For all of its intrinsic benefits, it remains a surprise that there are not more web sites for authors and publishers with online press kits. Mr. Obie Joe knows many of the visitors are from media or venues, and for those sources, a downloadable or accessible press kit is essential for making that first contact with an author.
At the very least, place a button for a visitor to download the press release in Word or PDF format. If you want to really spruce up your online press kit, try these features:
• jpegs of book cover, author photo. Make sure the resolution is extra good so either can be used in newspapers, magazines and TV.
• Podcast of an author, or someone else talented, reading a particularly good section of the book. Increasingly Mr. Obie Joe is finding that podcasts serve as press releases of another type, particularly with listeners willing to test drive a book by voice rather than by pick-up in a bookstore.
• "E-mail to a friend" button so others can immediately share the text with a friend.
• Hyperlink to your site, and more importantly, the e-mail address for immediate follow-up.
• Opt-in box. Though most sites place opt-in boxes on their landing or splash page, include one here, too. This asks visitors to leave their e-mail address to receive news of your next event, or musing.
Mr. Obie Joe is sure there are more features to try out...what ones would you suggest?
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Make your own little world
Loved, loved, LOVED reading about the publicist at Atria who's constructed his own little world for promoting books. David Brown started another place for authors to shout their book: Dr. Blogstein's Radio Happy Hour debuted on BlogTalkRadio last year.
As galleycat.com says:
"The weekly internet radio program airs live each Tuesday night at 9:00 pm Eastern featuring guests from the worlds of books, movies, current events and music. He even has his own theme song performed by the Long Island Beatles cover band, The Moptops (if you listen carefully, you'll recognize its Dr Robert sped up). With mentions in Page Six, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and the Star Ledger, Brown's alter ego Dr Blogstein is making the news. "This is what I set off to do," says Brown. "The bigger I could make my show, the better venue I would have for my authors. No sense in having a tiny radio show, I want to build it up as big as I can get so they can benefit from it." And with guests like Niki Taylor, Dick Van Patten, Evander Holyfield and Shirley MacLaine, he's doing just that."
Mr. Obie Joe had one client who put her podcasts on a very well-trafficked Second City neighborhood. There are authors who put podcasts of their appearances, or just musings on their myspace pages, or blogs.
But this -- a media outlet all your own? Very cool.
As galleycat.com says:
"The weekly internet radio program airs live each Tuesday night at 9:00 pm Eastern featuring guests from the worlds of books, movies, current events and music. He even has his own theme song performed by the Long Island Beatles cover band, The Moptops (if you listen carefully, you'll recognize its Dr Robert sped up). With mentions in Page Six, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and the Star Ledger, Brown's alter ego Dr Blogstein is making the news. "This is what I set off to do," says Brown. "The bigger I could make my show, the better venue I would have for my authors. No sense in having a tiny radio show, I want to build it up as big as I can get so they can benefit from it." And with guests like Niki Taylor, Dick Van Patten, Evander Holyfield and Shirley MacLaine, he's doing just that."
Mr. Obie Joe had one client who put her podcasts on a very well-trafficked Second City neighborhood. There are authors who put podcasts of their appearances, or just musings on their myspace pages, or blogs.
But this -- a media outlet all your own? Very cool.
Message from New Orleans
Why can't all bookstores be like Octavia Books in New Orleans (www.octaviabooks.com)? Last week's visit to promote a new book about politics and jazz reminded us of the many wonderful qualities an independent bookstore can hold for authors, particularly new authors. Here's why Mr. Obie Joe thinks everything of Tom Lowenburg and everyone at Octavia:
• They publish news of the event in their newsletter (e-mail and print), in-store placard and e-mails to niche audiences.
• They send calendar listings to all local media (and this is not a slight task: New Orleans has the most independent magazines and newspapers Mr. Obie Joe has ever seen).
• During the event, they serve wine and cheese. Free drinks works wonders for an audience's enthusiasm.
• To wrap it up, Octavia Books has an excellent inventory accounting.
Octavia, like The Regulator in Durham and the Mystery Lovers in Pittsburgh amaze Mr. Obie Joe with their ease in booking dozens of events each month. There's the management challenge of that task, but more than that, it's simply wonderful their commitment to matching more audiences to authors.
• They publish news of the event in their newsletter (e-mail and print), in-store placard and e-mails to niche audiences.
• They send calendar listings to all local media (and this is not a slight task: New Orleans has the most independent magazines and newspapers Mr. Obie Joe has ever seen).
• During the event, they serve wine and cheese. Free drinks works wonders for an audience's enthusiasm.
• To wrap it up, Octavia Books has an excellent inventory accounting.
Octavia, like The Regulator in Durham and the Mystery Lovers in Pittsburgh amaze Mr. Obie Joe with their ease in booking dozens of events each month. There's the management challenge of that task, but more than that, it's simply wonderful their commitment to matching more audiences to authors.
How to send out the invites to the party
So you're heading for a new town, ready to invite one and all to your book signing, lecture, appearance. If you're an online savvy author, you've been collecting e-mail addresses from friends and family, work colleagues, and fans. Now you're ready to send an e-mail blast.
There are several formats:
• Constant Contact: Preferable if you already use this for your monthly newsletter. Plus CC manages your e-mail lists wonderfully, making it easy to segregate by geography for an appearance. The templates can be a bit limiting to spice up, though.
• Evite: One of Mr. Obie Joe's favs for ease of use, Evite is great for one-time use. Which can be a problem, because Evite does not save your e-mail lists; how many times do you want to type in e-mail addresses?
• Word PDF: Make your own invite! Using a Word file, type in the particulars, add a .jpeg or two, and then save the file as one of two formats: 1) Mail PDF (under the Print function) or a regular Word document that you will cut and paste to a regular e-mail. Then use AddressBook to import the relevant e-mail list needed for the invite.
There are several formats:
• Constant Contact: Preferable if you already use this for your monthly newsletter. Plus CC manages your e-mail lists wonderfully, making it easy to segregate by geography for an appearance. The templates can be a bit limiting to spice up, though.
• Evite: One of Mr. Obie Joe's favs for ease of use, Evite is great for one-time use. Which can be a problem, because Evite does not save your e-mail lists; how many times do you want to type in e-mail addresses?
• Word PDF: Make your own invite! Using a Word file, type in the particulars, add a .jpeg or two, and then save the file as one of two formats: 1) Mail PDF (under the Print function) or a regular Word document that you will cut and paste to a regular e-mail. Then use AddressBook to import the relevant e-mail list needed for the invite.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)