Writers and Editors


"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Examples of well-designed authors' websites (reflecting the writer's style or "brand").


Jennifer Baljko (travel writing)
Barbara Helen Berger (children's books)
Lawrence Block
Judy Blume
Meghan Daum
e-write (writing for online readers, Marilynne Rudick and Leslie O'Flahavan)
Malcolm Gladwell (minimalism)
Jonathan Green
Robin Marantz Henig
Amanda Jones (visually irresistible)
Miranda July's clever (irritating to some) site, a performance artist with a book
Leslie Larson
Brian Jay Jones (Washington Irving biographer)
Diane LeBow
Irene S. Levine
Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow
Susan Orlean
Barry Siegel
Rebecca Skloot
Linda Watanabe McFerrin
Tom Wolfe
"It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous."
~ Robert Benchley

"Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen are . . . distinguished not by worldly status and achievement, but by the particular standing they have among their friends. People look up to them not out of envy but out of love, which is why these kinds of personalities have the power to break through the rising tide of isolation and immunity."
~ Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

Quick Links

E-mail Pat
About Pat (site host)
Help a reporter out (useful for reporters and for sources)
Bowling 1, Health Care 0 (Elizabeth Edwards' op ed piece, NYT, on the dismal state of the corporate media)
The Onion (if the news is making you sick, try this approach)
Truth-o-meter (St. Pete Times on whether, and how much, Clinton, Obama, and McCain are sticking to the truth)
Fact Check (Annenberg sorts political truths from half-truths)
Telling your life (or family) story
Medical links for smart patients
Contemporary Latin American Short Stories
Blog roll (and other great stuff)


Find Authors

Marketing, publicity, and promotion

Marketing, publicity,
and promotion

• Resources for marketing,
publicity, and promotion
• VidLits, book trailers on the Web
• Literate radio talk shows


Resources for marketing, publicity, and promotion


· The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't, by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

· The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living: by Peter Bowerman

· 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers by John Kremer

· Complete Guide to Self Publishing: Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book, 4th edition, by Tom Ross and Marilyn Ross

· The Publishing Game by Fern Reiss (three titles: Bestseller in 30 Days, Find an Agent in 30 Days, and Publish a Book in 30 Days ). Shorter books.

· Beyond the Bookstore: How to Sell More Books Profitably to Non-Bookstore Markets, by Brian Jud

· John Kremer's Self-Publishing Hall of Fame

· Publicize Your Book: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book the Attention It Deserves by Jacqueline Deval

· Guerrilla Marketing for Writers : 100 Weapons to Help You Sell Your Work by Jay Conrad Levinson.

Many resources are available online. Check the links below.

Aiming at Amazon.com (Aaron Shepard)
Amazon.com, what sales rank means (Foner Books)
American Booksellers Association (ABA)
Beneath the Brand
Confessions of a Ghost (by Anonymous, on Inc), about branded ghosting, the making of a business book, and how books and movies are pitched
Bestseller lists, what's wrong with how they work (Clark Hoyt, New York Times Public Editor column 10-21-07)
Blogging, the new authors' book tour
("The Author Will Take Q.'s Now," by Kara Jesella, NYT)
Book Expo America
The 4-Hour Workweek, Behind the Meme (Steve Rubel, Micro Persuasion, analyzing how Timothy Ferriss rode blogs to the bestseller list)
Book Marketing Update
(Jon Kremer's useful site)
How do bestsellers happen? A case study of hitting #1 on The New York Times (Tim Ferriss, guesting on Huffington Post)
Bookstore directory (ABA)
The Book Tour (who's touring with which book)
Brian Jud's site on selling books through nontraditional outlets (skip down to Articles)
Build Buzz (Sandy Beckwith's blog)
Center for the Book (in the Library of Congress)
Promoting literacy (check out state and local branches)
Combined Book Exhibit
Cluetrain Manifesto (the end of business as usual)
Copyblogger (Brian Clark's tips on copy that improves marketing success)
Copywriter Underground (Tom Chandler's blog on marketing strategies)
eBrochures and Interactive PDF (BC Pictures, convergence strategies for digital media)
eSellerate (sell software, PDF files, etc.--they handle marketing and delivery and send you a deposit)
Freelancer's Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need (Codswallop)
Gateway to Publisher's Weekly, Literary Marketplace, AAR, and other book-related sites
Gordon's Radio List
Help a reporter out! (HelpAReporter.com), become a source
How to get happily published
(Judith Appelbaum)
How to write a great press release
(Bill Stoller)
How to pick a shopping cart (Tom Antion)
Linking to Amazon (Aaron Shephard)
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog Writing
The Long Tail (how Amazon.com, Google, and the like have changed the nature of marketing, especially of words), Wikipedia's summary
Make your book signing an event
(Larry James)
Making a Bestseller (The Greatest Mystery), by
Shira Boss (New York Times, May 2007)
Murder Must Advertise (free e-mail discussion list about how to promote a new mystery book)
Marketing Minute makeovers, FAQs, and brainstorming aids (Marcia Yudkin)
National Speakers Association (NSA)
netGalley.com (centralized online galley, catalog, and digital press kit services)
NewPages.com, gateway to valuable book review sites, especially for the alternative press
New York Times bestseller list
Pagan Kennedy's Venture into "My Space" (NYTBR)
Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing for Authors, by Steve Weber (order a copy or read it online)
PMA, the independent publishers marketing association
Promoting your book with a podcast (Patrice-Anne Rutledge, on Kremer)
PR Basics
(Bill Stoller's tips for savvy businesses and entrepreneurs)
Publishers Weekly (PW, a pre-publication review outlet that goes to booksellers; you DEFINITELY want your book written up here--check out the far right column down toward bottom telling you which kinds of books are being featured in upcoming issues)
Radio-TV Interview Report (RTIR)
Regional booksellers associations
The Renegade Writer blog
(how to be an infopreneur)
Shoptalk (John Caddell’s daily look at marketing, strategy, and management, including innovations and alliances)
Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN)
Social Networking sites (Kremer, 1001 Ways to Market Your Book)
Top 10 Blog Posts for Writers
(Michael Stelzner, Writing White Papers)
Trash-Proof News Releases
(Paul J. Krupin, whose website makes the most of an online gimmick)
Viral marketing (Wikipedia)
When Everyone Was Excellent, by Joshua Hyatt (why In Search of Excellence, by Peters and Waterman, became a bestseller)
Why midlist books don't sell (report from the Authors Guild)
Who Represents
Writers FM (radio by writers, for writers)
Writers on Writing, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett's weekly radio interview program
Writing White Papers (Michael A. Stelzer's blog on how to stand out among legions of marketing pieces)
[Go Top]


VidLits -- like movie trailers but for books and on the Web -- are increasingly used to promote books. Check out examples of VidLits below.


VidLits (the original source of the brief narrative video promos being used to promote books through viral marketing--word of mouth in cyberspace)
Liz Dubelman's VidLit "Craziest" (a must-watch for Scrabble fans)
VidLit "Fun with Dick and Jane"
VidLit "Yiddish with George and Laura"
(3 minutes, for a VidLit Democrats may enjoy more than Republicans)
Watch This Book, by Lauren Mechling, WSJ -- do "viral videos" work?
[Go Top]


Superior radio and top radio talk shows
Some of the best talks shows are not only good places to market a book but good ways to hear about what's going on in the world, and why. Let me know which intelligent talk shows that are available online are missing here.

All Things Considered
As It Happens (Canadian, with humor)
BBC Radio World Service
Bob Edwards (and Bob Edwards Weekend)
Booknotes.org (amazing archive of C-Span's author interview program)
Car Talk, Tom & Ray Magliozzi
(okay--good for listening, anyway)
Chicago Public Radio
Diane Rehm show (WAMU)
Fresh Air® with Terry Gross
Kojo Nnamdi show
Marketplace (American Public Media)
Morning Edition (NPR)
On the Media
National Public Radio programs
NPR segments on gardening
On Point (Tom Ashbrook)
Public Radio Exchange (PRX)
Science Friday (Ira Flatow)
Soundprint
The Splendid Table
Studio 360
This American Life (Ira Glass, with great storytelling)
Transom (a showcase & workshop for New Public Radio)
To the Point (Warren Olney, host)
News on hot-button issues
Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor)
Excellent poetry
[Go Top]



Websites, organizations, and other resources

A GREAT READ
Memoirs
Blogs and news round-ups
Books for writers and editors
Book club recommendations
Book news, reviews, reviewers, author interviews, and social networking about books
Narrative nonfiction
Book publishing
Agents and book proposals
Publishing (and e-publishing)
Marketing, promotion, blogs, vidlits, intelligent radio
Shopping, acquiring, swapping, or selling books
Self-publishing
Book Collaboration FAQ
by Sarah Wernick
Communicating and marketing online (Web 2.0, blogs, podcasts, e-zines, survey tools)
So, You Want to Write a Book! by the late great Sarah Wernick
Editors and editing
Style, grammar, word choice, and pronunciation
For editors
Tips on tact and tone
Preface, foreword, or introduction
Ethics, rights, and other issues
Ethics, freedom of the press, and media watchdogs
Copyright, fair use, permissions, work for hire, and other rights issues
General
Getting published (starting out)
GREAT SEARCH LINKS
Fact-finding and fact-checking
Freelancing
Conferences, workshops, and other learning places
Awards, grants, and funds for writers
Job banks and publishing marketplaces
Mastering art, craft, skills (writing, reporting, multimedia)
Writers and creators
Beyond text (adding images, sound, story, humor)
Copywriting, speechwriting, corporate and technical communications and training
Media professionals and allied creative and professional groups
Fiction, literary and commercial (including genre fiction)
Film, drama, and documentaries
Journalism and journalists
Local and regional organizations
Major writers organizations
Memoir, biography, personal and corporate history
Nonfiction
Poetry
Science and medical writing
Specialty writing, from children's books to sportswriting
Groups for writers who specialize in animals, children's books, food, gardens, family history, resumes, sports, travel, Webwriting, and wine (etc.)
Writing (general)

Created by The Authors Guild

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