties. I told him it didn’t matter. The price needed to be held at what I was promised.
It took him a couple of days to work this out. When he finally got back to me, he told me that BookSurge would honor what my previous rep had promised. This did make me feel better about the publisher I’d chosen, as there had been nothing in any files or emails to me about the pricing.
John did tell me that any future books would follow the standard pricing schedule of BookSurge, which is only right.
Then John began to discuss marketing: How was I planning to market the book? What resources did I have? What special things would I implement?
This was an area my previous rep never stepped into. Of course I had thought about these things, but without a completely specific plan. I knew I needed reviews, and needed a way to get my name and the books name into the public eye.
John spent an hour that day, and probably two or three more on the following days, guiding me in the best ways to do Internet marketing. Most of his suggestions were exceptionally good, and I have been following them faithfully, but that’s getting ahead of myself.
My first order of business, because the publication date was set several months ahead, was to get review copies out to everyone possible. This is when I learned that – more often than not – the standard review outlets, the magazines and websites – did not like Non-Standard publishing. Of course I should have realized this, but I hadn’t. A book is a book, is it not? Well, according to certain “standard” outlets, no it isn’t. The prestigious ALA’s (American Library Association) booklist, handles only traditionally published novels. POD’s are not considered. PW, while occasionally taking a non-fiction title, does not welcome submissions from Independently (read POD) publisher/authors. The New York Times Review of Books? Who knows, certainly not I. Foreword Magazine, which is a branch of ALA/booklist, does accept them, however, when I submitted Angels In Mourning, I was informed it was sent in too late.
Of course, 99% of Print-On-Demand will be too late because once the book is ready for printing, it has a release date. This means that most of the standard reviewers expect the book 3-4 months prior to its release date. Not really possible with POD.
Then there is Kirkus, which is among the most prestigious of the reviewing organizations: Of course Kirkus does not review the Non-Standard POD books. But, in their infinite wisdom, Kirkus has created Kirkus Discoveries, a website for “independently” produced books. And of course, they only charge around $500.000 to review the book. Oh well….
So what does a POD author have to do to get reviewed? Stay tuned, and my next Blog will go into that and other marketing necessities…. For sure!
I called my Publishing Rep, to ask a one of my always ongoing questions: This man was patient, seemingly well informed, and the ideal listener. When I called, I received a message saying that he was unavailable. I tried later that day, the next day, and the day following that. When I received no callbacks, I took another path. I called BookSurge and explained that I need to speak to my Publishing Rep, and was informed that he was “no longer with the company”. Then I was transferred to my new rep.
Meeting your new Rep, (read editor) can be a daunting experience – especially after spending six or seven weeks working closely with one person. And I was pissed as well. Didn’t the publisher think enough of me, as a writer/client, to inform me of what was happening? Apparently not, I’d decided.
After several phone sessions with my new rep, John Rizzo, I began to feel more confident. John seemed well informed, highly professional and willing to do whatever it took to keep the process rolling and get Angels In Mourning published. But…
My previous rep, the nice soul he was, had made me certain promises about book length, costs, etc. John was somewhat surprised by this, as there were no notes about anything in the old rep’s files. One of the reasons I had decided to go with BookSurge, was the final cost of the book to the end purchaser.
Non Traditional, Print-On-Demand publishing is more expensive to the reader. Where an average paperback might sell for $6.95 to $8.95, POD books sell from $12.95-$25.00. To my mind, the higher prices meant less sales, which translated to my head as FEWER READERS. Not Good.
The initial estimate for the pricing of Angels In Mourning was between 15.95 and 19.95. I asked for, and was promised that despite its 414 page length, it would retail at $15.99. This, John explained to me, would impact my royalties. I told him it didn’t matter. The price needed to be held at what I was promised.
It took him a couple of days to work this out. When he finally got back to me, he told me that BookSurge would honor what my previous rep had promised. This did make me feel better about the publisher I’d chosen, as there had been nothing in any files or emails to me about the pricing.
John did tell me that any future books would follow the standard pricing schedule of BookSurge, which is only right.
Then John began to discuss marketing: How was I planning to market the book? What resources did I have? What special things would I implement?
This was an area my previous rep never stepped into. Of course I had thought about these things, but without a completely specific plan. I knew I needed reviews, and needed a way to get my name and the books name into the public eye.
John spent an hour that day, and probably two or three more on the following days, guiding me in the best ways to do Internet marketing. Most of his suggestions were exceptionally good, and I have been following them faithfully, but that’s getting ahead of myself.
My first order of business, because the publication date was set several months ahead, was to get review copies out to everyone possible. This is when I learned that – more often than not – the standard review outlets, the magazines and websites – did not like Non-Standard publishing. Of course I should have realized this, but I hadn’t. A book is a book, is it not? Well, according to certain “standard” outlets, no it isn’t. The prestigious ALA’s (American Library Association) booklist, handles only traditionally published novels. POD’s are not considered. PW, while occasionally taking a non-fiction title, does not welcome submissions from Independently (read POD) publisher/authors. The New York Times Review of Books? Who knows, certainly not I. Foreword Magazine, which is a branch of ALA/booklist, does accept them, however, when I submitted Angels In Mourning, I was informed it was sent in too late.
Of course, 99% of Print-On-Demand will be too late because once the book is ready for printing, it has a release date. This means that most of the standard reviewers expect the book 3-4 months prior to its release date. Not really possible with POD.
Then there is Kirkus, which is among the most prestigious of the reviewing organizations: Of course Kirkus does not review the Non-Standard POD books. But, in their infinite wisdom, Kirkus has created Kirkus Discoveries, a website for “independently” produced books. And of course, they only charge around $500.000 to review the book. Oh well….
So what does a POD author have to do to get reviewed? Stay tuned, and my next Blog will go into that and other marketing necessities…. For sure!
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