Marketing Question? - Writers Forum

wilconut · 04-01-2005, 01:02 AM

My novel is, Sunbeams and Cigarettes, is getting published by Publish America. I have heard a lot of bad stuff about them, but so far everything has gone great. My question is, i want to get some media coverage, mainly newspaper. How do i approach someone at the paper with the idea of doing an article about me? Any other marketing ideas would be a big help! Thanks.

P.S. Check out my website at www.freewebs.com/nickostdick

aboyd · 04-01-2005, 07:12 AM

I don't know anything about that publisher. Are they vanity? They must be if there are doing zero promotion for you. In any case, have you considered PR Web or WebWire? Really, if you're publishing a book, you should issue a press release. And being a writer, you should be able to write something that results in a few blurbs in newspapers, and maybe a few interviews. There are other PR agencies too, I don't know all their names.

mammamaia · 04-01-2005, 08:41 AM

a boyd...
PA is a pod/vanity publisher hybrid... they count on family and friends buying the books at the inflated prices they set, do not do any promotion or marketing...

as with all other self/vanity-published works, the books are not considered 'published,' the writers not considered 'published authors' by literary agents or those in the legit publishing world... which is why i counsel anyone thinking of going that route to use a pen name, so their real moniker will have a chance with real publishers on future work...

to many, PA is just a [barely] legal scam... if all one wants is to see their writing in book form and don't care if the end product is full of errors and typos, is overpriced and not available in bookstores, it's ok, i suppose...

...but that's not how the company hooks their clients... they make it sound as if you'll end up being a 'published author' and tout the fact that they get the book into amazon's data base as proof... the sad truth is, the books are paperbacks, and priced way beyond what people will pay for a paperback by an unknown writer... and any book can be entered in amazon's lists...

...for more about this outfit, check the 'preditors & editors' website warnings...

hugs, maia

wilconut · 04-01-2005, 09:14 AM

i don't see pa as a vanity press. yes, they might accept almost anything, but aside from that, they are fairly traditional. With vanity press, you have to pay huge amounts of money to get your work published. I haven't set forth a dollar with pa yet. I don't they are a scam either. Yes, they do make you do almost all your own promotion, but it is a fact that they put your book on amazon and barnes and noble.com. And so what if they make you do yout own promotion. A good author would want to self-promote his books anyway. They give writers( like me) who have been turned down again and again, a chance to shine. There is now reason why each pa author couldn't sell 2000 copies. PA gives all we need.Traditonal press has becomed so tunnel-visioned about what they aceept, that getting anything published that in innovative or artistic is impossible. All I knowm is that for and 17 almost 18 year old writer, PA was the best choice. And later on with my next book, having gone with PA might not be reputable, but it will show that i can finish what i start, and that's and important quality in a writer.

Jasper Cooper · 04-26-2005, 07:26 PM

There are many strategies to help you to get interviews, and you have to know the right ways to approach them.

However, the best way is if they approach you!

Get your book on the bestseller list on Amazon, and getting interviews will be a breeze.