www.1001TopWords.com |
Tips for First Time Authors : 2 Easy Steps to Make Your First Book a Success
Congratulations on writing your first book. That is quite an accomplishment. Many people dream of writing a book, but you actually did it. Way to go. At this point you are probably wondering where to get started, who to contact, how to even take the first step. Don't worry, that is very common. And now you've found a great resource to help you. Step #1 Create a map for yourself. If you want to get somewhere you need to know where you are and where you want to be. Then you figure out how you are going to get there. Yet many first time authors jump in with the how to get there specifics ? getting reviews, making it onto bookstore shelves, creating a website. Instead, start by figuring out your goals. What do you want to happen with your book? Be very specific. Try writing down at least 10 goals for your book. If that was easy, write down 25. Next, figure out what you have to bring to the project. How much money are you able to invest? How much time can you spend doing marketing? Be realistic. You can make your marketing work with whatever budget you have and time you can allocate. Then you can start finding specific marketing actions that match your goals and resources. By knowing your goals and resources you can find the exact marketing tools to make your goals a reality within your time and money budget. Step # 2 Avoid the common mistakes. Hundreds of thousands of people write books every year. Tens of thousands of these authors are doing it for the first time. It is only natural that some of the same mistakes are made over and over. Once you know what they are you can avoid making them and get ahead with your book faster. The single most common mistake we see is authors who fail to clearly define their target market. They believe that "everyone" will buy their book. They waste their valuable resources trying to market to an audience that is too broad. Let me give you an example from the TV show The Apprentice. Two teams are in New York trying to sell wedding dresses. One team goes to Grand Central Station where there are tons of people and hands out flyers to everyone walking by. The other team stays in the office, goes online and buys an email list from a popular wedding site (theknot.com) of couples getting married who live in the New York area. The first team trying to sell to "everyone" is reaching tons of people who simply do not care about what they are selling for one very simple reason - they are not getting married. Will any amount of marketing on the team's part convince them that they need a wedding dress? NO. Does it even matter how great the wedding dresses are made?NO. The other team however, has found the perfect target market ? people who live in New York who are getting married. Do you see the difference? Marketing to people who ALREADY CARE about your book's subject and forgetting the rest of the people who don't care is the ONLY smart way to do marketing. Kim Dushinski is a partner at MarketAbility, a book publicity firm located in Colorado that specializes in cost-effective, results-driven PR Campaigns. You can find more tips, strategies and techniques specifically designed for first time authors in our First Time Author Toolkit at http://www.marketability.com/first-time-author-info14.html
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Business Letter Etiquette Business etiquette is fundamentally concerned with building relationships founded upon courtesy and politeness between business personnel. Etiquette, and especially business etiquette, is a means of maximising your potential by presenting yourself positively. Ghostwriting - Making Money by Being Invisible My bookcase take up one whole wall in the family room, from floor to ceiling. It shows my eclectic reading tastes... fiction, non-fiction, Harry Potter next to murder mysteries and metaphysical literature. Also there are books I've written for the business sector - on negotiation, writing letters, communication skills, real estate sales and a lot more. The business books, however, have other people's names on them. I'm merely the ghostwriter. 8 Advantages to Writing a Book as an Entrepreneur As an aspiring or an established entrepreneur, you are an expert in something, but does the rest of the world know? You have a wealth of information, experience and knowledge that you can package into a book that will benefit others. This truly is the information age and people want to know what you know. Interview with Suspense Author Peter Abrahams Peter Abrahams is the author of thirteen novels, including "The Tutor," (Ballantine Books) "A Perfect Crime," (Ballantine Books), "The Fan" (Fawcett Books), and most recently, "Their Wildest Dreams" (Ballantine Books). Building Character Names are important. Names give clues about us, where we live, who we are. In some cases they can even tell what we do! There is a certain ring about George W. Bush, you just know he's American! You can almost feel the Texan, and taste the oil Writing as a Gift What am I supposed to give Anthony as a wedding gift? I asked Kristin, my bridesmaid and person-who-was-married. I mean, what kinds of things do brides give their grooms? I was thinking of hiring someone to clean the house before we left for the honeymoon so wed come back to a spotless house. Is that a good wedding gift? When I Run Out of Ideas I do on occasion run out of ideas for my column writing. I do this after finishing a huge writing project like a book. I am just plain "written out" and am fresh out of things to say. When this happens, I turn to the news and am rarely disappointed. Planning Time To Write In his book, "Achieving Financial Independence as a Freelance Writer," Ray Dreyfack, a full-time freelancer for 30 years, suggests that writers "ease" into full-time writing while maintaining their day jobs. If you're following this advice, either by choice or by necessity, you know that it's not always easy. Obligations to jobs and families tend to take priority over writing. It's easy to lose focus of your writing goals when you have so many distractions in your life. Writing the Chapters of Your Life: Surprising Insights Using This Special Journaling Technique List-making is a favorite journaling technique and is often used to quickly jot down a numbered record on topics like "my beliefs," "my pet peeves," "the things I hate about myself," or "my strengths." However, there's a special type of list technique that moves beyond a simple itemization and into the realm of significant self-awareness. The Cost of Being a Writer You are the only one who knows what being a writer means to you. Greatness [When I was a nineteen-year-old high school student and budding poet ? two years after my diving accident] many factors adversely affected my creativity. My trips in a special bus to school and back home, my courses, and my assignments, though I was spared a lot of writing and was mostly tested orally, all this was time-consuming. More often than not, my obligation to study took priority over my desire to compose poetry. Under The Leaded Sky in Serbia by dr Mirjana Radovic When one population in one century survived five wars, two wars in just ten years, enforcment by self a question it`s the war destiny of Serbian people or his dare. With what a Serbian people has merit this - with his frankness, levity, with collective and national damnation or just with that fact which they are living in the territories which from its geopolitical consideration always were interesting orbit of much other populations. Maybe all this is a colective spread why is Serbian people with centuries had carry on contest for survival in Balkan, together attest its claim and necessity for protection of a national identity and his roots. In that permanent war people had obtained and dissipates but often had pass a golgote, and invigorated in every countenance . Baby Boomers and Booklets ? Share and Share Alike As one of those fabulous Baby Boomers, you now own a lifetime of valuable experiences, experiences that are useful to other people. You've given so much to your family all these years. It's dawning on you there may be a larger audience who would benefit from your knowledge. You're just beginning to hit your stride. Writing a book is too daunting. The speaking circuit isn't quite right, either. What else can you do? The ENTP Inventor Writes A Novel People familiar with the Myers-Briggs Personality test know that the writer is the INFJ. This person is introverted, intuitive, feelings-oriented and judgmental. On Writing and Poetry: Harry Calhoun in Conversation "This is just brilliant. The whole interview is incredible? I'm? REALLY appreciative of some seriously good advice from a fellow writer." Mark Howell, Senior Writer, Solares Hill 10 Secrets For Everyday Writing Success During my 25-year career in a variety of professionalpositions in both the private and public sectors I have written literally thousands of letters and memos andhundreds of reports. If I had to boil-down everythingI've learned about practical day-to-day writing for bothpersonal and business purposes into 10 key points, thiswould be my "top 10 list". A Writers Tools William Faulkner, the great Mississippi writer, said, "The tools I need for work are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky." Are You Feeling Dash-ing? Using Punctuation for Effect and Influence The dash--that curious mark of punctuation people use in their email and letters. Not the hyphen (-), but the dash (--). It's made by hitting the hyphen twice. In most cases, when you type the hyphen twice it will turn into one long dash (-). Sometimes you see the dash inserted where a comma would fit; other times you see it where you would put parentheses. How is the dash supposed to be used-and when can you use it to get the effect you want? Top 5 Rules of English Grammar Communication is effective when we follow certain rules. These rules make the written words understood. A writer should make the reader's job easier by communicating what he or she wants to communicate. If you also want to write, pay respect to your readers. Don't take them for granted. Learning and understanding the basic rules of English Grammar, you will surely be able to avoid ill-formed, confusing sentences. Hence, following and applying the rules of English Grammar and thereby producing a good writing can help the readers save their time from trying desperately to guess what you mean. This article covers the top 5 rules of English Grammar. Writing Good Dialogue. There's nothing that kills a scene like hackneyed dialogue. Just stop and think about the average B-Grade Hollywood Movie. Sure, at times the plot is bad and the characterisation woeful but most of the time, what stops it from being a good movie is the dialogue. Cringe-worthy dialogue. |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |