The PC in those Mac ads, the Daily Show's "resident expert" — yes, him. After a star turn in our recent
State by State film,
John Hodgman returns to Powell's with
More Information Than You Require,
his second volume of complete(ly made-up) world knowledge. At the Burnside Street store, during a break from Wordstock, he talked about mole-men and hobos, of course, but also Battlestar Galactica, Mall of America food stands, and life as a famous minor television personality.]]>
Graphic designer extraordinaire Chip Kidd presents
Bat-Manga!,
the first collection of Japanese Batman comics anywhere in the world! Originally published in 1966, at the height of the first worldwide Batman craze, and written and illustrated by manga legend Jiro Kuwata, these adventures were never collected in Japan, and had never been translated into English. We spoke with Kidd about his lifelong Batman obsession, the process of hunting down and collecting these incredibly rare issues, and why these 40-year-old comics are some of the most entertaining Batman stories ever made! ]]>
Thirty years after its initial publication, the new edition of Art Spiegelman's
Breakdowns
is bookended by a brand new, career-spanning, illustrated comic and a prose postscript supplemented by yet more classic drawings. Together, the three sections offer a grand, unifying vision of a master's career. In conversation, Spiegelman covered just as much ground, from the seminal early strips in Breakdowns to
Maus
(winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1992) to
In the Shadow of No Towers,
even his much-loved commercial work. (Remember Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids?)]]>
Iain Banks first published
The Crow Road
in the UK in 1992, and it is one of his best-loved books. Time Out called it "Riveting...exhilarating...its pace, development, intensity and, above all, its hip and sexy humour never allow it to flag." The Crow Road is a philosophical saga and a romantic coming-of-age story, a mystery and a comedy, and a raucous, moving, and deeply human look at relationships and family. As Publishers Weekly says, "Readers unfamiliar with Banks's prodigious output have a great starting point here." ]]>
Neal Stephenson has been a staple name in science fiction ever since his incandescent opus
Snow Crash
appeared. What separated Snow Crash from the other cyberpunk novels of the world was, first, Stephenson's knowledge of computers and programming and, second, his wealth of research on topics as obscure as Sumerian mythology. This theme of in-depth research has continued through his other books, especially
Cryptonomicon
and
The Baroque Cycle.
Before his reading, Stephenson discussed the mathematical philosophy and quantum mechanics in his newest novel,
Anathem,
as well as why he still writes by hand.]]>
Inspired by a WPA state guide series from the 1930s and 40s,
State by State
will surely rank among 2008's most notable literary achievements. Fifty writers on fifty states: Anthony Bourdain on New Jersey, Susan Orlean on Ohio, Sarah Vowell on Montana, S.E. Hinton on Oklahoma, Dave Eggers on Illinois... the list goes on and on. Weeks before publication, editors Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey discuss working with the authors, noteworthy contributions, pleasing surprises, and
the new Out of the Book film,
which stars 19 of the collection's contributors.]]>
Annie Barrows's creative process for co-authoring The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was, by her own admission, unusual. It's not often that your adored librarian aunt hands you a rough manuscript to finish. And allowing for the fact that we are prejudiced towards the novel's pure expression of love for booksellers, we found it to be absolutely delightful. Barrows takes the time to explain her experience of co-writing Guernsey, what it means to be a community of readers, and why we hunger for charm in these modern times. ]]>
As David Carr tells it, "The dude was addicted to coke, got off the coke, obtained custody of his kids, a single parent, got off welfare, survived cancer, married well. But that's not what is resonating with people. It's much more the pathology." The dude being Carr, himself. Kurt Andersen attests,
The Night of the Gun
is "a breathtakingly candid, laugh-out-loud funny, heroically rigorous, consistently riveting, and deeply moving account of a nightmarish descent and amazing redemption." Carr discusses coke and cancer, fact and fiction, parenthood, new media, hope, and his new remarkable book.]]>
Why do Americans spend more than $10 billion a year on bottled water? "The facile answer is marketing, marketing and more marketing," supposes the New York Times Book Review, "but Elizabeth Royte goes much deeper into the drink, streaming trends cultural, economic, political and hydrological into an engaging investigation of an unexpectedly murky substance." The Boston Globe calls
Bottlemania,
"Ingenious. Amiably, without haranguing or hyperventilating, this veteran environmental writer has produced what could be, assuming enough people read it, one of the year's most influential books."]]>
City of Thieves, the newest novel by David Benioff, author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over, has been hailed by critics as "a smart crowd-pleaser" (Publishers Weekly, starred review), a "gut-churning thriller [that] will sweep you along" (Kirkus, starred review), and "a funny, sad, and thrilling novel" (Entertainment Weekly). Set during the Germans' brutal siege of Leningrad in World War II, the novel follows the captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive against desperate odds on an impossible mission through unimaginable depravity. Surprisingly, it's also thrilling, absorbing, and very funny. In this interview, Benioff discusses why it took so long to finish the first chapter, the difficulty of trying to capture the voice of a 17-year-old Russian boy during World War II, and more.]]>
Kirkus calls America America, Ethan Canin's first novel in seven years, "[a] novel of character [that] is powerful and haunting, a major work." It is a sweeping, epic story that more fully explores themes Canin has written about previously — class, politics, fatherhood, wealth, and power — in a seamless and beautiful multigenerational American saga. America America is both an important work and a page-turning summer read. Especially in this election year, it is a powerful reminder about what is great, and what is broken, within our country. In this interview, Canin discusses his new book, the politics of generosity, class-jumping, and method acting for writing.]]>
It's rare that you have the opportunity to interview someone as notorious as James Frey. Whether you were a fan or reader of A Million Little Pieces, you couldn't escape the news of the Oprah endorsement or the subsequent drubbing Frey received on her program when it was revealed that parts of his memoir were embellished. After reading an early advance copy of his new novel Bright Shiny Morning, we couldn't wait to talk with him about it. It's a compelling book about hope and firmly establishes James Frey as the comeback kid of 2008. Kudos aside, our interview with Frey made for one of the most interesting conversations we have had in recent memory.]]>
Two predictions:
The Outlander
will win at least one major award. And
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
will find a home on bestseller lists. When we discovered these two remarkable debut novels and decided to feature them together in
Indiespensable,
Powell's subscription club, someone on staff proposed a joint interview with the authors. Their books share more than you might imagine: runaways, ghostly visions, improvised outdoor survival, scenes rendered so powerfully you may forget you're reading fiction (you may forget you're reading, altogether), and characters that linger long after you close the book.]]>
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How Self Publishers Can Market And Sell More Books
By Helen
You can have the greatest book in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will buy it; publicity, promotion, marketing and a focus on selling more books should now be a big part of your daily life. In today's publishing environment, a book's success depends greatly on a strong marketing plan. Ensuring the success of any book is something even the biggest publishers have never been able to guarantee, but with a good book, a little or a lot of money depending on your budget, and just plain hard work the odds are in your favor; many have done it.
Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories. Your book press release should not be written as you would a sales letter or flier, it should be written for the editor and tell about your book in a factual way, no opinion or glowing remarks. Mail a press release to at least 1000 print and broadcast contacts just prior to publishing your title and again and again after you publish; you can never send too many.
Make sure your press release spells out the 'who, what, where, when, and why.' When picked up by wire services, a press release can easily end up generating hundreds of mentions for your book. Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media.
Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. Send out at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month.
Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book. I've seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don't advise it in the beginning -- get your feet wet first so you know what you're doing. Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic.
You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition. It's important to publish a website that focuses on your title; you'll
be able to refer editors and customers and all interested parties to your book information with the click of a mouse. Every day it's important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches.
Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets. Find a non-exclusive distributor with a good reputation to carry your book for the book store trade, as well as for other retailers. Get as many testimonials about your book, as possible, from experts in the field relating to your title, not customers; use on your fliers and back of books.
Arrange to speak at local, regional and national events that relate to your book topic; bring books along and have an associate sell them at the back of the room. I've not found that book signings sell many books for publishers and are often a waste of time; better to spend it elsewhere. Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book's topic to drive customers to your website.
Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs. Place free ads periodically for your book's website on Craig's List in different categories to drive even more traffic to your website.
Contact non-bookstore booksellers and offer to leave books on consignment. Make five telephone calls a day that relate to marketing your book.
With well chosen book marketing and book promotion, online and offline, you'll reap the profits you deserve for your efforts by way of the Internet and in your mailbox. I hope this article has provided you with helpful tips to accelerate your book marketing and book promotion efforts. The success of any book marketing effort depends first on a good book and then just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too.
Here are some more self publishing articles...
Simple Book Marketing Tips That Will Make Your Self Published Books Sell Fast
By Helen
Authors, self publishers and book publishers can be very unhappy when they see boxes of books delivered from the printer, loaded onto pallets in their Read more...
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Book Marketing And Bookselling Tips To Help Self Publishers Sell Books Fast
By Helen
Ensuring the success of any book is something even the biggest publishers have never been able to guarantee, but with a good book, a little or a lot of Read more...
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10 Reasons Why Companies Should Start Doing Business Online
By Nowshade Kabir
With the rapid down fall of world economy and dot-com companies in recent years many brick-and-mortar companies and new start-ups ask themselves: To Be Online or Not to Be Online?Not long time Read more...
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