19 posts tagged “authors”

One of the biggest dreams many authors and writers have is to see their book on a library shelf. Getting your published book(s) into libraries, including public, municipal, state, university, research, and private libraries can seem like a challenge. How do you accomplish your goals and reach your dreams of selling your books to libraries? Although there is no guarantee that a library or librarian will buy your book, there are several general rules and guidelines one can follow in maximizing their chances.

Target Your Local and Regional Libraries

Most local and regional libraries actively seek books that are written by local authors and/or published locally. They are often especially interested in those books written about or that take place in the library’s city, region, or state. As a library books are often selected based on whether the content is written for the general reader or for the specialist or practitioner. Public libraries focus on books written for the general reader, while university and research libraries focus more on specialist or practitioner books.

Make Sure Your Book Has All The Necessary Features

Most libraries only accept books that have been commercially published. Some indications of commercial publication are a sturdy binding, preferably with the title on the spine; a title page clearly stating (on either the front or the back) the author, title, publisher and date of publication; an International Standard Business Number (ISBN) listed somewhere on the book or the jacket; and a price listed on either the book or the jacket.

Because books in most libraries get heavy and sometimes careless use from the public, librarians often look for ones which are sturdily bound, preferably sewn or glued. Spiral and comb bindings do not stand up well in libraries. Likewise, books with pages designed to be filled in by the reader, or torn out, do not fit in a library setting. Books that include objects such as toys, or crafts kits are also not appropriate.

Read more tips on marketing and selling your books to libraries here.

James Cox takes the title of his book from Sherman Alexie, for whom "white noise," the static that remains on a television after broadcasting ends, represents "the oppressive noise of white mass-produced cultures, the loud demand to conform to the invader's cultural belief system or be destroyed" (p. 11). Cox takes "white noise" to signify a broad history of colonial domination and erasure, which Alexie and the other novelists he considers write to resist. The introduction to Cox's book, "A Cup of Water," states his purpose to demonstrate how Euro-western and Euro-American literary and popular narratives, which almost always "culminate in the absence of Indians" (p. 13), support ongoing colonial dominance and produce real-world consequences for living Indians; and to explore the strategies used by some contemporary Native fiction writers to intervene in these colonial narratives of conquest, to render them powerless and suggest that "conquest, as imagined by non-Native authors, did not take place" (p. 18). Cox argues that his study "implements Osage scholar Robert Warrior's proposal ... that, in any scholarship on work by Native authors, the 'critical interpretation of those writings can proceed primarily from Indian sources,'" (p. 4); thus he intends to avoid "academic colonialism" by privileging the voices of Native writers in his own interpretations (pp. 4-5). If reality is constructed by stories, and if, as Greg Sarris observes, "In oral discourse ... no one party has access to the whole of the exchange.... [O]ne party's story is no more the whole story than a cup of water is the river" (quoted, p. 16), Cox wishes his own "cup of water" to resist the narrative flow that justifies domination and to "nourish" new plots for Native people (pp. 16-17).

Read more about Muting White Noise: Native American and European Novel Traditions here.

Today I have the honor of hosting Tony Napoli, as he tours with his new book My Father, My Don: A Son's Journey From Organized Crime to Sobriety. Tony's story is amazing, and I encourage everyone to take a moment and read how Tony overcame his life in organized crime and alcoholism.

Back of the Book Blurb

Moving back and forth in time from the 1800s to the present day, My Father, My Don: A Son's Journey From Organized Crime to Sobriety.tells the saga of the Napoli Family and takes its reader on a true-life journey, detailing one family's involvement in American organized crime. As told through the eyes of Anthony "Tony Nap" Napoli, the book follows the story of his father, James "Jimmy Nap" Napoli, who grew up in New York at the turn of the century and who ascended through the ranks of the Mafia to become one of the most powerful and respected mob bosses of all time. Jimmy Nap's career took him from street-level crime to an assassination attempt on Elliot Ness; from a relationship with Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista to becoming a Mob Kingpin who ruled over the largest gambling empire in America for almost 40 years. Jimmy Nap's sphere of influence extended to many businesses and industries, including professional boxing, casinos, and entertainment.

Read more about Crime Mafia Author Tony Napoli and his new book here.

Becoming a successful independent author or writer requires a lot of work: not only do you have to write, which is hard enough, but you also have to get your work published. There are many ways to see your writing in print, all of which are important if you want to be a successful indie writer. In this article I’m focusing on getting published by a book publishing company. For tips and resources on getting published in other formats, you can check out the main Independent Authors and Book Marketing Page here.

Getting your manuscript or book published by a book publishing house is not as hard as some make it out to be. Beyond having a solid idea and well written manuscript, there are nine general rules that you need to follow for success.

#1: Know Your Competition and Explain How Your Book or Proposal Are Better

Competition exists for pretty much any idea and every book ever written or published. It is critical, therefore, that you as an author or writer understand how and where your book fits into the market. Even if you are writing fiction or a narrowly targeted biography - it’s unlikely that there is not some other title that the potential reader may be comparing to yours. On the other hand if your book truly has no competition, is this perhaps a sign that there is no market? Likewise, you can’t just argue that your book is for everyone and ignore the competition. That is just not the case.

The key is to know your competition and explain to the editor or agent how your book or idea is unique, better, and worth taking on. Furthermore, your knowledge of the competition and the place that your book fits within it can be successfully used to market and promote it once it is published. Having competition doesn’t mean you don’t write your book (in many ways it may be an incentive to write a book), it just means you need to be aware of where your book fits in.

Read the other rules to follow when submitting your book or manuscript to an agent or editor here.

To be a successful independent author requires a lot of hard work. Not only do you have to write, but you also have to market and promote your work. However, with the hard work comes a great reward – the ability to be a successful indie author and writer who is living the dream. One of the ways you can pursue your dream of independent author status is through the internet. How do you utilize the power and reach of the internet to market your books and/or writing? In terms of your writing, there are many different methods, and I suggest you begin here. If your looking at marketing and promoting your book online, then keep reading.

Marketing your book online is both rewarding and challenging. It’s rewarding because much of what you can do online is either free or low cost. Knowing what to do and in what order, however, can be quite a challenge. Below are ten general steps to marketing your book online that you’ll need to follow on your road to becoming a successful indie author. If your marketing and promotion efforts are haphazard, you’ll put a lot of effort into but be frustrated with the results. If you do them in the right sequence, on the other hand, your marketing efforts will yield exponential, long-term results.

Whether your book is being published through a traditional publishing house or you are self-publishing, you must take a highly active role in promoting and marketing your book. The ten steps described below are aimed at building interest and drive sales. Implement them in the order given to maximize your online marketing and promotion efforts.

Read more about 10 Steps to Online Success for the Independent Author: Marketing Your Book Before and After Publication here.

I’m a reader and proud of it. I’d rather read a great new book then watch some rehash of a sitcom from last year on the TV. I’ve always been this way, ever since I was little and first learned to read it has been one of my favorite pastimes. Growing up I’d spend my summers out in the yard reading books. Later, as I went through high school I began to tackle all of the “greats.” One entire year I spent reading only Russian authors: Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Stendhal, etc. Another time I was really into authors from Latin America, and read through all of Borges, Marquez, Cortazar, and Allende. Now I’m much more eclectic, reading books for a variety of reasons. All through my reading life (literally thousands of books), I’ve never kept real close track of what I read, when, and what I thought about the book in the moment. Sure, I can think back and reflect on whether I liked a book or not, but those personal intimate moments I had while actually reading the book are lost to the dustbin of my memory.

That is why I am so excited about two new books (really more like reading journals) by Rachelle Knight. Read, Remember, Recommend; A Reading Journal for Book Loversis just that, a handy reading journal that not only works for recording your memories, but also helps you find that next great book. Sure, I’ve tried some of the online reading sites such as Shelfari, LibraryThing, and GoodReads. But those don’t come with you when you are looking for a new book in your local bookstore. Likewise, you can’t access them, log on, and surf to some book you saw the other day during a conversation with friends. Enter Read, Remember, Recommend; A Reading Journal for Book Loversand Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading List Journal for Teens

Read more about this essential resource for all book readers here.

Today the internet is a central part of many people’s lives, and the number of people who access and utilize the World Wide Web for information and entertainment grows every day. In turn, the internet has also become a central part of every advertising or marketing agenda, and this is even truer for successful independent writers, authors, and book marketers. Why? Simply put, with diminishing margins in the publishing industry and with the shift of information flow moving from print to digital media, the internet has not only become the future of writing and publishing, it has also become a key marketing resource and advertising avenue.

To capitalize on the potential of the internet you have to be on it, and the best way to have a presence on the World Wide Web is through your own blog or website. Whether you try and make money via these sites to recoup some costs is not the point of this article. Rather, the need to have a blog or website is to showcase your writing and to promote your book(s) to the millions of potential readers on the internet. If you don’t have a blog or website, or you don’t know how to get one, I suggest you do some more reading. Assuming you do have a blog or website, the next step is to get readers. Unlike traditional forms of media, the internet is an active medium where the writer or author has to do some of their own marketing and promotion. Building links to your blog or website is an essential part of this, and doing so successfully requires following a few simple guidelines.

Read about the Techniques for Link Building to Promote Your Books here.

Interview with Nan Hawthorne - Author of An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England

NGB: Welcome to the site.

I’m really excited about having you with us today. Let’s get rolling: Your book An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon Englandjust came out. How long were you in the process of writing and crafting it?

Nan: I suppose that depends on how far back you want to go. The novel, in its final form, took me about two and a half years with numerous interruptions, from writing the original episodes for the collaborative writing group Ghostletters (www.ghostletters.net) to forming the episodes into a novel to editing and editing and editing!

This is not my first book, but it is my first novel, and I have to say the experience of composition of fiction was a revelation for me. In a nutshell, the characters in the book wrote the book. I found myself setting up a situation and then just watching what they did. Now I understand what the authors who say they "channel" books mean. I think the fact that I know these people, my characters, so well made this happen.

Why I know them so well and what I meant by how far you want to go back is that the characters are from a series of stories a friend and I wrote when we were both teenagers in the 1960s. The king, queen, minstrels and the mercenary lord were as much my friends as anyone from my school or neighborhood. I wrote and thought about them daily. Thankfully the intervening decades of adulthood and experience have helped me develop them into complete persons. You could realistically say this novel took 35 years to put together.

Read more about Nan Hawthorne and her new book An Involuntary King here.

I've always been a fan of historical fiction. Not only do they give you a personal, unique perspective on how that period in history might have unfolded, but it also lets you relive that period in time - at least in your mind. The history of England is one of those periods where historical fiction almost does a better job then straight history books. The interpersonal relationships between the royal family, the political jestering of the elite class, and the social dynamics of the era all lend themselves to historical fiction. The recent book by Alison Weir - The Innocent Traitor- is the perfect example.

Alison Weir brings new life and fascinating detail to this tragic and familiar tale of the Tudor Royal History. What if your parents were so bent on furthering the family name that they would bring you into a known danger and ultimately be the cause of loosing your head - literally. Lady Jane Grey was sixteen years of age when she was beheaded after being declared Queen of England for nine days. This is the story of a highly educated girl, who would have been England’s first Protestant Queen.

Weir fleshes out Lady Jane’s childhood with its cold, harsh environment where she recedes into solitude and study as defense. She is intelligent and private and goes not want public office forced upon her, but her parents and Lord Dudley (father to future Queen Elizabeth’s long time love Lord Robert Dudley) care only about possible her claim to the throne.

Read more about The Innocent Traitor: A Tudor English Historical Fiction here.

Promoting your books or writing online is an important way of marketing yourself and becoming a successful independent writer. Whether you are writing articles, posts to your blog, or conversing on writing forums and author social networks, you need visitors. Within the World Wide Web this is known as getting traffic. With all of the pages on the internet, traffic is something you have to seek out; it doesn’t just come to you. Many people understand this concept, but have no idea how to properly promote their writing or books online. Some just skip it all together, while others spam all over the net hoping for favorable views and lots of traffic. Neither of these approaches are good for business and long-term success as an indie author. But that doesn’t mean you have to be in the dark.

Write Quality Pieces With Solid Content

The best place to start promoting your writing is in your books, blog posts, or forum comments. If your articles lack content, organization, usefulness, and or interest then there will be no reason for people to read them. On the other hand, if you have quality writing that is well edited, people will want to read them and even help in promoting them (see Word of Mouth Marketing for Books). This can give you natural exposure and help to give your writing authority – all of which brings traffic. Often times people will link to your blog post, share your book, and some will even bookmark your web pages. All of these things are key to being a successful independent writer.

*A note about SEO. SEO has become all the rage. Known as search engine optimization, it is a technique used to help get your writing picked up by search engines. If you optimize your blog posts or writing too much, it becomes difficult for real people to read (which is a bad thing). If you are into working with SEO then you can learn a lot from a wide range of sites online. Just don’t forget that a quality blog post or article is about more then just search engine optimization; its about engaging real human readers.

Choose Your Writing Location

Where you write online is going to have a huge amount to do with the amount of traffic you get. If you write on a site that has little traffic and a poor way of drawing their visitors to your materials you will find that you get little traffic from the site and to your own writing. On the other hand, if you write for a site that has a large amount of traffic and makes it easy for readers to find your materials you will see that you get a lot of traffic. Your blog or website works in a similar way. To be successful online as an indie writer you need to be in it for the long haul. Its possible to make a living as a writer online, but it takes time, persistence, and commitment. Therefore, I recommend that you get your own domain (URL) and host your own website. Once you are sure that you want to go the route of an independent author, you have to get traffic (i.e., readers).

Read more about how to Market Your Books and Promote Your Writing Online: The Successful Independent Writer here.