June is ‘Book Reviewer Month’ at Blogcritics Magazine!

To promote the release of The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, co-author Mayra Calvani will be interviewing 15+ reviewers and review editors during the month of June. Learn all about the business of book reviewing and what’s in the mind of some of the most popular reviewers on the internet today. Some of the guests will include: Alex Moore from ForeWord Magazine, James Cox from Midwest Book Review, Irene Watson from Reader Views, Andrea Sisco from Armchair Interviews, Magdalena Ball from The Compulsive Reader, Sharyn McGinty from In The Library Reviews, Lea Schizas from Muse Book Reviews, Linda Baldwin from Road to Romance, Hilary Williamson from Book Loons, Judy Clark from Mostly Fiction, and many others!

To see the complete lineup, visit: The Slippery Book Review Blog.

Between June 1st and June 30th, stop by Blogcritics and leave a comment under the reviewer interviews for a chance to win a Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour ,OR, as an alternative to a non-author winner, a $50 B&N gift certificate!

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books with Nonfiction Author Adina Rishe Kewirtz

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books is a continuing series to help authors learn how to promote their books. If you would like to be a guest blogger for our book promotion and publicity series, click here.

Our guest blogger for today is Adina Rishe Gewirtz, author of How to Say It: Business Writing That Works.

Book promotion is a strange business. Here you are an expert in whatever you wrote your book about – in my case, how to structure a piece of business writing – and suddenly, you need to become an expert in marketing.

Like many first-time authors, I had a lot of false notions about book promotion flying ‘round in my head when I got started. I imagined a book signing or two, and certainly thought people who had already benefited from my writing seminars would buy the book, but I didn’t think much beyond that. Focused on writing the manuscript, and on my own teaching and work as an editor and writer’s coach, it didn’t occur to me to wonder how people learn about a book once it’s “out there.” In part, that was because I’d always written directly for publications – newspapers or magazines – that found the audience for me. I discovered quickly that book-marketing is a world unto itself.

Even though I had a large publishing house behind me – Prentice Hall, which is a part of Penguin – I discovered that after the initial publication, it’s primarily the writer’s job to get the word out. And so beyond my own personal contacts, through teaching and coaching, I learned that the Internet is the newest and possibly the best way to market a book.
As a book-buyer myself, I know the web is the first place I go to learn about a book, and usually to purchase it. And my primary audience – people writing for work – don’t have time to browse bookstore shelves. They’re much more likely to browse the net. So that’s where I turned.
I began by building up my page on Amazon.com, and writing about my book, How to Say It: Business Writing That Works. I added a few of the positive reviews I had gotten there, and linked my website directly to my book’s page on Amazon. I also began writing a blog, at www.thewritersroadmap.blogspot.com, and joined several book marketing websites, like the book marketing network at bookmarket.ning.com. I began making contact with people interested in good business writing, people looking for a system to make writing everything from a letter to a performance review to a proposal a lot easier. I wrote to Grammar Girl, and was featured in a giveaway on her popular podcast.

Most of all, I continue to try to reach out to people who need what my book offers: solid, easy to follow advice about how to get through the writing process; how to understand your audience, research your topic, organize your thoughts, know what you plan to say, and then get it all down in a coherent draft. To that end, through my website, I offer writing coaching. That again leads back to the book itself, because even those who want personal writing help benefit when they read about the system and understand it in advance.

So while I’m not yet an expert at book marketing, I’m happy to say I’m beginning to understand the incredible power of the net, this nearly infinite marketplace where people looking for ideas, books, and yes – business writing advice – can find help just by searching for something like “Adina Gewirtz” or, even better, “writing coach.”

Adina Rishe Gewirtz is the author of the business book, How to Say It: Business Writing That Works.  You can visit her website at www.writersroadmap.com or her blog at www.thewritersroadmap.blogspot.com.

Pump Up Your Book Promotion Social Network: Virtual Book Tours Q&A and Author Day Information

Cheryl Malandrinos of Pump Up Your Book Promotion has started a discussion at the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Social Network for those interested in learning more about virtual book tours. As we have been in the business for a year now, we’ve become experienced experts in the field. If you would like to ask us a question about anything regarding virtual book tours, visit the link and we’ll be more than happy to address those questions.

The Pump Up Your Book Promotion Social Network was opened to allow authors to promote their books without cost. Sign up and brag, brag, brag. There’s a sub-group in the left hand side that allows excerpts and another one that allows reviews and everyone is invited to submit. All you have to do is sign up and post.

If you are interested in our special section called Author Day which includes an entire day of promotion in a question and answer format, we do have to charge for this but you’ll get your own page with book cover, buying information, author bio, book blurb and promotion for the event prior to the date you will appear. We use the same format of promotion we use for all our authors on tour, so you get more than your money’s worth. We are booked for June, but do have openings in July. The cost is $25. If you are interested, email me at thewriterslife(at)yahoo.com and I’ll send you the application for it.

Our list of authors scheduled for Author Day in June include:

June 2 - Karen White, author of the fiction novel, THE MEMORY OF WATER
June 4 - James Burns, author of the financial book on how to get rich, THE 3 SECRET PILLARS OF WEALTH
June 9 - Victoria Wells, author of the multicultural romance, A SPECIAL SUMMER
June 11 - Traci E. Hall, author of the paranormal romance, LOVE’S MAGIC
June 13 - to be announced
June 16 - Steven Baldwin & Karen Holgate, authors of the non-fiction book about the American school system, FROM CRAYONS TO CONDOMS: THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS
June 18 - Grace Reddick, author of the children’s book, ASHLEY’S UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER
June 20 - Candis C. Coffee, author of the literary fiction novel, MARIPOSA
June 23 - Phyllis Zimbler Miller, author of the woman’s fiction novel, MRS: LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL
June 25 - Linda Merlino, author of the literary fiction, BELLY OF THE WHALE
June 27 - Peter Bowerman, author of the book on self-publishing, THE WELL-FED SELF PUBLISHER: HOW TO TURN ONE BOOK INTO A FULL TIME LIVING

All authors are giving away free books!

If you are one of our past clients and would like a stop at Author Day, your fee is waived, but you must book early as we only have a limited amount of stops.

Thank you!

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books with Christian Author Heidi Hess Saxton

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books is a continuing series to help authors learn how to promote their books. If you would like to be a guest blogger for our book promotion and publicity series, click here.

Our guest blogger for today is Heidi Hess Saxton, author of Behold Your Mother: Mary Stories and Reflections from a Catholic Convert.

In some ways, releasing a book into the market is a lot like watching your child take his first tentative steps onto the preschool playground. You take a deep breath, and hope your little bundle of joy doesn’t get clobbered by the big boys. Today when I checked my book’s progress on Amazon, my heart actually skipped a beat when I saw that its sales rank was now solidly in the five-digit rankings (rather than the six-digit abyss where it had been languishing a few weeks long ago).

So … what have I been doing to give my book wings, to fly unencumbered into reader’s virtual shopping carts? Well, I can point to a few things that seem to have helped.

• Radio interviews. At my publisher’s suggestion, I gave up trying to direct people to my website and sent them to Amazon.com instead. (My Amazon.com author’s page will take them to the related blog if they so desire.) Podcasts are also a good way to go.
• Link like there’s no tomorrow. In addition to posting regularly to “Behold Your Mother: The Blog” (http://beholdyourmotherbook.blogspot.com), I regularly check Catholic blogs using several different search engines – including one exclusively Catholic one – for high-quality posts, which I then link to my blog and comment on the original blog. The stats don’t lie: this approach has approximately doubled my weekly blog hit average. (I may not be using the right blog lingo here … sorry.)
• Think ahead. Starting in early April, I began my “Tea with Mary” Mother’s Day promotion, offering a signed copy of the book and a sample of my favorite tea and bookmark for the same price as a regular book. I send the whole thing in a pretty rose-decorated envelope, and point out that Mom will treasure this more than a Hallmark card! For those who are interested, here is the post: http://beholdyourmotherbook.blogspot.com/2008/03/mothers-day-is-coming.html (Notice that the ad appears in the left sidebar, too.)
• For non-fiction, find a “partner” organization that can help you promote your work. I’m in the process of developing a group study for a Catholic women’s apostolate, who will then sell the book and study (along with a video) into parishes for group studies. It takes time to cultivate these kinds of connections, but it can be worthwhile.

Heidi Hess Saxton is the author of BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER: MARY STORIES AND REFLECTIONS FROM A CATHOLIC CONVERT.  You can visit her website at www.christianword.com.

Historical Fiction Author Andrew Jalbert Joins Us on Author Day Today!

Join us on Friday, May 16, 2008 between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. when historical fiction author Andrew Jalbert visits us at the Author Day section of our social network at Pump Up Your Book Promotion! Leave a question and Andrew will answer them all on Friday, plus give away a free book to one lucky person who participates!

About Andrew:

Award winning freelancer Andrew Jalbert has been a professional archaeologist and scuba instructor for over 15 years. During that time, he has worked throughout the Great Lakes, the Caribbean, Central America, Southern Africa, the Florida Keys, and Hawaii. His work focuses on tropical subjects–both above and below the water–and he is a regular contributor to scuba diving, natural history, fitness, and travel magazines. Andrew currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

You can visit his website at www.jalbertproductions.com.

About the Book:

What are the elements of friendship that last a lifetime-the mysterious connection that can outlast great distances and more than half a century of separation to bring friends back together? For Lázaro, a salty Cuban mariner and Dominic, a brilliant Chicago engineer, the answers can be found in the game of chess.

From the time of their meeting and first chess match on Key West in the 1930s, each man’s win is scratched into the back of the board. As the game tally grows, so does their friendship. Now, both men are in their twilight years, but it’s Dominic’s life, weathered by cancer, which is reaching its conclusion. Lázaro, who fled from his island home and his friend years ago, learns that Dominic is rapidly dying and sets off on the long journey from Boston to Florida to see his old friend. Prior to leaving, Lázaro retrieves the old chessboard and makes a startling discovery. The number of scratches, first marked over sixty years before and uncounted until now, has the two men evenly tied.

As he drives towards Dominic and the keys, Lázaro is forced to confront a past he has struggled to forget while anticipating the reunion with his old friend and what could be their final game.

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books with Fiction Author Michaela Riley

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books is a continuing series to help authors learn how to promote their books. If you would like to be a guest blogger for our book promotion and publicity series, click here.

Our guest blogger for today is Michaela Riley, author of Embittered Justice.

Book Marketing for Embittered Justice has consisted of a daily search on the internet for new and innovative ideas on a budget.  The first step after Publishing was the creation of a web site. There are numerous places to get exactly what you want; I searched on Craig’s List for a local web designer. Started creating articles, posts, blogs, ezines about Embittered Justice.

My own website at http://www.michaelariley.com, email account authormichaelariley@gmail.com.

Publisher’s website at Publish America

Press releases sent the first month after release of book in February 2008.

I began advertising on various sites listed below. This is something that takes about an hour per day to keep up the buzz. I also purchased targeted traffic for my personal web sites. Receiving about 2000 hits per day on my site, also added Web store and set up Pay pal account to sell autographed copies of book  from my site.

Book Marketing and Social Networking sites:

http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com/

http://www.bookslut.com/advertise/intro.php

http://www.razorpages.com

http://www.authorsden.com/

http://www.youtube.com

http://www.facebook.com

http://www.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com

http://www.bookhitch.com

http://bookmarket.ning.com

http://www.4greatbuys.com

http://www.craigslist.org

http://www.bookmovement.com

http://www.authorsonthenet.com

http:www.amazon.com

http://www.bookadz.com

http://www.authorsonthenet.com

http://www.articlemarketer.com/signin.php

http://www.writing-world.com

The book trailer was completed and submitted to all sites that would let me add the video.

Book Trailer

http://www.onetruemedia.com

http://www.gwextra.com

As a child Riley would spend most of her time reading every book she could carry home from the school library. She admits, “Being a writer was a fairytale for someone else’s life. Then I found a story that needed to be told.”

Riley has completed a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and a Master of Business Administration degree. She has been practicing as a Registered Nurse for almost twenty years and is the CEO of her own Professional Development Company.

Riley began to pursue writing when she had the misfortune of spending time in a local court room. Research revealed increasing rates of plea bargaining and malicious prosecution. “I have always been an advocate for people in need. When your right to speak for yourself is prevented, something has to be done. The story must be told, everyone has a story. Writing has become something I am passionate about and I am working on two other fiction novels.”   You can visit her website at http://www.michaelariley.com.

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books with Children’s Book Author Bonnie B. Cuzzolino

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books is a continuing series to help authors learn how to promote their books. If you would like to be a guest blogger for our book promotion and publicity series, click here.

Our guest blogger for today is Bonnie Cuzzolino, author of Letter of Love From China.

Marketing my book has been a challenge and time consuming but well worth it.
I am always finding new ways as a self published author. I started by promoting to adoption Yahoo groups, attending adoption events and children’s Book Fairs.

I have expanded to Virtual Book tours and entering book contests. My book recently won the prestigious 2008 Silver Mom’s Choice Award for the Best Children’s Book in the Family Life category. This win has offered endless opportunities to promote my book. Interviews and exposure to publishers at the BEA Book Expo in La, Dove Family product review, entry into the library and school children’s book catalogs and discounts to many promotional web sites including membership in Independent Publishers Associations.

I have sent flyers to my local schools and libraries offering book readings and a program centered around Chinese culture for children and their parents.

I have sent free copies of my book to adoption agencies to review and share with their families.

I have researched the net for marketing opportunities and subscribed
to the Writer’s Digest magazine.

My suggestion is for new writers to try all these opportunities and invest in as much promotional publicity as your budget can afford.
All the promotional tools I have used have increased my sales and have given my book exceptional exposure.
Best Of Luck to all.

Award winning author Bonnie Cuzzolino and her family live in New Jersey. Bonnie and her husband Ray are the parents to a beautiful daughter adopted from Hubei, China in November of 2001 at 12 months old. She and her husband are now waiting for a referral for their second daughter from China through Holt International Children’s Services. Bonnie has had a lifelong passion to write children’s books. This book is her first and is dedicated to her daughter, Jillian Mei. You can visit her website at http://www.plumblossombooks.com/.

Bonnie’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com and choreographed by Dorothy Thompson.

Happy Mother’s Day!

To my mother who left this realm 35 years ago and to all mothers still sticking it out and trying the best they can to become the most wonderful mothers in the world…

Happy Mother’s Day!

How to Get People to Comment on Your Blog

I get the ProBlogger feed into my email box (highly recommended for those wishing to learn more about blogging) and today’s feed focused on whether or not you think syndicating content on your blog is okay.

The subject matter did pique my interest as I have had my content syndicated on other people’s blogs as I know there are others who have had this happen to, too.

When you syndicate your articles, the content ezines make you check this box that allows them to syndicate your articles which is cool in one way – your one article is seen on many, many blogs. Some do not have a thing to do with your theme, but they run your articles for whatever reason – some of them are legit and some are spam blogs and you have no recourse unless they don’t use your bio and then it’s an uphill battle to find out who the blogger is and get them to take your content down.

I like using content ezines – www.ezinearticles.com for instance - because I like to use my articles for advertisement, as I know a lot of authors and business owners are doing.

But, that’s not what my post is about today. It’s about an idea on how to get people to comment on your blog.

I’m a busy, busy, busy person. My time is so valuable that I’ve not even had a chance to get into email as much as I like to and it piles up. This morning, I had a half hour before I had to run out the door and checking my email quickly, I found this post from Problogger.

Of course, it piqued my interest as it is a subject that would concern me greatly. The more I read their post, the more adrenalin started pumping until I found myself wanting to add to the conversation.

ProBlogger gets tons of comments, but they know how to hook you right in because they get me every time.

But, wait, there’s another incentive for taking the precious time to go over and comment. I get to leave my link on a # 1 blogging site and, hopefully, bring a little traffic my way.

So, what’s this mean for the author who wants more people to comment on their blogs?

Ask a question at the end of your post that is geared toward your readers and watch the comments pile up. If your blog doesn’t receive enough visitors to your liking, go into the social networks, ask the question and leave a link to your blog to where they can comment. Run the question through your newsletter like ProBlogger did. Are you a member of any e-groups? Ask them this question and tell them to leave their comment on your blog. If you keep at it, asking more questions as the days go by, you could build up a pretty good readership.

On that note, I’ll ask you all a question. Have you ever used this method to attract people to your blog to comment and how was your success rate?

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books with Suspense Author Karen Harrington

Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books is a continuing series to help authors learn how to promote their books. If you would like to be a guest blogger for our book promotion and publicity series, click here.

Our guest blogger for today is Karen Harrington, author of Janeology.

I was suburban housewife mopping my kitchen floor when Kunati Books called last year with an offer of publication for Janeology. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello.

Publisher: Yes, we’re calling about Janeology. Is it still available?

Me: Seriously. Who is this?

Publisher: We’re completely serious, Ms Harrington. We’d like to make an offer. We think Janeology would make a great summer read.

Me: Bob, is that you? Quit toying with me. It’s just mean.

Publisher: No, we’re very serious. All the books at Kunati have a distinctive voice. Your book would fit well with all of our great titles.

(Sound of phone dropping to floor.)

Okay, so maybe that’s not EXACTLY how the conversation went. But it certainly had the same effect. And from that moment on, it’s been as if I had to become fluent in a new language called book promotion. There are thousands of books released each season – most by authors who already spoke this new language with great aplomb. No pressure.

I quickly learned that the modern novelist needs more than a great manuscript to succeed:

• An engaging cover design
• Reviews in Booklist and Publishers Weekly
• A provocative trailer that interprets the heart of the story
• Guidance for those new to the blogging scene

Fortunately, my wonderful publisher, Kunati Books, put ALL these tools in my book promotion suitcase. I’ve been able to use every one of these items in some form of book promotion. One of the best things I did was to use the wonderful Janeology cover and incorporate it into a bookmark, along with my synopsis and my website address. Those bookmarks are always with me. I use them the same way others use business cards. And who doesn’t like to get a bookmark?

The book trailer has also been pivotal. Not only is it on my website, but I also loaded it on my laptop to show at booksignings. It’s a dramatic way to represent the conflict that sets the story in motion.

And of course the new writer would be lost without the Internet and all the social connections to be made there. You can link to all sorts of social networking sites with other authors and very soon, you are sharing valuable information, resources and in my case - great new friendships with other authors. I’m on MySpace, Facebook and Goodreads.com – all of which have increased my ability to meet readers around the world. (The only downside is that I keep discovering great books to add to my reading stack!)

No product is known without its own website. Early on, I set up a website for Janeology. I’m glad I started it early because I’ve been able to expand and change it as my fluency in the language of book promotion has increased. For instance, in addition to book excerpts and links to my blog, I now have a wonderful page featuring the complete family tree chart for all the characters in Janeology where readers can trace the birthdates, birthplaces and settings of the story. Because my own personal passion is genealogy, I also include many of the heirlooms and family photos which made me first ask the seminal questions about nature, nurture and who we descend from that inspired Janeology.

Check it out at www.karenharringtonbooks.com and let me know what you think.

Karen Harrington is a Texas native who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. Her writing has received honors from the Hemingway Short Story Festival, the Texas Film Institute Screenplay Contest and the Writers’ Digest National Script Contest. A graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, she has worked as a speechwriter and editor for major corporations and non-profit organizations.

She authored and published There’s a Dog in the Doorway, a children’s book created expressly for the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation’s “My Stuff Bags.” My Stuff bags go to children in need who must leave their home due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.

She lives in Plano, Texas, with her husband and two children.

You can visit her website at www.karenharringtonbooks.com.

Karen’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com and choreographed by Dorothy Thompson.