38 Days to Publication - The Marketing Materials

Well, it's been a while since I've posted my progess and there's a reason for that. I'm pretty sick of reviewing this book right about now. I love it and hate it. This self-publishing business is hard work and if I have one piece of advice for anyone considering, try really hard to get a publisher first. I'd rather be writing my next novel and not designing marketing material. With that said, if you do decide to self-publish, it is one of the most draining yet rewarding experiences that you'll have ever. There is such a sense of accomplishment and "I really did it myself" that I'm sure it will be worth it...someday.

So, I'm back to my marketing materials now. I've finally got what I hope are my final drafts done. So, what do you think? Do they look homemade? Do they look appealing? Do the pique your interest in the book? If you don't like an element, tell me what you don't like and what you'd rather see. Don't let me go handing these out and mailing them to booksellers lookin' crazy, now!

I'm only including the front here. The back of both contain the back cover copy, email addresses, retail locations, and book details (size, length, ISBN number, etc.).

60 Days to Publication and Counting -- Website and Promotional Materials

Despite suffering a few panic attacks over the past few days due to an ill-advised trip to the bookstore, I'm still pressing on with my quest for self-publication.

The former acquisitions editor from Simon and Schuster who I hired to do a manuscript review gave me her initial feedback which filled me with hope that I'm moving in the right direction. She said, "Just to let you know, I've finished reading The Bum Magnet--what fun! It takes alot to make me laugh out loud and Charisse made me roll . . . You have a great voice. Writers are either born with a great voice or not, and you were born with one."

Yaaay!

So, as I await for her written notes to arrive in the mail so I can make my final revisions, I decided to put the finishing touches on my website, finalize the price, and determine which promotional materials I was going to use and design them. (I'll post the designs later.)

Website: http://www.klbradywrites.com/
It's pretty much done. I've posted my media kit, posted a book description, added a book order page and a paypal button for people who want to order directly from me, posted an event and tour schedule in which I do have some events posted. I've signed up to attend the National Black Book Festival in May, that's the biggie. I'm still thinking on the South Carolina Book Festival. I've also added links to my blog. Once I create a blog and/or facebook page specifically for the book, I'll include those as well.

Promotional Materials
I've decided on three promotional materials to promote my book: postcards, bookmarks, and bookbags (the cinch backpacks). I'm ordering 5000 bookmarks, 2500 postcards (8.5x5.5), and 70 bookbags. Altogether, they'll cost less than $500. Can't beat that price, right? If you can design your own materials, order from http://www.gotprint.com/. I started using their services for my real estate ads and through my research, they are the cheapest around. And believe me, I've looked EVERYWHERE.

Why'd I choose those materials? Bookmarks are really cheap so I can hand out alot of them and give them to my wonderful friends to hand out to their friends. I selected an oversized postcard (almost the same dimensions as my book), which is more expensive, but will stand out among the little 6x4 jobs most people send out.

And I wanted to have the bookbags for giveaways at book signings or other events. If someone is bold enough to walk around with a bookbag with the words "Bum Magnet" on it, it is sure to draw attention and people may ask questions, at which time they can tell them about my book. Genius? Yeah, I know. Okay...maybe not so much. But I've already heard from several people who say they know friends whom they'd like to give one to. If you're not that friend, then you're probably going to be the friend that receives it. :)

As for the price? Well, I had to bump it up to 14.95 from $13.95because once I did the formatting, I had a lot more pages than I was expecting to which resulted in a higher printing price.

So that's it for today...I'll post pictures later (when I get home) so you can see exactly what everything looks like and tell me what you think...

62 Days to Publication -- The Press Kit

Well, publication day is getting closer and closer. I’m trying to stay on my self-imposed schedule because if I drag my butt at any point, I might chicken out. So, I’ve spent the last couple of days putting together my press kit. This will go out to key book clubs, media outlets, and will accompany copies of my book when I send them out for reviews.

If you look up anything on self-publishing and what you need to do as an author, one of the most important things the “experts” tell you to do is design a professional looking press kit. They say the press kit should consist of – at a minimum – a cover page with a picture of the book cover and contact information, a press release, an author bio, an excerpt of your book with any reviews, and a sell sheet that provides all of the book details and descriptions. In my press kit, I’ve also included an interview/frequently-asked question page.

Whadaya think? Would it pique your interest in finding out more about the book? Or...meh?

64 Days to Publicaiton -- The Book Cover

Well, today was cover day. I spent today finalizing the back cover copy and design.

The cover, in my humble opinion, is one of the most important parts of marketing a book. I cannot tell you how many books I have on my shelf (read and unread) that I bought based on the front cover and back cover copy. Sometimes they delivered, sometimes they didn’t–but that didn’t matter so much because they already had my money.

If you look at a lot of the African-American titles these days, my cover design is a far cry from what you’d see on other books with similar subject matter. The fact is I didn’t want photos of any strange, half-naked women on my cover. I wanted something that would stand apart from other books on the shelf (if it gets picked up by book stores). And I wanted something a little more mainstream because so many of the reviewers of my books in the early stages who loved it have come from all walks of life, from young women to old women, from young men to old men, whites, blacks, hispanic, British, Indian, and on down the line. I wanted to make sure that the cover was appealing and funny across all lines and boundaries. My cover illustrator, Dee D’amico, really helped me nail it. This is a far cry from the stick people drawing that I gave her a few weeks ago. I think I now have a cover that will, at a minimum, draw readers to pick up the book and look at the back cover copy. I think the back cover copy will entice people to open up to the first page. And I think the first page will rope folks in to want to buy the book. That’s the strategy. We’ll see how it all works out.

65 days to Self-Publication...Let the Countdown Begin

Okay, so I gave it a try. Gave it my all…well some of my all. Okay, a lot of my all but not all of my all. My attempts to get a literary agent were unsuccessful. As those who have followed my brief journey (at least from the point that I started blogging about it) know, I sent out five very directed queries to literary agents who specifically represent works like mine and got two requests for fulls. Both agents said they liked it, which was a far cry from “Go away, you bother me.” The rejection which gave me the most hope that my book is on the right track and worthy of publishing is the following.

“I so enjoyed reading your work–this is clever, smart, snappy, funny, fun. I passed this around the office, and though everyone could see why I liked it–and we all agree that your writing is very good–I’m afraid that there just wasn’t enough collective enthusiasm for me to be able to say yes…Do let me know what happens–there is somethingspecial about your work, and I certainly hope that means you will be in bookstores soon.”

Both cited the “tight market.” An acquisitions editor with a major publisher still has it but hasn’t read it yet. Although she assures me she’ll be getting to it soon, her plate is overfilled with her client’s projects. So, what’s my next step?

Well, I’m going the self-publishing route. I’ve weighed all the pros and cons. I’ve read article after article about how little hope there is for the vast majority of self-publishers to sell more than 12 books or get picked up by a major publisher. I know the market is flooded with hundreds of thousands of novels and the likelihood of mine becoming a best seller has the same probability of a second virgin birth. I know how much work it’s going to be to market (as you will see from my blogs). I know how much it’s going to cost, even with cheap POD publishers, putting out a quality product isn’t cheap AT ALL. I know, I know, I know…and I’m going to do it anyway.

So, as of today, the new focus of my blog is publishing my book through the self-publishing route. I’ve set the release date for my book as October 6th. That means, as of today, I have 65 days to publication. Each day, I’ll blog about what I”m doing to get ready for the big day.
I’m going to start with my current status and we’ll move forward from here.

As of today, my manuscript is completed and an editorial consultant that I hired is reviewing it to give me feedback. She a former editor from Simon and Schuster. For those who aren’t familiar with publishing houses, Simon and Schuster publishes authors like Zane, Omar Tyree, Jennifer Weiner, and others. So, it’s a great publishing house and I feel like I’ll get the best feedback I can get. The editor has told me she will get the manuscript back to me sometime within the next two weeks, could be sooner, could be later. I dunno. But I have to be patient and wait. This is an important step to ensure I’m putting out the best quality product that I can.

While I’m waiting, I’m putting together a marketing plan, putting together a press kit, updating my website, designing postcards and bookmarks, and looking into doing a bookbag giveaway. I’m getting ready to set up facebook and blog pages for the book, and a host of other things that I will blog about as the time comes. So, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

I’m looking for a great slogan for imprinting on bookbags or buttons. I’ll give a free, autographed pre-publication copy of the actual book (in it’s retail format) and a free bookbag (a cinch backpack) with your slogan on it to anyone who can come up with a good one for me to use! Should be less than ten words, funny, and contain the words “bum” or “bum magnet.” The slogan will only be used on promotional materials that will be given out for free. Winning slogan will be selected on September 1st.

Let the countdown begin. For more information about The Bum Magnet visit my website at http://www.klbradywrites.com/

Query by Snail Mail: The 42 cent SASE Nightmare

I was reading a literary agent’s blog the other day, and he was going on and on about how agents get thousands of queries and didn’t have time or the money to put an additional 2 cents on the SASE you mailed with your query. And I scoffed, Ha! poor suckers…until I realized that I had five queries out with SASE containing 42 cent stamps.

I went into a severe panic when I got to thinking about how many “Send us your full manuscript YESTERDAY. We gotta have it!” responses I probably received that might never reach the mailbox that I’m running out to 20,000 times a day due to insufficient postage. So, I promptly emailed everyone and let them know that I could resubmit via email or send them an SASE with the appropriate postage.

Of course, my panic was for nothing. After two weeks of biting my nails and doing my query-robics to the mailbox, NOBODY’s even read it yet.

So, for all you querying authors sweating the 42 cent stamp SASE that accompanied the query that you sent out back when Jesus was a carpenter, rest assured that you’re query is resting snuggly at the bottom of someone’s slush pile and they’ve probably not even gotten around to reading it yet. So you still have time to let them know about your faux pas and give them an alternate means to send your rejection letter.

Note to self--Use Forever Stamps on SASEs!

To Self-Publish or not to Self-Publish?

I’ve just learned a valuable lesson…save your draft before attempting to move to a different page.

Self-publishing is a hot topic these days, particularly as the publishing industry tightens its belt and makes it increasingly difficult for new authors to get a foot in the door. As for me? I certainly plan to self-publish if my book doesn’t get picked up by an agent or editor sooner than later.
So, while I’m stuck in Query Pergatory, I thought I’d share the lessons I’ve learned and my research on the self-publishing industry and how people say you need to go about it to do it successfully.

Distribution

Well, among the key issues self-publishers have is how to get your books on bookstore shelves. Unfornately, I’ve learned that going through some POD services that will put your book on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com will not necessarily mean your book will be available to book stores. And even if it is, you have to offer a significant wholesale discount (55% to be exact) and offer them the ability to return unsold books for them to even consider shelving your book.
So, who have I selected? Lightning Source and Createspace. There is a method to my madness. Lightning source will allow you to make your book available to brick and mortar stores like BN and Borders…and others. You can set your own discount (factoring your royalty into the price) and you can also offer returns (although at a price). Although LS will also make your book available at Amazon.com, Amazon will take the 55% wholessale discount through LS. If you go through CS, they only take 40% which allows you to keep a higher royaltity on your Amazon sales. I could do a whole blog alone on the book pricing and wholesale discount issue along with the math. If anyone is interested, let me know and I’ll be happy to post my research.
So, anyway, with that I’ve selected my distribution.

Next–Marketing.

I’ve decided to keep the marketing cheap because I’m broke. I’m going with the standard postcards, bookmarks, and cheap bookbag giveaways. I have also designed my own press kit using professional template designs so they don’t look amateurish. Of course I set up a website as well. And I’ve started the whole social network thing.

For cheap marketing materials, I recommend gotprint.com (5000 postcards or bookmarks for around $150) and branders.com for other promo items. I’m a real estate agent so I’ve used them for other things as well.

As an unknown author who is self-publishing, I personally believe my most important marketing is my cover. That’s why I paid good money to have an illustrator create my design. I came up with the concept and she made miracles happen. So many self-published books have awful covers, but my advice is that if you’re going to spend a chunk of money anywhere, it should be to have a professional do your cover. Those DIY things on the publishing sites don’t really cut it for my tastes.

Editor

Along those same lines, I’m hiring and editor to do a manuscript review and line edit. I don’t want my work being held up as the example as “what not to do.” If someone kicks out $13.95 for my book, I don’t want them to regret it.
For those of you seeking an editor, the Freelance Editor Association web site has a feature that will allow you to bid your job out based on what you can afford. I’ll add the link to the site as well but it is

http://www.the-efa.org/job/joblist_form.php.

I guess that’s it for starters. I don’t have any dreams of grandeur or getting picked up by a major publisher (although that would be nice). What I do hope is to get an email or comment on my blog from someone who says, “I loved your book!” That would be my biggest thrill.
I’ve posted an excerpt of The Bum Magnet on my site. Just click on the book cover and that’ll take you to my homepage.

Any other ideas on self-publishing? I’m no expert but I’m willing to share my research.

Write a Sequel to an Unsold Book...Or Not?

Well, I finally think I have the scheduling for my first novel nailed down. I’ve written the book and back cover copy. The cover is designed. Just in case I self-publish, I’ve researched my distribution channels so I can get my book into the stores, I know which companies I’ll use for printing. I’ve got a proofreader looking at it now, then afterward I’ll send it out for some free reviews. Of course, all this will be moot if I get signed. But, best not to put all my eggs in THAT basket. So, anyway, I finally feel settled enough to move forward with my next project.

I have three ideas. One is a sequel to the first novel, the second is a romantic comedy, and the third is a spy novel of some sort (haven’t figured out if there is comedy angle but there’s definitely a romantic angle). So, which do I focus on first? All of them are stories that I want to share with as many people that would like to read them, so I’m moving on to the next level of logic–sales and my audience.

Conventional wisdom says write the sequel, but I haven’t sold the first one, don’t know how it’s going to sell, if it sells, yadda yadda yadda.

If it does sell and I start something completely different, then I may lose my audience.

If it doesn’t sell and I write a sequel, that will be TWO books that don’t sell.

All the voices in my head are pretty strong right now, so I could start any one of them and have enough to complete them. What’s a girl to do?

Any suggestions?

Things to do While Waiting on Query Responses...

I feel like I’m in a major holding pattern. If I don’t find representation in this next set of queries (about 15 in all), then I am absolutely going to go ahead and self-publish. Until I get responses, I don’t want to twiddle my thumbs, so here’s what I’m doing to pass the time…

• Checking my email 20,000 times a day
• Double checking my email just in case I missed something (so that’s really 40,000 times a day)
• Doing a 100-yard dash to the mailbox when I get home from work (very invigorating)
• Trying to think of new ideas for books (so far, the only thing I could come up with involves a spy and a green onion…yeah, I know, back to the drawing board)
• Reading — I’m trying to get through Emily Giffin’s new book “Love the One You’re With” –I’ve read page one 37 times. I’ve also got “Confessions of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella. I’m about a fourth of the way through and there’s no guy…just lots and lots of shopping.
• I’ve gotten socially-networked. I’ve joined Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, WordPress, etc. etc. etc. after fighting it for so long. Now, I feel like I’m late to the party and can’t figure out how anything works. I’m in cyber hell without an instruction manual. Got to keep my eye on the prize, right? When my book is published, I’ll have 12 people to market to because I can’t find any freakin’ body… anywhere!!!
• I drink…heavily. Ahhhh, there’s lots of joy in a Mojito…and endless joy in a pitcher of Mojitos.

What are you doing while you wait?