Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

If you don’t know what a QR code is, scroll down to the end of this post to take a peek. QR (which stands for “quick response”) codes are ubiquitous–on food packaging, on clothing tags, in ads, etc. The codes might provide recipes that use the food item you’ve just purchased or ways to tie the scarf you’re considering buying or a video about the car pictured in an ad.

I’ll suggest some ways authors can use QR codes in a minute, but first I’ll explain how they work. (If you already know, just move on down to the numbered items.) The codes are two-dimensional, which means they can carry much more information than the one-dimensional bar code. QRs are designed to be used with smartphones by scanning the code with the phone’s camera. The phone’s software interprets the information and takes the user to a spot  on the Internet.

Android phones have built in QR code readers, but other smartphone users can download an app for their phones to read the codes. CBA Retailers + Resource Magazine in its November 2011 issue, indicated that 40% of all mobile phones in the U.S. are smartphones, and by 2015 more smartphones will be owned than other mobile phones. The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that the majority of  Americans research online items they’re considering purchasing. InsightExpress’s study reveals that 82% of shoppers already use their phones in some way before purchasing.

For all these reasons, it makes sense for authors to think about how they might use QR codes. Here are a few suggestions to get your creativity going:

1. On your business card. When you hand someone your business card, you could be handing them quick and efficient access to your website. You don’t need to put your web address on your card, which the user would have to type in (correctly, which is a challenge for some of us). Or you could send someone to your blog, if you want to show off your writing.

2. On your proposals. Picture a publishing committee meeting. There’s the conference room, the conference table, the decisionmakers–and lots of laptops. As the editor presents your project, everyone’s fingers are flying on keyboards. Your website is checked out; your presence on Twitter; what’s going on for you on Facebook; a quick trip to Amazon to check out your previous books and where they stand in the rankings.

Now picture this: You put a QR code on your proposal that takes the reader to your website; or you have a (short!) video of you speaking that shows off how adept you are in front of an audience or a video during you give your pitch for the project being considered. That way the committee gets to meet not only your project but also you.

3. To reach your readers. Ask your publisher to put a QR code in your book that leads the reader to a brief video of you introducing the book (and yourself). Or a QR code to an online readers’ discussion guide.

4. To sell other books. Add a QR code to a bookmark that contains all of your titles or all of the books in a series. Since reviews often help a reader to decide to buy a book, why not establish a page of reviews (or segments of reviews, to keep it short) on your website and create a code to take readers there.

The possibilities are almost limitless. And creating codes is easy. Just google “QR code,” and you’ll be taken to a variety of sites from which you can create the codes.

What ways can you think of  to use a QR code?

And, now, just for fun, here’s a QR code that takes you to a photo of our agency staff, including our newest addition, Rachelle Gardner.

P.S. For those of you used to the rhythms of our blog posts, you’ll expect to read more from me tomorrow and Friday. But we’re trying a new rhythm of three blogs from one writer followed by two blogs from another contributor.  So tomorrow and Friday you’ll meet up with Wendy Lawton here. We’re experimenting with this new arrangement for several weeks, and we’d love to hear what you think of the change as it rolls out. Plus we’ve added Rachelle Gardner to the writing schedule as well, starting on Feb. 13; so she’s a new voice on our blog that we know you’re gonna love.

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Next up: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I’m sure  many of you have seen the trailer for The Hobbit (part 1), but for those who’ve missed it, here’s the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/

While I loved The Lord of the Rings movies, I had trouble with the books. I read half of The Fellowship of the Ring and quit. The story is fantastic, but such extreme world-building was too much for me. I probably should give the books another chance now that I’m much older, but the movies still feel like enough for me, especially since I already have a negative impression of the books.

I know they are wonderful classics, and they deserve to be loved–I’m just not at the place where I can love them yet.

The Hobbit, however, was another story.

Literally.

The characters were not as deep, the fantasy world felt less dense and the story was a grand rollicking adventure . Of course this is why The Hobbit is a single book while The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy.

I am excited about the Peter Jackson-directed film because I’ve so enjoyed the visual beauty of The Lord of the Rings films. If they can pull off the same style and cinematic splendor, The Hobbit should be a wonder-ful film.

I think The Hobbit is a great choice for a film because:

1) While the story is less epic than The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it still takes place in Middle Earth and includes lovable characters like Bilbo and Gandolf in their younger years.

2) The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was a such huge success the filmmakers are assured of an audience.

3) The story has a dragon. Dragons are really “in” right now.

4) The Hobbit appeals to all ages and could be a family film for families with slightly older children.

The list could go on, but I’d love to hear your thoughts! Why do you think The Hobbit is a good choice for a movie? Do you agree that The Hobbit is less epic and exciting than The Lord of the Rings? Why? And which did you like better, the books better or the movies?

I’m sorry I’ve been quiet the last couple of days, but I will be commenting on your comments later today. Thanks so much for your participation so far this week!

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

So we’ve talked about unrealistic goals and realistic goals. Now it’s time to talk about setting goals for next year. I suggest you set goals in three ways for next year.

First, build off of your goals from this year. If you’ve been successful at something, take it to the next level; like the goat farm from Monday. If your goats have made you some money, make a new goal for this year to invest that money to expand your goat business. Thankfully most of us don’t need to worry about goats. Books are better in so many ways!

Second, add a few new goals to the list. Think about what you want to accomplish and set a reasonable goal that can be completed in a year’s time. Make sure your motivation is high to accomplish the goal. If you aren’t motivated, but know it’s something that needs to be done, locate an accountability partner who will check in on you weekly or monthly. Sometimes we need to ask for help to achieve success with the really difficult goals!

Third, set a goal that encourages you to have fun or to enjoy time with friends and family. Surprisingly, these goals are sometimes the hardest to accomplish because everything else ends up seeming more important on a day-to-day basis. But we all know that family and friends are the most important, so let’s set a goal that helps us to connect with those we are closest to us. That will also keep us from being overcome with the work thrown at us each day.

Thankfully we still have a month and a half to work completing our 2011 goals! It’s been good for me to revisit mine before it’s too late.

Do you do a good job balancing work with spending time with family/friends? Which goal would you like to build off of for next year? What is a new goal for you?

Please share if you feel comfortable!

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

^“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28: 18-20 (NLT)

As Christians, those verses are familiar to us; we know them as The Great Commission. Most Christian authors write books to either “make disciples of all nations” or to “teach them to obey all of the commands” God has taught us. These are wonderful goals and purposes for writing. You’re using your God-given talents to do the work of our Lord. It’s so easy, however, to lose sight of that in the business of publishing.

This applies to Christian publishers and agents, too. Greed can get to us all.

Here are some questions to ponder:“Am I getting a high enough advance?”

“How can I market the book well so I can sell a lot of copies?”

“Is my Facebook/Twitter following big enough?”

These are legitimate questions, but the motivations behind them are what make all of the difference. If you are seeking an advance so that you can use it to help support your family while you do the writing work, then that’s great! It’s like any job. You’re receiving a paycheck and putting some of it back into serving God–using the rest to provide for your family. It’s when you start getting greedy and focusing on the money that your motivations are off.

If you are hoping your book sells lots of copies so that you can have a big payday, you need to make sure your motivations are aligned with what God would want.

If you are working to attract as many Facebook or Twitter followers as you can so that you can market your book to them only for financial gain, without thinking about the good you can do for these people by sharing God’s message with them through your presence on Facebook and your book, then you need to work on realigning yourself with the original reason you decided to write a book for the Christian marketplace.

If you focus on the ministry, God will bless your efforts.

The money-motivations are something we’re all going to struggle with at times, but we need to keep our eyes focused on the ultimate goal of this life and that’s to spread the Gospel message.

How do you remind yourself of your original motives for writing? What can you do today to build or refocus your ministry?

Location: Main office, Santa Rosa, CA

Everyone knows the best-selling book of all time is the Bible. And why not? Versions of the Hebrew Scriptures were first written in velum circa 200 B.C. If your book has been “in print” for more than 2,000 years, you’ve had a lot of time to sell texts.

In terms of the whole Bible, followers of John Wycliffe, an English theologian and reformer, put together his translation circa 1380. Also known as the Lollard Bible, 170 copies are still in existence.

In 1455 Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany printed a Bible on a printing press with movable type–the first book so created in the western world.  The rest is history.

Modern best-seller lists don’t include the Bible because, with all the versions out there–not to mention all the copies given away for free, there’s no reliable way to tabulate the number sold. That’s also true of the Koran.

Both sacred texts provide clues to how to become a best-seller–by selling many copies in a week or by selling lots of copies over months, or in this case, centuries.

Here in America, the first best-selling book was the 1640 Bay Psalm Book. 1700 copies were published, and they sold out immediately. During that time, the length of a book determined whether it would be a best-seller. The shorter the better since paper was expensive. During the late 17th century, the most widely read book was Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) and an abridged version of Foxes Book of Martyrs.

Similarly, Robinson Crusoe, a relatively short novel published in 1719, was the first international success story.

The best-selling novel of all time? As best as experts can tell, it’s Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities with more than 200 million copies published since 1859. Number two is The Lord of the Rings with a mere 150+ million copies sold. The “over 100 million copies sold” list is rounded out with The Hobbit, Dream of the Red Chamber (Chinese, circa 1720) and Agatha Christie’s 1939 And Then There Were None.

According to a May 2007 New York Times article, “The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller,” the publishing industry depends on perennial sellers and best- sellers to make money. While they like best-selling authors, they’re really looking for “lightning strikes”–surprise best-sellers such as Marley and Me or The Nanny Diaries.  In the Christian world, that would include books like The Purpose Driven Life or The Shack.

As many people know, The Shack was written by author William Young for his six children. It was only when others read the book and encouraged him to publish that he sought to produce a professional book. Turned down by agents and publishers alike, Young self-published the book, and with two partners, sold copies out of the trunks of their cars. Word of mouth spread, and once they had sold 100,000 copies, a royalty-paying publisher took on the book. It’s now sold more than 15 million copies.

So do these titles have anything in common?

Can we reach any conclusions about what makes a best-seller based on looking at past titles that have made the list?

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

“I wish there was a company that offered instant movie streaming AND discs by mail. Netflix should merge with Qwikster.” –Quote by a clever friend of mine.

I’m sure you’ve seen the Netflix news by now, but just in case here is the article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Netflix-says-its-sorry-then-apf-1912482126.html?x=0

In brief, starting September 1, Netflix raised its prices splitting the services offered into 3 plans, wireless movie streaming, DVD by mail, or both. The price hike was extreme, and many subscribers left. Last week, the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, sent a note to all subscribers starting with “I messed up. I owe you an explanation.”  He goes on to say that he should have given more detail about why they were raising prices, and then he launches into announcing another huge change. The company has split into two companies. One that offers streaming (Netflix) and another that offers the DVD service (Qwikster).

Unfortunately, as a Netflix subscriber myself, I think he just made another mistake. Now I’m paying two companies instead of one, so I might as well find two companies with better deals like Amazon Prime for streaming (comes with free shipping on all Amazon.com orders) and Blockbuster Total Access for DVD-by-mail (able to trade disks in at the local rental store as well as by mail).

So how does this all affect you as a writer? Well, let’s talk about branding and your audience.

Your audience has or will grow to expect something from you as a writer. If your readers have read a book of yours and enjoyed it, they anticipate they will like the next one, so they essentially become a subscriber to you as an author. The more books you write that the reader enjoys, the more trust the reader puts in you as a favorite author. With that growing trust, expectations are also being set.

Imagine now that you decide to change something about who you are as a writer. Maybe you start to write children’s books, or you write historicals instead of the contemporaries you were popular for. Perhaps you decide to change your name, or you for the general market instead of CBA. Somehow you are changing how you’ve been branded by your readership. Those expectations of you are squashed.  This is where it gets tricky, and like the Netflix/Qwikster upset, you are going to have some angry “subscribers.”

When you decide to change your brand, you are putting an expectation on your readership to change too, but generally, people don’t like change. If a person is happy with the way something is, he or she is going to be reluctant to try something new. And when forced to try something new, that person will go elsewhere to find what he or she wants. If you make a change, this significant; you’re going to be starting over again with building your audience.

Could Netflix have made this branding change and kept customers happy? Yes, I believe they could have.

Could an author change his or her brand and keep most of his or her readership? Yes, I believe so.

Neither situation is easy. Transitions in both of these cases need to be made gradually. (Such as writing both for the general market and CBA.) To keep the subscriber happy, you must offer the subscriber some benefit for changing with you.

But I suggest you think about if the change is really necessary before you make a move. Netflix made these changes in an attempt to keep the company afloat in the long run, but they might have just ruined their chances of staying in business in the short run. Subscribers are leaving in droves, and the company’s stock is way down.

If you, as an author, make a change without it’s being necessary to reboot your career in one way or another, watch out! You must think about your audience first because they are what keep you in business.

If things are going well for you as a writer, I suggest not making a change.

Have you looked at writing as a business before?

Does seeing your audience as if they were Netflix subscribers help you?

How do you feel about the Netflix split? In what ways does that help you to make future writing career decisions?

Location: Midwest Office IL

Why do we talk about connecting with people virtually through the Internet in chat rooms and social media places in the same way we talk about face-to-face conversations? How much time do we spend connecting with people we know and don’t know on the Internet compared to in person encounters? A comScore (www.comscore.com) report indicated that in 2010 Americans spent an average of 32 hours each month on the Internet. Ten of those hours were devoted to e-mail, on social networks, and playing games. The rest of the time was spent surfing, purchasing, and watching videos.

If these numbers are accurate—and I hope they are—it means we spend an average of one hour a day in the virtual world. Does that sound about right to you? It’s lower than I thought, and I’m encouraged by this news. We spend a lot more time on our computers writing or at our jobs. (Although for many, processing work-related emails goes into the equation as well.)

What are the implications for authors? First, I think it explains why word-of-mouth marketing continues to be the most effective method to promote your books. Although a lot of thought and emphasis is placed on Facebook and Twitter for your book promotion, and rightly so, they still take second place.

Second, authors write to real people, about real people (or characters who seem real), who have a multitude of emotional responses to complex, real-life situations. Your experience in real life helps you to understand these dynamics and apply them to your writing.

Can you envision a time when the scale tips in the virtual direction? How might that affect your writing? Your character development and plotting?

This is a far-out thought, thankfully, but not impossible as new technologies make the virtual world ever more accessible. Let’s celebrate real life today and hope and pray that our children and grandchildren will always feel this way too.

How do you think your writing would change  if the virtual world were the majority of the way we experienced life?

How do the stats on time spent “socializing” online match your experience?

Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA

We’ve spent four/fifths of the week talking about the frustrations inherent in self-marketing our books–from the fact that we can’t just turn it over to the experts to the dearth of quantitative feedback. We’ve talked about what doesn’t work and tried to get a handle on what success might look like. Today we’ll put the frustrations behind us and talk about what does work.

I want to apologize in advance for the length of this blog. I could write a whole book on this subject and here I am trying to tackle it in one blog post. For now, we’ll just scratch the surface but hopefully it will start the creative juices flowing.

First Things First. Too many writers jump on the fun idea, the quirky promotion or the contest that worked for a friend. That’s starting at the wrong end. Those fun ideas need to develop organically– they need to grow out of the combination of three unique, interconnected elements— the author, the book and the reader. Long before we put details to our plan we need to answer a number of questions:

• Who am I as an author? One of my favorite books on this subject is Make a Name for Yourself : Eight Steps Every Woman Needs to Create a Personal Brand Strategy for Success by Robin Fisher Roffer. (It’s focused toward women but the concepts are universal.) The Five Faces of Genius by Annette Moser-Wellman is another book that offers assessments and tools to help discover who we are and how we can build on that. The reason we need to figure out who we are and how we are distinctive is that our marketing efforts will depend on that uniqueness.
• What are the distinctives of my book? Much of the detail in your PR plan is going to grow out of the content of your book. If you are writing fiction, the setting, plot elements, the vocation of the main character–all of these will be fodder for garnering attention. If you’re writing nonfiction it’s even easier. Once you add your one-of-a-kind author-self to your unique book content you have a focus that is like no one else’s.
• Who is my reader? Answering this question is paramount. Picture an author who writes to the senior population in mid-America worrying about enhanced ebooks. Think about it. Enhanced ebooks require a computer-like device–an iPad or the like. Is a senior reader on a fixed income likely to own a state-of-the-art device and embrace the learning curve needed to operate it? Wouldn’t this author be wise to spend his time and resources figuring how to get his books featured in nostalgia literature or advertised in the large-print edition of Guideposts? When we discover who our reader is, what he likes, what he buys, and how he spends his time, we can focus our efforts for maximum impact. The single most important thing you can do as an author is to build your reader list. Let me say that again: Single. Most. Important. Collect those names and that contact information–both physical addresses and email addresses. You’ll use this list of readers in many different ways over the years–notifications of new releases; regional invitations to signings, newsletters, focus groups. Don’t ever lose a single name. Publishers recognize this asset as pure gold.

So what about social media? Some of you were horrified yesterday when you thought I said social media doesn’t work. That’s not what I wrote. I was talking about marketing our books or covers on Twitter and/or FaceBook. It simply doesn’t work. It’s too blatant, too obviously self-promotional.You’ll notice I made an exception to that rule. “Exception: The writer who has a unique slant, celebrity or brand that lends itself to garnering readership.” Once we’ve answered the question above–Who am I as an author?–we need to find our brand and develop it, offering something unique and valuable. We talked about the drawbacks of Twitter yesterday. Do you know why it doesn’t work for most people? Because everyone sounds like everyone else. You have a distinctive voice as a writer. If you can somehow develop a Twitter voice that matches you’ll find great success with this social medium. (Follow @MaureenJohnson or @BonnieGrove if you want to see what I mean.)

The same with Facebook. It’s a community. You need to invest yourself there with as much give as take. If you can do that and do it with distinction, you’ll find that people will be drawn to you and eventually to your books.You don’t market to Facebook friends. You just live in community, so to speak. There’s no way to measure sales and no direct cause and effect but it is part of building your brand.

I also said blogging to promote books no longer works. Do you remember my exception? “Exception: The writer who blogs to his/her well-established readership and has something unique and valuable to offer.” Let’s continue our example above–the writer who writes to an aging population in mid-America. Let’s say he starts a blog that gathers information about adaptive devices for seniors–large button phones, simple CD players that don’t confuse our ancient ones, etc. Would that blog work for that demographic? No, because the average eighty-something reader reads a physical book, not online and not blogs. But guess who would be an avid reader of that blog? It would be the children who are caring for that generation. And wouldn’t they be the ones most like to buy the books for their parents? Something unique and valuable to offer. Bingo!

When it comes to social networking, we still need to focus on our three elements–the author, the book (the content or message) and the reader. If those three are applied, you’ll come up with a unique offering that could very well stand out in a crowded blogosphere. The book you’ll not want to miss if you are serious about building a significant presence in the online community is Tribes by Seth Godin.

Specifics. Okay, so all of that requires a huge investment of time and energy. For those of you who have a book coming out soon, let me cut to the chase with some concrete things you can do immediately while you are building your brand and your readership for the long haul. Consider this the cheat sheet.

• Work with your publisher. Be the most helpful author they’ve ever worked with. Lavish time on their marketing questionnaire giving them a veritable embarrassment of riches when it comes to possible resources. They’ll love you for honoring the hard work they do and the more you give them the more possibilities that will arise for you.
• Work hard on your influencer list. Don’t fill this list with your bowling pals, Aunt Mary and your barber. This is a list you will build over your whole career. As you meet people who command attention, people who set style or people with an avid following, ask them if you can add them to your influencer list. Explain that nothing will be expected but that you’ll send them a copy of your new books when they release. If they like it and care to mention it within their circles of influence or in reviews, you’ll appreciate it but if not, that’s okay as well. Make sure your influencer list is varied–not simply other writers. If you do a radio show and connect solidly with the interviewer, ask if you can add him to the list. Think strategically. This list will become invaluable as you grow your career.
• Get to know your local bookstores and your local media. We do this best by being their favorite customers, their treasured consumers. Many nationally acclaimed writers began by building a strong regional base. Figure out how you can help them and vice versa. When I did book signings for my own books, I’d always interview the store owner and write a great press release that combined info about the store and my appearance there. After all, I was the writer and this, which seemed practically impossible to the retailer, was easy for me. The local newspaper feature coverage that almost always resulted was my gift to the store, but it benefited both of us.
• Create great story angles about you and your book and feed them to the media. For fiction, where is your book set? You should be able to do an interesting feature-type press release about the time and setting that will appeal to the media in that location. You are a local author. Take advantage of that with your local media. You may have been born somewhere else. What about a hometown-boy-makes-good story? Maybe something happens in the news that has a tie-in to your book. Leverage that. With more and more cutbacks in the news industry, free content that’s compelling and well-written stands a better chance than ever of seeing print.
• Be creative about speaking opportunities. My brother is amazing when it comes to this. One of his books is San Francisco’s Lost Landmarks. Jim has become the expert on historical San Francisco. You’ll often hear him on the radio or television. He gives walking tours of The City. He talks at the library and lectures at area colleges. And his books continue to sell.

Remember–it is important to be fresh. Once everyone starts doing something it no longer stands out. When thinking about specifics, come up with the next big thing. This is not the time to copy other successes. You want to come up with the idea that causes other writers to say, “I wish I’d thought of that.”

Here’s the key to all your marketing efforts: Keep your focus on the three unique elements– the author, the book, and your reader. When you market using those three variables your efforts won’t look like anyone else’s efforts. You’ll avoid the dread same old-same old. Your marketing plan will be fresh and innovative and will garner real interest.

Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA

I am not a marketing expert (nor do I play one on TV) but I’ve always found the art and science of marketing and publicity fascinating. We all know that books are primarily sold by word of mouth, but connecting with potential readers is like trying to hit  a moving target. What worked yesterday may not work today. Normally I blog about things I know– concrete things. Today’s blog post, however, is an opinion piece. There are experts out there who will disagree with me and I welcome their input, but from this side of the desk let me offer some random thoughts about what doesn’t seem to be working when it comes to marketing our books:

Blogging– Unless you are one of those bloggers who made a name for him- or her-self and amassed a large, loyal following like Pioneer Woman, Because I Said So, Waiter Rant, Michael Hyatt, or any of the other must-read blogs, it’s going to be hard to start a new blog and find an audience in an already overcrowded field. Look at your own list of bookmarked blogs. If you read all of them daily you wouldn’t have time to do anything else. The blogosphere has come of age. It would take a huge commitment– a Michael Hyatt-sized commitment– to create a mega-blog these days. I wouldn’t recommend a writer start blogging in order to publicize his book in today’s climate. It would be tough to picture a scenario where the outcome would justify the effort. Exception: The writer who has a unique slant, celebrity or brand that lends itself to garnering readership. Exception: The writer who blogs to his/her well-established readership and has something unique and valuable to offer.

Blog tours– I’m also wary (and weary) of blog tours for the same reason. If a writer wrote a book set in old Charleston and arranged a blog tour of a handful of key Charleston history or cultural blogs I’m guessing it would be well worth the time, but the normal blog tour consists of visiting websites with modest stats that appeal mostly to other writers. We’re putting forth a lot of effort to preach to the choir.

Teaching at writer’s conferences, blogging to writers, offering writer’s workshops– This is the same dynamic. Preaching to the choir. Yes, writers read and yes, they want to support their colleagues but they are a saturated lot. They will help you get some buzz going about your book but they are buzzing to the same insular crowd– other writers. Way too much of our promotional efforts are being squandered on our colleagues and we’re not making our way out to potential readers.

Print Advertising– It used to be that there was nothing better for inspirational fiction than to be featured in the fiction section of Today’s Christian Woman. But magazines have gone the way of dinosaurs and trying to find a periodical that reaches a specific audience (and is still viable) is an uphill battle. And cost-prohibitive at that. We’re so inundated with marketing messages that hoping a potential reader will retain the information long enough to act on it is another worry. Going from a magazine to a trip to the store, or putting down the magazine to fire up the computer and log on to Amazon can be a wide chasm to cross in this one-click age. Exception: Advertising in trade magazines is another story and I still see it as effective for the motivated buyer who wants to find product for his store.

Marketing your book via Twitter– I’m going to talk about social media tomorrow as one of the things that works but marketing your book via Twitter is not how to use the medium. “Buy my book” or “Check out my new cover” messages are missing the point. Building community is what social media is all about.

Marketing your book via FaceBook– see my comment above. FaceBook is even less forgiving of a barrage of self-promotional status updates. There are ways to invite your friends into your life as an author that will help you build a readership but it takes a winning personal approach and as much give as take. FaceBook is not a marketing tool. It’s much more complicated. Much more engaging than that.

Same old, same old. Once you have a standard checklist for marketing a book, you’re headed for trouble. That’s the problem with too many publicists hired to help market a book–a pet peeve of mine. They pull out a list and just start ticking off the boxes instead of looking hard at the content of a book and devising innovative ways to talk about it. My favorite publicists stand head and shoulders above the rest because they’ve thrown away the checklist and are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and innovate.

So there you go– a quick and dirty start to a discussion of what works. The funny thing is, any one of those techniques could be wildly successful if you could manage to find a new angle–something unique or different. The problem is that once everyone jumps into the act, regardless of what it is, you no longer command attention. You no longer stand out. You just add to the static. Instead of being innovative and interesting, your efforts become just plain annoying.

I know I must have set some teeth on edge here. Please feel free to point out why I am wrong. Where I am wrong. That’s how we learn and I invite the conversation.

I promised another book recommendation. How about the tried-and-true Guerrilla Marketing for Book Writers by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Michael Larsen? The book offers 100 “secrets” to sell your book both before and after it is published. It’s a good tool to jumpstart your own creativity.The key is to take the tips and go one step further and devise something unique to your book.

Your turn.