|  October 26, 2011
In This Issue:
Buzzing Around  Hi Sylvia,
Happy Halloween! I'm not sure how I managed to find time to indulge in Halloween decoration crafts this year, but I did. Doing so offered a nice break from work deadlines, volunteer obligations, and sandwich generation stresses. Actually, mindlessly gluing candy corn to a styrofoam circle while watching evening TV was oddly therapeutic. The result is pictured here - ta da! - and the instructions are here: http://bit.ly/qwHm67. I would show you the Martha Stewart-inspired pumpkin crawling with rubber gray mice that I made, too, but my daughter insists that it's too creepy to share. (It has something to do with living in Manhattan and seeing more mice than she'd like as part of the urban lifestyle.) Have a great Halloween! Cheers, Sandy
Be Opportunistic:
3 Unexpected Ways to Create Book Publicity Opportunities If you've been promoting your book for awhile, you know that you often need to create your own publicity opportunities. It's not hard - and some think it's a lot of fun. And, all three of these ideas apply to both fiction and nonfiction, so there's no excuse for not brainstorming some great ideas for your book. Here are just three of the many things you can do to be opportunistic: Conduct a survey and announce the results. Social media makes this easier than ever. Discover what your target audience is most interested in, create a short and focused survey that lets you uncover viewpoints, and announce the results to the press. For example, when I was promoting my humor book that explained male behavior to women, I asked women what they wanted to receive as gifts. I announced the top three answers in a press release during the winter holiday shopping season. Write an op-ed related to your book's topic. The beauty of op-eds (the guest opinion essays that run in newspapers and on media websites) is that you can place them in newspapers in non-competing markets and use them as guest blog columns. Here are some writing tips: http://bit.ly/qqGBFw. Get on the radio. You've got something interesting to say that's related to your book, so find a "real world" or online radio show to give you a platform for it. Internet radio shows are so specialized that there are opportunities for nearly all authors. Find conventional radio stations at http://radio-locator.com/; find online only interview shows at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/. Whether you do these or other activities, it's important to constantly look for opportunities to get your book title into the news.
Novelists might be interested in exploring BookTrib.com, which describes itself as "a full service portal dedicated to bringing all the news, blog, sites, and information about books, writers, and readers under one link." There are many paid promotional opportunities for authors on the site, but I couldn't find anything there that detailed the number of book readers (vs. authors) who spend time on the site. Using another resource, though, I learned that the site has nearly 150,000 users and ranks in the top 100,000 websites worldwide. If you like what you see, I'd recommend asking the owner for more information about the number of book readers (rather than book writers!) who use the site and how they use it, before buying any promotional services. To learn more, go to http://booktrib.com.
Education:
Purchase "From Author to Speaker: How to Get Paid to Speak" Audio Program Our top-selling audio program, "how to get paid to speak" with Mary McKay, offers 2.5 hours of great information and a bonus handout for just $29 - what an incredible deal! Professional speaker booker Mary and I talk about how to leverage your author status to become a paid speaker, the steps involved, how speakers' bureaus work, fee ranges and how to know what to charge, and so much more. To purchase the program, which you can download and listen to immediately, please go to http://buildbookbuzz.com/speaking-audio-program/. Don't take my word for it, though! Here's what people are saying about this amazing audio program: "Thanks so much for the excellent teleseminar the other night - it was just what I've been looking for."
- Deb Kalmbach "The seminar was great!"
- Ruth Zekowski "Mary McKay is to be congratulated on the thoroughness of her presentation. She was most open about the points she made without leaving out important areas that could only be obtained by selling/buying a product."
- Regina Thomas Don't wait any longer to learn how to earn more by becoming an author who speaks. Get the details at http://buildbookbuzz.com/speaking-audio-program/.
About Sandra Sandra Beckwith, a former publicist who has won several national and regional publicity awards, teaches authors how to generate long-term media buzz for their books. She is the author of three books on publicity, conducts publicity workshops, and writes frequently on small business marketing and management topics. Please visit her book publicity site and publicity blog to learn more. Need a writer's conference speaker or workshop presenter? Sandra's workshops at the American Society of Journalists and Authors annual conference, the University of Wisconsin Writers Institute, and at other industry conferences share priceless how-to information you won't get elsewhere. Contact her at sb@buildbookbuzz.com for more information. Build Book Buzz is a free e-newsletter published twice monthly by Beckwith Communications. Please forward this newsletter to anyone. To subscribe, visit www.buildbookbuzz.com. We do not share our mailing list with any individual or organization for any reason. Build Book Buzz
www.buildbookbuzz.com
Sandra Beckwith, Editor & Publisher
Phone: 585-377-2768
Email: sb@buildbookbuzz.com | 
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