On August 28th, 2009, Alan E. Smith, author of the award-winning “UnBreak Your Health: The Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine” spoke with book marketing guru Irene Watson on the importance of considering target reader personas in the book writing process. Irene is the owner of Reader Views, a full-service book reviewing and marketing agency in Austin, TX. Irene’s psychology background and constant study gives her the ability to understand people and how they think, live, and for today’s interview, how they read. Some of the things we considered:
Importance of knowing your target market before writing your book
Understanding reading preferences, temperments and personalities of potential readers
Creating a profile of the potential readers/target market
Fully understanding why some readers like your book and others don’t.
Irene’s career took her from career counseling, to business ownership, to working for a police force, to psychosynthesis counseling, to teaching at a college, to retreat/seminar/workshop design and facilitation to her most recent – owning/managing Reader Views and its branches. She obtained her B.S. in psychology at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX and her M. A. in psychology from Regis University in Denver, CO.After retiring in 2003 Irene authored an award winning memoir, The Sitting Swing, which was originally published in 2005. Having a hard time getting reviews for her book, she started Reader Views on a whim. Within a month it exploded to a full time business. So much for retirement! Since then she has pioneered many other innovative marketing sites including Inside Scoop Live, ReviewThe Book, BloggingAuthors, and many other services from press release writing to book videos to an international award contest now entering its 4th year.
On March 30th, 2009 we convened the 2009 Book Marketing Roundtable to talk about industry “best practices” with authors, marketing experts, and publishers Irene Watson of Reader Views, Tyler Tichelaar of Superior Book Promotions and Victor R. Volkman of Loving Healing Press, Inc. This is a free-for-all discussion on many critical book marketing aspects including: social networking, public events, book videos, professional appearances, co-op flyer mailouts, websites for authors, and marketing mistakes. Don’t forget to listen to Part I of our podcast too!
Irene Watson is author of The Sitting Swing: Finding the Wisdom to Know the Difference, the proprietor of Reader Views Inc., Blogging Authors dot com, Inside Scoop Live, and many other publicity and marketing related activities. Tyler Tichelaar is the owner of Marquette Fiction and author of the Marquette Trilogy, a saga of 150 years on the shores of Lake Superior, and is the proprietor of Superior Book Promotions, a full-service literary and editorial consulting firm. Victor R. Volkman is the publisher behind Loving Healing Press Inc. and Modern History Press and publishes a full line of books on trauma recovery, personal growth, and coping with disabilities as well as the editor of numerous anthologies including More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam
On January 22nd, 2009, Irene Watson spoke with Lynda Goldman on how to turn a non-fiction book into a course or workshop. Lynda shared key answers with us including benefits of turning a course into a book, how/where to sell the course, other revenue streams, what does it take to create the course and how much will it cost me? Lynda Goldman is the author of 31 books, including textbooks and business books for major publishers such as Prentice Hall, Houghton-Mifflin, and Oxford University Press. As well, she ghostwrites books for busy industry leaders, and is currently ghostwriting three different business books.
She also has 15 years of experience in creating training programs and seminars on business topics such as selling skills, business etiquette, cross-cultural communication, and leadership. Along with these courses, she has created more than 75 instructor’s manuals and participant workbooks.
On September 4th, 2008 Tyler Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publicist and industry veteran Alice B. Acheson about marketing on the cheap. Alice has been an independent marketing and publishing specialist working with large and small publishers since 1981.
Alice answered some tough questions including, Is there really any publicity that costs pennies? How do I get started with publicity plans? What are some publicity ideas that truly cost nothing? How can I find organizations interested in hearing me speak? What about awards, postcards, bookmarks, tradeshows, and mailings?
Alice has worked as both editor and publicist, negotiating book contracts, and selling subsidiary rights. Four recipients of her publicity prowess have appeared simultaneously on the The New York Times bestseller list.She is particularly proud of her efforts for OLD TURTLE by Doug Wood, the author’s first book from a publisher who had never published a children’s book and never nationally marketed any of their books. It won the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year and sold 800,000 copies prior to its sale to Scholastic. For her efforts Alice was given the Literary Market Place Outside Services Award for Advertising, Promotion, and Publicity.
