Monthly Archives: August 2012

For Book Marketing Research, Authors Can Use a Nifty New Tool Called TitleZ

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Effective book marketing begins long before the book is actually written and the more diligence paid to pre-publishing efforts the better the author’s chance of success. Before hiring a book publicist to garner book publicity for you, get a cup of coffee and get ready for a little online research on book marketing.

A key strategy in any marketing program is to know your competition and successful authors will research competitors before investing time in writing, editing, re-writing, and publishing. How many others have written on the same topic? How have those topics sold? What similar books have done the best? And what made these books successful?

This may sound like a daunting task but it is now as easy as sipping iced tea on a hot, humid day, thanks to a new website called TitleZ – TitleZ allows users to instantly retrieve historic and current Amazon rankings on competitors’ books and create reports with 7-, 30-,90- day and lifetime averages. More importantly, you can use this tool to research your next book or create a marketing plan using the information furnished.

By visiting TitleZ you can compile a list of related books, comparing and contrasting sales figures and rankings. You will want to hurry and check it out now while it’s free in its beta testing stage. After the beta testing period expires the service will be available by paying a monthly subscription fee.

As a book marketing specialist, I have found TitleZ to be very useful in offering book marketing advice to my clients. Authors will find this tool helpful in coming up with book publicity and book publishing strategies.

Visit their web site to learn how a specific book or a group of books has performed over time relative to other books on the market. All you have to do is enter a book title, a subject, author or publisher and TitleZ within seconds comes up with a comprehensive list of books from Amazon plus historical sales ranking data. This information allows authors to see how topics and specific books perform over time and to appreciate what’s hot and what’s not.

Among the advantages TitleZ cites when using its tool are:

· Identify trends with book-buying consumers beyond the top ten lists to see within a given topic which books are gaining in interest and which are declining.

· Quickly and easily uncover best-selling and up-and-coming authors on a specific topic.

· Review renderings of book covers, along with sales ranking data, to see what design features are working in the current marketplace.

· By examining prices of competitors’ books you can make a better informed decision on what to charge for your book.

· Find out how effective promotional appearances, tours, book signings, and marketing activities are in driving sales.

If you aren’t totally convinced yet that TitleZ is worth a cup of coffee’s time to try out, than just visit the site, point and click two or three times, enter just one subject, and examine the data returned. You’ll then become convinced. For more information about book marketing visit: http://www.book-marketing-expert.com.

About Scott Lorenz
Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with individuals and entrepreneurs to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz has handled public relations and marketing for numerous authors, doctors, lawyers, inventors and entrepreneurs. As a book marketing expert Lorenz is called upon by top execs and bestselling authors to promote their books. Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at http://www.westwindcos.com/book or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090.

Author: Scott Lorenz
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Money Making Social Media Tips

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One of the distinguishing factors between highly successful businesses and those that are simply afloat in the marketplace is whether or not they have included a social element in their business model. If you want your business to be truly successful then you’ve got to come down from the ivory tower and mingle with the groundlings. Today’s social media tools such as Google Buzz and Twitter enable companies to establish a comprehensive business experience for their customers. And the greater the degree of interaction, the more you’ll fortify your business against changing market trends and stiffening competition. Think of it in terms of building a bunker around your business-each element that you incorporate into your business which supports a more inclusive experience for your customers adds another brick to your bunker, creating a bust-proof business. Read through these money making social media tips to see how you can achieve lucrative longevity for your business.

Create Interaction

The more people get involved with something, the stronger their beliefs will be regarding that particular subject. Think of it this way: Are you more likely to spend money on something you are barely acquainted with or on something that you are highly involved with? Your prospects are much likelier to reach for their wallets when they’ve been actively involved in something. With so much competition on the Web these days, you really need to establish a much stronger connection with your audience in order to make it clear that you are the one that they can truly trust and that spending money with you is the best option.

What’s a great way to create interaction using social media tools? Pique your audience’s attention with a quick post (Buzz or Tweet) regarding a very unique topic that relates to your industry or area of business. But don’t stop there! Actively ask them for their feedback, comments and opinions. People love the ability to have a platform for their thoughts and opinions and they’ll appreciate the opportunity that you provide.

Grease the Wheels

And while your topics should be interesting enough to encourage a good deal of interaction on their own, some people may not feel that it’s worth their time to contribute. But since every person who contacts you or comments on your posts equals a golden nugget of a lead for you to follow up with and market to, it’s important that you don’t simply give up on them. Provide incentives for people to get involved with your social media microcosm. Offer free gifts that will encourage involvement. “I don’t have enough money in my budget to do that!” Nonsense! You can always whip up a quick e-book that provides valuable information regarding your industry (just be sure that it doesn’t include content that is overpowered by sales speak-keep it useful and value based), and give that away to all those who leave a comment.

Copy Cat

When in doubt, there is no shame in looking at what other successful websites and social marketers are doing. You can always stand on the shoulders of a few giants in order to get the best view of the most direct path to success for your business. And if maintaining originality is a true point of pride for you, you can simply use those success points that you observed from other successful social marketers and then use those as touch points to build off of and innovate your own ideas from.

Andrew Rossillo is the primary copywriter and co-owner of Business Resources Daily; a comprehensive business resource website. We’re all about helping as many people as possible, so please feel free to post our article on your website. We simply ask that you don’t alter the content and that you leave our link to Business Resources Daily intact ( http://www.businessresourcesdaily.com/ ).

Author: Andrew Rossillo
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Learning to Write – Including Chapters in Your Book

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Learning to write is an ongoing process. Those that have the desire to write have usually been writing for years. Scribbling on the back of scrap paper or writing reminders on restaurant napkins is the life of the budding writer. With a story to be told, words, phrases and characters begin to take place as the writer carefully directs these into a plot. When you learn to write for children or young adults you will notice some distinct characteristics that separate them. A clear understanding of their differences will be the deciding point between writing a picture book or including chapters in your book.

Authors usually have an idea of what type of book will best tell their story. As they expand their knowledge about the form and style, they will become proficient in the guidelines for different types of books. For example, picture books have a distinct form that sets them off as books unlike any other. Primarily written for children of preschool age to around second grade, picture books have a limited number of words and pages. They do not have chapters.

The very short attention span and the early cognitive development of this age group, eliminates the need for chapters.Children learn to read at very different rates. Beginning readers need the pictures to help them figure out the words. In the early stages of reading, the pictures are designed to provide reading cues. As their reading skills increase, they no longer need these cues to finish the page. It is at this stage in the child’s development that they start to look for books that are longer, have fewer pictures and have the appearance of adult reading material. It is around the second or third grade that beginning chapter books are introduced.

Understanding the purpose of chapters, will enable the beginning author to learn to write age appropriate chapters for this age group. Children who are used to reading picture books need to feel good about finishing a chapter book. If it is too hard for them, or it looks too hard for them, they will quickly be discouraged. To create a book this age group will read willingly, learn to write by dividing your book into chapters that are short. Each short chapter should create enough interest that the early reader will want to continue reading the rest of the book. Sometimes children will fan through the pages and seeing all the words, decide it is too hard for them.

Books for early readers have chapters that divide the book into small, understandable pieces. Learning to write for this age group will become easier with practice. Try writing short paragraphs that have no more than two or three sentences. As the child is able to finish the paragraphs, they will see themselves finishing the book. Wider spaces between paragraphs and sentences, will give the book the appearance of an adult book. At this age, children are proud to be able to read a book with “lots of pages.”

Learn to write books about any topic or style on the web or in book stores and libraries. Use this information to write books that any publisher would be glad to receive.

Learn to write a children’s book by finding free writing tips at http://www.learntowriteachildrensbook.com Get started writing your children’s book today and meet a successful author of over seventy children’s books. She wants to share her mistakes with you so you don’t end up doing the same thing! Everything falls into place once you have a solid foundation to work from and you will find one here!

Author: Lisa Brunel
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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