Category Archives: Events

Ellen Feld – Niche Marketing Your Children’s Book

Posted by on January 21, 2012 No comments
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.

Ellen Feld with Annie

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

Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse
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Valerie Coleman – Organizing a Successful Book Fair

Posted by on January 15, 2011 No comments
Victor R. Volkman and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with best-selling author, award winning publisher, and entrepreneur Valerie Coleman about secrets of making a great book festival event. In 2010, Coleman joined forces with LaTonya Branham and Charlotte Brown to launch the Dayton Book Expo. The first event drew over fifty authors from across the nation and almost five hundred book lovers. We ranged over a wide variety of aspects of exhibition planning and execution including:

  • What was the catalyst for creating the Dayton Book Expo (DBE)?
  • Where did the authors come from
  • What elements are essential for a successful book fair?
  • How did you recruit the volunteers?
  • What unique things did you do for the DBE authors?
  • What things did you do for the DBE book lovers?
  • how far in advance do you have to plan an expo?
  • what should the well-prepared author bring with them
  • How did you divvy the work load?
  • How did you market the event?
  • When is the next DBE?
  • Are you doing anything differently for the 2011 event?
  • How can authors, book lovers and sponsors learn more about this event?

Valerie Coleman

Valerie Coleman
Valerie Coleman is on a mission to be a voice for self-published authors. She has coached thousands of aspiring authors through the publishing process and conducts workshops that provide step-by-step instructions on prepping, printing and pricing literary works. She founded the Pen to Paper Literary Symposium in 2004. This annual conference draws participants from Washington to Florida. Past presenters include national best-selling authors Dan Poynter, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, Vickie Stringer, Parry “EbonySatin” Brown and Kendra Norman-Bellamy. In 2005, Coleman co-founded Write On! Workshop which is geared towards the novice writer

Dayton Book Expo

Dayton Book Expo

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Shel Horowitz – Green Marketing: Reaching the Environmentally Aware Customers

Posted by on July 24, 2010 No comments
On July 22nd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Shel Horowitz, author, marketing consultant and copywriter who works with authors and publishers. A veteran of the 1977 Seabrook occupation, his first book, written when he was only 22, was about why nuclear power makes no sense. He visited with us to share some secrets from his 8th book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (John Wiley & Sons, 2010, co-authored with Mr. Guerrilla Marketing himself, Jay Conrad Levinson). Specifically, Shel informed us on:

  • How does ethical/green marketing differ from ordinary marketing?
  • How can an author put together a green book event?
  • What green options are physically available in terms of paper and book production?
  • Does green marketing cost more, if not, why not?
  • Where should I start and how can I get my customers to notice and to care?
  • How can cooperative marketing create green results?
  • How do I get started going green?
In 1972, at age 15, Shel Horowitz was involved in a community group that opposed a nuclear power plant proposed for two miles north of New York City (a proposal that the utility company quickly withdrew). Shel is also the author of the e-book, Painless Green: 111 Tips to Help the Environment, Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Cut Your Budget, and Improve Your Quality of Life-With No Negative Impact on Your Lifestyle. He is directly responsible for the first nonsmokers’ rights regulations in Northampton, Massachusetts, and for the defeat of a large and inappropriate mountaintop development in his current home town of Hadley, Mass. His Down to Business webzine was one of the first business publications to have a regular section on sustainability.Shel now offers not only copywriting and strategic marketing planning based in Green principles, but also helps unpublished writers become published authors. Five of his eight books have won awards and/or been republished in other countries, including his most recent, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (John Wiley & Sons, 2010, co-authored with Mr. Guerrilla Marketing himself, Jay Conrad Levinson).

This new book states that honesty, integrity, and a commitment to environmental sustainability are important—but market share is often the wrong metric entirely…that long-term relationships are better than a one-time sale…and that competitors can be among your best allies. The book provides dozens of examples of companies large and small that have succeeded by putting people first: familiar names like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Southwest Airlines as well as numerous entrepreneurs who are successful in their own niches, even if not widely known.

Guerilla Marketing Goes Green

Guerilla Marketing Goes Green
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Successfully Sell Your Books at Conferences, Craft Shows, and Fairs

Posted by on March 8, 2010 No comments
On March 4th, 2010 Irene Watson moderated a roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman on how to successfully sell your books at conferences, craft shows, and regional, seasonal, and special interest fairs.   Tyler specializes in working regional craft and seasonal fairs and has achieved some remarkably good results.  Victor exhibits at professional conferences for social workers, psychologists, and mental health fairs.  Together, they addressed the following issues:

  • Managing bathroom breaks
  • Dealing with “show management”
  •  Supplies You May Want to Buy as an exhibitor: tables, tablecloths, acrylic book stands and signholders, posters, Director’s Chair, Tschokte items (pens, post-it notes, to give away),
  • The Fine Print: watch out for proof-of-insurance, mandatory carpet purchase, furniture rental, and more
  • Indoor vs. outdoor shows: foot traffic, weather, customers, pros and cons
  • How to lure people to your booth
  • Being prepared for any situation
  • Offering exclusive specials
  • Which shows work and which ones don’t
  • Determining whether you succeeded  
  
Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press Inc. whose mission is “redefining what is possible for healing mind and spirit” and his press has produced more than 100 titles since its first book rolled off the press in 2004. He also manages the other imprints including Modern History Press which tells “empowering stories of conflict and the struggle for identity in modern times.” MHP features multicultural writers as well as those of veterans, and others who have had difficulty finding their place in the world. His latest venture is Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing which is a quarterly anthology of writings about abuse recovery, addiction, grief, trauma, and personal growth issues.
Tyler R. Tichelaar is the owner of Marquette Fiction which has produced five books of regional fiction spanning 150 years on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He is also the owner of Superior Book Promotions, a full-service editorial shop which provides proofreading, editing, and manuscript evaluation. Tyler has a PhD in literature and has taught at three universities.
 
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