Event Description
Monday, June 29, 2015
More books are being sold to more people than at any other time in history. But they aren’t primarily or necessarily being sold as paper or in traditional bookstores. Consider this quote from Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine:
“The average Barnes & Noble carries 130,000 titles. Yet more than half of Amazon’s book sales come from outside its top 130,000 titles. Consider the implications: If the Amazon statistics are any guide, the market for books that are not even sold in the average bookstore is larger than the market for those that are. In other words, the potential book market may be twice as big as it appears to be, if only we can get over the economics of scarcity.” Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail.”
Today there are more means, more opportunities and more help to promote and sell your books to a worldwide audience. The difference, and the GOOD news, is that your success is now directly in YOUR hands. But your writing will not sell itself.
You need to know where your audience can be found and the best way to reach them. (It might NOT be a book signing or Facebook.)
You need to know how they want to consume your writing. (It might not be a hardcover paper book.)
You need to know how to reach them inexpensively and quickly (without annoying them and yet encouraging them to buy your writing).
You need to know what other successful authors are doing TODAY (and what successful authors are doing to be ready for tomorrow).
For our annual Marketing panel, we have gathered experts in what is working today and what they are teaching others to do in the future. This is your opportunity to learn how to improve your own marketing efforts and sell more books.
They’ll be discussing reaching your audience, your website, blogging, social media, audio, video, traditional marketing and new tips, tricks, hints and shortcuts. And, of course, your questions.
Come prepared to learn something new to improve what you’re doing and to get your marketing questions answered.
Our stellar panel:
CAROLYN HOWARD-JOHNSON is a journalist, poet and multi-award-winning author. She was an instructor for UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program for nearly a decade. Carolyn has penned effective media releases for celebrity designers including Pauline Trigere, Rudy Gernreich, and Christian Dior. She has a multi- award-winning series of “HowToDoItFrugally” books for writers. Her marketing campaign for the second book in that series, “The Frugal Editor,” won the Next Generation Indie Best Book Award.
Carolyn was honored as Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by the California Legislature. She received the Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance and the Diamond Award in Arts and Culture from her community’s Library and Arts and Culture Commission. She was named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who “make life happen.” See Carolyn’s blogs for writers at SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com.
KATE SEXTON KAISER. Beginning as a music journalist turned publicist, Kate Sexton Kaiser’s career spans 40 years of involvement in the most exciting industries of her generation. From rock and roll in the ‘60s and ‘70s to the digital/Internet revolution of the late ‘80s and ‘90s, she has been a marketing professional for Fortune 100 companies, small startups, and nonprofits. She opened Kathleen Kaiser & Associates in 1993 which now focuses on working with the literary and arts communities. With four published books and three plays under her belt, Kate understands how authors are often confused by the new world of marketing books and themselves. She aids authors to navigate social media, build audience, and sell books.
Kate is the executive director of the Pacific Institute for Professional Writing (PIPW), president of the Small Publishers, Artists & Writers Network (SPAWN), past president of the Ventura County Writers Club, producer of the 805 Writers’ Conferences, and serves as a volunteer media and marketing instructor at the Ventura County Community Foundation.
DANA NEWMAN founded her literary agency, Dana Newman Literary, in Los Angeles in 2010. She represents authors of practical and narrative non-fiction in the areas of memoir, biography, business, self-help, parenting, popular science and technology, lifestyle/wellness, and popular culture. On the fiction side, she looks for literary fiction and upmarket women’s fiction. She is also a transactional and intellectual property attorney, focusing on contracts, copyrights, trademarks, and licensing. She has extensive in-house legal experience in the entertainment and technology fields. Dana holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from U.C. Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.
PETER K. STUDNER, author of the new “Super Job Search IV,” has been responsible for key international manufacturing, marketing, and sales operations as well as turnarounds in the US and Europe. He practices outplacement in Los Angeles, helping thousands of men and women make successful career changes and trained independent consultants and corporate human resources professionals in how to deliver effective outplacement programs. Studner has been on the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA Extension). He is an Apple developer.
His book “Super Job Search” received the Benjamin Franklin Award for “Best How-To Book,” presented by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). It also has won awards from the American Library Association (“Best of the Best”) and from Quality Books, Inc. Mr. Studner is the author of “Le Guide du CV – Votre Coach Pour l’Emploi,” published in France by MAXIMA and in North America by Jamenair Ltd., as well as a British edition of “Super Job Search” published in the United Kingdom. He is the author of five children’s books and one business thriller.
Moderator
STEVEN SANCHEZ is an international bestselling author who helps people build the right platforms for their unique businesses. For over 20 years he developed and managed integrated Web marketing solutions for industry-leading companies. Steven has conducted numerous workshops on all aspects of internet marketing, from social media management to website development. He has also contributed to several bestselling books on business success, homepage usability, and Web design on a shoestring. Steven is currently working on a better book marketing book, as well as developing websites on Writers using WordPress and what smarter writers are doing to develop their platforms, connect with their audience, and sell more books.