May 4, 2013 in Self Publishing
Hi All.
Due to the amount of spam being received on this platform and the lack of communication from blogs24.com, I have moved my blogging platform to http://www.calminstorm.com/category/blog/. From now on all posts can be viewed there.
Thanks for taking the time out to follow and read my blog. I hope you continue to follow.
Kind Regards
Gary Hirson
May 3, 2013 in Photography, Portraiture, Self Publishing, Travel
On 1st May, 7th months after the official launch of Down the Line, it’s being featured for a month, over 6 pages, in a very high profile magazine. The magazine, Premier, is the official guest magazine for the Bidvest Premier Lounges, the exclusive international and domestic lounges located at airport terminals across South Africa. Over 70 000 First Class, Business Class, high level corporate travelers and private bank clients will go through the lounges during the month. Hopefully they’ll page through the magazine, viewing the feature. This is the kind of exposure one dreams of.
But there is a reason why this has happened.
Seth Godin , best-selling author, and generally very knowledgeable when it comes to all things marketing, explains it best. In his blog post 100 days later, he compares the launch of a movie, to the launch of Google, a political party, and a book. In essence he says not to only focus on the launch but to continuously focus on the PR and marketing.
Back in 2007 when I launched The Magic that’s Ours, it was only about the launch as I didn’t know much else about the importance of continuous PR and book marketing. In 2009 when I launched The Power that’s Ours, the book launch was so successful that a bookstore chain asked me to have a second launch at another one of their stores. But still my head was caught up in the idea that only a book launch would suffice in creating media attention. I was wrong. In 2012 I planned to launch both The Journey that’s Ours and Down the Line at the same time, but due to circumstances I was unable to.
As Down the Line was a coffee-table book and because; a really great bookstore agreed as a venue, and a really high profile personality agreed to be a part of the launch, I decided to go ahead with it. The launch was a huge success in the number of people that attended and for the book sales on the night. But post the launch, the media quickly forgot about us. By the time that The Journey that’s Ours was ready to be launched in March of this year, friends and people in the know were continuously asking me for the launch date. But there wasn’t to be one. I decided to use the time and effort in promoting my books.
Magazines, radio & TV stations and online platforms were contacted to secure reviews, exposure and interviews for all of my books.
Has it been had successful?
Besides the other exposure my books have received over the last few months, having Down The Line exposed to possibly more than 70 000 pairs of eyes should be deemed as a success, as that is a far larger number of potential buyers than I could ever have fitted into a book launch venue. Don’t not have a launch but don’t not promote post -launch either.
May 2, 2013 in Self Publishing, youth inspirational, youth motivational, Youth reading
In the past if one wanted to buy a book they would go to the nearest bookstore and make the purchase, easy!
It was all so conventional; the publisher printed books, bookstores stocked them, and customers went and bought them. Well some customers anyway. It’s been mentioned that in South Africa only 1% of the population are regular book buyers. When EBooks arrived, it might have had an effect on the regular buying market (in South Africa) but probably not necessarily in a positive way. Due to the outlay needed for an E-reader, and the need for an internet connection to download, the majority of South Africans still wouldn’t be able to get their hands on a book
But things are changing!
You’ve just got to love creative minds, especially when they create something that will have a huge impact on the market. Nope for once I’m not talking about myself, I’m talking about a company called Paperight.
In South Africa and many other developing countries, books are considered to be quite expensive and inaccessible to many of the population. What Paperight has done is to create a technology so that small print and copy-shops, can offer a print on demand service.
As a Publisher, whether independent or conventional, all that needs to be done is to upload the manuscript- whether fiction, non-fiction or even a school text book, to Paperight, fill out the metadata and detail about the titles and they do the rest. The copy-shops have access to the titles and are able to print and ring bind the books on demand. The publisher determines the royalty fee and the selling price is calculated. The books are sold slightly cheaper than in regular bookstores, are in areas where conventional bookstores wouldn’t usually open up, so it’s a win win situation for a market that wouldn’t usually be able to access reading materials.
As an independent publisher this makes for an ideal world. My 3 interactive, developmental books are available, in both print and EBook formats, globally via Amazon. In South Africa they are available in bookstores and via my website, and now they are available, via Paperight, to people who are being effected mostly by this phenomenal literary change. If we want more people to read, then people need access to books. This seems to be happening!
April 4, 2013 in Self Publishing, youth inspirational, youth motivational, Youth reading
When my initial publisher went out of business, leaving me with the final book manuscript, I decided that I was going to try and get signed by another publisher. I trawled websites and spoke to a number of them wanting to find out exactly what they required when it came to submitting a proposal why they should sign me as an author. Besides the usual; synopsis, sample chapters, about the author and genre etc, the one thing that stood out was that they wanted to know how I was going to market the book. Market the book? I mean come on I’m the author, I write, I shouldn’t be the sales person responsible for selling the title! Oh how wrong was I….
Gone are the days when a publisher looks at a title and the author and decides to produce the book expecting that the marketing be left up to them. Publishing is a business about the bottom line and everyone owes their pound of flesh. They will definitely do their bit but who better than the author to market the book?
A marketing strategy is important which should include, who will review the book and expose it to potential readers. There are so many books published on a daily basis that getting the word out there, that your title should be read, is crucial. There are different avenues to explore. Social networking, book launches and mainstream media like; radio, tv, magazines/newspapers and portals such as websites through which renowned reviewers express their opinions pertaining to recently released titles.
My latest title, The Journey that’s Ours 
was recently released (about 2 weeks ago) And I feel very proud. But, I knew that if the book wasn’t exposed it wouldn’t be bought, and if it wasn’t being bought then nobody was reading it. If nobody was reading it then my message wasn’t being received, and that would be a huge blow to my ego.
So what did I do? (I mean, who likes a deflated ego!)
For the last 7 days I’ve been phoning and emailing all of my contacts, which include; magazine/newspaper book reviewers, literary- promoting radio and TV shows and reviewers that have their own websites. I told them about my book, about me and about the message that I’m trying to get across. I then told them to expect a review copy of my book and the 1Sheeter and then I begged them for some exposure. (It’s really OK to do that – beg, when no one can see you on the other side of a telephone or computer.) I then couriered, posted and hand delivered the books to all the said parties. And that’s what it takes plus some, to get the word out that the book is available in hard copy and EBook format. Whether being published by a mainstream publisher or as an independent publisher, the groundwork has to be done to get the word out there. No one else is going to do it and there’s nothing worse than a pile of books taking up space in the lounge, dining room, bedroom and bathroom.
And the returns…?
In one short week The Journey that’s Ours has been reviewed on Bookchat, one of the premier children’s book review sites in South Africa which reaches a global audience. The reviewer is honest and to the point – no bells and whistles, but the title is recommended. I have also been asked to be part of the Franschhoek Literary festival for young readers, one of, if not, the biggest book festival in South Africa. And this is what it’s about. Getting exposure.
The behind the scenes work might be tedious, but I’d rather do it for myself knowing that if I had a mainstream publisher I’d be doing it anyway…
March 13, 2013 in Self Publishing, youth motivational, Youth reading
This week saw the launch of my 4th title The Journey that’ Ours
As you can imagine it was a massive week for me and yes I do feel very proud. But it got me thinking about the launch of my first book The Magic that’s Ours which was launched way back in 2005.
I remember that after the launch of that book I sat back feeling very self-satisfied and thought that now the book is out all is good and well and I can relax. I can’t even begin to imagine how many books are launched on a daily basis, but I’m sure it’s more than all the fingers on both my hands. So more is needed than just to launch a book. It has to be marketed.
Every author should have a website . Every media outlet needs to be contacted with a 1sheeter. This 1sheeter should have links to the website. The 1sheeter should be sent to all the relevant radio, TV, print-media as well as all social networking sites. The word has to get out by any means possible that the book is now released and available. One cannot be shy at this time – be brave – caution thrown to the wind etc. BUT as the media gets inundated with loads of requests more is needed to be done so that the released title sticks out.
The world of publishing is changing dramatically with EBooks now outselling print copies by about 15%. So it’s cheaper to produce a book, but more importantly it’s now easier to give away gifts with every book launch. A gift give away is a great promotional tool to get people interested and excited about the book release. I mean who doesn’t like a gift ?
So here it is. All of my books which have been written for the youth, but not the photographic coffee- table book, are now available in both print and EBook format. And the gift is…?
For every purchase from my website of The Journey that’s Ours, in either EBook or print copy during this week only, the purchaser will receive free EBook copies of The Magic that’s Ours, The Power that’s Ours, AND a visualization guided-meditation download. 3 gifts for the price of one book. Xmas come early? Oh no wait…Happy Easter! My website has been very busy this week. I haven’t had to do much except monitor that all of the gifts are being sent out correctly. You’ve just got to love technology.
So thanks to all for the kind wishes that have been sent, it is truly appreciated.
Come the weekend I will pat myself on the back,(thanks to yoga), I’ll put my feet up and have that long overdue glass of champagne. Come next week I’m going to be hassling all the media outlets about reviews, interviews and exposure….
January 14, 2013 in Photography, Self Publishing, youth inspirational, youth motivational, Youth reading
As an author, whether writing; historical, developmental, or factual, etc pieces, one needs to be honest and believe in what they’re writing about. Once others start to believe in what you’re doing then they’ll take you seriously. If they take you seriously then you could be deemed and expert. If you’re deemed an expert then they’ll appreciate your opinion.
My books written for the youth; The Magic that’s Ours and The Power that’s Ours, are all about the gift of imagination, goal- setting, visualisation techniques, affirmations, the importance of belief and self- belief. I had to continuously prove to myself that what I’m writing about is the truth, so I used them to self – publish the said books as well as a photographic coffee table book Down The Line. I mean if I can’t set and achieve my goals then how can I expect others to believe in what I’m writing about.
But they do. So much so that Oprah’s magazine, “O”, asked me my thoughts about creative visualisation – one of the tools I used to create my books. Below is my input.
November 29, 2012 in Photography, Portraiture, Self Publishing, Travel
With the amount of 1Sheeters that the mainstream media Reviewer’s receive, it’s something to celebrate when a popular radio station is interested in doing an interview about your book. As mentioned previously, publicity is key and it is a numbers game so the more 1 sheeters you get out there the higher the possibility of success. The Voice of The Cape, a local radio station, and SAFM, a National radio station, interviewed me last week to help me promote my book – Down The Line
. Here be the live interview
November 19, 2012 in Self Publishing, youth inspirational, youth motivational, Youth reading
If you’ve got nothing better to do tonight (In South Africa) you can tune in and listen to me being interviewed by Masechabe Mtolo on SAFM’s Talkshop at 20h40. SAFM between 104- 109FM. The talk is all about the importance goal setting for the youth as per my book The Power that’s Ours
November 14, 2012 in Self Publishing
When sending out 1 Sheeters and requesting, exposure, reviews and interviews, the chances that the reviewer would want to see a review copy or 2 of the book is very high. As these copies will come from the original print-run, the delivery including postage/couriering must be calculated into the costings.
The print run for my most recent book - Down The Line
t was 1000 copies, but the printer did deliver 1100 units. Of that 45 copies, along with the 1 sheeter, have been sent out to different media outlets around the country.
And my success rate?
Exposure and review – pre- launch, in a wine industry online Ezine - http://www.winestyle.co.za/
Print interview and exposure in a National Newspaper – Die Burger
Televised interview for a national newspaper’s online publication-http://www.garyhirson.com/media/
Print interview and exposure in a local newspaper The Tatler - http://www.garyhirson.com/media/
Radio interview on Voice of the Cape literacy show at 11am – Thursday 15th November 2012 on – 100.4fm; 95.8fm; 90.9fm
November 13, 2012 in Photography, Portraiture, Self Publishing, Travel, youth inspirational, youth motivational, Youth reading
I’m not sure how many books get launched around the world on a daily basis but I imagine it must be a few more than a couple.
Post-launch the book enters into a very competitive environment jostling against many for reviews and media exposure. Reviews and media exposure are crucial to continuously remind potential suitors why your book should be the one that they spend their hard earned cash on.
Who does one approach? (Mainstream)
Print media – editors, feature editors and book editors/ reviewers
Radio/TV – Programme and content managers. For this medium live interviews are an option and in this case confidence is key as a wavering voice or a nervous presence is picked up by the camera and microphone.
Online media – content managers. This can be a review in a newsletter/blog or a live interview to be posted on Youtube.
How does one get exposure?
Editors and Content managers are busy people who receive countless review requests on a daily basis. At times the topic of the review requested fits in with an upcoming content theme so a response will be quick and positive – but on other occasions it will just be herded on to to the ever increasingly pile of requests.
One has to stand out when sending through a 1 sheeter. A 1 sheeter is exactly what it says – 1 page of what the book is about, including information about the author and all detail – including; selling price and where the book is available. Information longer than 1 page is not recommended as the busy editors etc don’t have the time to read a novel about why the book should be reviewed/mentioned. A suggestion is to write up a 1 sheeter template that can be kept on file and adjusted accordingly.
As correspondence will be via email – use a catchy heading to grab attention. If there is an interesting story on how the book came about BRIEFLY describe it in the 1 sheeter. If you’re some form of expert on the subject mention it. Try to use something that will make your request more interesting than the competition.
Offer signed copy give-aways to readers or listeners as an incentive.
Don’t give up – persistence is key. There is a distinct possibility that your emailed 1 sheeter will slip through the cracks the first/second time around. Just keep trying. Don’t worry about offending the Contacts as you won’t. Sooner or later – if you keep at it – they will let you know if your book fits in with their themes, publication or programming schedule.
Please create an account to get started.
Recent Comments