Jumped the gun on promotion

I am the personal assistant to a self-published author who has recently discovered that her book was not ready for publication at the time that she sent it off to the presses. We've been working hard to edit the second edition, fixing everything from formatting to horrible typos that her first editor missed.

We stopped heavy marketing efforts in order to focus on improving the book, but we just received a letter from Barnes & Noble (who we contacted about months ago) saying that they would like to buy 50 copies as soon as we can sign up with one of their accepted wholesalers. The letter encourages us to move quickly on this, but we're worried that we'll mar our relationship with both the wholesalers we need to contact and with Barnes & Noble if we show them the flawed book instead of the new and improved edition, which will probably not be ready until late Fall.

On the other hand, the application we sent to Barnes & Noble included the current copy of the book.

Any suggestions as to what would be in her best interest? Do we wait until the new edition is available to proceed, or will she lose an opportunity by waiting?

Dear Abigail
I jump in here not knowing if you are a real person or just someone doing the hype and bloohhaaa.

I imagine that you are not the author of the work.

If my work was never published, if no one ever read a single word I wrote, I would have to think, why the rush.

Let her and you get it as good as it gets for what she wrote.

Do not put this out on a mesage board if the thing is serious.

Love,
Betty

Thanks for your thoughts, Betty. And no, I'm not the author. I'm the assistant. And it's true that some of the facts of been fudged a bit to "protect the innocent."

And to clarify, the imperfections in the book do not make it unreadable or unejoyable. It has already been accepted for sale in other venues, and it has received good reviews from industry professionals and general readers alike. It just has errors that we are concerned should be cleaned up before we spread the book around.

I think you're right, we do need to be patient and make sure the book is as good as it can be, so that she can be proud of the book she puts out.

Thank you.

I'd follow Marie's advice. . .and be sure to get rid of the errors.

My editor has provided two line by line edits to my manuscript that were then followed by two line by line edits by me. I have just this minute finished my "final" edit to the three previous. The next step is a pdf which will also have a chance for edit, but not for me to change the manuscript as I have been doing tonight. On the pdf, I'll have to name the changes, not a happy proposition. Any of those changes are made and it is formatted for printing. The printing proof is the last chance to make corrections - corrections only, no "choice" changes.

That's a log of edits so I believe the books by this publisher are pretty well error free. I never cease to be amazed how many things I continue to find: lacking end of quote quotation marks, missing "and." Missing a period. Missing a "the." Missing paragraph indents. Occasional spelling errors (pour instead of pore) missed by spellcheck. The list gets pretty lengthy - in the final edits.!!!

I just finished reading several books; they each had maybe three things I noticed in each of their 200 plus pages, and they were very small, like mine above, easy to miss several times.

I have had books sent to me for review, and I was so bogged down by my automatic edit hat that I could not finish reading them and thus simply told the author I would not be providing a review. As a result, I have stopped accepting books to review.

I can find major errors in my own writing by reading backwards, reading out loud, and recording the book and listening. However, I still allow what my mind thought I was writing when something else has appeared. My brain wants to believe I don't make mistakes!

Yeah, I think it's called "writer's blindness." I caught plenty of my own mistakes, too.

About naming the changes on the pdf, were you sent an editable pdf? That's where you can right-click to create a comment box. You type your changes right in the comment box. The box shows up as a yellow cartoon balloon on the pdf file, hard to miss.

I made changes to my own mss on editable pdfs. Making it editable just involves clicking an option button, but the sender has to do this, not the recipient.

Abigail,
I see two questions asked in one. One concerned fixing the book errors and mentioning that you are going to stop the marketing efforts.

The other posts offered great advise about pulling back to ensure that a quality book was launched and informing the bookstore.

However, I would not stop your marketing campaign. It takes a while to gain momentum and you can create quite a buzz in time for the new release.

Just a thought,
Michael

I agree. Promoting and marketing a author and their book doesn't happen overnight. It takes hard work, dedication and persistence. While interacting with other authors, in authors forums and all the wonderful places that authors can and do interact. This makes up for about 1% of a marketing effort, if that. The other 99% of the marketing is found in various areas and must be diligently pursued.

For example creating and launching a authors site or authors blog. It takes more than just creating the site and getting it online. It also requires promoting and marketing that site, otherwise it's lost in that huge online ocean among the millions and it takes time to accomplish this.

It is the same with online marketing. Spreading the word here and there won't cut it. You must expand your marketing greatly just to even make a dent out there and that also takes time.

Regardless of what type of marketing is pursued, it takes time for that marketing to even begin to take affect and must be diligently pursued.

I would recommend promoting and marketing a new book release 60 days in advance or 30 days at the very least as a upcoming or new release while creating a online presence, creating book buzz and allowing everything to take form and fall into place.

Of course some of the old timers around here might not agree, but that's OK, things are constantly changing in many aspects of life.

(-:

Blessings and be blessed.
Christian Book Marketing
www.christian-book-marketing.com

vsantoro wrote:

Abigail,
I see two questions asked in one. One concerned fixing the book errors and mentioning that you are going to stop the marketing efforts.

The other posts offered great advise about pulling back to ensure that a quality book was launched and informing the bookstore.

However, I would not stop your marketing campaign. It takes a while to gain momentum and you can create quite a buzz in time for the new release.

Just a thought,
Michael

Quote :

It is the same with online marketing. Spreading the word here and there won't cut it. You must expand your marketing greatly just to even make a dent out there and that also takes time.

And is also known as spamming.

With 2,295 posts since March of 2009, I guess that I will have to take your word for it. I have managed a wopping 60 plus posts myself.

Now lets take Google ads. Is that spamming?
Let's take Amazon's new book share deal. Is that spamming?

I guess twitter, facebook and endless other communities whereas users share information, sites, blogs, products, savings and every other merchandise or service related product is spamming also?

My God in that case, the entire internet is spamming right down to the user that just wants to share and be heard. Then of course there are our televisions filled with spam commercials. Might as well add the radio to this mix also. I love the music, however, ... who asked for the commercials.

** It is the same with online marketing. Spreading the word here and there won't cut it. You must expand your marketing greatly just to even make a dent out there and that also takes time.

No that's not spamming.... It's wise marketing.

Who would go fishing among the millions of sites and users, using one fishing pole, while the giants and their competition are creating and using networks.

Here is what spam is:

1) Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. ...

2) spam - to send unwanted or junk e-mail
3) spam - unwanted e-mail (usually of a commercial nature sent out in bulk)

4) spammer - someone who sends unwanted email (often in bulk)

Spam is also a canned meat that some find delicious. Personally I never enjoyed it, however I have heard its great on Rye bread.

Smile, be happy and enjoy life.

Quote :

I have managed a wopping 60 plus posts myself.

And almost all 60 are spam. And I bet you have a whole lot more than 2,295 posts, collectively, on all the sites you spam. This is the only site I post on.

Quote :

I guess twitter, facebook and endless other communities whereas users share information, sites, blogs, products, savings and every other merchandise or service related product is spamming also?

Yes, many social networking sites are abused by spammers. What's your point? Do you really think that most people care about self and vanity published books? Most people don't even care about commercially published books that aren't in their genres of interest. They go to social networking sites to, you know, network.

and the beat goes on ....

I have a question regarding the blogging and website. How do you manage to get followers? I try following other people and leaving messages, but I don't get results. What do I need to do to get the word out?

The advice I have seen repeated the most is to have a theme to your blog that will be of interest to readers. You provide valuable information. Your book is just a credential; if they buy your book, it is because they liked the other information on your blog and choose to look at your book.

Many blogs get a following by reviewing books. Others get a following by giving author tips. Some get a following by having contests for which they bestow award widgets to go on web sites.

By visiting other blogs and adding to their information, people who like what you say may follow back to your blog.

A colleague of mine whose book, Dying for a Date, was just published has found herself the accidental guru of dating ... and her blog gives dating advice.

I have not followed my own advice, because a blog needs new material every day and needs to be full of meta tags that the web crawlers will find to raise internet ranking. I ocasionally blog at my web site and at www.redroom.com.

Some self-published books do very well; they are usually non-fiction and are supported by an author who travels and presents at meetings and conferences where the book is included in the entry fee.

My church has a regular string of presenters who believe they have written THE spiritual book and give a "love offering" workshop to sell their book.

Hi Cynthia,

You could check out this author's website (more than eighty books published -- both fiction and non-fiction). She has three blogs listed on her website:

http://www.nicolamorgan.co.uk/

There are four posts about Twitter on the "Help! I Need a Publisher!" blog:

Twittering Is not just for Birds:

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2009/10/twittering-is-not-just-for-birds.html

Twitter for Authors Part 1: Why?

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2010/08/twitter-for-authors-part-1-why.html

Twitter for Authors Part 2: Begin to Follow

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2010/08/twitter-for-authors-part-2-begin-to.html

Twitter for Authors Part 3: Tweeting in the Void

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2010/08/twitter-for-authors-part-3-tweeting-in.html

You will find loads of information about writing and publishing on her blogs.