Now this is a great bio page

http://www.ingermanson.com/home/personal.php

Tough love for wannabe writers

Jane Friedman, my editor at Writer’s Digest for Write is a Verb, has compiled her best tough love reality slap for those of you who are really serious about being published writers. To paraphrase Betty Davis (who said Old age is not for sissies), writing and publishing are not for wimps.

Get some tough love from Jane and go get published if you (and you work) are up to it:

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2009/10/06/TheSecretsToPublishingSuccessJanes2009ToughLoveGuide.aspx

Another blog to a book advance

The New York Times recently ran an article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/fashion/30web.html?ref=books) about a guy who began blogging only a short time before he reportedly got a $300,000 advance from Random House for a book derived from his blog, Stuff White People Like (stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com). He has gotten 19 million hits on his blog since he started. (A few more than this blog, it must be noted.)

Have you started blogging your way to a book yet?

Bill on The Today Show on St. Patrick’s Day

Platform building.Out of the blue, I was invited to be on The Today Show on Monday, March 17, 2008. Since I am already on the East Coast (I’m in D.C. at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium teaching until Sunday), I agreed.A few people I have mentioned this to wanted to know how it happened. I was contacted by a writer asking me to comment on some Irish proverbs (I had never heard any of these proverbs) and their relevance to relationships. The resulting article was published in Women’s Health magazine and timed to come out in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Since I have an Irish background and name and am male, they wanted to know whether I would come on The Today Show for a “He Said/She Said” segment featuring the theme and Women’s Health editor/columnist Nicole Beland.I don’t really have a current book to hawk (my Write is a Verb is the latest book and that really doesn’t fit with the theme), so I plan to just have fun with it. They tell me it will be on during the 10 O’clock hour.  

Grammar Girl – Turning a podcast into a book

Grammar Girl. Former freelance science writer Mignon Fogarty decides to create a podcast discussing common grammatical errors she encounters in her editing work. She launches Grammar Girl, a lighthearted and kindly guide to grammar. Fast forward sometime later. Oprah is doing a show on grammar. Several of her staffers tell Oprah she must get Grammar Girl. Problem: Grammar Girl has a book contract but no book to tout when she is to go on Oprah, wasting a golden opportunity. Solution: She and her publisher, working non-stop for several days, create an audio book version from Grammar Girls podcast audio files and make the book available through Audible.com. Many audiobooks are sold, saving the day. Writers will find this essential and the rest of you may just find it amusing and helpful. You can learn about Spoonerisms, when to use lay vs. lie, when to use sit vs. set and other good stuff, presented with a light touch. You can get the podcast through iTunes or visit GG’s website: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

 

The point for those of you who are aspiring writers? Pursue your interests and passions. Put something out into the world rather than sitting and dreaming about it. (Of course, make sure this isn’t a distraction from your writing or something you are doing instead of writing). Podcasts, like blogs, can enhance your platform and can generate material to use in your writing project. And as Grammar Girl has shown, it might even get you a book contract or a spot on Oprah.

Write is a Verb featured on radio show/podcast

Bill appeared on Santa Fe Radio Café on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 with host Mary-Charlotte and fellow guests Anne Hillerman of the Hillerman Writers Conference (http://www.hillermanconference.com/) and WordHarvest Writers Workshops (http://www.sfworkshops.com/) and thriller writer David Morrell (http://www.davidmorrell.net). David and I will both be speaking at the Hillerman Writers Conference in Albuquerque in early November 2007. It was a nice radio show. We spoke about writing and our latest projects. David has just completed a graphic novel, I have Write is a Verb out, and Anne, in addition to organizing conferences, has two books coming out in the next while. The host is sharp and we all got along well, I think. You can listen to the show on the site link below, download it or subscribe to their podcast in iTunes.
http://www.santaferadiocafe.org/podcasts/?p=148

Publicizing your book is a good investment

I mentioned a study from www.raintoday.com in my last post about the indirect income that can come from getting a book written and published. Another interesting finding in that report was that authors who invested money in publicity (often their own money, from their book advance or just from their own pocket) ended up earning more money from their books and getting more book sales than those who relied on their book publishers to publicize their books.

THE BENEFITS OF INVESTING IN BOOK PUBLICITY

51% of the authors included in the study invested an average of $4500 of their own funds to publicize their books, mostly by hiring outside publicists. The payoff of this investment was significant. The study found that those authors who used outside help sold an average of 10,000 copies of their first book and earned average royalties of $55,000, compared to 4,500 copies sold and royalties of $25,000 for authors who relied solely on their publishers to market and sell their books.

Radio publicity for a book

Tomorrow I am appearing on a local radio show for my new book (Write is a Verb). I have done television publicity, print media (magazines, newspapers), lectures, book signings and other means of publicizing book. I like radio. The hosts are usually nice and fun folks (TV is mixed; there are quite a few shallow/persona-only characters in this medium, along with again, some nice folks who are prepared for the interview and have at least glanced at the book). The time one gets in radio is often more than TV (although not always). You can also do radio from anywhere by phone (although I will be doing it in person tomorrow on KSFR here in Santa Fe – they do the interview at the Santa Fe Baking Company and you can sometimes hear orders shouted in the background). I did a “40-city radio tour” in my robe (you have to get up early for east coast “drive-time”).

I’m not sure how well radio works (or anything else, excpet Oprah, of course) because most of the time I am doing multiple channels and efforts to publicize my book. The effect of being on Oprah was easy to observe (the book went from 766,000 ranking on Amazon.com to #13 while the show was on), but for most other avenues of publicity, the effect will be more subtle and cumulative. But being on radio is easy (no travel, good people, a little more time to talk about the book, location flexibility), so it is a good way to go.

My book companies have used several publicity companies to set up radio tours:
Krupp Kommunications (http://www.kruppkommunications.com/) – Yes it is spelled correctly. I loved the person who coordinated my publicity–Jennifer Heesler
Newman Communication (http://www.newmancom.com/)

They both sell their services to authors and are worth the money.