BookMarketingBuzzBlog

Monday, July 29, 2013

The Naked Artist Is A Model To Us All

What do you do when you have seen a woman fully naked, from her full, firm breasts to her shapely buttocks – and then you meet her?

I was touring an art gallery in lower Manhattan a few months ago. Several floors were covered wall-to-wall, with images of a 24-year-old woman, seemingly a tease with her bare body. Her youth permitted her to just express herself this way, to be captured by 25 different photographers. She looked free and happy, unbound by society’s expectations or limits, unshackled by any fear or insecurity. She is a natural.

The images, both black and white and in color, lined the gallery as the day’s sun began to settle upon them. Her body was exposed from every angle. It wasn’t porn; it was art. Or was it? Could porn be art?

The model kneeled by me, huddled in the corner of the room. We hadn’t yet spoken and I’d already seen her from an intimate vantage point. Should I have taken my clothes off to equalize the situation? She was fully clothed in person, but there was no barrier that could cover the free spirit within her. Her eyes smiled eagerly. Her lips seemed poised to separate so words could embellish the moment. But none were needed. I felt like I’d fallen into the photographs by being next to her. It is as if she leapt off the walls and gave breath to her art.

After a number of minutes of her watching my face for a hint of reaction to her art, and after me staring at her first on the walls and then in person, we spoke.

I asked her if something united how all the photographers saw her. She paused to reflect and then said she believes she represents performance art and each photographer captured some side of that. I didn’t know prancing, posing, or lounging naked is ‘performance art.’ On the other hand, one is naturally drawn to her playful side, envious not only of a body most women want and many men desire, but of her confidence to pull this off. She almost makes it seem so normal, to just shed our clothes and our inhibitions.

The exhibitor, at the Rox Gallery, went on for another month. I’d heard about it after reading in the New York Post, how the model, Natalie White, greeted people at the gallery topless. The neighborhood complained that images of her masturbating could be seen on the window. Cops came one day and she gave them a tour without her shirt or bra.

I asked her what she will do after the exhibit. She said she didn’t know and seemed fine not knowing, as if she couldn’t wait to see what surprise awaits her.

I inquired if she was working on a book. She said she has ideas for several photography books.

I suspect her books will be a little spicier than most coffee table books.

For one evening, it was nice to see and meet living art. This naked artist is a model to all who want to live their passion, pursue their purpose, and find pleasure in every moment.

Interview With Author Jeffrey Weber

What type of books do you write? I write all sorts of books on many different topics. I lead such an unusual life with many strange and funny things happening that my first three volumes were my autobiography. I followed Mark Twain's formats of thinking of unusual events that happened in my life and then devoting a chapter to them. My biography is aptly titled My Only Crime was Being Born. The book is funny and sad and has 100 pages of true love from all the pen pal letters between myself and my soon to be Filipina bride. Though the soon to be turned out to be seven years of pen pal letters. Next I revised my investing book titled I guarantee you will buy low sell high and make money and adapted it to the smash words.com style so that I could sell an e-book version of my already written investing work. Next I did something completely different and wrote and adults sexually erotic fiction book entitled the island of wanted submission. Somehow I felt the book in bed inside me my whole life and I had a get it out and I did. I am currently working on a best of my tweets book or books as I have written over 40,000 tweets in the last four years and I think many of them are timeless and will be enjoyed by readers. Some of the topics that I focus on our religion, humor, quotes, politics, sarcasm, and philosophy.

What is your newest book about? I am currently working on a best of my tweets book or books as I have written over 40,000 tweets in the last four years and I think many of them are timeless and will be enjoyed by readers. Some of the topics that I focus on our religion, humor, quotes, politics, sarcasm, and philosophy.

What inspired you to write it? I received many compliments and retweets of my tweets and felt readers would enjoys books of my tweets that contain masterful quotes, great religious quotes, my incredible sarcasm and unique views of life

What is the writing process like for you? I use Dragon Naturally Speaking to dictate as I feel my thoughts flow better. Rather than writer's block I have writer's gush - the words just flow out so fast. I usually dictate 2,000 -3,000 words a day but somedays when I'm not bothered I have written 10,000 - 15,000.

What did you do before you became an author? I worked for the Army and later on the Air Force as an auditor. Since I'm not exactly selling books like John Grisham I haven't quit the day job yet.

How does it feel to be a published author? It's a great and humbling experience. It's also frustrating when you find out how hard it is to sell books as an unknown author.

Any advice for struggling writers? Realize you have done your job when you have offered your best in a book. Sales do not reflect on the greatness of your book.

Where do you see book publishing heading? I see it going more and more to ebooks. That is good for beginning authors because regular publishers treat you like the plague.

To find hisbook search for Jeffrey Weber on http://www.smashwords.com

New York Times Bestselling Author Shares Publishing Insights

Interview With NYT Bestselling Author Suzy Spencer

What type of books do you write? I write journalism with an edge, specifically narrative nonfiction books about true murder and true sex. But I’m especially known for my true crime books, particularly Wasted, which is about Regina Hartwell, a wealthy young lesbian who was murdered by her girlfriend’s boyfriend – it was a New York Times bestseller and has been frequently featured on Investigation Discovery (ID) – and Breaking Point, which was about Andrea Yates, the Houston mother who drowned her five children.

What is your newest book about? My newest book, Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality, is a departure for me in that it’s not written in third person. It’s a revealing memoir about my journalistic research into Americans’ alternative sex practices – such as swinging and BDSM. Secret Sex Lives was a Publishers Weekly fall 2012 pick in the memoir category, a Barnes & Noble editor’s recommendation, and was selected by Tampa’s Creative Loafing as one of the 10 most provocative books of 2012. It was also featured on Katie Couric’s talk show, Katie.

Thank God, Secret Sex Lives has gotten some terrific reviews, but one of my favorites came out just last week. It’s from The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health:

When so much writing about sexuality seeks to sensationalize and moralize, Secret Sex Lives is instead fresh, honest, and beautiful. It can be absolutely powerful and cathartic to hear the story of a person’s sexual journey, and Suzy’s story fits that description. The most powerful thing about Secret Sex Lives is that within it (possibly without meaning to), Suzy invites us to acknowledge, explore, and question our own sexualities. On her blog, Suzy best summarizes a great lesson to be learned from her book: “Think about how much better your life would be if you had someone who loved and accepted you and your sexual desires, just the way you are.” Give Secret Sex Lives a look, then tell a friend, a partner, or even a family member about it. Share and discuss this book, then perhaps we can all grow from this author’s research, exploration, and experiences.

Believe me, when I set out to write books, I never dreamed I’d be writing about true murder and true sex, and I certainly never dreamed I’d be reviewed by an organization called The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health, though I’m happy I was.

What inspired you to write it? After nearly 10 years of writing true crime, I was burned out from all the tragedy and desperately needed to laugh. My agent suggested I write about alternative sex. I thought sex – or at least talking about sex – has always made me laugh, so why not? (Those who can do, do; those who can’t, make jokes about it.) I never comprehended how researching and writing such a book would completely change my life.

What is the writing process like for you? Painful! Seriously, it is painful … especially when writing a memoir and being called to reveal things one doesn’t want to reveal about oneself. Beyond that, I’ve learned that writing massmarket paperback true crime is very different from writing trade paperback memoir.

In true crime, it’s all about the deadline and publication date. Since the publication date is often set before the contract is even signed, I’d spend a few months researching the story, then a few months whipping out the story. Both can lead to 12-18 hour days, especially as the book’s deadline draws near. After the manuscript is finished, there’s a quick edit and intensive vetting by the publisher’s attorney, and then the book is shipped.

In memoir, it’s all about the writing and the telling of a very personal story in the best way possible. It’s full of feedback, rewriting, editing, rewriting, feedback, rewriting, editing and on and on. Only after the final manuscript is written is the publication date set, followed by intensive vetting, creation of a publicity plan, prepping for that plan, etc.

Because memoir is so personal, for me at least, some days I could only write for a very few hours. In fact, in great contrast with true crime, I found my best work was written on days when I’d write for no more than four hours.

Let me emphasize, though, both genres involve deep dedication. True crime books require it because they are done so fast. And Secret Sex Lives required it because it took nearly eight years to research and write. This isn’t a job for quitters.

What did you do before you became an author? I was a reporter/researcher for Fortune magazine, then a freelance writer, then an editor for a jewelry trade magazine, then a freelance writer again.

How does it feel to be a published author? Certainly, there is great joy in holding a published book in my hands – that feeling of accomplishment, especially after eight years of researching and writing. But, for me, the joy is always coupled with anxiety as I worry about whether the book will sell, whether it will get any publicity so that people even know it exists, how readers and reviewers and those in the book will react to it, what the Amazon reviews are going to be like, and the, oh, dear, what’s my next book going to be? oh, my gosh, I’ve got to think about my next book.

Any advice for struggling writers? Know that your feelings of anxiety are normal. Even the most successful writers have them. In fact, when I freak out, I think of romance novelist Mary Lynn Baxter. For 30 years or so, Mary Lynn was hugely successful in the romance field. And every time she wrote a book she thought it was going to be terrible and after she finished it she thought she could never write another book. But her books were always successes and she always wrote another one, until she decided she wanted to retire and do something else.

Beyond that I would say remember that all writers – even the greatest ones – need an editor and copy editor. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that your work is perfect without editors. By the way, family, friends, and English teachers and professors aren’t editors unless they have worked for publishing houses in that capacity. They are family, friends, and English teachers and professors. Hire pros.

Where do you see book publishing heading? I don’t know where it is going, but I know where I’d like to see it go – where readers have options. If they prefer traditional books that they can cocoon themselves in while reading, I want that to be available for them. If they want interactive e-books with video and music, additional information at a click, optional endings, author interviews, and chats with other readers, I want that to be available to them. In fact, that aspect of publishing is what excites me, especially as I get to face the challenge of learning new skills. I’m psyched and ready to take on the challenge!

Now in stores, Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality, a memoir by Suzy Spencer, New York Times bestselling author. For more information, see: www.SuzySpencer.com

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Do You Need A National Sales Strategy?

Even if you don’t follow baseball, play along with my analogy to book publishing.

Major League Baseball has 30 teams but it doesn’t have a team in the majority of the 50 states. In fact, a number of states have multiple teams, while 33 states have none. Eight states have 19 teams. (CA-5; TX-2; IL-2; MO-2; NY-2; OH-2; FL-2; PA-2). Some big states lack a team, including New Jersey, but bankrupt cities like Detroit have one. Even Canada has a team. So does a please that’s not a state – The Nationals of Washington, D.C.

Should your book sales and PR strategy follow suit?

Baseball, the national pastime, has missed 66% of the United States when it comes to the number of states it is in. But it wisely has teams in some of the bigger cities and it has Minor League teams in a lot of the underserved areas. Maybe you should sell and promote your book in a local or regionalized way, rather than attempting to cover the entire nation.

Think about the demographic of your anticipated readers. Go where such people congregate and make a targeted effort to reach your likely reader, both in your marketing and publicity.

Sometimes you can be more successful by concentrating your efforts on a few places, rather than stretching yourself thin across the country. Look to saturate a number of key cities and ignore the rest. Once you build up traction in a handful of cities you can think about expanding.

If the strategy of targeted regionalism works for baseball, it can work for you.

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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Can You Feel the Heat?

Life repeats itself and yet people have short memories. A good example of this is in how people discuss the weather.

In New York, we recently experienced a seven-day heat wave where daily temperatures topped 90 degrees. It’s the middle of July, the hottest month of every year, so it’s not a surprise that it’s warm out. But it seems people think that whatever they are experiencing is the worst, biggest, most extreme experience. This type of self-entered focus on the present always amazes me. People have no historical perspective on anything – from weather to sports to politics to the economy.

Here’s a news flash: it’s hot outside. The summer gets hot, every year without failure. Some tend to be a little hotter than others but no one will confuse summer with late fall.

People just tend to complain. In the winter, we whine about the cold, the wind, the snow, the ice. In the spring, we wonder when the rain will stop. The fall can seem pleasant and then one day it cools down and people whisper about how chilly it got. Whether we are experiencing a cold or hot day, we’ll complain. It seems there are only 10 perfect weather days in a year – and usually we’re inside working on most of them.

I recently read NYC once had a 12-day stretch of 90+ degree days, averaging 95 degrees in that period. That was 60 years ago.

In the last 115 years in NYC there have been at least seven instances of seven consecutive 90-degree days, so on average, every generation has experienced this type of heat wave. Nothing new under the sun here.

But don’t tell that to others. You get in an elevator or wait on a line somewhere and people will instantly talk about the heat. Oh, the drama! Yes, everyone is going to die.

We take the heat index approach to other aspects of life. An athlete puts together a few good games and we already champion him as the next Hall of Fame inductee. We see a good movie and all of a sudden we say it’s the best of the year or decade – or ever. We enjoy a good meal and now that restaurant is talked non-stop about, as if we single-handedly discovered it.

And, as authors, we think we’ve written masterpieces, unrivaled and undeniably worthy of a Pulitzer, a movie, and the best-seller list.

I think the heat is getting to everyone, because it’s distorting our perspective and sense of proportion.

Maybe we need a better way of rating, describing, or capturing our experiences so that we don’t let short memories, lack of experience, or a bias to the present distort the relevance of what we are seeing, doing, and experiencing. Otherwise, we’re just like kids who think everything that happens to them is amazing and that the world was only created the day they were born.

It’s hot out, and this summer may average out to be one of the top 10 or 20 summers in NYC’s recent history (it only recorded temperatures from as far back as the late 1800’s), but in the long run, it may mean little. Every summer is hot. Besides, with global warming heating up, we may see every year filled with new weather records for decades to come, making this heat wave look a bit like an ice age.

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Friday, July 26, 2013

Do You Conduct A Butterfly Book PR Campaign?

Butterflies can be very beautiful as they gracefully float through the air. They seem to be peaceful, gentle creatures. They don’t bite, sting, smell or do harm. Everyone loves them. But they have a short life cycle. The average lifespan is 20 days.

They burst onto the scene, live a fun but brief life, and then disappear. Is that what your book publicity is like? Do you make a colorful splash and then just go away?

Movie publicity campaigns are typically like the life of a butterfly – short and sweet. Movies have a week or two before opening day – another two weeks afterwards – to make an impact.

Then the buzz around them drops off significantly.

Books, however, have a longer shelf-life and window of opportunity for promotions.

The butterfly approach does not work well for books. True, there is a high-priority time to promote that centers around a book’s release date, but the PR campaign begins at least three to four months prior to a book’s publication date and continues for up to three months after that date.

Depending on the news cycle, the book’s subject matter, and its sales, PR campaigns can stretch out even longer.

A book publicity campaign lasts longer than a fireworks finale. It’s more of a marathon than a sprint.

However, not all days are equal in the six-month-plus campaign. The early days are critical, in that they set the pace and tone. The initial strategy development and story ideas that you come up with will dictate what happens later. Further, the month prior to release date, and the month after, are the two most active months. But plenty has to happen, on a daily basis, over a half-year, to successfully promote, market, and sell a book.

Butterflies are really pretty to look at and bring a smile to your face. But a butterfly campaign for promoting a book will fall short of what’s really needed to put your book on the map.

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