December 30, 2011

1. Cluttered: Let’s just start there. A cluttered site is the kiss of death to conversion. Make sure the site you choose is clean, uncluttered and easy to navigate. If you can’t figure it out, I guarantee you your visitor won’t, either.
2. Confusing: Tell them what you want them to do. Several times. In order to make a sale, you have to tell your visitor what you want them to do – over and over and over. When we were redesigning our website I kept hearing this from my web designer: let’s tell them again and again what we want them to do. I responded to her, “But my visitors aren’t stupid, they’ll know what to do!” The problem is most surfers don’t. We’re busy, we’re distracted, we want information and we want it now, also we want to know right away if we’ve landed on a site that can help us. If you repeat your primary message, they won’t be able to miss it, and if the site is what they’re looking for, they will stay. Which takes me to…
3. Too Many Messages: You must have one primary message and objective for your website. Yes, I know you want to do so much with it. You want to sell books and get speaking engagements and maybe even some consulting gigs. But all of this starts with one, clear objective. Take my site, for example. I have books, I am a speaker, I also sell marketing services and we are a full-service marketing and publicity firm. Wow, that’s a lot, right? Yes, it is, but if you look at our homepage you don’t see my books or my speaking. Why? Well, as much as I’d love to sell my books by the truckload, and speaking gigs are always fun to do, they don’t keep the business going the way new business does. That’s my primary objective.
4. Not knowing what your consumer wants: Once you figure out what you are selling, now you have to package it in a way that will entice your buyer. Knowing what they want and how they want it is key. Let’s say you’ve written a cookbook for a busy parent. And let’s say your only objective is to sell books. That’s a great goal! Now, your site needs to be designed around that goal. That means the book is front and center on the homepage, and because your user is probably busier than most, there’s a big ‘buy now’ button just under the book that takes them to a page where they can purchase and download an eBook or order a print copy. Easy! You may also want to add a sign-up on the homepage so your reader can get cooking ideas, recipes and tips in their inbox a couple of times a month!
5. Cropsharing: This is what I call those folks who use other people’s website domains. I seem to recall years ago there was something called Angelfire. Anyone could get a free site there. You could never own it, or upgrade, it was on their server and that was that. The problem is when their site goes away, so does yours. There are a lot of freebie websites out there, there’s nothing wrong with this per se (other than I don’t think we should design our own sites), and if you’re strapped for cash this is a great, initial way to get started. But be sure that you can own the site at some point. Often free sites have an upgrade option; look into it before you build your website!
6. Copying your competition: It’s great to love what your competition is doing, but don’t copy them pixel for pixel. Not only is it not a nice thing to do, but consumers landing on both sites may not be able to tell the difference! Additionally, of Google spots this type of duplication, you could get your site pulled down.
7. Uh-oh, typo: Please spell check your website. Really. I don’t understand why anyone would launch a site that wasn’t spellchecked.
8. Staying Static: No one likes a site that never changes, and a quick and easy way to make sure you don’t have a static site is to add a blog to it. A blog is a fantastic way to keep your site looking fresh and it’s great for SEO, too.
9. Not understanding your traffic: OK, I admit this has less to do with website design, but it all flows into the same pot. Get to know your stats, and if you aren’t sure how to read your site analytics, get someone to help you. Many authors I speak to don’t even know if they have traffic reports. To me, that’s sort of like having access to a bank account you never check!
10. Nowhere to go: Regardless of how you will sell your book, you want to be sure that the sales process is super clear on the site. Additionally, you don’t want your consumer to go through a lot of steps to buy your book; with each step you lose a sale so keep that in mind. Ideally, no more than three steps to a buy!

December 30, 2011

1. Cluttered: Let’s just start there. A cluttered site is the kiss of death to conversion. Make sure the site you choose is clean, uncluttered and easy to navigate. If you can’t figure it out, I guarantee you your visitor won’t, either.
2. Confusing: Tell them what you want them to do. Several times. In order to make a sale, you have to tell your visitor what you want them to do – over and over and over. When we were redesigning our website I kept hearing this from my web designer: let’s tell them again and again what we want them to do. I responded to her, “But my visitors aren’t stupid, they’ll know what to do!” The problem is most surfers don’t. We’re busy, we’re distracted, we want information and we want it now, also we want to know right away if we’ve landed on a site that can help us. If you repeat your primary message, they won’t be able to miss it, and if the site is what they’re looking for, they will stay. Which takes me to…
3. Too Many Messages: You must have one primary message and objective for your website. Yes, I know you want to do so much with it. You want to sell books and get speaking engagements and maybe even some consulting gigs. But all of this starts with one, clear objective. Take my site, for example. I have books, I am a speaker, I also sell marketing services and we are a full-service marketing and publicity firm. Wow, that’s a lot, right? Yes, it is, but if you look at our homepage you don’t see my books or my speaking. Why? Well, as much as I’d love to sell my books by the truckload, and speaking gigs are always fun to do, they don’t keep the business going the way new business does. That’s my primary objective.
4. Not knowing what your consumer wants: Once you figure out what you are selling, now you have to package it in a way that will entice your buyer. Knowing what they want and how they want it is key. Let’s say you’ve written a cookbook for a busy parent. And let’s say your only objective is to sell books. That’s a great goal! Now, your site needs to be designed around that goal. That means the book is front and center on the homepage, and because your user is probably busier than most, there’s a big ‘buy now’ button just under the book that takes them to a page where they can purchase and download an eBook or order a print copy. Easy! You may also want to add a sign-up on the homepage so your reader can get cooking ideas, recipes and tips in their inbox a couple of times a month!
5. Cropsharing: This is what I call those folks who use other people’s website domains. I seem to recall years ago there was something called Angelfire. Anyone could get a free site there. You could never own it, or upgrade, it was on their server and that was that. The problem is when their site goes away, so does yours. There are a lot of freebie websites out there, there’s nothing wrong with this per se (other than I don’t think we should design our own sites), and if you’re strapped for cash this is a great, initial way to get started. But be sure that you can own the site at some point. Often free sites have an upgrade option; look into it before you build your website!
6. Copying your competition: It’s great to love what your competition is doing, but don’t copy them pixel for pixel. Not only is it not a nice thing to do, but consumers landing on both sites may not be able to tell the difference! Additionally, of Google spots this type of duplication, you could get your site pulled down.
7. Uh-oh, typo: Please spell check your website. Really. I don’t understand why anyone would launch a site that wasn’t spellchecked.
8. Staying Static: No one likes a site that never changes, and a quick and easy way to make sure you don’t have a static site is to add a blog to it. A blog is a fantastic way to keep your site looking fresh and it’s great for SEO, too.
9. Not understanding your traffic: OK, I admit this has less to do with website design, but it all flows into the same pot. Get to know your stats, and if you aren’t sure how to read your site analytics, get someone to help you. Many authors I speak to don’t even know if they have traffic reports. To me, that’s sort of like having access to a bank account you never check!
10. Nowhere to go: Regardless of how you will sell your book, you want to be sure that the sales process is super clear on the site. Additionally, you don’t want your consumer to go through a lot of steps to buy your book; with each step you lose a sale so keep that in mind. Ideally, no more than three steps to a buy!

December 15, 2011

CBE will partner with the BookExpo America (5/23-26/11),  the London Book Fair (04/11-13/11)  to mount tjhe featured NEW TITLE SHOWCASE display in 2009.

With the tremendous success these official Show exhibits at the London Book Fair and BookExpo America , these exhibits offer publishers the opportunity to showcase books and related materials in prime locations and have their titles be available for review for possible translation rights, sales and distribution and gain exposure to the world publishing world.

Its purpose is to expose titles of exhibiting and non-exhibiting companies in one location. A catalog will be produced with all company and title information. For those companies exhibitng on the show floor, their booth number will be noted in the exhibit catalog to draw traffic to their stand.

 You must visit the BookExpo America, London Book Fair web sites to register for participation.  You can not register for these shows on the CBE web site.  Click on the show links above to sign up today, or call our office for more information.

December 15, 2011

Around the time Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out, I was beside myself with excitement.  In an eager rush to learn all I could about the upcoming release (avoiding spoilers of course), I came across an article excitedly announcing that the Braille version of the new book would be available a mere three days after its release.  The process was already underway, and the three weeks of work would eventually culminate, bringing joy to blind readers everywhere.

While I’m not blind, I’m certainly a Harry Potter fan, and three days after the release just wouldn’t be good enough for me.  As luck would have it, blind readers, or readers with any sort of disability, no longer need to wait three weeks, or even three days to receive the works they want.  Allow me to introduce a company called ReadHowYouWant.com, a privately held Australian company whose good nature and positive ideas will soon be (and in some places, already is) benefiting disabled readers around the world. ReadHowYouWant.com exists for the benefit of readers and publishers alike.  They offer an array of services that includes regular printing, large font printing, Braille, e-books, audio books, and everything in between.

And I do mean everything.  You can contact ReadHowYouWant.com to print your book like you would have any other printer do it.  You can also have them print in an array of large-print editions.  Their four most basic large editions are EasyRead, EasyRead Comfort, Easy Read Large, and Easy Read Large Bold.  They already have thousands of titles available in these four formats, all designed to benefit readers with poor vision, who require bigger and/or darker fonts, and all already available at Amazon.com. 

But I did say everything in between, and I wasn’t lying.  For new readers, or struggling readers, they offer a print in which every second word is bold.  This is a technique known as word pattern, and it helps reduce word swapping while reading and helps with tracking the words in a line.  They also offer a format they call character pattern in which the size of the letters in the word increases as the word continues.  For example:  example.

The benefit of this is also patterning, but it keeps the words flowing in the same direction, and helps the reader (perhaps if the reader is dyslexic) not mix up letters within the word.  Still another format offered is called character discrimination pattern, and this helps readers discriminate between “mirrored” letters (such as d, b, p and q) by assigning a different font to each.  Of course, they can’t predict everything, so ReadHowYouWant.com also offers custom prints and fonts to fit any need you can think of (including making books out of chapters, or breaking books into parts).  No matter what format you choose to print, they do not simply enlarge the book.  When ReadHowYouWant.com handles your work, they completely revamp the book so that there are little to no end of line hyphens, and they repaginate the entire book and redo the indexes and tables of contents so that they match the new pages.

Another printed format that ReadHowYouWant.com offers that I mentioned earlier is Braille.  While it is hard to differentiate from standard Braille, what ReadHowYouWant.com can offer is fast production.  The have an automated Braille system that allows for the creation of a book in Braille in one-to-two days. 

ReadHowYouWant.com even takes into consideration naysayers who claim that “books are on the way out and technology will prevail, rendering the printed word useless!”  While I’m sure none of us can agree with them, ReadHowYouWant.com answers back, offering audio books in MP3 and DAISY formats.  Using a lot of technology that will make your head spin, they manage a product that will put a smile on your face.  Their DAISY formats allow you to choose an automated voice or a synthesized voice (in which accent, gender, pitch, speed and index navigation are all available for you to choose).  While keeping with the idea of computerized books, ReadHowYouWant.com can also create an e-book that is track-able, searchable, bookmark-able and more than just a pdf file. 

Let’s not for one second pretend that we’re not impressed.  I’ve broken a sweat just describing what ReadHowYouWant.com can offer.  Of course, as publishers this is all very enticing because of what can now be achieved with your books.  But its difficult to see a list of great services and not expect some sort of catch.  Or perhaps its too-good-to-be-true and these people must be a bunch of jerks.  But trust me, I’ve looked for jerks, and I’ve searched for a catch, and I’ve come up empty handed.  Its impossible to jump into a service for the first time and not have some questions, so allow me to try and answer some of them for you, to save you some time, so you can begin to get in on the printing fun.

Many people I’m sure are saying, “I’d really love to have a book printed in character pattern format, but an entire run of that probably wouldn’t sell and would sit in my warehouse collecting dust.”  To that, I say “maybe,” but I’m a positive thinker.  For those more business savvy than I am however, ReadHowYouWant.com offers their service on a print on demand basis, allowing you to save that spot in your warehouse for your next novelty book on pirates.

Print on demand is of course a wonderful thing because it avoids the need to buy a big run of a book.  But say you don’t particularly favor any of ReadHowYouWant.com’s printed finished products.  That’s certainly ok with them, because they want you to be happy.  ReadHowYouWant.com can either print the book for you, or give you the electronic file to be printed however, and by whomever, you want.

Obviously, printing in several formats opens your company up to markets that were previously untouched, but its understandably difficult to advertise such things if you don’t have thousands of copies printed and in bookstores.  (By this time, you know ReadHowYouWant.com has something, don’t you?)  Well, ReadHowYouWant.com has something to help you with that too (you’re so smart).  ReadHowYouWant.com offers many outlets for your books to be advertised and sold, with the orders going directly to them so they can be printed.  They sell books on sites like Amazon, Ebay, Moby, Lightning Source, and of course on their own website.  They can also host a website for your company so you have one to sell on too. 

Clearly when concerning intellectual property, things don’t always work out cut and dry.  Rights battles and contracts oftentimes make it a trite experience, and the whole thing ends up in the bag.  When dealing with ReadHowYouWant.com, there are no agents involved:  You own the intellectual property, they own the format.  They will work with you to create a deal that is simple and works for both parties. 

Finally: The bottom line.  In all businesses, the idea is to benefit the company monetarily.  The open market that ReadHowYouWant.com provides opens you up to more sales.  Their printing capabilities save you money because they don’t require you to print big runs.  Their forms of advertising and promotion, as well as their connections with big selling websites give you more opportunities to sell.  They can sell your books for you and give you a cut, or they can give you the books to sell on your own to get money in hand.

Because their services are customizable, and projects will inherently vary in length, prices are determined on a by-project basis.  However, everybody’s first project with ReadHowYouWant.com receives 30% off, and mentioning that you discovered them from the Combined Book Exhibit will grant you 20% off of future projects!

With ReadHowYouWant.com, it seems like nobody loses and everyone wins—especially the reader.  To get in on all of the benefits, visit (here’s a surprise) www.ReadHowYouWant.com, or contact the North American sales and marketing representative Rosanne Goodwin by email at rgoodwin@pb-press.com, or by phone at (925) 309-4431. 

December 02, 2011

Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert and an Adjunct Instructor with NYU. In other words, “Author Marketing Experts” isn’t just a clever name, but more of a statement of fact. Here, Penny takes us through a number of ways to get yourself the attention of the media!

There is a reason so many pitches get rejected by the media. On average, the media rejects 95% of pitches they get. How can you become part of the 5% that get picked up for a story? First, you need to know the reasons why pitches get rejected. Keep in mind these aren’t the only reasons, but certainly the majority of them:

Uninteresting email subject lines: Often your pitch is judged by the subject line. Make it something interesting, make it a headline or risk getting relegated to the delete bin.

Long emails: I don’t know about you, but I hate reading long emails. The media hates it even more, in fact many of my media friends have told me that if they have to scroll through a pitch, they often won’t consider it unless it comes from a very trusted source. How long is too long? If you can read it on the screen without scrolling down, you’re in good shape.

Non-compelling topics: You won’t get attention for your topic just because you pitch it. It has to be timely, unique, and relevant to the audience they serve. Think HUH: Hip, Unique, and Helpful.

An opened email isn’t always a sure bet: Even if your email gets opened, it might still get deleted, here’s why: For all of the above reasons. Create a tight, focused pitch that isn’t too long and stays on topic. This will increase your chances that the media will read it through.

Not relevant: What I mean by this is that it’s not relevant to the audience the media outlet serves. Don’t think for a minute that just because you find it interesting and compelling that your media target will. For example, I once had an author tell me about the amazing world of fly fishing, and then insist that Oprah would be interested in this topic. Really? I think not so much. Watch the show, listen to the broadcast, or read the blog or publication – before pitching.

A false sense of urgency: Often I find that folks pitching, in order to get noticed, will call upon a false sense of urgency. Yes, it’s urgent that we fix our school systems. Yes, it’s urgent that we clean up the environment. Neither of these things are going to blow up tomorrow so don’t pitch them as though they are. While it might make for a more compelling pitch, it will only serve to paint you as an unreliable and often excitable source. Neither of these are good.

Unknown senders: An unknown source or sender may be considered an unreliable one. It’s easy enough to get to know the media long before you start pitching. And I highly recommend that you do so.

Now, let’s look at 30 things you can do to make yourself, and your pitches, irresistible to the media!

1)      Start early and Focus on Relationships.

2)      Connect on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn: get to know your media, connect with any local and national reporters, journalists, and news people via these social sites so you can get to know them.

3)      Comment on postings via Twitter and Facebook: comment on their postings and news when appropriate.

4)      Facebook birthdays: this is a great way to connect to everyone on your list, especially media. Wish them a happy birthday, they’ll appreciate it.

5)      Watch those Twitter hashtags: as you follow your media, you’ll start to see a trend of most-used Twitter hashtags, I highly recommend you follow them so you can see who else is talking about the story.

6)      Blog about them on your site, referencing a recent story they did.

7)      Comment on their stories, whether it’s on their site or on their media site.

8)      Sign up for Helpareporter.com (HARO) and respond to stories appropriate to your topic.

9)      Get to know your smaller, regional publications, and also trade publications. Both of these tend to be easier to get to and could offer you some exposure well in advance of your book launch.

10)  Get to know your local radio hosts, or the hosts of stations you’ll be targeting. Especially in radio, it’s great to get connected to the broadcast people as early as you can. They also tend to be pretty accessible.

11)  Go to events where you know you might meet some media folk. This is often a great way to engage them on mutual ground. Attending the same event is a great way to start a dialog or relationship with the media.

12)  Practice your elevator pitch! What’s an elevator pitch? It’s a short, succinct description of your topic or pitch. Short enough to keep them interested (1-2 sentences) but long enough to tell the story, or at least the headline.

13)  Become a source for your target media: becoming a media source is something we’d all love to do. But this takes time. By getting to know your media, commenting on stories they write and letting them know your area of expertise, you might become one of their regular sources!

14)  Become a connector: be the person the media goes to for other experts as well. How do you do this? Whenever you introduce yourself to media, make sure they know your area of expertise and your ability to connect them to other experts who might be helpful as well.

15)  Every now and then, I will share a blog post with a journalist that I think will be helpful to them. I don’t do this a lot – just every once in a while.

16)  Be succinct: define your story in one sentence. Keep it short, sweet, and relevant to your topic.

17)  Sell the benefits, not the features. The media cares about what consumers care about, and all they want are benefits.

18)  Make sure the media person has all the information he or she needs prior to the interview. This is especially true for late/breaking news. If there are new developments, make sure they are aware of them. This will save them research time and make them look good!

19)  Speaking of making media look good, this is your job as well. Yes! It’s important to make them look good, give them a set of questions, a synopsis about the book or interview topic and be prepared in case they ask you a question that doesn’t seem quite right. Sometimes the person who is interviewing you doesn’t get the media packet till 10 minutes before they go on, which doesn’t leave them a lot of time to prepare. Be sure to help make their job easy!

20)  Jump on breaking news when it happens and be ready when the media calls.

21)  Be flexible. If a reporter covering a big story wants to chat with you on a weekend or late at night/early morning, say Yes.

22)  Be excited about your topic: if you’re not excited, how do you expect the media to be?

23)  Never, ever give up. It might take a while for you to hear back, and sometimes (most times) the media won’t respond to you until they have a need for your story.

24)  Keep it short. Write short emails, always. Generally media folk are on email overload anyway; don’t add to that with long, elaborate emails.

25)  Think locally when appropriate: craft a local spin to a national story. While local media will always cover local, they love regional angles to stories that are making national news.

26)  Stay on topic: when you do get the interview, stay on topic. Don’t stray all over the place, you will confuse the media person and you’ll end up getting a much smaller piece of a story if you look too fragmented.

27)  Respond immediately: even if you are on vacation, reply right away to all media queries.

28)  Don’t tell the media anything you don’t want to see in print. Assume everything you say is “on the record” even if you ask them to keep it confidential. I’ve seen authors say “well, off the record;” when it comes to media, assume there’s no such thing.

29)  Avoid slang and industry jargon: it will confuse the media.

30)  Be grateful: always. Send a handwritten thank you note after an interview, and even if you didn’t get the interview for which you were being considered, send a note of thanks anyway and wish them well on their story.

When it comes to media, get started as early as you can and build those relationships. Remember that while the delete rate of pitches is high, they are still in need of great guests, interviews, and stories. Be all those things and you’ll not only be irresistible to the media, but you’ll get a lot of placements that could really help launch your career!

Bonus tip! Ready to find media on Twitter? Head on over to Muck Rack: http://muckrack.com/

Good luck!

Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert and an Adjunct Instructor with NYU. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. She is the author of five books, including Book to Bestseller which has been called the "road map to publishing success." AME is the first marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour™, which strategically works with social networking sites, blogs, micro-blogs, ezines, video sites, and relevant sites to push an authors message into the virtual community and connect with sites related to the book's topic, positioning the author in his or her market. To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at http://www.amarketingexpert.com. To subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@amarketingexpert.com Copyright  2011 Penny C. Sansevieri

September 29, 2011

1. Social content: Have something “social” on your site, whether it’s a blog, forum or even social networking. The easiest and best of these is a blog.
2. Update often: Always provide fresh content. This helps your rank. What’s the best way to add fresh content to your site? A blog is often the quickest means.
3. Social media tools: Learn how to effectively use sites like Facebook and Twitter. To expert SEO people, they are considered “feeder sites,” meaning they can feed a lot of traffic to your website. My recommendation: use your Fan Page to promote your work and leave the profile for your personal life.
4. Keywords: The term “keywords” often conjures up the idea that hours of research are involved to find the perfect keywords for your site. Even if you can only invest an hour, it’s well worth it. The quickest way to determine the right keywords for your site is via Google’s keyword tool: http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/ . You’ll want to plug in your topic and see how people search on it. The keywords they use are valuable to you.
5. Ranking for a particular keyword: Many of us want to rank higher for a particular keyword or phrase. Here’s a little-known SEO secret for better ranking: after you determine what keywords you want to rank for, use them in your URL, YouTube channel if you have one, as your Facebook Page name and even for your Twitter account. It’s likely the search term you want to rank for won’t be available in any of these properties so you’ll have to be creative. Here’s what we did: Back in August 2010 I had our website redesigned. I wanted to rank for Book Marketing. The results for our site were OK, but often we would show up on Page two of Google. I bought the URL bookmarketingAME.com because bookmarketing.com wasn’t available. Why bookmarketingame.com? Whatever you tack onto the end of your keyword URL doesn’t matter and AME are the initials of my company. Using your name or some other branding at the end of the URL is fine, what matters is the first word or words. When I did that (and I renamed our Facebook Page and YouTube channel too, but not my Twitter account because so many people associate me with @bookgal) I found that within three months, our site went from Page two to Page one of Google, often sitting in the #3 position. Did it help with traffic? You bet it did.
6. Words on your website: Once you’ve identified keywords, use them on your site. Make sure they are on your home page specifically because that’s the page Google sees and shows in searches.
7. Video: If you’re not shy, a great speaker and have an interesting story to tell or great tips for your audience, consider getting a YouTube channel. It’s a fantastic way to drive traffic to your site.
8. Page titles: Page titles are the words that show up in the top frame of your browser, above the search bar. Most of us forget to give our page titles a name and when Google reads them, it sees things like “home page,” which is the least descriptive phrase you can use. Use your keywords in your page titles and be sure to title each page of your site.
9. Blog commenting: This is a powerful tool that we’ve been using for years. Few realize the benefits blog commenting can bring to a site. Identify the top five to ten blogs in your market and follow them. When there’s a post you like or something you want to say, post a comment. When you sign into the blog you should include your URL, this is an incoming link from that blog to your site, which will help you with your ranking, authority, and traffic.
10. Identify your competition: If you want incoming links, see who's linking to your competition. How do you search for incoming links? Pop the following into your Google search box: linkdomain:www.website.com.

1. Own your blog: Whether you have just a blog, or the blog is part of your website, you need to own it. That means your blog is hosted where your site is hosted. Instead of a domain name that reads: www.wordpress.nameofblog.com it says: www.yoursite.com/blog. You should do this because the benefits to your site from an active blog are enormous. If your blog is sitting on a Wordpress site, only Wordpress benefits from your hard work. You want the ranking and incoming links that a blog can provide.
2. Blog frequently: I recommend a minimum of twice weekly. Your blogs don’t have to be long; in fact, some of my blogs are no more than fifty words.
3. Share and share alike: If you don’t have sharing widgets on your site (Upload to Facebook, Tweet This!, etc.) then have your designer add it to the site asap. Most blogging software includes these widgets.
4. Get social: To generate a lot of traffic we syndicate our blog to sites like Facebook and Twitter. Running feeds is easy. I ran my Twitter feed through SocialOomph.com and then linked it to Facebook. When I blog, it automatically feeds the post through Twitter and then Twitter feeds it to Facebook. Am I worried about too much duplicate content? Not really. I think people enter your message through different doors. The people who find you on Twitter may not be the same people who Like your page on Facebook.
5. Use Anchor Text: This is the hyperlinked text that you click on to follow a link. Most people use words like "click here" or other nebulous terms. If used correctly, anchor text can really increase your site traffic. First, anchor text should be descriptive as opposed to “page link” or something general. I recommend that you use your keywords. Where should you use anchor text? Anywhere. You can use it on your blog linking to other content on your site or someone else’s. You can use it on other blogs linking to your site (this is preferred).
6. Write good headlines: People judge a blog post by its headline, and when you’re subscribed to a lot of blog feeds (as I am) you know that readers will pick and choose the blogs they read based on the titles. Don’t make readers guess your topic, be specific and be benefit-driven.
7. Time tip: I try to post by 7am EST (8am at the latest). Studies have shown that people have more time to read blogs and emails before 9am EST so complete all your posts by then.
8. Bookmark your posts: Tag each of your blog posts with your keywords on social networking sites. You must create accounts for each of these first. Consider: digg.com, del.icio.us, yahoo.com, blinklist.com, spurl.com, reddit.com, furl.com, and stumbledupon.com.
9. Analyze traffic: Google Analytics is the easiest to learn, manage and install. Monitor this data a few times a month to see where your traffic is coming from and whether your work to attract people to your site results in unique visitors.
10. Picture this: Bring traffic to your blog with photos and images; people searching online for those images may be directed to your site.
11. One thing to remember: Nothing happens overnight, especially online. Some of the best and most solid traffic is built slowly over time. This doesn’t mean that you won’t see a spike, and in some cases even double or triple your current numbers, but solid ranking and searchability take time. How soon should you begin? Got a book idea? Start now. You'll be glad you did.

August 24, 2009

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

August 24, 2009

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

Each book contained in the exhibit will have a number placed on the front cover, and that number will correspond to the books number in the exhibit catalog. This is done for easy cross-reference. Each entry in the catalog will include title details such as title, price, ISBN, 25-word description, award won or bestseller list named, etc., as well as pertinent company contact information

June 23, 2008

 The Book Checkout is a searchable database geared exclusively to the library market.  Publishers can list their books for librarians to see, rate, review and add to their personal "Bookshelf."

 The Book Checkout is always being updated with new books and features, so check back often. 

Publishers:  If you've used services provided by The Combined Book Exhibit at any time over the last two years, your books should be listed on The Book Checkout.  Be sure to double check their listings, and email any changes or updates to info@thebookcheckout.com.

Check it out now at www.TheBookCheckout.com!  

May 16, 2008

Welcome to BEA

Simply put, Bookexpo America is what happens when the world’s number one publishing market holds the world’s second largest international book fair.  But there’s something more that has to happen to attract over 35 thousand people and 2 thousand exhibiting companies than just simply stating the simple facts.

Bookexpo America is a unique fair for the publishing industry.  Much more than just a fair to get business done, BEA is as much a pop culture event as it is an educational experience; the show will cater as many rights deals as it will bookstore orders; the exhibit hall will be filled with as many librarians getting arcs as it will excited fans getting signatures.  Simply put, Bookexpo America is a big event.

Taking place from May 29^th to June 1^st at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California, BEA has a full slate of educational events, panels geared towards all facets of the industry, author signings, and a full exhibit hall with over 2 thousand exhibits.  There’s also a fully booked International Rights Center.

Educational programs include those sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, and others created by BEA themselves.  There is also full programming to cover each of the pavilions on the show floor:  Graphic Novels, African American, Children’s and more.  All of the information on the educational programming can be found here.

The International Rights Center at Bookexpo America is the best place to conduct your rights transactions within the US.  Other business done within the exhibits can help spread ideas worldwide, as over 80 countries are represented by the people in attendance at BEA.  The complete list of exhibitors can be found here. 

No trip to Bookexpo is complete without collecting tons of advanced reader copy books, and getting them signed by any of the hundreds and hundreds of authors in attendance. All of the authors that will be in attendance are listed here.

There’s a ton that anyone can say about Bookexpo America, and the BEA team has given everyone plenty of options to share their BEA stories with anyone willing to listen or read from the MyBEA social network.  One thing is certain:  BEA is the place to be!

October 24, 2007

Editor’s Note:  The following is the culmination of several months research, and presented as concisely as possible for your benefit, courtesy of the Combined Book Exhibit.

With all of the talk of struggles within the book world, from bookstores closing to declining coverage in print sources, libraries have been managed to adapt, update and continue recreating themselves to stay strong and ahead of the curve.  For this reason, marketing your work to libraries is a logical step in making your titles sell and be read by many.  The following is a compilation and culmination of research done to help answer some of your questions about marketing to libraries.

Library Statistics:

According to the American Library Association, there are an estimated 117,467 libraries nationwide, representing public, private, academic and specialized libraries.  The library market represents over $5 billion.  The February 15, 2007 issue of Library Journal reported that, based on the population of the community it was serving, book budgets for libraries range from $36 thousand to over $4 million.  The same article showed that in 2007, of all of the libraries polled, 52% had an increase in circulation, prompting an increase in budget, resulting in more book buying.

How Libraries Buy:

Oftentimes, library acquisition will depend on the size of the library.  At a panel on library buying at Bookexpo America 2007, it was explained that small and medium sized libraries, as well as school libraries, have selector librarians who make the majority of the book purchasing decisions.  Larger library systems have collection development departments that make acquisition choices for the systems.  So, unlike large bookstore chains and retailers that only have a limited number of people to decide what the entire chain sells nationwide, each library or library system is another chance to sell your book.

In addition to having more opportunities to sell to them, libraries, contrary to popular belief, do not only buy one copy of each book.  Many believe that libraries will only purchase one, or at most, just a few copies of any given title.  But according to Mark Sexton, author of “Replacing Myths About Marketing To Libraries,” “Some city and county library systems buy 50 or more copies of some titles. Individual libraries also buy multiple copies of current interest titles if circulation demand is high or if they want to place one in the reference collection and others in general circulation. Furthermore, library sales are not subject to the devastating returns problem that is so damaging in the trade and to a lesser extent in the college adoption market. Libraries also order more titles at one time and they almost never fail to pay their bills.”

At the library panel at Bookexpo 2007, it was explained that most libraries make the majority of their purchases through distributors.  Some purchases are made directly from the publishers, but it is particularly helpful when trying to break into the library market to use a distributor.  This is especially true for small presses, as they do not have the established reputation or sales history that larger houses have.  Since libraries make the majority of their purchases through distributors, it is logical to make your books available through the channels that libraries travel the most to acquire new books. 

Marketing To Libraries:

Like bookstores or other retailers, libraries buy almost any type of book and are willing to try new things.  It is important to market to libraries and keep them informed of what you have to offer so they will be aware that it’s there for them to buy.  Traditional marketing, such as print ads and direct mail are good ways to keep buyers informed of your products. 

The American Library Association also points to exhibits at library trade shows as good ways to advertise because they are “seen by thousands of librarians ever year.”  Unlike bookseller shows however, orders are seldom written at library shows and exhibiting at such events should be seen as advertising opportunities.  They are particularly effective however, because they provide the attendees the opportunities to see the actual books—something that is impossible in print ads, direct mail, and other methods.

Seeing The Results Of Your Marketing Strategy:

Unlike bookstores or retailers, libraries do not simply send in the order forms for books they have just discovered.  Most libraries work off of acquisition budgets and can therefore only purchase books at certain times during the year.  This does not mean that there only certain times to advertise; each library or system has a different budget cycle, meaning that at almost any given time, there can be sales occurring. 

Like marketing to any outlet, it is likely you will not see immediate results.  And, since most libraries order through distributors, it is hard to see where specific sales come from, because you will not be invoicing a specific place—your distributor will.  So if, for example, you participate in an exhibit in New York in November, it is unlikely that you will see a spike in sales to New York immediately, if at all.  This is partly because of the formerly mentioned varying budget cycles, and partly because you will (most likely) not be the one to fulfill the orders (that would be done by your distributor).  This does not mean that the effort has failed, because, like any print ad, it is a success if you continue selling books.  With libraries, it is important to be consistent and patient.

Libraries are a very specific market to sell to, but they are consistently the best customers for publisher because of their ability to stay successful and their dedication to keeping books and other reference and educational material current, abundant and available.