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Book Marketing and Publishing Tips for Authors–

eZine Issue #103 January 1, 2020
Publisher: Judith Briles

Practical Publishing Advice and Guidance for Authors

In This Issue
      
1. January program … tick tock - it’s all about a book morph and marketing—a two-parter to kick off the New Year in 3 days!

2. Author Tools … Discover Teamwork

3. Webinar … Get Ready to Grab the Media’s Attention

4. Hot podcasts for JANUARY … add to your calendar

     5. Question of the Week … How should I work with a publicist?

     6. Book Shepherd "Fun" of the Week …
New Years’         Resolutions by Pets

This Week Under The Book Shepherd’s Roof:

Hello and Good Publishing Day to YOU.


If you are wondering where last year went … STOP … and get over it! It’s time to noodle where you want this brand, spankin’ New Year to go for you, for your book, for ??? It’s a new decade birthing with 2020. So, what’s in your Game Plan? Are you thinking, noodling, what can you do to make this THE YEAR of Author Success? The 20/20 visual brings a thought of perfect vision—yet, is it? To me, it’s a window of opportunity—what’s on your sidelines that isn’t in focus … that with some tweaking, can deliver clarity to what you, your books, your quest is all about?

My decorations are down, packed and the "season" has been put away one more time. The chief cooking officer’s hat (that’s me) is shelved for a bit. I’m gearing up for departing in 24 days with 34 authors for my annual Publishing at Sea adventure and looking forward to it.
Today is a "kickback" day for many; a "recovering" day for many; and for me, "a cleanup the email lists" day.

Wishing you all a wonderful planning week for 2020 and an amazing New Year. Make it one that seeds and soars your success.


 
The end of the year always brings in lots of events and things to do. Add these to your calendar now. Details will all be posted under the Events tab on the website.





1. January 4 – Author Saturday Program – creating kids books (even if you write adult nonfiction)/

2. January 11 – AuthorYOU Salons from 8.30 to 11.30 (plan forward)

3. January 14 – Webinar Get Ready to Grab the Media’s Attention at 4.30 p.m. Mountain time

4. February 1 – Author Saturday Program

5. February 8 - AuthorYOU Salons from 8.30 to 11.30 at Judith’s home, Casa Quatar


The January AuthorYOU Salon will be held on Saturday, January 11th join me at my home—we call it Casa Quatar! All start at 8.30 am —we’ve moved the time up by popular demand!

The AuthorYOU Salons
if you are in Colorado—come for coffee or tea … it’s on me. It’s a perfect way to start your Saturday for author savvy and know-how.

Details HERE.  
https://www.meetup.com/AuthorYOUSalons/events/260321129/

 
Want Tips for Authoring and Publishing? Tomorrow on the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast, visualize 2020 for social media strategies.
 
 
JOIN the new AuthorYOU …

If you don’t, it’s a publishing boo-boo. AuthorYOU promises its members a lot and delivers more. And wait ‘til you see the bundle of goodies and discounts we are starting to post on the website for Members only. All will be up before the end of the month. Yup, it’s a good idea. Not a paid-up member?

JOIN AuthorYOU today. https://mp.gg/e9d1o
And a heads up—hold the FIRST Saturday of each month for our live event meetings—

1
JANUARY 4, 2020 …
Be there … it’s the perfect way to kick off the year—a two-parter.
in just 3 days.

Part I: It’s about the Kids … Write and Publish a Children’s Book
Whether you are currently writing books for kids … or you hadn’t thought about it … January will kick off our Author Year of Possibilities. And why not start with books for kids? If you write for the adult reader, did you know that the book you have already written speaks to all ages when presented in another format?

What message is in your book that children need to hear?

· Fantasy can be changed to be appropriate for all ages.

· Villains and Heroes softened for younger audiences.

· The plot and theme can be used to share life lessons

Because words change the world, you have an opportunity to change the lives of children. Changing your audience is simply talking to short people without big words.

Part II: We will explore marketing strategies for the New Year.

Who should attend the January 4th program? Authors who are already writing for kids. Authors who have been thinking about writing for kids. Authors who didn’t think they could or just hadn’t thought about it beyond their current book.

Show up, have fun, and learn with the guidance of multi-bestselling, award-winning children’s and adult author, Lisa Reinicke.

When: Saturday, January 4, 2020

Where: Smokey Hill Library, 5430 S Biscay Circle, Centennial, CO  80015

Time: 9 am to Noon

Cost:  $25 for AuthorYOU members, $35 for NonMembers. Price increases $ 10 on December 31st.

Register: https://authoru.org/events.html

2 Author Tools –Discover Teamwork.

If you have multiple people working on a project with you, you might want to consider Teamwork as a portal to keep it all together. You can test it out with up to two free projects indefinitely, and addons are reasonable. Quick and easy to set up. Try it, you might like it.Trello.com and Asana.com are also excellent to project management.   https://www.teamwork.com/



3 Webinar – Tuesday, January 14
 
Webinar – Tuesday, January 14
3.30 Pacific-4.30 Mountain-5.30 Central, 6.30 Eastern

Get Ready to Grab the Media’s Attention

Do you want to jump-start YOU as an author expert, YOUR book and YOUR publishing business in 2020?  Bet you do. Make sure you register for my first webinar of the new year in this new decade.

Tap into a Dynamic Duo:
How to Use PR to Boost Your SEO and Get Found Online as an Expert

REGISTER: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7764133593713457921

A good public relations campaign is an important part of getting found and known as an expert. Today, putting your PR online is essential to online marketing success and a key factor to improving your search engine optimization results. Your online PR creates links to your content, awareness of your brand, and helps build your reputation – all essentials for today’s successful authors.

Join us on January 14th at 4.30 PM Mountain time when Mitchell Davis, the Online PR Expert and Publisher of the PR site ExpertClick.com and the Yearbook of Experts will share his tips and best practices for getting found online pronto. You will learn:

· Ideas for content authors can use, from News Releases to NewsJacking

· Six methods for pushing your content online to get found (one requires only 7 keystrokes)

· How inbound links are still one of the key SEO tools, and how you can choose 39 topics that link from tens of thousands of other ExpertClick press room and news releases to your press room, and then link to promote your website.

What does PR Week, The New York Times and CNN have in common? They have all referred to ExpertClick as "an invaluable tool" and "dial in an expert". PR Week even called ExpertClick the "dating service of PR." Got your attention? Hope so—be there—it’s a smart way to kick start the year!

Mitchell Davis, the publisher of www.ExpertClick.com. Founded in 1984, it is a leading platform for experts to get noticed by meeting planners, the media and their ideal clients. ExpertClick.com also helps meeting planners find authors for events.

Mitchell is a graduate of Georgetown University. He currently serves as Director-General International Platform Association that was founded by Daniel Webster in 1831. He also served as an Advisory Board Member of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts.  


Recent Webinar Replays
Slaying the Amazon Marketing Ad Dragon December 5th Replay
Have you ever wondered ...?


Have you ever wondered ...?
·   How can I focus on writing and publishing instead of constantly promoting my books?

·   How can I get consistent sales of full priced books full-priced just short-term spikes during promotions?

·   How can my book stand out when there are SO many competing books on Amazon and it feels like pulling teeth to get sales?

·  How do I get reviews and build my audience FAST if I'm starting from scratch?

·  Where can I outsource the work I don't want to do?

Note: If you want 1,001 ways to market your book, this isn't for you.
If you want to 80/20 concepts, the 20% that leads to 80% of your results ... then you'll need to check out this free live training called Automatic Book Sales System we're doing Thursday, December 5th at NOON Mountain time.

Replay here:


November 7th Replay

Audiobooks are booming in popularity, and they're only growing.
With so many people craving audiobooks these days, if you're not providing them, you could be losing out on extra royalties every month.  

The cool thing is, unlike eBooks, it's not overly crowded so you stand a much better chance of having your books be seen and sold there.

I'm doing a free webinar training with Derek Doepker on how you can start profiting with audiobooks.


Creating Your Book Launch REPLAY of Tuesday, Nov 12

Oh boy … It’s happening… your book has arrived, and your readers want to know. It’s grand news … but what do you do to kick it off? To bring attention?
How do you shout it out? What?

-Should you create an "event"?
-Should you do a social media campaign?
-Should you have a party?
-Should you do press releases?
-Should you do ….?

REPLAY here:  https://vimeo.com/372844465


4
Hot podcasts slated for this month
You can always listen in via our websites: www.AuthorYOU.org  (click on the On the Air image on the Home page—wait for it to upload. Or www.TheBookShepherd.com (click on the Resources tab).

January 2How to Convert Your Expertise to the Kids Market – Lisa Reinicke

January 9 Essential Publishing Success Tools – Judith Briles

January 16Working with Literary Agents – Sandra BondWhy and How to Collaborate with a Publicist - Joan Stewart

January 23– For Book PR – Questions that Most Publicists Will Ask – Joan Stewart

January 30 - How to Find and Work with an Agent - Sandra Bond

5
Questions of the Week:


Question: How should I work with a publicist for my book?

Answer: First, what are your expectations? In my opinion, your publicist will be the master of the press release, creating a few to reach out to the media. He or she should have contacts for major outlets—TV, radio, print. Some have expertise in social media—they should be pushing you and your book out within their channels. The "low hanging fruit"—the Weeklies, local stations, bookstores—you should handle. Understand this: a publicist can be pricey, running several thousands of dollars a month. Know your budget; determine up front what you can handle; ask if the publicist specializes in certain types of books or genres; what authors they’ve already worked with. I will be doing a few podcasts this coming month on this topic.

6
Book Shepherd "Fun" or an "Uh-Oh" of the Week

Love it when I find a fun shorty—a quick smile, a laugh out loud, a sip of tea … and back to work—perfect. Love this: New Year's Resolutions as Told by Pets

Get your copy today – Available in Print, eBook, Audiobook  http://bit.ly/1000000speech
You can pick my brain … minimum time is 30 minutes. If you need one-on-one-time with me, I’m always open for a few minutes to give you some quick input. But, and it’s a BIG BUT, many call and expect far more than a few minutes.

This is called a "consult" and I would be delighted to schedule time with you for "just you and your many questions" that need answers. You can book time with me it at: https://thebookshepherd.com/pick-judiths-brain


Author Friendly Friday this week …

Join Author Friendly Fridays: a fun, sharing and a dynamic closed group. You can join in the next week. It’s a full hour when you can ask questions—any question. And, I always include a few strategies to get your authoring life ahead of the competition.

It’s for paid subscribers ONLY and we do it on Zoom.


This is how each call starts: I share a few strategies, tips and tools that attendees can immediately start to use. All share … and ask plenty of questions. They get answers. Definitely an excellent way to start a Friday. Those of you who aren’t participating, you are making a mistake. I love the variety of books and authors who have chosen to participate. What’s also fun, is the energy that can be felt with what everyone is working on. Love it!

Here’s the link to take advantage of it and subscribe: https://thebookshepherd.com/product/author-friendly-fridays-subscription  

Podcast expands to 7 networks … Follow us and learn … new shows every Thursday.

Here’s the master link for iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/author-u-your-guide-to-book/id493527713?mt=2&ign-Jampt=uo%3D4

And, if you have listened, support our podcast and post a review. Thank you!

The AuthorYOU – Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast is now heard on SEVEN podcast channels. How cool is that? Listeners can tune into the weekly (always new – no repeats) show on:


Get the latest #AuthorU-Your Guide to #Book #Publishing radio podcast with @MyBookShepherd via iTunes here:   http://bit.ly/PublishingPodcast


That’s my author and publishing news for today … what’s yours?
About Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd

Book Publishing expert Judith Briles, aka The Book Shepherd
has shepherded more than 1,000 authors and created 500 best-sellers and award-winning books. She knows publishing inside and out from both the traditional and independent sides. Judith is an advocate for authors within her blogs, podcasts and speaking engagements. What’s her pet peeve? Two words: publishing predators.

She hosts the podcast AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing that generates over 100,000 downloads a month. Her website is www.TheBookShepherd, email: JudithBriles.com and phone: 303-885-2207.

The Book Shepherd
 
 
 
 


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