Jim and Linda O’Connor – Developing Comprehensive Campaigns to Sell Your Books

On July 7th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book marketing and publicity specialists James V. O’Connor and Linda O’Connor about how to develop a marketing campaign tailored to your personal skills and your book’s target market. O’Connor Communications, Inc is a public relations firm that has specialized in book publicity since 2000 when Jim and his wife won three national awards for the successful promotion of his first book, “CUSS CONTROL, The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing.”  O’Connor Communications gets people into the news through radio and TV interviews, newspaper and magazine article placement, blog, social media and internet marketing, and media campaigns. In our wide-ranging discussion we covered the following points in detail:

  • Why do you need to promote your book and yourself?
  • Why every book is promotable
  • When and how to get started
  • Giving traditional media what they want
  • Mass mailings and target marketing
  • Social media and Internet Marketing
  • What a publicist can do for you

Jim and Linda OConnor

Jim and Linda O'Connor

Jim’s first-hand experience includes appearances on more than 312 TV programs (including Oprah), interviews on more than 750 radio stations, and features in over 400 newspapers and magazines. Jim and Lynda represent 23 authors, organizing national and regional book campaigns, book tours, media interviews, speaking engagements, and press materials. Authors Lynda has represented describe her as knowledgeable, professional, tireless, tenacious, creative, enthusiastic and dedicated.  She works closely with her clients and makes sure they get the attention that they deserve.

Together they have spoken in Richmond, VA at the James River Writers Conference, Clarksville, TN at the Clarksville Writers Conference, and Chicago at the Lawyers for Creative Arts book conference. 2010 will take them to Seeley Lake, MT to the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association Book Conference, The San Francisco Writers Conference, the University of Wisconsin Writers Conference where they will share their knowledge on how to get into the news

Cuss Control

Cuss Control

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Roundtable – Choosing the Right Book Contest

In this special Roundtable episode, Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman discuss book contests and how to make the most of your marketing dollars. Irene Watson is the managing editor of Reader Views, a book review and author publicity service located in Austin, Texas. Irene is well versed in today’s topic Choosing the Right Book Contest as this is her 5th year in running an awards program.  Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press, Modern History Press, and the newest imprint Marvelous Spirit Press.   Together, these imprints have produced more than 100 titles in five years in paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions of same.  This evening we chatted about the how and why of book contests including:

  • What’s the purpose of entering a contest?
  • What kinds of contests are out there?
  • How are contests judged?
  • How do I enter a contest?
  • What can I do with the awards?
  • What about poetry and short-story contests?
  • How do I choose a category that I can win in?
  • Local, regional, vs. national contests: is bigger always better?
  • What’s a reasonable fee for entering my book?
  • What about contests where “everyone is a winner”?
Irene Watson started Reader Views in 2005 when she published her first book and realized a need wasn’t filled. Listening to authors she continues to create online sites to fulfill their needs. The latest being First Chapter Plus, an e-Catalog of self-published and small publisher books targeted at libraries and independent book stores.  Ger first authored book won an IPPY Honorable Mention. She is the author of several books including The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference, Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers, and most recently co-author of Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts
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Kim McDougall – Creating Sizzling Book Video Trailers

On June 3rd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with artist, author, and book video director/producer Kim McDougall of Blazing Trailers.  Kim has produced more than 100 book video trailers and hosts more than a thousand of them on BlazingTrailers. She shared her hard won experience in producing and also critiquing these latest promotional marketing tools.  Her laser-sharp focus in marketing really showed us what does and doesn’t work for videos.  Some talking points included:

  • Why make a book video trailer?
  • What makes a good trailer (good, bad, or ugly)?
  • How do I use my trailer effectively?
  • Can I include a Special offer in my video?
  • Walk us through a typical experience with you working with an author
  • Should I make my own trailer or have someone make it for me?

Kim McDougallKim McDougall
Kim McDougall is an fantasy author, fiber artist and photographer. She writes children’s and YA fiction under her married name, Kim Chatel.  Some of her books include Angel Venom, the Twisted Tails series and Luminari, She has a bachelors degree in English literature from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. She was born in Montreal and has lived in Nice, France, Toronto, Long Island, New York and now beautiful Pennsylvania.

She is also the founder of Blazing Trailers a site designed to showcase video book previews. After creating 100+ trailers she has picked up some tricks for promoting with this hot multimedia tool.

Blazing Trailers

Blazing Trailers

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Katharine Sands – Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye

On May 20th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Manhattan literary agent Katharine Sands of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. She helped educate us on the basics of good “pitchcraft”, including

  • What is pitching?
  • Why is pitching your work so important?
  • Why there is such a relentless emphasis on platforming a book…
  • What are some rules for pitching a book?
  • How does self-publishing play into this equation?
  • What do I need to know about becoming a full-time nonfiction author
Katharine Sands‘ new book Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye is  a collection of pitching wisdom from leading literary agents. Actively building her client list, she likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. when reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir and femoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.
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