"Roundheads and Ramblings"
Book Launch
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Posted on Sunday, February 12, 2012 2:09 PM
An old saying begins: "If I had a nickel for every time I _____________, I'd be rich by now." If I had to fill in that blank, I'd say, "every time someone asked me a question about how to get a book published. . ."
Seriously, it sometimes seems like every person I talk to has a secret ambition to write a book. If you're reading this blog, you are probably one of them. You have family stories to tell, or family recipes, an idea for the perfect murder, an inspirational tale about a friend or neighbor, a collection of photographs, a secret stash of poetry -- something that is so important to you that you want to to turn it into a book. But of course, the very reason you ask how to get started is that the question is too big to be answered.
For a while I tried to provide some guidance on this blog. In one post, I wrote, "Start exploring the advice available on the Internet, keeping in mind that not all sources are equally valuable. If I had to choose one blogger’s advice, I’d go to Dana Lynn Smith’s Savvy Book Marketer site. For general money saving tips, you can’t go wrong using Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s series of “Frugal” web publications."
For the rest, you can find dozens of bloggers and columnists who have made successful careers out of telling others how to use the resources of the Internet to write a book. I decided not to recommend any one over the others, because much depends on your own needs and personality. I subscribed to one promising blog, only to discover that the writer knew less than I did about the Internet and could provide only the most basic bits of advice. Her simplistic remarks sent me pounding on the delete key. Another site turned out to be written so far above me that I felt I was reading a foreign language. My best advice was to sample widely and find a few resources that prove helpful.
 Eventually I realized that if there were ironclad rules for "writing a book," someone would have laid them out a long time ago. Instead, I decided to tell my own story, from the first decision to self-publish to that heady moment when I found myself at the top of one of Amazon's bestseller lists. My choices won't work for everyone. My problems were specific to my own book. But I learned a lot along the way, and I'm happy to pass along any tips that will help you to get started on your own writing project. That's how The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese came to be.
Don't expect to find a heavy volume of unbreakable rules and stuffy grammar. This is a light-hearted anecdotal account of my ups and downs as I learned about the publishing world. I want you to smile while you read it. My little cartoon mice pop up occasionally to remind us all that if you're not having fun at what you're doing, you probably need to do something else. One reviewer commented that she felt like she was chatting with me over a cup of coffee. So if you've ever thought about writing a book, click on over to the Book Launch page and find out how you can get your own paper copy at a reduced price or a Kindle edition for only $0.99. You might even qualify for a prize. Then grab a mug, pull up a chair, and let's talk about self-publishing. |
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Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 11:20 AM
 On "Good Morning America" today, the "Play of the Day" featured a chimpanzee who is able to memorize the locations of randomly-placed numbers. He can handle as many as 19 numbers, even when he sees them for less than a second. I need that chimp!
 The numbers popping up all around me this morning are book prices -- my own book prices -- which have been changing and bouncing around without warning. When I began to plan for the book launch of "The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese," I decided to reduce the prices of all the books on my website. Now, understand that we're just talking about trade paper copies of the books. (To get electronic editions, you have to go elsewhere.) So I took $3.00 (a nice round number) off both of my self-published books and offered free shipping. I already had cut the price of "A Scratch with the Rebels" in half because the remaining copies in my inventory have been laying around here for almost 5 years. I finished editing the website to reflect the new prices, and sat back, satisfied with my decisions.
Then up popped a couple of moles. First, Amazon lowered the price of of one of those books by 28%, making the paper version of "Mouse" a strange $9.32. Several days later, they lowered "Beyond All Price" by 15%, to $12.78. At that point, one of my special offers was lower than theirs, while the other was higher. Sales were doing a little better than I had expected, so I decided to leave well enough alone.
Ah, but we weren't through. I had set the price of "Mouse" on both Smashwords and Amazon at $0.99, which should have been appealing to budget-minded folks, but apparently wasn't. Meanwhile, the publisher of my 2007 history, "A Scratch with the Rebels" enrolled that book in the Kindle Select program and opted to take their free days right now. They're doing amazingly well. The Kindle free version has popped up at #2 in Civil War history, bested only by a version of Lincoln's Gettysburg address! But "Mouse" is suffering from the competition.
 There's only one solution to competing with a free book (even one of my own!). I have now listed "Mouse" on Smashwords for free. Will Amazon follow suit? Probably. They don't like being undersold. But when will that change occur? I have no way of telling. I'm just sitting here, waiting for that particular mole to pop up.
In my days of traditional academic publishing, I could release a book and sit back, knowing exactly what was going on -- a set price and standard distribution channels. But self-publishing? Wow! It's a constant challenge to keep up with the changes. Wonder how I contact that chimp! |
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Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 12:14 PM
Book launches come in all shapes and sizes. When my first Civil War book came out, there was no fanfare involved. A Scratch with the Rebels was a curious mixture of academic footnoting, with just enough personal touches to appeal to a popular audience. The publisher didn't know what to do with it, and neither did I. I was just relieved to be finished with it.
But Beyond All Price was a different story, on many levels. It was historical fiction, so there was not a footnote in sight. I self-published it, so I knew I was solely responsible for publicizing it. I've written about the virtual launch party I threw for that book here on the blog and in my new book. Because I was trying to build my own community of writers, I reached out to writers I knew and admired. Some were newbies, like me, and some were experienced. Some were elderly (also like me!) and others were very young. Some wrote and some wrote about writing. But we all shared a love of good books and enthusiasm about the internet and the new trends in publishing. These were the literary-minded people who influenced the nature of that launch.
Later this year I'll be launching The Road to Frogmore with a much more traditional launch party. That book will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Laura Towne and the founding of The Penn School. On such an occasion, I will want to honor those people who own histories are tied into Laura's story with something more formal and personal.
But what to do with The Second Mouse? It's a "how-to" book and a memoir of sorts. It's an anecdotal account of my own venture into the world of self-publishing. As such, it is directed toward all those people out there who secretly want to write a book, those who have a story to tell, and those who are hesitant to start writing. Just recently, I received an e-mail from a retired gentleman who simply asked, "Can you tell me how to write a book?" He is my intended audience. But how do I find that audience? They are the people who lurk behind this blog, who read but don't comment, who surf the internet hoping for answers to those unspoken questions in their dreams. Obviously, the internet is the path to finding them. So here's what I have planned.
I'm taking a 10-day period to hunt down my next readers. This blog is only the first step. On the following days, we'll talk about my Facebook Fan Page with its new WIK design. We'll focus on other social media, too. I'm hoping to come up with a post directed at business people on LinkedIn, for example, and another exploring the uses of Twitter. We'll look at different venues for self-publishing. We'll talk about building a website. And I'll be offering links to places where you'll find low prices on books you've been wanting to read, a couple of free offers, and a give-away drawing.
I hope you'll be able to carry away from this launch a piece of cheese or two, a tidbit that will meet you own particular needs. Please poke around his blog and my website. If you don't find what you need to know, leave a comment and I'll try to answer your question.
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Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2012 2:39 PM
As some of you know, The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese, my new book on self-publishing. was published last Friday. (Should I be worried that it was Friday the 13th?) It now has a page on Amazon, although it doesn't always show up in searches yet. It's also on Smashwords.com, where you can get an electronic version for several different platforms, including one that you can read on your computer screen. We're still waiting for formatting for Kindle. It has some clever little mouse images, and they are notoriously hard to manage on Kindles, so it may be another week or so before its appearance there.
This morning I have set the official launch date as February 15th, hoping that all will be in place by them. But one of the details that must happen right now is arranging for legitimate reviews that appear on the Amazon page before I start asking the general public to take a chance on the book. And that is where you, my faithful followers, come in. I need people to read through the book, or at least thumb through it, reading selected sections. Then, I hope, you'll drop by the Amazon page and leave a few chosen words about why you like the book, or how useful you find it.
Please note. I'm not asking for 5-star rave reviews. Actually, a book that gets nothing but 5-stars looks suspiciously faked. I just want your honest reactions, with comments that potential purchasers will find helpful. The reviews do not need to be long, either. Amazon only asks that they be 20 words or more.
There's a limit, of course. I'll be taking only the first 20 offers from readers.
Here's the process, and the payoff for you.
1. If you are willing to read and review, please respond by sending an e-mail to schribercat4@yahoo.com, indicating your willingness and giving me your snail-mail address, so I can reward you.
2. I'll reply with a code that will look something like this: AB12C (This one isn't real. It won't work!)
3. Then you'll go to the book's page on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/124768. The price will show up as $2.99, but when you enter the code I give you on your order, the price will drop to $0.00. FREE!
4. You'll be able to download your copy immediately.
5. Once you've taken a look at the book, write your review on the book's Amazon page, and you're finished, except for watching your real mailbox for a delivery. I'll be sending every reviewer who appears on the Amazon page a free copy of the trade paperback, a regular $12.95 value.
Thanks for your help. Without readers like you, writers like me would be flipping burgers somewhere.
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Posted on Monday, June 13, 2011 12:08 AM
 We've already talked about book marketing as part of the preparation for writing your book. Now that the book is ready to meet its public, the same social media sites will be even more important to your efforts. If you've followed this plan, you've already started to build a platform of followers and readers. Now it's time to expand your efforts.
Once you've created a publishing company and have the books ready for purchase, a website is a prime requirement. It should serve many functions -- introducing your area of expertise, talking about your book, providing a detailed biography so that readers feel they really know you, allowing readers to contact you, and making book ordering easy. Articles on how to build your website are found elsewhere. Just be sure you do it.
A word of caution about the usual social media sites may be necessary here. Readers turn to Twitter for pithy sayings, not to be told to "Go buy my book." Facebook provides enough ads as it is. Don't make it worse by using your status updates as just another ad. Your readers are probably interested in your signings, your awards, your public speeches -- but don't beat them over the head with flat demands for their money. YouTube videos can reach huge audiences, but don't post something unless it makes you look like a professional, not a silly amateur turned loose for the first time with a cellphone. And LinkedIn audiences are even tougher. The participants there are usually serious business people. Give them information they can use, not blatant self-promotion.
A Virtual Book Tour is a wonderful device for building your following. Every time you visit the blog of someone new and post an interesting article, you get a chance to add that person's followers to your own. So look for people with interests similar to your own, read their blogs until you are sure you like them (and their audiences), and then ask politely if you can do a guest post for them. If you offer their readers some information of value. you may create a long-term relationship that works for both of you. As an example, just last week I made my second appearance on a blog managed by a woman who wrote an article for my own book launch. Our interests jibe, and we easily fill in for one another when we need a fresh voice.
The final item on this chart talks about press releases -- which sound serious and mysterious but are easy to do because there is a standard format. Everything must fit on a single page. Forget about fancy fonts, pictures, clever little sketches -- just get the facts out there, with no grammatical errors or typos.
Start with the words "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" Follow that with your contact information. Write a short catchy headline. Look at your local newspaper for examples. Write a two-sentence description of your book. Provide a synopsis, similar to the one on the back of the book jacket. Include a brief biography, with pertinent qualifications, other publications, and any awards. Add a quote or two from any reviews you may have Provide book details -- ISBN, publisher, ordering information Repeat author contact information Finish with that useful printers mark -- ###
Once you have a good press release, you can send it to local news media, give it to people who will be hosting your book signings, and use it to introduce yourself to potential customers. Consider it your own personal Town Crier, going out ahead of you to announce your presence.
Finally, let's add one more item: PERSERVERENCE. Success in the book publishing world does not come easily or quickly . It just seems that way when you look at it from the outside, because readers don't see the agent turndowns, the rejections from publishing houses, the low sales figures, the negative balance in your business ledger. Your book will not be an overnight phenomenon. Accept that, and keep marketing, keep talking about your interests, and keep writing. Really, which would you rather have -- a one-night stand with an Amazon "best-seller of the day" or a steady, growing relationship with your readership?
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