75 Things Authors Need To Do

Authors, in order to market and promote their books properly, are expected to know and do a lot of things – all while either holding down a day job or writing new books – or doing both.  Here’s a cheat sheet outlining the scores of things that will need tending to:

1.      Creating a business plan for your book.

2.      Drafting a marketing and PR plan.

3.      Putting together an advertising campaign, which includes: identifying a budget, when and where to advertise, creating ad copy, and reviewing the results.

4.      Creating a blog, posting to it, and using social media to circulate it.

5.      Writing your biography and social media profile.

6.      Building a website – finding a web host/designer, drafting content, making sure it’s functional and updated.

7.      Printing business cards (and designing them).

8.      Applying for awards (and identifying which ones to go for).

9.      Reviewing contests and applying to several of them.

10.  Creating a give-away.

11.  Holding a contest or sponsoring an event.

12.  Writing guest-posts for bloggers.

13.  Writing by-line articles for newspapers, magazines, or journals.

14.  Scheduling book signings and then conducting them.

15.  Developing fliers and distributing them.

16.  Developing postcards and mailing them.

17.  Writing a press kit for the news media.

18.  Getting media coached and prepped for interviews.

19.  Seeking out testimonials and blurbs.

20.  Developing ancillary products or services for sale.

21.  Filming and editing a video trailer.

22.  Getting a Twitter account and learning how to use it.

23.  Tweeting frequently.

24.  Using Twitter to grow your network of connections.

25.  Getting a Facebook account, designating a page for your book, and learning how to use it.

26.  Posting on Facebook often.

27.  Using FB to expand your network of connections.

28.  Finding groups via LinkedIn, FB, Twitter and other social media platforms, joining them, and interacting with members.

29.  Opening a YouTube account and learning how to master it.

30.  Loading videos to the site for distribution.

31.  Utilizing YouTube to build up your network of connections.

32.  Exploring whether to be on Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Google+ and other social media platforms – and then, if interested, open an account with one or more of them, learn about how to use them, and then delve into making connections and sharing content.

33.  Doing a virtual book tour.

34.  Going on a physical road tour – but only if it makes economical sense.

35.  Locating and attend (or participate as a speaker/displayer at) book fairs, festivals,

conventions, or events.

36.  Contacting your alumni association to see what opportunities exist to promote your book.

37.  Making a matrix of everyone you know – list people you can network with and then connect with them.

38.  Attending networking events.

39.  Donating books to good causes.

40.  Pursuing selling the rights to your book or for specific areas: audio, foreign film, etc.

41.  Creating a podcast and distribute it.

42.  Finding podcasters who will interview you.

43.  Doing a radio tour – by phone.

44.  Creating teleseminars and/or webinars for free or a fee.

45.  Developing a plan for SEO -- Search Engine Optimization.

46.  Designing and printing posters or display signs.

47.  Hosting guest-bloggers on your site.

48.  Exchange links with others.

49.  Hold a book launch party.

50.  Writing targeted pitches for specific types of media, such as business editors or parenting columnists.

51.  Finding people to sell your book via affiliate programs.

52.  Creating your own networking group.

53.  Posting blog comments or writing letters-to-the-editor at publications, mentioning your book and website.

54.  Printing bookmarks.

55.  Converting your book into a seminar or course.

56.  Researching what honorary days, weeks, months, and holidays tie into your book’s theme or contents.

57.  Applying to make a list, such as a publication’s list of best books of the year.

58.  Seeking to be included in gift guides.

59.  Attending any relevant conventions.

60.  Build up a huge email list to solicit sales.

61.  Selecting your best book excerpts or a sample chapter for download at your site.

62.  Creating an email signature that includes your book.

63.  Placing your book on NetGalley and Goodreads

64.  Reading blogs about book marketing, sales, and publicity.

65.  Creating cool infographics.

66.  Joining relevant professional or hobby or non-profit organizations.

67.  Participating in online forums.

68.  Seeing if you can get a sponsor or partner with a charity, corporation, or group.

69.  Connecting with social book marketing sites.

70.  Pursue speaking engagements for a fee or free, including applying to speakers bureaus.

71.  Sending out thank you notes to people you meet or who help you.

72.  Setting up and do radio interviews.

73.  Setting up and participate in local and national TV interviews.

74.  Contacting book reviewers, editors, reporters and columnists at local and national newspapers, magazines, newswires and journals.  Seek out reviews, stories, and interviews.

75.  Seeing how you can package your book with another book, product, or service.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 © 2015

17 Book Blogging Tips For Beginners

What should writers do about blogging?  They should use a blog to build their brand, market a book, and get a positive message out there.  Here are 17 things to consider:

1.      Determine which platform you’ll use to blog on.

2.      Figure out how often you plan to blog and create an editorial calendar to plan out your posts.

3.      Think about how you’ll differentiate yourself from other blogs.  As of a year ago, 250 million blogs were in existence – and growing.

4.      Determine the length range of your posts.  Stick to a reasonable word count.

5.      Write what people would want to read, so figure out what they’d want to see.

6.      What will your blogging persona or voice be?

7.      Determine the book or layout of the blog, including typeface, fonts, use of images and color, background, etc.

8.      Learn how to navigate around your blog, including share buttons and widgets.

9.      Alternate different types of posts, including: interviews, reviews, lists, advice, opinion pieces, story-telling, advocacy, educating, making predictions, offering analysis, or doing controversial posts.

10.  Read other blogs to learn something, including: janefriedman.com/blog, writersdigest.com/editor-blogs, writer.unboxed.com, thecreativepen.com, and annerallen.blogspot.com

11.  Always create great content and make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog

12.  Avoid obvious mistakes such as violating copyright laws, giving too much information, being sloppy with editing, making it too difficult to read, posting inconsistently, using weak post titles, or coming across as less than genuine.

13.  Guest blog on other sites and welcome guest-bloggers on yours.

14.  Anticipate a reader’s needs and meet them.

15.  Consider running ads on your blog for a fee.  See web.blogads.com and google.com/adsense.

16.  To help your blog look good with images, consult flickr.com, picjumbo.com and morguefile.com. 

17.  Your blog will come in hand, with these writing communities:
www.goodreads.com
www.authorcentral.amazon.com
www.authonomy.com
www.shelfari.com
www.authorhotline.com
www.literaryrambles.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. 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 © 2015

Do Authors Mirror -- Or Create – Our Language?

According to a study of how words are commonly used, “the” is the most-used word.  No surprise there.  But who would have thought that in our selfie culture “you” (9^th) would come before “me” (122^nd) or “I” (18^th)?  Why would “he” (11^th) come so far ahead of “she” (50^th)?

“Word” ranked 45^th, “book” 269^th and language 499^th.  Of the top 500 words I only found one compound word – behind. Short words dominate the list.  Only two four-letter words filled the first 22 spots, a five-letter word was absent the first 33 spots, and a six-letter word didn’t appear until spot number 86.

This list of words didn’t include words we’d normally see, such as terms that one would find in everyday conversation – Twitter, Internet, Republican.  The list lacked names, brands and places.  It seemed to be absent anything digital.  The source of the list is www.world-english.org.  It says it created its list using the following criteria: “Based on the combined results of British, English, and Australian English surveys of contemporary sources in English newspapers, magazines, books, TV, radio and real life conversations – the language as it is written and spoken today.”

Some words that didn’t make the list surprised me, such as “faith”.

In some cases words that go together, such as “open” and “close,” were not together.  “Open” made the list, but not close.  Some pairs were far apart.  “Boy” ranked 146 in usage but “girl” was 303.  “Hot” was 30 but “cold” was 398.  However, only six spots separated “mother” and “father.”

Just how many words are in the English language?  The number varies wildly, depending on the source.  Global Language Monitor says we passed the one-millionth word in 2009 and that as of January 1, 2014, 1,025,109 words exist in our language.  This claim is based on a study done by Google and Harvard.

At this rate, 14.7 new words are coming into use every single day – or some 5,300 per year.  Google’s number of words is based on scanning 15,000,000 English language books.

Words are made up every day, from rappers to tech companies.  New industries and sports spawn a new language.  Mix in an infusion of immigrants and tourists and suddenly our words are altered by their usage and cultural spin.  This is nothing new.  Shakespeare is credited with creating 1,700 words, like advertising, bedroom, and addiction, according to Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Dr. Ernest Klein.

According to a hypertextbook.com 2001 entry, 750 million people use the English language but only about 350 million people use it as their mother tongue.  It said an “average educated person knows about 20,000 words and uses about 2,000 words in a week.”

Our language is evolving and writers influence the words we speak – not merely reflect the words that others use.  Authors shape our world, not only with their ideas and information, but by the very words they select for usage.  How many words will you use in your next book?  Which ones won’t make the cut?

The fate of our language is in your hands.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 © 2015

Why We Blog: My 1500th Blog Post

This is my 1,500^th blog post.  Actually, it's a few past that. I write and post at such a prolific pace that I can't keep up with myself.  

If I were to guess, I believe I have published three-quarter million words.  If each blog post averaged 500 words over these past four years, I would have produced the equivalent of at least a dozen books.  I haven’t been paid one cent to blog and chose not to get advertising.  To date, BookMarketingBuzzBlog has been viewed over 566,000 times.  So why do I do it?  Why should you blog?  The answers to these questions will likely overlap.

I blog because it helps me brand myself.  Anyone can see what I’ve written and hopefully come to value the perspective I bring to the discussion of book publishing, book marketing, writing, free speech, literacy, cultural trends, and book publicity. The blog helps form a positive image of someone with experience, ideas, and passion.

I blog because I hope it attracts new business to the public relations firm that I work for.

I blog because I like to give back and help others.  I am a teacher and therapist at heart and I understand the challenges, fears, and needs of aspiring writers, struggling authors, publishers, and all those who make up the realm of mass media.

I blog as a therapeutic tool, to release my emotions and give voice to my life.

I blog in hopes of lobbying and influencing others, even changing policies, procedures, and patterns that individuals and institutions blindly follow or enforce.

I blog to highlight things that need a spotlight – both the very bad and very good.  I’m not a journalist or a member of the media but I do like to serve as a watchdog over the public domain of news.

I blog about books because I love the written word and cherish it with all my heart.

I find writing my blog keeps me grounded and focused.  I never feel a slave to it when it comes to the writing part.  But I do wish I could stop myself from spending an hour each day marketing it.  That time could be better used to serve a for-profit venture.  But what’s the point in writing a blog that no one reads?  If you value the words you pen you need to put in the time, effort, and resources to get them exposure.

I would think my readership understands what’s involved in publishing a daily blog, and I assume they are appreciative of it, but I don’t hear from the vast majority of readers.  I don’t get more than five responses a day – and some are just spam posts placed in the comments section.  But I do this for my own reward and it’s something I choose to do and don’t feel obligated to do.

Who knows where the next 1,500 posts take me, but I’m glad you’re along for the ride. Please live the blog – then share it with others.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer.  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 © 2015

License Plate Free Speech Debate Is Road Kill

In the latest battleground to test the limits of free speech, the Supreme Court of the United States is reviewing a Texas case regarding vanity license plates.

This case involves the use of a Confederate flag on a license plate.  An eight-member motor vehicle panel rejected an application for use of the flag by a driver resident.  What this case opens up is this:

1) Who should decide what gets put on a state-issued item?

2) What qualifies those individuals to make such decisions?

3) What’s used as a barometer to fairly, legally, and ethically determine what should be allowed?

I believe you allow it all – or none at all.  Free speech is free speech, not subjective, compromised speech.  There’s no consistency amongst the states, as nine states allow the Confederate flag on their license “billboards”.

Plates that talk of God, abortion, and other hot-button images, concepts, and issues may get allowed, while some don’t.  Why people feel compelled to wear their views on their cars is beyond me.  No one’s going to clean your car because they agree with your bumper sticker, but some may take to cutting you off the road or vandalizing your car if they vehemently disagree with your views.

The state can’t take sides.  It can’t support one message while ignoring another.  The license plates are not policy or legislative acts – they are the mere display of people’s opinions.  I think anyone who wants to wear a Confederate flag on their license plate is an idiot but I respect their right to showcase their idiocy.

I couldn’t care if one wants to curse, share a racist name, or call for the killing of people not like them.  They do us a favor by letting us know how they feel and where they stand on things.  Don’t hide your hatred – share it – and let us react accordingly.

At the same time, if you want to promote a positive message of peace, love and democracy, by all means get out the word to and counter-act the Confederate lunatics.

Making a plate legitimate or absent won’t change people’s views of feelings.  But one license plate that should be considered is this: Don’t Censor.

That should be the message that the Supreme Court hands out.  Let them put the flag of ignorance and hatred on a car's license plate.  Better that than to give the state the license to decide our free speech fate.  Maybe it’s time to rethink the whole vanity plate option to begin with, but let’s err on the side of freedom of speech.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 © 2015

3% Of Postage Stamps Feature Books & Writers

Over 5,200 stamps have been issued by the US Post Office and some 150 were of authors or books.  That’s a lot more than stamps about soccer (10), marine life (6), the Holocaust (5), photography (3), inventors (36), or insects (49), but about the same as the number of stamps honoring airplanes (149), children (168), politics (152), music (172), horses (137), movie industry (163), and Christmas (198).  The top four are art (589), animal (497), military (446), and entertainment (410).

So which authors have been featured on a postage stamp?  Dead ones, of course, although there was a Harry Potter series featured – sans author J.K. Rowling.  The first author featured is Benjamin Franklin, whose great contributions to society include ones that advanced book publishing.  Aside from creating bifocals (to help you read), and founding a library, he was a printer, and an author.  He advanced the freedom of speech as a founder of this great country.  He also discovered electricity, opened a firehouse, was the original postmaster, blah, blah, blah.

Some of the greatest writers of the past two centuries have been put on stamps, including:

Sidney Lanier

Edgar Lee Masters

Willa Cather

Robert Frost

John Steinbeck

Edith Wharton

Helen Keller

Herman Melville

Nathaniel Hawthorn

Peal Buck

Jack London

Sinclair Lewis

Walter Lippman

Margaret Mitchell

William Faulkner

T.S. Eliot, Writer

Marianne Moore

Tennessee Williams

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Margaret Mead

Edna Ferber

Ogden Nash

James Baldwin

Henry Wadsworth

Harriet Stowe

Edgar Allan Poe

Mark Twain

Sylvia Plath

Elizabeth Bishop

Gwendolyn Brooks

E. E. Cummings

Denise Leverton

One author shared his stamp with his famous character – Cat in The Hat and Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel).

I thought one of the most interesting choices was author Ayn Rand.

Several books got their own stamp, including:

·         Gone With The Wind

·         A Streetcar Named Desire

·         The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

·         Little House on the Prairie

·         Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

·         Little Women

But the only book character to get a stamp that I’m aware of is Tom Sawyer.

Who among the living could get their own stamp?  Which books or characters are worthy of being honored by the postal agency?

While we think about such things the US Post Office is thinking about how to keep its doors open.  It would be nice to see more men and women of letters be honored on the thing that you used to need to send letters.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 © 2015

Will You Pass On A Writing Gene?

A recent story in The New York Times offered a chilling front-page headline: “Scientists Seek Ban on Method Of Editing the Human Genome.”  At issue: Preserving humanity, natural selection, and leaving science out of our bodies.  

This means that if doctors can fix it so that your baby is born without certain diseases, they can’t do it, but it also means if you want to produce a designer baby, filled with unnatural doses of beauty, brains, and athleticism, that’s out too.  

At first glance, you might say that science is already in our bodies, via surgery, drugs, robotics, altered foods, and changes in our environment.  On the other hand, once we use science to dictate a path for the unborn and those who will inherit new traits that didn’t exist before, we bristle.  But what if there were a way to genetically alter a fetus so that we can ascribe the writer gene, if such a thing even existed?  

Would you wave a magic wand and choose your child’s career path and lifestyle?  Where’s that baby’s right to choose his destiny?

Being a writer comes from many sources.  One’s childhood environment, the times he or she lives under, and life experiences would seem to be the leading influencers.  But writers often react to something – an injustice, a bad experience, a loss, an unbearable pain, a commitment to curiosity, or a special person in their life.  Maybe it’s also genetic, as writers are predisposed to picking up the pen based on their DNA.

Not all writers are built the same way, so it’s hard to make a generality, but one could possibly say that writers tend to be less violent people, smarter than most, and lean towards shades of mental imbalance.  There you have it, the writer profile: a wussy nerd prone to depression. But it’s really not like that, is it?

It would be interesting to map the genome of writers, to see what common physiological traits exist among our great thinkers and voices.  I’m sure we’ll see a pattern develop, and if one does, will scientists use it to try to program new writers, maybe even “improve” them, or worse, destroy the genetic material that would lead one to choose a writing career?

Why do any of us write?  What leads us to write in the style that we practice our craft?  How did we come to choose the subject matter of our content?  What would make us decide to step away from the keyboard permanently?

Few people are passionate about their job, but I always find writers to be passionate about their profession. Writers are deeply driven individuals who pursue their art with a level of integrity, vision, and hope like few others.  I don’t know what part of a writer is genetic, and no doubt some piece of him or her is, but I do know that even well-meaning scientists – as well as corrupt governments and greedy corporations – need to draw a line against evolutionary alternations of humans.  

We should write about it!

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 © 2015