For Your Burning Question

There is no shortage of passion among writers and especially writers for children and fiction writers. It is obvious to me as I've read these questions from more than 100 people who have signed up at the moment for this event. If you want to ask a question about Christian fiction or children's writing for Andy, now is the time to ask it: http://www.askandymcguire.com/

Late last week I wrote a short, targeted press release about this event and sent it to three publications which have regular online newsletters that go out to their audiences. I know two of the three publications picked up on the release. Here's one of them from yesterday:

"Fiction editor/author answers questions in upcoming teleseminar. Moody Fiction Editor Andy McGuire will answer your questions in a free live 70-minute telewebcast this Wed., Jun. 18, at 4 p.m. Pacific/7 p.m. Eastern. Host Terry Whalin will use the questions from various participants to grill McGuire about the publication of his first children's book, Rainy Day Games, Fun with the Animals of Noah's Ark (Harvest House Publishers). Anyone can ask a question at: http://www.askandymcguire.com/ and register for the free teleseminar.

Participants in the free teleseminar can also ask McGuire questions about his day job as the fiction editor at Moody Publishers. Each person who registers for the teleseminar at: http://www.askandymcguire.com/ will receive a free four-chapter e-book called Novel Curriculum by Andy McGuire. This 47-page e-book will help writers understand some of the basics related to creating and shaping Christian fiction.

Don't have time to listen during the workday? The event will be recorded and every registrant will receive access to the replay links, which can be downloaded to a computer or iPod."

OK, maybe you are not a fiction writer or children's author, can you learn something from this post for your writing life? There is no doubt in my mind.

First, notice the technology. Sign up and notice you can hear the author talking, then when you ask your question, you get to the confirmation or mirror page where you make sure you have your question worded as you want it. Once again you have a personal connection to this author. Finally when you ask your question, you reach the confirmation page where you will hear me talking and confirming your registration.

Check out this confirmation page and notice it's where you download the free 47-page Ebook from Andy McGuire about writing fiction. Also this page is where people get the call-in number for their phones or they can listen to the interview on a live webcast (free). Also this page has a countdown timer highlighting when the event will take place. Notice at the bottom of this page there is a tool so the registrant can tell a friend about the event.

There is a large button in the middle of the confirmation page which encourages people to purchase copies of Rainy Day Games. Does it work? I've already received an email from one participant who has purchased the book. My mentor on virtual book tours, Alex Mandossian has specific sales results from these events. With one book and one author, Alex can point to over 3,500 book sales. Now when you realize that many books don't even sell 500 copies in their lifetime, if someone sells over 3,500 copies of an authors book, that is a huge deal.

People who sign up for the event also receive two confirmation emails. Why two? Because of not all email reaches its original destination and the dual emails helps raise those possibilities.

I've prepared the author for this event, sent the questions from the participants and I will be sending another batch later. The author can be confident about the time on the telephone with me because they know what information the audience wants before the event.

Finally notice how easy this event is for the author. They don't travel anywhere or sit in a bookstore wondering if someone is going to come for a book signing. They have over 100 people gathered in a virtual event just to listen to them talk with the host on the telephone.

In terms of time and expense, a virtual book tour is one of the most effective ways to sell books as Alex says, "Quicker, faster and with less human effort." Yes some other people are touting other technology events like blog tours. No one has yet shown me that blog tours sell books with specific results. Yes it gives some exposure to the book but in terms of results I've found zero evidence that translates into sales. Call me a skeptic but I want to put my time and energy into events which sell books and are a winner for the author and the publisher. There is no better way than a virtual book tour--at least that I've discovered to date.

I want to point to the Church of the Customer Blog and their post about The Word of Mouth Manual. It's a great resource for you to get this book and learn about how the publishing industry should reinvent itself. Virtual Book Tours fall into this same area of innovation.

Finally I wanted to show you the back cover of Rainy Day Games and wonder who was Andy McGuire thinking about for a model when he drew that illustration. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow night. Hope you can make it.

The Importance of Interviewing

There are many different types of writing. Whether you are working on a book manuscript or a magazine article, one of the best skills that you can continue to use and develop is to interview others. Whether you are looking for great quotations for your article or background research, interviewing is a critical skill.

I want to encourage you to watch a few minutes of Alex Mandossian as he talks about this important skill of interviewing. Also make sure you take the brief marketing quiz to see what you can learn from that simple exercise. Also the $20 preview call is coming up on June 5th. Every author (no matter whether you have published one book or no books or many books) will learn a great deal from this inexpensive call. The call previews the Virtual Book Tour Systems course where I will be teaching an hour about book proposal creation. Just reading the VBT page, anyone can learn a great deal of information.

I hope you find this information useful. And if you just want to see something funny, then check out this YouTube video for an "author book tour" launch. If you've been involved in such matters you will realize the truth behind the humor.

In the last couple of weeks, I've thought about these entries a great deal but not created much material. It will be even harder for me to add entries over the next few weeks. I leave later today to drive to Los Angeles for Author University 101 tomorrow then a couple of days at Book Expo America. I return home for a day, then I leave for Write To Publish in the Chicago area. I'll be teaching the Freelance Career Track where every participant has to have published at least one book. I've worked hard over the last few days to create some fresh information for those sessions.

While I am away from these entries for a few days, I hope you will make use of the rich resource of material in the search tool in the right hand column of The Writing Life. Keep looking for fresh ways to grow in your writing craft and knowledge about the marketplace.

I'm Drawn To Creativity and Innovation

The dual covers on this week's issue of The New Yorker magazine were just a hint of the excellent content called The Innovators Issue. One of the consistent questions that people will ask me is about where writers get their ideas? One bit of insight into this question comes from reading about innovators. Just check out Malcolm Gladwell's article Annals of Innovation. If you are not a subscriber to The New Yorker (as I am), then get over to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of this issue. It's well worth it.

One of the details that is documented in this article is that people can have the same idea at exactly the same time. No one is stealing anything but the same idea can be proposed from two different parts of the country at the same time. I've seen it in the magazine and book business. Particularly new writers are worried about such things but the real question is who will act on their idea with excellence and be the first one to get it into the marketplace, then promote that idea to others?

I continue to see writers struggle to put together a good proposal--and other would-be book authors haven't even investigated the world of publishing to understand that for a nonfiction book they need a book proposal instead of a manuscript. I regularly hear authors complain and groan about doing marketing for their books--yet it doesn't take loads of effort. It does take consistency.

For example, last week I was on the telephone with an editor at a publishing house and mentioned my Book Proposals That Sell to see if this editor knew about the availability and focus of my book. As a former acquisitions editor, I wrote the book to get better proposals. I offered to send a review copy and he wanted to read the book. Notice I initiated the conversation, then followed up and sent him the book. It did not consume my day and only took a few minutes of effort. Will it pay off? I have no idea but in the big picture of sales for the book, I suspect it helps the overall efforts. You can do the same thing with your books or writing work. Look for innovative ways to incorporate these actions into the natural conversation of your life.

I've pointed to The New Yorker and this Innovators Issue as a resource for fostering your own creativity and innovation. I want to quickly look at three other resources. In some ways I feel surrounded with this theme.

This weekend my wife and I watched the DVD version of Enchanted. It is an incredibly joyful and innovative film. If you haven't caught it, then watch this version. Several months ago when it was in the theaters, I saw it twice and my wife caught it three times. Yes, it was that good. If you get this DVD version of Enchanted make sure you look at the bonus features and notice the team creative effort which was poured into this production. This point is emphasized repeatedly in the little clips with the actors and director. Here's another detail that I picked up watching this material. The idea for Enchanted was batted around the Disney Studios for nine years before it was completed. I would encourage you to locate and learn about creativity and innovation from this film.

Here's another resource for you to increase your information about creativity and innovation. If you are in the Los Angeles area or going there for the Book Expo America, I recommend you check out this one day workshop called Author 101 University. Why? It's a one-day workshop that will be crammed with innovative ideas for authors and publishers. If you are in the publishing community, I practically guarantee your head will be crammed with plans and ideas from these sessions. I personally know a number of these speakers and have listened to the others. These presenters know inside information about how to sell books in today's marketplace and you can personally benefit from a day at Author 101 University.

In my recent post, I mentioned a free 7-Question Author Profile Quiz. Another resource to foster your own creativity and innovation is to learn about the Virtual Book Tour Secrets. I recommend every author or would-be author or anyone in publishing can profit from just reading the landing page and following the various links. Virtual Book Tour Secrets is a proven method to sell books quicker, faster and with less human effort. To take this training you don't even have to leave the comfort of your own home. Whether you take the full training or only attend the $20 preview call (this link goes live in seven days so go there and bookmark it), you can get a creative and innovative boost from this session.

These types of opportunities to grow in your writing and knowledge about publishing abound--if you are aware of them. Today I'm celebrating how I'm drawn to creativity and innovation.

The Forgotten Story Continued

In yesterday's entry, I wrote about the forgotten story of Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code and some of his not-too-long ago days in the publishing business. I included a short quotation from a court document. Just ahead of the quotation is another element in the story and points to a common situation within book publishing--change.

Authors are trusting of their publisher that they will carry out all of their promises for promotion. These marketing plans are nonbinding since they are normally not included in the actual book contract yet are used to show the publisher's intentions for your book. These plans are offered in good faith but many things change within a publisher between the signed contract and when the book is actually released into the marketplace. Editors leave. Marketing people change houses and financial priorities shift. Many years ago I signed a contract with one of my books and the editor told us about plans to market the books in airports around the country with distinct displays and other such ideas. In between signing the contract and the release of the book (often separated by as much as 18 months), my editor left and none of those plans occurred. Yes the book was published but in a much more modest fashion.

For Brown's earlier novel, Angels & Demons, he changed publishers from St. Martin's Press to Simon and Schuster. Here’s the promised plans from his publisher, "Simon & Schuster said they were extremely excited by Angels & Demons. They promised to give the book considerably more publicity and support than my previous publishers. Their proposed publicity included a much larger print run (60,000), advertising in major newspapers, web advertising, a 12 city tour, an e-book release, and other exciting prospects."

For a writer like Brown who was financially struggling, such a promise was a major encouragement. Yet the court document continues and reveals what happened: "Unfortunately, when the book came out, my print run was slashed down to 12,000 copies with virtually no publicity at all. I was once again on my own and despite enthusiastic reviews, the novel sold poorly. Blythe and I were heartbroken as we had put so much work into this book. Once again, we took matters into our own hands, booking our own signings, booking our own radio shows, and selling books out of our car at local events."

You have to understand this incident took place in 1999 or 2000. Angels & Demons has gone on to become a bestseller. After the success of The Da Vinci Code, readers purchase Brown's other books.

OK, what do you gain from this little historical trip? First, it's a reminder of the ever changing nature of publishing. Also it's encouragement for every author to take a pro-active stance with their own marketing and reaching their own grassroots audience. It's not easy for anyone but if you are consistent (and have a book which is compelling and excellent), then you can eventually find your audience and success. Hold on to the dream yet realize it may take years of consistent work and effort to reach it. Everyone is looking for the quick way and more often than not, there is no quick way. If publishers understood it, then they would use it on the next book and the next book (which so often doesn't work on a regular basis).

Authors need to keep working on building the audience for their books through forming relationships and the dozens of tools out there. If you need any inspiration in this area, pick up a copy of John Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Books and start something that you haven't been doing. In this area, I've been learning about virtual book tours and teleseminars. Last night my first teleseminar was successful. After the teleseminar, I edited the tape some at the beginning and the end using Sound Forge which is a terrific piece of software. You can get it from Mike Stewart, the Internet Audio Guy. Then I uploaded the file to the replay page using audio generator. I selected the "snazzy player" which allows you to fast forward or rewind the teleseminar. It was not complicated and I believe I created a great result--and learned a bit more about marketing books through teleseminars. Also I helped people learn about a great resource for authors, Author Law.

My encouragement to each of you is to continue forward--learning the craft of writing, forming new relationships and crafting better submissions for the editor.