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The Secret of El Barto: Getting a Book Deal as a Self-Published Author

April 21, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager When Steven Keslowitz was an undergraduate at City University of New York in Brooklyn, just about every class paper he wrote used The Simpsons as the foundation for his thesis. 

Keslowitz, at 19, then turned to Wheatmark to publish his first book The Simpsons and Society: An Independent Analysis of Our Favorite TV Family and Its Influence in Contemporary Society based on a compilation of those papers. 

With chapters entitle things like "To Speak or Not to Speak: Maggie Simpson vs. Stewie Griffin" and "Bart the Genius: And the Value of Standardized Tests," Keslowitz took the concept of "Everything I know I learned from my ..." posters a step further and used the iconic cartoon family as a way to explore many perceptions from real life.

The Simpsons and Society quickly sold enough copies to qualify for our Great Expectations program. 

One of the few self-published authors to get his book shelf space at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Keslowitz famously wouldn't take no for an answer. As the oral history around Wheatmark tells it, he focused all his energy on Barnes and Noble. Calling individual stores in an ever-increasing radius from his college residence, and never giving up until they took a book or two, The Simpsons and Society gained ground simply through its author's tenacity. 

When he entered the Great Expectations program, it was decided that Wheatmark would do several things to help the book. The first was to do a revision that would include additional chapters and a more thorough editing job. The second thing that was done was some legal work. Because The Simpsons is a trademarked sitcom, there were some questions about using some of the material. Wheatmark hired a well-known lawyer, Jonathan Kirsch, on behalf of the author to comb through the book and make sure it was legally tight for continued publication. 

After selling nearly 3,000 (2,929 to be exact) copies of his book, Keslowitz was offered a book deal through the largest independent book publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. 

Over the years, Keslowitz's book has continued to sell and has even been used as a classroom text book at Tufts University and Carnegie Melon. Harvard may not be far behind (just kidding ... maybe). 

His resume now includes having been featured on cnn.com and being listed on Ingrams Hot 100 book list. 

Kewlowitz's story is not necessarily the norm. However, his inability to give up wasn't really the norm either. 

It does show that by self-publishing you are helping make yourself a viable commodity in the book-buying world. 

Never give up! You can purchase your own copy of the current version of Keslowitz's book on Amazon.com

Writing a Press Release

April 21, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

How can you get your press release noticed in a pile of leftover papers by the TV station's fax machine or in a busy reporter's inbox? By creating a great press release! You can actually help media outlets instead of fill their recycling bin with a useful press release. Here we'll look at exactly what you should include and how to position your press release. (For a sample press release format, download our free book marketing guide and swing by page 84.)

Here's what you need:

• a place to send it
• a hook
• a fact sheet
• high-resolution images
• short headline concept
• easily editable release content
• quotes
• contact information

Where to send your press release

First of all, it is a good idea to understand what happens in a newsroom. At most newspapers and magazines there is a publisher, a head editor, and then middle editors--usually called section editors--that are responsible for overseeing the content that the reporters create for sports, lifestyle features, and news. For TV news and radio, those middle editors are called producers. But they essentially have the same function: ferret out stories the reporters might have missed and also approve story content the reporters present.

Those middle editors and producers are really who you want to send things to. They help control the flow of stories around a media outlet and best know when to snag something and who to filter it to.

The only time this isn't efficient is if you already have a contact at the media outlet. In that case you should send it to both the section editor and your contact.

The next thing to understand about media outlets is that they have needs.

A Hook

Most media outlets have to create content for multiple days a week. It can be tough on content deciders to plan for all of these days. One of the things they like to do to help structure their plans is to use themes. For example, how many times have you seen a bunch of Mother's Day stories grouped together in the Sunday paper on May 10th? That's called a package. Wouldn't it be fabulous if your book about surviving motherhood was featured on that page? Of course it would!

You have to tailor your book's message to help promote it as a potential theme for the media outlet to hook into. Whether it's a holiday, a national awareness month, a local news story everyone has been following, or an anniversary of something, by giving your press release a REASON, you better your chances for a little attention.

One of the common mistakes with press releases is to write about your book in a way that positions your book as important for simply existing. That's an express bus route to the recyling bin. By making your book relate to something a media outlet's audience will be interested--instead of relating it to yourself and your book's existence--your chances are far better. The question every audience member asks about information is, "How is this important to me?"

The answer about your book to them better not be, "Because I wrote it."

A Fact Sheet

Before you get into the long-winded body content of your press release, consider having a simple fact sheet on top. Most media content deciders are scanners. They give information a cursory glance before passing it on to someone else. If you provide a simple bulleted fact sheet, you help them process the important information quickly. Also, you provide easy access to the main information you want to share so it can be used as a televised graphic, a calendar entry for events, or as a short blurb on a page (and any coverage is good coverage).

An example of excellent fact sheet fodder is the following:

WHY: Mother's Day is May 10th!

WHAT:"Surviving the Battlefield of Motherhood" written by local author Posie Buttons

WHY: A hilarious look into the rough-and-tumble world of mothers. The perfect read for mothers, children of mothers, fathers, and those on their way to motherhood status.

QUOTE: "I used to chronicle the funnier or more difficult motherhood moments in a diary for my children while stationed in Iraq, but when I'd filled up too many notebooks, I realized it was time to put it into a book to share with others," said Posie Buttons, local author and former U.S. Marine, about her new book, Surviving the Battlefield of Motherhood.

EVENT: Buttons will be reading from her new book at Hastings Books on 16th Street on Saturday, May 9th from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. Free.

CONTACT: For more information, contact Buttons at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

This gives them content, a sound bite, and a hook. And they didn't have to call you on the phone! (Perfect for when those other stories didn't come through at the last minute.)

High-resolution images

Newspapers always need quick stories of local interest that they don't have to spend a lot of time on that MOST IMPORTANTLY have a full-color high resolution image they can run with it. Next time you meet a newspaper reporter, ask them if the story they are working on has "art." Watch their face crumple a bit. Good art is hard to find and is really important for page designs. YOU have amazing art. You have a book cover and probably an author photo. You are already headed for gold! The best art gets the best play.

TV and radio have a similar need. TV needs something they can make into a graphic. Radio needs something they can post on their website along with the show's online feed.

A Short Headline

One of the most difficult jobs for media outlets is coming up with headlines that are short enough for the audience to get through but that still have the correct information. (Here's one way to see this at work: You often see headlines that use the word "dead" instead of killed, murdered, or homicide. This is because those words actually have different legal connotations. In order to get it right without getting in trouble with lawyers, line lengths, and syllables, they use "dead." Just a little insider trick!)

You can help get your message out correctly by providing a short headline option on your fact sheet and on your press release.

Instead of writing:

"Local author and former Marine pens book about the trials and tribulations of motherhood"

Try something more wieldy:

"Ex-Marine pens book on motherhood"

The Press Release Now the press release! Your press release should include a city and dateline and then go right on into the body copy. Again, a sample press release format is available in our free book marketing guide.

The content of your release should be tailored to the angle of the story you want to present. In our example above, the author is a local one, a former U.S. Marine, and she has written a book about motherhood. The book is what the author is selling and why the media outlet is interested in her. What makes her interesting to the audience (and why the media outlet might contact her for an interview) is that she is local and a former Marine.

You don't want to structure your press release content to simply celebrate your ability to publish a book. With modern technology, lots of people are doing it. Your press release should highlight why you are different and why your particular book will be of interest to their audience. Again, "Because I wrote it" just won't cut it.

Keep your press release article short. If a media outlet is interested, they'll most likely rewrite it anyway using the facts you present as their jumping point.

Quotes

One thing that will help get you into an article is providing quotes in the press release. Feel weird inserting your own quotes into your own press release? Think of it like acting. You are acting as a reporter. You aren't writing about "I" your are writing about "an author" who happens to be you.

By including quotes you'll give the reporter the extra flavor they need to write a great story, again, without even having to call you on the phone. If they DO call you, they'll have better questions for you to help futher your book's cause because they'll already have some background on you!

Contact information

Make sure that your contact information is on your fact sheet, your press release, your email signature, and on your cover letters. Do not let anything stand to chance. Don't think, "I'll tell them about my website when they call." More likely your website will get them to call. Make sure any number is made available to them where you would like to be reached: cell numbers, home numbers, email, websites, Facebook, MySpace, etc. Most media outlets are on deadline. If they can't reach you on their schedule, they may just pass you by.

Now you are armed and ready to get started on your next press release. Remember, as you gain great clips for your book, you can include them in your burgeoning press kit for media outlets to draw on. Not only does it give them something to quote, but it shows how in demand you are!

Kindle It’s On Fire: Make Your Book Available to Kindle Users

April 20, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

What is a Kindle?

Kindle is Amazon’s version of an electronic document reader. In other words, it’s a little gadget that allows you to read books on it without having to buy a physical copy of the book.

Amazon allows you to buy e-versions of the book specifically formatted for the Kindle reader device.

The Kindle allows direct downloads from the Amazon site of books, newspapers, and other text documents. The downloads are done wirelessly, so you can add editions to your reader easily.

Readers like the Kindle for several reasons. First off, the Kindle is very portable. You can load several books, magazines, and newspapers on a Kindle and avoid having to take bulky texts with them. Secondly, the Kindle allows for speedy downloads. Why not quickly download what you want to read instead of having to make a trip to the store or wait for shipping? You can have it NOW. It’s the ultimate in instant gratification.

Why should your book be made into a Kindle version?

More and more, readers are turning to electronic readers for their book purchases. For example, Wheatmark author James Best has sold more Kindle versions of his most recent book, “Leadville” than actual copies. It is smart to offer up formats to books that people are using!

Another reason to have your book formatted for Kindle is that it gives your book credibility. If you look at the bestsellers, they all have Kindle versions. Make your book look like a bestseller by simply offering a Kindle version!

Authors do receive royalties on Kindle sales and your Kindle-version book sales do count toward your Great Expectations tally.

Jump into the technological mainstream with a Kindle version of your book today!

Thinking About Self-Publishing? Check Out Our Free Mini-Course!

April 17, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

The Wheatmarkians have created a great new tool for authors who are considering self-publishing, but who may not be ready to bite the bullet, or, who aren't sure if they have enough information to get started.

That's where the 7 Steps to Self-Publishing Success mini-course comes in. The mini-course is a great way to ease into the process without any commitment (swear).

It's really simple. Established to fill a client demand for more information (and we do mostly whatever we can to make our clients happy -- well, short of anything illegal ... I think) about the process while they were working on their manuscripts, the Mighty 7 is a great way to begin thinking about your project from the marketing side and to better educate yourself on what the project will need to be a real success.

With ZERO OBLIGATION (I love writing the spam talk!), you can enroll and see if it is helpful to you. The course is based on our own Grael Norton's experiences and has some incredibly helpful insights into the pitfalls you may find when self-publishing. PLUS! There is an entry that includes some threat of peril (step 3) and you know you HAVE to read about the peril you may not know about, right? Of course you do.

Here's the link to the page where you can sign up for The 7 Steps to Self-Publishing Success mini-course brought to you by Wheatmark, Inc. And again, there is no obligation, no salesman will visit you, we never sell your information to anyone, and you WILL be warned of peril.

Used with our free book marketing workbook, which you will also be getting with the mini-course, you are going to be ready to hit the ground running with your next self-published project (and you still won't have paid a cent!)

You can't miss it! Well, you can ... but don't! It's free, so there is no reason to!

Finding Your Author Platform

April 16, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

Your author platform may seem hard to find, but not if you start looking in the right place.

Selling books is, in the beginning, about building buzz for your book. Later on, as your book builds momentum, you won’t have to work so hard to tell everyone about it. In the early stages, though, you need to get that elbow grease (or the scrolling ball in your mouse) working for you.

Building buzz for your book means building up a network of people who are interested in you, your topic, and finally, your book.

As an example, let’s say you’ve written a book about keeping cockatiels as pets. Where do you begin finding people who might want to buy your book?
The easiest place to begin is online. It’s fast, it’s inexpensive, it never closes, and it doesn’t require assembling people in a physical room at a particular time.

Using online opportunities like blogs, Facebook, and Twitter is the best way to find people who are talking about cockatiels.

As you find virtual sites that talk about cockatiels, begin joining in those conversations. As you build relationships there, you can begin to say things like, “In my book that I am just finishing, I talk about certain feeds that have been shown to cause kidney trouble. My advice is to stick to low-fat seed-based diets.”

Does it say to read your book? Nope. Is your book out yet? Nope. Did you offer valuable information to people who may in the future want to read your pending book and establish trust with them? You betcha! Did you leave room for more questions like, “What kind of feeds can cause kidney trouble?” Aha! Yes, you did, you wily commenter!

With all of these networking forays you want to establish certain things:

  * you are not only trying to sell them something
  * you have the information they are interested in
  * you are trustworthy and helpful
  * you are an available resource that has more to say

There is nothing more irritating to bloggers, groups on Facebook, or those following you on Twitter than to be deluged with comments that are only aimed at selling something. You’ll be blocked, unfriended, and removed from comments with a swift kick as a spammer.

So how do you go about selling them your book? You provide a link to your website or blog that has lots of information available on it about cockatiels. And there just happens to be a link on that website or blog about your book coming out soon. And you can even write information on that website or blog where you mention your personal excitement about your upcoming book release.

This accomplishes a few things:

  * establishes that you are an information source freely available
  * gives readers a chance to experience your writing style
  * gives readers a chance to convert into book buyers without the hard sell
  * makes them feel like you are a cohort or friend

In the end you want to establish a dialogue with interested communities that are using the web to discuss the topics you’ve written about. They will be a key ingredient to spreading the word about what you’ve said, your writings, and most importantly, your book when it’s out for sale!

Endorsements: Pros and cons for the self-published book

April 15, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

Many self-published authors fret over not having endorsements for their book. Do you really need endorsements for your book to sell?

It depends.

An endorsement is only as good as the person who wrote it. If the endorsement is from your neighbor whose only claim to fame is the endorsement on your book, it won’t provide the goals of the endorsement.

The goals of endorsements are three-fold.

First off, they establish credibility to buyers saying, “Someone else has read this book.”

Secondly, they offer insight into the quality of the book. For example, one Wheatmark title, The Big Gamble: Are You Investing or Speculating has an endorsement by Donald Trump. Yes, that Donald Trump. If The Donald likes it and thinks the book is of value, there is a pretty safe bet that you will not be taking a gamble purchasing it.

Finally, an endorsement is great for comparing your taste to someone else’s. Wheatmark recently released The Big Girls Club where an endorser says that at “one minute I was laughing and the next I was crying,” which backs up the book’s claim to be Sex in the City meets Eckhart Tolle. If you think Sex in the City is a funny but emotional show about women, then you might enjoy the way The Big Girls Club is written.

If an endorsement isn’t by a respected leader of the industry you are trying to tap— a professor, journalist, fellow author, etc.—then the endorsement won’t have the professional weight to add the credibility you need.

Endorsements, when effective, can be a useful tool when selling your book. However, they are not the most important.

For self-published authors, getting quality endorsements can be difficult and expensive. Sending review copies to reviewers and authors who don’t end up endorsing your book can get expensive and emotionally difficult.

One of the best ways to get the good word out about your book if you don’t have strong endorsements is to ask everyone who has read and liked your book to review it on sites like Amazon.com.

Positive reviews can provide leaps and bounds better leverage for sales than a vague endorsement from your Aunt Ida.

Will My Book Sell?

April 15, 2009 by Sam Henrie, President

A question I am frequently asked is, “Do you think my book will sell?”

Even if I absolutely love your book, I still don’t know how well it will sell.  I know I’ll buy a copy, but that’s all.

You, the author, have the key information that will tell you if your book will sell.

First is, what are the likely buyers of your type of book looking for, what are their buying habits, where can they be found, and how many of them are there? In almost every case, the author of a book is also a likely buyer of similar books. What do you look for in a book?

Wheatmark does offer some tools to assist you in this area. We have a Marketing Analysis service to help you determine how well you book will sell in a given market. We also offer an Editorial Analysis that will help strengthen your book.

The second part of the equation, though, is how committed you are to building your author platform. Only you can determine how much time, money, and effort you are willing to spend on marketing your book. Even if your actual market will be an easy one to crack, you’ll still have to work diligently to get your book in front of the right readers.

There are hundreds of thousands of reader markets out there, and you, the author, know the tastes and habits of the ones you are writing for.  If you don’t, you need to find out fast.  No one can do this as effectively as you, the expert in your content.  Wheatmark can help you narrow your focus, but in the end, the success of your book will be up to you the author.

So be your own acquisitions editor!  Decide if you have a great book, know its potential buyers, and be committed to doing the work needed to connect with them, and then take the plunge into your next chapter as a successful author!

Continuing Blogger Education

April 13, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager A while back I posted up step-by-step instructions on how to begin a free blog on Blogger.com.

Why Getting on Oprah is the Wrong Goal

April 10, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager She may be the most powerful force in media today, but Oprah is not ready for your book to be in her book club.

So how do you get your book on Oprah?

First you start off with a professional-quality book. A well-developed, well-written, well-edited, and appropriately designed book is the first step to Oprah.

The second step to Oprah is not sending her a copy of your book. Her office likely receives submissions numbering in the thousands each week. Your fabulous tome will be like a needle in a haystack. The way to get your book in front of Oprah is to get your book in front of everyone else, including her scouts. You do this by marketing your book and creating buzz about it.

The more press about your book in print and online using blogs and social marketing tools, the more your book is in the public awareness, and the more likely your book is to be picked up by the media queen’s minions who look for the “next great discovery.”

Is it realistic that your book will make it? It could happen. It really could. Recently Oprah had on a self-published author who wrote a memoir about motherhood. So don’t think that by traditionally publishing your book you’ll be more likely to be on.

However, don’t make Oprah your goal. Your goal, as Wheatmark author Jim Best once said, “is to sell more books this month than you did last month.”

In other words, by continually marketing your book and selling your book to a widening audience, your eventual success will come.

And only then, when you are on your way to thinking, “I didn’t need Oprah!” Maybe she’ll call.

Get started on your marketing plan NOW! Here's a link to our book marketing guide. It's free, ya'll!

The Business of Authoring a Book

April 08, 2009 by Kat Gautreaux, Account Manager

“I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.”
—Peter De Vries

For most book authors, their dream was not to be the president and CEO of a little business.

The reality is, though, that authors are like small companies. They conceive of a product, make the product, find a market for said product and then sell the product to consumers. Of course in authorland, the product is a book and the consumers are readers.

For authors who are planning on selling lots of books to the public, they need to think like a business. Get a marketing plan hammered out, plan the advertising and marketing activities to accompany the launch of the book, and also think about their sales goals for the future of the book up to two years out. How will you continue to spread the word about your book?

From the stand point of development, a book should be thoughtfully written and worked on like a product in a store would be engineered: how will it look on the shelves, will the grammar fall apart like a cheaply sewn t-shirt, how much mark up over the cost should you charge?

By creating an excellent product and by preparing for the sales cycle of your book, your little business of authoring will be off to a great start!

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