Marketing Tools For Cheap Writers

The Tools for Finding Your Market

Somewhere out there, your topic of expertise is being discussed in newsletters, e-zines, magazines, newspapers, radio shows and TV shows. Scads of people, hungry for new information on your topic, eagerly tune into these publications/broadcasts to learn more about your topic.

Wouldn't it be great if, rather than trying to drum up interest in your book among people who don't care, you could instead take your book to those who are looking for materials on your topic? How can authors/publishers introduce their books to the venues that are eagerly looking for their writings?

Directories are the GPS systems for book marketers, showing us where to find the niche writers and publications that want to freely expose their readership/viewership to our books.

How to Access These Tools

The three ways to access this information seem to be:

1) Ask your publisher or publicist to print off information for you. They're likely to have a paid subscription to online services that give the latest information in a searchable format. Typically, this would be a bit expensive for individual authors to access personally, without going through your publicist.

2) Go to a regional library or university. Small library may carry only very dated versions. I don't have time spend long hours researching this stuff at the library, since I care for my 103-year-old granny next door. I do my work in two-hour stretches.

3) Buy hard copies yourself. This way, you can pull them down during those 15-30 minute free moments (I get a lot done in 15 minute segments.) But who can afford to purchase these huge sets? This morning I found a better way.

Library Sales

My wife and I cherish our bi-yearly date to the Cobb County Library Sale. Since I have a book coming out this month, I was in a marketing mode. It didn't occur to me until I arrived that large libraries must replace their dated marketing directories each year. Sure, some are a year or two out of date, but I can always update the names, phone numbers and e-mail contact information by going to websites.

I was so excited with my success that I wanted a picture with my prize acquisitions. (If only books had antlers!) Here are some of the great reference books I got:

$1 per volume: Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media (2008, 5 vols.). The cost for a new one is over $1,000, or used at Amazon for $75 + shipping. ("the definitive media source," including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, cable systems, names of key personnel, etc.

50 cents per volume: Literary Marketplace (2007, 2 Vols). Costs $300 new. Get it used on Amazon for $20 plus shipping. ("The directory of the book publishing industry." Includes publishers, literary agents, awards and prizes, calendar of events, books and magazines for the trade.)

$1 per volume: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory(2008, 5 Vols) Get it used on Amazon for $235 ("...the premier serials reference source in the world." Find over 200,000 magazines, e-zines, newspapers, newsletters, contact information, circulation, etc.)

So, I saved well over $1000 compared to new prices or or over $300 over the used ones. I got invaluable reference tools I'll use continually over the coming years for $11.

Next year, show up at the library sale!

Help Readers Find You With Search Terms

The Web has revolutionized marketing. Before the Web, "interruption marketing" prevailed - marketers interrupted readers/listeners from their articles/TV programs with an advertisement about a product they weren't searching for.

Today, millions of people are searching for information on the Web. As writers, we don't have to interrupt them to get their attention. We simply need to put useful information out there and make it easy for those searching for our information to find us.

Employing key search terms can help. Since I'm currently writing on personal finance, I want to know what terms people use to search for the information I'm providing. By using those terms in my titles, first paragraphs, links and in other prominent places, people will more likely find me when they do a Google or Yahoo search for those terms. So whether I'm writing a blog, a press release, a book title or subtitle (they will be searched on Amazon, for example), a book description, or a web page, I need to know how people are searching for this information.

First, I went to Google's tool for finding key words and phrases in Google Ad Words. (If the url has changed do a Google search for a phrase such as "find key words". Several sites have tended to offer these tools.) I did two searches, one on "money" and another on "finances."

Second, I deleted all the terms that didn't relate to the specific money topics I write on.

Finally, I ordered them according to search frequency.

Below, I've listed some of my results, telling me how many times each of these terms were searched, on average, in any given month.

Here are some of the ways that this information is useful to me:

1) People searching with the term “money” seem to be primarily searching for how to “make money” and “earn money.” 15 out of 19 (I found more terms than those I listed below) search terms were specifically about making and getting money. Make sure these terms are all over my articles and web pages concerning working, developing your skills, etc. at www.enjoyyourmoney.org .

2) Knowing what information people are hungry for helps me narrow down topics for future articles.

3) In searching “finances,” people are looking for financial advice or help, particularly with managing expenses and budgeting. I can use those terms when writing on those topics.

4) Obviously, work these key terms into my titles, headings, first paragraphs, links, etc. Titles are no longer determined solely by what's memorable and what's clever.

5) Since budgeting is often misspelled “budgetting,” and searched 2,400 times as such, I might include it on an appropriate page in places seen only by search engines, such as my meta tags or as a name for a graphic.

6) Use these terms as tags when I blog on those subjects.

7) Remember such significant, but not intuitively obvious, facts as “personal finances” being searched 33,100 times, but the singular form, “personal finance,” being searched 550,000 times!

8) Don't forget to use less searched terms at times (not included below), since so many large sites with massive traffic and incoming links will get priority placement by search engines for their use of those terms.

Other reflections or comments? Click below and join the discussion!

Search Terms for "Money" (includes synonyms) Over 1,000,000 Searches Money 24,900,000 Make money 2,240,000 Dollars 2,240,000 Earn 1,830,000 Over 100,000 Earn money 368,000 Ways to make money 135,000 Over 20,000 Getting money 49,500 How to earn money 27,100 Money making ideas 27,100 Lots of money 27,100 Easy ways to make money 22,200 Money manager 22,200

Search Terms for "Finances" (includes synonyms) Over 1,000,000 Searches Finance 16,600,000 Over 100,000 Personal finance 550,000 Expenses 450,000 Expense 450,000 Budgeting 246,000 Financial management 246,000 Finances 201,000 Money management 135,000 Budgets 110,000 Over 20,000 Financial help 90,500 Financial service 90,500 Financial information 60,500 Finance calculator 60,500 Financial plan 49,500 Financial advice 40,500 Personal finances 33,100 Financial 33,100 Household finance 27,100 Student finance 27,100

Appealing to Publishing Trends

Whether you're seeking publication or marketing your book, recognizing trends can be important. Know what's hot. If everybody's concerned about the current economic crisis (the current hot topic), then tell a publisher how your book can help those financial hurting or worried about impending economic doom. If you're marketing a book, tell a newspaper or magazine how your expertise could help.

To learn about trends, I listened to respected editor Nancy Hancock's (who works for a major publisher) presentation at the Maui Writers Conference. No, I wasn't able to attend. I just went to their site and signed up for a month of free audios. Now I get to hear top authors and industry professionals via my mp3 player!

Here are some of my takeaways:

You need power to get published.

• Get a good agent. That empowers you.
  
• Work on your platform to gain more power. Build your website. Get your e-mail list together. The bigger your platform, the greater your power.
  
• Work with meaningful people. Hancock believes in the 6th degree of separation. She pays attention to a manuscript if a best-selling author recommends it. Very few books get published without someone helping you. Meaningful people give you power.
  
• Study collaboration. Learn from successful collaborators.
• Trends also give you power. Here's how:

Most editors get fifty to 100 proposals per day. They're also editing something that's in process for production, perhaps 12 or more books. They also talk to agents and authors. Plus, they have 8-10 hours of meetings per week. So, they read proposals on weekends.

To get a busy editor's attention, tie your book to a trend.

You're either following a trend or creating a trend. Trend cycles tend to be 7 years. There are trends for topics and trends for formats -- Big books, tips books, etc. Dummies books were hot, but not as much now. There are language trends. Think of the trends: "Diaries" books, "Confessions" books, "Insiders Guides."

To discover trends, try clipping. Hancock and a famous publicist read magazines and newspapers and clip out phrases and topics that might indicate trends. Then, they paste them on a board to track and observe them. If you read a variety of publications, you'll begin to see trends as the same phrases keep popping up.

Trends impact the degree of expertise needed. On morning shows (at the moment Hancock speaks), everyone has to be an M.D. or Ph.D.

Read news magazines and several different papers -- a regional paper, then the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. The WSJ is often the best indicator of trends because of what they feature. She discovered a potty training trend from a Wall Street Journal article.

There are financial trends: from day trading to flipping houses to what's next.

Historical trends. We recently experienced DaVinci fever. But after it peaked, it went away.

We've gone from simplicity to gratitude to happiness to volunteerism.

Find something that's all your own, but show how it fits into existing trends.

On Contracts and The Authors Guild

Want to keep from getting screwed over by a publisher? Consider the Authors Guild.

We've all heard horror stories of popular writers or musicians who make their publishers and labels rich while they live with mom and survive on Ramen Noodles. What happened? They were probably so delighted to get published or produced that they were willing to sign almost anything. And besides, they're artists - you know - "art for art's sake" and all that. It seems rather unartistic to haggle about a few words in a contract. As a result, they got a lousy contract that keeps them working at McDonald's when they could be making a living with their writing.

Like it or not, there's a business side to writing. And unless you aspire to study publishing law on the side, you'd probably benefit by having someone with experience in publisher contracts to look yours over before signing on the dotted line.

A writer friend recently received an offer from a publisher and immediately sent the contract to the Authors Guild. (They'll give input on contracts as a free service to their members. Annual membership is about $90, I believe.) Input from their staff attorney was detailed and invaluable, reflecting an intimate knowledge of what's standard and what's not in the industry, and what you want to push for as an author.

Example: the attorney mentions that royalties based on the publisher's "receipts" is referring to net-based royalties, which are about half what you'd get from the same percentage of list-based royalties. Thus, you should expect your publisher to offer about twice the percentage in net-based royalties that they would pay in list-based royalties.

Plus, when a publisher bases the author's cut on receipts, the publisher might give special discounts to certain distributors or sellers, putting more money in their hands and less in the author's.

That's not to say that basing royalties on the publisher's receipts is wrong. (My traditional publisher based its royalties on their net, or receipts.) It just means you need to know exactly what you're getting out of the deal, comparing it to industry standards.

What are the standards? According to the above expert, many authors get 8% of the list price (which would be about 16% of the net) for sales of the first 150,000 copies and 10% for copies sold above 150,000 (about 20% of the net).

A change in the wording of one, brief sentence in a writer's contract could easily have you making twice as much income from a book. So know what you're getting into!

DePoy On Writing

Yesterday, the Georgia Writers Association hosted Phillip DePoy, director of theater for Clayton State University. DePoy has written nine published books, two published plays, and thirty-seven theater pieces that have seen production throughout the country. Kirkus calls Phillip DePoy, "a master of Southern storytelling." A recent reviewer called his Fever Devilin novels "some of the best regional fiction being written in America today."

His latest book is The Drifter's Wheel: A Fever Devilin Novel (Fever Devlin)

More convincing than all the above ad copy is that my wife Cherie bought a copy of his latest book and couldn't turn out the light until she finished it at 1:00 this morning.

I almost didn't attend, reasoning, "I've heard the guy before...and after all, I write nonfiction." But I'm glad I went. I'm always glad I attend these monthly meetings. Why?

First, it's simply fun to hang out with other writers. I chatted with a successful history writer and a fantasy writer who's on page 500 of her fantasy novel. I also met a corporate communications writer, a beginning novelist and a Hospice chaplain writing stories about his encounters with the dying. One of the writers grew up in Germany and had a personal encounter with Adolf Hitler in her classroom!

Second, we all need each other. One writer needed an editor and found one at the meeting. Another needed encouragement to move forward with a project. I think he came away motivated and encouraged! I needed more inside information on the business of writing. A conversation afterward helped. Young authors don't seem to understand that so much of successful writing involves relationships within the writing industry. This is the place to connect.

Third, I always learn something from the presenters. Here were some of my takeaways from DePoy:

1) Overcome rejection. Publishers rejected the manuscript of his first novel over 5,000 times.

2) Get an agent. You'll need one to get a traditional publisher. Ideally, your agent should live in New York City, so that she hangs out with editors and takes them to lunch. It's all about relationships. So the editor mentions between bites of her bagel, "What we'd really like are a few intriguing memoirs." The agent replies, "Hey, I represent an author who's three quarters of the way finished with his memoir. Would you like to take a look?" That's the way deals happen.

3) "I write every day. I wrote this morning before I drove up from Atlanta." He says that only a small percentage of what he writes gets published. But put out the volume, and some of it will get out there.

4) To sharpen your story-telling skills, study the ancient stories and epic fables that have passed the test of time. What are their characteristics? Basically, the great stories are being told over and over, dressed up with different characters, settings and distinct voices. Study the stories that lasted and you'll improve your own stories. (George Lucas did this and used the results in creating Star Wars.)

5) Sum up your manuscript in three intriguing sentences. Publishers go through hundreds of proposals each day. They may read but a few sentences of most of them. If he likes those sentences, he may read more. If he likes your proposal, he will use those sentences to pitch it to the marketing department. Then the marketing department will use those sentences to sell it to bookstores.

Did you miss your writer's meeting this month? Calendar the next one!