Customer Reviews

Author 101 Bestselling Book Publicity: The Insider's Guide to Promoting Your Book--and Yourself

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's the area where many authors cringe--book promotion. Most of us would rather delegate that role to someone else. Yet if you give this role to someone else, will anything be accomplished? For the majority of books, the answer is no. Rick Frishman and Robyn Spizman are experts in this area and bring current, honest and relevant insight to every author about how to promote your book.

As they write in the introduction,"Books exist to be read; that's their primary purpose. However the competition for readers is fierce...Every author--from the most noted, perennial bestseller to the complete novice--needs to publicize his or her book. Even if your publisher's in-house team is promoting your title full steam, you also must promote. It can be the difference between its being widely read and not read at all."

This book covers the gamut of tools for the author from adjusting your own attitude about promotion to creating a book publicity tool kit to building bridges with the media to websites and blogs to email blasts to how to interview and hire the best publicist. The resources in this book will give you plenty of ideas to carry out and promote your book.

As the authors say, "No single formula, guaranteed method, or foolproof recipe can make every book succeed; however, many approaches do work." Add this book to your arsenal.

If you were to meet 100 "specialists" in book promotion, each one would encourage you to use their services for what they do best. But a book promotion requires breadth, depth and staying power. As a result, you could spend $100,000 promoting your book and not be as effective as you would be spending almost nothing and following the excellent advice in Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity by top pros Rick Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman.

One of the best pieces of advice in this book is that you should seek to make your money from writing by selling other products and services after people become familiar with your book. In other words, the book is part of a marketing program . . . not the whole program.

This book is absolutely up-to-date in featuring such cutting edge methods as e-mail blasts to create Amazon best sellers such as the methods taught by the talented Randy Gilbert and Peggy McColl.

The information in chapter 13 on how to set your promotional deadlines is worth more than the price of the book.

I also thought that the advice on how to get publicity bookings and how to handle interviews was better than I had read elsewhere.

Buy, read and apply this book, or you'll miss your best chance to promote your book and yourself.

As you learn to market and promote your book, you'll find there are a many hucksters who attempt to tell you about publicity based on having promoted one small book themselves.

You have to ask yourself.. "How much experience can you get doing it once?

On the other hand, there are a few people like Rick Frishman who really know what they are doing. Rick has been focused on book promotion every day for decades, plus has several other best selling books.

Read any of the Author 101 series. And more important.. DO WHAT THEY SAY TO DO. It works. The suggestions have worked for me and countless others, including the most successful names in publishing.

This book is a MUST READ. Get your copy today.

While I own all four of the "Author 101" books by Rick Frishman and Robyn Spizman, I feel this one is the most valuable. In fact, I wish I had it BEFORE I started writing my first book. The information and helpful tips included from these industry insiders is worth a hundred-times the price of the book. I have met and spoken with both Rick and Robyn, and I will attest that what they tell you in this book is gospel truth.
After you read this book, you will gain insight into how best to plan the marketing and publicity of your book even before you write it. This is key information whether you are using a traditional publisher, or if you are self-publishing. In fact, if you are self-publishing, READ and MEMORIZE chapter 8 on Interviews -- this will be the primary source of your income.
I highly recommend this and the other three books in the "Author 101" series.

Happy reading and successful writing,

Stuart Gustafson, Author
www.stuartgustafson.com

Frishman and Spizman know THEIR STUFF--and are authors as well as have businesses and speak on the various subjects about writing and promotion.

And tell it to us in an easy-to-understand manner. If you need "help" ASAP, there are Action Steps at the end of each of the 15 chapters.

As the authors say about the old adage, "With advertising you pay for it, with publicity you pray for it." You don't pay for coverage but you convince the media to cover it--delivering a message.

In 2004 195,000 books were published--competing for readers' attention--plus other competition. So what can you do to be publicity for YOUR book--because YOU, the author is in charge!

The media has a "herd mentality," following what's in, but they are also fickle and so you have a short window of opportunity to promote yourself.

Take control. Think of your book as a "product" you have to sell, and plan a "series of parties"--always have fun, be positive and joyful, with excitement. Who would you invite? Why would you invite them? How would you invite them? What would you tell them?

Show your passion for your book's subject--whether you are writing a press release, doing an short "elevator speech" about it, being interviewed--the media has to believe you care about your subject.

Chapter 3: Silver Bullet--How to get both attention and get people to want to buy your book. What is your book about? Why is it special, and how will it benefit the audience?

Chapter 4: Tool Kit--the much-needed tools needed to promote your book.

Working with the Media chapter tells us how to get attention, becoming a resource/expert, how to create news. You might think that the writing was EASY as this sounds so hard, but after you get your first publicity or interview, and you do well, thanks to this book, you will feel differently.

Armchair Interviews says: This is not their first book, nor their last. Watch for Bestselling Nonfiction book review.

So - the book is written and you actually have a publisher. Now what? How do you get people to buy the book? Now the really hard work begins - and Author 101 Bestselling Book Publicity is the book that can show you how to make your book a success. Robyn and Rick lead you through every aspect of creating a publicity platform that will move your literary treasure off the shelves and into the hands of readers. From media management to leveraging technology, this is the one, must- have resource for learning how to create a demand for you and your book!

Frishman & Spizman continue their series on educating writers about how to succeed in the mysterious world of publishing. Whether you write non-fiction or fiction, this book is a "must have." In their book, Frishman & Spizman explain how to create the perfect message for your book and how to use the media to get your message to potential readers. Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity will open the eyes of writers to the business side of book publishing.

As a fellow book publicist it's imperative for me to keep up with all of the great books and magazine articles being published about the book business. I've read dozens and dozens of such books and can recommend this book without hesitation.

One thing about the book marketing and book promotion business is that there are so many nice people in the business. I rank Rick Frishman as one of the top publicists in the U.S. not to mention he's a nice guy too!

His book, co-authored by Robyn Freedman Spizman and Mark Steisel, offers advice and insight about every stage of the publishing world. Using testimonials and commentary, this book lets authors, agents, and publishers alike show you the things you should and shouldn't do in promoting your book.

Scott Lorenz
President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that specializes in book marketing and author publicity.
[...]

This book is GOLDEN! It truly is a must-have for any author, especially a brand new author such as myself. The chapter on E-mail blasts was so fascinating with its step-by-step process, that even I felt confident I could produce this "flurry of sales" to launch my book into bestseller status. Newly published authors and seasoned authors alike should definitely add this gem to their library.

From cover to cover Frishman and Spizman offer golden nuggets of information in a clear concise, easy to read manner. Interspersed amongst the examples to follow are specific tips of the trade.

The book covers topics from how to start your writing project from an informed and marketable place, through the stages of the publishing contract, early competition research and laser beam focus on your target market, to additional things to consider to drive an editor to be your book's advocate.

One point that really was impressed upon me was that editors and all publishing staff are really, really , really busy, and therefore as an author it is your job to be concise and concentrated and follow the rules to improve the chances of having someone actually read and recommend publishing the book.