Tag: book promotion

Posted in Book contests, Book promotion, Self-Publishing

Writers’ contests: The good, the bad & the very ugly (& a few tips)

Posted on by Patricia J. Parsons

I opened my email the other day to find a note from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.  Congratulations, it read, …your book has been named a Finalist in the GENERAL FICTION/NOVEL (Over 80,000 words) category…

Oh, I thought.  What’s that?  Did I enter that contest?  Immediately my skeptic kicked in until I remembered, yes, I did enter this contest many months ago when I was fixated on book marketing.  But now I found myself researching it again just to see if there was any legitimacy to it, and for that matter, any legitimacy to any of the contests designed to part independently and small-press published authors from their money (most have entry fees).

An award winner? Just wish the publisher had given it a cover I like more than this one!

What’s the point of giving awards for books?  It used to be – back in the day as they say – that book awards recognized truly gifted authors whose work has or is destined to make a difference.  Of course, that presupposes that those judging for the awards have the capability to distinguish the very best – whatever that might be at any given point in time.

These days, however, in addition to these long-standing, prestigious awards (at least they’re prestigious in some circles), there is an absolute glut of awards and contests for writers.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America posted a terrific description of awards and award scams here.  They differentiate among outright scams, contest mills, award mills, fake contests etc.  The list is long and very dispiriting.  But why would a writer enter a contest anyway?

If your book is published by a traditional publisher, that traditional publisher just might decide to enter your book in an appropriate award contest.  Or not.  If your book is independently published, then watch out.  You are going to be vulnerable to every possible attempt to get you to enter a contest.  Why would you even consider that, anyway?

In a word: publicity. This is the promise.  Your book will be read by others who might, just might, like it. Or at least they might – just might – actually read it. They might like it enough that you might win an award.  And that award will mean publicity (not the New York Times kind of publicity, though).

Lots of other people have researched these contests, so I thought I’d take a slightly different tack.  I hypothesized that if a book award is so credible, then the books awarded must be of high quality.

I took a random sample (albeit a convenience sample for all of you researchers out there), to get a bit of anecdotal evidence to support or discredit my thesis.

I started with the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards which bills themselves as the “World’s largest international and regional book awards competition” and selected their first-place winner in the popular fiction category, Vertical, by Rex Pickett (Loose Gravel Press — Pickett is co-owner).  Surfing over to Amazon, I read inside the book, as I would do if I were at a book store trying to decide whether or not I wanted to read the book.  In case you didn’t pick it up – and I certainly did not – Pickett’s first book was Sideways, which later morphed into the film Sideways.  So, I read.  My conclusion:  I’m ordering this book.  He writes in an accessible and entertaining way: this just might be my summer schlock reading for this year.

Next on my list was the Writer’s Digest Award for self-published authors.  They charge $100 to enter and offer the following:  chance to win $3,000 in cash, national exposure for your work, the opportunity to catch the attention of prospective editors and publishers, and a paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City![1] Well, after more online research than I care to mention, I could not identify even one of their winners.  I’m sure they’re listed somewhere, but I can’t seem to find them – or at least I’m not willing to do spend any more time on it.  Onward!

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is a highly visible award for self-published authors.  Their prize is a publishing contract with Penguin with whom they are partnered.  I selected Bill Warrington’s Last Chance: A Novel by James King which won in 2010.  A multi-generational saga, the book is not really my personal cup of tea.  I started to read it, and it’s as good as any “coming-of-age” “road-trip” novel, so it’s mainstream.  Just not my thing.  But the reader reviews on the site are really quite good.  Given the number of their finalists who are published on their own Createspace, though, I have a few questions.

At this point I’m beginning to think that the high-profile of these awards really do have some substance to them.  Obviously, there will always be scams, but in the grand scheme of things if you do your research, entering a contest like this just might get you what you’re looking for: recognition and a bit of publicity — a bit.  But beware; there are more scams than there are legitimate contests.

I have a few suggestions to authors who are interested in entering their work in book contests:

  1. Before doing anything, sit down and decide what your objective is.  If it’s to get onto the NYT best-seller list, you might be a wee bit unrealistic.  If you want publicity, it’s possible.  If you’d like a bit more exposure, you’ll likely get it.  At least your work will be read by someone.
  2. Decide how much money you’re willing or able to cough up.  Many of these contests, even some of the more credible, do charge for entries.
  3. Do an online search for contests that fit your particular genre, just as you would when seeking a compatible publisher.
  4. Select four or five that impress you the most and research them.  Look at what bloggers or independent writers are saying apart from what is on the web site.
  5. Read the contest’s web site very carefully.  Look at every bit of the fine print.  Then go back to the blog I linked to above from the Science Fiction Writers and check to make sure that none of the red flags are there.
  6. Make a decision on one or two contests.
  7. Read the entry requirements carefully.
  8. Follow the instructions to the letter – and make sure your entry is in before the deadline.
  9. Then wait.

Oh…it might be worthwhile to make a note of contests you enter.  See my opening sentence! And what’s my conclusion about that contest?  Still don’t know what to think.  I’ll let you know.

Posted in Book covers, Book promotion

Author photos & bios: Reasons to care

Posted on by Patricia J. Parsons
Would this make a good book-jacket photo?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I’m wondering what those thousand words could possibly be as I contemplate the photos on some of my book covers.  And then when I read the bios, it occurs to me that the author bio issue is even more fraught with considerations.

Generally, from my point of view, the author photo on the book cover has two distinct objectives:

* To assist in the marketing of the book.

* To massage the author’s ego.

Achievement of the first objective is very difficult to figure out.  Achievement of the second – a lot easier.

Book marketers see the visual needs of the potential book buyer as very important important (that’s why covers are very important); thus the author photo is a key part of the book jacket’s appeal or lack thereof as far as they’re concerned.  One web commentator suggests that there are three reasons to put author photos on book covers…

  1. Author photos help to sell books.
  2. Author photos help to build name recognition.
  3. Author photos help TV bookers decide whether the author would be “good television” material[1].

Valid points, all; however, no one really knows the extent to which an author’s image assists in the selling of the book.  No one seems to have done any solid research.

We convinced them to put us on the front cover. Quite a coup!

Some years ago when my co-author (husband) and I were negotiating the cover for a health-related  book targeted at the general public, we insisted that to personalize it, our photo had to be on the cover.  We had previous experience of this publisher; they had not wanted any photo on the earlier one, front or back.  In fact the cover issue was a contentious one with this publisher.  This time around, we wanted our photo there – and not on the back cover – we wanted it to be the front cover.  When a doctor and a health educator are writing a book that they hope will benefit the readers, it seemed important to us that when potential readers slid it off a shelf in a book store (it was the dark ages, after all), they might be interested in who was speaking to them.  It seems that most book marketers agree, but there are pitfalls here.   The selection of the photo can be hazardous.

Paul Hiebert, writing online in Flavorwire makes a very good point:  “Excellent authors avoid writing clichés. The problem is that some of these very authors do not apply the same level of vigilance when it comes to taking promotional photographs, whether they’re for magazine profiles or back-of-the-book biographies…”[2]  He describes the kinds of staged photos that really do give little information to the potential reader and often make the author look, well, clichéd.  His piece is worth a click.

If you think that no one actually looks at author photos, you might want to surf by David Wills’ piece The Curse of the Douchey Author Photo, wherein he writes an email to a reader who actually had the temerity to write a nasty note about the photo on his book.  It makes an author think carefully about image, an image and personal brand that are influenced by both the photo and the bio.

Over the years, I’ve had publishers who insisted that there be no author photo (very hard on the author ego) as well as others who insist on one (easy on the ego if I get to select the photo – which I do). Their focus was on the author bio. A succinct statement of author credentials is very important to readers who are looking for information in addition to entertainment.  I take great pains over the construction of that very brief bio, taking into consideration the needs and wants of the actual target market.  What do they want to know about me?  What do they need to know about me?  What do they not care about?  Then I avoid over-sharing – the plague of the modern technological society.

When it comes to fiction, the author’s bio might not be all that important.  Do you really care what kinds of previous books the author wrote?  Do you care where the author lives?  Probably not.  You are probably going to be more concerned about the book summary on the cover and whether or not it is compelling to you as an individual reader.  Do you care what the author looks like?  Probably not.  But you might be curious.  The real down side to this is that an author photo might actually put off the bigots of the world who might be the very people who need to open their minds.

Two different kinds of books (first, historical fiction; second, business), two different photos & bios — same author.

HIstorical fiction book: Author photo & bio

A business-related photo & bio

Posted in Author web sites

Author web sites: Need to have, nice to have or nuts to have?

Posted on by Patricia J. Parsons
An author web site...

J.K. Rowling has quite a web site.  It’s flashy; it’s imaginative; it’s just the kind of web site you might think that creator of the Harry Potter brand ought to have.  And I have no doubt that her myriad fans visit it when they are in need of all things JKR.  However, what’s the point of the unknown author having a personal web site (beyond the obvious ego-massaging aspect?)

In general terms, and in these days of social media, you have to be clear that a web presence is just that – a web ‘presence.’  It is present – no more, no less.

A web presence is usually a static site where organizations or people can hang information.  If they seek to be dynamic in nature or to engage others (in the case of authors – presumably your readers), then they need to be connected to opportunities for encouraging this engagement:  an author blog (present site included), a forum of some kind (perhaps a Facebook page where discussion can take place on the ‘wall’), a wiki (wherein you might engage your readers to help you create a piece of writing – but that’s a bit odd in my view.  (Just odd enough that I might try it.)

The Huffington Post ran an article earlier this year that explores just this question.  The article focused on an interview with Anik LaFarge who is the author of The Author Online: A Short Guide to Building Your Website, Whether You Do it Yourself (and you can!) or You Work With Pros. Just as you might imagine, the discussion of the pros and cons is hardly balanced: the interview subject is, after all, in the business of creating author web site, so naturally she thinks that they fall into my “need to have” category.  The one thing she does suggest that seems completely useful is this: there’s no point in having a web site if you don’t use it.  Couldn’t agree more.  I think that the question of using it, though, has two components.  First, the author has to use it, and then the readers have to use it.

An author’s use of his or her web site manifests itself in a couple of activities.  First, the author needs to ensure that the site has useful information that is updated on a regular basis for those who do happen to stumble upon it.  Second, the author needs to get that web site into search engines so that it can actually be found.

As far as readers are concerned, they need to use it to become engaged with the author, something that many authors in days gone by, weren’t really interested in.  Times have changed.  I suppose readers use authors’ web sites to get the backstory on current work, to find out what’s coming up and to get background on the author.  Those would be three kinds of content that could be found. However, how often do you as a reader actually visit the web site for an author you like?

As a reader I never seek out and visit author web sites.  Do you?

As a writer, I think that my web site tells certain people that I’m a serious writer and that I have accomplished a few things.  Who, though, are those certain people?  Agents?  Film makers?  New publishers?  I don’t know the answer.

My own web site caused me considerable soul-searching.  Did I need one?  What would be its objective?  Who would read it (a bit like the question of who will read your book)?  Who will design/maintain/update it? Was it worth it?

It seemed like a no-brainer.  These days, if your work is in the public view, whether you’re an organization or an individual, if you’re not on the web, in some sense, you don’t exist.  Perhaps that’s a bit strong, but it does make a point.

The truth is that an author web site is a place for me to send interested individuals whom I meet at parties etc. who specifically ask if there’s anywhere they can read about me.  So, if I meet you at a party and you happen to ask what I do (I usually don’t talk about myself unless asked these days) and then you’re interested enough to ask where you can find out more information, I’ll probably send you to my web site.  But do I think thousands of people are visiting it monthlly?  I’m smart enough about web sites to be sure of the answer: NO.

There is one thing I know for sure: a web site will not make you a rich and famous writer.  But what I don’t know is if you can become a rich and famous author without one.  That’s if you want to be rich and famous.