Books, Branding, and All-Media Seminar

Books, Branding, & All-Media Seminar:

October 14th and 15th, 2006

I am hosting a new two-day Books, Branding, & All-Media seminar in Hollywood, California on Saturday and Sunday, October 14th to 15th. This unique seminar will cover branding, rights sales, special sales, selling to mass merchandisers, and Internet marketing. It will not cover general book marketing or publicity.

This seminar will be loaded with information, tips, and resources for you.

When: Saturday and Sunday, October 14th and 15th, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where: Renaissance Hollywood Hotel at Hollywood & Highland, Los Angeles, California. Room reservations only: 800-769-4774.

How: Register at http://www.bookmarket.com/orderform.html. Click on Books, Branding, and All-Media Seminar. Or call 505-751-3398.

How Much: $296.00.

Who: Speakers will include John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books and editor of this newsletter; Ken Atchity, author, publisher, literary agent, movie producer, brand manager, and book video producer; Ron Martino, DVD producer, screenwriter, and filmmaker; Josh Mettee, owner of American West Books, a key supplier to Costco; and several surprise guests who will blow your mind wide open!



If you think you want to attend, sign up soon. We expect to sell out and we only have room for 120 people maximum. The room won't hold more than that. This is not a sales gimmick. This is just the flat-out truth.

This seminar is going to blow my mind. If it blows my mind, think what it will do with yours! No sales pitches will be made. This ain't your mamma's inspirational fluff. This will be a solid, nitty-gritty, detailed, hands-on, mind-bending, expanse opening, incredible seminar.

If you want to make a whole lot more money writing and publishing books or creating other intellectual property in 2007, you can't miss this seminar. Don't come if you want a so-so 2007.

Update Your WebSite

Remember to update your website frequently. The more often you update it, the higher your search engine rankings will go.

Also, of course, be sure to create relationships with the Top 30 websites you find when you type in your key search terms (how you think people will find you) in Google or Yahoo. To create relationships with those websites, ofter them a review copy of your book, an interview with the author (that's you), or an excerpt from your book that would be valuable for their visitors.

Foreword This Week Interview with John Kremer

I did an interview with Foreword This Week recently. Here is the interview. Enjoy.

John Kremer's Dossier

John Kremer is a book marketing expert, whose books include 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, The Complete Direct Marketing Sourcebook, High-Impact Marketing on a Low-Impact Budget, Do-It-Yourself Book Publicity Kit, and Celebrate Today. He owns his own publishing company, Open Horizons, and offers consulting services to self publishers and presses of all sizes. He hosts seminars and speaks frequently on book marketing. He lives in New Mexico with his wife Gail, the author of Little Fox and the Golden Hawk.

Occupation: Author and publisher, Open Horizons

Residence: Taos, New Mexico

Why you know the name: Author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

In his free time: Walking, playing with dogs, cuddling with wife

In his former life: Teacher, clerical worker

What book are you reading, and where is your favorite place to read?

For entertainment, I primarily read mysteries, one or two a week. I read in bed before going to sleep.

What qualities do you value most professionally?

Integrity, enthusiasm, honesty. The neat thing is that many of the people in the book business are really great people. They are open, sharing, kind, sweet, and honest. I would trust many of them with my life.

What are you still determined to learn to do?

Fly an airplane. As for things I'd like to do, I'd like to be on stage with Bruce Springsteen in front of thousands and thousands of screaming fans (probably yelling at me to get off the stage, but, oh well, it'd still be fun).

If you were a member of a tribe, what would be your special role in it, and why?

Ambassador to other tribes.

What is your favorite hometown library and/or bookstore?

I've just moved to Taos, so I don't know the library or bookstores that well. In Fairfield, Iowa, where I used to live, I loved the library and the head librarian who was one of my best friends and co-conspirators. In other cities, I love Tattered Cover in Denver, Colorado; Elliot Bay Bookstore in Seattle, Washington; and Book Passage in Corte Madera, California.

What kind of music do you enjoy while you are reading?

Rock and roll from the '60's and '70's, country music, Kitaro, folk music.

What would you save from your home if it were burning?

My wife, my dogs. Since my office isn't in my home right now, I don't have much else that I would need to save. Of course, in my office I have many things I would want to save: notes for future books, computer files, books I've yet to read, research, etc.

What question has never been answered for you?

What is love? I understand the experience but I couldn't tell you exactly what it is.

What would surprise most people to learn about you?

I can't sing. Well, actually, I doubt many people would be surprised by that.

If you could have any five people over for dinner, who would they be?

A literary dinner: Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Robert Heinlein, and Emily Dickinson. Emily would really blossom at this dinner. For my spiritual and political dinners, of course, the guests would be different.

What is your prediction for independent publishing in 2007?

I think we will see the first bestselling self-published novel. It has to happen sometime. Why not in 2007? We will also see the advent of the first blogging network for authors that will actually pay authors to blog (I'm working on that one right now). Next year could also see the first book to sell a million copies via the Internet alone. That would be exciting.

BestSelling Book Publicity

Author 101: BestSelling Book Publicity: The Insider's Guide to Promoting Your Book — and Yourself



This new book in the Author 101 series by Rick Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman is just superb. If you follow Chapter 7, they say that you'll have producers calling you for interviews. Chapter 11 literally guarantees you a bestseller. What more could you want? Check out their new book and bestseller campaign at http://www.BestSellerPromotions.com/author101.

Book Mooching Made Easy

Something terrifying comes this way. Now there's a website where readers can pass on books they no longer want and ask to receive in return books they want to read.



At BookMooch.com, you can add books you will send out to others to your inventory. If they match a book someone else wants, that person can ask you to ship the book to him or her. For every book you add to your inventory, you get 0.1 points; for every book you ship you get 1 point; and leaving feedback also earns you 0.1 points. In return, every book you get costs you 1 point.

So far, the site has accounted for about 10,000 books traded, worth about $150,000. That's possibly lost sales for publishers.

How to make a silk purse out of this pig's ear?

Well, offer to give away your book. It might be a good way to get people to sample your book or to build an audience for a new author, whose second book is coming out soon (give away the first book, not the second). It could also be a great way to get rid of excess inventory or hurt books.

Dvorak's Advice on Getting a Marketing Edge

In the latest issue of PC Magazine, John Dvorak provided what I think is the best advice I've heard in a long time on how to get a marketing edge. His advice reveals the secret of marketing anything. Here's what he wrote:

"My advice if you want a sales edge? Make a good product and tell people the truth about it." — John C. Dvorak, columnist, PC Magazine

For his entire column on Nude Playmates, Gay Porn, Free Offers!, see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2014455,00.asp. Note that his article doesn't really talk about any of the headline topics. It covers Google's new project to listen in on your home activity.

Midwest Connections: New Book Promotion Program

The Midwest Booksellers Association has just announced a new book marketing program for publishers and booksellers to promote books and authors in the Midwest.

Booksellers will be able to participate in each promotion at one of three levels, depending on what works best for them. For example, to be classified as a top tier store, which would allow for an author appearance, a store would have to meet specific criteria, including doing a certain amount of promotion for the book and author, submitting a proposal for the author event, ordering books directly from the publisher, and being a Book Sense store that reports to the Heartland bestseller list.

Publishers can promote books in three categories: adult fiction and nonfiction; cookbooks and how-tos; and children's, middle grade, and YA books. Publishers can suggest authors and titles to be included in the program, help with co-op, provide promo materials to the stores, and provide authors for tours to the top stores.

The Midwest Booksellers Association will be organizing the program and coordinating all efforts between publishers and booksellers.

Check out all the details in their PDF brochure at: Midwest Connection.

For more information, contact Susan Walker, MBA Executive Director, at 612-926-5868 or via email at susan@midwestbooksellers.org.



The first book to be promoted will be Tom Drury's novel The Driftless Area. Events include a retional author tour, a spoken word radio taping, speaking at the MBA trade show and author dinner, ads and featured listings on member bookstore websites, and more.

The Passion Test

My friends Janet and Chris Atwood are launching their Amazon Bestseller Campaign for The Passion Test today. Even if you don't like Amazon campaigns, you'll love their book. Check it out at Passion Test.

Hey! They've hit #2 at Amazon.com as of 10:00 p.m. Mountain Time today. Congratulations! And now they are at #1 as of 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time on Thursday. Hip, hip, hooray! And also now #1 at B&N.com. Whoopie!



"The Passion Test astounds us with the possibility that life can be fun, challenging, rewarding and purposeful, all at the same time. Chris and Janet Attwood will take you on an adventure into your own heart, and show you how to wake up the passions which are the fuel for living the life you were meant to live." -- Richard Paul Evans, New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Box.

What could more passion mean in your life? More meaning, more joy, more fulfillment -- a rewarding life.

Here's what Jack Canfield, co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, said about The Passion Test: "When I did the work on discovering your passion with Chris and Janet, I wasn't expecting that much to happen because I am already living my passion -- teaching others about how to become more successful. However, their powerful process took me to an even deeper place, where I realized I was not spending enough time with my true number one passion -- my family! That realization, and the other work they did with me, has changed the way I have lived the past year. This book contains what you need to know to create the same breakthroughs for yourself. I highly recommend it."

As if that's not enough, Chris and Janet have used their incredible connections to arrange a spectacular collection of special gifts for you when you purchase The Passion Test today. These gifts feature: Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hansen, John Kremer, and more than 40 others!

If you order the book totay, you get these great bonuses as part of the package. Check out the deal at Passion Test.

Learn how you can discover and empower your passion today!

Free Trade Magazines

Much of what I learn each month comes from my extensive reading of trade magazines. If you'd like to subscribe to some free trade magazines, click on one of the following graphic links:

1001 Ways to Market Your Books

If you've been waiting to order a copy of the new 6th edition of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books until Amazon.com had it up and selling -- well now it's finally there. Go buy it today. Help me get it up above 10,000 today.

Thank you for your patience. Not that I had any. But I am so glad it's finally up for sale on Amazon.com. Go buy it today at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/
091241149X/bookmarketingupd.