More on Skype an Author

Connect with Authors Through Skype
One site that quickly gained popularity this year is the Skype an Author, a Wetpaint site, billed at the key to Virtual Author Visits in Your Library or Classroom. Set up by Sarah Chauncey of the Grandview Elementary School Library in Rockland County, NY schools and author Mona Kirby, it [...]

Online Author Chats

Online Author Chats – A New Learning Experience
Guest Post by Catherine Balkin
Author Appearances Down. I’ve been arranging author appearances in schools and libraries for about 20 years and, a few months ago, I was sitting at my desk, lamenting their recent slump. With the economic downturn, school and library budgets have been cut right and [...]

Flexibility: Finding New Markets

For several years, we hosted high-school exchange students in our home. The surprising thing was the ongoing friendships that continued for many years. One European family, in particular, have been friends and it’s interesting to see the students finish college and begin careers. The son, especially, has an interesting attitude: he wants to be flexible [...]

Book Trailers

I’ve followed the book trailer phenomenon for a couple years and wanted to do a post. In 2003, it was just beginning; in 2006, there was lots of experimenting; in 2009, it seems here to stay and writers should take it as a given that they need a book trailer for trade books. Here’s some [...]

Publicity tips

Publicity: Top 5 Things Every Author Should Do When a New Book Comes Out
This guest post is by Barbara Fisch & Sarah Shealy, Co-owners, Blue Slip Media, a children’s book publicity and marketing agency www.BlueSlipMedia.com

Current Contact List. Publicists at the major publishing houses are overworked and underpaid–they will welcome anything you can do to [...]

Flap Copy Case Study

Second Most Important Sales Tool: Flap Copy

Flap copy is the advertising copy on the inside covers of a book. According to a recent Publishing Trends article, it is the second most important selling point for books, especially fiction.
Yet, often, it is an editorial assistant who writes the copy.
In this interesting series of articles Publishing Trends [...]

Marketing Links

To Market, To Market
Find yourself doing more marketing lately? Me, too. With the publishing layoffs in December and the market skittish, we need to market smarter. Here are some articles I’ve found interesting:

Updates on Who’s Moving Where from Harold Underdown’s Purple Crayon site.
10 Tips to Getting Book Referrals
It’s Not a News Release if There’s [...]