Tag Archives: Publishing

Marketing

Marketing Your Book

The following are the words of Angela Adley, Archway Publishing author of “Growing Up without My Daddy”. Learn more about Angela on her website, her book’s website or Facebook page. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.

Have a Marketing Strategy

In 2015, I entered into a marketing campaign offered through Archway Publishing which partnered with the Bohlsen Group to advertise my book titled, Growing Up without my Daddy. The Bohlsen Group offers unified marketing that uses both conventional and unconventional marketing tactics and services.

During my six week campaign, I was assigned to a publicist who worked to understand my audience and generated momentum in line with my personal goals. During my marketing campaign, my publicist released a general press release, targeted pitches to media outlets in my hometown, local interest areas, and requested areas. Additionally, my publicist reached outlets focused on children’s interest, human interest, Christianity, religion, spirituality, healing, parenting, childcare, child development, and family interest outlets.

The Benefits of Using an Advertising Firm

Using a public relations/advertising firm allowed me to reach a variety of outlets that as a first-time author would be difficult for me to navigate independently. My publicist was able to secure media interviews with local, out-of-state radio stations, and online radio shows. Additionally, the Bohlsen Group was able to secure publication in digital/online magazines.

During each week of my campaign, a report was provided to show strategic planning/progress made toward weekly targets, which was very helpful to visualize the direction/progress of my marketing campaign. This information was also later helpful for my personal use when following-up with specific outlets that had not responded by the end of my six-week campaign.

Marketing Your Book Takes Time

Authors should know that media relations are a tenuous process that may take weeks, months, or longer to come back to fruition. Thus the final marketing report provided valuable insight into my brand platform and how that could possibly coincide with personal marketing efforts moving forward independently.

Overall, my marketing campaign was an insightful experience that became the starting point to market and share my book on a national level. The opportunity also guided me toward next steps and direction for marketing my book after the campaign. For authors interested in marketing their book with Archway Publishing or in general, I would recommend the following tips:

  • Determine your book goals
  • Determine your marketing goals
  • Determine the audience you wish to serve
  • Determine if target marketing options give you the right credibility
  • Determine if target marketing options access the right audience
  • Determine if target marketing options allow you to gain the right access to media
  • Determine if target marketing options allow you to gain the right visibility
  • Determine the financial return on your marketing investment/s

My book is truly a masterpiece, and I am grateful that I chose Archway to help with all aspects of its creation and marketing.

Archway Publishing is always looking for content for its blog. If you’re an Archway Publishing author and would like to share a guest blog post, please visit our Blog Guidelines Page.

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Publishing

My Book is My Business Card

The following are the words of Agnes Bellegris, Archway Publishing author of “Animal Encounters.” For more on Agnes, check out her website, Instagram and Facebook page. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.

Measuring Success

When taking the path to self-publishing, measuring success can be complex. Do you measure based on sales? Of course, that is always a definitive measure. But, as writers and artists, we need to look beyond this. As a picture book writer, I have the privilege of attending primary schools to discuss the things I love the most: the importance of literacy, creating literature, and now, with Animal Encounters, painting and drawing. When children tell me how much they enjoy my book because it’s “funny” and because “the pictures are amazing,” then I have succeeded. If parents tell me that my books are their go-to stories at bedtime, then I have succeeded. When teachers tell me that they love the richness of the language and that it allows them to introduce concepts from other areas of study in the classroom, then I know one hundred percent I have done something right. Continue reading →

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Author Feature

Following Your Dreams

The following are the words of Christine Lourenco, Archway Publishing author of “For the Love of the Ocean” and “Commuter Bob.” For more about Christine, check out her website, Facebook, and Twitter. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

Realizing My Childhood Dream

Writing was something I did throughout my childhood. It started with a passion for reading when I was young. I read one book a day and often visited the library to take out more books. Fiction was my preferred genre, to escape to another world. I had always kept diaries and journals and enjoyed writing poetry. Different characters and stories would often pop up in my daydreams. I would think how great it would be to put those thoughts into a story or even a movie. It never crossed my mind though at the time that this was something I wanted to pursue. Later in life, I was reminded that storytelling was something in my heart. It was a dream of mine. Continue reading →

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Author Feature

Back From the South: A Couples Transitions From Segregation to Integration

The following are the words of  Teressa V Staten Ph.D., Archway Publishing author of “Back From the South: A Couples Transitions From Segregation to Integration.” Learn more about Teressa from her website and Facebook page. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.

Continuing the Legacy

For several years after my husband passed, I considered finishing a draft of a book that he had begun about the life of my son. Of course, I procrastinated for many years. However, one of my Back From the South: A Couples Transitions From Segregation to Integrationclose friends suggested an idea that began my self-publishing journey. She was the one friend who always planned our interesting trips. This time she suggested we come together and write. Each of us came up with a broad writing goal. I decided to write a memoir about my husband who had been one of the first African Americans to integrate the Marine Corps, and the Huntsville, Alabama Police Department. Continue reading →

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Writing

Using Research to Craft a Better Book

Research is a must for self-published authors because it shows that you are informed and knowledgeable on a topic, and it gives you instant credibility with potential readers. Don’t think that research is only necessary for nonfiction authors; fiction writers can benefit from doing their homework, too!Magnifying glass

The good news is that when you are writing about a subject that you’re passionate about, researching can be fun and rewarding. Today we present a six-step guide to getting that research done!

1. Read

It’s a cliché that good readers make good writers, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Immersing yourself in your topic (or genre) will inspire you to write your own book. Plus, surveying what books are out there can help you write a book that fills (not falls into) the gaps in the marketplace. Continue reading →

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Author Feature

Concierge Service Explained with Author Yashalina Blair

The following are the words of Yashalina Blair, Archway Publishing author of “Dr. Romy’s Dance.” Learn more about Yashalina by visiting her author website, twitter, or Facebook page. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services

Publishing Dr. Romy

My name is Yashalina Blair. I have recently published my first book with Archway titled, Dr. Romy’s Dance. The novel is a romance about Jerome, a young man attending school for medicine. When Jerome’s father suddenly dies leaving the family in financial hardship his mother makes a life-altering request: quit school, come home, and take a job with the degree he has. Determined to become a doctor, Jerome decides to stay in school and moonlight as a male exotic dancer. Continue reading →

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Author Feature

Words with a Young Writer

The following are the words of Karina Williams, author of “Live, Laugh, Love Like a Teenager.” Learn more about Karina on her author website kwilliamsbooks. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

It Began with a Poem

In my freshman year of high school, I won an Karina WilliamsHonorable Mention in a poetry contest for my school’s literary magazine. Back then, it was terrifying to meet the fiercely intelligent AP Literature teacher assigned to help me edit my first poem to be published. I was only fourteen. Three years later, I found myself sitting in her class getting ready to graduate from high school. That day she asked us all to reflect on one thing: What do you want? I answered her with the first and only thing I could think of…“I want to be a writer.”

Months before publishing my poetry anthology and taking what I believed was the first step to everything I was reaching for, she replied with the one answer I needed to hear. “You already are.”

What “Writer” Means to Me

Being a writer is like being on a journey that never ends. Once a chapter is finished, the next one begins. We live our lives through the worlds we create on paper, all the while hoping that someone else finds as much life in them as we do. Creativity is beautiful thing; I believe it’s a way to create something so honest that you write the words someone else needs to read in that particular moment. That is what writing is about.

Dreams New and Old

Now I’m a freshman in collegeLive, Laugh, Love Like a Teenager pursuing my science degree. Things have have certainly changed a lot since high school graduation. Yet, if someone asked me today what I wanted to be my answer remains the same- I want to be a writer. As demanding as the study schedule is here at Cal Poly, I am still finding ways to chase my dreams. Soon enough, I will be adding an English minor to my degree plans while keeping up with a blog I started as an effort to publicize my book.

Over the publishing process for my book, a friend asked me how I could put so much time and effort into something that might not work out in the end. But I don’t write for things to “work out in the end” … I write because it is everything I am. From the months it took to compile my manuscript, to the day I held the first printed copy in my hands, it was all worth it. It is indescribable to hold a book with my name on the cover in my hands.

What Comes Next

I became a published author as a freshly graduated high school student, and Live, Laugh, Love Like a Teenager is just the beginning. From the hardship of friendship to the adversity of growing up, each poem in the compilation has been inspired by experiences that make me who I am. My book tells the story of youth, vibrancy, and life. I hope to continue telling the story within my next book focusing on the experience of being a young-adult.

In the end, it is all about the story— either telling the truth or the sweetest kind of fiction— and this is everything my heart reaches for in the future. No matter where I end up in the next ten years, if you ask me who I am, I will only have one answer; for it will never change. I am a writer.

 

Archway Publishing is always looking for content for its blog. If you’re an Archway Publishing author and would like to share an idea for a guest blog post, please tweet the Archway Publishing Twitter account @ArchwayPub or send us a message at the Archway Publishing Facebook page.

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Publishing Expert Tips

Six Tips to Successful Publishing

You know your writing process is your own process. You know that while all of your writing friends have a process, your process is probably yours, alone. And that’s fine. But have you looked at the similarities between your process and theirs?

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Archway Publishing has found six common tasks that almost every writer has to combine in order to bring a book to market and make some sales. Continue reading →

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Publishing

Inspiration Behind My Book and Self-Publishing with Archway Publishing

The following are the words of Lawrence Bodner, author of IBS is BS. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

What key drivers inspired me to write my book?

The first driver must be your burning desire to get your story or message out to the general public. Writing is an art that is usually innate and therefore difficult to cultivate. Writing is usually stimulated by one’s desire to get their story out in order to entertain, educate, influence and or effect social change in the reading public. Continue reading →

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self-publishing tips

From Mock Copy to Self-Published

The following are the words of Donna Fantacone, author of Officer Tony Says, “Be Careful.”  Check out her website here for more info about the author and her book. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

There is nothing more satisfying than holding the completed and published book in your hands.  However, the road to publishing is not an easy one.  It started out that I had a promise or a great interest of a publishing company, one that was in constant contact with me, expressing interest in my idea.  They told me it was a go; I then had to produce the “mock copy” of the book.  The “Mock Up” is an entire work, with a number of complete illustrations in the exact format of the book. Continue reading →

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