Have you noticed the tabs?

Hi All!

After waiting the past several months for the official author site to pop up on cedarfort.com, I thought (duh!) why not just start posting the info for new authors HERE.

Yeah... sometimes I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. But if you look at the top you'll see tabs now, that display information new authors should find very, very helpful.

Some of it is common sense, other parts can be very illuminating.

Enjoy!

The Million-Dollar Challenge

First off, when I say a million dollars, we’re really talking about a million dollars.

When I say “challenge” things start opening up more to interpretation, but this, in a nutshell, is the challenge:

Lyle Mortimer, President and CEO of Cedar Fort, has an author on the table for all Cedar Fort authors: Present a plan that illustrates how for every $2 spent on advertising you can sell one book. If it looks like it might work, CFI will test it out. If it DOES work, CFI will spend a million dollars advertising your book—or until the model is exhausted.

“What does that mean?” you ask. “What approach is CFI looking for? Radio? Print? Online? WHAT?!?!”

That is where things become open to interpretation. Do you think that radio is the right place for your book and can you show why? Do it! If you think billboards, FB ads, newspapers, mailers, or something else works better for you, lay that out!

Show us! If we’re sold, we’ll implement a test campaign to give it a shot. If it hits its target, we’ll start pumping serious money into it.

Hint: Authors who are going to come ahead on this challenge are authors who have tested mini-campaigns of their own, refining buckshot into lasers (for those of you who took my class). It is also important that you can define your audience very specifically and why they will be especially in tune to your marketing plan.

Another hint: don’t present a plan without having a ballpark figure of whether or not the advertising rates for your medium truly reflect reality. Poke around a look up the rates you would likely be paying.

One more hint: There is a 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999% radio is not the right model for your book. It’s fun to hear a commercial on the radio, but unless you have a model where you would sell more than 5,000 books a week, this likely isn’t worth looking into.

Remember, this is open to all. No book is too big or too small! Nor is any budget too big or too small! Maybe you have a plan that sells 50 books per week by spending $100. Submit it and we'll consider it! If it works, we'll do it all day long :)

When you have a plan, send it my way. I’ll offer feedback or submit it for consideration.

Good luck!!!

Great Tips for Authors!

A panel of seven successful book authors and publishers presented their top tips for wannabe writers at two days of seminars held in conjunction with the Spring Book Show in Atlanta.

The presenters at the March 26-27 Authorship 101 and 201 seminars told the prospective authors about the realities of book publishing. They covered the life cycle of books from conception to writing, editing, and successful marketing through the last retail sales before the book is remaindered or repulped.

Among the top tips of the published professionals to fledgling authors:

· Remember that books are a product with a short shelf life.

· The author must play a major role in marketing the book.

· Prepare to speak in a variety of forums about your book topics.

· Test-market a sample of your book’s content and fix the problems found.

· You should punctuate for power and meaning.

· Remember that rejection letters are not your enemy.

· It’s unlikely that you can successfully, thoroughly, and accurately edit your own writing.

· There are ways you can get through the publisher’s gatekeepers.

· You should appeal to all five of the reader’s senses.

· You should write in the appropriate “voice,” and understand how voice is different from style.

The faculty for the two days of seminars included Peter Bowerman (mastering marketing), Ahmad Meradji (controlling manufacturing costs), David Fulmer (project funding ideas), Angela K. Durden (don’t aggravate your readers - hire an editor), Chris Roerden (secrets of surviving the manuscript submission process), Tony Burton (using conflict to keep readers interested) and Dr. David Ryback (publishing success in six steps).