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Absolute Write Newsletter: June 16, 2004 http://www.AbsoluteWrite.com An Absolute Write Publication ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Welcome, writers! If you are interested in screenwriting, freelance writing, playwriting, writing novels, nonfiction, comic book writing, greeting cards, poetry, songwriting, or-- well, you get the idea-- you're in the right place. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ In this issue: 1. From the Editor 2. Special Offers and Announcements 3. New This Week -Reader Requests -INTERVIEW: Kenn Amdahl By Jenna Glatzer -ARTICLE: Signature Collection By Lawrence Block -ARTICLE: Fair Trades for Free Speaking By Lynda Curtin -ARTICLE: Four Powerful Ways Authors Can Attract More Readers (and Buyers) Faster By Bob Baker -Writers' Guidelines -Fre.e Articles by Jenna 4. Classifieds 5. Classes 6. Affiliates ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ** Unsubscribe instructions are also found at the end of this email. ** ** TO SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE: To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, visit http://www.absolutewrite.com/subscriptions.htm and enter your email address in the field provided. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ * INFINITY PUBLISHING. YOU and YOUR BOOK are all that matter. How will YOU and YOUR BOOK get published? There are more ways to successfully publish a book than ever before. You don't need an agent, just a well-written book. Provide us your name and address, and we'll send you our free "sample book/publishing guide." Because at Infinity Publishing, YOU and YOUR BOOK are all that matter. http://www.bbotw.com/submission.asp ----------------------------- * MANUSCRIPTS WANTED! Traditional publisher seeking manuscripts. Write: jonabooks@sbcglobal.net, or JoNa Books, P. O. Box 336, Bedford, IN 47421. http://www.jonabooks.com. ----------------------------- * Live the Romantic Life of a Travel Writer Get paid to write about white sand Caribbean beaches... wildlife Sanctuaries in Borneo... Indian Ocean hideaways... Rome... Paris....If you ever dreamed about the romantic life of a travel writer, here's an unusual opportunity to get your first assignment. http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sh/aw42/ ----------------------------- * LOOKING FOR PAYING MARKETS? ABSOLUTE WRITE CAN HELP! Subscribe to the Absolute Markets PREMIUM Edition for just $15 a year and get all the writing markets we can cram into your inbox! We've got calls for freelance writers, screenwriters, editors, translators, greeting card writers... see a sample issue here: http://www.absolutemarkets.com ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ 1. From the Editor ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Hiya writers! Yes, yes, Im on my honeymoon right now, and no, Im not actually writing this from there. Im doing it in advance and my partner Bob will be sending it on its merry way to you. I actually agreed to let Anthony fish on our honeymoon, so right about now I may be knee deep in a bait bucket with a hook stuck in my ear. Romantic, no? Hope youre having a good week. This is an abridged issue. Ill resume our regular format the first week of July. Enjoy the issue! Write on, Jenna Glatzer Editor-in-Chief http://www.absolutewrite.com Read about Jennas books at www.absolutewrite.com/jenna/books.htm ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ 2. Special Offers and Announcements ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ * The World's Best "Job" Imagine a job in which you set your own hours, and live wherever you please: at the beach, in the mountains, in an apartment in Paris, London, or Berlin! Here's how you can learn the secrets of this little-known, lucrative business http://www.thewriterslife.com/bb/aw42 ----------------------------- * THE NEVERENDING EBOOK OF WRITING MARKETS Pay once, get 100 new markets every month. June's edition has guidelines for 1000 paying markets for writers! Discover new places to sell your writing today. http://hop.clickbank.net/?absolutewr/dallas43 ----------------------------- * BE A BEST-SELLER AT AMAZON.COM IN 4 WEEKS! Get your book to the top of the charts with this simple, step-by-step strategy. If you buy this program from the link below, we'll be happy to announce your best-seller day to our 73,000 readers! (Forward your receipt to jenna@absolutewrite.com and tell us about your big day.) http://ProactiveBestSellerSecrets.com/AbsoluteWrite ----------------------------- * GREAT PRICES ON INKJET CARTRIDGES! SAVE UP TO 75%! FREE SHIPPING! 1-YEAR Risk Free Guarantee! http://www.absolutewrite.com/site/inkjet.htm ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ * ADVERTISE HERE! NOW OVER 73,000 SUBSCRIBERS! Could your company benefit from reaching more than 73,000 subscribers weekly? No reasonable offer will be denied! http://www.absolutewrite.com/site/advertising.htm or advertising@absolutewrite.com Subscribe to our Last-Minute Advertising Deals newsletter and receive special rates on advertising not available elsewhere. Send an e-mail to advertising@absolutewrite.com with "Subscribe" in the Subject line. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ 3. New This Week ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ========================= READER REQUEST ========================= For an assignment for a national magazine, I'm looking for anecdotes from moms who dealt successfully with any negative aspect of motherhood that they weren't necessarily prepared for: the blues, being overwhelmed, life changing drastically since baby arrived, hormone overload, i.e. crying at the drop of a hat etc., isolation from staying home with baby, resentments that your spouse wasn't helping out like you thought he would, etc. (basically anything negative at all). If you'd be willing to share a brief anecdote, please email me stating how you overcame one of these in some way: by asking for more help, getting a new new mindset about the problem, seeking professional guidance, having a heart to heart with spouse etc. Thank you! nelsonje@bellsouth.net ========================= INTERVIEW: KENN AMDAHL Interview by Jenna Glatzer ========================= I got a letter from Joey Amdahl (one of our subscribers) last week telling me about his dad, Kenn. ???My dad is a self published author (6 books) and he's managed to make a living for the past ten years off of his books,??? Joey wrote. That raised my eyebrows because its an unusual feat. ???He basically spends his days gardening, writing and watching Star Trek repeats at 4:00.??? Okay, now I had to know more. I looked up Kenn Amdahl and found that he is author or coauthor of: There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings Algebra Unplugged Calculus for Cats The Land of Debris and the Home of Alfredo His company, Clearwater Publishing, (www.clearwaterpublishing.com) has also published The Barefoot Fisherman: a fishing book for kids by his son, Paul Amdahl, (www.barefootfisherman.com) and Economics for the Impatient by CA Turner. Hes the immediate past president of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (www.cipabooks.com) and founder of Book Organizations of Colorado (www.coloradobook.org). In his spare time, he co-hosts an author interview TV show called ???Off the Page??? on Channel 8 in Broomfield, Colorado, and sings and plays guitar in an acoustic group, Cottonwood, that has two CDs out. Heres what Kenn had to say in our interview: Q: Your first book, There Are No Electrons, was rejected 89 times before you decided to self-publish it. What made you decide to go ahead with it after so many rejections? A: I ran out of places to submit it. Also, people who read the book liked it and seemed to learn a lot about electronics, sometimes without realizing it. One woman, a magazine editor with no interest in electronics whatsoever, said she liked the book a lot, thought it was funny and well written. I asked if shed learned anything from it. She answered, ???Well, no, I dont think so.??? That was discouraging. I asked casually what she thought a half-wave rectifier might be. She immediately said it was something to convert AC into pulsating DC. ???Ah,??? I said to myself, ???the book works.??? After several similar incidents I decided that all those Real Publishers were simply wrong. I started reading books on ???how to publish??? and pushed forward. Q: How did you determine that there would be a market for this sort of book? A: I called community colleges and trade schools in my area asking how many people enrolled in their ???Introduction to Electronics??? course. Then I extrapolated those results very scientifically, committed some math on them, and decided a big trainload of people take such a course every year across the country. Thats my primary market, and it replaces itself every year. If I could sell to ten percent of a trainload every year, I thought, Id be in business. Q: As you wrote in the book description, "It may be the only 'introduction to electronics book' with back cover comments by Dave Barry, Ray Bradbury, Clive Cussler, and George Garrett..." I'm pretty sure you're right. How in the world did you achieve this feat? Did you know all of these people personally? A: I met George Garrett at the Aspen Writers Conference, he had been kind and helpful to me then, so I decided to push my luck. I wrote the others personalized letters, trying hard to dazzle them with my writing. Instead, I think I instilled a deep sense of pity in them, which is even better. Q: Your son tells me you've been making a living off of your books for ten years now, after self-publishing six books. That's an amazing accomplishment. How did you build up marketing and distribution for your books? A: Ive never spent money on advertising. The books have developed an audience by word of mouth and pity (see previous question). I send review copies to magazines and hope for the best. Luckily, magazine writers have sympathy for book writers, and many of them have generously lied about my books in print. The secret to distribution is this: If ???Car Stereo Installation Magazine??? or ???Mathematics Monthly??? says something nice about your book, their readers will march down to the local bookstore and request your book. The store owner doesnt want to lose business, so she calls her distributor. The distributor wants the book store business, so he tracks you down and buys your book. You can make it easier for the distributor to find you by pestering him nonstop until that happens. As a publisher, one must learn to walk that fine line between ???marketing??? and ???stalking.??? Q: It is notoriously difficult to get self-published books placed in bookstores. What suggestions do you have for self-published authors who want to be able to walk into a bookstore and find their books on the shelves? A: Write a better book. Im sorry, thats my stock response, but its more true than wed all like to believe. Local stores are eager to support local writers. The big chain stores desperately want to discover the next ???da Vinci Code??? by a tiny publisher. They really do. They bend over backward again and again for us little guys, but usually all they get for it is a sore back and another dull book. Something like 150,000 books come out each year. A tiny fraction are well written. Sadly, the percentages are much worse with small publishers. We want to release our books when were tired of working on them, not when theyre good. Were surrounded by friends and family who praise what weve written, not cold hearted New York editors who would argue with Gods writing if He submitted a manuscript. ???Im sorry, this omniscient point of view doesnt really work for me. And the writing seems ponderous.??? But without that ruthless critical opinion, we are fooled into thinking our books are ready prematurely. But if you write well, learn a bit about production, and demonstrate a viable marketing plan, no book store is going to decline to earn a profit on your book. If it wins a Pulitzer, or is written by Stephen King, they dont care who published it. A corner shelf will suddenly have room. Look at Michael Moores new film. Once it won at Cannes, people decided they wanted to see it. Even Republican theater owners will show the film. Thats the beauty of capitalism. If people want your book, book stores and distributors will line up to relieve them of their cash. Spend your energy getting the public interested in your book. Q: What do you think of all the print-on-demand companies that have cropped up in recent years? If you were starting out again today, would you go for the cheaper alternative of publishing with a POD company, or would you stick to working with a printer and "completely" self-publishing? Why? A: Print on Demand is changing publishing, no doubt about it. But so far its too expensive per book to be practical on a large scale. A typical distributor will pay the publisher between $4 and $5 for a book that retails for $10. Small quantity print on demand books can cost that much or more. If you spend five bucks on printing, you cant make a profit selling through distributors, and many book stores dont want to fool with you directly. Youre stuck selling them one at a time at speaking engagements. Using a regular printer, I get my cost per book down around a dollar per book. To do that, you need to use printers that specialize in printing books, not the local business card printer. On the other hand, Ive written several books Im not sure I should publish. I hate to reject myself, but sometimes you have to. For example, I wrote a small book on writing, called ???Joy Writing..??? Its a nice book, Im proud of it, its been useful for friends, but despite my ego I realize Im a pretty small fish in the writing pool, with limited credentials, so I dont know if it makes business sense to publish that one. So Ill probably do a very short run, maybe a hundred copies, using a print on demand type printer. Ill send all of those copies out as review copies. If I get fabulous reviews and people want the book, Ill use a regular printer to print up a few thousand copies. If the response is tepid, I wont be out much money. I think thats probably smart for anyone. Q: It seems to me that after the cult-like success of There Are No Electrons, you could easily have found a publisher for your subsequent books. Why did you decide to keep self-publishing? A: Yes. Eighty-nine publishers rejected Electrons. Once it started getting generous reviews and respectable sales, probably twenty of those publishers called me, suddenly very interested. They would have paid a royalty of fifty cents or a dollar per book. But I earn a profit of between five and ten dollars per book. Could they sell ten times as many books as me? Maybe, but maybe not. I felt bad for those eager publishers, of course, but business is business. I sent each one a nice note saying, ???Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, after careful consideration, we feel your company just isnt right for us at this time. Good luck finding other manuscripts.??? If I really liked a publisher, I scratched a little personal note on there as well, telling them to keep their chin up, they showed real promise. Q: One of your books is a novel. Did the success of your nonfiction books help you to get placement for your novel? A: No. Amazingly and remarkably, no. I even had a gimmick. The Land of Debris is the first novel ever printed on tree-free paper made from the kenaf plant. The environmental journals did not care. No mention whatsoever. It was difficult to convince a printer to use it-- it was expensive. And yet no interest at all. Ive gone back to asking for plastic sacks at the grocery store. Although that book has not sold well at all (and I confess I havent promoted it), I get more fan mail as a result of it than all the others. And I still have plenty of copies. So if anyone is curious about kenaf paper, and theyre not ashamed to buy a book rated number 700,000 or so on Amazon??¦ oops, sorry. Slipped into Marketing Mode there for a second. Im back now. Q: It has been rumored that your first book was the inspiration for the For Dummies and Idiots books. What do you think of that? A: Its more than a rumor, its true. One of the last companies I sent the manuscript loved the book, loved the concept, but felt there wasnt a big enough market for a book about electricity. Wouldnt I like to write one about computers instead? I said, gee, thanks and all, but it took three years to write this one. After six months they returned the manuscript. Those folks merged with a larger company and came out with ???DOS for Dummies.??? Sure, it sold a few more copies than Electrons, but its out of print and were still going strong. I figure Electrons will catch them in 316 years. They have called me from time to time about writing other books for them. But if you write a book for them you earn about what I make in two months on Electrons. Thats it.. They have a great business model, and I wish them well, but if you write a book thats going to sell for ten or fifteen years, it may not the best model for a writer. Q: How did you tap into the academic market? A: I havent. A few enlightened, noble and dazzlingly attractive teachers use my books in classrooms, but not many. I think I make school boards and curriculum committees nervous. Q: How much of your time is spent writing versus marketing, networking, etc.? A: When Im writing a book, I spend three or four hours a day writing. After that my brain is too tired to create much more. Luckily, I write pretty fast; I wrote ???The Land of Debris??? in less than two months. The business side doesnt consume much time. Ill get on a jag of sending out review copies or other promotions and do that all day long for days in a row. But most days I spend a lot of time researching life, consulting my muse, mowing the lawn. All perfectly deductible writer stuff. And, of course, my staff peels grapes for me and drops them in my mouth while I lounge by the pool. Wait a minute, I guess my creative side hasnt been exhausted yet today. I have no staff or pool. Or grapes, for that matter. Q: What three pieces of advice would you like to pass along to authors? A: 1. Replace most of your passive verbs with active ones. And not mere barely-active sleepy wimps. Choose raging, snarling, swashbuckling verbs to clutch your readers throat and jerk him into your world. 2. Eliminate every word you can. Dont make me waste the precious moments of my life reading crap you were too lazy to throw out. 3. Write something so personal and emotional youd be embarrassed for anyone else to read it.. The way you feel about a person, the reason you still hate someone who died, whatever. Write it, read it, then burn it. Literally, with a match. I use my barbeque grill for this exercise. When you read it, notice if that writing is different somehow from what you bring to your writers group. If it is, you might ponder what that means. Q: Anything else you'd like to add? A: Self-publishing is great for some people and certain kinds of books, especially nonfiction with a definable market. You need to be a bit aggressive. Dan Poynters book, ???The Self Publishing Manual??? will explain all you need to know. Self-publishing is also a great way to see your baby in print, and to publish poetry or your life story; things that cant make money anyway. Self-published books make wonderful Christmas presents, and dont underestimate that. You wrote those poems to share, not for money, and giving them away in books is sharing. Many people use self-publishing as a stepping stone to a deal with a bigger publisher. Self-publishing fiction is harder, and rarely successful. Sure, Mark Twain did OK, but then how many of us are Mark Twain? Poe did fine with it, and so did Vergil, and the guy who wrote The Christmas Box, and the Celestine Prophesies, and many more. But it is still a low percentage thing. If writing is your drug of choice, abandon hope of a cure. Just write every day, try to improve, and make a scrapbook of your rejection letters. Someday youll be able to give your grandchildren either a legacy of immortal literature, or a really cool scrapbook. **** Visit Kenns site at http://www.clearwaterpublishing.com . Jenna Glatzer is the author of Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer, available here: http://www.absolutewrite.com/jenna/books.htm ========================= ARTICLE: Signature Collection By Lawrence Block ========================= Last summer I spent six weeks at the Ragdale writers' colony. I worked all day every day and came home with a novel, The Burglar on the Prowl. I gave it to my agent, and he gave it to my editor and the book was designed and the cover prepared, and on March 16, just two weeks ago as I write this, the book went on sale nationwide. That's when my real job began. Writing the book, that was the easy part. Now it was time for the heavy lifting. It was time for me to start signing my name. Lawrence Block, Lawrence Block, Lawrence Block. Over and over, on book after book. On the title page, in the space the designer was thoughtful enough to provide for that purpose. Again and again and again. Actually, the book signing began before the book went on sale. In February I drove out to the HarperCollins warehouse in Scranton, where I signed around a thousand copies of Prowl for booksellers who'd ordered them. There's enough demand for this sort of thing to prompt HarperCollins to assign a special ISBN to the 10-copy signed cartons. On March 16, I flew out to San Diego. I spent the next five days in Southern California, where I did events at five libraries and six bookstores and more drop-in stock signings than I could possibly remember. After my final event Saturday evening, I flew home on the red-eye. On Sunday afternoon I was at Partners & Crime on Greenwich Avenue, to do my usual dog-and-pony show. I spent Monday and Tuesday dropping in at New York storesMurder Ink, Black Orchid, Mysterious Bookshop, and a batch of chains. Otto Penzler had around 300 books waiting for me at Mysterious, all carefully flapped so they opened readily to the appropriate page for signing. Black Orchid and Murder Ink also had their books flapped. They've done this before, you see, and so have I. Wednesday morning I rented an SUV big enough to house six families of Hmong refugees. I filled it up with T-shirts and out-of-print books and hit the road, heading for the Hunterdon County Library outside of Flemington, New Jersey. Seventy people showed up to hear me, and, not incidentally, to buy books and get them signed. I enjoyed myself, and it's a good thing, because that's what I'm going to be doing from now until the eighth of Mayreading and talking at libraries and bookstores, driving around in my one-man Bookmobile, and, yes, writing my name. ----- How the hell did this happen? Not to me, that's my problem, but to the business in general? When did signed books become such a hot ticket? Unless you count Saint Paul, book tours are a recent phenomenon. The first authors who toured were those whose books seemed likely to get them on local televisioncelebrities who'd written (or "written") books, authors of topical nonfiction, and cookbook authors who could go on afternoon TV and whip up something on the spot. With time, the author tour ceased to be media-driven and became bookstore-centered. In recent years live local TV has disappeared throughout much of the country, and it's hard to book anybody anywhere, especially someone as gormless as your average novelist. If Live at Five's not interested, though, a local bookstore might be. People could meet the author, ask questions, and buy his bookand, well, get it signed as a memento of the occasion. A dozen or so years ago, somebody worked out what to do with the author's spare time. Instead of sitting around the hotel all day waiting for an evening event, he could improve each shining hour by hopping from store to store signing stock. Early on, store personnel were hard put to know what to make of the notion, but they got the hang of it, even as the writers learned to overcome their natural reserve and set about forcing their signature on stores whether they wanted it or not. And the stores caught on big-time when they noticed that signed books tended to sell. A signed book quickly became a sine qua non for collectors. The best comparison I can think of is to the dust jacket. Until 50 years ago, the book's paper wrapper was there to draw attention in a store, and to protect the book until someone actually sat down and read it. At that time it was commonly discardedwhich is why so few books with intact dust jackets survive from those early days. Collectors collectively decided that a book with a dust jacket was more desirable, and hence worth more, than an unjacketed one. Indeed, only a jacketed copy was regarded as truly complete. Books from the '20s and '30s are still collectible without jackets, but a rare book of that vintage may be worth 10 or 20 times as much if it has a jacket. More recent books, unless of great rarity, are essentially worthless without a jacket. Over the past decade, collectors have come to regard an unsigned book as similarly incomplete. "I have it," you'll hear someone say, "but it's not signed." If the author is still alive, the sentence ends a little differently. "But it's not signed yet," the collector will say.. Can you see where this is going? You have to sign the new books in order to get them sold, and you have to sign the old ones to make your readers happy. ----- Book collectors are a quirky lot, but that's true of all hobbyists. Still, how many collectors can there be? And how much impact can they have? Lots. One mystery specialty store owner told me a book or two ago that her order of my new one depended on whether or not she could get signed copies. If not, she'd take 10 or 20. If they were signed, her initial buy would be 200. Because 200 hardcore collectors would buy them? No, but because the collecting tail wags the dog here. Folks buying the book to add to their library, or give as a gift, have been schooled by collectors to want a signed copy. And, since so many signed copies do exist, a sort of mutation of Gresham's Law operates; the signed books drive the unsigned out of circulation, and into Remainder Hell. The whole signed-books issue got accelerated with the 1992 publication of John Dunning's Booked to Die, which noted that books simply signed by the author had more collector value than those inscribed to a specific reader. Almost immediately, I noticed an upsurge of buyers who murmured "Signature only, please." It's much quicker just signing one's name, and not having to write "To Cathy, I'll never forget that heavenly night in Sioux Falls." And was that Cathy with a C or Kathy with a K, and does it end in Y or I? "Thank you, John Dunning," many of us said under our breath when another signature-only appeared. But there was a downside. If more folks were content with a simple signature, they were also intent on getting their entire collection signed. Because I have been doing this a long time, I have a backlist that extends halfway down the street and around the corner. During a tour in 1998, when a couple of Dallas suitcase dealers brought in cartons of old stuff, I instituted a policy I've clung to ever since: I'll sign up to three of the books you bring from home for every copy of the new hardcover you buy at the signing. Most people figure this is fair, and the otherslike the dame in Charlottesville the other day who frowned and said, "If I do that, how am I gonna make any profit on the deal?"the others, all things considered, can go to hell. In 1999, a fellow in Madison set a record that stands to this day. He brought in 53 items, cheerfully bought 18 copies of The Burglar in the Rye, and got everything signed. He was happy, I was happyand the store owner was over the moon. ----- Item: James Ellroy signed the entire first printing of My Dark Places, some 65,000 books in all. He wrote two words, James and Ellroy, 65,000 times each. That's 130,000 words, which is more than he took to write the whole damn book. Why, I sometimes wonder, does anybody want a book signed? I have a whole wall of books by friends, and it never occurs to me to ask them to sign them. My wife, who has an abiding passion for hagiographywe have a surprising number of editions of Lives of the Saints, not one of them signedhas her own theory. As she explains it, a book signed by its author is a second-degree relic, not as precious as a finger bone, but on a par with a pair of cast-off sandals. I like the explanation, but how long before the bastards start wanting the damned books signed in blood? ***** Lawrence Block's daily blog entries from two months of touring for THE BURGLAR ON THE PROWL are posted on his website, www.lawrenceblock.com. While there, check out the books and tapes for writers in LB's BOOKSTORE. Originally appeared in the Village Voice. Reprinted with permission. ========================= ARTICLE: Fair Trades for Free Speaking By Lynda Curtin ========================= For a variety of reasons some salaried business people regularly ask business people who make income from speaking to speak for free. There are also some conference organizers that make a very good living running conferences that charge attendees hefty registration fees to attend but who will not pay speakers to present at their conferences. These business people will tell you that just by speaking at their event you will instantly land lots of great new paying clients.. As a business person you need to carefully consider these "free" engagements. You could land new paying clients if the audience is filled with people who are actually responsible for making decisions on hiring speakers/trainers/consultants/facilitators, and they need what you have to offer. If the engagement does make sense for you use the following fair trades for free speaking list to help you obtain real business value in return for your professional preparation to speak. After all, their success depends on your performance. Fair Trades for Free Speaking 1. Travel expenses reimbursed 2. Presentation scheduled at the time of day you request 3. Necessary audio/visual equipment provided at no additional charge to you 4. Room set-up to meet your needs 5. Your speaker introduction read exactly as written 6. Two free conference registrations - invite a client to attend with you 7. Publish one or more of your articles in their newsletters 8. Give you free membership in their association 9. List your services for free in their association vendor listings 10. Link to your website in their conference brochure 11. Provide you with a free ad in their conference proceedings 12. Publish your contact information and your handout in the conference proceedings that all attendees receive 13. Provide you with a free exhibitor booth or table at the conference 14. Provide you with a table to sell your books, tapes, videos, etc. 15. Write a testimonial letter to you after the event that you can use to attract new clients 16. Provide you with the mailing list of all conference attendees 17. Provide you with the email addresses of all conference attendees 18. Provide you with as many conference brochures as you want to mail to your hot list 19. Send you the conference brochure via email as an attachment, likely Acrobat PDF, that you can post on your website 20. Provide you with a list of 3 potential clients to contact who would benefit from your services 21. Provide you with free enrollment in any pre or post conference workshop that you want to attend for your own professional development If the conference organizer is not reasonable in response to your requests you will have to decide if it is worth your effort to help them deliver a successful conference. ?©2001. The Opportunity Thinker. ***** Lynda Curtin is an expert ideation facilitator, professional speaker, trainer and author in the fields of business creativity, marketing and speaking. To book Lynda for your event call 818-507-6055 or email info@LyndaCurtin.com For more information on her programs go to http://www.LyndaCurtin.com ========================= ARTICLE: Four Powerful Ways Authors Can Attract More Readers (and Buyers) Faster By Bob Baker ========================= Attracting new fans. Admit it, that's what having a book published is all about -- getting more people to read your words, know about you and buy your books. And hopefully, getting a LOT more people to do those things. Why else do you work so hard to craft chapters, paragraphs, sentences -- even individual word choices? For what other reason do you fight off sleep so you can finish just one more section before you call it a night? I don't believe you go through these things to amuse yourself and hone your grammar skills in obscurity. You work hard because you know you have something of value to offer ... and you want to reach as many people as possible with your ideas. Marketing is the thing that helps you reach that goal. But marketing is also a subject that confuses a lot of writers. Whether they write fiction or nonfiction, are self-published or traditionally published, writers the world over know they need to promote themselves. But many don't know where to start, much less how to continue marketing effectively. Does this describe you? If so, consider the following scenario: Let's say you went to an average U.S.. city and rounded up 1,000 people and gathered them in a giant VFW hall. These 1,000 folks would be randomly chosen and made up of people of all ages, genders and backgrounds. Next, you'd distribute information about your book, talk to these people and even let them read sample chapters. After this direct exposure, what are the chances that one person out of those thousand would be attracted to your ideas and personal identity enough to buy your book? Most writers, regardless of how obscure their subject matter is, should feel pretty confident about being able to win over at least one new fan from this group of 1,000. That's a one-tenth of one percent conversion rate. Now let's multiply that reasonable formula by the entire U.S. population of 285 million people. One-tenth of one percent would be 285,000 people. That would be enough fans to make you a bonafide bestselling author. Right? So how do you find and connect with those one-in-a-thousand buyers (without the use of VFW halls across the country)? Most likely, you can't afford the massive advertising budget of major companies. These corporations spray their marketing message over the masses, knowing that it'll only stick to a small percentage of the population. The solution: You must find creative, low-cost ways to go directly to those fans who make up that one-tenth of one percent. Don't waste your time and money promoting yourself to people who will most likely never embrace your words. Here are four steps to take to reach those new fans: 1. Define Your Distinct Identity You must have a firm grasp on what your writing (or latest book) is about. And you must be able to define it clearly and quickly. What sets your book apart from others in its genre? What attitude or social statement do you (or your book) make? Generic self-help, romance or science fiction titles won't cut it. Dig deeper and discover your unique identity. When you do finally reach some of those rare potential fans, don't lose them by not being clear about who you are. 2. Describe Your Ideal Fan Once you have a handle on who you are as a writer, it's time to paint a clear picture of your ideal fan. Can you articulate how your readers dress, where they work, what TV shows they watch, what they do for fun and who their favorite cultural heroes are? Observe the types of people who come to your public speaking engagements or readings, and note what they have in common? Conduct simple online surveys with people who visit your web site or subscribe to your e-zine. Knowing precisely who your fans are will dictate what avenues you use to reach them and how you communicate your message once you do reach them. 3. List Ways of Getting Access to Your Fans Once you know exactly what type of fan you're going after, start making a list of the various resources these specific people are attracted to. What magazines and newspapers do they read? Where do they hang out? What radio stations do they listen to? What retail outlets do they frequent? What web sites do they surf to? What e-mail newsletters do they subscribe to? For example, if your fans are mostly Harley riders, go to a search engine like Google and start entering keywords related to motorcycles. Evaluate the search results and compile a list of the many good sources you uncover. 4. Network and Promote Yourself and Your Book Armed with this targeted list of contacts, get busy! Send e-mail press releases to niche media outlets. Contact the webmasters and editors of appropriate publications. Post messages in specialized forums. Visit and interact via the web sites of similar authors or reading groups. Contact organizations and charities related to your writing niche. In short, go to where your ideal fans are. And market yourself through these outlets relentlessly. Why spend too much time and money trying to promote to everyone ... when you can save money and be far more effective by going directly to those valuable one-in-a-thousand fans? ***** Bob Baker is the author of "Unleash the Artist Within," "Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" and "Branding Yourself Online." Get a FREE subscription to Bob's newsletter, "Quick Tips for Creative People," featuring inspiration and low-cost, self-promotion ideas for artists, writers, performers and more. Visit http://www.PromoteYourCreativity.com for details. ========================= WRITERS GUIDELINES ========================= Were always looking for new interviews, articles, essays, and humor for this newsletter. We pay $5 or a 1-year subscription to the Absolute Markets Premium Edition ( http://www.absolutemarkets.com a $15 value). Were happy to check out reprints, and we take non-exclusive electronic rights. Got some advice for your fellow writers? Check out our guidelines here: http://www.absolutewrite.com/site/submissions.htm ========================= FRE.E ARTICLES BY JENNA ========================= If you have an e-zine or newsletter and want some fre.e content, Jenna has a bunch of articles for you here: http://www.absolutewrite.com/free_reprint_articles.htm ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ 4. Classifieds ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ * Everything You Need to Build Your Successful Business Starting and running a successful business is a strategic and methodical undertaking. You??™re no longer an employee; you??™re the boss. Run your business the right way -- maximize your efficiency and profits and minimize your stress and mistakes. Get the answers to the hundreds of questions and concerns: http://www.awaionline.com/bib/aw42/ ----------------------------- * PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER LANDS MAGAZINE COLUMN! Subscribe to the Absolute Markets PREMIUM Edition for just $15 a year and get all the writing markets we can cram into your inbox! We've got calls for freelance writers, screenwriters, editors, translators, greeting card writers... see a sample issue here: http://www.absolutemarkets.com ----------------------------- * Writing for the Movies: Writing and Selling Your Screenplay Learn the techniques of beginning screenwriting--from concept to treatment to polished script from a former actress and director who is the author of 16 books, 98 plays, and over 200 articles on the performing arts, travel, humor, and how-tos for new writers. http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Hamlett/sellingscreenplay.htm ** SPECIAL LOWER PRICE ** ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ 5. CLASSES ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Absolute Write offers all courses in a one-on-one learning environment. Instructors are now available to teach to you individually. This format will provide you with a more effective, personal learning experience. All courses are open enrollment.We guarantee that you will be satisfied! http://www.absoluteclasses.com ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ * WRITERS WANTED! HIGH-PAYING WOMEN'S MAGAZINES NEED WRITERS. Woman's Day. Cosmopolitan. Redbook. Glamour. Family Circle. You know you want to write for them. Now learn the secrets for breaking into the women's magazine market in an online course with full-time freelancer Jennifer Nelson. http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Nelson/womenmag.htm ----------------------------- ** RECOMMENDED COURSE ** * LEARN TO MAKE $50,000 A YEAR WRITING! This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, it is a lot of hard work. You need to write consistently if you hope to make a full-time living as a freelance writer. If you are not willing to work - and that means write - then this course is not for you. But if you have the desire to make it as a full-time, nonfiction writer, this course will help you dramatically increase your income. http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Sheldon/makemoney.htm ----------------------------- ** NEW COURSE BY JULIA ROSIEN ** Soup, Comfort and Chocolate for the Soul - Turning Memories into Soul Stories http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Rosien/soulstories.htm ----------------------------- * BE A BETTER MAGAZINE WRITER. "How do I spot a news trend?" "How do I get special press access?" "I have a topic, but what angle can I use?" "How do I structure an article?" "What kinds of questions should I ask during interviews?" By popular demand, George Sheldon has created a new course for freelance writers. If you can read e-mail, you can take this course-- and it includes one-on-one feedback from a writer who's sold more than 1000 articles. http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Sheldon/nonfictionbasics.htm ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ 6. 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Keep track of all of your submissions and queries; schedule reminders to follow up with editors; report on performance for any manuscript or market; and more. http://www.quickquerytracker.com ---------------- * WRITERS FIND MARKETS EASILY - Worldwide Freelance has a NEW fully-searchable Markets Database. Discover writing markets from North America, Europe, Australasia and other places. It's free, so come and try it out here: http://www.worldwidefreelance.com ---------------- * http://www.WritingForDollars.com Writing for DOLLARS! the FREE ezine for writers featuring tips, tricks and ideas for selling what you write. FREE ebook, 83 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY WRITING when you subscribe. Email to subscribe@writingfordollars.com -*- http://www.WritingForDollars.com ---------------- * http://www.naww.org National Association of Women Writers - NAWW Get the FREE eBooklet, RESOURCES FOR WRITERS by subscribing to NAWW WEEKLY, the FREE inspirational/how-to emagazine for women writers. Send blank e-mail to naww@onebox.com or visit our web site at http://www.naww.org ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Please pass this newsletter along to all of your writing pals! ** TO SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE: To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, visit http://www.absolutewrite.com/subscriptions.htm and enter your email address in the field provided. Note: replying to this newsletter with "remove" or "unsubscribe" present in the subject of the e-mail will not immediately remove you from the list. In order to be removed promptly, please follow the above instructions. Absolute Write Newsletter ?© 2004 Glatzer-Wagner, LLC |
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