GenreLitChat #1: Storify Transcript

Beverly Bambury/ December 8, 2013/ #GenreLitChat, authors, Book Marketing, Interviews, Publicity, Storify, Transcript, Twitter, writers/ 0 comments

The first #GenreLitChat this past Thursday went well. The three authors who were on the panel (John Mantooth, Heidi Ruby Miller, and Nathan Ballingrud,) had a good time, and as the moderator I found myself surprised by how quickly the hour went. I had several questions I wish I’d had time to ask. All in all, it’s not a bad thing to be left wanting more! If you missed it, you can check out the Storify transcript below. You can also follow the #GenreLitChat hashtag via Twitter itself, or on Twubs. Let me know what you think in the comments, and thank you–as always–for reading. [View the story “GenreLitChat #1: Mantooth, Ballingrud, and Miller” on Storify]

Review Copies, Ebooks, and Pirating: Book Marketing without B.S. #5

Beverly Bambury/ December 5, 2013/ Book Marketing, BookMarketingWithoutBS, Publicity, reviews, Self-Promotion/ 0 comments

Book Marketing without B.S. is a weekly publicity and marketing advice column for writers and other creators who prefer a realistic, clear, and no-nonsense approach. My goal is to help you cut through the bullshit with direct, understandable advice you won’t be embarrassed to follow. Send your questions to beverly@beverlybambury.com. Want reviews? Of course you do! This means that you have to send review copies, and this can get expensive with numerous physical books to send. Many of you are paying for these directly or are with a small publisher whose budgets are as tight as your own. A few of you lucky devils will be with large publishers who furnish all review copies, whether physical or through NetGalley. In fact, this post may

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#GenreLitChat: An Occasional Twitter Chat about Genre

Beverly Bambury/ December 3, 2013/ #GenreLitChat, Announcements, authors, Book Marketing, Publicity, Scheduling, Twitter/ 0 comments

Introducing #GenreLitChat, an occasional Twitter chat with writers on the state of genre, and how their work does–or doesn’t–fit. The kickoff chat is just in time for your holiday book buying needs! It’s this Thursday, December 5th at 8:30 p.m. EST/5:30 p.m. PST with John Mantooth, author of The Year of the Storm (Berkley/Penguin), Heidi Ruby Miller, author of Green Shift (Raw Dog Screaming Press), and Nathan Ballingrud, author of short story collection North American Lake Monsters (Small Beer Press). When you join the chat, you can use this page (http://twubs.com/GenreLitChat) which will focus only on the hashtag, and even automatically insert the hashtag for you if you ask questions or reply. Alternatively, you can follow the hashtag #GenreLitChat right on Twitter, but make

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My SFContario 4 Schedule, Including Free, Open to the Public Workshop

Beverly Bambury/ November 28, 2013/ Book Marketing, Conventions, DIY, Marketing, Publicity, Self-Promotion, self-publishing/ 0 comments

Book Marketing without B.S. is taking a week off for U.S. Thanksgiving. Check back next week for #5. In the meantime, I will be at SFContario 4 this weekend (as will my husband. As you can see below, I am not the only Bambury out there!). Saturday is a busy day of panels for me, and Sunday I am running a free, open to the public workshop that will help you create a marketing and publicity plan for your creative work. Take a look, and if you see me, please say hello! I promise I don’t bite. Talk a lot, maybe, but no biting. Finally, don’t forget to check out my recent guest post by Effie Seiberg, all about doing conventions on the cheap.

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How Far in Advance to Hire a Publicist and a Book Marketing Plan Timeline: Book Marketing without B.S. #4

Beverly Bambury/ November 22, 2013/ Author Readings, Blog Tour, Book Marketing, BookMarketingWithoutBS, Publicity, Publishing, Queries, reviews, Scheduling, Self-Promotion, self-publishing, Timing, Traditional Media, Useful Stuff/ 0 comments

Book Marketing without B.S. is a weekly publicity and marketing advice column for writers and other creators who prefer a realistic, clear, and no-nonsense approach. My goal is to help you cut through the bullshit with direct, understandable advice you won’t be embarrassed to follow. Send your questions to beverly@beverlybambury.com. Today brings another pair of related questions. The first is “How long before my book comes out should I hire a publicist?” It depends to a certain degree what you’re looking for and on how in-demand the publicist is. My business is relatively young, so six months is plenty of lead time for me, and I can absolutely work with much less if required. I’ve even done emergency publicity! Ideally, for prose novels, pre-work work

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Guest Blog: Small Press Tips & Lessons from the Booksburgh Book Store Hop

Beverly Bambury/ November 1, 2013/ Author Readings, Book Marketing, Book Signings, Book Tours, DIY, Guest Post, Marketing, Publicity/ 0 comments

Today’s guest blog is by Jennifer Barnes, of small publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press (RDSP). She organizes social media and events, and today she’s come by to share her experience organizing a madcap day in which RDSP took over Pittsburgh, doing a reading/signing each hour for five hours, at five different locations. Even if you aren’t a publisher, you may find some of these hints useful in organizing events with your writing group or other writer friends. Enjoy! Over the years RDSP has done all kinds of events from gigantic book fairs like BEA to readings in a decommissioned lunatic asylum. It takes a lot of planning to get the most out of events and you can learn from each one. We recently did

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The Secret to Contacting Traditional Media for Book Publicity

Beverly Bambury/ October 23, 2013/ Book Marketing, DIY, Product Placement in Books, Queries, Self-Promotion, Social Skills, Traditional Media/ 0 comments

I haven’t contacted as many traditional media outlets as I have websites and bloggers for publicity–if for no other reason than traditional media is on a decline or integrating with online media–but, as it turns out, the secret is that there isn’t much of a secret. It still remains connections, politeness, reading directions, and being an all-around good human being. I go into some of this in my earlier article 5 Steps to a Quality Blog Tour, but here is more info with an eye toward bigger sites/traditional media publicity queries. ConnectionsThe main difference I’ve found with my work is that personal connections and networking count for even more with bigger publications, print, television, or otherwise. It’s not impossible to get into a major

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