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A Publisher's Conversations with Authors: Do You Need a Publicist?

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It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about publicists. Do you need one?  What can you expect from one? What should you not expect from one? How should you go about finding one?  So, let's take each question separately. Do you need a publicist? Is your book selling?  Yes. You probably do not need a publicist though in some cases a publicist can help your book sell more copies. No. Consider hiring a publicist. Is this your first book? Yes. If you have a mentor or a strong editor to guide you, you may not need a publicist. No, and feel lost about how to go about getting your book noticed. Consider hiring a publicist. Do you have a strong

A Publisher's Conversations with Authors: Do I Need a Publicist?

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(photo by Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to talk turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. While every traditional publisher, such as MSI Press LLC, accomplishes promotion and marketing activities, no press can pay exclusive attention to any one book -- and once a book gets long in the tooth, it often becomes unprofitable for a press to dedicate significant resources to promoting it. So, the question frequently arises, even with traditional presses, as to whether an author should spend the money to hire a publicist. Or, can you, as author, handle the publicity on your own? Some of the MSI Press authors have hired publicists; others have decided to try to make it a go on their own. This is a

A Publisher's Conversations with Authors: Book Launches

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(photo by Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about book launches. A book launch, planned and carried out well, is a great opportunity to introduce and market your book to a large number of people. So, what are the ways books can be launched? What is the best way to launch a book? What are the benefits and risks of various kinds of book launches? So, let's take each question separately. What are the ways in which you can launch your book? A typical launch for a high-powered author is a tour of bookstore signings; a typical launch for a low-powered author is a book signings at one, perhaps two, local bookstores.  High-powe

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Long-term Bestsellers and Short-Term Marvels -- How do they differ?

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  It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's topic looks at the differences between books that sell well long-term and those that fizzle out.  Recently, I decided to analyze two kinds of books that experience good sales to see if there is some general guidance for authors; the long-term steady sellers and the first-year wonders. Book niches and author individualities vary widely, but perhaps some general information could be insightful if you are trying to make some decisions about how to market/promote your book. Criteria. In analyzing both sets of  books , I looked at the following 15 categories of criteria: ARC, prepped followers, platform, social media presence, recogni

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: So, You're Book Is Not Selling

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  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. (Much also applies to traditionally published authors whose books have not been on a perfect glide path upward to success.) Today's topic reflects a reality experienced by all but a very few authors who have recognized names, expansive contacts, big pockets (or big publishers with deep pockets), or, for one reason or another luckily found a sweet spot (typically after years of being in bitter places). Most books do not start out as NYT bestsellers and remain there for life. They either start well and fall off (usually quickly), start slowly and remain with slow and then almost no sales, or start very poorly and then ta

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: The Unique Life Cycle of a Book

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  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic  is a look at the life cycle of books -- how they differ, how do you define "success" and "failure," and what authors can expect over a lifetime. Here at MSI Press, we have seen a variety of paths taken by successful books (and ones that have not fared as well). For lack of better nomenclature, I would say that we have hares, tortoises, dogs, cats, and mountain goats.  Hares As in the fable, the hares start out fast. These books have strong launches, sell hundreds of books in the first few weeks (from a larger press, these might show up as thousands of sales) and then, quite suddenly s

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Do I Need a Book Shepherd?

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(photo by Frank Perez) It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about book shepherds. Do you need one?  What can you expect from one? What should you not expect from one? How should you go about finding one?  So, let's take each question separately. Do you need a book shepherd? Have you self-published successfully before (good sales, awards, recognition)?  Yes. You probably do not need a book shepherd.. No. Consider hiring a book shepherd.. Is this your first book? Yes. If you have a mentor or a strong editor to guide you, you may not need a book shepherd, at least for the writing part. No. Consider hiring a book shepherd who can provide s

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: I Already Self-Published My Book; Now I Need a Publisher Because I Am Not Good at Marketing

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  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic derives from a series of enote correspondences with a self-possessed, pumped-up-on-his-own-greatness self-published author, simply names James (will leave off the last name to stave off any embarrassment, should he even feel any). The initial note, like many others I receive (no James is not unique), said essentially, I published the greatest book ever, everyone says so, it got some attention from my professional organization, and it has a wonderful review from Kirkus. It just needs a publisher to market it because I am not a marketer; I am an author. When I get those kinds of communications, here is wha