Authors Access » Branding

Irene Watson – Creating Your Marketing Platform

Victor Volkman — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:22:47 +0000

On September 1, 2011 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author and marketing guru Irene Watsonon how authors can generate their marketing platform with a minimum of effort. Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books. She spoke with us and addressed the following points:

What is an author platform?
Why does an author need a platform?
What’s the first thing to do to create a platform? (Define Audience)
What is the next step after I define my audience?
Basics of the platform (Brand, Reputation, Connections)
What is the foundation of a platform?
7 steps in creating an author platform.

Irene Watson

Among the many destinations Irene Watson runs includes ReaderViews, First Chapter Plus, Inside Scoop Live, and Review The book Dot Com. Her team produces press releases, media interviews, and book videos just to name a few.
Irene is also author of The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference , co-author of Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts, and co-author of Authors Access: 36 Secrets for Authors and Publishers.

The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference

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Paul McNeese – Differentiating Your Book From Run-of-the-Mill Genres

Victor Volkman — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:00:44 +0000

On August 19th, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publishing and marketing guru Paul McNeese. Paul spent 27 years writing for radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and in corporate America before retiring to create his own organization. Paul’s new company, OPA Author Services, helps both first-time authors and seasoned professionals to self-publish their materials—in other words, to become their own publishers. In this session of Authors Access, Paul McNeese is with us to offer some thoughts – and perhaps a little advice – on a vital aspect of “branding” for writers and authors

Paul McNeese

In 2008 Paul McNeese re-focused his work and began guiding authors only through the development and production of books and E-books — and then turning his clients over to a consortium of trusted experts he gathered over the years specifically to handle marketing, promotion, publicity and distribution. Even though he limits his personal work to operations that end with the printing or electronic publication of a book, Paul knows that the marketing plan is a vital component of the consultant/client relationship and essential to the success of both books and authors, so he keeps up with all of the new approaches to book marketing and starts every new project by building a plan with each client that will make the transformation from concept to cash register a seamless one.

OPA Author Services

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Jim Bouchard – Promoting Your Book by Being a Media Personality

Victor Volkman — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:42:30 +0000

On November 4th, 2010 Alan E. Smith and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with author, blackbelt, and media access guru Jim Bouchard, about how to develop yourself into a successful personality sought by the media. Jim Bouchard has spoken to numerous companies and organizations including the CEO Club of Boston, the University of New England, , the Association for Consulting Expertise, , and the Boy Scouts of America, to name but a few. He appears regularly on radio, TV and in person sharing his message of excellence, discipline, focus and opportunity. He spoke on a wide range of aspects including:

What does it mean to Think Like a Black Belt?]
What are some of the key characteristics of Black Belt Mindset?
Why is Black Belt Mindset so important in today’s world?
How do you apply Black Belt Mindset to business or personal life?
What exactly is success? Can anyone become successful?
Is this just another “positive thinking” philosophy or “secret?”
What’s wrong with positive thinking?
Do you need to be a martial artist to Think Like a Black Belt?

Jim Bouchard

Martial arts transformed Jim Bouchard’s self-perception from that of drug abuser, college drop-out and failure to success as a professional martial artist and Black Belt. Today Jim tours nationally to teach his Black Belt Mindset philosophy. His second book, Think Like a Black Belt was released in May, 2010. This first book is Dynamic Components of Personal Power.

Think Like a Black Belt

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Tom Wanek – Currencies that Buy Credibility for Your Book

Victor Volkman — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 14:44:37 +0000

On October 7th, 2010 Irene Watson and Alan E. Smith spoke with marketing guru Tom Wanek about the six essential ingredients (or “currencies”) to successful marketing Tom Wanek. His book, Currencies That Buy Credibility, teaches the foundation that every smart marketer needs to know in order to craft a believable marketing message. Tom shares his views on marketing and advertising on his blog, MarketingBeyondAdvertising.com. In a wide-ranging discussion, we talked about

What is the book’s primary argument? Why is it important now?
Can money categorically buy credibility like buying ad space?
What was the inspiration behind Currencies That Buy Credibility?
How can fiction and non-fiction authors exploit these currencies?
Any surprising applications of your currencies?
What are the most commonly credibility investments in business today?
What are the key factors that will help marketers cut through the social media clutter and communicate with credibility

Tom Wanek

Tom Wanek is busy worldwide speaker and marketing consultant. Businesses as far away as Australia fly Tom in to fix their marketing and hire him to speak. Tom spent eight years growing his successful retail-clothing store. Dealing with his fair share of growing pains, skinned knees and all. Just like you.. This episode was edited by Victor R. Volkman.

Currencies That Buy Credibility

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Graham Van Dixhorn and Susan Kendrick – Creating Powerful Book Covers

Victor Volkman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:35:28 +0000

On Thursday, July 10th 2008 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publishing consultants Graham van Dixhorn and Susan Kendrick of Write To Your Market about what makes a powerful book cover and how to transform your book’s cover into your most powerful marketing tool. We covered critical aspects of cover design including,

Why starting your cover early in the process of creating your book is a good idea.
When should you start marketing your book?
How to build your brand using your book cover.
What are the criteria for a great non-fiction book title and subtitle?
What is involved in obtaining killer endorsements and testimonials?
What if your book has multiple target audiences?
What comes first on a cover, words or design?

Susan Kendrick and Graham Van Dixhorn, of Write To Your Market, Inc., help you develop a powerful brand with your book cover so that you can achieve the visibility, recognition, and results of today’s most successful “authorpreneurs.” Their clients report results like selling 125,000 copies of a first book, many based on the title alone. Their clients also use the cover language Susan and Graham create to increase Amazon rankings before their books are released; get national media coverage by the L.A. Times, The New York Times, and USA Today; appear on national TV talk shows, including Dr. Phil and The Today Show; and help them win more than 23 major book awards, including Ben Franklin, IPPY, Foreword Magazine, and DIY.Susan and Graham serve clients across the U.S. and in Canada, England, Europe, and Australia, who are experts in the fields of: health, relationships, business management, and many other topics.

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Emily Heineman – Success through building your book as a brand

Victor Volkman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:03:27 +0000

On June 5th, 2008 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Emily Heineman, Marketing Director at Perceptive Marketing. Emily manages the details of the marketing and publicity efforts – working directly with clients in the book business. Emily laid down the basic facts for us on how brands work in the book genre and how important they are to long-term success. Branding can take place at different levels: yourself as the expert author, your main character as a darling of pop culture (think Harry Potter), and of course as a book series. We looked at the nuts-and-bolts of establishing a brand, ensuring your brand is associated with quality, and the importance of consistency among other issues in this wide-ranging discussion.

Emily works with Sandy Lawrence (CEO and Founder of Perceptive Marketing) as the Marketing Director for the company. Most of Perceptive Marketing’s clients are authors or publishers and Emily helps them realize their dreams. She helps to create marketing materials, including press releases, media kits, and press kits, and she facilitates the booksignings and other special events. Many of the Perceptive Marketing authors are children’s book authors who want to present their program and book in the schools. Emily works with the librarian to coordinate the events and make it enjoyable and fun for the author and the kids. Emily is one of the leaders in Perceptive Marketing’s latest project, Operation StoryTime, a program that helps bring authors and books to schools that do not have a budget for author visits – or money to buy the books.

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Paul McNeese – Leveraging Your Book as a Brand Building Opportunity

Victor Volkman — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:21:42 +0000

On Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 8:00PM, Irene Watson spoke with Paul McNeese, founder of Optimum Performance Associates, a consulting group that has been specializing in author and writer coaching, book editing, and book packaging for non-bookstore markets since 1994. Paul educated us on the nature of branding and how it applies to both authors and books. step-by-step how to build your brand, and the timeline by which you can measure results and success.

Paul has been a writer for more than 35 years and quite involved in the publishing industry as well. In 2002, he developed OPA Publishing, a publisher and packager of non-fiction e-books and “Print-on-Demand” hard-copy volumes of nonfiction for self-publishing authors and entrepreneurs. About two years ago, he expanded into fiction and now has over 60 titles in print. The company specializes in assisting both first-time and seasoned authors to self-publish and market their work. OPA Publishing also works with authors whose work has been published but has gone “out of print” for any number of reasons.

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