As a member of the Author’s Guild, I receive informative posts from them. Used here by permission, is their new insightful message about the current 2012 state of the publishing ecosystem. Read it on the Author’s Guild site.

Before you read this, or after you read this, you might want to have some other input about the state of YA, Middle grade and children’s writing, in general. Here’s a good place to start: Harold Underdown, Purple Crayon site: “Children’s Books in Hard Times:
Our Industry in 2011″

Publishing’s Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory

Subtlety is out. Bloomberg Businessweek’s January 25th cover shows a book engulfed in flames. The book’s title? “Amazon Wants to Burn the Book Business.” A towering pile of books dominates the front page of Sunday’s NYT Business Section. The pile starts well below the fold (print edition), breaks through the section header at the top of the page, and leans precariously. Books are starting to tumble off. “The Bookstore’s Last Stand,” reads the headline.

These stories capture pretty well the state of book publishing: this appears to be no ordinary, cyclical crisis that future authors and publishers will shrug off. To understand how the book industry got into this predicament, however, a broader perspective may be needed. The cover story of February’s Harper’s Magazine provides that, discussing a fundamental shift in the federal approach to antitrust law that’s affected bookselling and countless other industries. It’s a story that hasn’t previously been told in a major periodical, to our knowledge.

We’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s set the stage with the other two stories.

Burning Down the Houses

Brad Stone’s Businessweek story discusses Amazon’s campaign to prevent other booksellers from securing a foothold in the booming e-book market and the company’s furious reaction to Random House’s decision last March to adopt agency pricing for e-books, just as five of the other “Big Six” trade publishers had the previous year. (Before agency pricing, Amazon could sell e-books from Big Six publishers at deep discounts, taking losses at a rate that Barnes & Noble could never afford to match. See How Apple Saved Barnes & Noble, Probably for more.)

Mr. Stone writes that after Random House’s March 2011 agency-pricing announcement,

Amazon could no longer run the best play out of its playbook – slash prices and sustain losses in the short term to gain market share over the long term. … “For the first time, a level playing field was going to get forced on Amazon,” says James Gray [of UK bookseller John Smith & Son and formerly of Ingram Content Group]. Amazon execs “were basically spitting blood and nails.”

Amazon’s response to Random House’s move was stunning and swift:

The next month, an Amazon recruiter sent an e-mail to several editors at big publishing houses, looking for someone to launch a new New York-based publishing imprint. “The imprint will be supported with a large budget, and its success will directly impact the success of Amazon’s overall business,” read the e-mail, which was obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Even with a large budget, directly affecting the success of Amazon’s overall business is a tall order for a new publishing imprint. Amazon pulled in well north of $40 billion in revenue last year (final numbers aren’t yet in), dwarfing the combined revenues of the Big Six publishers.

Luring a substantial contingent of bestselling authors away from the Big Six seems the only plausible route for an imprint to affect Amazon’s overall business. Amazon needed someone with a substantial industry pedigree to pull this off. Amazon quickly – in time for last spring’s Book Expo America — landed just the man for the job: Larry Kirshbaum, formerly of Warner Books.

Just three months after Random House’s announcement, Amazon had all but declared war on the six unruly members of its book supply chain. Jeff Bezos had $6 billion in cash, the patience to absorb losses for years, and a former Big Six chief to lead the fight. The long-running behind-the-scenes battle for control of the publishing industry had finally broken into full public view.

Barnes & Noble’s New Role: The Contender

While Amazon directly threatens traditional publishers with its new imprint, it continues to undermine the ecosystem on which book publishers, and most new authors, depend. Julie Bosman describes this well in her NYT article, focusing on the last remaining brick-and-mortar bookseller with nationwide clout:

Without Barnes & Noble, the publishers’ marketing proposition crumbles. The idea that publishers can spot, mold and publicize new talent, then get someone to buy books at prices that actually makes economic sense suddenly seems a reach. …

What publishers count on from bookstores is the browsing effect. Surveys indicate that only a third of the people who step into a bookstore and walk out with a book actually arrived with the specific desire to buy one.

“That display space they have in the store is really one of the most valuable places that exists in this country for communicating to the consumer that a book is a big deal,” said Madeline McIntosh, president of sales, operations and digital for Random House.

Established authors, for the most part, do fine selling through online bookstores. It’s new authors who lose out if browsing in bookstores becomes a thing of the past. Advances for unproven and non-bestselling authors have already plummeted, by all accounts. Literary diversity is at risk.

To understand just how precarious things are, realize that last year’s Borders’ bankruptcy represented an enormous reduction in browsing space, shuttering 650 stores. (B&N has about 700 stores.) One benefit of the loss of Borders should have been a short-term lift to B&N’s 700 stores and the 1,500 or so remaining independent bookstores. B&N’s sales were indeed up in the nine weeks before Christmas, Ms. Bosman reports. How much? Borders’ collapse led to a bounce of just four percent, compared to the prior Christmas. That’s what’s passing for good news in brick-and-mortar bookselling at the moment.

There is a bright spot, however. Barnes & Noble, led by William Lynch, has exceeded all expectations in the past two years with its launch of the Nook. B&N’s 300-member Silicon Valley office, after giving Amazon’s Kindle developers a two-year head start, beat Amazon to the tablet market by fully twelve months, and introduced what’s generally seen as the state-of-the-art e-ink reader, the Nook Simple Touch, eight months ago.

B&N, in other words, has been out-engineering Amazon, and Ms. Bosman’s story is the best account we’ve had of B&N’s efforts. In the process, B&N has seen its e-book market share climb from zero, two Christmases ago, to roughly 27% today.

B&N remains vulnerable, however. The engineering race against Amazon continues, and Amazon has leverage for acquiring content for its Kindle (see Contracts on Fire: Amazon’s Lending Library Mess) that B&N can’t match. And, critically, one tool that should help B&N, our antitrust laws, is instead poised to undo it.

This brings us to an unlikely tale of books, chickens, beer, and a Silicon Valley gentlemen’s agreement.

The Backstory: Amazon, Chicken Processors & Silicon Valley

Harper’s cover art rivals Businessweek’s: an enormous businessman wearing a gray pinstriped suit is preparing to literally eat the competition, a jumbo handful of gray-suited men and women. In the article, “Killing the Competition: How the New Monopolies Are Destroying Open Markets,” (key excerpts at link, full article by subscription) Barry Lynn views the state of book publishing through a different lens.

Mr. Lynn makes the case that Amazon’s dominance isn’t just a story of an industry disrupted by online commerce and digital upheaval, it’s about the abandoning of New Deal era protections of retailers in 1975 (promoted by backers as a means to fight inflation, says Mr. Lynn) and what he portrays as a shift in 1981 in the Justice Department’s interpretation of antitrust law based on “Chicago School” theories of efficiency and consumer welfare. The upshot appears to be that non-consumer markets (business-to-business markets and labor markets) are often insufficiently protected from monopolies.

To a chicken grower, for example, the relevant market isn’t restaurants or household consumers of chicken, it’s the market of chicken processors. Through a variety of machinations, including long-term contracts and the physical placement of processing plants (think baseball, before free agency), chicken growers now routinely have a market of only one processor to sell to.

Chicken growers own their land, buildings, and equipment, and all of the debt and risk that go with them, but these entrepreneurs have no real control over their economic lives. Growers buy their chicks and feed from their poultry processor, for example, and processors often require growers to make new investments in buildings and equipment. The processors, Mr. Lynn seems to suggest, have something much better than mere capital: the economic power to dictate how others use theirs.

It’s not just chicken growers who face constrained markets, Mr. Lynn writes. In free-wheeling Silicon Valley, computer engineers and digital animation workers employed by Apple, Google, Intel, and Pixar, among others, were subject to a secret agreement not to bid on each others’ employees, according to a Justice Department lawsuit filed, and settled, in 2010. (On Friday, former employees of some of the companies filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court in San Jose based on the Justice Department investigation.)

It’s even hit beer. The 1,750 U.S. microbrewers may appear to operate in a competitive environment, but they nearly all sell through two distributors: ABI and MillerCoors control 90% of the distribution market.

For book publishers, the relevant market isn’t readers (direct sales are few), but booksellers, and Amazon has firm control of bookselling’s online future as it works to undermine bookselling’s remaining brick-and-mortar infrastructure. Amazon controls every growing segment of the industry: online physical books, downloadable audio books, online used books, and e-books. Amazon commands about 75% of the online market for print books, and 60% of the e-book market (a percentage that decreased from Amazon’s reported 90% two years ago, as a result of agency pricing).

Mr. Lynn reports on a conversation with the head of one of the largest publishing houses in the U.S.:

He explained that Amazon was once a “wonderful customer with whom to do business.” As Jeff Bezos’s company became more powerful, however, it changed. “The question is, do you wear your power lightly? … Mr. Bezos has not. He is reckless. He is dangerous.”

The head of a small publishing house in Manhattan, Mr. Lynn reports, was even more blunt:

“Amazon is a bully,” he said, his voice rising, his cheeks flushing. “Anyone who gets that powerful can push people around, and Amazon pushes people around. They do not exercise their power responsibly.”

Neither man allowed me to use his name. Amazon, they made clear, had long since accumulated sufficient influence over their business to ensure that even these most dedicated defenders of the book – and of the First Amendment – dare not speak openly of the company’s predations.

Mr. Lynn then turns to Amazon’s blackout of Macmillan’s buy buttons, two years ago this week:

At the time, Amazon and Macmillan were scrapping over which firm would set the price for Macmillan’s e-books. Amazon wanted to price every Macmillan e-book, and indeed every e-book of every publisher, at $9.99 or less. This scorched-earth tactic, which guaranteed that Amazon lost money on many of the e-books it sold, was designed to cement the online retailer’s dominance in the nascent market. It also had the effect of persuading customers that this deeply discounted price, which publishers considered ruinously low, was the “natural” one for an e-book.

In January 2010, Macmillan at last claimed the right to set the price for each of its own products as it alone saw fit. Amazon resisted this arrangement, known in publishing as the “agency model.” When the two companies deadlocked, Amazon simply turned off the buttons that allowed customers to order Macmillan titles, in both their print and their e-book versions. The reasoning was obvious: the sudden loss of sales, which could amount to a sizable fraction of Macmillan’s total revenue, would soon bring the publisher to heel.

This was not the first time Amazon had used this stratagem. The retailer’s executives had previously cut off small firms such as Ten Speed Press and Melville House Publishing for bucking their will. But the fight with Macmillan was by far the most public of these showdowns.

In the late 1970s, when a single book retailer first captured a 10 percent share of the U.S. market, Congress and the regulatory agencies were swift to react. As the head of the Federal Trade Commission put it: “The First Amendment protects us from the chilling shadow of government interference with the media. But are there comparable dangers if other powerful economic or political institutions assume control…?”

***

Today, … a single private company has captured the ability to dictate terms to the people who publish our books, and hence to the people who write and read our books. It does so by employing the most blatant forms of predatory pricing to destroy its retail competitors. … [It] justifies its exercise of raw power in the same way our economic autocrats always do: it claims that the resulting “efficiencies” will serve the interests of the consumer.

The book industry is in play, and has been for a while. The good news is that people are finally starting to pay attention.

——————————–
The Author’s Guild encourages readers to forward, post, or tweet. Here is a short URL for linking: http://tinyurl.com/7vo73pb

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

This is an odds and ends day! Lots of illness in my family, so I’m just trying to hang in there and get my 750 words written today.

Independent Bookstores Get Branded eBook Reader

IndieBound Mobile APP (only for Android right now, but soon for iOS) was released this week. It is a branded ebook reader, The IndieBound Reader™, that allows you to order shop local bookstores’ websites and purchase books. Read more here.

Children’s Book Character Costumes

Oliver is available to visit your school.

Nominations for Top Writing Blogs

Write To Done is having its “Nominate Your Favorite Writing Blog: 6th Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest”. Would you nominate Fiction Notes for this contest? Or, nominate your favorite blog?

Here’s how:

• Leave a comment with Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes at http://www.darcypattison.com. (Cut and paste, if it helps.)
• You must include a comment on why Fiction Notes deserves to be in the Top 10 Blogs for Writers, or the nomination doesn’t count.

DEADLINE: December 10, 2011.
Yes, I need you to nominate this blog, because to be considered, a a blog must be nominated more than once and the more the merrier. Hey–thanks. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I’ll be speaking at the NYC SCBWI conference at the Marketing Intensive on Friday, January 27, 2012.

I’ll be talkking through two topics: book trailers and little known features of Facebook. I’m planning a presentation packed with practical information.

Book Trailers for Author Promotion

eBook by Darcy Pattison

I have written the ebook, THE BOOK TRAILER MANUAL (www.booktrailermanual.com). Articles about book trailers have appeared in the 2012 Writer’s Digest Market Guide and How to Write a YA Novel for Dummies by Deborah Halverson.

Here’s my latest book trailer for 11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph

If you can’t see this video, click here or visit Darcy Pattison’s YouTube Channel. If you visit my channel, glance at the description of each video and notice what goes first. Why? I’ll explain in NYC.

Little Known Features of Facebook

I’ll also be speaking about using Facebook. How to get the right name for your page, how to use groups or events and more.

I’ll draw from my experience with my own page, tips from about the internet and the Random Acts of Publicity week, an event I sponsored mainly through Facebook.

Here’s an early tip: when you create your Facebook Page (a fan page, where you will talk about your book) be sure to select the right UserName.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

When an author is invited to speak at a conference–Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English, Science Teacher’s Association, School Librarians Association, etc–it’s a great opportunity to connect with an audience who is already inclined to like your books. You need to be ready to maximize your efforts at such a speaking engagement.

Darcy Pattison on Read Across America Day 2011

• Do a great presentation. First and foremost, do a great presentation. Plan ahead, make sure the audio-visual setup works, have great handouts. Practice. It is worth everything you can do to make a good impression. Think about the needs of your audience, not about what you want to present. What would help your audience do their job better? Meet the needs of the audience, exceed their expectations.
• Build a Mailing List. The second most important thing to do–if you do nothing else right, get this one right–is to build a mailing list. I just have a paper signup sheet asking for name and email. Period. Make it easy for them to sign up. At the top, I clearly state the purpose of the newsletter: Darcy Pattison’s News: Occasional Updates, New Releases, Speaking Engagement and Other News.
  
  I use MailChimp (NOTE: This is an affiliate link.) to actually set up and send e-newsletters. I’ve tried Constant Contact, but found it harder to understand. With MailChimp, a free account allows up to 2000 subscribers. They also offer a simple mailing program–no html formats (which means no pictures in the email)–with TinyLetter. If you’re really afraid of doing this, try TinyLetter for a while: it’s simple, easy and fun.
• Handouts. You should have handouts ready. A flyer on your latest book. Business cards. Sales coupon for your book. Something. At conferences, attendees LOVE freebies and will take almost anything you hand them. Think ahead about what you want to promote or what you want them talking about. Maybe you’ve just put up some great book trailers and you want people to go watch them!

  Here’s a tip: If you want people to go to a certain website, use the bit.ly URL shortening service to create a custom URL just for them. You must be a member to use this feature, but it’s worth the registration. Try this one: http://bit.ly/ARA2011 Sure, you could do a designer QR codes, too, but how many people have the app? Be safe and try a catchy URL.

• Schmooze. Talk to people! If you’re like me, you hate talking to strangers. OK. Find someone else who is standing alone and go talk to them. Remember how YOU feel standing alone and be a friend (To make a friend, BE a friend!)
  
  Another tip: Read the newspapers closely for 2-3 days before you go, so you are up on current events. Choose a couple things that interest you and be ready to talk about them. It can be general cultural things, or industry specific things. For educators right now, you might talk about the Common Core State Standards. For other writers, talk about the new Nook tablet that was just announced (See my book for Nook, 11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph!) If all else fails and conversation flags, ask questions. People love to talk about themselves, so get them started and sit back and enjoy.

  Your goal in schmoozing is NOT to sell a book, get invited to a school, or anything but this one thing: make a friend. But hey, I do speak at conferences–here’s the info. And I’ll be speaking at the 2012 NYC SCBWI conference. I’ll be the one standing alone: please come and introduce yourself!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Silver Bay YMCA, Adirondack Mountains, NY

Nancy Castaldo, SCBWI Eastern NY Regional Advisor

In attendance were 35 writers, who were fabulous. See pics on Facebook soon.

5 Picture Book Editors

Speaking were five editors: Sylvie Frank of Holiday House, Kelly Smith of Sterling, Dianne Hess of Scholastic, Marilyn Brigham of Marshall Cavendish, and Kate Fletcher of Candlewick.
(NOTE: Please see the publishers’ websites for submission info.)

(L ro R) Marilyn Brigham, Sylvie Frank, Kate Fletcher, Dianne Hess, Katrina Damkoehler, and Kelly Smith. Photo courtesy of Nancy Castaldo.

Sylvie Frank, Holiday House

Sylvie Frank, Holiday House

Kelly Smith, Sterling Books

Kelly Smith (left) and Katrina Damkoehler (right), Sterling

Kate Fletcher, Candlewick

Kate Fletcher is the young Meryl Streep of children’s literature, classy and smart, destined for great things. Think literary, smart, clever, tongue-in-cheek. While Candlewick publishes fiction and nonfiction, Kate will usually pass off nonfiction to a more enthusiastic editor. Instead, she looks for fictional picture books and novels. Genre matters less than literary quality.

Marilyn Brigham, Marshall Cavendish

Marilyn Brigham, Marshall Cavendish

Dianne Hess, Scholastic

Dianne Hess, Scholastic

Art Director for Picture Books

Also participating was Kristina Damkoehler, Assistant Art Director of Sterling Children’s Books. She’s the Catwoman of children’s literature, lithe, lean and able to see what others don’t. She graciously agreed to do portfolio reviews for all the artists in attendance. She works hard to match the sensibilities of a story with an artist’s style to make a book the best it can be. She said she keeps a list of author websites to look over when she is looking for the perfect match.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Where will you be on January 27, 2012?
I’ll be in New York City, hoping that the weather is warm!

MARKETING FOR PROFESSIONAL WRITERS INTENSIVE DEBUTS AT THE 2012 SCBWI WINTER CONFERENCE

Registration opens today for the 13th Annual Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators International Conference. SCBWI will hold its first Marketing for Professional Writers intensive on Friday, January 27, 2012 which, along with a Marketing for Illustrators intensive that day, kicks off a jam-packed conference weekend. The Marketing for Writers intensive brings today’s market leaders together to talk trends and marketing tactics in social media, websites, ebooks, mobile & games, apps, book trailers, publicity, working with publishers, Amazon, the education market and more.

The 13th Annual SCBWI International Winter Conference is held January 27-29 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City and brings together publishing professionals, including agents, editors, publishers, and other experts in the field to conduct workshops, panels and presentations for writers and illustrators. It’s a unique networking opportunity designed to help new and published writers and illustrators have their careers soar to the next level.

Registration opens at 10am Pacific Daylight time on October 17th .
Watch for conference announcements and updates at: http://www.scbwi.org and follow us on Twitter #NY12SCBWI and Facebook http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/.

Book Trailers and Social Media Events

I’ll be speaking about book trailers and social media events.

Available August 15

Drawing on the experience of Random Acts of Publicity, especially the Random Acts of Publicity event on Facebook, we’ll discuss social media for special events. The Random Acts of Publicity saw about 500 people join us in promoting their friend’s books for a week.

Register Now for the Marketing Intensive and the SCBWI Winter Conference

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

ORDER NOW!

As you might imagine, we got a wide range of answers. See what observations these young scientists made!

If you can’t see the embedded video, view it here.

More Than One Book Trailer?

Excerpt from The Book Trailer Manual by Darcy Pattison
Most authors make a book trailer and stop. This is my third book trailer for PRAIRIE STORMS, and I plan more. This chapter explains why multiple videos are a great idea.

More than one book trailer? Does this question surprise you? You’re unsure about doing one video, much less a couple. Should you really think about more than one book trailer for your book? Yes. Here’s why.

Networking: Like every other social media, it’s your network that counts. And networks grow when you post regular content to keep them coming back. You may want a series of trailers spread out over several months, so viewers – and readers – have reasons to come back often.

Short Life of a Video: In May 2010, Jay Yarow and Kamelia Angelova reported that the shelf life of a video is very short. Half the viewers of a YouTube.com video come in the first six days. 75% of the viewers are within the first 20 days. Of course, there’s going to be a long tail, in which your video gets a few hits/day for a long time. But if you want a high level of sustained interest, you might want to consider a series of videos, distributed 1-3 weeks apart.

There is precedence in the online world for multiple marketing messages. Often marketers use an auto-responder to set up a series of messages which are automatically sent to an email list at specified intervals. For example, you might sign up for an camera site’s newsletter because they promise to send a series of three tutorials on taking portraits with a digital camera. You sign up and get your first issue of the newsletter right away, along with a second email that contains the first tutorial. The second and third tutorials turn up at one week intervals. These automated deliveries are via an auto-responder.

The idea behind auto-responder messages is to build your audience’s trust in your ability to offer something valuable on a long term basis.

How can you adapt this idea to a series of videos? Here’s an example of how you might plan a series of eight book trailers; while I’m suggesting a wide variety of options, you should decide on a specific goal for each video. Change it or adapt these as needed for your situation. Also, I’d suggest that you create about half of these before the book is released; be flexible about the others and create and distribute them as needed to publicize awards, give updated information, display fan’s reactions, etc.

• Video 1. The overall story is explained in the first book trailer. This would be the traditional book trailer that gives a plot and character teaser. The Wayfinder Video
• Video 2. The second trailer, however, is targeted to specific audiences and why they might relate to the book. If it’s a story about an athlete competing in track and field events, you may want to tape at a track and appeal to the athletic interests of your audience. Or, this time use a lot of testimonies from fans and reviews. This trailer has military personnel talking about how much they enjoyed Craig M. Mullhaney’s book, The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education. Book Trailer – “The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education”
• Video 3. By now, your audience is somewhat familiar with the story. This is the time to tell a story: about yourself, the idea behind the story, etc.
• Video 4. With this video, let your audience know about any extra materials to go with the story: teacher’s guides, book club guides, free computer wallpaper, online games, book marks, etc. Be sure to mention the various formats of the book in this trailer, too: Kindle, iTunes, paperback, audio, etc. It’s also a good time to offer a discount coupon for a very limited time; setting a time clock ticking encourages response. Here, Neil Gaman talks about buttons: It’s a book trailer for his book & movie, Coraline.
• Video 5. If your book is nonfiction, take time here to answer any questions that you’ve received. Where did you find the original source materials for your research? Will this how-to book help me do such and so? I’m confused about the time-line, can you clear it up for me? Or, give advice, for example, to young writers, as Neil Gaman does.
• Video 6. For the sixth trailer, let your readers talk for you: interview readers about their responses. Or, highlight fan videos, quote from reviews. Another idea is for you to read from the story. Or attend a conference and ask a person there to read a paragraph, then give it to another person for the next section and so on until a good sample is recorded. Here, Eoin Colfer reads from The 7th Dwarf (World Book Day 2004)
• Video 7. What have you been dying to tell your audience? Maybe you want to explain the dedication, the illustrations, tell the story of how you sold the book, or just look the camera in the eye and tell readers thanks for reading. Or, wrap up the series with a recap of the most important things about your story. Another option is to provide links to related sites. See, Neil Gaiman’s Worst Comic Book Characters of All Time
• Video 8. Look ahead to the next book in the pipeline and give them a hook that leaves the viewer wanting more. Or, maybe by now, you’ve got great news of awards that your book has won.

It’s fine to include a mix of polished trailers with informal trailers that you tape as events unfold. YouTube.com has proven that audiences respond to great content, regardless of the production quality. Just keep promoting the trailers in every online and offline venue possible.

While you’re thinking about doing one book trailer, you should also think about doing a series. After all, each trailer will give you more experience and they can only get better. And a series will keep your book in the audience’s mind for a longer time.

Example of using more than one Book Trailer:

1. Million Dollar Throw trailer by Mike Lupica This trailer is a teaser for the story.
2. Mike Lupica author video, Million-Dollar Throw The author talks about character relationships.
3. Million Dollar Throw Today Show. Lupica appears on the TV show.

See other Prairie Storm Videos:

1. STORMS: A Chant of Months
2. PRAIRIE STORMS: Sounds of the Prairies

Read more about The Book Trailer Manual

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I’m sending out my novel today. Long ago, when submissions were paper, writers and authors often went through rituals to send out a manuscript for their novel or picture book.

• A lucky cat had to sit on the manuscript.
• It had to mailed with certain types of stamps.
• You kissed the envelope for luck.

IN these days of digital submissions, what is your favorite ritual before hitting the SEND button? Please leave a comment and share your rituals. I need to know what works!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Guest post by Dana Lynn Smith of The Savvy Book Marketer

• ATTEND the Random Acts of Publicity event on Facebook.
• Read the FAQ.

One of the most effective ways to help out an author is to write an endorsement, testimonial or review for their book. Here’s a brief description of each:

• Authors usually request endorsements (recommendations) from key influencers in their field or genre prior to publication and use these on the book cover, inside the book and on promotional materials.
• Testimonials are words of praise from readers who enjoyed a book and want to recommend it to others.
• Reviews are a little longer than testimonials and usually include more information about the content of the book and what the reviewer liked (or disliked) about it. Reviews can come from readers, colleagues, or professional book reviewers.

You can post your testimonials or reviews in online bookstores, on virtual reader communities like Goodreads and LibraryThing, or on your own blog if the book’s topic is a good fit for your audience. You can also post brief testimonials on social sites like Facebook and Twitter.

It’s important for reviews to sound authentic. One way to do that is to mention something specific that you liked about the book, or share a tip from a nonfiction book. If you are not sure quite what to say when writing a book review, study some good reviews for similar types of books and read this helpful article about how to write a book review by Nick Daws.

In addition to helping the authors of the books you review, you can gain exposure for yourself and your own books by doing reviews of books that appeal to your target audience. Novelists can review books in the same genre as their own, and nonfiction authors can review books that are similar, but not direct competitors of their own books. Here are some benefits of doing book reviews:

• Authors may promote your review on their social networks or blog, giving you exposure, or agree to review your book in return.
• Posting reviews on online bookstores like Amazon gives you visibility directly where people are shopping for books similar to yours.
• A book review that has been keyword optimized may attract visitors to your blog through online searches.
• You can even earn money from your book reviews by signing up for the author’s affiliate program (if they have one) or joining the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

When reviewing books, it’s important to avoid the appearance of being overtly promotional, and of course you don’t want to disparage your competitors. It’s possible to make subtle references such as these:

“As a thriller author myself, I really appreciated the twists and turns of the plot…”

“As a book marketing coach, I know how important social marketing is, and this book does a terrific job of explaining how to gain a following on Facebook.”

Mentioning the type of books that you write makes you look like an authority on the subject and gives your review more credibility. You can also sign your name at the bottom of the review, along with your book title, but some people think that is too promotional. Do NOT link to your own book when posting a book review on Amazon. It’s against their rules and it looks tacky.

Before you start writing reviews, be sure to update your Amazon “signature” on your personal profile. That signature will appear after your name at the top of each review that you post. You have about 25 characters to showcase your specialty, genre, or brand name. For example:

• Romantic suspense author
• Social marketing expert
• The Productivity Pro

Book reviews are a great way to help your fellow authors while helping yourself. Give it a try!

Excerpted from How to Get Your Book Reviewed, by Dana Lynn Smith. To learn more about book reviews, follow the virtual book tour for How to Get Your Book Reviewed.

Random Acts of Publicity Week was created by Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com), writing teacher and author of Prairie Storms (www.facebook.com/PrairieStorms) , as a way to help create an atmosphere of fun and collaboration in marketing books. It occurs each September, the four days following Labor Day.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Create Buzz by Connecting with Readers

Interview with Deborah Sloan of Deborah Sloan & Company, “A marketing and promotion firm for books and their creators.”

• ATTEND the Random Acts of Publicity event on Facebook.
• Read the FAQ.

1. One of the main services you offer to authors is Kids Buzz. Can you explain what it is?

   KidsBuzz is a program that lets children’s and teen authors’ voices shine in an affordable, and effective, way. KidsBuzz puts you directly in touch with readers, reading groups, booksellers, librarians and teachers allowing you to offer trailers and videos, excerpts, phone chats or visits, curriculum tie-ins, material for newsletters, info about contests and freebies, mentions of new reviews and awards — anything and everything you want to buzz directly to the people who buy, read and sell your books. This is YOU saying what you want to share with your readers.

   Readers want to hear from authors and illustrators — after all, you know your books better than anyone else, you have interesting behind-the-scenes stories that makes readers what to read — and buy. And once they’re interested, people talk — and others listen. Look at the power of Facebook: often we’re more influenced by what our friends have to say that the most seasoned critic (though we’ll take those positive reviews when we get them for sure!). We’ve run notes from bestselling authors as well as up-and-coming authors and illustrators. Many authors and publishers have had such good success, they’ve booked spots for their other titles (more than 60% of our KidsBuzzers have come back for more!).

2. Kids Buzz is a newsletter for librarians and readers (parents, grandparents, teachers, etc.), booksellers, reviewers, bloggers, publishing industry folk and more. Do you suggest that author maintain their own mailing list and send out newsletters?
   
   ABSOLUTELY! There are many readers who become author groupies and what to know anything and everything about their favorite authors and illustrators, what’s coming up, when new books will be published — and these fans are your ambassadors and e-newsletters are terrific ways to reach them. They will spread the buzz to their friends, family, colleagues and help that groundswell of interest every authors wants. Many authors have e-newsletters (that are run via sites like Constant Content and Mail Chimp, for example) which makes it easy to handle subscriptions) and sharing info with your readers when YOU feel it’s worthwhile, in YOUR voice, is a win-win.

   But how can you help your Friend? Make it personal:

   • In your enewsletter, share a Top 10 list of Recent Favorite Reads (use book covers, use author photos, share author videos); make this a regular feature (can be favorite picture books, favorite books on summer, favorite books from around-the-world, etc.). Put the spotlight on someone else and it’ll come to shine on you.
   • Offer giveaways of your friends’ books (I’m sure each would be happy to give you a copy for the promotion) via your enewsletter, social networking (perhaps each of the giveaways comes with a note from you as to WHY you love this book; put your personal stamp on it)
   • Create a 30 second video wrap-up for these favorite books? Impassioned video statements? Reach out to those authors/publishers by sharing the link — they’re likely to share it with their fans via their blogs, social media networks, etc.
   • Be a cheerleader (yes, you can summon up your inner rah-rah!): do a regular feature on one of your favorite authors, something full of WHY this author should be read.

   Whatever you do, make it sound like YOU. As the kids say, be real. It works.

3. On Kids Buzz, you offer:
   • Contests for readers
   • Free early reading copies
   • Free signed books
   • News about tours
   • New reviews
   • Giveaways
   • Essays & Excerpts
   • Book Group Speaking availability (in person or on the phone)

   I”m sure that all of these are important and useful for various books. But what is most popular and do you have a sense of why it’s popular?

   KidsBuzz authors report that the contest for free signed copies or early reading copies are hugely successful — I get emails from authors within minutes of KidsBuzz running saying that their in-boxes are full. But what’s key to remember about this is not just getting the emails, but responding to them. Not everyone who writes in is going to win a free book, but it provides you as chance to interact with your reader, tell them something else, ask them to join your enewsletter/Facebook page, etc. And readers love getting mail from authors! Imagine how excited you’d be if your favorite — or even just a new author — wrote directly to you?! These readers tell their friends (“I’m so excited, you’ll never believe that I got a personal email from author XX who wrote a book that’s just right for my 10 year old son — and I bet yours will like it too…” type stuff) and this is how sales are made. In the publishing industry, when booksellers recommend a book to customers, with a personal endorsement or just a great story-behind-the-story, we call it “handselling;” that’s what freebie offers or any type of special to the reader does… It helps to handsell the book to that customers — and subsequently, their friends.

   One more thing though: all the special promos and offers are nothing compared to a strong note from the author. Readers still want the real story, they want to feel like they’ve shared a minute with their favorite author, and they want to tell that story to their friends. Provide your Friend with a way to connect with readers and you’ve done a Random Act of Publicity.

Win a One-Hour Consultation with Deborah Sloan

Deborah Sloan and Company has offered a free one-hour marketing consultation to one lucky person. This one-day opportunity ends at midnight on September 8.

Here are the rules:

• Winners will be selected on a random basis.
• You must put your friend’s name, book title and website (if they have one) in the comments below. Deadline: Midnight September 8, 2011.
• By entering your friend in this giveaway, you agree that you have the friend’s permission to do so.
• Phone consultations will be done at a mutually agreed upon time.

Random Acts of Publicity Week was created by Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com), writing teacher and author of Prairie Storms (www.facebook.com/PrairieStorms) , as a way to help create an atmosphere of fun and collaboration in marketing books. It occurs each September, the four days following Labor Day.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win