Author’s Response to a Blog
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 31st, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Cathy Marley is the author of “Peeking Over the Edge…view’s from life’s middle.” She read a recent blog of mine and offered the following comments which she so graciously allowed me to share with you.
Jerry–Thanks for the article on You Don’t Always Get What You Pay For. I think I know exactly which seminar you’re talking about and I have to say, the pressure is very high to spend that money and make that trip. I made the mistake of spending an hour listening to a “free” teleseminar on how to get high-profile publicity. the first 15 minutes were interesting, but little else. The remaining 45 minutes were a plug for that same expensive NY seminar and little else. In the intervening week, I had been inundated with emails urging me to hurry up and sign up for this “exclusive”, “limited availability” opportunity. Plus, if you visit their website, every word screams “HYPE!” Needless to say, that kind of high pressure leaves me extremely wary of the value of what they are selling.
Your article hit on every one of my concerns and certainly validated my thinking. One point you missed (possibly on purpose) is the bottom line of the entire offer. In my case, I’d have to sell somewhere between 600 and 1000 books (depending on the costs of transportation, meals and lodging) just to break even! I can think of a great many other, more productive ways to spend that much money.
Thanks Jerry. Keep up the good, vigilant work. Cathy Marley. Visit Cathy’s web site at www.CathyMarley.com.
Thank you Cathy for being a reader and allowing me to share your comments with other writers.
You Don’t Always Get What You Pay For
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 25th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
What would it be worth for an author to get the chance to spend some time with representatives from some of the largest media organizations in the country? Would you pay several hundred dollars? How about several thousand? What if I told you it’s possible for the meager sum of a few thousand dollars plus the cost of a trip to New York City.
Recently I was having dinner with an author who was telling me about an event to be held in Manhattan where anyone, for a price, could rub elbows with representatives from some of the largest news and media organizations in the world. What a deal! All possible for the sum of a few thousand dollars plus the cost of a round-trip airline ticket to New York, two nights in a hotel, plus meals and the cost of transportation (for NYC is no bargain). Would you do it?
For those who have heard me speak you know that I tell my audience, “publicity sells books.” What better way to generate publicity than to shake hands and speak with the movers and shakers from the biggest media outlets? Right? Wrong!
Here is the problem; first of all, the chance to meet these people does not guarantee publicity. It does not improve your chances of making an appearance on any national television show or having an article written about you in a national magazine. These types of news and media organizations will only schedule authors who can serve their audience. That means authors who have the capability to deliver products to booksellers around the country so their viewers can walk into any store and purchase a book written by an author who they saw on television or read about in a magazine.
Please don’t be fooled by what appears on the surface as the chance of a lifetime. It’s not that easy, there are many variables to selling books. Before you spend a dime on anything related to your book, please contact me. I’ll be happy to provide you with the real story and hopefully save you a lot of money and heartache. If you want to read more about this subject click Best-Selling Authors.
Information is Key
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 10th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
In order for writers to make good decisions about their career as authors, they need to have as many reliable sources of information as possible. Everything I do on my web site, here in my blog, and now in the launch of my 6-hour intensive seminar, is about information. Honest, no nonsense, dependable, straightforward, credible information about publishing and how to improve your chances of being successful.
Over the course of these past nine months, I have been asked over and over, why don’t you put together your own seminar? I decided it was time because writers need more in-depth information about the business of publishing and bookselling, the marketplace, how it works, and what you can do to improve your chances of selling books. I’m convinced that writers need to understand that getting a book published is easy, but selling copies is extremely difficult.
In January of this year I met Mark Crockett, a gentleman who had his first book published by an imprint of Simon & Schuster who told me he had been successful after 198 rejections and without the services of an agent. After several discussions and attending his class at Phoenix College, I decided he would be a terrific partner because the information he provides is truly beyond the scope of what you will get from any other source. He has proven to be successful and what he talks about is definitely “outside the box.”
For those of you who are considering attending our first ever seminar, please be aware that we can only seat 70 people. We are not holding seats, we have not promised seats, the seminar will be open to the first 70 people who register online at this site (home page, right hand side). Another note, the price for readers of this blog will be only $60 through Friday July 21st. After that we are opening the seminar to the public at a price of $85. You will be reading more blogs about the seminar and why Mark and I think it is important for you to attend. Mark your calendars, we hope to see you there.
An Important Lesson
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 5th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
One thing that major New York publishers do extremely well is make certain a book is ready for print before they rush copies to stores. This is a lesson every author can learn from, get it right or don’t publish. There are always timing concerns with titles and instances where books were rushed to print, however in most situations they failed to sell copies.
Get it right means you are following the advice of your agent, publisher, editor, or friends and rewriting or reorganizing your manuscript to make it better, more marketable. I’m not referring to the writing and rewriting rut that an author falls into, never feeling your book is ready for publication. Don’t rush to print because you’ve been writing your manuscript for some time and want to get it off your desk because you don’t want to deal with it anymore. That is a rush to print scenario.
I’m amazed at the number of writers with whom I come in contact that are in a big hurry to get their book published. My question is–why? If your book is not the way you want it, don’t rush to publish. Get it right or don’t do it because once you have it printed you can only go back and make changes at great expense, in both time and money.
Publishers that are in a hurry to get any book in print may have their priorities out of sync. If it seems they are more concerned about generating revenue from the printing and marketing and not the actual sell through, then I would say the book is doomed to fail. Never rush the process, get it right or don’t do it. Success means selling copies, not having a book rushed into print.
