How to Pick Promotional Products to Spread Your Message
We’ve all seen it—a child’s recent art work held up by a refrigerator magnet reminding you of a particular company’s contact information.
Look on your desk or in your purse. How many pens do you have with a business name and phone number imprinted on them? Millions of people just like you may not know where these products came from or how they got them, but they use them all the time.
Promotional products can range from printed paper materials like scratch pads, bookmarks, to plush toy animals or tools. They’re a great way to influence people to remember you.
As an author, you can remind people of your book through bookmarks, business cards, or any number of creative creations. There are many ways to spread the message, service, or product you offer.
Authors are particularly very creative with promotional products to match their books. Though bookmarks or postcards provide great introductions, you can expand your reach with additional creative products that showcase your book.
As an example, we have an author who wrote a book on finances. She offers a calculator and piggy bank to help parents teach their children financial responsibility.
Another author has a children’s book and commissioned one of the characters to be made into a plush toy.
Three things you need to put promotional products into your readers’ hands:
1. Brainstorm
Make a list of ideas of things that might relate to your book. With over 750,000 products to put your name or book title on, there will be just the perfect item for you. Choose fun, interesting, or practical products that support your message.
2. Demographics
Narrow down the list of the people you want to reach. Are they home makers, church goers, college students, or business professionals? Consider where they will be when they need your product the most and might pick it up when that time comes.
3. Consultation
Use a great company with a good reputation that can offer you many different choices and help you find the right product for your book. There are many companies to choose from online and off, but a pen or a mug may not be the right product for you. Talking with an expert can help you come up with creative ideas that will draw attention to your book and keep you in the forefront of your audiences minds.
After years of helping authors creatively market their books, WinePress Publishing established Notation Printing & Marketing Group . Since 2007, Notation has helped authors, small businesses, and organizations build strong marketing campaigns and brands. Their marketing experts love to brainstrom ideas for promotional products and programs that generate results.
Tweet This!Why a Screenplay Critique Might Work for You
Have you ever envisioned yourself in a particular scene when reading a novel or memoir? Everything is so clear – you can smell the flowers, feel the branches of the trees, and hear the river flowing.
Your job, as a writer, is to take the reader and bring them into the story. If you have any weakness in developing your plot, characters, or setting, you would benefit from a screenplay critique.
Triggering Imagination
When you’re formulating your plot, there is one area that is always gray to the author: the readers’ imagination. There is no way to know exactly what your readers will experience when they read what you write. However, you can expand their imagination through good writing. A screenplay critique can help you develop your plot to make it engaging and realistic. Screenwriters know how to trigger certain emotions and imaginations.
“Growing” Your Characters
When the good guy always does good and the bad guy always does bad, doesn’t it make a story boring? There needs to be a struggle – characters that grow. However, if your characters change too much, there is nothing left for the reader to remember them by – they only remember the struggle. (Read Pride And Prejudice
Bringing Your Scenes to Life
Finally, once you have your plot and characters developed, it’s time to bring the reader into the story, by creating vivid scenes.
How?
Simple. Write the scene how you envision it. Working with a professional screenwriter to find the right words for each piece can help you bring the scene to life.
Okay, so why do you need all of this when your goal is simply to reach people with your message? Because readers set aside preachy, boring writing, except in the case of devotionals and commentaries.
Poor writing = poor audience
If you have a message you want to tell people, but the writing is poor or not interesting, readers will not spend enough time to understand what you’re after. Why not have a screenwriter help you strengthen your writing?
WinePress offers an exclusive service that helps authors with a great story launch to the silver screen. We partner with some of the best screenwriters in the industry help you improve your writing through a screenplay critique and coach you on how to transform your book into a screenplay.
For more information: From Story to Film, or give us a call at 1-800-326-4674.
Tweet This!WinePress & Pleasant Word Authors to Guest on Radio Shows
Two of our authors will be making guest appearances on radio shows this week:
Monday, August 30, 2010
10:30 a.m. Mountain Time
Eleanor Clark, author of The Legacy of Lord Baden-Powell, will appear on the Coffee Break Hour with host Sherry Kaiser. The show airs on KCMI 96.9 FM in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
5:30 p.m. Central Time
Laura C. Bower, author of WordSpeak, will appear on the Dr. Gina Show on KJSL 630 AM TruthTalk with host, Gina Loudon. The show airs in St. Louis, Kansas City, and the surrounding areas.
Tweet This!Being Used By God: WinePress Author on CBN.com
Thanks to a collaboration with WinePress Publishing’s publicity services, author Steve Schaefer and his book, Living in the Overlap, were recently featured on the front page of CBN.com.
CBN featured an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Living in the Overlap as part of their Spiritual Life, Bible Study and Theology section. Read it here.
Living in the Overlap: How Jesus’ Kingdom Proclamation Can Transform Your World clarifies a topic that many Christians find mysterious, exploring the challenges and benefits of living in a kingdom that is both “already” and “not yet.”
As Schaefer says, “We who live in the overlap are amphibious creatures, navigating two worlds simultaneously as we begin our transition from one to the other. We are Jed Clampetts, tasting the splendors of Beverly Hills without having lost our Ozark accents or our fondness for fried possum and crow gizzards. Like Jed, we should not expect a seamless transition.
You can find out more about Steve Schaefer and his thought-provoking book at www.livingintheoverlap.com.
Tweet This!Canadian Author Gives 5 Effective Marketing Strategies
Writers often hear from their publicists and marketing representatives how to launch their book on its campaign trail, but today let’s hear from Els Van Hierden, author of Ransomed.
Realizing the first few months after a book is published is critical for promotions, Els adopted what she calls the “Book of Acts” principle: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the outer ends of the world as her campaign trail. She works diligently to promote her message, and now shares her effective marketing tips:
1. Begin with a Media Campaign in your Community
“Most local newspapers, radio and television stations are happy to give an interview. Also, contact your local book stores. Even secular stores are open to carrying Christian books, but your first contact should be your Christian bookstore. Offer to do a book signing, and make the book a popular option for them to carry.”
2. Branch Out Using the Same Technique
“‘Employ’ your friends as book sellers and offer them a percentage of the sale to reach their circle of influence. Connect with organizations that might be interested in your topic.
I offered my book to various organizations as a fund raiser. Because my book deals with adoption, abortion and healing from post-abortion syndrome, I was also able to market it through various pro-life organizations and adoption agencies. And, because I donate a certain amount to charitable organizations, many people are excited to help with this project.”
3. Advertise Your Book
“An effective way to promote your book is through online advertising through blogs and Facebook. Thanks to WinePress, my book has been featured on many blogs and featured in book give-aways. This has connected me with people all across the United States.”
4. Ask, “How does my book add value?”
“The number one thing we need to ask ourselves is, ‘How can my book add value to the others?’ If it’s all about us and our book, our success will be limited. Only when we begin to offer up our product as a tool to be used by others, will we find success.”
5. Attend a Conference
“I found the ICRS 2010 to be a great inspiration. Connecting with other authors and so many people in the industry was great. I came home with renewed vigor to continue the process. Remember not to push yourself on people, but allow the Lord to arrange meetings.”
About Els:
Els and her husband Edward adopted their fifth child from Russia in 2006. She has combined her passion for writing and her heart for suffering children to produce this compelling novel, based on her personal experience in Russia.
About Ransomed:
Russia, 2003. An infertile couple seeks adoption, a grieving American businessman pours his life into homeless teens, and a wounded orphanage director is haunted by her past. Can they bring hope to the orphans, and find healing for themselves?
Related article:
‘Ransomed’ Novel Receives Favorable Review
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