Sell That eBook - What Sends ebooks Flying Off Shelves?

Selling the e-book with a Look! What Sends ebooks Sailing off Virtual Shelves?

Some simple changes I made turned my book sales on Kindle from a drip, drip, drip to big sales. I just clocked in at 935 books sold in my slowest month since sales have been going well for me—December 2010. Now in month one of 2011, I have sold 1,140 books – all at 2.99. I make almost $2 (70%) from each book or unit as they say.       

When first I placed my work onto Kindle, I was lucky to make 60 bucks a  month.                                                      

How'd I do it? What changes did I make? First I went back to my book descriptions and made absolutely certain of no typos or errors of any kind as well as rewriting to make each the best damn short-short I could. This made a huge difference in sales, I kid you not. Secondly, I went on a TAG binge, tagging all my books below where they are found on Amazon to utilize genre-specific tags like Occult Horror, Generational Horror, suspense, mystery, police procedural, supernatural, paranormal female detective, etc. and I linked using my name along side other more successful authors in my field. This did two things – by placing my name on tags whenever anyone opens my book list, they also get my author’s page coming up. By ‘associating’ my work with the work of say William Miekle—as he did me—I am seen by his fans, and he by mine.

I had an amazing spike in numbers since taking these steps. Of course promoting online is of great import but so to is professional cover art and editing. When I am working on a novel, I put it out there what I am working on, and I invite early readers, and it is amazing how much readers will catch. One does not have to pay huge prices for good editing as I have found my best editors – amazing editors – who love to read a book BEFORE anyone else help me create the best book I possibly can. Most people believe they had to pay out big bucks for excellent editing but truth be told many people pay out big bucks and get punk editing for their money. I’d rather have a passionate edit with no exchange of money than a so-so one that cost me a couple thousand bucks, wouldn’t you? I edit myself heavily and do many rewrites, but I know I need more sets of eyes on the project, so as I am doing a work in progress, I ship it off to people I have come to trust absolutely. This has worked out fantastically well for Children of Salem -

Romance Amid the Witch Trials, and for Titanic 2012 – Curse of RMS Titanic. My payment to these wonderful contributors has had to be in acknowledgement only, and guess what – they have been tremendous about this, and they so love being involved in a project and seeing their name in the book, that I have never been sued or held up or yelled at.

Notice how on my recent ebooks I have chosen to use subtitles? I believe subtitles help sell the book with a look, so to speak…a bit more detail right there in the title. Which brings us to titles. One’s title needs be unique and grab-ilicious. Early on, I put it out there that I am looking for the perfect title. For my last two I conducted searches. For Titanic 2012, I set it up as a contest – and I got two titles I loved – and so I used them BOTH as you see. Titles can either be seductive and alluring or boring and repellent! Think it through before you lock down on a title and as with so much put it out there for a search or contest as I did on my blog Dirty Deeds.

Cover art is imperatively important. I can’t stress this enough. Generic cover art or templates are seen as about as exciting as seeing one of those blanks where the photo or cover should be but isn’t. This is one area where I get professional help. The package has to look elegant and reflect the story within. I have been fortunate to have had excellent artwork for my ebooks. My artist happens to be my son, Stephen, a graphic artist by profession. Again, I have been fortunate in not having to pay out big bucks for artwork/graphics. But there are more and more people doing this for a one-time only fee and not for the lifetime of the book.

If you turn over your rights to an ebook publisher, guess what? They will take care of all such concerns and problems and things you may view as obstacles you do not want to deal with, and so long as you know what you are getting into, this can be a fine way to go, but you will be splitting that royalty then three ways instead of two. If you do sign with an ebook “agent” or “publisher” be clear on what their services for you provide. Will they be editing the work? If so, is that to be an extra charge? Same with artwork/graphics? If you sign with an ebook group that takes care of all the hassles and they are charging you a one-time fee to place the work up for you, do they turn over the controls to you or do they control your dashboard – thus the royalty payments, etc. Or is this group speaking of simply a one-time only fee. It should be one or the other. A real insult in my opinion is that a company charges you for these services and also wants a percentage for lifetime of the book.

You may want to find a kid – any kid – and pay them a modest amount to get your book(s) onto Kindle shelf and show you how to find your payment reports/sales reports (not actually royalty or advances as in the traditional model of publishing).

Now getting back to what actually SELLS the ebook – a key, key, key element is pricing. Ebook readers expect low, lower, lowest prices. All my novels, despite the disparity in complexity and length, were originally put up at 1.99 but I notched them up to 2.99 as soon as Kindle offered the 70/30 split as part of the partnership ‘deal’. My latest, a very complex title that is truly two books in one, I placed up at 3.99. I believe low prices to be a key element in larger numbers of books sold. I learned early on that I can make more money on a 2.99 ebook than I can a 25 dollar hardcover due to the difference in the author percentage per sale. 10 to 12 percent on 25 is far less due to the far fewer number of books sold at this high a price.

Finally, what sells ebooks for me has been a long-running presence on such places as Facebook, twitter, blogs, online magazines, chat groups, and more recently kindle forums and ebook forums. Almost all my ebook reviews have come about via meeting people online who love to do book reviews and routinely look for ebooks to review. More and more review outlets for ebooks are coming into being every day, but I have made contacts on Facebook for instance that have reviewed Children of Salem and Titanic 2012, placing reviews on their blogs and on Amazon.com, but such results came after long hours on Facebook, not just seeking such outlets but engaging people in all manner of conversation and discussing issues of interest placed up by others. In the end, if you are liked thanks to your online presence, sense of humor, concern for the universe, etc., then others online will begin to eagerly seek out your writing. If they like you, they'll want to like your ebook(s).

Some reading this will say it can’t be that simple or easy, but guess what – it has not been simple nor easy at all, and it has taken great and abiding patience. My IQ is not as important in this “business” of ebooking it as is my PQ – Persistence Quotient. Recall what I was making a month when I started with nearly the same amount of books up. It does help indeed to have an impressive list of books – numbers of covers in a line do encourage sales as well, so the last job and first really is for you to post more works – collected short stories, themed stories, how-to book crafted from your years of blogging perhaps, and more fiction, more novellas, novels. Keep putting new titles up. I had a huge backlist but it took me years to build that backlist, I can tell you.

Keep on truckin’ and ebookin’ – and take a look at my website to see what can be done if you work with a truly good graphic artist. Look at my graphic artist and webmaster’s own website – www.SRWalkerdesigns.com and find other information on this subject at The Newbies Guide to Publishing and archived blogs on the subject right here at ACME Authors.

Robert W. Walker

www.robertwalkerbooks.com

www.robertwwalker.com.blogspot.com

Acme Gave Me Blog Fever by Morgan Mandel

To celebrate our 3rd Birthday, please leave a comment with your email to be eligible to win a PDF copy of Killer Career.

Happy Birthday to all the members of Acme Authors Link and all its readers. I appreciate the support of my fellow members and also love it when readers come over to see what we're up to. I love it even more when I see comments! Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed our posts, perhaps gotten some extra writing tips, or at least a few laughs.

Three years ago I got the idea to start Acme Authors Link and rounded up some other writers to join me. Its name was inspired by one of the members, Rob Walker.  At the time this blog began, I had no idea what I was getting into. It seemed fairly simple to post one blog each week.

Little did I know that blogging at Acme would inspire me to activate my own personal blog, at http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/, with daily entries, start up Mystery Turtles blog for the Hard Shell Word Factory mystery authors, which disbanded and then became a much stronger blog, called Make Mine Mystery. Then I joined Dani Greer's  Blood Red Pencil, a very informative blog, comprised mainly of editors. I've recently started another one for my dog, Rascal, called Our Little Rascal.

I can't forget to mention http://choiceonepublishing.com/ , my wordpress blog concentrating on my latest release, Killer Career. I have a few other ideas I may pursue later.

I blame it all on Acme for giving me Blog Fever.

What about you? Do you have blog fever, at least just a little? Maybe you write posts, or maybe you like to read posts, or both. Confess.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel

THE APOSTROPHE'S BUBBLY NATURE By Robert W. Walker

The lowly apostrophe loves to shine but seldom takes center stage, while damn it, it’s the hardest working, least understood mark, and yet it retains its bubbly nature. How does the apostrophe keep its positive outlook and energetic, even electric personality? Let’s us just consider how put upon it is and yet it just keeps on giving….The most maligned, misused, misunderstood grammatical mark of them all and also the smallest yet self-made and courageous.

“Why do perfectly intelligent people, even geniuses, have a problem seeing the apostrophe much less using it properly?” --St. Ignatius of Tyrn 1402…

“Some of my best friends act as if they’re going under the knife when confronted with the use of the apostrophe….” --Dr. Lucius Derleth, MD 2004…

“Little’s changed since the MONKs figured out SYMBOLS for us all to ABIDE by in order to communicate in writing….” Author Robert W. Walker, 2007…


First reason the apostrophe causes confusion: it’s (that is IT IS) used for two separate and distinct purposes that’ve absolutely NADA to do with one ’nother. The simplest use is to show ownership in THINGS. Things he, she, we, they, us, him, her, them and Joe OWNS.
Ownership as in HIS THINGS or Joe’s things….ought to end all confusion there since if you SEE the connective tissue of ownership, like as if the apostrophe in ownership situations is a little arrow that points to what Joe owns. Joe’s Harley…Joe’s eyes…Joe’s girl…or Joe’s future. Who owns that future? Who’s hole is it anyway? Joe’s hole. He dug it. But it gets a bit complicated when it is not Joe or John or any name ending in a letter other than S….Damn, now what?

How do we deal with Phyllis’s stuff or James’ junk? Marcus, Jesus? Jesus and these others end in S but that does not make a noun or a name plural! ….if a name ends in S…then we’re looking at JESU’s if we put the apostrophe in the wrong place….pointing at the wrong letter….as in Phylli’s, Jame’s. Notice that if you don’t put the apostrophe pointing to the S, then you are cutting away at Jesus’ name! Another complication, it can be shown either way: Jesus’ or Jesus’s. In most modern usage we have dropped the double S for the sake of simplicity but my publisher WANTS it there thanks to the Chicago Manual of Style. All the same, there are not many names ending in S, so this should not be so hard for folks to follow.

The notion of single and plural plays havoc with people’s heads, however. People—or any GROUP designation like FAMILY already has PLURALness inherent, so adding the S can only mean ownership, not MORE plural. A green light doesn’t get any greener, nor does a plural word like jury get any pluralER…see? So it is the Jury’s decision and once again the apostrophe hugs the WHOLE word (like the whole name) and not an add on form….like Jurys’….which only works if you are talking about two or more juries…(unlikely).

But what of nouns that’re not names like teacher, lawyer, and aviator? Suppose you are talking about one lawyer’s briefcase? Then notice one lawyer ends with R….not S….while two lawyers’ briefcases shows the S on lawyer(S) see? So then it becomes: All of my teachers’ habits annoy me; or every one of my teachers’ habits annoy me. A single on TEACHER in that sentence CHANGES the meaning significantly. Again the issue of single\plural has a lot to do with where the apostrophe wants to fall…

Now the ownership thing ought be easy, folks! Ther’re only a handful of words in the whole freakin’ language that have OWNERSHIP built in already, like MY, MINE…His…Her…so these do not need the HELP of the lowly apostrophe. But Mike or Rob does if you’re’a speakin’a what Mike or Rob owns…so this is a major ‘juice’(use!) of the apostrophe. Another is to show emphasis as I did in de’ bad ‘joke’ around ‘juice’ buy nowadays this kind of emphasis calls for quotation marks or italics.

The second major ‘juice’ or ‘use’ of the ‘comma that leaps up atop words’ really screws with people’s heads, but I do not (don’t) know why it should. For instance, there’s an ITS that sits on the same plane as MY and his and hers, yours, mine, ours, theirs…for ownership built in is in ITS like MY. The only other IT’s in existence is a CONTRACTION….

Contractions ought be a simple affair. If you write this: ITS color is as strong as IT’s powerful….then you are using both ITS/IT’s in the same sentence. A good practice. Write TEN sentences using ITS and IT’s in same breath. “IT’s a smart dog that scratches ITS own fleas.”

Its\It’s is so instructive if you realize or see the pattern here. This is in a nutshell the two PRIMARY uses of the apostrophe. ITS, like HIS requires NO apostrophe ‘cause why? Because it has ownership built into IT same as Her. Whereas IT’s is two whole words shoved together, something American English loves to do, especially in dialogue. We all of us only learn if and when we see the connectiveness and the pattern of things—like words and apostrophes are like the pilot-fish following the shark. If you look REAL close, you’ll see that the apostrophe points toward what it modifies or changes. Tom is Tom but to modify Tom into changing from the subject of the sentence to what he owns as being the subject, Tom’s becomes necessary, so the subject becomes Tom’s lunatic brother… or Tom’s broken arm…

OK, hopefully ownership’s ugly head has been cut off thanks to this old grammarian’s ability to make it clear. As Stephen King’s illegitimate son, I think I can quote Dad faithfully by saying, “If you can’t make it sing, at least make it clear.” Apostrophes are your friend…a friend of the writer. Notice if I use an apostrophe, I can say A writer’s friend instead. How droll is it to read: The backdoor was squeaky and needed oil now. Much better to say, “The backdoor’s scream signaled years of neglect.”

Now onto the CONTRACTION in more detail. Read any one of my books and you’ll find people speak in contractions ‘cause we’re Americans. So if the apostrophe is not ON STAGE to show ownership, then it’s doing its second, UNRELATED job of POINTING out where in a word we’ve TOSSED out letters! The lowly lil’ apostrophe FILLS the GAPs, and sometimes these gaps are enormous. Don’t you see that the O is missing in DO NOT in Don’t so the apostrophe takes ITS place (not it’s--it is place)? OK, DON’t is too easy. ‘Cause ‘fraid we also speak in multiple contractions as in:

Mike would have loved to see Madeline’s upper body movement, but when he had attempted it, she clocked him so hard he had fallen into a coma.

Mike would’ve loved to see….etc. but when he’d etc…he’d fallen…etc.

I have used triples such as Mayn’t’ve, couldn’t’ve, wouldn’t’ve. NOTICE exactly the number of letters missing from these contractions: May not have…could not have, etc. So often the apostrophe is carrying the space of several missing letters, often four, five missing letters! Damn but this mark is strong….

So no longer do ya’ gotta’ wonder why a proper Britisher hates us for what we’ve done to the language. Much of it’s contractions as in “Wha’up?” from: What is up? So the apostrophe is a real workhorse! You can’t ignore it, can’t run from it, can’t hide. It’s ever’where its use is found and sometimes, too often, it’s used incorrectly. So WATCHA’ back and watch the signs as in Buck’s Gunshop.

All that said, in your novel use contractions liberally but never use an ownership apostrophe in a place where it does not ADD anything as in: The ocean’s floor….just ocean floor…or the Clock’s tower….if the Clock Tower works just as well…actually better. Ownership apostrophes help cut out long prepositional phrases as in this example:

After Paul stepped through the house’s front door, he heard the door’s hinges creak behind him as it closed.

Rather better to say: After stepping through the door, Paul heard it squeaking as it closed.

G’luck with grammar’s lowliest mark!
Rob Walker (www.robertWwalkerbooks.com
www.myspace.com/robertwwalkerbooks
www.Murdermustadvertise.com
www.Loveismurder.org

MY TAKE ON PRINTERS ROW & A NARROW ESCAPE By MORGAN MANDEL

CATCH ACME AUTHORS LINK BLOGGERS, MORGAN MANDEL AND MARGOT JUSTES, AT AUTHORFEST THIS SAT, JUNE 14,10AM-4PM - SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP DISTRICT LIBRARY,SCHAUMBURG,IL - ALL INVITED!

PRINTERS ROW BOOK FEST

What I liked - Browsing the books, meeting the readers, connecting with author friends and making new ones, seeing my fellow bloggers, Margot Justes and Norm Cowie, getting a chance to sell my books, the whole ambience of the Printers Row surroundings, with the quaint little shops and restaurants and the classic clock tower at Dearborn Station.


What I didn't like, but couldn't be helped - The weather!! Very hot, with violent storms arriving at inconvenient times. Saturday I made it home before the storm set in. Sunday I just got through the revolving doors at Ogilvie Transportation Centre when I heard bam,bam,bam,bam. I thought for sure we had a tornado. The long bank of windows gave a spectacular view of torrents of rain sheeting in odd configurations. Not taking chances, I rushed to the other side of the room. I heard rain pouring and wind howling, but fortunately none of it came inside.

When all had calmed down, I ventured back to the revolving doors to find them broken, with glass scattered. No tornado, but evidently a wind of such force to break the doors. I was very thankful I'd made it in right before the glass flew. Also, no one else appeared to be injured.

What are the chances the same thing could happen next year? I'll find out, because I do plan on going back to Printers Row. I wouldn't miss it.

Now back to my new computer setup - the subject of another blog. (g)
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com

Dreaded Income Tax - What's an Author To Do? By Morgan Mandel

I'm not a number person. I do much better with words. I used to be very diligent about keeping track of the checkbook, marking down deposits and withdrawals, and all that sort of thing, but somehow this year, just like last year, it all got away from me.

Part of the problem, but really not a good excuse, is the way I get my paychecks - direct deposit. This method is very convenient. I don't have to go to the bank to cash my check and deposit the money. By magic, somehow it gets there by itself. I only need to go once in a while to an ATM, punch some buttons and, like a slot machine that pays (there are a few), money comes spitting out.

When I actually had to go to the bank, I kept really good track of things. Now, because everything is so convenient, I tend to ignore the aspects I should be keeping track of. I forget to record the deposits, even though I get a slip at work saying what they are. I forget to mark when I take money from the ATM.

Thank goodness, I at least remember to record the checks or I'd really be in trouble.

So, anyway, that's one part of my income tax fiasco problem. Another is the fact I haven't balanced the checkbook since last income tax time. As long as the ATM receipt shows I have money, I put off keeping track of the hows and whats about it.

Another part of my income tax problem is I itemize. Not only that, I deduct writing expenses. Being the non-meticulous with figures person that I am, I've thrown all my receipts and copies of e-mails about orders and writing relating services and goods into one overflowing envelope, where I've also thrown in the real estate tax receipts and other goodies that need to be itemized.

Now is the time to go through the giant mess. Now's the time I have to sort through it all and get it ready. I've only got until March 22 to get it done. That's when my tax person will meet with me. If it's not organized, it will mean more money to pay her, so I've got to do it.

Here are some of the expenses I deduct: writing organization dues, conference fees, how-to books about writing, writing magazines, paper, printer cartridges, pens, memory cards, promo items, such as postcards, bookmarks, business cards, brochures, postage for mailing books for reviews, postage for mailing the postcards to all and sundry. These are the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure once I delve into my folder, I'll find tons more.

Anyway, if you're a writer and not itemizing your writing expenses you may want to consider doing so. The process is painful, but worthwhile. I'm always surprised how much money I spend every year on my writing career. The upside is keeping these receipts and making sense of them means getting money back I can use again the next year to buy goods and services so I can start the cycle again. It's already March and I've been stuffing it all in a special folder like I usually do. Some day, I'll learn to keep track as I go along - well, maybe not.

Time to go through that folder now.
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
www.myspace.com/morganmandel
http://bookplace.ning.com
http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com
http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com

Clearing out the clutter

Been working real hard lately to clear out the clutter in my life. It's not easy going through and making decisions about what to keep and what not to keep, especially for someone with OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. But unlike Monk, mine manifested itself in keeping stacks and stacks of stuff like magazines, books, newspapers, etc. Don't think I'll be getting my own show - not quite as quirky as Monk. Anyway, been recycling and giving away bunches and bunches of stuff.

It was amusing to take magazines to the train station where I live. The magazines disappeared almost as soon as I put them in the magazine rack. At least folks like my taste in reading materials. I don't think the recycle guy is as amused, however. He's really had to work hard these past few weeks at my stop and he'll have to continue to work in the weeks to come. Feels good to get rid of things that have been weighing me down.

OCD has also gotten in the way of my writing and I realize now it's kept me from making the kind of progress I've wanted to. But now than I'm actively getting rid of clutter and moving forward my writing has started to flow.

One of my projects is a episodic blog about a therapist who is struggling to maintain a healthy relationship with her rebellious teenage daughter while going through her own emotional upheaval triggered by some of the experiences of her patients. Check it out:

http://therapy-101.blogspot.com/

I'm working on episode 2 this week. So, we'll see how this goes.

EARLY BIRD PRICE TIL NOV. 30 - SPRING FLING SIGNUP By Morgan Mandel

ACME AUTHORS LINK AUTHORS, Morgan Mandel & DL Larson,
will sign at Barnes & Noble, 590 E. Golf Road, Schaumburg, Thursday,
Nov. 29, 2007, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Stop by and say hello!

If you're a romance reader or writer, Chicago Spring Fling is a must conference. I've posted information from the coordinators about how to get in on this great event. Note the early bird deadline for discounted pricing is fast approaching.

Not only does Spring Fling feature big name authors, like Debbie Macomber, Eloisa James and Christie Ridgway, but also featured are editors and agents from major houses taking pitches and offering tips. (Some of our Acme Authors Link members will also be present, myself included)

Two sites of interest on the conference are: http://www.chicagospringfling.com and
http://www.chicagonorth rwa.org.

** Permission to Forward **

2008 SPRING FLING WRITERS' CONFERENCE - EARLY REGISTRATION CLOSES NOV. 30th
April 25-26, 2008
Deerfield, IL

The Chicago-North Romance Writers of America is pleased to announce the
line-up of headlining speakers, editors and agents for the 2008 Spring Fling
Writers' Conference:

FEATURED SPEAKERS

New York Times best-selling author: Debbie Macomber
USA Today best-selling authors: Eloisa James & Christie Ridgway

EDITORS
Tessa Woodward (Avon Publishing)
Victoria Curran (Harlequin)
Editor TBD (Grand Central Publishing)

AGENTS
Paige Wheeler (Folio Literary Management)
Kristen Nelson (The Nelson Agency)
Elaine Spencer (The Knight Agency)
Christina Hogrebe (Jane Rotrosen Agency)

WORKSHOPS ON CRAFT AND BUSINESS PRESENTED BY PUBLISHED AUTHORS:

Marcia Anderson, Sherrill Bodine, Laurie Brown, Sara Daniels, Blythe Gifford, Margot Justes, Maureen Lang, Lindsay Longford, Myrna MacKenzie, Morgan Mandel, Allie Pleiter, Martha Powers, Patricia Rosemoor, Jen Stevenson, Margaret Watson, Pat White

EARLY BIRD RWA MEMBER REGISTRATION RATE OF $139 ENDS NOVEMBER 30TH
RATE INCREASES TO $159 DECEMBER 1ST

For more information about Spring Fling 2008 and to register, please visit: www.chicagospringfling.com

For more information about Chicago-North Romance Writers of America, please
visit: www.chicagonorthrwa.org

Questions? Contact us at: conference@chicagon orthrwa.org


I hope to see some of you over there!
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
http://bookplace.ning.com
http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com
http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/morganmandel

DANGER ZONE - LIBRARY? By Morgan Mandel

Last Friday, against my better judgment I ventured once again to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library for the Friends of the Library Night book sale. This is the special night reserved for Friends of the Library members the night before the general public book sale starts. To be a friend, it's only $5.00, so it's worth the investment.

Between autographed books from friends I absolutely will not part with and books I would like to read but never seem to get a chance to, I own an overabundance of books. I had no business adding more to my collection but couldn't resist.

Although the library organizes the event by passing out numbers so everybody doesn't rush in at once, the sales room is a scene of semi-controlled bedlam. No one tramples on anyone, but sometimes they do come close. People sit or stoop to look at books under the tables, while others try to get around them. It's difficult to spend any amount of time trying to check what a book is about because there are so many people dying to get into the same area.

Then there are the notorious booksellers making their rounds with mini-computers which scan books into programs to gauge what the books are worth. These people are fast and know what they're doing. Before an average person can even pick up a book, it's swiped up into a huge canvas bag and deposited in the stage area, where boxes are kept. Entire dollies are wheeled out with what I assume are priceless books that will be for sale on e-bay or in bookstores.

Despite the bustle, I, being adventurous about stuff I really want, do try to get to the Friends of the Library Book Sale whenever I can. So, I did brave the mob and managed to pick up a few goodies for my collection - a few cds and some promising-looking books which I hope to finish before the next book sale, but probably won't be able to.

While I did my browsing, I happened to run into my hair stylist, Dan, from Village Family Hair Care, 108 North Evergreen, in downtown Arlington Heights. I'm including his photo, along with another from the event.

By the way, if you live in the area and need a good haircut, Dan can be reached at 847-259-4464. Tell him Morgan sent you. If you come to his shop, you'll notice my bookmarks, business cards and postcards on the counter by the register. I never miss a chance at promotion if I can help it.

Until next time,

All the best,

Morgan Mandel

http://www.morganmandel.com/

http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com/

http://bookplace.ning.com/

http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/morganmandel

Mark your calendar: Meet Morgan Mandel and DL Larson at the Schaumburg Barnes & Noble book signing ... on Thursday, November 29th, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.

More on Marketing

What a great blog Norm. I echo everything you wrote and hope you will indulge me in adding some of my own comments.

Marketing, or promoting a book, is sometimes a larger part of an author's experience than actually writing the book that he/she is promoting. Ironic, isn't it! Especially since an author, particularly of fiction, must write more and more books to reamain viable in today's publishing world. Sometimes, they have to write more than one a year. The big-name publishing houses are now often owned by big business and books have become a product - a commodity - and the big business wants to make money on their products. Who can blame them. Authors are also judged on how well their last book sold and if those numbers aren't 'good' then they are not likely to be asked for more of their product since the last one didn't fare so well. So you see the catch-22 the author is in. The last book written must sell well enough for the next one to be even considered. Imagine all the time and effort and author spends writing and promoting, often at the same time.

These days authors are often asked for their platform, even by agents, before the full manuscript is even read. Marketing departments will want to know how to promote or sell the book to their clients which are typically the larger conglomorate bookstores. Often the sales person for the publisher gets a minute or less per book to grab the attention of the buyer at the bookstore. So that saying, don't judge a book by it's cover - well, that happens more than any writer cares to admit. Yet writers rarely get input on the cover of any of their books let alone the titles.

Promotion isn't excactly a foreign concept to those in the arts. There's an old saying that all publicity is good publicity or "-that there ain't no such thing as bad publicity," although I think politicians, especially today, would disagree with this sentiment. But consider Britney Spears and all the bad publicity she's received; it seems to have worked in terms of selling her recent song. I grew up in Los Angeles, Venice to be exact, and I like to tell people that I went to the high school where the movie Grease was filmed, although years after I graduated. Those of us who grew up near 'Hollywood' are all too familiar with the many young people that came to the area looking to be discovered like the fabled story of Lana Turner sitting in her tight sweater at the counter. Us locals knew that was more of a myth perpetrated by some movie studio or marketing department but it worked.

So, how far should an author go in promoting his/her book--specially today when audiences' attention spans are shorter than ever and more and different types of media are competing for those shortened attention spans? In fact, surveys over the last few years reveal that the average person is reading less and less - despite the success of such books as the Harry Potter series. In fact, more people today want to write a book than read one.

Perhaps the most famous and drastic act of promotion occurred on October 30, 1938 when Orson Welles developed a scheme to promote H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds by adapting to the format of a real news broadcast, resulting in mass panic. As a result of the promotion sounding and 'feeling' like a real news broadcast millions of listeners really thought that the Martians were invading. It was a marketing success but a public safety disaster. (For more information, on this go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Welles).

Promotion, like the poor, death, and taxes, will always be with us. How authors can most effectively promote their works seems to be a debate that will last just as long.

Think blogging will help?

www.storytellerroad.com

Fear of Flooding By Morgan Mandel

While the monsoon season is upon us, I can't help but think about the similarities between nature and the author game.

With the summer storms, come rising water. Owners of property near the Fox River and the DesPlaines River in Illinois are anxiously sandbagging, some already experiencing flooding.

Mosquitos are hatching. West Nile Virus is a possibility, to some an actuallity. Yet the rains continue, with brief respites. While some people hope, others' hopes are already dashed.

Similar occurrences take place in the author game. With each day, new promotional opportunies arise. There are countless ways to get ourselves and our books known. Which are the best? Which are a waste of time? How many are too many? Or is that possible?

Can we maintain our existing websites and blogs, attend conferences, booksignings, do everything else to get known and still lead a normal life or will we drown from all the pressure?

Writing is not for the faint of heart. It's a game of sink or swim, where the fastest and strongest survive.

The waters are rising. Are you a good swimmer?

Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
www.myspace.com/morganmandel
http://bookplace.ning.com
http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com
http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com

Scared Silly

I read the scariest thing ever, with apologies to Stephen King, Dean Koontz and our own Master of Macabre Rob Walker. It isn't a book, but more of a pamphlet, a journal, a magazine as it were. Like a werewolf , it comes out once a month to turn my blood cold.

It is ... (shudder) ... something to scare a man out of his back hair.

I can barely tell you.

Its pages are so scary... so frightening ... terrifying ... and ... um ..., other words that describe fear. Fear that causes your muscles to petrify as chemicals of unhappiness surge through your body, springing up goose bumps along the way.

I must speak the name of this periodical, though my mouth refuses to utter its simple name... so I will type it instead with shaky fingers.

It is ... (eek) ... READER'S DIGEST.

Yes, you heard me.

Reader's Digest.

You scoff. I can tell ... only because I have incredible powers of perceptiveness (my wife snorts in disbelief). You mock my gentle wisdom ... the warning that I spread to save those who read this magazine for its insight, humor and stories of human courage.

But have you read the other parts of the magazine?

You know, those parts that come with an eight point font disclaimer that takes up a whole page or three ... that no one ever reads because it's an eight point font disclaimer that takes up a whole page or three.

The stuff having to do with ... health?

Yep, Reader's Digest is chock full of stuff dealing with what they laughingly call health. For with hypochondriacs like me, that's not a good thing. For you see, I am susceptible to the power of suggestion. If there's a mosquito in the room, I feel itchy. If someone yawns, I yawn. And if someone gets skin cancer, I start watching my moles with squinty-eyed suspicion.

I've learned all kinds of scary things about health by reading Reader's Digest. For instance, did you know that your bowels have a temper? I didn't. Why if you eat the wrong things, it might get irritable and go Postal on you. And I learned by reading RD's learned pages, that even though I might feel wonderful, cholesterol might ... even as I type ... be packing my arteries with stuff that will make them explode.

Do you know the signs of a heart attack? Me neither, until I read RD. Thanks to their friendly words, I know that the signs of a heart attack are chest or upper body discomfort, shortness of breath, cold sweat, nausea and lightheadedness. After reading this, I broke out into a cold sweat, clutched my hands to my chest which seized up so that I couldn't get a breath and almost passed out.

I also learned that back and joint pain might mean that I have prostate cancer, a rash might be Lyme disease, and that my severe headache was not from having teenaged girls, but more likely from an aneurysm. And my blurred vision isn't me getting old - it's macular degeneration that can be reversed by the wonderful drug Avastin, which will also treat my colon cancer. Lucky me.

So call me a hypochondriac, but I'm going to stop reading the medical stuff. I think I'll skip right to "Humor in Uniform."

(whistles tunelessly and reads).

Aargh!

I hurt my funny bone!

Norm

www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness

Chiming in

I just have to add my two cents (about five dollars with inflation) to Larry's very interesting blog with a short story of my own.

A lot of my small humor bits have gone into a free e-magazine called Cynic Magazine. I've never tried to get my short stuff published for money, but simply wanted an outlet for my overflowing sense of humor. Being a classy mag, Cynic has published everything I've given them, including articles in their "Best of 2005" and "Best of 2006" issues.

Like Larry, I always sort of wondered if something might come of the exposure, but otherwise, there's no downside, because other than publishing them, archiving them and reprinting for the "Best Of" issues, copyright reverts back to me.

But something did come of this, just recently in fact.

When my second book came out last month, I emailed the news to everyone in my address book. To my surprise, a few days later I received an email from Cynic saying that they would like to do something that they normally don't do. Since I've been such a faithful contributor, they were going to put an ad on their next issue for my new book... for free! And not only that, but in a future issue they would do a review, even further increasing the exposure.

Free publicity!

So check it out at www.cynicmag.com

Norm
www.normcowie.com
The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy (probably)
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness

Fleas

What do fleas have to do with writing? Nothing, right?

Wrong!

If you have fleas in your house, you want them OUT!

Arrgh!

You'll do whatever you have to, be it washing all of your bedding, clothes, bathing a sullen rabbit and two frantically struggling and slippery cats, bombing your basement with flea bomb, vacuuming every inch of your house including the curtains and furniture, spraying lethal stuff all over everything ...

... all the time you feel like you can feel critters crawling on you, and your skin twitches like a horse disrupting a fly.

And then, after the dust settles, you sit in your now stinky house, exhausted and flea-ed, er, ticked off, and wonder...

... just wonder ...

... well, you don't wonder anything.

Because you're too tired, and you want to go to sleep, and you hope that the extermination was successful, because if not, you do it all again in few days.

So back to my question. What do fleas have to do with writing?

Well, not really anything with writing, but definitely something with not writing. Because if you gots fleas in your castle, you'll do whatever you have to to get rid of them, be it missing the baseball game, forgoing your walk, or blogging your blog.

Going to bed now.

Norm

The Adventures of Guy, written by a guy (probably)
and just out, The Next Adventures of Guy, more wackiness
www.normcowie.com