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Vol
12 Number 17 - April 29, 2008
In this Issue:
Want to contribute to this newsletter? We are a paying market. Read our guidelines for contributors here: http://www.writingfordollars.com/wfdguidelines.cfm Welcome I'll be attending the OWFI Writer's Conference in Midwest City, Oklahoma this weekend. I'll be "shepherding" author Bob Mayer. The keynote speaker on Friday night is one of my favorite mystery writers, J. A. Jance. I hope you are planning on attending. Say "hello" if you see me. (I'll be wearing a nametag.) Conference info is at OWFI.org. Check out our new article database. We finished adding our whole inventory of past articles from WFD, now over 400 articles are available to search and read. Find just the right information you need to make a few more bucks in the new year. Don't forget our database of writer’s guidelines is readily available to everyone for FREE! All links have been checked within the last year (the date that they were last checked is listed) so you can be sure to have the most up-to-date information. Here are the top-selling writing books at AWOCBooks.com - FREE SHIPPING on selected books! ($2.95 value)
Dan
Case, editor 5 Book Promotion Mistakes and How to Fix Them by Patricia Fry You wrote an amazing book, designed it to perfection and even managed to get it published. But it isn’t selling as well as you thought it would. What went wrong? As the president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and an international speaker, I meet many authors who are disappointed in their book sales. I think it’s fair to say that 100 percent of the time the author has the power to change the situation. Here are five common mistakes first-time authors make and tips for how to repair them: 1: The author doesn’t know that he is responsible for promotion. Obviously, this author didn’t take the time to study the publishing industry or he would have known that his job isn’t over once the book is published. Hopefully, the author will turn to informative sites, newsletters, forums and books where he’ll quickly learn that authorship requires a commitment beyond the proper dotting of i’s and the crossing of t’s. 2: The author doesn’t take the opportunity to build promotion into his book while he’s writing it. Savvy authors think about their target audience while they are writing and designing their books. If yours would make a good reference book, for example, include a complete index. For a novel, choose a setting that is conducive to promotion—a town where residents would welcome your promotional appearances. Give a character a common affliction, interesting hobby or a condition that’s been in the news lately. Build promotion into your how-to book by involving a lot of experts and/or organizations. For a novel, give a character a popular ailment and present it in a positive light. Related associations might agree to help with promotion. 3: The author neglects to establish a platform. A platform is the author’s following, his reach, his way of attracting his target audience. Most successful authors today have a platform in place before they produce a book. Your platform for your book on phobias might be the fact that you’re a psychologist in this area of study, that you suffered a severe phobia for years or that you’ve written about this for years. Even as a novelist, you’ll need a following and this can be established through published stories and an active Web site. 4: The author has unrealistic expectations. Many first-time authors (we’ve all been there) expect to sell their books by the truckloads through mega bookstores. The reality is that few authors can get new books into bookstores. But space on bookstore shelves does not guarantee sales. How can you sell books bookstores? Make a big enough splash with your book that readers are swarming to bookstores asking for it. Appear on TV and radio, present large seminars related to your book and getting tons of press by creating news and submitting press releases to newspapers everywhere. 5: The author gives up. You won’t achieve the level of success you desire if you quit. That is one thing for sure. There’s a lot to consider when entering the huge and competitive publishing business. And promotion is a major consideration. Whether you land a traditional royalty publisher, self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a fee-based POD publishing service, it is up to the author to promote his or her book. And the time to start thinking about promotion is before you ever sit down and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. © 2008 by Patricia Fry Patricia Fry is a career writer, author, speaker and editorial/publishing consultant. She is the president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) www.spawn.org and the author of 27 books, including The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html. Visit her informative blog daily, www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog. 13 Paying Markets Updated or added in our database since April 22, 2008 High - Over $500
Medium - $125 - $500
Low - Less than $125
How To Be Query Free and Profitable by Jennifer Brown Banks “Time is money.” Okay, so I bent the truth a little in the title. Like debt, you’ll probably never be totally “query free.” Particularly if you want your work to appear in some of the major glossies, or if your goal is to be picked up by a commercial publisher for a book. Still, you can enjoy a pretty successful career, save a great deal of time, and earn a good living with out being held hostage by them. And I’m living proof. As a veteran freelance writer, popular relationship columnist, poet, and author with nearly 500 regional and national publishing credits, I confess that I’ve never written one. Nada. It all reverts back to my past---like most “deviant” behavior, I suppose.? In my former life as a banker, I established a real reverence for time. And few people are better at managing it! I had little choice. Back in my numbers-crunching days, missing a deadline by mere minutes could cause a loss of thousands of dollars. Not to mention a few heads to roll! Time is money; it’s the one work related mindset that stuck
with me years afterwards, and that has enabled me to be more prolific
and strategic than many of my writing peers. I like to think of it this way. Remember using Cliff-Notes in college when studying for an exam or writing an essay? Well for me being query free serves the same purpose; it’s merely a short cut to the same destination. Not being governed by them is my way of working smarter not harder. Here’s a brainteaser to help prove my point. How much time do you suppose it takes the average writer to create a perfectly crafted query? One hour? Two? Consider this. In the same time frame, he could have written and sent a 600 word submission out to an Ezine, researched markets, read a small book, conducted an interview, gone to the mall to pick up more writers’ supplies, or any number of tasks on a scribe’s to do list. Get my drift? Just think of all the things you can do with your freelancing freedom! With this in mind, here are a few query-free publications to cash in on. WWW.BEINGSINGLEMAG.COM—Rates vary for 800-1000 word articles on love, health, travel, beauty and finance. Contact the editor at Beingsinglemag@msn.com for writers’ guidelines. WWW.ONLINEDATINGMAGAZINE.COM—Accepts book reviews and articles on online dating and self-improvement. Pays $15.00 for 700 words after publication. WWW.MAHOGANYMAGAZINE.COM—Lifestyle magazine dedicated to improving the lives of families through articles on parenting, marriage, fitness and education. Rates vary. Contact the publisher at info@mahoganymagazine.com for editorial calendar and writers’ guidelines. Typical response time is 2-4 weeks. WWW.MARYELISE.COM—An online publication dedicated to empowering women through positive images and positive writing. Accepts freelance articles on self-esteem, love, health and fashion. Pays $25.00-$35.00 on 700 word pieces, after publication. Once you’ve been successful in landing a few of these gigs and expanding your portfolio, you’ll build your bank account and increase your confidence too. With more leisure and “leverage”, you’ll be unstoppable in reaching new writing heights this year. © 2008 by Jennifer Brown Banks Jennifer Brown Banks is an award-winning poet, columnist, editor, instructor and author of A Paradox In Pink available at AMAZON.COM. Email Jenniferwriter@Yahoo.com
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