Publicity Tip of the Week: Multiple Publishers

Hit up multiple publishers. Here's more info on that, courtesy of Foreward Magazine's online edition:

"Multiple publishers are companies that publish clusters of weekly community papers. Liberally scattered throughout the United States, multiple publishers vary in size, some churning out as many as two to three dozen neighborhood weeklies. One of my best-kept secrets has been how to use multiple publishers to jump-start p.r. campaigns," relates Blanco in her book THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO BOOK PUBLICITY (Allworth Press).

Typically, a multiple publisher will print a separate, regionalized edition of the same weekly paper for each individual suburb in its territory. If you are able to secure an author interview with a multiple publisher, which Blanco assures us is a cinch now that you are an "Award-winning" author/publisher, that article is likely to appear in every edition they issue. If you live near a multiple publisher in a bigger metropolitan area, the effects could be amazing. And given the nature of the newspaper business and conglomeration-even smaller regions have great potential to create momentum for notoriety and tremendous sales. Go to the library and/or surf the net to find the multiple publisher in your area."

Ten Minutes to the Audition Updates

Good things are happening! We're getting positive buzz on the book. Here's a run-down of recent developments:

1) Judy Kerr (author of Acting is Everything) loves 10 MINUTES TO THE AUDITION and is putting it in her daily email next week. She's also taking it to the Actor Fest in New York this weekend and is adding it to her website.

2) ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, Janice will be interviewed on KLSX's (97.1) "Sunday Edition" radio show. If you live in L.A., please tune your dial to it!

3) ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, Soaptalk is due to air an interview with Janice three times: at 8 a.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

4) SoaptownUSA.com will run an article/interview on Janice starting November 25. It will be a front page special feature piece. They will also offer a few books as a prize giveaway.

Keep an eye out!

We'll Never Be Young Again Letters at SDSU

Now through January 28 you can see the original letters that comprise our book We'll Never Be Young Again. They'll be on display at the San Diego State University library. I'll add the press release to the sidebar...

How to Work with Your Publisher

There's an excellent article in the Nov./Dec. issue of Poets & Writers in which the current predicament of book marketing is outlined in detail. The basic gist: even the big houses have no time or money to sell an author's book for him/her.

The bottom line is that in today's world, a writer who wants to be successful needs to switch roles once her book has been picked up for publication. Self-promotion and aggressive internet marketing are key. None of this is news to us, of course; we've been working our butts off to get our authors reviewed, interviewed, mentioned in blogs, discussed in chat rooms, etc. I'm a writer myself, and through this job I've learned a lot about what a person needs to do on the author end to help her book sell. That's why I'm opening this blog up to Q&A.

If you're a writer -- aspiring or published -- in search of tips on how to market yourself or your book, leave your question in a Comment and I'll answer it to the best of my ability in the next post.

Thursday News

Keep an eye out at Studentfilmmakers.com, a cool site that will soon begin carrying Hal's screenwriting book in its online store. Other developments this week: we're sending out kids' books to be reviewed by various homeschooling web sites, and I've got Friedl going out to *hopefully* be reviewed by a very cool site on spirituality and modern culture.

Meanwhile, the Daylight Savings change-over has been difficult for everyone here in L.A. We're all so spoiled by eternal sunshine that it's hard to stay awake after 4 p.m. I'll have to re-program my clock to think about book marketing a bit earlier in the day, when my faculties are still sharp.

Enjoy the rest of your Veteran's Day...

Here's a great review of Hal's book, Write Screenplays That Sell.

10 Minutes to Broadway!

The American Association of Community Theatres has posted an Audition Tip from 10 Minutes to the Audition in their newsletter. Check it out!