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Your Path to a Successful Book

Our $uccess blog will feature writing, marketing, and publishing tips we continue to learn since writing our 2009 INDIE Finalist workbook $uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book keeping our readers abreast of the everchanging skills required to write, publish and sell a successful book. We will also have guest commentators. Achieving your goals as a writer is what matters. Anything we can do to help you get there is our goal. We welcome your comments and hope you will sign up for our bi-monthly (or whenever we have enough material) newsletter.

Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

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I’ll Give You My Paper Book When You Pry It From My Cold, Dead Hands! by Paul Krupin

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

As those who read this blog regularly, you know frequently I get permission to post important issues that I receive from a publishing mailing list. This post by Paul Krupin is one I want to share.

I did an email survey to 1767 book reviewers on August 9 and just tallied up the results. It does have some critical business intelligence that publishers can use to understand how far we can go with eBooks at the present time.  I was really surprised with the depth of feeling and reluctance to the trend towards eBooks.

Here’s a link to the pdf file of the actual comments and report draft:

http://www.directcontactpr.com/files/files/ebooksurveyquestionaire.pdf

At least based on the number of respondents, perhaps half the media say they will review an eBook if offered to them.  Even then, it looks to me that less than ten percent of those who say they are willing to look at one will actually conduct a review of an eBook they receive upon request by email.  That’s perhaps means that only 1 to 2 out of a hundred will act favorably on the offer.  That’s is what we are seeing repeatedly right now when we offer eBooks with emailed news releases along with an invitation to receive a hard review copy of a book shipped by street mail.

http://www.directcontactpr.com/files/files/mediaebooksurveyreport082410.pdf

My initial observations based on the comments and data received from this survey:

1.      Authors and publishers will still best address their goals and objectives for getting publicity and satisfy media needs (to make the best impression and persuade media to give the best coverage) by creating and offering both the hard copy and the eBook, since right now so few media will really be willing to conduct their review of just the ebook version.

2.      Book reviewers do for the most part recognize and predict that ebooks will play an ever increasing role in the publishing industry and the future of education.

3.      However, about half of those who responded express a serious reluctance to the use of the technology. They identify and express a number of common concerns which have been fairly well recognized:

Cost, enjoyment, ease of use, personal preference or dislike of the technology, physical difficulties (eyesight), standardization, limits on how it can be used, note-taking, highlighting, cross utilization, re-utilization, loss of the equipment and stored books.

4.      Authors and publishers may be able to save some money getting reviews by offering and asking media if they will look at the ebook before sending the hard copy. Media preference has to be determined individually.

5.      Publishing and promoting books in eBook form only is risky if you seek to use and leverage media publicity to jumpstart sales. The media for the most part will simply not play.

I feel that the results of this indicate that we are still very early in the beginning of a 10 to perhaps even 20 year transition.

The comments of the individual reviewers are perhaps far more enlightening than the numbers.

Comments anyone?

Paul J. Krupin, Direct Contact PR

Reach the Right Media in the Right Market with the Right Message

http://www.DirectContactPR.com Paul@DirectContactPR.com Blog.DirectContactPR.com

800-457-8746  (TF US) 509-531-8390  (Cell)  509-582-5174 (Direct)

Free eBook download http://www.directcontactpr.com/files/files/TrashProof2010.pdf

Thank you Paul for sharing your survey and insight. You may also be interested in Paul’s website and free eBook download.

Maralyn D. Hill, President

International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association
Books By Hills Success With Writing Where & What in the World
Member: Society of Professional JournalistsFinalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, ”$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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Posted in Books, Marketing, Publishing, Tips, Writing | 2 Comments »

Interview with Teresa Bitler of Phoenix on Writing

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Teresa Bitler at a luncheon at the St. Francis. The gathering was for the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association and Arizona writers, which was sponsored by the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. I’m quite pleased that Teresa was willing to be interviewed.

Maralyn: Teresa, can you provide us with some background on how you got started?

Teresa: I always knew I was meant to write. I wrote my first “novel” when I was eight or nine, worked on the school newspaper in high school, and began submitting poems to literary journals. Although I studied journalism in college, life kind of took over. I married a few years after graduation, and we started a family. It wasn’t until my youngest entered kindergarten that I had the opportunity to write freelance articles for a real estate investment magazine.

From there, my career evolved. I branched out and began writing for local magazines on other topics. Now, I write for regional and national publications. I have written a travel guide for Countryman Press, Great Escapes Arizona, and I’m currently working on a second guidebook, Backroads & Byways of Indian Country.

Maralyn: I’ve discovered, many writers do not realize the importance of marketing. Can you share your thoughts on that as well as how to go about getting assignments?

Teresa: You have to market yourself. Introduce yourself to publications. Ask for assignments. Develop relationships with other writers who will encourage and support you. The market is very competitive today, but there is work out there, paying work.

I want to point out that you don’t need to write for free. I’ve run across far too many aspiring writers who are willing to sign up for a “content mill” so they can accumulate “clips.” You don’t need to go that route. Offer to write for a local newspaper or magazine. Pitch the editor story ideas, find sources and go through the editing process. You’ll gain much more valuable experience that way and maybe even collect a small paycheck.

Maralyn: Did you start out writing about your own interests?

Teresa: I know this is cliché, but write about what you know. I got into freelancing because, at the time, my husband and I were investing in real estate. Was I passionate about real estate investing? No, but I understood it in a way that other, even more experienced writers could not. I approached the publisher and began compiling clips. You don’t have to have a talent for or burning interest in a particular field. You just have to know about it.

Maralyn: Do you have a preference for what type of writing you prefer?

Teresa: Although I write on a variety of topics, including real estate investing, I prefer to write about travel. I’ve always loved traveling. In my mind, who wouldn’t want to be a travel writer? But, I never really thought I could be a travel writer. I thought it was too competitive. I stumbled into travel writing, really. I saw a post (on Craigslist of all places!) requesting book proposals for Arizona travel. I’ve been hooked every since.

Maralyn: Do you write on speculation or query for assignments?

Teresa: I never write an article without an assignment. You don’t know for sure what your word count will be, what sources the publication may want you to include, or what angle they may want you to take. Chances are you’ll end up rewriting or revising an already completed article.

Maralyn: What part of a writer’s life do you find the most difficult?

Teresa: For me, the most difficult part of my job is staying motivated. Rejection is not easy. Some days, I feel like giving up. What really helps is having the support of other writers who know what I’m going through and who encourage me to “get back on the horse.” You just need to realize that this is part of the game. You can’t get assignments if you don’t repeatedly put yourself and your ideas out there.

Maralyn: Do you have any tips for aspiring writers or those venturing into new areas?

Teresa: I’m not sure there are tips to pass along. Freelancing and nonfiction writing is about hard work. You get what you put into it. If you want the assignment or the book contract, you have to put in the effort to make it happen. Study the magazine or the publisher’s books to get a sense of what they’re buying, and then pitch them ideas. Attend writers’ conferences so you can meet editors, publishers and literary agents. Network and give up on the notion of being “discovered.”

Maralyn: Teresa, where can our readers learn more about you?

Teresa Bitler — Writer / Author / Adventurer

Author of Great Escapes Arizona

PHOTO BLOG: http://queencreekdailyphoto.blogspot.com/

TRAVEL BLOG: www.arizonatravelandadventure.com

FOLLOW ME: www.twitter.com/TheAZTraveler

FRIEND ME: www.facebook.com/teresa.bitler

CONNECT WITH ME: www.linkedin.com/teresa.bitler

Thank you Teresa for the insightful interview. I looking forward to seeing Backroads & Byways of Indian Country and would be happy to review it when it is available.

Authors, writers, bloggers, if you would like to be interviewed, please send me an e-mail to mdhill@noralyn.com and list Author/Writer, Writer/Blogger in the subject line.

Maralyn D. Hill, President
International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association
Books By Hills Success With Writing Where & What in the World
Member: Society of Professional Journalists

Finalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, ”$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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Posted in Interviews, Tips, Travel, Writing | No Comments »

Interview Ursula Maxwell-Lewis, Columnist, Photographer, Editor

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Ursula Maxwell-Lewis, columnist, photographer, and editor hails from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

When I started this project, I had know idea of the vast number of writers with fascinating backgrounds I’d encounter.

My guess is Ursula and I are close to the same age. She certainly has the love of travel that I do, and is quite a successful journalist.

Maralyn: Please introduce yourself–provide some background, i.e. where are you from, how did you start writing, is there anything specifically interesting about you? If you had another career first, how/why did you switch to writing?

Ursula: Born into a Scottish family of journalists, editors, authors, playwrights and travelers I didn’t have a chance. The die was cast. English, geography and history trumped math and science from day one.

Educated in Britain, Canada, South Africa and Europe, I got my first taste of the newspaper business as a young general news reporter for Amalgamated Press in Africa. Typewriters and linotypes were the order of the day.

Eventually Central African Airways gave me the opportunity to travel and write from Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (Harare, Zimbabwe) as an air hostess, and freelance writer. Politically and geographically, it was a fascinating time to travel and work throughout Africa — with the occasional DC6 charter to Britain and Europe.

With civil wars heating up in Central Africa, I headed for Britain where I ended up in Air Canada Passenger Relations at Heathrow for a few years before being transferred to Customer Relations (ghost writing for the president and vice-president) in Montreal.

Itchy feet took me to Germany for a few months, back across the Atlantic for a rail trip across Canada, road trips through the US and Mexico before returning to Western Canada for years of combinations of marriage, children, airlines, and on-going freelance newspaper columns.

In 1996 I started the Cloverdale Reporter News on a shoe-string and a dare in the most competitive newspaper market in British Columbia. Within nine-months I had a thriving newspaper, an active website  — and a divorce on my hands. It was sink or swim. I swam… like crazy.

In March 2007 Black Press Group Inc. made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. They bought the Reporter, the website, plus a popular Heritage Christmas Magazine I’d started in 2001. I remained as managing editor, travel columnist and photographer until September 2009 when I chose to retain my current travel columnist and photography roles with the option of additional freelance in Canada and the US.
Maralyn: What type of writing do you focus on, food, wine or travel or all three?

Ursula: My focus is on literary and historical travel, food and wine, soft adventure, 50-plus travel, and profiles. However, I’ve been known to venture into other realms if they take my fancy.

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Maralyn: What can you share with others as to important tips or suggestions for other writers on writing and finding outlets for articles?

Ursula: Write about people, places and things, which intrigue you — things you love. Keep querying new markets — and expect to be paid!

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Maralyn: How did you get started writing and blogging?

Ursula: I do some blogging, but focus on paid assignments. I also am literary editor of Spotlight on the Arts for the Arts Council of Surrey (print and on-line).

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Maralyn: Did you have something specific that inspired you to write in this genre?

Ursula: My mother was a writer and traveler. I inherited both bugs. When I earned my first newspaper by-line she gave me two silver charms — an oil can and a pair of scissors. “Keep the wheels of industry well oiled, and keep you articles well trimmed,” she said. I’m still working on both. The advice was excellent.

Maralyn: How often do you blog?

Ursula: Not often enough! I have a new web-blog under construction: YoutravelTales.

Maralyn: What has been the most effective means of gaining traffic/followers?

Ursula: Twitter, Linked-In and all the social sites available. Takes much time. The website linked to my newspaper was the best revenue generator.

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Maralyn: If you also write articles, do you query for assignments before you write or after the article is done?

Ursula: Both. It depends on the circumstances and what is offered or assigned.

Maralyn: Do you go to food, wine or travel writers or blog conferences?

Ursula: When I have time. In particular, the Travel Media of Canada Conference (I’m a National Director and have been a member since 1996), and ALWAYS the Surrey International Writers’ Conference of which I am a Founding Director and Treasurer.

Maralyn: What do you feel you gain the most from blogging?

Ursula: Actually, I’m beginning to feel it often saps time and effort from focusing on the projects that are more important and revenue generating. Discipline is key here.

Maralyn: What’s the most difficult part of your job?

Ursula: Finding time to get everything done!

Maralyn: What is your approach to research?

Ursula: Interview the appropriate (or random) sources. On-line… but with reservations. Double and triple check with qualified sources.

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Maralyn: Have you learned any inside tips along the way you could recommend to writers/bloggers starting out?

Ursula: Join an on-line forum and/or writing organizations and groups. Writing can be solitary, so networking and communicating with your chosen community of writers and/or photographers is key.

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Maralyn: Do you use social networking to promote your blog? If so, which ones work best for you?

Ursula: Yes. Twitter and Facebook.

Maralyn: Have you considered writing a book?

Ursula: Yes. Considered is the operative word. Time is the enemy, but agents I’ve met at www.SiWC.ca have encouraged me to be more serious about it.

Maralyn: If so, could you tell us about the subject and any titles you may have already?

Ursula: TBA!

Maralyn: Where can readers learn more about you.

www.CloverdaleReporter.com (History and Lifestyles)

Twitter: @YouTravel

www.SiWC.ca (Director)

Thank you Ursula for such an interesting, inspiring interview. You are a wonderful example of a successful writer.

Maralyn

Maralyn D. Hill, President, International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA)

EMail: MDHill@noralyn.com
WhereAndWhatInTheWorld.com, Books By Hills, SuccessWithWriting.com, Big Blend Magazine, Global Writes NoraLyn LTD

Member: Society of Professional Journalists

These interviews for authors, writers, bloggers, publishers, etc. are offered to provide you a means to showcase yourself and success with writing. If you would like to be interviewed, please tell email me at mdhill@noralyn.com and let me know if you want the writer/author, blogger/writer, or publisher questions.

If you are a blogger who does not blog about food, wine or travel, be sure to send me your website and blog so I can ask appropriate questions.

I travel and write a lot, so requests go in queue.

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Posted in Editing, Interviews, Publishing, Success Tips, Tips, Writers Conferences Seminars & Workshops, Writing | No Comments »

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