Archive for author
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Diane
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Seth Godin makes a very good point in his post about “Marketing to Strangers“:
You can see the marketing problem of every business just by glancing at the plight of the typical author.
Once a year, once every other year, he has to come out of his university office/hovel/apartment/rural enclave and go on the road. He has to do Leonard Lopate and the Today show, a spate of blogs, book readings, Tedx appearances and sleep on whatever couch he can find, use whatever media will have him.
Why?
To reach strangers. To reach people who, if they only knew about the book, would gladly buy it, read it, share it, listen to it, download it.
Selling a book to friends is a totally different story. You send an email to your fans and you’re done. You blog it on your blog or tweet about it once or twice and you’re done.
Selling [a book] to strangers… that’s getting harder and harder and less effective every day.
The old model of marketing books is what Seth describes. Still, mainstream publishers are doing it–though less and less often.
It truly IS easier to sell to friends. So, where should you put your book marketing efforts?
(Hint: It’s one word, and something else I learned from Seth Godin, that I mention here.)
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Diane
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Seth Godin is a best-selling author of 12 books and marketing maverick, as well as founder of the “new era publishing” venture, The Domino Project. In an article on “The Audience for Your Book,” Seth poses some key questions that every would-be author needs to ask him or herself before pursuing the arduous and expensive path of publishing. (Expensive in terms of time and energy, and, because nowadays you often have to self-publish first, expensive also in terms of money.)
Here are his questions, from his blog post at The Domino Project:
Are you publishing for your fans? If so, do you have enough to justify the effort? Do you have a way of reaching them? Is there a better vehicle than a book for reaching your goal? Read More→
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Diane
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Not long after best-selling author and marketing expert Seth Godin announced his decision not to publish with traditional publishers, we spoke concerning a client of mine who was wrestling with the same decision.
We spoke only briefly, but what Seth Godin told me I have thought about ever since.
In fact, I’ve refocused my business as a publishing coach and a Healing Codes Coach/Practitioner on it.
We spoke about publishing options, and why he made the decisions he did. Here’s what Seth Godin told me: “I have built my entire career on one thing: relationships. And I work at it every single day.”
That’s it, folks. A career and business model based on one word: relationships. Seth’s filter for the best way to publish is, Read More→
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Diane
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I just bought a book I can’t wait to read.
Why?
Because I heard a great interview by the author on the radio. I knew I had to get his book.
Alex Mandossian often said, “You don’t make money writing books, you make money explaining books.”
Test it for yourself.
Think about the last time you bought a book. Wasn’t it either because someone recommended it, or because you somehow heard the author talking about it and it seemed interesting to you?
Notice too the viral element. I’m telling you about it, and word is going out via my blog, emails, Twitter, Facebook. All because of one interview! (And no, I do not work for the publisher. They don’t know I’m doing this, but I would love a review copy, hint hint!)
Check out my past Virtual Book Tours and see if you’re not at least tempted to get one of the books. Just browse the left-hand column for an author or topic that interests you. I’ve got lots of topics to choose from, from leadership to parenting to health. www.virtualbooktourexpert.com
The book, by the way, is Richard Swenson’s In Search of Balance: Keys to a Stable Life. I took notes on the interview, and can’t wait to read the book. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot, and Dr. Swenson’s other book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives
, was excellent. Life-changing, really (though I admit, I need to go back to it).
Why is a topic for another blog post….
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Diane
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Becoming a successful author is very much like the growth of bamboo.
Bamboo is an interesting plant. Its growth starts underground, where the rhizome system that supports the canes are developed.For three whole years, the plant establishes itself underground and there is no apparent growth. Nothing appears to be happening.
In the fourth year, shoots appear. The bamboo canes grow in height and diameter for only 60 days every spring. After the 60 days, that particular cane will never grow again.
However, because of the rhizome system, the next spring the shoots that come up will grow much taller and faster in those 60 days. After a bamboo grove has been establishing its rhizome system for 5 years, the canes that grow in that fifth year can reach as much as 90 feet (for certain species, in certain conditions)–all in 60 days!
Becoming a successful author is largely about establishing a strong “rhizome system” that will support the growth you can experience seemingly overnight–growth in the number of people who are exposed to your message and who themselves will begin to spread the word.
What it takes to develop that underground system is what I’m all about as a publishing coach.
That’s why you see a bamboo image in my new header.
I’m not about to promise you overnight success. I just don’t believe the real world works that way. You don’t really believe it does, either, do you? Much as we’d like to believe the fantastic claims of writing a book in 14 days or becoming a bestseller overnight, you and I know deep down that these are promises from clever marketers who want to sell us their products.
Instead, I’m going to show the exact Read More→
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Diane
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Do you dream of becoming a bestselling author someday?
Most authors do.
But most authors also have a problem.
There is a word in the phrase “bestselling author” that is troublesome to many of us.
Can you guess what it is?
Read More→
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Diane
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It hit me forcefully just how much publishing has changed as I reflected on my recent interactions with a major publisher over a client’s potential book.
As I mentioned in one of my Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminars, there are three paths of publishing one can take.
1. You publish just because your life dream is to have a published book. The book is really all you care about.
You can go either the self-publishing route (faster, possible to get published if you have the money), or you can take the longer, more uncertain route of trying to get a publisher to publish you. If you do go the traditional publishing route, you will need
Read the rest of this new Publishing Coach Weekly article
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Diane
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The recording of the Great Author Promotions interview with Noah St. John is ready.
Those who were on the live call and frustrated by the sound level of my voice on the webcast will be pleased to know that the recording is MUCH better. I had no control over the webcast quality, but because I don’t trust technology, I had a good backup system in place and thankfully, that worked.
(You’ll be introduced to my dog, Millie, barking in the background at one point. She’s usually nice and quiet but missing her walk for two days due to rain made her jumpy, I guess.)
Anyway, Noah had some interesting things to say.
But I did not agree with EVERYTHING he said.
In fact, I want to say a couple of things before you even listen.
Read More→
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Diane
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I am so excited about the next Great Author Promotions teleseminar!
My guest will be Noah St. John, author of The Secret Code of Success, the book published by Harper Business books that got him a six-figure advance.
Noah is a pioneer in what I call “New Era Publishing” strategies, and tomorrow he is going to reveal what he’s done in two specific areas: the media, and building a community.
I will also reveal some tidbits about what I’ve been learning about what big publishers are looking for now, from my ongoing dialog about one of my client’s books.
Learn too what Noah is doing to try to get on the Oprah Winfrey show–and how you can participate.
And of course, ask your question! If we have time, we’ll get to it.
http://www.greatauthorpromotions.com
