Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog

Popcorn and Book Videos

As a fan of both Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist I'm convinced I need to read an upcoming title called Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies.  I enjoy these books that talk about hidden trends in the economy and everyday products.

The author, Richard McKenzie, also created a video trailer for the book which I've embedded below.  I'm seeing more and more authors and publishers investing in promotional videos for their books.  This one is pretty simple but it's extremely effective; now that I've watched it I feel like I know more about the author and his book than if I would have simply read through a book description on Amazon, for example.

I plan to read Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies and will post a follow-up review when I'm finished.

Literary Video Interview with David Woodard

Literary Video's tagline is "Creating Multimedia Content that Sells Books."  I discovered this service last month and exchanged a couple of e-mails with David Woodard, Founder and Creative Director.  With the ever increasing importance of video in the publishing world I jumped on the opportunity to do a blog interview with David.  Here's what he had to say about Literary Video and what they're up to:

JW: You had been working for a publisher in Nashville for awhile and decided to launch this new business venture, Literary Video.  What's your vision for the business and what drove you to create this start-up?

DW: Working in book marketing for eight years taught me many things, but one of the most impressive things I learned was that the best salesman for a book is almost always the author. There are exceptions to this, but by in large it is true. That is why when the bigger books release (think John Grisham, for example), these authors pop up in various media like The Today Show, Good Morning America, or even Oprah or People Magazine. No one can sale the story like the author can.

The internet and the proliferation of video online gives publishers and authors new and relatively inexpensive ways to reach their audience. According to USAToday, "Book videos are increasingly common and, publishers say, essential." They are the new book cover.

Literary Video has come into existence to help publishers and authors not only develop multimedia content, but multimedia content that sells books. We feel our background in book publishing and marketing gives our clients an advantage that a generic video production house can't give offer. We not only facilitate the creation of content but help mold the content in a way that sells the project most effectively.

Changes in the marketing structure of the publishing house for whom I had been working gave me a unique opportunity last fall to exercise not only the skills and knowledge I had learned but also the contacts and network I had cultivated the last eight years in the industry. Literary Video was born.

JW: Success here largely depends on how many eyeballs see each video, right?  With that in mind, will Literary Video also help show authors how to increase the exposure of their videos?  If so, are there any details you can share?

DW: You are right in that like any advertising collateral, impressions are key. A book video is not an end in and of itself, but a part of a greater strategy. However, book video offers a more intimate "experience," and, it has the capacity to become viral. Book videos are marketing by offering content and not interruption. 

But just as posting a web site does not guarantee visitors, creating a video doesn’t automatically assume viewers; you have to have a bigger marketing strategy in place. However, there are sites, like YouTube, BookVideos.TV, & ChristianReader.TV that people visit in order to find video content. A compelling video posted to the right places can find an audience. This is where Literary Video becomes not just a content producer, but a partner in distribution strategy as well.

JW: I'm a big fan of widgets and it would seem they would represent a useful vehicle for getting videos out on as many websites as possible.  Are you looking to offer widget functionality for Literary Video?

DW: Incorporating video into widgets represents the cutting edge of video distribution. If done right, it not only offers a compelling way to present the video in an easy to use fashion, but also creates a "portable" marketing collateral that can become very effective in viral and grass roots marketing efforts. In other words, if a viewer can forward the widget to someone else, or even take the widget and embed it in their own blog or website, then the widget has become portable. This can also be effective in sales efforts, as book retailers can post these widgets on their e-tailing sites and product pages.

If a client desires to use widgets, Literary Video can develop the content, widget, and help strategize for the most effective use of the widget.

JW: What are the most innovative and interesting elements of some of the better book trailers/teasers that you've been involved with?

DW: I can think of three that I thought exploited unique dimensions of books that would have been lost in traditional advertising efforts.

My Go to Bed Book is a charming children’s book in the tradition of Good Night Moon. It was originally published in the 1950s. B&H Publishing Group released a 50th anniversary edition in the fall of 2007. The backstory as to how this edition came to be is in itself a very charming story. We created a mini-documentary telling this story called The Story Behind the Book, as well as an e-Galley for the book.

Squat is novel written by first time novelist Taylor Field. Taylor's personal story as a pastor running a mission in New York's tough lower East Side is the inspiration and backdrop for this novel. Think Rent meets The Passion of the Christ. The colorful world of Manhattan's Alphabet City is a major character of the book itself. Squat Movie is a mini documentary (embedded below), shot on location in the east village with Taylor as our guide, bringing the landscape and the real life people that inspired this tale. Squat Movie was awarded the bronze Telly Award for 2007.

Biblical Barbie is a fun book trailer that emphasizes entertaining content over hard selling. Making fun of stereotypes, the video is just fun, with a soft sell for the book The New Eve at the end. It is viral marketing at its best. We partnered with stop-motion film maker Greg Pope to create book video that entertains first, and sells second.

Daemon: A Lesson on Leveraging the Community

I don't tend to read novels but the story of this one caught my eye.  It's called Daemon and it's an interesting study in what an author can do to build momentum for their book.  Wired recently ran a short article about it here.

The author, Daniel Suarezes (who reversed most of those characters to "Leinad Zeraus" for credit on the book) tried the same old agent-to-publisher route but couldn't generate interest.  He wound up taking matters into his own hands and got some key bloggers and other influential names interested in it.  Next, he and his wife created their own publishing house, Verdugo Press, and are selling it as a print-on-demand title.

Although Bookscan numbers are still pretty modest the book currently has a very nice Amazon ranking (in the 1,500's), so the grassroots efforts are obviously paying off...and the Wired article doesn't hurt either!

So if you're an author, what steps have you taken to drive excitement for your book from influential people with huge platforms?  Even if you have a small platform you can always work to leverage other people's platforms.

14 Points about Author Websites

The author website debate will probably never end.  Do you need one?  What's the purpose?  What elements should it include?  The questions go on and on.

I recently came across this excellent blog post entitled The 14 Things I Have Learned about Author Websites.  Be sure to check out the whole list.  Here are a few things that went through my mind as I read through it:

#2. Author websites are different than book websites. Blogs, twitter, myspace and facebook are different tools, use them in different ways.

Excellent point!  How many times have you come across an author's website that has no personality and lacks the critical attributes of a social network-like page?

#4. Frequency is important...

#5: Frequency isn’t as important as you may think...

Ah, the thorny subject of frequency.  This has been one of the most criticized and probably misunderstood issues on this subject.  How frequently do you need to update your site?  That depends.  It depends on what kind of product you've published and what sort of expectations your readers have.  Two-way communication is the key here.  Don't say you'll be updating every day and then fall back to once every week or so.  Also, check in with your readers and see what they want from your site and how often they'd like to see new content from you.

#6: Free is your friend. Make your work available in its entirety. If someone is willing to read your 400 page novel on screen, you have found a fan for life.

I don't think I could have said it any better myself.  This is an important concept that we publishers seem to be sloooowly embracing.  Just don't forget that if you signed a traditional publishing agreement you probably need your publisher's permission to post all that great, free content...

Author Solutions Interview with Kevin Weiss

Author Solutions is the parent company of several brands including AuthorHouse and iUniverse; recently I was fortunate enough to sit down with several key members of their organization.  The Author Solutions team showed me some of their existing tools and talked a bit about their vision for the future of the industry.  It was a great session and I plan to cover some of these items in future posts.

In the mean time, Kevin Weiss, President and CEO of Author Solutions, agreed to do a blog interview as well.  Here's what Kevin had to say about Author Solutions, the iUniverse acquisition and the marketing and PR process:

JW: What are the key attributes that you feel help distinguish Author Solutions from the other self-publishing options out there today?

KW: Leadership and innovation. At AuthorHouse and iUniverse we have continually introduced new services and systems to make publishing more professional, affordable and accessible to authors. That commitment has enabled us to become the worldwide market share leader. But we’ve only just begun.

We are currently making significant investments in both our internal production and customer-facing systems. By Q3, we will introduce the most advanced systems in the industry, which will give authors --and publishers-- unrivaled flexibility, efficiency and opportunity to make the best choices throughout the publishing process. 

We are also working diligently to make publishing a more "open" environment. Historically, the industry has been "closed" in the sense that a select group of people decided what should be made available to the market. We don’t think that system will work with the next generation of authors.

They have been raised with file sharing, online collaboration and self-directing content creation. They also expect nearly simultaneous feedback. Waiting months for a rejection letter won’t work with this crowd. That's why we have made our Wordclay platform available to individual authors and communities who have members who want to publish books quickly, affordably and professionally.

We take all we’ve learned from publishing nearly 80,000 titles and make that available to any one who has a book in them. We believe the end result will be more authors publishing more titles for more readers, which is good for readers, good for us and good for the industry.

We expect to have more to say about both of these areas around BEA, so stay tuned.

JW: Last year you completed the acquisition of another self-publishing operation, iUniverse.  How do you see these two teams fitting together and what does this mean to authors from both organizations?

KW: Author Solutions acquired iUniverse because we see the brands as distinct and the teams as complimentary. AuthorHouse, which was Author Solutions first acquisition, has a broader product offering both in publishing and promotional services. iUniverse has distinguished itself by its editorial services and traditional-publishing experience.

With this acquisition, we are able to take the best practices of both organizations and offer authors of both brands the most valued services in the industry and more expertise than any other self-publishing company in the world. Because we are publishing nearly 20,000 titles, we are also able to create production efficiencies that we can pass on to authors in the form of higher value and more affordable services. We are excited about the future of both brands and the strength of the leadership teams.

JW: How about on the marketing side...what programs do you offer your authors to help them get the visibility they need to succeed?

KW: Ask successful authors today and they will tell you they work on their marketing plan as much as their manuscript. So while we provide a range of services to help authors gain visibility, they still need to make a commitment to promote their books.

Depending on the brand, we can offer authors a public relations program, bookstore marketing packages, including returnability and even a personal publicist if they have the budget and the title warrants it.

Perhaps the most important marketing tool we provide though is a free author Web site. We've been offering this service through our AuthorHouse brand since December and authors love it. Four weeks ago, we just announced a beta version of AuthorTree. AuthorTree is a site that offers all published authors a free, easy-to-use tool to set up an author Web site.

These Web sites give authors 24/7 visibility for potential readers and provide a powerful way for them to build an audience.

JW: How much do you rely on authors to help with the PR and marketing effort?  Do you have any success stories you could share?

KW: As I stated previously, the author is the key to marketing and PR. Even JK Rowling has to get out and talk about her books, and it is no different for our authors. We have  many great examples of authors successfully marketing their works, but two recent ones stand out.

The first is a book AuthorHouse published titled The Gift that Heals by Reg Green. Reg's seven-year old son was murdered in Italy 12 years ago on a family vacation. They made the decision then to donate his organs and the story received worldwide acclaim. Since then Reg has become a leading advocate for organ donation and wanted to write a book about how organ donation affects the people involved in the process. He is very passionate and has a great sense of urgency, so he didn't want to wait for months or years to have traditional publishers decide to publish his book. He self-published with us and the book is selling well. A few weeks ago, he was featured in People magazine and last week he was on the morning talk shows in New York

Another example is Martha Barnette. Martha had previously published with a traditional house, but they allowed her books to go out of print. In the past few years she has become the host of a radio nationally-syndicated Public Radio show called A Way with Words, which focuses on the beauty and intricacy of words. She has published two books with iUniverse that were previously out of print and brought them back for her listeners. Self-publishing has allowed her to develop a whole new following of readers and create an even greater platform.

Nice Coverage of Author Solutions

The business section of today's Indy Star featured this nice article on Indiana-based Author Solutions.  One of the leaders in the self-publishing world, Author Solutions is the parent company of Author House, iUniverse and the Wordclay authoring tool.

Highlights from the article that caught my eye:

The acquisition of iUniverse means that Author Solutions has more than 80,000 titles in its list, "making it the world's largest self-publishing company in number of book titles published and placed in distribution."

"In its first three months, Wordclay attracted 14,000 users who submitted 4,000 manuscripts via the software that can convert text documents into formatted books."

"In 2008, Author Solutions expects to publish one of every 15 ISBNs issued in the United States, or about 20,000 titles."

"At Author Solutions, 45 percent of its authors are older than 55."

The Author's Repair Kit, by Patricia Fry

The tips on this blog are generally aimed at authors who are writing new book proposals or at the early stage of their manuscript development.  But how about all those books that are already published and not selling very well?  Where can an author find tips on how to fix the book after it's already out?

I used to think there was no good answer to either of those questions...until I discovered a 27-page e-book called The Author's Repair Kit, by Patricia Fry.  In all fairness, this e-book is a great resource for authors who are at any stage of the writing/publishing process.  And it's only $5.95!

The Author's Repair Kit is loaded with the type of tough questions you need to ask yourself to help make the best book possible.  Some of the major headings in this e-book are:

• Who is Your True Target Audience
• Make the Most of What You Have
• Establish New Promotional Tactics
• Make Changes in All the Right Places
• Build Promotion Into Your Book

There's a 3-page section called "Continue to Build on Your Platform" which includes a list of 10 fantastic items that is worth the e-book's price all by itself. The separate list in the promotional tactics section is also extremely valuable.  Highly recommended.

Helium Interview with Mark Ranalli

Helium is a multifaceted writing and publishing operation that I recently discovered.  As their website states, Helium exists to help you "learn what you need, share what you know."  I asked Helium President & CEO Mark Ranalli to take part in a blog interview and he graciously agreed.  Here's what he had to say about the organization:

JW: How did you wind up creating Helium and what's your long-term goal for the site?

MR: Helium's founding mission was to bring order to the chaos of user generated content. The explosion of content being created on the Web is awe inspiring, yet it has been missing a structure. The traditional publishing industry, despite many of its short comings, has succeeded for thousands of years. This system established credibility, orchestrated distribution, and established standards of quality. Helium's objective is to empower its community to replicate many of the assets of the traditional publishing industry, such that it can help launch a citizen journalism industry.

JW: Helium's Marketplace site is where content publishers are posting their needs for articles and other short-length works.  It looks like much of this is for online content.  Are you starting to see traditional magazine and even book publishers utilize the Marketplace?  How do you see this evolving?

MR: We are very excited about Helium's Freelance Marketplace. We are seeing interest from publishers from all spectrums of the publishing industry. Many of the early adopters were online publishers, but we are seeing an every growing body of more traditional publishers start to embrace our solution. Through our Marketplace, we have provided content for a number of high end print magazines, we have sourced material for books, produced corporate marketing material and product descriptions, and most recently, we've begun to partner with a number of newspapers.

JW: Your site mentions a proprietary peer review technology.  How does this system differ from the typical peer review model that other sites/services use?

MR: Helium's rating engine is at the core of our offering. Helium has created a true meritocracy. Our rating engine is designed to elevate quality, not popularity. Helium's rating system pulls from both peer review and relative ranking.

JW: Who owns the rights to material that's written through Helium?  Are the rights determined by the paying publisher or is there a blanket set of terms that applies to all works on the site?

MR: Content rights are very straight forward with Helium. Our members retain all rights to their content that they publish on Helium. The only exception are the articles that are purchased through Helium's Freelance Marketplace. With Marketplace articles, the member is fully aware of what rights they are assigning to the publisher, which only transfer upon payment. The most typical rights transfer through marketplace are for exclusive publishing rights to the content, although in some cases, our publishers are only requesting First Rights, and in some cases they are requesting re-naming (ghost writing) rights.

JW: Is there a typical earnings model new members tend to follow?  I know it's hard to generalize on this, but some prospective authors would probably like to know how long it typically takes to see an income stream.  Are new members finding that it's a creative outlet that's a labor of love or do they frequently find they're generating income much sooner than they originally expected?

MR: Earnings on Helium cover a wide spectrum. Like anything in life, you get out of Helium what you put into it. Helium's underlying brand promise is that we will always share our advertising revenue with our writers. As Helium continues to grow, the pool of advertising revenue we share will continue to expand. Today, we have writers who have built up a portfolio of a few hundred articles on our site. These members are earning upwards of $50 to $100 per month for their body of work, and will continue to do so. Other members focus their energies on our numerous weekly contests, and are earning weekly prizes that range from $5 to $75 per contest. For those writers who are most interested in writing for the money, Helium's Marketplace is putting a lot of money in our writers hands. Last month, one of our writers earned $1,300. This isn't bad for a part-time passion.

I believe the most valuable reasons for joining Helium are to build skills, to be recognized, to participate in a massive community of people who are seeking to share their knowledge and to have their voices heard and to express themselves as well as possible.  One of our most recent announcements is the creation of Helium’s Journalism Awards program. Through Helium, our writers have the ability to win journalism awards for the Pulitzer Center, the Knight Center for International Media, OneWorld, Foreign Exchange, and several other organizations. Additionally, the National Press Club has extended application offers to all of Helium’s 5 star writers. Through Helium, citizen journalists have the ability to be fully recognized for the value they bring to the broader journalism industry.

Authors on the Net Interview with Philip Davis

I briefly mentioned Authors on the Net in this post back in January but I thought it would be useful to interview Philip Davis, founder of both Authors on the Net and ZDocs.  Here's what he had to say about both businesses:

JW: Let's start by talking a bit about ZDocs.  What's the core mission of ZDocs and how do you differentiate your services from others out there?

PD: The core mission of ZDocs is to provide both corporate and independent publishers the most cost-effective way to produce professional books. There are many ways to print books, for example:

• One-off on-demand printing
• Short-run on-demand printing
• Long-run offset printing
• Long-run webpress printing.

ZDocs offers companies and individuals short-run on-demand printing, but if a customer will be better served by another type of production, we help guide them to make the right decision for their business, even if that means the customer may use another vendor.

For independent authors, deciding on the right quantity is really up to the marketing plan the author has created. While one-off on-demand printing, what POD publishers specialize in, works for many authors, I personally think if an author is serious about building a business around his or her book, then the author should print at least 250 books. Authors, especially non-fiction authors, will find they need to give quite a few books away as part of their initial promotional efforts.

JW: Your other operation, Authors on the Net, is one a lot of readers are likely to be very interested in.  The subject of author platform is a popular one on my blog.  How does Authors on the Net help an author with their platform?

PD: We help authors take a structured approach to building their platform online. When I started writing my book, Fast & Furious Book Promotion: A system for promoting books online, I was going to focus on blogging and social networking as the way to build a platform and rise above the crowd to either build a successful self-publishing business or get picked up by a publisher.

But as I spoke with authors printing with ZDocs, I soon realized that many authors were using Myspace and blogs and websites and they were building email lists etc., but not one of the authors we worked with had a cohesive plan. They were just throwing pebbles into the ocean hoping something would happen. I can’t tell you how many authors told me they had made four blog posts yet no reader had left them a comment or bought their book. Building a platform takes time and that is one of the key messages in my book.

So I decided to focus on a system authors could follow to build a plan that will help them build their platform. I call this the DRILL system, which is:

• Develop your goals
• Research your target audience
• Invent your strategy
• Layout your tactical plan
• Leverage your assets

The foundation of Authors On The Net is built on the DRILL concept. We want authors to learn how to use the Internet to build their platform, and we want them to move fast and furiously, but we also want them to commit at least three years to their promotional efforts, keeping in mind that even if their current book does not sell too well, the platform they've built can be used for their next project.

JW: The Authors on the Net website talks about helping authors create marketing plans for a retailer like Barnes & Noble.  How hard is this and can a typical author really influence the marketing plans of a major brick-and-mortar chain?

PD: We have three tools authors can use to build their plans: a PowerPoint model, a Word model and a simple spreadsheet. Since no author I’ve worked with could show me a plan for their book, I decided to keep the planning tools as simple as possible. I believe many people think a marketing plan is a complicated document that requires an MBA.

When an author follows the DRILL system, he/she will have a simple, yet powerful plan in place. Just knowing your goals and target audience will put an author ahead of the pack. A plan we just created for a book How To Become a Total Failure, generated a phone call from Barnes & Noble. We’re not sure what this means yet, but getting Barnes & Noble to express interest was a nice validation of the effectiveness of these plans. I’m pretty sure that without our plan, we would have received a polite rejection letter.

Whether a typical author can influence the marketing plans of a brick-and-mortar chain depends on the book. Some books are just too niche to merit significant effort on the part of the bookstores, but other books that appeal to a large audience could have an impact. The point I’d stress, however, is an author will not be considered at all if he or she does not have a solid plan supporting his or her book.

JW: Virtual book tours and trailers are getting a lot of buzz these days and I see Authors on the Net also offers guidance there as well.  What are some of the more effective strategies you've seen authors implement with either of these tools?

PD: I just did a virtual book tour for Fast & Furious Book Promotion. We had over 20 people on the call and I could only get through about 10 questions. I didn’t sell a book, but I did get over 40 new people into my platform. But for me, the best value I got out of the call were the questions. We ran an "askphildavis.com" campaign and collected many good questions. These questions are leading me to a new product, which is a tool to help authors run a book campaign much like Barack Obama and other politicians are running their political campaigns.

I liked the feedback so much, I decided to leave the askphildavis link on the site so we can continually receive questions from authors. A virtual book tour for me is valuable to get market intelligence. While it would be great to sell books, it’s not the most important result for me. A fiction writer, on the other hand, can use the same tool and structure the call completely different. The fiction writer could have three people help her read different sections form her book. The point is that once an author becomes comfortable with a new tactic, he or she can then "invent" a way to use that tactic to meet his or her needs.

Regarding book trailers, I think they are a great promotional tool. If you put a video on YouTube and 1,000 people watch it, well, that's 1,000 more people who now know your book exists. I like the marketing concept of "hooks in the whale." To catch a whale, you have to put many hooks in it. To catch a customer or a reader, you also have to have many hooks out there. A book trailer is a cost-effect way to create one such hook.

JW: I see you have a one-stop product coming next month called Self-Publishing in a Box.  This whole sector seems to be in a constant state of flux as new technologies and service providers arise.  What solutions can authors expect to find in this product and what are your plans to keep the content fresh down the road?

PD: Yes, the book led to the website and the website then led to Self-Publishing in a Box. What we learned during the soft-launch of Authors On The Net is that authors needed even more structure. So we created a seventeen week program that walks authors through the process of getting a professional book published and a strong online presence built.

The idea is that all authors need to do certain things, like getting listed in Baker & Taylor, writing a promotional plan, using a professional editor and designer, listing their book all over the place, building a platform, using press releases and what could become the most important tactic of all, using social networks like Facebook to run a book campaign.

While most authors understand what it means to get published by a traditional publishing house, some authors struggle with the difference between publishing with a POD or Vanity press and truly self-publishing. One of the biggest differences is when you self-publish you start your own publishing company. Two other key differences are that you buy your own ISBN and you do not share royalties with anyone. The kit helps authors make these critical decisions.

I’m not against POD publishing and I think for many authors that form of publishing is the right choice. My interest lies in helping authors choose the right way to publish based on their goals and overall plan.
Regarding change, I don't see the concepts in the kit changing too much, but as we will be printing on demand, when significant changes take place, we can make those changes. What will change at a Fast & Furious rate are the online tactics. How to use Amazon will change, how to social network will change, new tools will emerge and so on. This is why the website is so critical. We can let people know about new tools on our blog, in our categories and sections and even more importantly, we can learn from other authors in the forums.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that one of the hardest parts of my business plan for Authors On The Net is that we are not trying to help people become New York Times best selling authors or millionaires from their books. It can be hard to attract people without the hype. But we've added over 200 authors, both published and self-published, to the site during our three-month soft launch, so I'm encouraged.

What we want to do is help authors find their readers and sell profitably to those readers. Whether a book becomes a best seller depends on so many factors outside the control of most authors. Self-Publishing in a Box and the website Authors On The Net is all about building a solid platform authors can use to take their current book to the next level or possibly use for their next book.

Promoting and selling books is a daunting and sometimes overwhelming task. Self-Publishing in a Box and Authors On The Net was built to ease the process for both published and self-published authors.

Podiobooks.com

I love discovering new content delivery services.  That's why when I read about Podiobooks in a recent issue of Blogger & Podcaster magazine I couldn't resist checking it out.  I'm glad I did.  Podiobooks is a very cool service that lets you listen to audio books in podcast format.  You find a title that sounds interesting and subscribe to it like you would any other RSS feed.

According to their site, there are currently 190 titles available and more than 42,000 members of the service.  Here's another interesting tidbit: All the podiobooks are free.  A donation model is used where authors receive 75% of whatever amount you want to offer.

As a standalone content platform for new (and not so new) authors, my hope is that services like Podiobooks will join forces with companies like AuthorHouse, Dog Ear Publishing and the upcoming Smashwords.  All of these outfits typically feature non-exclusivity in their author agreements, so it makes sense for them to form some sort of alliance where an author can have their content distributed in print, online or via audio syndication.