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The Tip Sheet
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issue of : March 2007
- QUOTE OF THE MONTH
- OP-ED PLACEMENTS - Op-Ed Placements
- PTA'S FREE TELESEMINARS
- SURFIN' - A Source for Websites - Dustjackets, and Movies
- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? - PTA's Top Recent Bookings
- TIPS FROM THE TOP - PTA's Top Recent Bookings
- LOOK WHAT'S COMING UP!!! - Dates for planning your publicity - Mother's Day and BBQs
- UPCOMING PUBLISHING EVENTS
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"You don't write because you want to say something:
You write because you've got something to say."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
If you have a great quote to share, please send it to tipsheet@plannedtvarts.com.
Thanks!
OP-ED PLACEMENTS
In addition to reaching out to the book review sections and "off-the book page" reporters of top newspapers, PTA can tap into your author's expertise to craft and place an op-ed piece. We will work closely with your author / spokesperson to develop op-ed pieces to be submitted to various publications including the leading newspapers in the country that help shape popular opinion. The book's subject matter will be the basis for the op-ed pieces tied strongly to current and upcoming events in the news.
Some of our successful placements include:
- San Francisco Chronicle and The Chicago Tribune for Sam Bacharach, author of Get Them On Your Side (Adams Media - Platinum Press) (Please note these were two separate op-ed pieces.)
- Newsday for Claire Gaudiani, author of The Greater Good (Owl Books - Henry Holt)
- New York Post for John Eliot, author of Overachievement (Portfolio- Penguin)
For more information please contact
Paul Schwartz @ 212-593-5871 or schwartzp@plannedtvarts.com.
PTA'S FREE TELESEMINARS
Upcoming TeleSeminars
Free Teleseminar March 14th, 8-9pm EST
Meg La Borde, Vice President of Greenleaf Book Group, built the company with Clint Greenleaf, developing its publishing, sales, and marketing programs and engineering the infrastructure that supports the company's rapid expansion. Greenleaf Book Group is a publisher and distributor specializing in the development of independent authors and the growth of small presses. They have represented more than 700 authors since 1997, and in 2006, they were named to the Inc. 500, Inc. magazine's list of the fastest growing companies in America. She will share her insight on:
- How to sell more books in bookstores
- How to get books on the front tables of stores
- How to sell books in airports and big box stores
- What is a writer's rap sheet?
Free Teleseminar March 28th, 8-9pm EST
Adam Witty is a renowned entrepreneur and publisher, having worked with dozens of professional speakers and authors in the publishing of their books. Adam is Co-Author with Tom Antion of the soon-to-be-released book Click: The Ultimate Guide to Internet Marketing for Authors teaching authors how to market, sell, and publicize their books for maximum success. He'll discuss "9 Ways to Build Your Business by Publishing a Book" and how you can 'Watch' Your Business Grow Like Never Before As a Published Author. You will learn:
- 9 completely separate ways to grow your speaking business by publishing a book.
- The pro's and con's of self-publishing
- The pro's and con's of traditional publishing
- The pro's and con's of print-on-demand publishing
- How to determine which model is best for you.
- Top 10 publishing mistakes made by authors and how to avoid them.
Free Teleseminar April 10th, 8-9pm EST
Matt Bacak, who is an expert at marketing through the Internet, will share his strategies on how to rapidly gain quality subscribers into your network. He currently is running three multi-million dollar companies, and each company was built using the internet. Matt will share with you the following:
- Discover a proven, but little-known system to tap into your niche market, bring in more leads, sell more books and explode your Internet sales.
- How to effectively target buyers to your books;
- How to market yourself and pack your e-zine with eager, qualified participants, and make even more money with your emails almost effortlessly;
- The "Self-Promotion Secrets" to make your list grow while you sleep
- How to quickly write "Killer" Emails specifically designed to make people whip out their credit cards and Buy Your Books
To participate:Please call 712-338-8100. Then press in the code: 222089#.
Past Teleseminars:
Remember, our TeleSeminars are free (excluding your call cost). If you missed our last TeleSeminar you can dial the replay line at 507-726-3837 (Press the # sign after you dial in) to replay them or go to our website at www.plannedtvarts.com to download past TeleSeminars.
SURFIN'
As a bibliophile, we are quite confident you want to protect the books in your personal library when being handled by yourself or others. Two of the best companies to do that protection are Brodart www.brodart.com & Demco www.demco.com which are library supply companies, but market themselves as well to regular consumers. Among the protection choices you will find are: acid free storage boxes, dustjacket covers and book repair kits.
Although it is obvious to everyone here at Planned Television Arts because we are media obsessed - the best site on the web that covers movies is www.imdb.com. For those who have never used the website, the Internet Movie Database has in it's database practically every commercial movie ever made and includes plotlines, reviews, full cast & crews, awards, recommendations, goofs, quotes and all sorts of useful information. Beware however that a one-minute visit can quickly turn into an hour!
Continuing about movies, we all like great movies but what about bad ones? Well, we love those too! Ed Wood who is acknowledged by many film critics to be among the worst directors of all time and was played by Johnny Depp in the 1994 film Ed Wood, has a website devoted to him. The unofficial Ed Wood website http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~lflynn/edwood.html contains the highs and mostly lows of this amazing producer; director; writer and actor. If you have never seen Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, well it is a masterpiece of bad cinema and described by the website homepage lovingly as "a testament to low budgets and Ed Wood's vision of what made a movie work."
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?
Here's a sampling of our latest bookings.
For A Matter of Life and Death by Rosemary Altea (Penguin, Tarcher), we booked:
- Larry King Live
For The Little Book on Big Ego by Joel Epstein (Alnola), we generated the following placements:
- CNN Showbiz Tonight
- Fox and Friends
- US Weekly
- Star Magazine
For Walking After Midnight: One Woman's Journey Through Murder, Justice & Forgiveness by Katy Hutchison (New Harbinger) we booked the following interviews:
- The Montel Williams Show
- The National Examiner
- Sirius Satellite Radio
For Hit Him Where It Hurts by Sherri Donovan (Adams Media), we scheduled a Morning Drive Radio TourTMand national radio. Placements included: - The Bev Smith Show (Nationally Syndicated Radio Program)
- The Joey Reynolds Show (Nationally Syndicated Radio Program)
- KLOS-FM (Los Angeles)
TIPS FROM THE TOP
The Agenting Process Explained - Part 3
Query Review
When agents receive a written submission from a potential client, their first thoughts are, "Is this a book that I want to handle and can I sell it?" Despite instructions on their Web sites etc., a large majority of the contacts agents receive are surprisingly not about books or subjects they handle.
"For all authors, first time or established, what it all comes down to is having a marketable book idea," according to Jill Alexander, senior acquisitions editor at Adams Media. "A marketable idea is something that fits with the house and is something that can be positioned and sold. ... Authors should focus narrowly. Is it saying something new to an established demographic, or, conversely, is it finding a new audience that is out there that hasn't been addressed that's actually pretty sizable? Many first-time authors mistakenly try to be everything to everyone. Instead, find out who your audience is-men or women, what age group, where do they work, what is their income level, what is their lifestyle, do they go to bookstores, how do they get their information, do they buy books or magazines, do they get their information from TV? Think about those questions," Alexander suggests.
The first thing agent Edward Knappman looks for is "a grabber in terms of the topic. Something that really grabs my attention in the first few lines or a topic that interests me personally. The grabber should excite me and be the same kind of hook that you would use in a proposal. Other important items that I look for are the writer's credentials, writing history and platform. For business books, first-time writers need to have a platform," Knappman continues, "because the field is so competitive and it's hard to break out a business book when the author doesn't have a platform. Publishers want to know that they have some kind of following."
When agents receive submissions from writers they're interested in, they send them their author/agent agreement, which they ask the writer to sign and return. Most agents try to get the author/agent agreement signed early in the relationship, before they perform a great deal of work.
An excerpt from the National Bestseller Author 101: Bestelling Secrets from Top Agents by Rick Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman with Mark Steisel
LOOK WHAT'S COMING UP!!!
These are dates that just might relate to a Morning Drive or Satellite TV Tour topic:
| May 2007 | |
| NATIONAL BARBEQUE MONTH | |
| NATIONAL PHYSICAL FITNESS AND SPORTS MONTH | |
| 3rd | First broadcast on National Public Radio (1971) |
| 5th | Kentucky Derby (Horse Racing) |
| 7th | Premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1824) |
| 13th | MOTHER'S DAY |
| 19th | Armed Forces Day |
| 19th | Preakness (Horse Racing) |
| 27th | Indy 500 |
| 27th - June 10th | FRENCH OPEN |
| 28th | MEMORIAL DAY |
UPCOMING PUBLISHING EVENTS
LONDON BOOK FAIR
APRIL 16th-18th, 2007 in Earls Court, London
The London Book Fair is the leading spring forum for booksellers, publishers, librarians and worldwide. Ideally timed to provide you with a concentrated 3 day trading and educational platform giving you access to the world's books, real business contacts and shared knowledge. Everything you need to compete effectively in today's fast paced marketplace.
Attendees to The London Book Fair include:
- Publishers - ranging from small to medium sized publishers as well as the larger publishing houses, all conducting rights business, export and national sales
- Domestic booksellers - from both independent bookshops and the chains
- Foreign booksellers - buying for their home markets
- Library and Information Professionals - influencers and purchasers
- Production, Distribution, Technical and Creative Professionals from UK and overseas publishers - looking for effective solutions to their business needs
For more information go to: www.londonbookfair.com
MEGA BOOK MARKETING UNIVERSITY
MAY 31st, 2007 in New York, NY
A Special Invitation for Book Expo America 2007 Attendees ...Attend This Special Book Marketing Crash Course ... and Discover the Truth About What You Really Need to Do to Become a World-Famous, Multi-Millionaire, Best-Selling Author.
Mega Book New York will give you access to six of the publishing industry's superstars - Larry Kirschbaum, Alex Mandossian, Brendon Burchard, Rick Frishman, and Tom Antion - the best-selling authors and top book marketing strategists who sell millions of dollars worth of books and information products for themselves and their clients each year.
And now they're ready to share their proven book marketing blueprints with you. Here's a small sample of the powerful ideas, useful information, and cutting-edge innovations you'll discover during our information-packed day together.
Book Expo America is the co-sponsor of this event with Mark Victor Hansen and Rick Frishman.
For more information go to: www.megabookny.com