Tag: Mike Nappa (Page 13 of 23)

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

Let’s suppose you’ve got a great new book manuscript that features 365 all-new, fun activities for families. Do you know what my Marketing VP is going to say about that?

“So what?” 

And she’s right to ask. Why does your book matter to our readers? So what? This is the “what’s in it for me?” question every book buyer asks before tapping that debit card on the machine. That makes it the highest priority of any good Marketing VP—and should also make it a high priority for you when you’re creating the proposal for your book. 

The big problem is that, while most authors know this is an important part of pitching a book, they don’t understand the difference between “features” and “benefits.” Don’t let yourself be one of those ignorant (or lackadaisical) people! If you can master the art of benefit-speak, you’ll make it very hard for any Marketing VP to ignore you.

At its simplest, a book’s “features” are anything it has. Its “benefits” are anything good it does for the reader. 

Of course there are all kinds of nuances to that, and entire books have been written on this topic by people who are much smarter than I am. But for your purposes, if you can distinguish between what a book has and what it does, you’ll be off to a good start. 

Here’s quick example of what I mean. Take that book we mentioned earlier, the one with fun ideas for families. Here’s what is has (its primary “feature”): 365 fun activity ideas for families. And here’s what it does (its “benefits”): 1) helps parents and kids enjoy being together, 2) builds friendships between siblings, 3) makes happy family memories…and so on. 

You see the difference? 

If not, don’t be surprised when you receive my rejection letter for your next book.

What You Can Do About It

1. Target identifiable benefits in one or more of the four basic categories. 

OK, you should know that just about all benefits for a reader typically fall in one of the four categories below. So, when creating your benefits summary, make sure to target one or more of these areas: 

• Personal. These are the things that promise to make a person feel better about himself or herself—promises of beauty, riches, spiritual growth, and so on. For instance, “Reading this book will make you so pretty your poo will smell like sweet perfume!”

• Social. These are the things that bring social satisfaction or interpersonal success—promises of fame, better family relationships, improved dating relationships, or anything that generates a positive response from peers. For example, “Read this book and soon you’ll be dating a woman whose poo smells like perfume!”

• Professional. These are promises of success at work, career prestige, ability to fast-track up the corporate ladder, improved job performance, and so on. “Read this book and your boss will be working for you tomorrow!”

• Noble. These are promises to benefit “the greater good,” or to bring moral and/or practical benefits for humankind or greater societies in general. “Reading this book will save the rainforest and cure cancer!”

2. Practice. 

Sometimes it’s easier to learn how to distinguish features from benefits with products that are not books. So take a look around your living room or kitchen and practice.

That blender on the counter…what are its features? (For instance, durable base, clear plastic pitcher, low- medium- and high-speed settings, and so on.) 

Now, what are its benefits? (It can make me a super-yummy smoothie! It can help me with my mixing experiments! It can make it easy to spatter food chunks on my ceiling!) You get the idea. 

3. Read a beginner’s book about marketing copywriting.

The idea of features and benefits is the basic building block of any advertising copywriter’s career, and as such it’s almost always discussed in detail in any book about marketing copywriting. So if you still feel unsure about your ability to wow a Marketing VP with benefit-speak, go ahead and check out a book that deals with this topic in more depth. There are plenty of these kinds of books to choose from (just search Amazon.com for “marketing copywriting”), but the one I’ve found the most helpful in my own career is Robert Bly’s classic, The Copywriter’s Handbook.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

On May 12, 2010, 712 people gathered in the gym at the 69^th Regiment Armory in New York City to pelt each other with playground balls. As a result of this supersized contest, they set the Guinness World Record for “The Largest Dodgeball Game” in history.

Were you there? And were you one of the last people standing when the Blue Team won the game? 

If so, that’s something I can use to jumpstart Public Relations efforts for you and your book—especially if your book is about sports, or Dodgeball, or simply learning how to “seize the day.” And my marketing VP is going to like hearing about the possibilities of that PR-worthy accomplishment

You see, Marketing VPs hate advertising. Sure, it’s a necessary evil in their jobs, but it also costs a lot of money—and it doesn’t often demonstrate a strong or measureable return on investment. Publicity, on the other hand, is free. It can deliver broad exposure similar to paid advertising, and since it’s presented as part of editorial content, it often avoids the “commercial blindness” habits we consumers have developed toward advertising.

Look at it this way: A half-page, four-color ad in a single issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine costs $104,305. But a half-page review of your book right next to that ad costs…nothing. Which of those two options do you think is going to make my marketing VP’s eyes light up?

Any significant edge you have in garnering publicity attention for your book is going to make a difference to my marketing team. And that’s where your PR-worthy accomplishments come in. If I can tell my marketing team about your unique accomplishments as they relate to publicity opportunities for your book, that might be enough to tip the scales in your favor.

But what if you don’t have any accomplishments worth trumpeting to the press? Well, that makes it harder to overcome the inherent skepticism my marketing team has about your book—and that could mean rejection.

What You Can Do About It

1. Make a list of your PR-worthy accomplishments as they relate to your book’s promotion. 

OK, honestly, you don’t have to be a Dodgeball champion to be PR-worthy. But it certainly helps if there’s something about you or your book that would look good in a newspaper headline. So take time to make a list of things you think are newsworthy about your book and about you. Some typical topics that publicists hype when promoting a book are: 

• Awards 

• Notable recognition (such as being named to a President’s Council or being selected as keynote speaker at the National Happiness Day festivities).

• Notable media exposure (such as being booked for The Tonight Show or featured in an article in US News and World Report)

• Unique milestones (such as winning a Dodgeball championship)

• Connection to notable events (such as being first on scene after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti)

• Anything that would spark interest if transformed into a two-minute spotlight on the local news.

2. Highlight two or three PR-worthy ideas in your proposal. 

Once you’ve identified your newsworthy angles as they relate to your book, go ahead and highlight them in your proposal. Suggest what can fairly be seen as “no-fail” angles that a publicist could use in the preparation of a press release about your book. Use bullet points and be sure to point out what kinds of audiences (magazines, newspapers, radio, etc.) would be likely to respond to those ideas.

3. Brush up on what a press release looks like and what it does.

Most writers are rightly focused on creating a book—not a PR plan. But if you want to win over a marketer, you’re going to have to understand the way a marketer thinks about publicity. So take time to browse a website like PRWeb.com. Learn what goes into a press release. Read a few dozen and analyze them for strengths and weaknesses. Try your hand at writing a press release or two for your book and see how your PR compares to what the pros do. 

Once you get into the publicity mindset of the typical marketer, you’ll be able to tailor your PR ideas toward the Marketing VP—and beef up the appeal of your book proposal as a whole.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

In the movie, Bowfinger, Heather Graham plays Daisy, a girl from Ohio who moves to California in order to make it in the movie business. When she steps off the bus in Hollywood, she looks around expectantly and asks no one in particular, “Where do I go to be an actress?”

Too many aspiring authors demonstrate Daisy’s misguided optimism, thinking all they have to do is show up and a publisher will take care of the rest of the details required to make them a star. Unfortunately, in today’s publishing climate the author is generally expected to contribute significantly to the star-making efforts for his or her book. This is especially the case with newer, or first-time, authors. 

What that means is that every editor nowadays is being asked by the Marketing VP, “What’s this author going to do to help us promote his or her book?” And your editor is going to expect you do to answer that question with a clear, definitive plan.

Since most authors don’t have easy access to a large Public Relations firm or the services of an independent marketing company on retainer, the best answer to that question is an opportunistic, grassroots publicity plan. If you can’t provide that, my Marketing VP is going to frown and start shaking his head.

From your perspective, this is an issue of both desire and skill. First, you have to want to create publicity for your book on a grassroots level, exploiting your areas of influence and unique opportunities to get the word out. Second, you must know how to do that effectively and affordably. 

Remember the good old days when being a professional writer was only about, um, writing? Well, the good old days are gone. Now you’re expected to be both a master of language who can write a phenomenal book, and a savvy guerilla marketer who can start a grassroots firestorm of publicity about said book.

It’s not fair, but that’s the way it is.

What You Can Do About It

1. Learn how to create a press kit. 

OK, I’m not talking about a full-on, four-color notebook with pages of info and maybe a book-themed toy included (though I did very much enjoy a press kit once that came with Disney-themed cookies inside). You don’t need that kind of publicity overkill. And, when you send your proposal, you don’t even need to actually create a press kit—you just need to demonstrate that you can.

Most often nowadays, press materials are simply printed off a computer, folded in half, and stuffed inside the front cover of your book. So what you’ll want to know is how to create that front-cover-stuffing.

There’s not room here to go into detail about each individual part of the press packet, but generally speaking you’d want to include: 

• a press release announcing your book

• a pitch letter with specific story ideas related to your book (to send to media outlets when you request coverage)

• your bio

• suggested interview questions (these should be engaging, interesting, and something that would make it easy for you to be interviewed live)

• endorsements page (optional)

• your picture (optional)

2. Compile a personal database of local media and book retail outlets. 

These are what would be considered “promotional outlets” or “media outlets.” They’re the places within your reach where your book might actually gain media coverage or gain a promotional event opportunity. For instance, local newspapers, regional magazines, local association newsletters and/or events, local bookstores (both national chains and independents), local grocery stores, regional radio stations, and so on.

Basically, anyplace that might tell others about your book should go into your database. Include contact names (such as the store manager, or editor of the “Lifestyle” section of your newspaper) as well as full contact information for the outlet. If you can put together a database with 50 or more promotional outlet opportunities available in your grassroots network, that’s something a Marketing VP will be happy to hear.

3. Put together a formal Publicity Plan to include in your proposal.

Again, I’m not suggesting that you must create a formal press kit before you pitch your book to a publisher, but I am recommending that you tell an editor (so the editor can tell the Marketing VP) about your unique plan for starting a grassroots effort on behalf of your book. One place you might want to visit to get help with ideas for grassroots PR ideas is the website, PublicityHound.com. 

Then, when you write your proposal, go ahead and include a section that talks about your future PR plans. Indicate that, in support of the book’s release, you’ll send a full press kit (tell what’ll be in that kit) to your own mailing list of promotional outlets. If you can guarantee a book signing or two at your local Costco or Barnes & Noble bookstore, throw that in too. List your plans in bullet-point format, and make sure you give the impression that you have both the desire and the skill to pull off a small-scale PR effort on behalf of your book. If you can do that, you’ve made the Marketing VP’s job easier—and that may be enough to make her take a chance on your new book.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

Here’s a dirty little secret: Acquisition editors, agents, marketers, and salespeople all read Amazon.com reviews. 

We do it to gauge if what you’re telling us about yourself and your publishing history is accurate, or at least believable. We do it to see what supposedly impartial book buyers think about you and your writing. We check to see if you’re engaging readers to the point where they feel they must talk about your work. And we do it to see if there’s a general consensus among readers about your writing. 

If an author sends me a proposal and mentions that he or she has previously published or self-published, I take a peek at Amazon. Consider it the publishing equivalent of Googling a blind date. I check first to see how many reviews your book has. If you’ve got 10 or more reviews on a single book, that’s more than the average, so I’m impressed. Next I check the star-ratings on your books. I’m typically looking for how many people rated your book a “5,” how many rated it a “4,” and if anyone rated it a “1.” 

I’m hoping you’ve got mostly 4s and 5s in your star-ratings, but I’ll be honest, I also like it if you have a 1-star rating in there. I like to see if that 1-star hater is complaining about your writing skill (not good) or if that person simply disliked your opinions to the point that he or she was provoked to respond (actually a good thing, because it means your writing evokes emotion). 

For instance, one of my authors once received a blistering critique of a suspense novel on Amazon.com. The reviewer admitted he’d been hooked by the story and read about halfway into the book before becoming offended that my author had mentioned God. And that was the basis of his “1” rating—he didn’t like religious people and had been unhappy to discover my author was religious. My author was disappointed by the critique; I thought it was a great commentary on the effectiveness of her writing. The guy hates religious people…yet her writing was such that he read half her book anyway!

Now, what if your books are consistently getting “3” ratings on Amazon? Or if readers find your work cheesy or poorly written? Or worse yet, if your previous books aren’t attracting any reviews? Well, that’s a different story. That tells me people aren’t terribly interested in your work, and my response is always the same: Rejection by reason of Amazon.com reviews.

What You Can Do About It

1. Monitor your books on Amazon.com

Pay attention to what’s going on in the reviews section of your books’ listings on Amazon.com. If you’re getting particularly good reader reviews on a book, don’t be afraid to quote them in your next proposal. Or at the very least, point the acquisitions editor to them on Amazon and suggest that he or she share them with the marketing team. 

This is especially important if you’ve self-published in order to get your writing career jumpstarted. A self-published book with no reviews, or with poor reviews, is death for traditional publishing opportunities. An unpopular self-published book is proof to me that, despite your intense desire to succeed, you just don’t have what it takes to be successful in “real-world” publishing.

If, while monitoring your titles on Amazon, you discover that you’re getting too many bad reviews, or very few reviews at all, then move on to suggestion #2 below.

2. Enlist your family, friends, and others to influence Amazon.com reviewer ratings. 

The problem with Amazon.com reviews is that they are easily manipulated. All it takes is a dozen or so friends to tip the balance in your favor. Do editors and marketers know that? Sure we do. Are we going to contact each of the reviewers of your book to ask if they’re your friends and family members? Not likely. So go ahead and take advantage of this flaw and use it to bolster your online reputation.

Enlist people you know (who also like you!) to post positive reviews on Amazon.com. You can’t pay them, but you can give them a free copy of your book and offer eternal gratitude and smiles every time you see them. Encourage friends to be honest, but not over-the-top in their reviews. For instance, hyperbole like “This is the best book since the Bible!” probably will be ignored. But if your friend is complimentary and identifies a few specific things that are highlights of your book, well, that looks good to a marketing decision-maker. 

If you feel confident about the quality of your book, you might also contact some of the Amazon Top 100 Reviewers (accessible in the “People” section of the site) and ask permission to send them a copy of it. These are people who love books, and who’ve earned a reputation for reading lots of them, so often they’ll be happy to get yours. If your book gets a positive review from a Top 100 Reviewer, that’s also something worth mentioning to an editor in your next proposal. A word of warning though, if you’re not absolutely confident of your content, don’t send it to an Amazon Top 100 Reviewers. These folks aren’t shy about posting negative reviews if they think a book deserves it.

3. Write great books that get great reviews on Amazon.com

This is the best way to influence Amazon.com reviews—and by extension, influence the way a marketer or an editor will approach your next book. So, you know, you could just do this and let everything else take care of itself. I’m just sayin’.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

OK, let’s look at some of the numbers: 

• There are 195 million active internet users in the United States.

• Americans rate the internet as the #1 “most essential” media source in their lives—ranking it higher than TV, radio, or newspapers.

• An eye-popping 77% of Americans (nearly 4 out of 5 people) go online to buy books.

• More Americans buy books online than buy books at Target, Wal Mart, Sam’s Club, B.J’s, and Costco combined.

• The number 1 place in the world where Americans buy books: Online.

And you’re telling me you don’t have the time or interest to set up an online presence for yourself? Seriously?

Just last month I got a proposal from a college student telling me how she’d published her first book right out of high school and now she was ready for fame and glory with her second novel. I was curious, so I did what any guy does before a blind date. 

I Googled her.

Nothing.

No author website, no blog profile, no Facebook page, no promos or reviews for her first book, no author interviews, no book excerpts, no chat room transcripts, nothing. The only thing I did find was that her first book was in the Amazon.com catalog—and (no surprise) it ranked an abysmal 2,481,729 in sales on that site. 

The fact that she is anonymous online is killing this girl’s chances at publication. My Marketing VP already assumes that any new author is just another unknown who is unworthy of his support. How can I argue on this girl’s behalf when a simple Google search confirms his dour pre-supposition about her? I just can’t.

“Mike,” you say to me, “there’s too much online. It’s too demanding—and too confusing. It moves so fast, and I just don’t have time to keep up. I just want to write books. Isn’t that what’s really important anyway?”

Look, you must understand something: My Marketing VP doesn’t give a flying fig about whether or not you’re too busy or too old or too whatever to get yourself out there in the online world. All she cares about is that you are where book buyers are. And guess what? They’re online.

Remember, once you decided to become a “professional” writer—someone who actually makes money from stringing words together—you also decided to pursue being a public figure. And if you’re not able to be seen online? Well, you’d probably better stick to amateur status.

What You Can Do About It

1. Do the basics online. 

At an absolute minimum, every aspiring author needs a website or blog profile page to showcase his or her ambition. This is both your billboard and your “Yellow Pages” ad on the Internet. 

When you send me a book proposal, I expect to be able to find out everything I want to know about you simply by typing your name into a search engine. In fact, I may quote some of what I find out about you online to my Marketing VP when we talk about your book. Do you really want someone else’s random thoughts about you to dictate that conversation? Of course not. 

So take charge of your online presence. Create a website or a blog profile that communicates everything great about you and your writing…and do it now.

2. Find a friend to handle your online presence.

If you really are too busy, or too intimidated, or “too old” to start up your own author presence on the web, then you’d better find someone to do it for you. You can hire someone, but most often the best route is simply to find an internet savvy friend or family member and ask that person to set something up for you. With the abundance of online tools already out there, it’s fairly easy to put up a bare-bones web page or blog profile, and anyone with regular internet experience probably already knows what needs to be done.

So get help, and get a good author showcase for yourself out into the world of cyberspace…and do it now.

3. Grow up. If you’re still pouting about this online requirement for publishing success, well stop it. This is the 21^st century, and in this publishing climate, an internet presence is mandatory for authors. So grow up and get yourself online…today.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon