5 Good Reasons to Attend a Writers’ Conference… Even After You’re Published

Many writers sign up for writers’ conferences in hopes of getting published. Once that has been accomplished, they don’t see the need to attend more conferences. We completely disagree with this mindset.

Here are the five top reasons you should continue to attend conferences, even after you’re published:

1. Networking with other published writers. Being around like-minded writers for a few days or a week is incredibly inspiring and fulfilling.
2. Discovering what others are doing to successfully market their books. Two heads are better than one, and the creative ideas other authors use may work perfectly for your situation.
3. Improving your craft. If you think there’s no room for improvement, you probably shouldn’t be writing! You never know when you may feel called to write a sequel, or to branch out into a new topic area. You’ll pick up lots of practical tips for improving your craft during continuing courses and workshops.
4. Learning how to write articles. We recommend writing articles as a means of promoting your book. Articles provide a great way to spread your message to a larger audience. What better way to learn to write articles effectively than participating in an article writing track or workshop?
5. Attending marketing workshops. You can never have too many ideas for how to build a platform, brand your business, or market yourself. If you utilize Internet marketing (you are doing that, aren’t you?), it’s critical to keep up with the latest developments in the ever-changing landscape of cyberspace.

Here are six of our favorite conferences:

Florida Christian Writers’ Conference (near Orlando, Florida)
Feb 26 – March 1, 2009

Mt. Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference (Mt. Hermon, California, near Santa Cruz)
April 3-7, 2009

Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers’ Conference (Blue Ridge, North Carolina)
May 17-21, 2009

Northwest Christian Writers’ Renewal (formerly SPU Writers’ Renewal; Bothell. Washington)
May 1-2, 2009

Write to Publish Christian Writers’ Conference (Wheaton, Illinois)
June 3-6, 2009

Oregon Christian Writers Summer Coaching Conference (Canby, Oregon near Portland)
July 27-30, 2009

WinePress representatives attend and lead workshops on custom publishing and marketing at about ten conferences a year. We find the conferences beneficial on a personal level; we glean new training and information on writing, marketing, and publishing through workshops and networking. We hope to see you at an upcoming conference!

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Author Interviews

Monday October 27th

Author: William Coburn
Title: The Spanking Room
Radio Show/Station:PrimeTime Chicago on WMBI (a Moody Station)
Host: Steve Hiller
Time: 4:00 EST, 15-20 minutes LIVE

Wednesday October 29th

Author: Todd Perla
Title: End Times Church Deception
Radio Show/Station: Sherri in the Mornin’ on WGBN (PA)
Host: Sherri Johnson
Time: 10:05AM, 10 – 15 minutes, LIVE

Author: Cynthia Simmons
Title: Struggles and Triumphs
Radio Show/Station: Sherri in the Mornin’ on WGBN (PA)
Host: Sherri Johnson
Time: 10:30AM, 10 – 15 minutes, LIVE

Cynthia Simmons was interviewed on Mary’s World blog. This popular blog reviews books and interviews authors.

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The Five Basics of Book Publicity

You’ve written a book you’re excited about. You know it will inspire, inform, challenge, or encourage your reader.

Now comes the fun part: sit back and watch the sales roll in. After all, your book is listed on Amazon.com so there’s nothing left to do, right?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Book Promotion

As a publicist who promotes books every day, I hear some authors share their frustration with low book sales. When I ask them what they’re doing to promote their books, they usually respond, “Nothing.”

If you want your book to sell, you have to promote it. People don’t automatically buy books listed online or in a catalog; they need to become familiar and interested first. That’s where promoting your book comes in.

Opening a Business

If you opened a new retail business you would put up an awning and turn on the open sign to draw customers. Just sitting there would spell low sales and disappointment.

Think of your book as that new business. You’ve invested time and resources to write and publish; now open the doors through promotion and let people know about your book.

Five Basics

Here are the five basics of publicizing your book.

1. Professional media kit – Create a professionally designed media kit; it is a foundation tool to present you to media.
2. Media interviews and events – Schedule media interviews with radio, TV, print, and bookstores to increase awareness of your book, build your speaking platform, and sell books. This is best done by a professional publicist.
3. Speaking engagements – Speak to groups and have your book available for sale afterwards. You’ll be perceived as an expert.
4. Advertise – Advertise to reach readers and complement interviews, speaking, and marketing materials.
5. Marketing materials – Mail and give out marketing materials such as postcards, flyers, and business cards. This kind of grass roots marketing works best in conjunction with interviews and speaking.

Get Started

Sit down and create a promotional strategy for your book that includes as many of the basics as possible. Estimate how much time you have to invest and perhaps partner with a publicist to enhance your efforts.

Remember you have something people need and want but don’t know about… yet. Go ahead, turn on the open sign and tell them about your book!

Adam Cothes is a Pleasant Word Solutions Advisor who helps new authors begin the publishing journey. He also helps coordinate advertising opportunities for authors to gain valuable exposure.

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Tips for Building Your Online Presence

By Laura Christianson
Guest columnist

Blogs. Web sites. Social Networking.

When you ponder the plethora of the online venues from which you can promote your book, it’s hard to know where to start.

Prospective book buyers need 8-to-10 “touches” from you before they remember you, your book, or your brand. Cyberspace is a great place to reach out and touch someone. If you haven’t written or published your book yet but plan to do so during the next two years, NOW is the time to begin making those touches.

Here are a few tips for building your online presence:

Build your hub. Think about the International Space Station. Construction began in 1998 with the Control Module. Gradually, additional modules have been added.

Your online hub should be a Web site and/or a blog. A Web site generally contains static content that changes infrequently. A blog is an interactive Web site—its content is updated on a regular basis (at least weekly).

More and more often, authors and businesses are creating sites that seamlessly integrate blog content with static content. For example, at my business site, www.HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, our blog is on our Home page. Navigation buttons on the Home page lead to inside pages that function more like a traditional Web site. WinePress also offers this service–their authors get a Weblog page and several additional pages to which they can add content.

Gradually add spokes or “modules” to your hub. I consider social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace) and social bookmarking sites (Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon) as spokes. You’ll create a profile at each site (registration is free) and link to and from your hub. Millions of people subscribe to social networking sites, substantially increasing your chances of being found and “touched.”

In future posts, we’ll talk about how to effectively use social networking, but for now, we’ll suggest several sites for you to explore.

• Don’t feel compelled to instantly sign up for each of them. Spend time looking around, visiting other authors’ profiles, and studying how members market themselves.
• After you’ve visited a site several times, ask yourself whether you feel comfortable joining the community, and whether it’ll be worth your time investment to become an active member.

Here are some sites to explore:

General Networking:
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/
Ziggs – http://www.ziggs.com/ (for business professionals)

Targeted Networking:
MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/
Shoutlife – http://www.shoutlife.com/ – Christian social networking for authors, music artists, comics, organizations, and regular folks.

Video Sharing
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/
GodTube – http://www.godtube.com/ – Christian version of YouTube

Book Sharing
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/
Shelfari – www.shelfari.com
BookTour – http://www.booktour.com
Book Marketing Network http://bookmarket.ning.com/ – You can set up your own customized social network at ning.com

Micro Blogging
Twitter – https://twitter.com
Plurk – http://www.plurk.com/

Social Bookmarking
Digg – http://digg.com/
Delicious – http://delicious.com
StumbleUpon – http://www.stumbleupon.com/

What sites do you use/recommend? Leave us a comment!

Laura Christianson is a WinePress author and co-founder of HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, a Seattle-area company that helps individuals and businesses maximize their blogging, marketing, and writing skills.

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Author Interview Round-up

Here are next week’s WinePress and Pleasant Word author interviews.

Monday, October 20

• Stuart Migdon, author of Jesus Take the Wheel, will be interviewed the Viewpoint radio show out of Richmond, VA.

• Virginia Garberding, author of Please Get to Know Me, will appear on the internationally syndicated radio show, Mornings with Lorri and Larry.
  
• Cynthia Simmons, author of Struggles and Triumphs, will be interviewed live on WMPC-AM’s program, Off the Bookshelf. Greg Bullen will host this live, listener call-in show at 10:00 AM Eastern Time.

Tuesday October 21

• Claudia Ward, author of Who Says A Woman Can’t Change, 8 Ways to Prove She Can!, will be on KCMI radio.

• Julie Huggins will talk about her delightful children’s book, Elizabeth’s Gift on WPOS radio.

Wednesday, October 22

• Dr. Kathy Rodriguez, author of Healing the Father Wound, will be interview on Seattle’s largest Christian station – Spirit 105.3.

Friday, October 24

• William Coburn, author of The Spanking Room, will be interviewed on WGRC radio. Forgotten Word Ministries will feature this book on their website.

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