Why Ideas Are More Important Than Press Releases

My novel - which is set for July release - is set in Crater Lake National Park.

More than 500,000 people visit Crater Lake each year. That's the start of an idea that might interest a reviewer or media editor. Sending a press release saying your book is coming out will score negative points with both those types of people and possibly shut their door to you forever.

I resisted people telling me to use a two word title like "The Lake.'' Crater Lake needed to be in the title to peak interest. We're trying to get readers, people. Subtlety for the sake of it is silly.

Did I write the book with the Crater Lake marketing angle in mind. Absolutely not. But when you're done writing you need to assess all your potential weapons. It also helped that the plot was set against a backdrop of real events. That's another potential angle.

Editors need an angle or story idea to look at your book. And it has to be a GOOD idea or you're done. Then, of course, the book needs to be good to be successful. But without people willing to look at it there's no chance to be successful.

Using a couple of our story angles, we sent out an email pitch to 75 potential book reviewers/authors in the Northwest to look at the book . We got 14 to do a review. That's a very high number. It has nothing to do with the quality of the book and everything do about interesting angles.

Michael LaLumiere
www.whyiscraterlakesoblue.com

I Got Lucky But That Was Part Of The Plan

So as I've said my first two books - written with Kim Messinger - were children's picture books.

To market a self-published picture book there's only one way - hit the street. School visits. Library visits. Local book store visits. I put the chances of making money on a book this way at about 2000-1. And that's if you have a professionally done book.

Now if your goal is just to get books sold as a sign that you've done a professional job and it's the journey that appeals to you that's another matter. I put your chances of selling more than 150 books at about 100-1. But of course that could go up or down depending on the size of your extended family (your best potential market).

Let's stack that up against the traditional route - selling a manuscript to a publisher that will actually pay you money. If it's good - in the current publishing marketplace - I put the chances of that happening at about 10,000-1.

I didn't have time for the traditional route. I wasn't going to hit the streets for various reasons so making money was out. I have hit on the 100-1 chance but don't find that very fulfilling at this point. But I got lucky. I have a Plan D that most don't have available to them.

I'm publishing a novel that I think will get enough traction to serve as a marketing device for the children's books.

Wow Mike, you call that a plan? There's nothing harder in the book business then to sell a self-published debut novelist.

I didn't say it was a good plan.

Michael LaLumiere
www.staggerleebooks.com

To Get Pre Pub Reviewers You'll Have To Beg

So I had a features editor at a newspaper ask a book author if he'd do a pre pub review for my new Crater Lake novel: Why Is Crater Lake So Blue?

Here's what I got back from my friend.

"And, trying to put it as nicely as he could, he also told me that he'd probably only review another book if it was a reciprocal deal with a prominent author."

That's the problem in a nut shell. This author is not a best-selling author by any means. He went the self-publishing route and has gotten a couple other low visibility books published. But most often it's going to come down to what's in it for me. He probably gets a whole lot of dubious requests so who could blame him. But he should have at least looked in case he saw potential help for himself down the road. You meet the same people going down as you did going up.

If you're writing a non-fiction book this process is decidedly easier. If you have a useful, well-designed book that fits a niche that is. Say it's something about real estate. There are millions of people in the real estate business that wouldn't mind being asked. Folks in selling businesses see something like this as a business opportunity.

Fiction authors often don't, which is Okay.

Children's books are easier, too, because, well, it seems that everyone is a children's book writer. In general it's a friendlier more helpful group. But published authors are generally not going to help no matter what niche they are in. There are a lot of people in the gray area in children's book so that's where the help might come from.

This is where you have to start thinking about story angles. Is there something about who you are or what you've done that might interest someone.

More later.

Michael LaLumiere
www.staggerleebooks.com

Who Knew How Important Pre Pub Reviews Are?

I didn't.

Of all the issues I was concerned about starting down this path, pre publication book reviews were no where on my radar screen.

Pre publication reviews are not those book reviews you see in the newspapers and magazines. Pre pubs are those reviews that go in your selling material and on the back cover of your advance reader copy (ARCs) when you're making that last stretch drive to promote your book before it's released.

Who are you trying to impress before the release? Independent book store buyers, wholesalers, distributors, potential book reviewers. The people that determine whether your book will have any chance at all in the marketplace.

But don't forget. If you haven't written a great book, had it professionally designed, professionally edited, an excellent cover design, well, the pre pubs won't matter because it's already doomed.

As the small publishing market has grown up a lot of consultants are out there in all categories. To me the strangest category is the book review for pay group. You pay to have someone review your book. Please don't do that.

When I was an editor if someone had tried to promote a book to me that had paid for reviews I'd have toss that thing across the newsroom. Fortunately, now that I've gone to the other side I can be more benevolent. But still you don't want to do it no matter how desperate you are to sell your book.

More on this later.

Michael LaLumiere
www.staggerleebooks.com

Don't Depend Too Much On Press Releases

I was reading a group/list about how to time press releases when publicizing your new book. A lot of people seem to know what the best day is to send a press release to a newspaper to get instant attention.

I read these discussions with some wonderment. I was a newspaper editor for a good-sized daily newspaper for many years and a features editor for several of those years.

The preoccupation with which day to send the press release is a little overwrought. I can tell you without a doubt that unless it's some sort of breaking news angle it makes absolutely no difference what day it gets sent in.

I would guess that most self-publishing press releases are going to be feature section oriented. Or maybe non-breaking business or the like. My opinion is that most press releases take the same route and that's to the trash can.

Fewer and fewer daily newspapers have full-time book reviewers. Sometimes it's a features staffer that is interested in the subject matter. Feature writers/non-beat reporters will keep a file folder of press releases that peaked their interest and periodically look through them for story angles. A lot of these are book related because of the angle.

The writers are interested in the subject rather than the book. Now book appearances are different. There's always a calendar editor who will put the book signing in a calendar.

But you're best chance for a response is to write a compelling one page cover letter that introduces quality story angles along with your ARC/Galley. Everything else is wasting money.

A high percentage of press release writers really don't get what interests a reporter/writer.

Michael LaLumiere
www.staggerleebooks.com

Self-Publishing Has Gotten A Little Crazy

So I'm self-publishing this novel called "Why Is Crater Lake So Blue.'' By all accounts - and I do mean ALL - this is the silliest thing a self-publisher can do. Never going to work, they say. But it's too late to be a negative Nellie now.

Actually, the book could be printed next week and sold but that would assure certain failure. The only chance it has is if an army of book publicists spend the next four to six months creating buzz so stores will order it and then hopefully people will buy it when it's released in July. Four to six months sure seemed like a long time when I started this project. But I see now that every day will be required to try to find ways for one more person to hear about the upcoming release.

There are Advanced Review Copies (ARCs) to print and send out. There are authors to track down and beg to do prepublication book reviews...

By the way at this moment that is the biggest factor in whether this novel will be successful or not. Doesn't matter if it's a great story or if the cover design is beautiful. If there aren't any positive reviews on the back cover of the next group of ARCs a wholesaler might not carry the book, independent books stores that depend on books selling won't buy it, and the top reviewers won't take it seriously. End of story.

You can't even afford to really think of all the other marketing things that need to be done in month 3 and 4 if you don't have those prepub reviews. This is an odd business.

Oh, that army of publicists is actually one free-lance PR person, me and maybe one other. A little bit of pressure wouldn't you say.

In the midst of all this angst a nice thing happened last week. I received the rough sketch copy version of a children's picture book that my writing partner and I wrote. Ginger Nielsen is the artist. She spent a lot of time on the research and it really shows. While there's work to be done with our little giraffe book getting to see those illustrations in rough book form made up for all the annoying self-publishing things that happened that week.

Michael LaLumiere

Self-Publishing Reading Assignment No. 2

Okay, have you finished the reading that was assigned earlier this week? Good.

Now here is a list of some definitive books on self-publishing.

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 4th Edition
Tom & Marilyn Ross
ISBN: 9781582970912
Self-publishing Checklist on pages 439-443

Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual
Dan Poynter
ISBN: 9781568601342
Self-publishing Checklist on pages 412-416

The Publishing Game: Publish a book in 30 Days
Fern Reiss
ISBN: 978-1893290853
Step-by-step with timeline

Book Design and Production: A Guide for Authors and Publishers
Pete Masterson, Aeonix Publishing Group
ISBN 0-9669819-0-1

Jump Start Your Book Sales
Marilyn Ross, Communication Creativity
ISBN 0-918880-41-6

Okay, there you go. Get back to me when you're done.

Michael LaLumiere
www.staggerleebooks.com