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What makes a book a bestseller?

I submit, often it’s a great title and subtitle.

How (and when) do you come up with a great title and subtitle?

Most authors do it all backward. (I know I did.)

Typically, they have a working title, they write the book proposal (or even the book), and THEN they (and/or their publisher) think about coming up with a winning title.

I submit to you, this is totally backward!

The time to come up with a great title is BEFORE you write your first word.

Then, ideally, you test your title/subtitle ideas, and only when you have a proven winner, do you write your book proposal and book.

That’s the way to do it, if you want to write a book that sells (to a publisher, and then the public).

This whole issue of coming up with a winning title so fascinated me that I spent months researching it and testing it, and created a whole course on choosing a best-selling title. (More about that here.)

The person who inspired this whole approach to book titles is Alex Mandossian, when I took his Virtual Book Tour Systems course.

Alex has a couple of videos that, in just a few short minutes, will tell you the most important two things about your title and subtitle.

You can get access to this training for free, plus a custom author marketing analysis, when you click here. You just answer 7 questions and you’ll get not only your custom author marketing analysis, but a email with links to two videos (and more to come).

In the first two, Alex answers the two most important questions to ask yourself, ideally before you write your first word.

(I’m so excited about this, I’m sending a personal email to all my publishing friends!)

Be looking for an upcoming post containing an interview I did with Alex about Virtual Book Tours … and find out what I said that gave him chills.

If you hope to get a book published, Book Expo America in Los Angeles may be the place to be at the end of this month.

It’s a huge publishing industry convention, and it’s the place to be to get a real feel for the book publishing world and to make contacts.

Back in 2003, I attended BEA and through making personal contact with several publishers, managed to land two offers to republish a book of mine (despite three agents telling me “nobody is buying reprints”).

One caveat, though: It’s best if you use the opportunity to further your education in what it means to be an author. Otherwise, BEA can be quite overwhelming.

There’s a one-day seminar happening on May 29 I recommend if you do plan to go: Author101 University. It’s a one-day seminar hosted by Mark Victor Hansen (who knows a bit about selling books as the coauthor of the most successful series ever published, Chicken Soup for the Soul), and publishing veteran Rick Frishman. (Listen here to my interview with Rick on publishing, including what you’ll learn from this seminar.) You do need to hurry though; space is limited and it already may be filled up.

Attending Author101 University will teach you a lot about publishing, arm you with what you need to know to approach publishers successfully, and allow you to meet a lot of other people you can “buddy” around with at Book Expo. I am still in touch with some of the great people I met, and one even became a client.

If you do go to BEA, send me an email (diane at wordstoprofit.com), and I’ll write back with some guidelines as to how to get the most out of BEA. You need to go with a plan. I can tell you some of the dos and don’ts of how to approach publishers (some of which is pretty subtle stuff, known only to those of us “inside” the industry.)

I want to share with you a resource that could make a huge difference for you in just a matter of months.

All authors want to become bestselling authors.

All would-be authors want to know how to get published.

The answer to both longings is the same: You have to get known.

There are lots of ways to get known and build your audience.

One of the best ways, however, is is through (more…)

Here’s a multiple-choice question for you:

“Which of these three statements best describes your current or future book or info marketing project?”

(a) “I’m a published author who needs more sales and marketing advice with my current campaign.”

(b) “I have a written manuscript that I need to complete in order to publish it into book or info product form.”

(c) “I have a book in my heart that I need to write first and then learn how to promote it.”

This is just one of the questions from the 7-Question Author Profile Quiz my colleague, Alex Mandossian, has developed to show you how to sell more books faster, better, and with less human effort.

To get free instant access to the full 7-question Quiz, click here now.

It will take less than 2 minutes to answer these questions, and you’ll instantly get Alex Mandossian’s custom business and marketing analysis that gives you a roadmap for your future book promotion and info marketing strategies … even when publishers reject you!

After taking the Quiz, you’ll also be eligible to attend a live tele-training
on June 5th (2 hours) that will teach you how to sell more books (or info products) faster, better and with less human effort. Trust me, this training is not to be missed. (If you want a sneak peak into what Virtual Book Tour Systems is all about, click here.)

So take the Quiz. It’s fun, easy, and it will open your eyes to what’s possible for you as an author.

In my last post, I discussed a possible new direction in publishing in the wake of some recent events. I wanted to ask a veteran publishing professional what he thinks of what’s happened, because he’s been involved in a rather unique publishing program. 

I was all set to do a regular teleseminar for you, but:

a. my guest could not do it any evening this week and

b. some of the material is time-sensitive

SO …

I recorded the interview and you can listen to it by clicking below.

My teleseminar guest is Rick Frishman, who has been in publishing even
longer than I have, and is an author (of course) who’s actually been on Oprah. He’s
the founder of Planned Television Arts, and now publisher of a company that I’ve been observing with great interest for several years now, Morgan James Publishing.

Rick is the author of a brand-new book, Where’s Your Wow? 16 Ways to Make Your
Competitors Wish They Were You. You can catch the interview I had with him about that book on my podcast.

We talked about how Morgan James Publishing is modeling a new approach for nonfiction authors, and how the whole publishing industry may be following suit. Also about a way you can learn how to make your book a bestseller from the master of book marketing, Mark Victor Hansen, who has sold millions of Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

He’ll be revealing his secrets, along with others who will be at the Author 101 seminar at the end of May.

Please catch the audio of this interview now, and check out the links mentioned in
the interview (which I’ve conveniently posted below the audio). Rick has some invaluable goodies for you.

As you’ll hear in this interview, Rick Frishman has a passion for assisting authors
in getting their message out–a passion I share. Please listen and learn!

  (Click to listen now, or right-click “download MP3″ link to save and listen to at your convenience.)

Resources to Check Out:

AllAboutGettingPublished.com – 1-day seminar on May 29, 2008 for authors who want to learn how to write and market a book, with bestselling author Mark Victor Hansen and editors, publishers, literary agents

ChoosingYourBestsellingTitle.com – information on how to choose a title that sells your book in 4 seconds or less

Author101.com– writing and publishing resources, including Rick’s free million-dollar rolodex of agents, media people

Publishing is on the brink of many big, big changes, I believe. The system has been broken for a long time, but all the cracks are now showing. Will the whole system as we know it crumble and give way to something new?

I think so. It’s already happening. It’s just a matter of time.

For instance, a month or so ago, something significant happened. One the major players in publishing, Robert S. Miller, left Hyperion (which he founded and headed) and moved to HarperCollins, where he will head a new imprint. This new division has an entirely different structure–designed to resolve two of the publishing industry’s major concerns: high author advances (to certain authors, anyway), and the high rate of returned books (which I’ve said elsewhere is one of the fatal flaws in publishing).

This new imprint (which is industry speak for a division within a publishing company, sort of a mini-publisher within the larger publishing house) plans to pay (more…)

How would you feel if you saw people mindlessly walking up and down a sidewalk while hundreds of $1,000 dollar bills blew all around their feet?

Imagine how shocked (and frustrated) you’d be to see them never stop, never look down to scoop up what was right in front of them all the time. Instead, you see them march blindly on.

Steve Harrison says that’s how he feels when he looks at how most authors, entrepreneurs and experts behave. “I want to shake them and yell ‘Wake up!’” he confesses.

So he’s decided to do something about it. He’s put together a brief video on one of the fastest and easiest ways to turn your book or expertise
into cash while making a bigger difference in people’s lives. This isn’t theory — it’s a very practical strategy you can implement in just one
weekend.

I’ve said before again and again–books are not the only way to convey your message, and they’re certainly not the most profitable. View Steve’s video to see how his approach can change your life … your bank account … and show you how to take your message to a much wider audience. That’s his promise.

Click here now to watch Steve demonstrate his proven strategy.

I thought I’d share a press release I wrote for my podcast on The Shack.

Click here to open up the press release on your screen, and print it out. Then read my comments below.

It may not be the best press release in the world, but it does give you an idea of how to structure an online press release for PRWeb.

Note that you need a headline–and it can be longer for an online press release.

Headline, summary paragraph, and first paragraph of the body are keyword rich.

Note how I publicize myself and my podcast, yet the story is not about my podcast per se, but about the content–the story the podcast showcases.

The cool thing about both podcasts and online press releases is that they stick around online forever. The links in this press release will always point to the podcast, which will remain online. Even though the newsworthy part is “one year ago today,” the fact that this publishing phenomenon happened within a year of publication will always be true–and noteworthy.

Hope this gives you at least a little guidance concerning online press releases. Try your hand at one today!

If you haven’t caught my podcast interview with William P. Young, author of the publishing phenomenon, The Shack, you must listen now.

The “story behind the story” of how this book came to be is definitely inspiring.

And today is the anniversary of its publication. In the past year, the book has sold more than 750,000 copies. Today it’s #11 on the USA TODAY”S bestseller list.

Of special note to authors: The author and publisher spent only $300 total on marketing. Indeed, the best advertising is word of mouth.

However, the author and publisher help that along, with “the Missy Project.” Here they give suggestions for boosting word of mouth. Check it out. If you’re an author, what can you do to specifically help your fans fuel the fire of word of mouth?

Note too that this book is self-published (Paul and two friends started Windblown Media to publish it), yet it’s now in mainstream bookstores and Wal-Marts nationwide, and the trio behind it are talking to Hollywood about a possible film deal. Nevertheless, co-publisher Brad Cummings is still shipping books from the garage of his home in Thousand Oaks, California, and nearby mini-warehouses to those who order online from windblownmedia.com.

It all started as a gift, written for Paul Young’s six children. Things snowballed from there. Listen to the full story here.