Allbooks Review JAN. 2013 Newsletter Visit: www.allbooksreviewint.com MAY 2013 BE YOUR BEST YEAR YET ! Allbooks Review is the review and author promo source for POD AUTHORS as well as traditionally published authors. Authors around the world use our service.Great coverage for your book for twelve months +.Our complete review and author promotional package is less than $50.U.S Unbelievable value!! http://www.allbooksreviewint.com/ For complete details contact us by email marketingallbooks@aol.com SUCCESS STORIES Congratulations to Shirley A. Roe. Bridgetown's Eleventh Hour is now available in ebook, and print (kindle edition): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009KWEX02 FEATURE: Authors Are Retailers Too! On Taylor Swift, Perfume, and Your Book By Carolyn Howard-Johnson I can’t tell you how often I’ve thanked my lucky stars for my retail experience now I’m an author. My husband used to say (Ahem!) “Retail is 90% attention to detail!” If he’s right—and he always is—then the other 10% is marketing. To reinterpret this, you need a great product—that’s the attention to detail part. For authors the product is our book or books. But all the detail, developing of craft or anything else—all that other stuff we’ve poured our little detail-oriented hearts into—goes for naught if we don’t do the marketing. So how does Taylor Swift fit into this? Well, the LA Times reports on her products (the way she is branding herself which is part of marketing). She has a signature fragrance, a poster by Peter Max (That’s Peter-the-Greatest-Artist-Marketer-Of-All-Time-After-Warhol!), a back to school package, a limited edition combo of a CD single and a souvenir T-shirt, headbands, a songbook, a tin box of guitar picks, boxed greeting cards, a keychain, and a journal. Yes, I’m out of breath! So, we can learn a lot from her about branding, a big part of marketing. Each of these products fits with her image. But we can also learn that we just need to do it. Your book proposal, as an example, might include a list of products (other than your book) that could be spun off from your book. Taylor’s journal idea is a good one for memoirists. T-shirts work for just about everyone. But each author’s list of possibilities will be different, just as the list would differ for different businesses on Main Street USA. Back in the days when I was in retailing, one of our stores was in Palm Springs and we had adorable little souvenir pin boxes made with “Carlan’s, Palm Springs” and palm trees hand painted on them. They worked because they were more personal and specific than the usual souvenir with only “Palm Springs” machine stamped on them. My poetry partner Magdalena Ball and I might someday have art posters of the covers of our poetry chapbook series featuring our collaborating artists Jacquie Schmall, Vicki Thomas, and May Lattanzio. Framed, of course! Learn more about how we promote that series (including a special holiday card offer for the Christmas chapbook) at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm. So, what do you do with your product idea? Well, the obvious first choice would be to get a manufacturer with a HUGE customer base to make your product; they, in turn, get their sales representatives to sell them to retailers who then sell them to the general public. But what if you're eager to get started now? Try these ideas. Use your books or spin-off products as thank you gifts. Use your books or spin-off products as souvenirs or parts of promotions like gift baskets or contests. Use your spin-off products as walking, talking advertisements. As an example, every time someone compliments you on your rose-scented cologne, that's an opportunity to mention your romance novel and maybe give them a bookmark. Your T-shirts are walking billboards. So are your totes. Use your books or spin-off products as part of the media kits you leave in the press rooms at tradeshows. Use your books or spin-off products as an integral part of parties and events you plan, like a store opening or a book launch. Offer your books or spin-off products to charities for their drawings or other fundraisers. So, put your thinking cap on. What kind of a “Seller” can you be? What fits withyour title—whatever that is? ---- Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (now in an updated and expanded second edition!), www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo. Also part of the HowToDoItFrugally series is the booklet The Great First Impression Book Proposal booklet, www.budurl.com/BookProposals, that helps authors convince agents or publishers of their understanding of spin-offs, retailing, and marketing in general. She also is the author of a series of books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Events (www.budurl.com/RetailersGuide). Allbooks Reviews INTERVIEW: Allbooks Reviews INTERVIEW: Please state your name and location. (city and State or Province, Country) John Scherber San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico Tell us the title and publisher of your book: Eden Lost, Sam Miguel Allende Books 2012. Tell us about yourself: I am an American expat who has lived in central Mexico for five years. I am the author of a nonfiction book on the expat experience titled San Miguel de Allende: A Place in the Heart, as well as a series of ten mysteries set in Mexico. I also have two thrillers and two vampire tales/ When was the book released?: August, 2012 Give us an overview of your book. I think of it as psychological horror. There is some gore, but no chainsaws. What happens when a good man gradually has very certainty removed from his life, all the things he ever believed in, the things that made him the person he thought he was. To me, that is real horror, when you are wrong about everything you trust. What inspired you to write this book? I always wanted to try this genre, but it wasn’t until I felt I really understood horror that tried it. How is your book different from other books in this genre? I believe it is. I purposely read no other horror books before I started because I didn’t want to copy what anyone else was doing, Where can people buy your book? Amazon Kindle and B & N Nook Are you working on another book? If so when do you expect it to be published? The tenth of my mysteries is coming out December 1. Then I have a murder on the Nile book titled The Amarna Heresy coming out in the spring. If you self published, what advice can you give to fellow writers? I got an agent almost immediately when I started the mysteries and after five years he had sold nothing. Reluctantly, I decided to self-publish because I wanted to find an audience. I hated the thought of learning publishing and promotion, but that’s what is required. If published traditionally, tell us how you benefited: Can you share one of your marketing successes with us? I began blogging about Mexico lifestyles and the writing life. This is my platform. My blogs were picked up by various small Mexico expat websites and so I approached Mexconnect, which is the largest of the online magazines about Mexico. Now I’m a regular feature writer for them and they have a monthly traffic of 500,000. At the bottom of each article I write is a link to my website. How did you find Allbooks Reviews and what are you hoping for in your relationship with us? I saw a reference to it online and I’m hoping, as always, to find more potential readers. Was the low cost a surprise? What other things would you like Allbooks Reviews to offer writers? The cost is certainly moderate. Thank you for this interview and best of luck with your book. Our full author promotional package is only $49.95. This includes a review, interview and 12 months internet circulation of the review with purchase links on various websites. We review both print and ebooks for traditionally published and self- published authors. Also editing, and advertising in our bookstore at excellent rates. For information, email marketingallbooks@aol.com www.allboooksreviewint.com