Writing News; Volunteering & Alternatives to Violence

-- Book Review -- 

I am so excited to share a book review that was recently written for our 3rd book by Jill Jepson of Writing the Whirlwind Newsletter (www.writingthewhirlwind.net)

Purple Snowflake Marketing: How to Make Your Book Stand Out in the Crowd - by Dave and Lillian Brummet
 

Hope for authors abounds in this superb guide to promoting your book.

The numbers are grim. Over 150,000 books make it to the marketplace every year. More than a million volumes vie for attention on bookstore shelves and websites. Publishers promote only a small number of the books they produce. After years of work, authors too often find their work vanishing into obscurity a few weeks after publication--unless they take matters into their own hands. 

The problem is that most writers lack the skill, confidence, and know-how to promote themselves. Many dread the work of self-promotion--some are downright phobic about it. Others plunge into their own marketing with more bravado than expertise. Some writers even consider it beneath them. "I'm a writer, not a publicist," one author used to say frequently. (Okay, it was me. But that was a few years ago.)

Purple Snowflake Marketing is for all of those writers. This excellent resource takes the seemingly overwhelming task of marketing your own book and makes it manageable. What makes Purple Snowflake Marketing worthwhile? Several things.

First, authors Dave and Lillian Brummet know how demanding book promotion can be. As writers themselves--they have published three books and numerous articles--they approach the challenges of marketing with an author's sensibility. Many marketing books handle writers' fear of self-promotion with boot-camp bullying: too darn bad, get out there anyway. Others present simplistic "Become a Best-Selling Author by Next Month" schemes.  Purple Snowflake Marketing does neither. Instead, it offers matter-of-fact guidance to the real world of book promotion.

Second, the Brummets' suggestions are realistic and do-able. You don't have to be a marketing expert, a sales dynamo, or PT Barnum to use their techniques. They are aware that you don't have a million-dollar advertising budget--and may not even have a $1,000 advertising budget. They offer scores of suggestions for promoting your book even when your resources are limited. 

Third, Purple Snowflake Marketing is action based. The Brummets steer clear of self-help clichés like "think positively" and "have faith in yourself." Instead, they offer clear-cut steps you can take to start promoting your book today. And they show you how to take those steps--such as how to get your book reviewed, draw traffic to your website, and get a mailing list.  

  

Purple Snowflake Marketing is chock full of information--from definitions of publishing terms to contact information for obtaining copyrights to the top ten most literate cities in the country. It includes sample press releases, a list of questions you might expect to be asked in an interview, an extensive list of author-friendly blogs and radio shows, and much more.

This very readable book uses a helpful Q & A format in places and is laced with quotes from publicists and authors.

If you have published a book--or hope to someday--Purple Snowflake Marketing: How to Make Your Book Stand Out in the Crowd is not merely useful, it is indispensable.

Find out more at www.brummet.ca/purple.html .

*Thank you Jill for this phenomenal review!

--  E-book News --

As Dave and I are just reaching the point in our schedules where we can once again concentrate on our e-book production and affiliate association networking team, we are finding ourselves incredibly inspired by recent news about this format.

According to an In-Stat June 2009 report, “Worldwide e-book shipments are expected to reach 28.6 million units in 2013. Market drivers include new entrants to market, international expansion of e-book availability, anticipated price declines, and the electronic distribution of newspapers.” In-Stat goes to to predict that by 2013, eBooks will be a close to a nine-billion-dollar industry.

One of our contacts via LinkedIn sent us a message about an interesting post on a blog maintained by Meridith Greene: http://sacramentobookreview.com - where we learned that the Association of American Publishers April 2010 book sales statistics revealed that adult hardcover and paperback sales have increased, and e-book sales have increased by 127 percent in the month of April alone.

 -- Conscious Discussions Talk Radio --

Our guest today on the Conscious Discussions Talk Radio show (airs 10 AM Pacific and will be archived):

Chloe Jon Paul is an author and speaker; her strongest passions in life is volunteering as the coordinator for the Good Samaritan Project and her work with the Alternatives to Violence Project - which is an international organization. Our topics will range between Writing, Caregiving and Volunteer Work Click on the hyper-links here or look to the sidebars on this blog for recently aired episodes.

Find Dave and Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio shows and free resources and more at: www.brummet.ca