Category Archives: Bookstores

Elaine Wilkes – Getting Your Book into Bookstores

Posted by on December 18, 2010 No comments
Drew Gerber of PitchRate interviewed Elaine Wilkes, author of Nature’s Secret Miracles about how she got her book into bookstores with NO support from her publisher and NO interest from corporate buyers at Barnes & Noble and Borders.  It’s a simple one-on-one technique guaranteed to get you results, all you have to do is be willing to pick up the phone with someone and have a 2 minute conversation about your book.  There’s no tricks, no smoke and mirrors, just good old fashioned saying “Hi, I’m an author and I’d love it if your store could have a copy of my book for sale”.

Elaine Wilkes

Elaine Wilkes
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Jonathan Maxwell – Arranging Public Appearances

Posted by on May 7, 2010 No comments
On May 6th 2010, Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with successful nonfiction author and speaker Jonathan Maxwell. He is the author of Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS (2009). Jonathan has tirelessly promoted his books at bookstores, libraries, museums, colleges, and K-12 schools. Today, he shared his wisdom about

  • The Importance of Making Public Appearances (sales, marketing, buzz)
  • Alternatives to Public Appearances (reviews)
  • Obtaining Public Appearances (libraries, schools and colleges, museums, bookstores)
  • Charging Fees (why, when and how much)
  • Becoming a great speaker(tips and tricks)
Jonathan Maxwell is an Atlanta-based writer, editor, and critic. He holds a BA in English from Berry College in Rome, Ga., as well as a psychology minor. He also holds a paralegal certificate. Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS is his first book. Released in November 2009, the work has since received considerable critical acclaim. Maxwell’s next book- Piltdown Man and Other Hoaxes- will be released late this year. This book is a lighthearted examination of scientific frauds through the centuries. In addition to book-writing, he has composed op/ed pieces in newspapers great and small, penned reviews for literary journals, and has written chapters for history textbooks. As a freelance editor, he was worked for the publishing giants Harcourt and Pearson.
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Lissa Warren – Get your book on the store’s front table

Posted by on April 18, 2009 No comments
On April 8th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author and publishing expert Lissa Warren on how to get your book into the sweet spot on those tables in the front of the bookstore. Lissa Warren has worked at several Boston publishing houses including David R. Godine, Houghton Mifflin, and Perseus Publishing, and is currently Vice President, Senior Director of Publicity and Acquiring Editor at Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Specifically, we were seeking answers to the following questions:

  • Who chooses which books go on a store’s front table?
  • What can authors do to help get their books on the front table at a chain bookstore?
  • What are some of the different kinds of table space available at a chain bookstore?
  • What can authors do to help get their books on a front table at an independent bookstore?
  • What kind of media is likely to make a bookstore sit up and take notice?
  • Does it help if you stop by bookstores and autograph copies?
  • What about readings in bookstores—do you get better table space if you do them
 Lissa Warren
The author of The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Publicity, she has spoken about publishing for the Virginia Festival of the Book, Lesley University , Publishers Marketing Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, Publishers Association of the South, BookBuilders of Boston, ForeWord magazine, Grub Street, the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, and the Adirondack Writer’s Conference, among others. Since 2003 she has been an Adjunct Professor at Emerson College —in their Writing, Literature, and Publishing program—and she also teaches in Boston University ‘s publishing certificate program. She serves on the advisory board to the MFA writing program at Southern New Hampshire University.Ms. Warren holds a B.S. in English Education from Miami University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Bennington College . Her poetry has appeared in Quarterly West, Oxford Magazine, Black Warrior Re
view, and Verse, and she’s a poetry editor for the literary magazine Post Road .

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Shel Horowitz – Breaking Out of the Bookstore

Posted by on January 31, 2007 No comments

Shel HorowitzOn Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 8PM EDT we spoke with award-winning marketing expert Shel Horowitz of principledprofit.com.  He shared with us problems and solutions for working with bookstores, when to try non-bookstore markets, understanding competition, and how to use bookstore appearances to leverage publicity.  Shel also talked about how authors can get paid to market their own books and how even small, self-published authors can garner publicity.

Shel Horowitz is the author of seven books, his two most recent: Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers and Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First. He is a copywriter and marketing/publishing consultant specializing in ethical, affordable, and effective approaches.  Mr. Horowitz is also the founder of the international Business Ethics Pledge

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