By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com
In the midst of all the controversy and drama between Amazon and Hatchette, let's not forget that CreateSpace (which is the self-publishing arm of Amazon) does something that the traditional New York publishing industry could never do. It lets kids make their book publishing dreams come true.
As a book publicist, I'm always scanning the news and trade media for examples of book promotion successes, and I came across one this morning. A ten-year-old Chicago-based boy, Jake Mayer, was featured on the CBS (Chicago) web site because he is writing his second novel which is a sequel to an Amazon category bestseller that he wrote! His first novel, A Tale of Friends, Enemies and Minecraft, has sold more than 14,000 copies on Amazon in only one year. That would be a wonderful feat for an adult, but the fact that a pre-teenager (and, to be fair about it, his family and teachers) made it happen both astonishes and thrills me.
According to the CBS article, A Tale of Friends, Enemies and Minecraft began its life as a school assignment. Jake's father imagined that, once the book was published, it would sell fewer than a dozen copies.
Mr. Mayer was wrong in his projection of book sales, but that seems to be the only thing he was wrong about. He is raising a young man who is an inspiration to all kids, and to everyone who wants to write and publish a book.
Amazon, despite its quirks and shortcomings, has made it possible for Jake Mayer to become a successful novelist at age ten.
This book publicist appreciates the fact that book promotion opportunities have come Jake's way. He's earned them!
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Friday, January 27, 2012
Book Lust Rediscoveries Kindles Book Promotion Potential
Nearly every author who works with this book publicist has a dream: "Get me on NPR!" Any author whose book is featured on "Morning Edition" or any other National Public Radio show will be in literary and book publicity heaven.
Which is why it was particularly interesting for me to come across an article about Nancy Pearl, a librarian who comments about books on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," and who has created the Book Lust Rediscoveries program with Amazon. The program will reprint books some of Pearl's favorite out-of-print titles that were originally published between 1960 and 2000. Pearl will add her own introduction and discussion questions to each reprinted book.
If Pearl puts her stamp of approval on a book than -- fifty years old or not -- there will be instant buzz about the title, and an instant surge of book promotion potential that, ultimately, will be a huge potential gain for the author. So Book Lust Rediscoveries is all good, right? You'd think so, except I ran across the article about Book Lust Rediscoveries in an article (ironically, one that was published on the NPR web site) titled: "Publishers And Booksellers See A 'Predatory' Amazon."
There's no doubt that Amazon's experiments and goals are in conflict with those of many publishing industry professionals. At the same time, the publishing industry is changing so quickly, and so profoundly, that it's almost impossible to single out one company as "all bad" or, even, as "all good."
My job is to keep up with book promotion opportunities, and right now, I'm grateful to Amazon for providing a new book publicity opportunity -- in this case, to books that are no longer in print. Tomorrow, I'm sure I'll lament something else's partnership with Amazon or a decision Amazon has made that can hurt small publishers ... but, at least in this case, I'm willing to give credit where credit is due. And credit is certainly due to Amazon and to Nancy Pearl for their Book Lust Rediscoveries program.
Which is why it was particularly interesting for me to come across an article about Nancy Pearl, a librarian who comments about books on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," and who has created the Book Lust Rediscoveries program with Amazon. The program will reprint books some of Pearl's favorite out-of-print titles that were originally published between 1960 and 2000. Pearl will add her own introduction and discussion questions to each reprinted book.
If Pearl puts her stamp of approval on a book than -- fifty years old or not -- there will be instant buzz about the title, and an instant surge of book promotion potential that, ultimately, will be a huge potential gain for the author. So Book Lust Rediscoveries is all good, right? You'd think so, except I ran across the article about Book Lust Rediscoveries in an article (ironically, one that was published on the NPR web site) titled: "Publishers And Booksellers See A 'Predatory' Amazon."
There's no doubt that Amazon's experiments and goals are in conflict with those of many publishing industry professionals. At the same time, the publishing industry is changing so quickly, and so profoundly, that it's almost impossible to single out one company as "all bad" or, even, as "all good."
My job is to keep up with book promotion opportunities, and right now, I'm grateful to Amazon for providing a new book publicity opportunity -- in this case, to books that are no longer in print. Tomorrow, I'm sure I'll lament something else's partnership with Amazon or a decision Amazon has made that can hurt small publishers ... but, at least in this case, I'm willing to give credit where credit is due. And credit is certainly due to Amazon and to Nancy Pearl for their Book Lust Rediscoveries program.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Book promotion and self-publishing.
As a book publicist, I'm fielding a whole lot of questions about book publishing these days. People seem to understand that, while landing a publishing contract with a mainstream publisher is still the Holy Grail, it's also possible to self publish without stigmatizing the book project -- and while enjoying all the benefits of publishing a book. A self-published book, of course, can serve as a calling card, help disseminate messages, build credibility -- and, perhaps, even generate some revenue, over time, given a successful book promotion campaign.
The funny thing is that, as a book publicist, I have learned that self-published books have become more and more legitimate for the past, oh, five to ten years. These days, I don't see much of a difference in the media's response to a self-published book and their response to a traditionally-published book. As long as a self-published book enjoys national distribution, and as long as it's professionally edited and competently produced, it enjoys as much respect as a traditionally-published book.
I'm also delighted to find new ways to self-publish books through trusted venues, and I'm especially pleased to pass along this opportunity. The online version of Barnes and Noble has created PubIt! to allow all authors (and self-publishers) to make their ebooks available for purchase online at BN.com. Read about the official launch of PubIt!, and find the links you'll need to self-publish your own ebook via PubIt!, at Publishers Weekly's site. For me, one of the best pieces of news is that Adobe's InDesign now lets you convert your file to the .PUB format which is exactly what PubIt! requires.
And, yes, you can launch a successful book promotion campaign that revolves around an ebook. You have to be a bit creative, since your ebook's book publicity campaign probably won't include book signings or book reviews. But you have every reason to expect that, as an expert in your field, you can garner interview opportunities using your ebook (and a solid media kit) to establish your credibility.
It looks as though PubIt! is also planning a service that will let authors self-publish traditionally-printed books, too, in the near future. I gather that this upcoming service (if, indeed, it does come up) will go head-to-head with Amazon's CreateSpace service. (Note that Amazon, too, lets authors self-publish their ebooks very easily, too, as long as it's in the Kindle format. And, fortunately, there's a new plug-in for InDesign that can convert an Adobe file into the format required for a Kindle. How cool is that?)
Kudos to BN.com and to Amazon for turning experts with books to write into authors with published book. And how exciting for this book publicist to be able to venture into the new world of book promotion for authors who publish directly to the bookselling streams -- and bypass the traditional publishing channels that used to have the power to defeat would-be authors before their words were even set to paper.
The funny thing is that, as a book publicist, I have learned that self-published books have become more and more legitimate for the past, oh, five to ten years. These days, I don't see much of a difference in the media's response to a self-published book and their response to a traditionally-published book. As long as a self-published book enjoys national distribution, and as long as it's professionally edited and competently produced, it enjoys as much respect as a traditionally-published book.
I'm also delighted to find new ways to self-publish books through trusted venues, and I'm especially pleased to pass along this opportunity. The online version of Barnes and Noble has created PubIt! to allow all authors (and self-publishers) to make their ebooks available for purchase online at BN.com. Read about the official launch of PubIt!, and find the links you'll need to self-publish your own ebook via PubIt!, at Publishers Weekly's site. For me, one of the best pieces of news is that Adobe's InDesign now lets you convert your file to the .PUB format which is exactly what PubIt! requires.
And, yes, you can launch a successful book promotion campaign that revolves around an ebook. You have to be a bit creative, since your ebook's book publicity campaign probably won't include book signings or book reviews. But you have every reason to expect that, as an expert in your field, you can garner interview opportunities using your ebook (and a solid media kit) to establish your credibility.
It looks as though PubIt! is also planning a service that will let authors self-publish traditionally-printed books, too, in the near future. I gather that this upcoming service (if, indeed, it does come up) will go head-to-head with Amazon's CreateSpace service. (Note that Amazon, too, lets authors self-publish their ebooks very easily, too, as long as it's in the Kindle format. And, fortunately, there's a new plug-in for InDesign that can convert an Adobe file into the format required for a Kindle. How cool is that?)
Kudos to BN.com and to Amazon for turning experts with books to write into authors with published book. And how exciting for this book publicist to be able to venture into the new world of book promotion for authors who publish directly to the bookselling streams -- and bypass the traditional publishing channels that used to have the power to defeat would-be authors before their words were even set to paper.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Amazon
Amazon has recently implemented a policy change that may or may not affect all of us in the publishing industry. I can't quite figure out what policy Amazon is changing, however, and I've been scratching my head over this for two days. I've now read three articles on the subject (here's one article from LibraryThing itself), and I'm no wiser than I was before.
Here's the part that I think I understand. LibraryThing is moving book-buying links to all booksellers besides Amazon from its main pages to subsidiary pages. It's doing that, if I understand correctly, because Amazon will no longer share information with any subsidiaries that have links to booksellers other than Amazon on their home pages.
Here's the part that puzzles me, as a book publicist. All of my clients, it would be fair to say, have web sites (authors and publishers should know, at this point, that book web sites are an integral part of any book promotion campaign). And most of them -- not all of them, but most of them -- work with multiple booksellers and link to them on their web sites. What does Amazon want from these authors? Does Amazon want these authors to only provide book-buying links to Amazon on their sites? Well, yes, I'm sure they want that. But does Amazon's policy change mean that authors will be penalized if they include book-buying links to, say, Borders and BN.com on their sites?
At first blush, I'd say that authors' web sites will not be affected by Amazon's policy change. I say that because an author doesn't have to be an Amazon affiliate in order to have a book-buying link to Amazon on his or her web site. Authors can put generic links to Amazon on the home pages of their web sites (or, for that matter, on subsidiary pages), and then they'll be flying under Amazon's radar -- I think. However, I don't know for sure. I don't know for sure that authors would be penalized by Amazon for having book-buying links to booksellers other than Amazon on their home pages if they catch Amazon's attention -- say, by having a bestselling book.
I can't make sense of Amazon's policy change, and I'm wondering whether anyone can. Is Amazon acting like a toddler who needs to test his/her limits, or is it actually setting sensible policy rules? That probably remains to be seen.
Here's the part that I think I understand. LibraryThing is moving book-buying links to all booksellers besides Amazon from its main pages to subsidiary pages. It's doing that, if I understand correctly, because Amazon will no longer share information with any subsidiaries that have links to booksellers other than Amazon on their home pages.
Here's the part that puzzles me, as a book publicist. All of my clients, it would be fair to say, have web sites (authors and publishers should know, at this point, that book web sites are an integral part of any book promotion campaign). And most of them -- not all of them, but most of them -- work with multiple booksellers and link to them on their web sites. What does Amazon want from these authors? Does Amazon want these authors to only provide book-buying links to Amazon on their sites? Well, yes, I'm sure they want that. But does Amazon's policy change mean that authors will be penalized if they include book-buying links to, say, Borders and BN.com on their sites?
At first blush, I'd say that authors' web sites will not be affected by Amazon's policy change. I say that because an author doesn't have to be an Amazon affiliate in order to have a book-buying link to Amazon on his or her web site. Authors can put generic links to Amazon on the home pages of their web sites (or, for that matter, on subsidiary pages), and then they'll be flying under Amazon's radar -- I think. However, I don't know for sure. I don't know for sure that authors would be penalized by Amazon for having book-buying links to booksellers other than Amazon on their home pages if they catch Amazon's attention -- say, by having a bestselling book.
I can't make sense of Amazon's policy change, and I'm wondering whether anyone can. Is Amazon acting like a toddler who needs to test his/her limits, or is it actually setting sensible policy rules? That probably remains to be seen.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Befriend Amazon.
There's been plenty of buzz recently about a glitch (or, perhaps, something far more purposeful and sinister than a glitch) in Amazon's ranking system. (If you want to catch up on the story, click on the New York Times story here.) There's been a copyright battle brewing between the Authors Guild and Amazon over the Kindle 2's "text-to-speech" functionality. (For more on that story, click directly on the Authors Guild Web site.)
But, although beating up Amazon for its myriad controversial choices (or glitches) may seem like a fun and productive sport for publishing industry professionals, I have a hunch we'd all be better served to get to know Amazon a little bit better and learn how to work with it. Specifically, tap into Amazon's book promotion opportunities.
There's a whole world of book promotion potential of Amazon that lies beneath the bookseller's surface. I wish I could say that, ardent book publicist that I am, I found out about Amazon's book publicity opportunities by clicking around the site and uncovering hidden treasures for authors and publishers buried beneath Amazon's surface . . . but the truth is that I read a lot, and most of what I uncovered regarding Amazon's hidden book promotion opportunities, I found via a wonderful book by Brent Sampson called Sell Your Book on Amazon: Top-Secret Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers. I'm not shilling for Sampson (in fact, I don't know him and, except for the fact that I bought a copy of his book, I haven't done business with him). But I'd like to see every author (yes, even mainstream authors can benefit from understanding the book publicity potential of Amazon) pick up a copy of his book.
Amazon's offerings and -- you'll know this if you've tried to work with Amazon using any guides you've come across -- its URLs are constantly changing. So I read everything I come across regarding Amazon's book promotion opportunities so that I can keep up with the available features. (Obviously, I try to keep up-to-date with Barnes and Noble's online book promotion offerings to which, while less robust than Amazon's, are still worth checking out. For example, have you checked out Barnes and Noble's new Blogging Booksellers feature?)
Amazon isn't perfect, and we can all take issue with something about its functionality, vision, style, and the like. (I'm tempted to say that Amazon is only human, but it isn't, and I think that's the point here.) But, anyway, why not take a look at the other side of the story? Why not explore the ambitious and evolving infrastructure that Amazon has built to help authors and publishers gain online visibility for their books? (Yes, of course, I know that helping authors and publishers promote its books through Amazon benefits Amazon as well as authors and publishers, but we're not beating up on Amazon right now, remember?). Just tap into one or two of its book promotion opportunities that so many authors and publishers tend to miss (such as its Wiki that will accept all entries from authors and publishers, at this time), for starters, and see where it leads.
It's big, controversial, powerful, and I know the temptation is to spurn any corporation that boasts those attributes. But Amazon offers so many benefits for authors and publishers . . . so why not befriend Amazon, and see whether its book promotion opportunities can do some good for your book sales?
But, although beating up Amazon for its myriad controversial choices (or glitches) may seem like a fun and productive sport for publishing industry professionals, I have a hunch we'd all be better served to get to know Amazon a little bit better and learn how to work with it. Specifically, tap into Amazon's book promotion opportunities.
There's a whole world of book promotion potential of Amazon that lies beneath the bookseller's surface. I wish I could say that, ardent book publicist that I am, I found out about Amazon's book publicity opportunities by clicking around the site and uncovering hidden treasures for authors and publishers buried beneath Amazon's surface . . . but the truth is that I read a lot, and most of what I uncovered regarding Amazon's hidden book promotion opportunities, I found via a wonderful book by Brent Sampson called Sell Your Book on Amazon: Top-Secret Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers. I'm not shilling for Sampson (in fact, I don't know him and, except for the fact that I bought a copy of his book, I haven't done business with him). But I'd like to see every author (yes, even mainstream authors can benefit from understanding the book publicity potential of Amazon) pick up a copy of his book.
Amazon's offerings and -- you'll know this if you've tried to work with Amazon using any guides you've come across -- its URLs are constantly changing. So I read everything I come across regarding Amazon's book promotion opportunities so that I can keep up with the available features. (Obviously, I try to keep up-to-date with Barnes and Noble's online book promotion offerings to which, while less robust than Amazon's, are still worth checking out. For example, have you checked out Barnes and Noble's new Blogging Booksellers feature?)
Amazon isn't perfect, and we can all take issue with something about its functionality, vision, style, and the like. (I'm tempted to say that Amazon is only human, but it isn't, and I think that's the point here.) But, anyway, why not take a look at the other side of the story? Why not explore the ambitious and evolving infrastructure that Amazon has built to help authors and publishers gain online visibility for their books? (Yes, of course, I know that helping authors and publishers promote its books through Amazon benefits Amazon as well as authors and publishers, but we're not beating up on Amazon right now, remember?). Just tap into one or two of its book promotion opportunities that so many authors and publishers tend to miss (such as its Wiki that will accept all entries from authors and publishers, at this time), for starters, and see where it leads.
It's big, controversial, powerful, and I know the temptation is to spurn any corporation that boasts those attributes. But Amazon offers so many benefits for authors and publishers . . . so why not befriend Amazon, and see whether its book promotion opportunities can do some good for your book sales?
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Could Amazon someday make major publishers superfluous?
Could Amazon someday make major publishers superfluous? Amazon probably would like to offer the perfect publication and delivery system for books (I want a Kindle, as soon as a few of the current kinks -- big and small -- are worked out). And Amazon has already revolutionized the book publishing industry.
Amazon offers distribution for nearly all books in print. That means that, even if Barnes and Noble/Borders/independent bricks-and-mortar bookstores don't carry a book, media consumers can still buy it ... which, by extension, means that a book promotion campaign can be a worthwhile investment. That was not the case B.A. (Before Amazon), when an author who sought book promotion opportunities but whose book was difficult to purchase could not benefit from media visibility. I remember those days well, because as a book publicist with integrity, I used to turn down the opportunity to represent self-published books just for that reason.
With the advent of Amazon, media consumers could suddenly buy books online as soon as they saw, or heard about, or read about the author ... so book promotion opportunities could become sales opportunities, too. And that was true whether your book was published by a mainstream publishing house or whether you had your own, as-yet-unknown imprint (or were working with an obscure, specialized book publishing house).
So Amazon has already affected book promotion, and it has changed our book-buying habits, and it probably holds the key to our future reading rituals. But could Amazon ever make major publishers superfluous? We know that authors who self-publish their work can use BookSurge (or not) and national book promotion campaigns to get their books in front of the masses. But would bestselling authors ever jump ship from major houses to Amazon's publishing and delivery systems? Would authors earn more money if they did? What about the other side of it -- what would authors sacrifice if they forfeited the prestigious imprints on their books and published directly through Amazon?
Check out this article, "Why the Lack of a Jeff Bezos Dooms Mainstream Publishing," in Dear Author for an interesting take on why Amazon might, eventually, render mainstream publishing houses just so much extra baggage for the most successful authors (it goes without saying that, for most authors, mainstream publishing was never an option).
As the article points out, mainstream publishers are cowering in the corner, bemoaning poor book sales and lamenting the fact that "no one is reading anymore." At the same time, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is essentially experimenting with different ideas every minute, and finding success with enough of them to be truly excited about the future of publishing. Given those two distinct camps -- the chest-beating, traditional publishers and the future-facing Amazon -- isn't it apparent that, one day, Amazon could make major publishers superfluous?
Could be. And, if that happens -- harsh though this may sound -- I'd have to say that major publishers deserve what they get. If you're not growing and changing, then your stagnating ... and nothing good has ever come from standing still, in publishing or in any other industry.
Amazon offers distribution for nearly all books in print. That means that, even if Barnes and Noble/Borders/independent bricks-and-mortar bookstores don't carry a book, media consumers can still buy it ... which, by extension, means that a book promotion campaign can be a worthwhile investment. That was not the case B.A. (Before Amazon), when an author who sought book promotion opportunities but whose book was difficult to purchase could not benefit from media visibility. I remember those days well, because as a book publicist with integrity, I used to turn down the opportunity to represent self-published books just for that reason.
With the advent of Amazon, media consumers could suddenly buy books online as soon as they saw, or heard about, or read about the author ... so book promotion opportunities could become sales opportunities, too. And that was true whether your book was published by a mainstream publishing house or whether you had your own, as-yet-unknown imprint (or were working with an obscure, specialized book publishing house).
So Amazon has already affected book promotion, and it has changed our book-buying habits, and it probably holds the key to our future reading rituals. But could Amazon ever make major publishers superfluous? We know that authors who self-publish their work can use BookSurge (or not) and national book promotion campaigns to get their books in front of the masses. But would bestselling authors ever jump ship from major houses to Amazon's publishing and delivery systems? Would authors earn more money if they did? What about the other side of it -- what would authors sacrifice if they forfeited the prestigious imprints on their books and published directly through Amazon?
Check out this article, "Why the Lack of a Jeff Bezos Dooms Mainstream Publishing," in Dear Author for an interesting take on why Amazon might, eventually, render mainstream publishing houses just so much extra baggage for the most successful authors (it goes without saying that, for most authors, mainstream publishing was never an option).
As the article points out, mainstream publishers are cowering in the corner, bemoaning poor book sales and lamenting the fact that "no one is reading anymore." At the same time, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is essentially experimenting with different ideas every minute, and finding success with enough of them to be truly excited about the future of publishing. Given those two distinct camps -- the chest-beating, traditional publishers and the future-facing Amazon -- isn't it apparent that, one day, Amazon could make major publishers superfluous?
Could be. And, if that happens -- harsh though this may sound -- I'd have to say that major publishers deserve what they get. If you're not growing and changing, then your stagnating ... and nothing good has ever come from standing still, in publishing or in any other industry.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Change, Change, Change
Well, literary boys and girls, I'm sorry to be the book publicist to break it to you, but...well, there's just not easy way to say this. Amazon and Borders are getting a divorce.
It wasn't anything that you did. In fact, it wasn't about you at all. It was just that Borders needed its own Web site. Sometimes, that happens, even when two companies loved each other once upon a time and cohabitated (or, at least, shared a Web site) for years and years (in this case, seven years).
Borders new Web site, you may not be surprised to learn, is Borders.com/. And Publishers Weekly's story about the Amazon / Borders breakup is right here.
Note that Baker and Taylor is handling fulfillment for Borders.com. Also, whereas Amazon offers free shipping for book orders that total more than $25, Borders lets you pick up orders at your local bricks-and-mortar bookstore for just the price of the gas you'll need to get there. Hmmm....
It wasn't anything that you did. In fact, it wasn't about you at all. It was just that Borders needed its own Web site. Sometimes, that happens, even when two companies loved each other once upon a time and cohabitated (or, at least, shared a Web site) for years and years (in this case, seven years).
Borders new Web site, you may not be surprised to learn, is Borders.com/. And Publishers Weekly's story about the Amazon / Borders breakup is right here.
Note that Baker and Taylor is handling fulfillment for Borders.com. Also, whereas Amazon offers free shipping for book orders that total more than $25, Borders lets you pick up orders at your local bricks-and-mortar bookstore for just the price of the gas you'll need to get there. Hmmm....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)