Writing – Page 13

Build an Audience with Substack

What keeps me excited about publishing after 10+ years?

One word: Technology.

Publishing is changing faster than most industries and I often refer to it as being in a ‘hyper’ state of change. Despite all this change, there are still two paths for an author to choose from to get their work in front of readers:

Door 1: Find an agent and land a publisher
Door 2: Self-publish

If an author is fortunate enough to convince an agent they have the talent, and that agent has the ear of the right publisher, they might get published.

For many of us, door 2 is the only option. If we don’t self-publish, our work will never be read. Either way, the path to getting published is rarely a straight line.

I want to share another option to getting your words in front of readers that is still largely untapped. By untapped, I mean it’s not yet over saturated which means you can be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

Regardless of the door you choose, your success will largely depend on your ability to reach an audience. It’s why many authors don’t see success until much later in their career. Building an audience takes time!

What’s the new option? It’s called Substack. There’s no cost to the author and the company only makes money when you make money.

Substack offers a new way to build an audience. The technical requirements are about as minimal as they can make them. You don’t need a website. You don’t need an email list. You just need good writing and the discipline to post regularly and share your work. Once you do create your own domain on the site, add a link to your URL in your email footers.

I’d suggest you first check out some of the other authors on the home page and then start your own Substack newsletter. Here’s mine.

Grab your Substack subdomain before someone else does!

Why do I like Substack?

They put writers first.
They follow the KISS rule.
No advertisements!

Authorpreneur Brian Schwartz is the creator of the award-winning 50 Interviews series. More than 500 authors have trusted Brian and his team to publish their work. The mission of Brian’s practice is “to bridge the gap between self-publishers and traditional publishing by applying the proven strategies and techniques of successful independent publishers.” To meet this objective, Brian launched AuthorDock in 2016 to provide authors an all-in-one secure portfolio management tool to manage deadlines, extended teams, and critical resources. Brian is also the developer of PubWriter, a click-to-publish publishing platform used by authors to create their own web hubs for publishing, promotion, and sales.

Good vs. Bad Book? Don’t Judge

Friday, October Post a comment

K.M. Weiland is an excellent resource for writers of all types. Her website Helping Writers Become Authors should be on everyone’s shortlist of helpful websites. Also, her books on writing are excellent and merge well with Agile Writer theory. But in a recent site article titled “Why Do So Many Bad Books Sell on Amazon?” she steps over the line from advice to judgment.

In the article, Marsh explains that Amazon has started promoting e-books that are newer—like only 30 days old. This has allowed “ghostwriters” to churn out new stories using a template from a previous book (replace princess with enchantress, replace castle with mansion, etc.). Thus, these writers are producing a book a month and getting (presumably) good sales.

Ms. Marsh argues that this promotes bad books. At Agile Writers, the definition of success is getting your book into the hands of readers who want them. If readers are buying these copycats, then they are probably satisfied. Otherwise, they’d return them (you can return e-books, you know). Therefore, these are not bad books. They are finding a home with people who crave the same plotlines with different characters and locations. The romance genre is rife with this sort of churning.

And that’s, okay.

It’s the responsibility of the author to work the system—to play the game—to get their work into the hands of readers who want to read it. Knowing how the game is played and then playing the game well does that.

Ms. Marsh goes on to lay out a plan to deliver good books (in her estimation) by splitting a novel into segments that are released every 30 days. This is a brilliant strategy the uses the Amazon system to the author’s benefit. There is no need to qualify good vs. bad.

The READER determines what is good or bad, not the author—and not the algorithms at Amazon nor the publishers in the ivory towers of the Big Four publishing houses.

I heartily recommend Ms. Marsh’s article because it lays out the information you’ll need to get your book in front of more readers’ eyes.

However, this should be only one arrow in your quiver of promotional tools. Remember – Amazon is a destination site. People go there because THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. Impulse buys on Amazon are far less likely than in a brick-and-mortar store like Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. People go to bookstores, newsstands, drug stores, and others without knowing precisely what book they want – if any.

But because the self-published author doesn’t have the advantage of in-store sales, we have to rely on self-promotion. And by self-promotion I mean social media and search advertising.

Learn the rules of the game. Then play the game well. The definition of a good book is one that finds its reader. Make sure your book finds its home in the hands of the reader waiting for it.

Greg Smith is a writing coach, editor, and publisher. He founded the Agile Writer Workshop in 2011 with the mission of finding a method to help beginning writers complete a first draft in six months. The Agile Writer Method is based on the writings of experts in mythology, screenwriting, psychology, and project management. His seminars on the Agile Writer Method have informed and delighted thousands of writers, scholars, and university students. Agile Writer authors have written over 50 first draft novels and 10 published novels. Greg is a developmental editor for novelists and memoirists. He also coaches authors through the self-publishing maze. Greg runs the popular Agile Readers Book Club where new writers can get a beta read from a dozen or more readers.

Kids, Summer, and Writing

Friday, September Post a comment

It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy, but some of our kids might want to make use of the vacation months to do some writing. While summer is traditionally a time when many kids are encouraged to read a lot, writing is also something they might enjoy doing for fun and as a way to fill the dog days of the season.

I’ve never forgotten the first publications I created, back in my high school days: a literary magazine I put together with friends after being turned down for the official school version, and a “yearbook” for a summer leadership program I was in one summer. I still have copies of both (and I still remember the smell of the ink from the A.B. Dick mimeograph machine). Today’s kids are probably a lot more sophisticated than I was when it comes to producing versions of their own writing; you might be pleasantly surprised at both the content and the look of what they come up with.

In many communities, finding writing opportunities for kids might be easier than you think. In my hometown of Rochester, New York, the Writers and Books literary center has a Summer Write program for youngsters. I’m sure many other communities have similar programs, so if your kids want to write the summer away, a first step would be to look for a local or regional writers’ or literary center to see if it hosts anything along these lines.

If that doesn’t work, look into your area high school continuing education programs; library system; bookstores—both chain and independent—and book clubs; museums—especially children’s museums—and art galleries; newspapers (there’s a national Newspapers in the Classroom program that might work with you on this kind of project); colleges and universities; or various not-for-profit organizations—the local YMCA/YWCA, JCC, etc.

And of course, if your town doesn’t have such resources, consider being the innovator and starting a kids’ summer writing project yourself. It can be as small as you and your own children; it could be a neighborhood project; it could even become city-wide. And your successful summer program could become a year-round activity.

If you do get involved in such a project, be prepared to help kids come up with ideas to write about. Encourage them to be creative with fiction, poetry, graphic novels, even playwriting! Put the focus on writing not how it is written, especially if they’re very young. Ask them to share what they write, but be prepared for some children to be shy about showing their work. Also be mindful just in case anything evolves that suggests someone needs help with challenges such as bullying or abuse.

It’s never too soon to encourage children to express themselves in writing.

Ruth Thaler-Carter has been a full-time freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and desktop publisher for more than 30 years. She has been published locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally in, and does editing and proofreading for, publications, websites, service firms, and businesses. She sold her first freelance articles when she was still in high school. Renowned as a skilled networker, Ruth is a newsletter editor, publication author, speaker/presenter, blogger, program host or planner, and chapter leader. In 2006, Ruth launched the Communication Central “Be a Better Freelancer”® annual conference to help aspiring and established freelancers find greater success and connections with colleagues. Ruth received the Philip M. Stern Award of Washington (DC) Independent Writers for service to freelancers; the Writers and Books Big Pencil Award for teaching adults and contributions to the literary community; EFfie awards for writing, editing, and newsletters; and the APEX award for feature writing. Ruth was also the IABC/DC Communicator of the Year.

Some Issues with Contracts

Tuesday, July Post a comment

The better a professional writer you become, the bigger and more important will be the contracts people ask you to sign.

But tempting as those financial figures may be (with all those zeroes to the left of the decimal point), you’ll be foolish to sign without applying a little professional savvy to your contract evaluation process.

Here are some fundamental tips to guide you in contract evaluation:

“Sign This”

My most important contract advice derives from my very first book deal: I remember sitting in the publisher’s office and chatting amiably about how great was my book concept and how much money we were going to make.

Eventually, the conversation wound down and the publisher looked me square in the eyes. He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a sheaf of papers. “This is our standard contract,” he said with a warm, friendly smile. “Sign it.”

Instead, I started looking through the pages. Here was something I didn’t like. There was another questionable arrangement. After a few minutes of flipping pages and deconstructing legalese, I looked up and said: “There are some things in this contract I don’t like.”

Without missing a beat, the publisher reached into a different drawer of his desk and said with no trace of embarrassment: “This is our other standard contract. Sign this one.”

Watch Out for Claims

This warning may be just as important as the previous item: Most contracts for professional writing come with conventional language warning the writer not to plagiarize, infringe on any rights, defame, or violate any one of a great many laws governing creative work. They follow these injunctions with language in which you agree to indemnify and hold harmless (basically “reimburse”) the publisher for any liabilities arising from your breach of any of those laws and injunctions. So far, so good.

But the lawyers like to sneak another word in here that threatens your entire economic wellbeing. I’m talking about the word “claims”. Basically, most contracts require that you reimburse the publisher for payments made in response to claims that you breached one or more of those laws and injunctions.

Do you see the danger here?

Once you sign such a contract, anyone can make a claim that you violated certain rights, plagiarized, defamed, or did any of a number of bad things, and the publisher doesn’t have to be concerned about whether or not you actually did it. Under the contract, the publisher can simply pay the claimant to go away – and make this payment entirely with your money!

This actually happened to me, once, and I learned my lesson. I have never since signed a contract making me liable to pay for unsupported claims. Instead, I insist on language to the effect that I must reimburse the publisher only for claims “proven in a court of competent jurisdiction.”

Such language is no problem for me because I never plagiarize, defame, or do any of those other bad things.

Once or twice a publisher has been too bureaucratic or hidebound to accept my request for this new language, and so I wasn’t able to make those deals. But I have no regrets; the danger is too large and too real to put myself on the hook for that kind of scam, no matter how lucrative the contract might appear to be.

Obligations of the publisher

Contracts generally bind all parties to both rights and obligations. When looking them over, it’s easy and natural – and sensible – to devote most of your attention to your rights and your obligations. But it’s more professional to take a few minutes to consider the publisher’s rights and obligations, too.

For example, I once negotiated a book contract that gave me a wonderful share of revenues from the hardcover version, and less revenue from the paperback version. I signed it. But I didn’t realize until later that the contract did not obligate the publisher to bring out that hardcover edition. Years later, I’m still waiting to see that book in hardcover.

I have to admit I’ve made this kind of mistake twice, not just once. But you can bet your bottom dollar I won’t be making it a third time.

Play “What If”

Contracts tend to be written by people who are seemingly paid by the word. They rarely use one word when ten will do. As a result, contract language often gets very confusing and the whole point of what’s required can get lost.

That’s why it’s useful to play “what if” to an extreme, just to see what results from the language of the contract you’re preparing to sign.

Try some of these “what if” ideas, and any more that may appeal to you. What if:

The publisher goes out of business
The work sells millions of copies
The work sells almost no copies
You can’t complete the work on time
The publisher never publishes the work
Someone plagiarizes your work
Someone claims you plagiarized their work

The more extreme and wide-ranging the “what if” scenarios you test, the more clarity you’re likely to get regarding the contract.

NDA Hijinks

Non-disclosure agreements are increasingly common not only in contracts, but in stand-alone form that someone wants you to sign before you can even begin to learn about a project in which you might want to participate.

But the language here can get very tricky. One potential client asked me to sign a non-disclosure agreement that was so strict I discovered – by playing “what if” – that if I signed it I would be forbidden from revealing my own name!

Maybe these kinds of provisions wouldn’t hold up in court, but it’s easier, cheaper, and more practical not to sign such a sketchy contract in the first place.

Robert Moskowitz is an award-winning independent professional writer who has written and sold millions of words in just about every format over five decades. He instinctively sees the big pictures, breaks each one down into coherent slices, meaningfully prioritizes and sequences those slices, and then executes the tasks inherent in each slice in very productive ways. Put more simply, Robert knows how to succeed as an independent writer, covering all the bases from soliciting assignments to delivering polished work, from pricing jobs to budgeting and managing personal finances, from organizing a conducive office environment to establishing and following sensible guidelines regarding life, work, and productivity. Having done all this, and having paid attention to how he did it, Robert is now in a position to pass along what he knows to others.

Does the Threat of a Social Media Armageddon Got You Down?

Thursday, April Post a comment

On Thursday, I awoke to do what I always did, and that meant checking my numbers on Amazon and my engagement on Facebook and making sure to post.

You see, I had a few important things to share with my audience—information of books available in Kindle Unlimited; a notice about other books able to be downloaded for free as part of a new promotion; and, of course, a pitch for my latest preorder.

However, something went wrong.

No matter what I did, the post wouldn’t post; the image errored out. There was no Instagram or Facebook available. Moreover, the panic spread.

Soon, there was noise on Twitter about the social media breakdown. What could we all do, as the platform we’d been building was unavailable?

For many, this could be akin to an Armageddon.

Not so for me . . . you see, I’d been spending time not just building up my social media, but also my platform with my author newsletter.

A newsletter is a cheap and useful marketing tool that you as an author can successfully use to share your news, voice, and branding. Even more, it is a great way to engage with your readers and create a warm relationship. It is the first step to creating an audience that looks forward to hearing from you and about your news.

How do you start an author newsletter?

If you don’t have a website, buy your domain. (Your website domain is your online real estate and where you want to direct your readers to find out more about you.)
Set up your author website and e-mail address.
Sign up with a newsletter provider, like MailChimp, and share the sign-up link to your social media.
Embed your sign-up link on your website.

By building your e-mail list for your newsletter, you no longer have to worry about your business relying on whether social media is still operational. Instead, you will have a direct line to your audience.

Now that you know newsletters are essential for your author-business, be encouraged. Today is a great day to start your author newsletter and connect with your readers.

Tina Glasneck is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and crime fiction. Since 2012, she has created author events, has held online book fairs, and continues to assist authors on their journey. She frequently teaches on the topics of book promotion, author newsletters, as well as the business of publishing. Tina has published more than 20 books in the fantasy, crime fiction, and mystery genres. She persists in her vision and author goals to create a world of wonder through her fantastical tales.

Make Yourself a More Professional Writer

Saturday, April Post a comment

It’s a bright, sunny day. Your horse or lottery ticket just came in. Your significant other is happy and loving. You had a great breakfast and you’re feeling fine. Of course you’re in the zone where you can crank out a great story, possibly in record time, and feel just wonderful not only while you’re doing it, but also afterward.

But that’s not such an amazing triumph. Millions of people can do that.

It’s when the weather is crappy, your horse or lottery ticket came in last, your significant other is feeling difficult and dissatisfied, you burned your eggs and dropped your toast on the floor (butter side down!), and you ache all over that it takes true professionalism to crank out that same great story and feel proud of yourself for having done it, though perhaps not in record time.

Professionalism isn’t always about overcoming a mountain of obstacles, of course, but it does tend to distinguish the best writers from the rest of the pack. It also promotes a high level of self-confidence and satisfaction with your efforts and your results.

Here are some hallmarks of professional writers and how to move closer, if not all the way in, to their ranks.

Setting Up an Office

I’ve written on my NAIWE blog about this subject. Lots of other people have written on the same topic. Through all of these writings, the basic guidelines encourage you to do the following:

Assemble the right tools

Put them into an environment that’s comfortable for you

Spend a lot of time there.

Until someone comes up with a robot that does your writing for you (and does it as well as you), there simply is no substitute for putting in many hours of concentrated time. And that’s far easier to do in an environment conducive to your work. This shows why establishing a great working space brings a tremendous boost to your professionalism.

Choosing Specialization vs. General Writing

Professional writers can go either way on this one: choosing to be a specialist or a generalist. Some people find their writing more valuable because they have become experts in some particular field of information that’s valuable to the audiences of a certain set of publishers. Others find their work more valuable because they have special points of view or insights (think George Carlin or Rebecca Solnit) they can apply to a wide range of subjects.

Construct and manage your professional writing trajectory to capitalize on your native talents and gifts. This way, what you tend to do naturally produces the output you can sell most easily.

But don’t feel pressured to go just one way or the other. Some people can succeed on both paths for a long while and may never need to relinquish one for the other.

Building Relationships with Editors

By “editors,” in this context, we mean anyone with the power (and/or money) to buy some of your work, or anyone with the responsibility to improve your work after someone else has bought it.

These are the key people you want to cultivate, befriend, and welcome into your professional world. Treat these relationships almost like you would a dating relationship with someone you think is really great. You’re looking for a close working relationship that can last a long time.

Getting More Writing Assignments

As you become more successful and well known, it’s easier to develop your own audience and have them transfer some of their money to you for nearly everything you write. But until you get there, professional writing involves finding publishers to pay you for completing assignments.

To simplify and speed up the process of finding publishers and winning paid assignments from them, you want to establish a system that helps you do the following:

Identify publishers who are already interested in the kind of writing you want to do. You can find them through your own reading, through research into the literary marketplace, by word of mouth from friends and colleagues, even randomly by noticing who is publishing what people around you are reading.

Make yourself known to such publishers, and encourage them to dialog with you. This begins with developing and regularly updating an introductory package about yourself that includes a brief rundown of your skills, professional experience, and qualifications, plus samples of your work. Have this ready in appropriate formats, and fire it off whenever you identify a publisher who might be interested in your work.

Keep track of your professional contacts, including everyone you meet who might be interested in your work, everyone you’re currently working with, everyone with whom you’re dialoguing about work, and everyone you’ve pitched for new work. It should include the date of your last contact with each one, the nature and content of that contact, and a projected date when you want to contact them again (if they don’t contact you first). Regularly review this list and keep it current.

Re-Writing Your Text

Good writing requires re-writing. The more you go over your text to re-read it, re-think it, and re-write it as necessary, the better it will become. At a minimum, putting in extra time to revisit your work will improve your chances of finding typos, misspellings, bad punctuation, and other errors.

Beyond that, the more often you re-write, the better your chances of finding just the right thought, just the right phrase, even just the right word to elevate your writing to the highest level of which you are capable.

According to Mark Twain: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

In each piece you create, take time to include as much lightning as you can. Your writing will be more professional for it.

Planning for Retirement

Making money is one matter. Retaining the maximum amount of that money for when you’re done working requires entirely different skills.

While there are many nuances and bits of knowledge involved, it boils down to this:

Spend less than you make.

Retain the extra money.

Find financial vehicles (e.g., savings accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, bonds, options, and mutual funds) to help your savings grow.

Do all this for as many years as you can.

Perseverance is critical. The earlier you start saving and earning compound interest, the more you’ll accumulate for retirement. For example, if you earn 1% per year on a savings of $100 per month for 10 years or $12,000, you’ll wind up with $12,615.99. Do the same thing for 20 years and you will have saved $24,000, and you’ll wind up with $26,556.12. Do it for 30 years, you will have saved a total of $36,000, and you’ll retire with $41,962.82. As you might expect, when you collect higher than 1% returns, this kind of long-term compounding generates even greater benefits.

So do this, and start right now.

In fact, do all of these, and let me know how significantly your professionalism improves.

What’s In Your Book Marketing Tool Kit?

Monday, March Post a comment

Your best resource to market your book is you. Reach out to the people you know and those they know. Your book will get discovered if you market your book using these 32 tools:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Google+
Twitter
Pinterest
Website
Email
Business card and name
Logo
Directories and lists to sell to
Your blog
Other bloggers
Skype
FreeConferenceCall.com
Texting
YouTube
Facetime
Webinars
Podcasts
Apps
FourSquare
AroundMeApp.com
TimeTrade.com
EmailFinder.com
SalesForce.com
Spokeo.com
GoToMeeting.com
Webex.com
FreeScreenSharing.com
SurveyMonkey.com
Zoomerang.com
KwikSurveys.com

Good luck!

Brian Feinblum is the chief marketing officer of Planned Television Arts (rebranded as Media Connect), the nation’s largest and oldest book promotions firm. Brian has worked in the promoting industry since 1989 and has worked with clients of varied professions such as magician David Copperfield and best-selling author Og Mandino.

What If Authors Were Treated Like Athletes?

Monday, March Post a comment

The NBA and NFL lockouts remind me why I love sports but hate the way the pros operate. Every bailout, strike, contract negotiation, free agent signing, and stadium-naming deal reaffirms professional sports are more like corporate America. The fan or customer is an afterthought and taken for granted. If only the fans could muster the ability to override their addiction and boycott for a long enough time period to reassert who is in charge, we’d see a very different sports landscape.

In thinking about sports and how it mirrors life at times, I wonder how book publishing can mirror pro sports. What if

Authors formed a union, like the players, and dictated terms to the publishers?
Authors could be named to annual All-Star teams or named as Hall of Famers for their career contributions?
Authors were applauded by a sports-arena-sized crowd?
Authors only had a 4–5-year career the way most athletes do?
Authors wore uniforms and sold merchandise with their name on it?
Books had sponsors and advertisers filling every other page?
There were daily television casts dedicated to books the way networks cover sports?
There were statistical data to rate an author’s book, other than total sales, similar to all the stats used to rate players and teams?
People booed authors at a signing the way fans curse at ballplayers from the stands?
Celebrity gossip columnists kept track of which publishers and editors are sleeping around the way they track the conquests of athletes?
An annual awards show for authors was televised like the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys?

The truth is authors are not treated like star athletes, celebrities, or politicians. They struggle to get published, to be read, and to be appreciated. Sure, some books become best-sellers and gain some fame and small riches, but by and large, millions of gifted writers conclude the year wishing they received more media attention, more money, and a wider acceptance as a writer.

Many writers write because it’s their gift and their passion and they find reward in knowing they penned what they believe is a good book. But every writer wants the applause, the critical praise, and the validation. Some even want to change the world.

So when you watch the Super Bowl or World Series this year, imagine, just for a moment, the players on the field are writers. They are you and everyone is watching and cheering. Stand up and take a bow. It may be the only recognition you will ever get.

Welcome to Book World, the Greatest Theme Park

Monday, February Post a comment

How come there aren’t any theme parks dedicated to books and publishing? I think it is a billion-dollar idea waiting to be acted upon. I am sure one day we’ll see billboards or Groupons for AmazonWorld—or maybe Barnes & Noble Land. Wouldn’t you bring your family and friends to a place that celebrates ideas and creativity, that honors the written word and free speech, and that makes reading fun?

This past week I had the pleasure of taking my wife and two young kids to several theme parks in Orlando. Never mind that the parks only cater to people who can afford to drop $100 per person per day and who are willing to pay for the right to then purchase overpriced food and licensed products that further promote their properties. I also paid the tourist tax (speeding ticket) for attempting to turn the 180-mile trek to Boynton Beach from the parks into a quicker excursion. We had a great time and plan to be back again—albeit with a lighter wallet.

The theme parks have the right idea—they hype their existing content and repackage it in a way that makes it appealing to all ages. If movie studios can do this, why not publishers or those in the book industry?

Books connect to everything because they are written about everything—real and imagined, past, present, and future. A theme park can show what a book looks like in different languages. It can show us how books are treated globally or culturally. It can show us how books entertain, educate, enlighten, or inspire. Books, like the Bible, can be powerful, or they can be merely thrill-seeking, like Fifty Shades of Grey. The park can reflect a diversity of thought, significance, creativity, and commercialism.

Maybe bookstores should be turned into theme parks. Then they’d become entertaining destinations and people would want to be where books are.

The publishing industry is like a play yard. It has tradition. It has many facets to explore—the legal side, the cultural side, literacy, how books influence people and societies, and how our history is preserved in books. There are millions of words in millions of books and not one theme park is dedicated to books.

We have museums dedicated to art, history, and science. We have zoos and circuses to highlight nature and animals. county fairs, championship sporting events, theme parks, amusement parks, and huge concert arenas . . . even businesses have conventions. When we think about it, most industries have a hall of fame. Yet there are no publishing theme parks.

Can’t we muster together a little bit of Trump extravagance and apply it to books and come up with a place that exceeds what is offered at the biggest palaces of fun in the world? We can! A book park could be divided into so many unique sections that highlight interesting aspects of the book industry, such as

All-time best-sellers
Historically-significant books
The evolution of publishing technology
The history of the printed word
The future of books and all formats
Books turned into audiobooks, TV shows, movies, plays, etc.
How books are written
How they are acquired, edited, packaged, sold, promoted
Self-publishing
E-book mania
Era-specific books such as 18^th-century romantic poets or 1950s sci-fi
Region-specific books such as those by or about the south
Book-specific sections such as Catcher in the Rye or Chicken Soup for the Soul
Author-specific sections such as the works of John Grisham or Janet Evanovich
Genre-specific sections such as what’s new in erotic vampire thrillers or diet and fitness

Think of what can be sold:

Food
Games/Toys
DVDs
CDs
Clothes
Stuffed animals of book characters
Replicas of things referenced in the books
. . . and BOOKS!

There can be displays that include:

Book showcases
Videos
Rides
Games
Lectures
Readings
Reenactments
Workshops
Concerts
Tricia contests
Historic manuscripts
Printing presses
E-book devices

Maybe there’d be a university on site, a special academy that is a school for writers and those who want to work in the book publishing industry.

There could be sections for adults and children. There could be sections of books highlighting industries such as automotive, gardening, or sales. There could be a hobby section, a fantasy section, a children’s section—really, you could put anything in the park as long as it relates to books. And everything connects to books.

Of course, some might say the best way to honor books is to buy and read them, share them, and live them. But imagine a place that bibliophiles can call home, a place that is part library, bookstore, e-reader, website, Disney, Vegas, Indy 500, Miss America Pageant, Mall of the Americas, Mardi Gras, and Time Square.

Take me to Book World—or write a book about such a place. Book World should exist and needs to. Books are still popular but they also are under many threats. It is not government censorship or Communism or war that threatens them. It is cultural laziness, a degraded education system, economics, and entertainment competition that puts books in danger. Book World could be a great boost for the publishing industry, while being fun for the whole family.

Don’t Let Book Marketing Fears Keep You From Achieving Success

Sunday, February Post a comment

Not everyone can write a book. Not everyone can sell a product. As an entrepreneurial writer, you will need to do both—or outsource your book marketing. Do you have any of these fears that hold you back from executing a book marketing campaign?

I don’t think I have enough resources—time and money.
I am not sure my book is better than others.
I don’t like to sound like I am begging.
I don’t want to appear too pushy.
I fear rejection.
I am afraid I will be asked questions that I don’t know the answers to.
I am not sure what to do to be convincing.
I don’t like to talk to others.
I am not confident about my appearance.
I don’t know what to say.
What if they don’t like me?
What if they laugh or yell at me?

The key to conquering any fear is to acknowledge it, seek solutions, and get help. Or admit defeat and hire others to help you. Else, you will need to be content with the negative consequences that your fears tend to bring about. To overcome your book marketing fears simply jump in the water and start selling. You may just learn to swim.

Build an Audience with Substack

Good vs. Bad Book? Don’t Judge

Kids, Summer, and Writing

Some Issues with Contracts

Make Yourself a More Professional Writer

What’s In Your Book Marketing Tool Kit?

What If Authors Were Treated Like Athletes?

Welcome to Book World, the Greatest Theme Park

Don’t Let Book Marketing Fears Keep You From Achieving Success

Latest Posts

Beyond Writing: How Expanding Your Services Can Strengthen Your Freelance Business

Am I a Writer or Not?

Be Prepared for That Crisis Moment When You Need Business Backup

Stick with Your System

In a Pricing Rut? Try These 3 Strategies

Improving Your Vision

Contact Us