Selecting Influencers for a Book Release: The Solution

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Wrapping up my 3-part series on selecting influencers for a book release…

The goal of an influencer mailing for a newly published book is to put your book into the hands of folks with trusted names, contact with a large audience, and a willingness or ability to endorse your book. Missing any of these three things will mean your book either ends up on someone’s shelf or at least doesn’t reach a wide group of potential readers.

The solution is to carefully balance the kinds of influencers you contact. It is rare to find an influencer who meets all three criteria perfectly. Nevertheless, it’s worth sending copies to well-known influencers in the media or in your field, especially if you’ve had contact with them in the past.

Let’s say you send out 5-15 of your 50 influencer copies to folks in this camp. Maybe they won’t have the time to take a look at your book, but should they endorse it, you’ll have a chance to reach a broader audience. It may be worth taking a chance on some radio personalities, especially if their shows connect with your potential readers.

The next 20-30 copies should go to those who have a solid following or niche that trusts them and will be willing to interact with your work. There are a lot of very good blogs and podcasts out there with readers and listeners who may very well give your book a shot. In fact, because these are highly interactive networks with a higher trust factor than perhaps those with a bigger name, the potential readers in these networks may be more willing to buy your book.

I think this segment is easy to overlook because their reach may be in the hundreds or low thousands. However, keep in mind that these influencers will be easier to contact, more likely to interact with you, and have a lot more to gain if you can provide content for their blogs/podcasts as opposed to a major media player with lots of options for their shows. In addition, providing these bloggers and podcasters with a free book or two to give away always helps.

Lastly, never underestimate those the power of those with small audiences who are still very trusted and willing to endorse your book. Be sure to set aside about 10-15 copies for this group. With Twitter and Facebook even the smallest blogs can easily plug a book among hundreds of people. If you can provide an influencer who is passionate about your book with some great interviews, excerpts, and a free copy to review, your book may receive a lot more attention than a brief endorsement from a well-known influencer.

At the end of the day, it’s most important that authors connect with influencers who are passionate about their work and willing to talk about it. If you can put a free copy of your book into the hands of someone willing to talk about it, you’ve done the most important part of an influencer mailing.

Nevertheless, your work is not done. Authors need to make themselves available to help each influencer talk about their work, supporting them, and driving traffic to their web sites. Book publicity is always a two-way street. There is no room for the entitled author.

Previously…

Selecting Influencers for a Book Release: The Problem

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Continuing my 3-part series on selecting influencers for a book release…

When you begin selecting influential people to help spread the word about your book, keep in mind the three qualities that you’re looking for: trusted names, contact with a large audience, and a willingness or ability to endorse your book.

In compiling my own list of influencers I worked very hard to contact those with large audiences and a trusted name, but I didn’t necessarily gauge the likelihood that they would plug my book. Keep in mind that the bigger a name, the more books he/she will receive. They can’t read every book that comes onto their desks, and so the question is, “Will this person both read and talk about my book?”

If an influencer doesn’t read your book, it’s nothing personal. There are only so many hours in a day. In addition, some may hope to read and talk about your book with their audience only for your book to fall through the cracks. Within days of receiving my book one well-meaning influencer realized he wouldn’t have time to read it and so he gave it away on his web site.

No exactly the ideal publicity you’re aiming for.

And so the challenge you face is balancing the audience size and trust of an influencer with that person’s ability to plug book whether in conversations or in an online or on-air review. However, the right kind of influencer for your book may not have that large of an audience and may even look quite different from what you expcet.

The next installments in this series…

  • Selecting influencers for a book release: The Solution

Previously…

Selecting Influencers for a Book Release: The Goal

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Before a book releases it is important for authors to assemble lists of influencers who can help promote and possibly add a public endorsement that will prompt others to buy their books. For instance, if a respected author, radio personality, or, in my case, pastor of a large congregation recommends a book, especially saying it’s a must-read, then a book may well receive a bump in sales.

Selling a book tends to be a very personal, one on one process. Advertising may raise awareness, but anything from a friend’s recommendation, a book seller’s comments, or an online review often makes the difference between a book staying on the shelf or ending up on the nightstand. In addition, a series of solid reviews do not guarantee brisk sales, just as negative reviews do not equal a book’s doom.

There is plenty of competition these days for not only the public’s attention, but also for the public’s disposable income. When trusted authorities recommend a book, authors have one more way to connect a book with readers. Influencers can vouch for an author’s credibility and provide a broad point of connection with potential readers.

The ideal influencers will have trusted names, contact with a large audience, and a willingness to endorse your book. Influencers may lead to direct sales or at least give readers another reason to recommend your book.

An influencer without one of these three qualities may not be a helpful contact. In the next post of this series I’ll look into some of the problems authors encounter in putting together an influencer list.

The next installments in this series…

The Books We Should Write

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

With book sales slumping and publishers cutting back on their acquisitions, authors need to take a long, hard look at the kinds of books they write. No one wants to sell ideas that no one will either acquire or few will purchase. In addition, I would hope that writers want to write works that are enduring and helpful far beyond a mere moment in time.

My college had a quote by John Ruskin engraved on the library walls that read, “All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.” Writing a book for all time is a tall order that many writers will not be able to fill, but this strikes me as a noble goal. Can we write books that are relevant and practical for today that still touch on themes and ideas that can still transcend the moment?

These books for all time are the ones we want to buy because we’ll reread them. They have a powerful message, a compelling story, or a way of dealing with life that connects with readers.

Many books are written to address the matters we face here and now, and that can be a very good thing at times. However, I wonder if our book ideas are too limited to the short term. Have we focused on the present and the needs of a current niche so completely that we’re losing our ability to write works with enduring content?

When I think of my own field of religion, I’m often reminded of Dietrich Bonheoffer’s classic The Cost of Discipleship. He unmistakably speaks to the issues of his day and the state of the church in Germany. However, his message can be easily carried into other contexts, offering substantive concepts that require reading and rereading.

Bonheoffer’s work challenges readers well over sixty years after his death, offering weighty material that has endured the test of time. When I think of a book worth purchasing, I want something that will last, that demands rereading, and offers a story or message that leaves readers in deep consideration.

As for the ideas grounded in the present or more limited in scope, we still have a place for them. These could thrive in ebooks, blogs, magazines, and newspapers. While some of them may sell as traditionally published books, will the tremendous time and costs of the publishing process justify the ends when they could have a much wider distribution and hourly compensation as magazine or web stories?

Many nonfiction books could be broken into profitable articles that could very well gain a wider readership and build a platform, putting an author in to a better marketing position when writing a more enduring book.

There will always be books of the moment. However, before authors invest significant time into publishing a book that may bring in meager profits and attract a relatively small audience, they should consider options beyond publishing a book and books that may bring more long-term value.

How to Write a First Draft of a Book

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Writing a book is a long, drawn-out process. It’s hard to say when you’re “done” other than that moment when the book arrives in your mail box and sits on your coffee table like a long lost friend. Nevertheless, along the way there are certain mile stones to aim for and to celebrate.

Yesterday I wrapped up the first draft of my next book Saving Evangelicals from Themselves. The first draft often entails the lion’s share of the book writing process. There is research, brainstorming, organizing, stream of consciousness writing, editing, reorganizing, more writing, and more editing and polishing.

By 5 PM yesterday I had my draft completely finished and ready for the publisher. It even came close to the 60,000 word count with a total of 61,610 words. I’d like to share a little bit about the process of writing a first draft of a book. I hope this helps as you plunge into your own projects.

Read… A Lot

You don’t need to quote directly from every book or cite everything, but read, skim, or browse as many books as you can in your topic area. You want to communicate your own ideas in fresh ways, while giving credit where it is due.

Research

Set up Google Alerts for your subject areas, read and tag articles using del.icio.us, dig through surveys, and look up articles in key papers and magazines such as Time, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and any other magazine closely related to your topic. For myself I keep a close eye on Christianity Today.

Organize and Outline

You need to know where your book is going, and so a rough outline is necessary. Don’t be afraid to delete, add, or reorder chapters as you set out. Better now than later. Set up a rough idea of each chapter’s trajectory.

Write, Write, Write

I like to just cut loose and write a ton once I have some research and outlines to provide general guidance. I end up scrapping at least 25-35% of what I write, but the core that remains is generally pretty solid. Let your mind wander, write about things you care about, and think deeply about your topic. Always keep in mind your one-two sentence summary of your book from your proposal (you did put together a proposal first, right? If not, do that NOW!)

Fill In Gaps

After you have a good chunk of material together, you need to fill in the gaps with more research, quotes, and stories. Try to get a sense of the flow of your chapter. Are you on target? Can readers follow with you? Are they still interested? Have you backed up your claims? This is the time to ask hard questions and to be critical of your work. I have a scrap folder for each book with a document that matches each chapter. Many scrap documents have at least 7 pages of material in them. That means you need to keep adding content to your chapters, making sure you’ve sharpened your points.

Seek Opinions

When you’re relatively confident you have a solid chunk of chapter, seek out a friend or two to read it. Ask them to point out places where stories don’t work, ideas need to be developed, or the whole thing falls off course. I recommend at least two different readers since people can be very different in how they read something.

Never Stop Researching

Hopefully you’ve been keeping up on your field while you’re doing the heavy part of the writing. By saving key stories and articles on del.icio.us I have saved myself on several occasions. You never know when a crucial piece of information will surface.

The Critical Read-Through

Keeping in mind your book’s focus, reader-benefits, and goals, read through each chapter with a critical eye to anything that doesn’t fit, discredits you as a writer, loses your readers, or doesn’t sound quite right. Kill adverbs without mercy, tighten up sentence structure, delete a lot, insert strong verbs, and make sure you begin and end with bang.

Hit Send, Tell a Friend, and Buy Yourself a Treat

It’s a wonderful feeling to hit the send button when you’re done with a key phase of a book project. Celebrate the moment, treat yourself to something you enjoy, and share the joy of the moment with your friends. Chances are you won’t be celebrating when your editor writes back in two months with the revisions you need to make… 😉

After the Poets and Writers Weekend in Manchester, Thoughts on the Publishing World…

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

I once again participated in the Poets and Writers Weekend in Manchester. It’s a great event planned on a shoe string, but put together with some great presenters and wonderful hosts. Beth and Clemma did a stellar job organizing the event.

I’d like to share a few observations about the weekend from my end of things, especially as a panelist on the changes in publishing and as a presenter.

Jumping to self publishing too fast: Self-publishing is a wonderful option, and with the machine at the Northshire Bookstore, it’s a great option. However I noticed far too many would be authors, who couldn’t find a publisher on their own, jumping right to the self-publishing option. First of all, self-publishing, in my view, should either be a strategic move because you’ll have the right publicity channels and resources to get the word out or because you’re plain out of options. Secondly, it is very, very hard to get a book published without an agent who not only has the contacts, but will hone a writer’s proposal into the right stuff for publisher. Before self-publishing, every writer needs to look long and hard for an agent who can put their proposals into the hands of publishers. Keep in mind that agents should only take a cut of your book’s sales. If an agent wants money up front, don’t go for it.

From Idea to Editor: We didn’t spend too much time talking about the particulars of working a book idea into a winning proposal that will wow an editor. I think a workshop on that next year would be a great help. There is so much research that needs to go into a proposal, and I can’t stress enough the importance of finding a good editor to polish it. Good editors will bring your most important ideas to the front, cut away the unnecessary junk, and make your writing shine. You can’t afford to not have that when you hand in your proposal. Can you imagine how terrible it would be to bore an editor?

Doom and gloom in the book world: The publishing panel offered a very sobering assessment of the publishing industry, one that is fraught with uncertainty as blogs, e-books, and a down economy eat up profits. One of the things we didn’t get to cover too much was the possibility of books as art in and of themselves—merging art and word together in the pages of books may create an experience that cannot be duplicated on a computer screen. We didn’t have time to get into all of that, but as far as a new direction for publishing, check out books such as Jesus for President and Refractions. They mix art with the written word and may be the kind of books customers will still want to own in a physical format.

What You Can and Cannot Control in Book Publishing

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

As I’ve shopped around book ideas, I’ve heard the publisher equivalent of the “It’s not you, it’s me” break up line—as in, “We love your proposal, it’s just not a good fit for us right now.

In publishing there are some things within your control, while others fall into the intangibles column. After looking for a publisher a few years ago, my agent began talking with NavPress. NavPress was looking to dig into practical theology, taking on the relevance of the Bible for today’s issues—that’s my take on them at least—making my Coffeehouse Theology book proposal a great fit for them. I hit them in the midst of a transition into a new line of books, meaning a new crop of authors.

In addition, NavPress has since revamped their web site and has a lot of exciting promotions coming up. Fresh ideas are welcome and there is a lot of enthusiasm to connect with readers in new ways, which encourages me and stimulates my thinking. It’s wonderful to be so intimately connected with the marketing of my book, thinking of the kind of promotions I would want to see as a reader. From my perspective, NavPress and I found each other at a great time.

While luck/good timing certainly played a part in my steps toward publishing, there were many things within my control…

I spent years practicing my writing online through blogs and a few magazines (though there’s no education like working with a book development editor), and began to develop my own voice and writing style. That experience was priceless as I set out to rewrite my book.

While blogging regularly, I began networking with fellow bloggers, keeping in mind that I may one day want to ask them to review my book on their blogs one day. Some of these bloggers have become online friends, and it’s wonderful to interact with their insights and ideas on a regular basis. They help me think and write better.

Read widely and broadly with an eye to what makes good writing work. I read the New York Times, Time Magazine, articles on the Del.icio.us hotlist, Google News, and blogs on a daily basis. I try to keep one bestselling nonfiction book on my night stand (I’m working my way through Malcolm Gladwell’s books right now) and a couple Christian books since that’s my main market, Refractions and The Secret Message of Jesus of late. While I want to learn from great writers in my field, almost any good writer can point me toward better use of language, style, or story structure. A few authors on our bookshelf include Lauren Winnter, Anne Lamott, Barbara Kingsolver, and Ruth Reichl.

Refine your book proposal so that it presents a real need and then fulfills it. The basic need I presented with my Coffeehouse Theology proposal was two-fold: theology is not accessible and Christians end up fighting each other over theology. I offered to make theology an accessible, unity-building practice for Christians in everyday life. If you can’t sum up your idea succinctly, then you’re not ready to write a focused, to-the-point proposal.

While all of these pieces were crucial steps, my practice and hard work were not enough. I needed a break, a situation that created the perfect opportunity for my book proposal to receive a green light. I know how it feels to read the rejection e-mails and letters, so if you’re a budding writer dealing with rejection for the first time, I feel your pain. You have unfortunately chosen a profession where the “no’s” will outnumber the “yea’s.”

Of course there may be times when you can wow a publisher with a bold, fresh idea. However, the break up letters will be inevitable. My advice is to work hard, keep getting your work out there, and make sure when a publisher says, “It’s not you, it’s me,” they will be absolutely correct.

Lessons from the Past Six Months on Writing

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

By the time Coffeehouse Theology was released in September 2008, I was well on my way with my next book project—writing stories, searching for articles, and testing out ideas. I had one foot in marketing and the other in a new project on evangelicals: Saving Evangelicals from Themselves: Where We’ve Gone Wrong and Why We Have Hope. Without the head start seminary afforded on Coffeehouse Theology, I learned a few lessons in the course of writing a first draft for a book completely from scratch.

Using del.icio.us to not only tag and organize links, but to also set aside material worthy of a quotation made the research process much easier. At first I just tagged everything that looked relevant, but soon I realized that it helps to read the articles first rather than assuming I’d read them later. I rarely did that! So I read through, highlighted the section I wanted to quote, and then tagged them. By highlighting a section, I could then find it on my del.icio.us bookmarks without have to reread the whole article.

Small sticky notes make it much easier to find quotations from books. I had a system of using small sticky notes as tabs sticking out of books. I’d typically stick the note to the page, make a bracket around the relevant text, and then jot a few words connecting the quote with a particular chapter. I later found that many of my quotes didn’t fit, but without taking the time to mark everything that seemed important, I doubt I would have been able to find enough helpful quotations to pull from the many books I read.

Lining up readers for your drafts is absolutely essential. I received invaluable advice from my readers who soldiered through my early drafts. One chapter needed to be deleted, while another began with too much intensity. In both cases my readers helped prompt significant changes to my book that I believe will make it more successful.

Writing down many of my stories and anecdotes months before I began seriously working on the chapters helped me sort through the most important topics to be covered in the book. This book could have taken a couple of different directions, but I wanted it to unfold as organically as possible, letting my stories direct and shape the overall direction and point of the book. By starting with a solid core of stories totaling 30,000 words, I quickly ruled out certain chapters that would not have enough substance to work within the parameters I had established for the book.

Anything written can be deleted. I have found that I am continually amazed at what ends up working and what ends up being tossing into the “scraps” folder. Never tire of using the delete button.

Writing a Nonfiction Chapter: Integrating Research

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

By now you should have some solid fragments of writing, a loosely organized outline, and some gaps that have been filled in. The next step is integrating quotes and sources into your writing.

Over the six-month to a year process of writing, you should be reading articles, listening to conferences, reading books, and gathering the information together under chapter categories. Sometimes you’re just expanding your knowledge, which is necessary for writing a book, but in other cases you’re accumulating quotes and key points of research that will back up your writing.

While reading books I tend to use small sticky notes to flag particular pages, writing on the notes where I imagine the quote fitting into the chapter. This can save a tremendous amount of time flipping through each book in search of quotes. In the case of online material, I heavily rely on del.icio.us, an online bookmarking service that allows you to tag web pages in particular categories, as well as saving chunks of text you’d like to quote. When you have an idea of where your chapter is going, these sticky note tabs and online bookmarks will help fill in your chapter.

Of course there will be time in the course of writing when you’ll simply need to look up a fact or do a bit of research, but when working my way through a pile of sources, I tend to either drop them all at the end of the chapter, or to sort them according to the outline. It all depends on how many I have. At this point you’ll also want to create a scrap file for each chapter, a place to dump stories and quotes that don’t quite fit, but may not warrant deletion.

At this point your chapter should be stronger, with quotes and citations adding an additional punch to your anecdotes and main points. You should take note of your weak points, continue to seek out helpful sources, and make sure your outline maintains a logical flow.

For some additional insight, see Don Miller’s post about writing a book.

Posts in this series:

  1. Start writing what you know.
  2. Brainstorm ideas for the rest of the chapter into a draft outline.
  3. Continue writing based on this outline
  4. Integrate quotes and research into the chapter
  5. Read through the chapter to sharpen the outline and fill in gaps.
  6. Revise your chapter draft.

Managing a Blog Tour: The Day of the Post

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Having run a blog tour for Coffeehouse theology over the past three weeks, I’ve been learning from some of my mistakes, especially as I compare my tour with the tours of other authors. I think I have a few more clues regarding how to make the tour more effective an interesting.

For example, one author has been posting lists of links on his blog whenever bloggers review his book. It’s just a sea of hypertext without any individuality, nothing to set one review apart from another. I was essentially doing the same thing by simply writing one to two-line posts each day simply linking to whoever reviewed the book that day.

After seeing how disinterested I was in the hypertext sea of that other blogger, I started rethinking the way I share the blog reviews. Remember, these are incredibly valuable endorsements for my book, so it’s in my best interest to market them effectively.

I began by reading and rereading the blog posts about my book. After settling on a key paragraph that set that review apart from others, I copied and pasted it into a post for my own blog about that particular review. This gave me something substantial to discuss on my blog, provided interesting content for my readers, and offered a sampling of the review to tempt readers to click through. In the end readers have a better opportunity to decide whether or not they want to read the review, rather than glancing past a simple hyperlink.