Write That Book Already!: The Tough Love You Need To Get Published Now

by Barry, Sam

  There are ways to supplement your publisher’s efforts. Several months before publication, ransack your address book and provide names and addresses of your personal media contacts and any authors or prominent people you know who might give you endorsements; set up some book-signing events in areas where you know a lot of people who are likely to show up; and let your publicist know when and where you plan to be traveling on your own, in case there’s media or bookstore interest in other cities.

  Tough Love from the Author Enablers

  Don’t bug or harass or whine at your publicist to the point where she has to spend so much time talking to you that she doesn’t have time to publicize your book, and might even grow to dislike you. Be polite, friendly, and informative, but don’t use her as a punching bag or therapist. The more time she has to spend talking you down, the less time she’ll have to work on your book. ‹«

  We can’t overemphasize how important it is to determine the demographics of the audience for your book (twelve- to fourteen-year-old girls and their moms, middle-aged football fans, armchair archeologists, etc.). A clear sense of the audience will help your marketing and publicity team as they develop the appropriate materials.

  MORE WAYS YOU CAN HELP MARKET YOURSELF

  Maintaining your web presence is a low-cost and effective means for getting the word out about your book, upcoming appearances, reviews, and so on, so make sure you have an appealing book-related website, whether or not you, your publisher, or both of you are handling updates and maintenance.

  Watch the news for opportunities to present yourself as an expert to local and national media outlets. Remind your publicist that you can be called upon to comment on breaking stories. Always make sure you have a copy of your book on hand, even when you travel. Keep networking, and look for opportunities to participate in group readings with other authors—which is, by the way, one of many good reasons to be nice to and maintain contact with your colleagues.

  PUBLICITY

  As you come close to your publication date, the publicity element of your book’s campaign kicks in. There is no sharp line between marketing and publicity; the two are different approaches to the same goal: getting attention for your book so it will sell.

  THE PROS AND CONS (AND TIMING) OF HIRING YOUR OWN PUBLICIST

  Many authors consider hiring an independent publicist to supplement the efforts of the in-house publicity team. Knowing that most in-house publicists are working on several projects at a time and have a limited window in which to concentrate on any title, this can be a great idea—but there are several factors to consider before making this commitment, which can be an expensive proposition since it will most likely mean shelling out money from your own pocket.

  It doesn’t make a lot of sense to hire a publicist once your book is released, and many of the best independent publicists will not consider signing on to a project unless they have the opportunity to do so well in advance of the pub date. For example, long-lead magazines choose their content at least four months in advance, and you want to coordinate the coverage of your book to fall into the crucial window between the time your book goes on sale and two months later, when the publisher and the world begin to move on. This time frame varies with different types of books, but in general those first two months are when a lot of things are going to happen—in other words, it’s show time.

  Then there’s this simple fact of (human) nature: if your assigned in-house publicist knows that you’ve hired someone else to do the heavy lifting, he may be tempted to concentrate on other projects with the limited time available.

  Still, the right publicist, hired well in advance of the pub date, can do wonders for a book. It depends on you, the subject matter of your book, your comfort level with the in-house marketing plan, and your budget. We don’t recommend taking out a second mortgage to finance your publicity campaign, but if you have the extra bucks handy then the investment might make sense. For instance, let’s say you are an aspiring children’s book author who has written the Boopsie and Wigglebottom adventure series, and you also just met a publicist who is a genius at publicizing children’s books. In this situation, by all means, hire the publicist.

  In the best of all scenarios, the freelance publicist will work well with your in-house team, everyone will supplement and enhance each others’ efforts, and you, Boopsie, and Wigglebottom will hit one out of the park.

  PLAN AHEAD

  Whether you’re thinking about publicity or any other aspect of your publishing journey, it’s crucial to remember that by the time a book is published it is too late to make suggestions or complain or decide to hire a publicist or, really, take any action at all that will affect the publicity campaign at or close to the on-sale date. (The on-sale date is the term used in publishing for, duh, the date the book officially goes on sale. Sometimes retailers ignore this date and sell early, but they’re not supposed to.) Decisions are made and budgets are set long before this time comes, and that’s why it’s important to meet your deadlines and communicate with your publisher every step of the way.

  Nine Tips for Helping Your Publicist Do a Great Job

  Your book, Light Bulb: Twenty-Seven Steps to Business Brilliance, is about to be published by Cranky Pants Press, and you couldn’t be happier. You’ve been assigned a publicist who is bright and pleasant, even if she appears to be just out of junior high. Here’s what you can do to help her do a great job for you and your book:

  1. Provide an author photo, one-page bio, and a Q&A (a list of the ten questions you’d most like to be asked, along with the answers).

  2. Provide copies of any press you’ve received in advance of the book’s release. A profile in the local paper or online, video of a cable TV interview, that time you were on morning radio—this could all be useful in pitching bigger and better interviews.

  3. Provide a list of your personal media and bookseller connections and any appropriate mailing lists. If the president of the NBC affiliate in your town happens to be your wife’s second cousin, now is the time to call in a favor. Friends will enjoy knowing where and when you’ll be appearing.

  4. Provide a “big mouth” list of influential people in your field. Your editor will want to ask them for endorsements. Your publicist may want to use these endorsements in your book's press materials. Endorsements from others in your field help the publisher “position” the book in the marketplace. The idea is to find the appropriate audience, readers who are predisposed to like you. Endorsements carry a lot more weight with publishers and booksellers than you’d think—probably a lot more than they should.

  5. Let your publicist know if you set up your own interviews. This is important for two reasons: you’ll avoid double-booking, and she will be able to add your appearances to her marketing notes—the bump in sales after your literary lunch appearance in Dallas will make sense. If the sales dip instead of bump, then you should stop doing literary lunches, right?

  6. Communicate with your publicist, share ideas and contacts, but don’t drive her crazy. Give her time to get her work done. Call once in a while just to say hi and check in.

  7. Don’t forget to say thank you. A little kindness and appreciation go a long way.

  8. Trust the process. Things won’t happen as quickly as you would like. But you know what? Your publicist probably didn’t forget to send your book to Oprah, Fresh Air, or the New York Times, if it was appropriate to do so. Really.

  9. Understand that at some point, your publicist will have to move on to the next project. There are many ways you can keep momentum going on your own, and if you have a great relationship with your publicist, you can get lots of help during this transition.

  Finally, remember the Author Enablers’ top secret trick for getting the most out of your publicist: send an occasional box of chocolates. Remember, publicists are pros—some more experienced and dedicated than others—but it’s their job, and they’re doing their best. Let’s hope this is the first of many books you’ll be wri
ting; if that plan works out (or even if it doesn’t) it makes sense to build good relationships with the publishing professionals you meet along the way. Not every book is a hit, but there is such a thing as a career built on modest successes. Hang in there.

  THE BOOK TOUR

  Every author dreams of going on a book tour—until it actually happens. Book tours do look like fun: free travel to exciting cities; great hotel rooms, expenses paid; appearances on radio and television; reading from your work to standing-room-only crowds in beautiful bookstores; and the attentive care of professional media escorts, assigned to handle the logistics of your day.

  If you’ve been to an event featuring a very popular author you’ve probably noticed the large audiences and the solicitous attention lavished on the guest of honor, who is whisked away at the first sign of fatigue. For you, the first-time author on your first book tour, reality might be a little different.

  First of all, we should emphasize that book tours aren’t as popular as they used to be. There are several reasons for this. Media deregulation and other economic factors have changed the landscape for everyone. There used to be a lot more local media around—and therefore more need for and interest in touring authors—than there is now. A typical book-tour day might begin with a local morning TV show such as People Are Talking, then an hour on a call-in radio show, followed by lunch with a journalist. The afternoon might consist of another appearance on local TV—a brief segment either at the end of the news or on one of the weekly magazine-format interview shows—and end with an evening reading and signing in a bookstore. But the media bookings would be the anchor of the tour, the reason an author was sent to one city rather than another.

  As media moved toward syndication, the Good Morning America type shows came to dominate, while locally produced shows declined. At the same time newspapers also decreased in number and viability (especially around the book-review section). As a result, book tours have become more focused on bookstores and less on media. This would have been okay if independent bookstores were thriving as community cultural centers, because the need for authors could replace the dwindling supply of local media when it came time for the publishers to decide where to send an author. But the number of independent bookstores is currently in decline, and without the heavy-duty all-day event promotion offered by multiple media appearances, it’s harder to get bodies into the stores to hear an author read. There are still a number of great independent bookstores and these have devised their own marketing methods for drawing crowds, some very successful, but weighed against rising travel costs and shrinking budgets, publishers have moved away from touring for many of their authors.

  The growing importance of online media also has a lot to do with the waning book tour. Authors can easily contribute articles, participate in interviews and blogs, and even meet their fans without ever leaving home.

  Book tours still exist, but they can no longer be expected— especially for first-time authors. And you shouldn’t necessarily be disappointed. Remember, the point of book tours was never for authors to enjoy airport cuisine and adventures in Cleveland; it was to sell books and get the author’s name out there. If there are better strategies for accomplishing these goals, wouldn’t you rather these be employed? Also, book tours aren’t necessarily that much fun. They can be lonely, frustrating, and difficult, especially for authors who aren’t well-known enough (yet) to guarantee that they’ll draw a crowd.

  BE PREPARED

  If you are sent on a book tour, be prepared for a wide variety of experiences, some of which are bound to be disappointing. You’ll find yourself at loose ends in a city where you know no one, or booked solid in the place where you have a close friend with no time to visit. You might find bookstores where everything was done right—an article in the paper, a great display, a flattering newsletter listing—and still no one shows up to hear you read. (This can even happen to famous authors.) On the other hand, you’ll also find delightful surprises where one might expect disaster. A double-booking (“Yikes! Two authors with the word ‘shoes’ in the titles of their new novels were accidentally scheduled to read on the same night. Oops!”) might, if handled with humor and imagination, lead to a terrific twofer event, and a new fellow-author friend made later over dinner. The dream of luxury travel and hotels will play out in long security lines and missed connections. We’ve heard a story of one author who, after long delays, checked into her hotel room late at night with only a few hours to sleep until her early morning wake-up call. She got into her nightie, brushed her teeth, and only then discovered that she’d been booked into a room that didn’t have a bed! In other words, it will be exactly as much fun as any other kind of travel, minus your loved ones.

  The marketing and publicity team are the ones who arrange author tours. Generally the budget is small, and as a first-time author you may find yourself staying in relatives’ guest rooms, speaking in near-empty bookstores, and pondering the point of it all.

  DIFFERENT TYPES OF BOOK TOURS—INCLUDING CREATING YOUR OWN

  The tour may take any number of forms. A traditional tour might be two weeks of travel, flights from city to city, author appearances once, twice, or more a day. You may do a phone-in radio show in the morning and another that afternoon, and stop at one store to sign a pile of books while on your way to another bookstore to speak that evening. Two weeks of this can be exhausting and costs the publisher a lot of money. Another type of tour may be down-and-dirty, consisting of the city where you live and one other you can get to cheaply and easily.

  Often there is no tour, and many ambitious authors overcome the limitations of their publishers’ budgets by using their own speaking engagements as book promotion opportunities. If you’re going to travel anyway, contact your publisher well in advance to see if a book event might be scheduled around your trip. You tell your publicist that you are going to Poughkeepsie for a work conference. You or your employer are paying for the travel, room, and board. Taking advantage of this situation, the publicist arranges for a media event or bookstore appearance, or both. Publicists call this a “tie-in” tour, meaning events are scheduled to tie in to travel that is already planned and paid for, but not by the publisher.

  Another way to work the book-tour system is to find a group or organization other than your publisher, your employer, or yourself to pay your way. We happen to know about Jewish book festivals from personal experience, as Kathi’s publisher used Jewish book festival bookings to supplement a tour for her first novel.

  Here’s how those festivals work. During the fall pre-holiday season, synagogues and Jewish community centers (JCCs) in many cities sponsor their own book festivals, to which they invite Jewish authors and/or authors of books that are of Jewish interest. The lovely thing about these events is that the organizers have figured out ways to cover travel expenses, so, with enough advance planning, a clever publisher can piggyback additional stops onto a JCC tour. The festivals themselves are well-supported and well-attended, the authors are treated like celebrities, and the seasonal timing guarantees that book sales will be strong. We’ve heard of other, similar opportunities in niche circuits: culinary schools for cookbook authors, corporate conferences and retreats, academic and clergy conferences, clown academies, and the like. Keep your eyes peeled for groups that might be a good fit for your book, and watch out for those funny little cars.

  Although it’s unlikely that you’ll get your expenses paid by the organizers, it’s worth pursuing bookings at established book festivals of any kind. Even if you’re not the big draw, even if—weekend after weekend—you find yourself sitting at a book-signing table next to the guy with the 200-person line, after you’ve autographed five books as slowly and carefully as possible, even if you’re placed on a panel that makes no sense in terms of the theme of your book, these events are worth it for the sheer number of people who attend and the inter-author networking opportunities. Most book festivals give preference to authors with recently published books, some
(especially if you happen to be just the thing they’re looking for to round out a panel) will come up with a room for a night or two if you can get yourself to town, and many festivals have volunteers available to drive authors to and from events. There’s always a green room where snacks are provided, other authors are milling around, and everyone is wearing a name tag. Think about it: would you rather be sitting alone in a bookstore waiting for someone to walk in and ask for a signed book, or sitting next to a bestselling author whose fans are entertaining to watch, even if they’re not there for you? Maybe next year, next book, they will be there for you. In the meantime, you can watch every move Mr. Bestseller Guy makes and pick up a few tips.

  Some Tips for Surviving Your Book Tour Travel:

  • Amy Tan says, “Bring your dog (under eleven pounds) and you’ll never be lonely.”

  • Rita Mae Brown says, “Send a Fed-Ex package home every couple of days, with the stuff you don’t need anymore.”

  • Barbara Kingsolver says, “Always find something to do or see that is unique to the area, even if you only have five extra minutes, so you’ll remember where you’ve been.”

  • Robert Fulghum says, “If you want to be left alone on an airplane, tell your seatmate that you’re an accountant for a dog food company.” ("Amway distributor" works, too.)

  • Try to use carry-on, rather than checked, luggage.

  • If you have to check luggage, keep essentials (medicine, your dogs, and—most important—a copy of your book, etc.) with you at all times.