My First Book Debuts

shameless book promoter wanted

or, promoting your book: a different grind

One of the most common questions I'm asked from others is, "Are you going on a book tour?" Sometimes I think they're of the Dick Cavett era, and frankly, some of them are. "No, no no," I tell them. "That's not how you sell books." It's getting on TV (the long-shot is Oprah) and having something go viral on the Web or getting to the right bloggers.

Above all, however, is that your product is well-written and compelling. That said, the publishing houses won't always assign you a publicist. They just don't have the resources — both human and capital — to spend on every author. So, don't depend on getting one. I think I got one because Penguin paid so much darn money for my book that they're hoping for a good return. And, hey, so am I because I get more money if I reach certain sales benchmarks.

In any event, if you get a publicist you don't necessarily want to rely on him or her to pitch your book. If you know someone in the media, I'd reach out instead of passing the name on to someone who doesn't know your contact. In today's age of contact and email overload, the personal touch goes a long way in scoring at least consideration for coverage.

For me, here's how the process worked. Copy-editing completed in October and book totally done (Yahoo!) after I finish answering copy-editor queries. I got small breather, sort of. I had to begin compiling a media list. As a former journalist, I had come to know quite a few reporters and used them as leads. Another fortuitous event: the 30th reunion of The Independent Alligator, my college newspaper at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I reconnected with reporters from all of the country, many of whom worked on the newspaper with me. I gathered more business cards.

I then compiled a list of bloggers (not as many as you might thing, about 5), and asked another college roommate, who runs a boutique PR firm in Santa Monica, Calif., to help out with a media list. She came through with more names than I'll have time to pitch. Then there are enewsletters on autism, radio and TV shows, and a lot of crossed fingers in the hope that I'll get some publicity.

I also finished my website — www.jaynelytel.com — and launched my nonprofit, The Early Intervention Network: Enabling Families to Act Early Against Autism at www.actearly.org.

I'm eager to meet my publicist and score a meeting in late November. My editor and literary agent join in. We discuss strategy and I turn over my media list. I sit tight. The book debuts March 4. Bound galleys are delivered in December. We sit on them so they don't get lost in holiday mail.

It's now January 22, and I'm taking that list and sending out email to reporters. I'm spent.

Friday: What did I say to get media attention?

your book's on sale

the importance of choosing a unique title

One of the coolest things about being an author is seeing your book sold in major retailers and bookstores.  You can imagine my surprise this morning when I googled my book's titled, Act Early Against Autism," and found that you can pre-order it on Walmart. What a thrill!

And, you can pre-order on Amazon.com for the already reduced price of $10.17—a $4.78 savings off the cover price of $19.95. Thank goodness, it qualified for FREE Super Saver Shipping! (Pssst. Get it on Walmart; it's only $9.76 but you pay 97 cents in shipping!!)

What prompted me to google my book's title is remembering the advice of David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, when he said that it is crucial to come up with a book title that is unique so that it lands at the top of the heap in search results.

When my editor and I agreed on my book's new title, I googled it, and nothing came up.

I immediately grabbed the domain name, as well as a few related ones, to secure my space in cyberspace. Don't forget your name, and its misspellings. Luckily, my husband had registered our last name years ago, so I not only had lytel.com but now jaynelytel.com.

A month later, I googled again and found my book title in a Penguin catalogue for new releases, and my editor had mentioned me in a MediaBistro.com interview as being a well-positioned author.

Today, I now have 193 hits on Google. Yahoo!

All this validates Scott's advice: It's worth the effort to come up with a unique name that you, and only you, own on the Internet.

asking for book blurbs

or, will you endorse my book?

When you pull books off the shelves at the bookstore, do you ever wonder how authors got so and so to endorse their book? As a first-time author, I did.

The simple answer is that they asked, but the process of asking is not so simple. The hardest part about getting a big-name person, presumably someone whose name can generate more sales for you, is getting the first one. After that, the rest fall in place like Dominos, give or take a few.

For me, I started with perhaps the biggest name I could think of but one that would not immediately come to mind in the autism community. My target: T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., an icon in the pediatric world, just like Dr. Spock was when my parents brought me up.

I chose Dr. Brazelton because his name resonates with authority and respect. When parents suspect a developmental disorder in their child, they're likely to first turn to their pediatrician for advice. If parents then went to the bookstore to find a book on autism spectrum disorders, I reasoned that they'd be drawn to an endoresment by a name they knew and trusted. My in: In my day job, I'm director of marketing at ZERO TO THREE, a national nonprofit about early childhood development. Dr. Brazelton sits on our board of directors.

I had an opportunity to meet Dr. Brazelton at an event. But, don't ask notables to give you something at an event. They're too busy, and you shouldn't put them on the spot. My method: In advance of meeting Dr. Brazelton, I wrote him a snail mail letter outlining my request. I signed and sealed it, and when I introduced myself, I said, "Please take this and read it on the plane home." [I got this letter-writing tip from another author, and it's just the best.]

I then followed up via email with Dr. Brazelton's assistant. I got turned down. No boo-hoos. I tried again, promising I wouldn't be a "pest" if he turned me down again. I had heard Dr. Brazelton speak at a recent conference on autism spectrum disorders. He talked about the importance of pediatricians listening to parents when they think something is wrong with their child. That was my plea.

In my email, I said: "You say that it is important to get the word out about healthy social and emotional development and having a quote from you would carry that mission forward, I believe, because of the great trust and credibility you carry." He said, "yes."

Next target: Bob Wright, cofounder of Autism Speaks. Of all the autism-related nonprofits, Autism Speaks is a powerhouse. I don't know a lot of people in high places, but I do know a few, and a former college friend (and now managing editor of Forbes magazine) got me in touch with Wright's chief strategist at NBC Universal. Wright is chairman. I got the go-ahead to send the manuscript and did so immediately (be prepared to follow up quickly if someone says yes). After a couple of months, I got a call. Wright said, "yes!" [I don't think Wright really read my manuscript; it was someone at Autism Speaks but that shouldn't matter. He probably gets asked a lot of things.]

If you don't have contacts to make introductions for you, or you're not well connected, take this advice. Ask your editor if he or she can help you, and start networking. If you're an expert in your field, you should have a few high-level contacts.

It's okay to email experts even without a connection. Just be polite and respectful of the their time, and don't be a pest, a gentle nudge, however, is okay.

Last tip: Don't offer to write the blurb for them. Give them a chance, and if you haven't heard back then email again and offer to suggest a few blurbs that they can then edit. And, always say thank you.

WEDNESDAY: how many times do you have to revise your book?

book marketing essentials

If you plan to write a book, you'll spend as much time writing it as marketing it. I got back from Book Expo last week and one of the presenters said publishers expect writers to spend 5.9 hours a week on this unwriterly activity. And, this time is spent months before your first book goes on sale.

If you're still thinking book tour, you're stuck in some time warp, because the marketing and publicity of a book is years away from that old school of thought. I mention all this before offering tips on how to get an agent or naming the book I bought to write my 80-page, double-spaced book report. You need to know and be willing to embrace the entire process of writing a book if you want a shot at success.

At the very least, you'll need an author's website (I use GoDaddy.com to register my domains) and for your book to sustain sales beyond the initial sales push, you'll need an "author's platform." Your book is your calling card to do great things--speak and/or become a social entrepreneur, which is my goal through The Early Intervention Network.

For speaking, I highly recommend you get Speak and Grow Rich by Dottie and Lilly Walters. This quick, great read tells you how to develop your speaking persona. Many of the books that I will recommend will be about marketing, not on writing. To be good at that, you just need to do it and redo it and not become defensive when your editor says, "This doesn't work." My day job is at a small niche publisher of early childhood development books, and one of our authors refused to hire her own editor and rewrite her book. For reasons I won't go into, we had to print her book as-is. That's one dead book.

Other marketing tools that surfaced at Book Expo included writing a blog, creating pages on MySpace.com, Gather.com (like MySpace for grownups), Shelfari.com and LibraryThing.com, and sending out news releases (just a graph will do) to PRWeb that includes a link back to your site or a buy button for your book.

Understanding how to use these tools is time consuming and overwhelming. Another novel idea is to create a video book trailer on YouTube. I'll be sharing my experience with all of these and hope I can serve as your guidepost in the months to come.

TOMORROW: The query letter