Celebrate your independence!
merry independence weekend!
Fly on the wall: Authors websites – putting your best book forward
Greetings pilgrims.
I thought I’d wrap up this short holiday week with some samplings of good book promotion a la author’s websites. You can get a look at how some HCI authors are promoting themselves and learn about some hot books for your summer beach list or fall reading in the meanwhile. Page-turning memoirs are the order of the day…
Mary Jo Buttafuoco’s book is definitely one to devour in a few hours. And, it’s Midge-approved, which is a nod from my 85 year old mom. a former English teacher, and once a prolific reader. To top off my week, did I mention that today the NY Times asked for copies of the book three weeks before it hits the streets? That’s very happy-making, believe me! Being on their radar well in advance of publication is a very nice sign.
If you’ve been watching “Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell” on HLN lately, then you may have noticed that at the end of her program each night, she’s displaying her book, iWant. Usually I frown on public promotion prior to the on sale date, which in this case is September, but since Jane has a daily national broadcast forum at her disposal, why not strut her stuff as early and often as she can. By September, throngs of fans will be hitting their local stores saying, I want iWant. It could get confusing.
The please-don’t-pass-the salt twins, Tammie Lakatos Shames and Lyssie Lakatos are perpetually in promo mode and are previewing their book cover online now. Not available until August in Borders and September most other places, these savvy authors know that when they’re being otherwise interviews before the book is out, they insist on being identified as the “authors of The Secret to Skinny.” They have a good trainer.
Stop and see Everything Sucks! on Hannah Friedman’s site and while there, check out some of her YouTube videos. There’s a star in the making if I ever saw one. Yesterday, I got to hang out with her and work with her on her back cover copy. Something about a monkey for an older sister? You’ll have to read her book to find out what this means. She’s a sharp, sharp cookie.
In summation, the key points I’m making are:
1) Have a website or a blog – or both
2) Promote your own book on your site – even before it’s available
3) Be sure to make it available for PRE-ORDERS before its publication date via amazon.com or other online vendors
4) Have a HAPPY, HAPPY 4th!!
p.s. What are you reading?
p.p.s. Click on “HOME” on the tab on the top of this page and go to RESOURCES page to see more fabulous author websites. Then send me a link to yours.
The great dieting caper or how promoting diet books caused me to gain weight
Once upon a blog post I posed the question: If you promote diet books, would you lose weight? After all these months and posts, I’m here to tell you, the answer is a big, fat “no!”
You can scroll around and see the fantastic diet-expert people I’ve gotten to represent over the years. This past Friday, I got to finally meet in person the dynamic-diet-duo, Dr. Randolph and Genie James, authors of From Belly Fat to Belly Flat and From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well. My first reaction to gorgeous, svelte Genie, “well, you certainly have a flat belly – you’re skinny!” (a good feature for a slimness-pushing author) Whether or not I’m able or have the willpower to follow their plan is another story but let me tell you that just eating with them was a lesson in diet-tude.
At the end of our meal, most of the food on their plates was still there. Mine was nowhere to be found. My plate clean as a whistle.
My favorite adage would save most dieters a lot of book reading and strife. It goes like this: if you want to lose weight eat like a skinny person. Watch and learn.
I joke about food but I mean no disrespect to the authors. I have diet book knowledge in my brain that could slim down an entire community. The disconnect, however, is between that brain (mine) and my taste buds. In the contest for attention, the taste buds win every time. Unless, of course, I’m ill. Even then, I usually find a way to eat. I eat when I’m depressed, or happy, or overworked, or….just fill in the blank.
As I finish my piece of the most heavenly key lime pie from the Upper Crust in Lake Worth, I have a confession. I have actually stooped to enrolling myself into a study conducted by the University of Miami’s School of Integrative Medicine to deal with my desire to lose weight. No, I am not what most people would consider to be overweight, but I needed to get my eating habits under control.
And, as the “Belly Fat” authors will tell you, fat provoking imbalances begin to create havoc in our mid-sections as early as in our 30’s. You can imagine what happens two decades later.
It’s horrible.
So, I trotted down to Miami last Thursday, got lost for 45 minutes looking for the correct location which I had no address for . Another casualty of this decade is misplacing your common sense. Why not drive to an entirely foreign (that’s a double entendre) area without any contact information.
Sweet.
By the grace of God I met up with a person involved in the study and I was walked over to an office to have blood drawn, get weighed, measured, calipered, and pinched. On the way, the petite college student assigned to my case asked me which group I was in. Was it the diabetes group? The heart disease? No, I replied. It was the overweight one.
“Whaaaaaat?” she exclaimed. “You’re the second skinny-minny this week. You’ve got to be kidding, right?”
No, I’m serious. I assured her that part of my m.o. was knowing how to dress to make you look thinner than you really are. That would be the theme of my book.
Whether or not you think I’m committing a crime of diet deception, hear me out. The study which focuses on food allergens will tell me which foods I must avoid. In exchange, I’m asked to record three days of meals to start and when the results come in from examining my blood, I will omit the culprit food from my diet for a minimum of 2 months. And, check in with the research people a few more times. I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they made me record meals for the entire study.
It’s the least I can do.
Why am I doing this, you ask? BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY I WILL BE ABLE TO CONTROL MY INTAKE OF FOOD IS TO HAVE TO REPORT TO SOMEONE.
My name is Kim and I’m a foodaholic…
Wow, that sounds really bad. I think I’m going to check out one of our many food disorder books.
Will I lose weight? Do I need to? Will I get off my duff and move it around aerobically or anaerobically once in a while?
I’ll let you know as the days go by how I’m doing.
I want a belly (or the lack thereof) like Genie James.
As I give a shout out to Dr. John E. Lewis, the doctor in charge of the study who I have yet to meet, I also want you to know that eating right or dieting might not be as tough for you. If you’re not already in control, we’ve got a slew of books for you.
For starters, do like the Nutrition Twins tell you and slow down on the salt, ok?
For people like me, we have two basic choices: cut the size of your gut in half surgically, or cut the portions of your food in half.
I choose giving my body to science – while I’m still alive.
Just please pass the black and white cookies before they tell me that I have to give up chocolate.
That might be difficult.
Give me chocolate… or give me….you know the rest.
Chow for now!
p.s. Shall we turn to page 10 in the Cheater’s Diet?? This fly on the wall is bloated!
Comments (0)Everyone’s excited about the vegan cookbook – especially yours truly!
Even the title has a happy ring to it. And, to top that, its genius subtitle reads: “Decadent (But Doable) Animal-Free Recipes for Entertaining & Every Day.”
Could we have found a more timely, just plain yummy cookbook to add to the most stellar list of HCI titles ever? I’m giddy with booklist glee and think that a good vegan cookbook makes for refreshing contrast to the true crime books I’m working on and some of the heavier handed subject matter (internet defamation for one).
It’s also obvious that I’m mad for this September title because I’m mad about food. Being vegetarian (most days) Vegan Yum Yum will add to my animal-free culinary repertoire. (I do make some pretty convincing faux ground beef and a mean hunk of homemade seitan)
The author’s being featured in Vegetarian Times this September and I’m going to do my darndest to get the book pictured if not reviewed in the subsequent issue. I’m also ecstatic that we went with the current cover. I did counter a few ed board members on this cover and am glad I was on the side with taste, I mean, the winning side.
What do you think of it? Just curious.
Today I’m going to share a preview of the book by posting a recipe. Even if you’re not vegan, you might try indulging your inner PETA soul here.
How about some…
Smokey Miso Tofu Sandwiches (picture gorgeous color photos to accompany the recipe)
Smokey Miso Tofu
Makes 18 to 20 thin slices
1 block extra/super firm tofu, drained and pressed
2 tablespoons red miso
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
Step 1 Preheat the oven to 425º F. Wrap your drained tofu in a few paper towels, then again in a terry cloth bar towel. Press with something heavy, like a cast-iron skillet or a plate with some cans on top, for 10 to 20 minutes.
Step 2 Meanwhile, mix the marinade together.
Step 3 Unwrap the tofu and make many thin, width-wise slices with a large knife. I got 18 to 20 slices out of one block of tofu.
Step 4 Line up your tofu slices on a baking sheet topped with a non-stick baking mat or parchment paper. [what if you don’t have a nonstick baking mat? – I added parchment paper option!] Brush both sides of the tofu with the marinade.
Step 5 Let the slices absorb the marinade for 10 minutes or so, then brush just the tops again. Bake for 20 minutes at 425º F. Remove from the oven and let it cool on the sheet. The tofu should be darkened around the edges, but not burnt. Use immediately or refrigerate for later use.
Yum!! That’s real vegan yum yum for you. With me, you can look forward to a lot more where that came from.
p.s. while awaiting this awesome book, check out author, Lauren Ulm’s website:
Fly on the wall: Should you be your own publicist? Well, yes and, errr, no!
What is the best scenario for a book’s publicity campaign? Hiring a professional or reading lots of books, taking lots of seminars, tuning into the latest webcast and doing it yourself?
That depends on a lot of things.
Tell me something. When your car needs an oil change, do you get the how-to manual and commence to sliding under your car to let the dirty oil run out into a pan? (How would I know that? Did it once – accent on once) Or would you read about how to layer your own hair into the perfect shag rather than let your hairdresser do the job. Notice that I’m not choosing tasks that require medical or engineering degrees but even so, give me a capable grease monkey or hair stylist anytime. In both cases, I’m not really that interested in how the car engine works or the steps that go into my haircut.
I just show up.
When it comes to your book, as you noticed from other posts of mine, showing up is no longer all that’s required of you. Taking an active role in your publicity campaign is essential. However, do you have 15 years of relationships with newspaper writers, radio jocks, tv producers and magazine editors? Have you lots of practice and ample skill in creating press materials for your book? Do you know to whom you should direct your information? Is it the features editor, the health reporter, or maybe the local news desk?
Another element that you may not have developed is the publicist’s instinct. There’s another intangible that typically grows from experience. Publicist voodoo – you can’t learn that from a book.
Professional help costs money. We call it an investment. When planning for the future of your book, just as the publisher carves out a budget for the marketing, advertising and publicity, so must you. Whether it’s self-published or commercially published, it’s a good idea to set aside some bucks for good help.
You have about a six-to-eight week window of time to pull out all the stops and I suggest you do just that. Make sure that whomever you bring on to represent your work is seasoned in the area of books. Not just a generalist, mind you, but someone who has connections and wherewithal in the publishing arena. As I’ve said before, don’t get snowed by the charm, smoke and mirrors that they present to you to win your business. If they used to represent Miley Cyrus, that doesn’t necessarily translate into good book publicity chops. Check them out carefully and by all means, talk to former or existing clients. You might cut them a little slack there as we all know that the imperfect art of book publicity can go awry in the most expert hands. (Call that publicist disclaimer #1)
By all means, read the books and check out those webinars, but allow someone to show you how it’s done in the big leagues. Be sure to find someone who is seasoned but is also current in all the new publicity language and tools i.e. social networking, online media, and the like.
It can be deleterious to the health of your book campaign if you start going around calling up media and sometimes even bookstores. I’m sure the latter rule is less stringent when it comes to self-published books.
In the interim, bone up on what’s going on in the news that’s related to what your book is about. If you’re dealing in the fiction realm, there’s some wisdom to keeping up with this, but not as imperatively. Stay informed.
I’m speaking in generalities right now and keeping away from my platform rant. Just put the word platform in the search box to the lower left and you’ll find plenty of information on that.
Having a publicist at your publishing house (like this one at HCI), a publicist hired by your publishing house, or a professional employed by you will simply maximize your odds for success with media exposure.
Learn how to work with them.
And, hey, remember, I’m here. I won’t necessarily be your personal publicist as I’m otherwise engaged to slave away at my HCI publishing house job. I don’t have time for full-blown campaigns, but I do have time for some kickass consulting sessions to help you get your book promotion in gear and to help you make sure you’re heading the right way down the publishing AND the publicity road.
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