PR Cuts Give Authors More Work (and Opportunity)

This week, Rodale, one of the few publishers actually making money, laid off Beth Davey, its vice president of public relations. PR and marketing budgets, tight before the economic downturn, have taken their share of cuts. And yet the industry will still survive. There will still be best sellers and new authors who hit home runs. Increasingly, the winners will be those authors who both write and market well.

If there's bad news about the work authors can expect publishers to do, there's good news about the tools available for authors (or specialists) to do it themselves.

Penny Sansevieri, owner of Author Marketing Experts, provides internet marketing with a heavy dose of blogging, web sites, and social networking. Dani Greer's BlogBookTours guides authors in developing and executing an online book tour using blogs. Book trailers are videos similar to movie trailers that help build buzz for a book. Jodi Picoult's last two releases, Change of Heart and Nineteen Minutes both have compelling book trailers available on YouTube. Mystery author Brian Freeman, whose books are a great read, is active on Facebook.

Authors have never had more tools available to them to market their work. And, as those avenues mature, some will build successful businesses assisting authors in marketing their work. The world of publishing, like a lot of the rest of the economy, is changing. But change need not mean death. It just means different routes to success.

And now the news...
Rodale Eliminates Four, Including Vice President of Publicity -- The publishers says its sales are actually up and the restructuring will help them be more effective in publicizing their work across its platforms.

More bad news from HarperCollins -- Revenues were down 25% for the second quarter of their fiscal year. Earnings are down 75% for the year to date.

Stephen King: Stephanie Meyer Can't Write Worth a Darn -- Master of the craft says the Twilight author pales in comparison to Jo Rowling.

Seven Techniques for a Dynamite Plot -- Not sure I agree with all of them (flashbacks, for instance), but it's worth a look.

Audiobook Publishers Look to Drop DRM -- Following Random House's lead, many publishers intend to remove digital rights management, which restricts the ability to make copies of digital media, from their audio books.

Publishing News -- 1/7/2009

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A full stack this week, like those big lumberjack pancake stacks you might be able to get at your family diner. The news isn't getting much better this week, but we're a few days closer to the end of the mess and pitchers and catchers report in about six weeks.

Publishing and the Economy
Blockbuster or Bust -- Like the guy at the races with that one tip that will change everything, publishers continue to gamble on potential big hits.

The New Austerity in Publishing -- Lavish spending is out as part of the new economic reality in publishing.

11.7 Percent Sales Drop and CEO Change at Borders -- New CEO has experience turning around retail establishments.

End Times -- The end of, or at least a drastic change in, the New York Times could be imminent.

Publishing Firm to Add Jobs -- It's only 20 jobs, but it beats another story on layoffs.

Agentry
Agent Stephen Barbara Moves to Foundry Literary + Media -- Leaves Donald Maass's agency and brings his entire slate of YA and adult authors with him.

Kicking Off the New Year--Courtney Milan's Query -- Agent deconstructs a successful query letter.

Surviving the Recession
Readiness is all in building your network -- The time to build your network is before you need it--like now.

Your Key Asset if You're Laid Off -- If you don't maintain a positive outlook, ending your unemployment is a lot harder.

Social Media
Why Executives Don't Get Social Media -- It has to do with how they view success. Fortunately, peoples' skills and viewpoints are complementary (one of the points of social media).

Why Twitter Matters -- More analysis and predictions about the newest social media fad.

How Social Media are Transforming Our Capacity to Achieve -- Our best growth opportunities may come from people we don't know well. Social media allow us to transform that number exponentially.

Publishing News -- 1/4/2009

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FWA Radio, Guest: Lori Perkins
Lori is an agent, editor, and author and part of Ravenous Romance, an online bookseller on the cutting edge of e-publishing. FWA Radio is a service of the Florida Writers Association, Writers Helping Writers.

Publishing and Economics
Big Name Authors May Not Be Enoough in 2009 -- A number of blockbusters expect in '09, but big names account for only 20% of sales.

Grocery Magnate Buys Minority Share in B&N -- Story describes the strength of B&N, which is said to be solid, with competent management. It also hints at problems at Borders.

Are Publishers Still Acquiring Books? The answer is YES! -- The cutbacks during December weren't omens of doom, but intelligent business moves and the sign of a paradigm shift.

Struggling Bookstores Turn to Remainders in Economic Slump -- With a lackluster holiday season, stores look to remainders for an economic jolt.

Digital Publishing
Ingram Takes a Bite of the Digital Market -- Ingram will perform the same function for e-Books as for hard copy. It expects 500 to 1200% growth of e-books in the next five years.

Marketing Your Work
All About Book Trailers -- Book trailers are similar to movie trailers, and are a new tool writers use to market their work.

Trendspotting and Predictions for 2009 -- Some things to keep in mind in determining your approach to writing work this year.

On Writing
Popular Fiction: Why We Read It, Why We Write It -- Popular fiction is heroic and transcendant at a time when heroism and transcendance are out of favor.

Surviving the Recession
Laid Off? Time to make a list and act on it. -- Good advice and the click through to the Monogamoney (the words "pretty simple affair") is worthwhile, as well.

Twitter Yourself a Job -- Twitter can be a great networking tool, but keep it professional.