Category Archives: Marketing
On January 19th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with award-winning children’s author, marketing expert, and entrepreneur Ellen Feld about how to target-market your children”s books. Her first book, Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse, went on to win a coveted “Children’s Choices” award, co-sponsored by The International Reading Association and The Children’s Book Council. The book was then picked up by an international toy company and packaged with a toy horse made to resemble Blackjack, the star of the series. Blackjack continues to sell well and to date has sold over 30,000 copies. Ellen shared her lessons learned and hard won experience with us on a variety of topics including:
- on-line advertising: where/when it works/doesn’t work
- Selling at regional events, shows, and other public venues outside the bookstore
- Why you need to think in terms of a series
- Importance of author selling/marketing, the personal touch
- Book signings – what works, what to have at your booth
- Finding and keeping an illustrator
- Cultivating your reputation as an expert
- The importance of professional help with your project.
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 Ellen Feld with Annie |
| Award-winning author Ellen Feld began writing about horses more than twenty years ago. Her first writing jobs were for horse magazines. At first, she wrote for small, regional publications, but within a few short years her work began to appear regularly in large, national publications. Her articles have appeared in publications such as The Morgan Horse, Stable Management, Equestrian, Young Rider, Just About Horses, Horsemen’s Yankee Pedlar, Tri-State Horse, and The Appaloosa Journal.One day, back in 2001, while waiting for her next assignment to come in, Ellen wrote a short story about a Morgan Horse. Several of her friends encouraged her to expand on the story and try writing a book. That short story became the first chapter of “Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse.” |
 Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse |
On December 1st, 2011 Susan Violante and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with publisher and marketing guru Jacqueline Church (“JC”) Simonds. She is the co-owner of Beagle Bay, Inc, a book packaging and distribution company. Jacqueline is also the author of the historical novel Captain Mary, Buccaneer. We went back to basics for this episode and touched on all the fundamentals you need, including:
- Self-Publishing = Entrepreneurship. Can you handle the business or do you need a partner?
- Publishing is a $3 TRILLION a year, global business. Are you ready to compete?
- Most new publishers are woefully lacking in knowledge about the book business.
- Should you go for a “Doing Business As” (dba) or incorporate?
- How many ISBNs should you buy – 1? 10? 1000
- Understand the new business models of Print on Demand (POD) + distribution, eBooks, and offset printing.
- Marketing = Sales. How do you plan to reach your reader/buyer in the first few months, and from then on?
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 Jacqueline Church Simonds |
| Jacqueline is a book shepherd, assisting self-publishers and start-up presses in launching their businesses. Much of her knowledge about publishing can be found at the Creative Minds Press site New Self-Publisher’s FAQIn Captain Mary, Buccaneer, Simonds has crafted an enduring tale that will satisfy readers with its swashbuckling action, dark intrigue, and torrid romance. The book is the result of Simonds’ extensive research into the pirate subculture of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. From the tales of real women pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read who were tried for piracy in Spanishtown, Jamaica in 1721, Simonds has created a character who would be as at home on Wall Street as she is on the heaving deck of an 18th century brigantine. If you enjoy curling up in your favorite chair with a great adventure story, then this book is for you!
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 Captain Mary, Buccaneer |
On November 3rd, 2011 we held the 2011 Publishing and Marketing Roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar, Irene Watson, and Victor R. Volkman. Tyler R. Tichelaar is the owner of Marquette Fiction and author of The Marquette Trilogy and other books. Irene Watson is the owner of Reader Views, a book review and marketing services company that does everything from author interviews to book videos. Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press and Modern History Press that have produced more than 120 titles in paperback and eBook formats in self-help, personal growth, disabilities, and fiction to name a few categories. The focus of this week’s show is both looking back the past five years since the show started in 2006 as well as projecting the trends ahead up to 2016 to come. Specifically, we touched on these topics and how YOU can take advantage of them:
- The rise of eBooks especially in the last 24 months
- The decline of generic bookstores and the success of specialty retailers
- The appearance of subsidy or vanity imprints from traditional industry leaders such as Harlequin Romances, Hay House, and even Amazon
- Globalization of the book industry and the yearly doubling of new titles since 2007
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 Irene Watson  Authors Access: read the book! |
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On October 5th, 2011 Victor R. Volkman and Donna Winters spoke with writer, broadcaster, and historical fiction writer Susan Violante about incorporating research from oral history into fiction and non-fiction contexts. In 2010, she published her Young Adult novel Innocent War: Behind and Immigrant’s Past — Book One. She currently works as the Editorial Assistant for Reader Views and First Chapter Plus. During the course of her writing she used tapes her father recorded as well as one-on-one interviews to flesh out the events, characters, and emotions that she hoped to capture in her book. In this wide-ranging discussion, we covered those issues and much more:
- Researching for your book
- Benefits of Interviewing as a research tool when writing any story
- Different Interviewing tools and techniques.
- Quick tips to interview like a professional.
- How to use your story’s research to Market your book.
- Creating Podcasts using recorded interviews done during story research.
- Using your contacts generated through story research to promote your book.
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 Susan Violante |
| Born and raised in Venezuela from Italian immigrants, author Susan Violante completed a BA degree in Political and Administrative Cs. and worked as Founding General Director of a Environmental Foundation before moving to the US. Although she built a career as a Business Analyst/Accountant since 1987, she also kept herself active as a Freelance writer. In 2010 Violante finally retired from Accounting and leaped to the publishing industry. She is also finishing her first picture book titled Tuma: The Little Indian Princess while working on Book 2 of her Series. Susan is also the host of I Have Something to Say LIVE, and soon to be Managing Editor of her newest project: I Have Something To Say Press. Her new radio show: Italian Austinite will go on the air through Blogtalk radio at the end of October. |
 Innocent War |
