ZLS’s had it’s 1st of the year Poetry Event on Saturday, January 23, 2010 at the Downbeat Jazz Cafe, located downtown Albany, NY. Our many thanks to the poets, observers as well as a few of the following businesses for making this event a great event:

Kaybond Enterprises

Downbeat Jazz Cafe

Hollywood Hustle TV

Citizens Bank

Hudson Valley Community College

AJEMM Brothers Greeting Card Company

College of Saint Rose

Urban Guerilla Theatre

DJ Dillon DJ Services

Cash Central

just to name a few of the companies there who helped us out by donating their time, money and services….

We could go on and on naming all the companies that donated and participated in making this event a great success but instead we’ll say-Thank You.

We look forward to the next event, February 20, 2010-7pm-9pm at Larks Tavern.

We look forward to seeing you all there and thanks again!

ZLS Publishing

Lately, I’ve been seeing blog posts where writers are announcing that their book has just come out.  They then go on to give an excerpt as to what the book is about.  Whiel, this is okay, let’s not forget that some authors wait until after the book is done to announce it.  For some, this is too little, too late. 
Let’s review why:
When you wait until the very last minute to announce that you’ve written a book, you’ll find more chances than not that most people won’t care.  Plenty of people write books and plenty more are published each year.  The key is to market the book while you’re writing it.
How do you do that?
Tease your audience with Chapter excerpts, although I prefer the term-Chapter Previews. The last time I went to the movies, I spent 10 minutes watching previews, a few of those being movies that aren’t coming out until next year.  The preview was so good that I can’t wait until they come out.  The only problem? I need to keep coming to the movies to see the preview in order to remember those great movies. There’s no difference in book marketing.
In order for your book sales to do well, people have to remember you and be enticed by what you have to offer. You have to get your potential buyers to care, to follow, to remember, to need. If you wait until the last minute to do that, then you’ve waited too late. The truth is that when you tease people with your book, before the book comes out, they feel a bit special and honored and are more likely to buy your book because they’ve been made to feel like a part of the process. Waiting until after the book is published feels like a sales pitch, and nobody cares for a sales pitch.
Take a que from the movies industry and other famous authors. They don’t wait until the last minute to announce a new book. With online resources such as Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Ning, Linkedin, Gather, etc., there is no reason to wait until the last minute to discuss your book. I mean you can, but just remember: Sometimes, it’s too little, too late!
Until tomorrow!
ZLS Publishing
www.zlspublishing.com

It’s September, which also means it’s my birthday! To celebrate my birthday, I am giving away the following specials:

Basic Book Cover Review Package:

• Your book cover reviewed by a focus group of book buyers within one week.
• Professional suggestions as well as focus group suggestions on how to improve your book cover.
• 2 recommendations on book cover artist.
• Attention email sent out to newsletter subscribers, telling them to watch out for your book (Over 4,000 subscribers)

 

September Price: $25   

Platinum Book Cover Review Package

• Your book cover reviewed by a focus group of book buyers within one week.
• Your book excerpt reviewed and a suggested example for you to use if necessary.
• Professional suggestions as well as focus group suggestions on how to improve your book cover.
• 3 recommendations on book cover artist.
• Attention email sent out to newsletter subscribers, telling them to watch out for your book (Over 4,000 subscribers)

September Price-$40    

Basic Book Review Package

• Basic cover review within one week.
• Book review completed within one week after receipt
• Newsletter alert, Twitter alert, Blog Alert
• Tear Sheet provided in PDF form.
• Review posted on any online platform author requests-Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, etc.

September Price-$59

Platinum Book Marketing Package

• Basic cover review within one week.
• Book review completed within one week after receipt-Author and their book will be the book to read of the week.
• Book featured in the following: Twitter, Gather, Myspace, Facebook, Blog, Newsletter, Website, BlackPlanet, LinkedIn, Ning
• Press Release written and distributed
• Tear Sheet provided in PDF form.
• Author interview.
• Review posted on any online platform author requests: Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, etc.

September Price: $85

Writers who sign up for our newsletter and choose the Platinum Book Marketing Package get 10% off.  We will email you your coupon code. 

Current newsletter subscribers get 10% off, we will also email you your coupon code.  

Pay right on our website-Go to Pay here and click in the price you have been emailed, if you are a subscriber.  If you are not a subscriber, then just go to: Marketing Services for Book Reviews, Graphic Services for Basic and Platinum Book Cover Review Packages.

Email your book covers to:

Mail your books to: ZLS Publishing, Book Reviews-255 Orange Street, Suite 207, Albany, NY 12208

By now, we should all know that book covers sell books. Sadly, most writers still don’t get this fact and because of this, I’ve decided to provide the rules of Book Cover Design. These rules will decide whether a buyer picks up your book and turns it around or even decides to buy it.
Rule #1—The Cover Must Make Sense—
How many times have you seen a book cover and you had no idea what the book was about? There is nothing more irritating to a buyer than to see a book cover on the shelf and regardless of how pretty or erotic the book cover might be, they still have no idea what the book is about. Book buyers go to bookstores with specific genres in mind (at least most of the time). They may not know the title but they know what kind of book they want. If they come across your book and they can’t tell what it’s about, then you have lost a sale. If your photo is bad, cheesy or unprofessional, the buyer will go right past it and unto a book more professional looking. Your book cover displays your professionalism. If your book cover looks unprofessional, then you look unprofessional and incompetent as a writer, and nobody’s going to buy your book.
Rule #2—The Title Must Make Sense—-
Another pet peeve of mine! It’s already bad enough that the photos on the cover are unclear as to what the book is about, but to have a book cover with an unclear title is even more aggravating. Book titles create interest. If your book title is good or even great, then you’ve just secured those three or four seconds of a buyers time and maybe $10-$15 of their money. Your title sends off the message that your book might actually be good.  Your title must match the content of the book.  Your title needs to tell the reader what the book is or might be about.  If your title doesen’t, you better be sure that your subtitle does.
Rule #3—The Font Must Be Correct—-
Just like the photos, illustrations and title is important, the type of font you use is equally important. The wrong font hurts the brain! The wrong font will send signals to the buyers brain, making them uninterested in what your book is about. Wrong fonts consists of more than two fonts on a book cover, three is definitely pushing it. It also consists of fonts that are too busy on the brain. Cluttered fonts are also a bad sign. Your fonts should be easy to read, clear and concise. They should professionally display what your book is about. They should make the title and subtitles look great. Stay away from slants, funny look vertical type, and word weight. All of this is way too much on the brain and is a visual nightmare. The words must be immediately readable. No buyer wants to tilt their head in another direction, just to read the words on your cover. Keep it simple, keep it straight, keep away from all those fonts. (Your publisher should know better!)
Rule #4—Your Name Must Be Correct—-
Recently, I saw a book cover in which the author decided to have the first initial to their name in lower case letters, so their whole name was in lower case letters on the book cover. Seeing it, automatically sent red flags to my brain and I immediately thought-this writer can’t write. We learn in Pre-K, maybe even Kindergarten, that we are all to write the first initial letters of our name as a capital letter, and the rest in lower case. So to see a writer, who is deemed a professional, write their name in all lower case letters was an automatic by pass. Books are learning tools and I don’t need my child learning such bad grammatical behaviors. If you have a publisher than insists on you writing your name in such an awful fashion, get out of your contract very, very, very, quickly. They are unprofessional and have no idea what they are doing! They don’t know buyers and they don’t know the book industry.
Rule #5—The Colors Are Important—-
Unless you are writing a children’s novel, you should not have ten, twenty different colors on your book cover. It looks tacky and unprofessional and it may even land your book in the wrong part of the bookstore. Yes! I’ve heard horror stories of this happening! Titles with more than one color are bad because they don’t make any sense and it isn’t clear to the buyer why you did that. Titles with letters that are more than one color are also bad. Just because you like it, doesn’t make it right.
Rule #6—Don’t Ignore The Spine—-
In a bookstore, this is usually the first thing that buyers see. Here is where the font, title and colors are very important.
Rule #7-Endorsements Count—-
Famous writers do it. If you are not famous then you need to do it too. Get your book reviewed by reviewers such as ZLS Publishing and other reviewers. You should have at least two reviews on the cover of your book, only one if they are very famous. You should have a review on the front as well as the back and at least one for each side.
Rule #8—Tell Me Who You Are—-
Regardless of how many books you’ve had published, there should be an excerpt of who you are in the back of the book. You need to let the buyer know who you are, what you do, and why they should buy your book. You need to showcase your professionalism. A picture really isn’t necessary, but it’s okay to have one. In the end, it’s the excerpt of you that counts, not what you look like.
Rule #9-Excerpts! Excerpts! Give Me An Excerpt!
When writing an excerpt, you must think-”Would I read this?” If you answer “no” or “maybe” then you need to rewrite your excerpt. Your excerpt needs to entice and invite. It needs to make the buyer feel as if they are making a grave mistake by not buying the book. It must read like a must buy! Before placing your excerpt on a book cover, hire a company such as ZLS Publishing to review your excerpt. Good excerpts bring sales. It makes no sense to have good font, good title, good subtitle and a bad excerpt, because you lose the sale. You can also have a friend read it, a complete stranger read it, just another person, other than you. Since someone other than you will be buying your book, it only makes sense to get someone other than you, to read the excerpt and comment on it.
Rule #10—Ignore These Rules and See Little Sales—-
People judge a book by its cover. That is the truth, that is the reality, and it is the major sticking point before a buyer even reads the inside of your book. A really good book cover does the following: Grabs the buyers eye (spine), makes them take a look at the cover (font, title, subtitle, color), makes them turn the book around (excerpt of book, excerpt of you, font, colors), makes them want to buy the book. You have less than 15 seconds to make an impact on a potential buyer. Those 15 seconds are the difference between $15 dollars and no dollars. It is the difference between a total stranger buying your book, or your family member buying your book. You judge a book by it’s cover, why shouldn’t they.
Until next time,
ZLS Publishing
www.zlspublishing.com

Once again, we’re back with another episode of Bad Book Marketing.  This one is about the writers state of mind.  Too many writers make the following mistakes and I believe it’s mental:

1)Thinking that marketing is the publishers job.

2) Thinking that it is smart to market after your book has been written.

3) Thinking that marketing and selling are the same thing.

4) Thinking that people are interested in your book.

5) Thinking they come first and their readers last.

Think long, think wrong.  Your own mental state of mind affects your sales.  The writers who sell well and even become best-selling authors know that the mind equates actions. You act how you think.

If you think wrong, you’ll act wrong.

So many writers think wrong, then they get frustrated when their sales aren’t as big as they thought they would and should be.  True, sometimes it’s the market, sometimes it’s life, but most of the time it’s you the writer.   In order to begin to upstart your sales you have to change your mindset.  When marketing you have to remember it’s not about you or your book, it’s about the effect and the emotion that your book will have on your reader.  Once you begin keeping things like this in mind, you’re off to the right start.

Over the next few blogs, we will go into more depth about each mistake.  Our hope for you as writers is that you begin to change your ways if you are indeed making these mistakes.  We love to read and we want to support your writing endeavors. 

Until the next blog!

ZLS Publishing