By Hannah Johnson At the Mediabistro eBook Summit, held yesterday in New York City, book marketing dominated the morning sessions. But nobody was talking about print advertising or book tours. Instead, well-trodden topics like social media, online audience building and reader demographics were discussed in light of the growing e-book sales in the United States. As an e-book publisher, Brendan …
Does Bonus Content Help Sell Books?
By Hannah Johnson Many of the speakers and panelists at yesterday’s Mediabistro eBook Summit talked about ways to promote books to online audiences, as discussed in our feature story today. One of the most popular of these techniques was the creation and distribution of “behind the scenes” and bonus content, like book trailers, author interviews, extra stories, and blog posts. …
Self-Promotion, With Integrity: How Stephen Elliott Creates His Own ‘Rumpus’
By David Duhr For a man who equates his life to that of a retiree, Stephen Elliott has had a cyclonic year. Since publishing The Adderall Diaries in late 2009, Elliott has gone on a 33-city house-to-house reading tour, created his own iPad application, formed a lending library for 400 readers, and is currently adapting his book into a screenplay. …
Is Traditional Book Marketing Too Boring?
By Edward Nawotka In today’s lead story, author Stephen Elliott says: “You should market your book with the same integrity as you put into writing the book. Use things nobody else is doing. Don’t be boring.” Traditional book marketing is somewhat more staid. It usually encompasses a reading tour, some blogging and editorial writing, radio and television media (if you’re …
US Children’s Publishing Embraces Digital Changes
By Helen Gregg On Tuesday, December 7, Publisher’s Weekly and Digital Book World hosted an online seminar (or webinar) called “Children’s Publishing in the Digital Age.” Moderated by PW’s Co-Editorial Director Jim Milliot, speakers included Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Book Group, Rick Richter, founder of Ruckus Media, and Kate Wilson, founder of UK-based Nosy Crow. Each …
How Do You Market a Book in Translation?
By Hannah Johnson In today’s feature story, author Andrew Ervin talks about his favorite Hungarian books in translation that have inspired his writing and his thinking, and he offers a list of Hungarian titles that are not available in English. Publishers of translations are surely hunting for more people like Andrew who love and spread the word about their international …
What Can Trade Book Publishers Learn from Comic Books about Branding?
By Edward Nawotka The brands Marvel and DC are synonymous with comics. But how many people would necessarily associate Knopf, Viking, and Perennial books? (Of all the trade book publishing brands, perhaps Penguin has the strongest association — with paperbacks). Why is this so? Is it because comic books are among the few genres that readers are able to seek …
Authors, Social Media and the Allure of Magical Thinking
Editorial by Daniel Kalder So anyway, I’ve got a great idea. Times are hard for publishers, therefore publicists should write books. No, really: they know what’s hot better than anyone. So they should write — maybe Harry Potter knock — offs like Percy Jackson, or political hate books on the villain of the hour. It doesn’t matter — just write …
Pitchapalooza 2010: Tips for Perfecting Your Book Pitch
By David Henry Sterry NEW YORK CITY: Ten years ago, before the Kindle, Facebook and Twitter, Arielle, my ex-agent and current wife, and I both had books coming out. One was about my childhood hero, Leroy “Satchel” Paige. The other was about her childhood hero, Jane Austen. Our publishers, Random House and Simon & Schuster, seemed disturbingly uninterested in helping …
After One, 10 or 100 “No’s”: When Do You Give Up on a Book Pitch?
By David Henry Sterry Today’s lead story looks at some of the lessons learned from Pitchapalooza NYC 2010. Editors and agents are trained to say “no” because they take on so few projects and get pitched so many books. So when you pitch your book and you get back a “no” or two or ten or hundred, what to do? …