Sell it With a Knowing Wink and a Smile - Book Promotions

[robert walker]

Just a few suggestions for publicty and marketing and selling it with a look... Besides using Writer’s Market and Jeff Herman’s Guide here are some cool sites:

Great websites to find and verify agents and publishers:
Preditors & Editors: http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pealr.htm A guide to publishers and publishing services for writers.
Agent Query: http://www.agentquery.com: The internet’s largest and most current list of literary agents.
Writer’s & Artists: http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/ Insiders Guide to the Media
Writer’s Services: http://www.writersservices.com/index.htm Website for Writers
Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware Check out agent/publishers reputation, info on self publishing, electronic publishing, POD, Small Presses, Truth about literary agent fees, Vanity and Subsidy publishers, copyrights, and much more.
Agent Research & Evaluation: http://www.agentresearch.com Empower authors by providing them with extensive information about virtually every active literary and dramatic rights agent in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Then encourage them to use that data to select the agent who is right for them. If the writer is brand new, the data helps her/him prepare a query that will convince the agent to take a serious look at the writer's work.

A Newbie’s Guide To Publishing/ JA Konrath: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com A free download 250,000 words worth of tips, hints, tricks, and advice. Over 750 pages long. And it's free

Safest Way To Search For An Agent:
http://www.sff.net/people/victoriastrauss/agentsearch.html
LitMatch: http://www.litmatch.net/

Go to the local bookstore and find the section presenting books that are most similar to the genre you want to publish. Note down the publishers of these books and check out the acknowledgment sections to see if specific agents are identified (and praised by their client author). You can find “similar books” listings on some library websites and online bookstores like www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com

Go to the local public library and ask for the latest edition of the Literary Marketplace, known as the LMP, which will probably be in the reference section. (It’s in two volumes the size of big-city telephone directories). This is the bible for the publishing industry concerning who does what and how to get in touch with them. The LMP contains a pretty comprehensive list of publishers, along with the genres they represent, the number of books they published the previous year, and contact names and addresses

Go to the local big box bookstore and go to the writers’ reference section. Buy some of the books that list agents and publishers. The most useful of these are the annual Writer’s Market series published by Writer’s Digest (which can also be obtained on constantly updating annual subscription at the Writers Market website) and Jeff Herman’s annual Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents.

Make sure you submit your novel to the right agent/publisher. In other words don’t send a romance novel to an agent/publisher who only handles mysteries or nonfiction. Make sure if your information is from a book resource to double check the agent's/publisher's website. They may not be handling your type of genre at this time, or the person your are sending it to may have left the agency. It doesn’t hurt to call the agency and ask who is handling acquisitions for the genre you want to submit to.

Remember you may not always need an agent. If you are self publishing, writing a short story, poetry, or article you really don’t need an agent. On the other hand an agent can be very helpful with finding you find the right publisher and the contract side of the writing biz. A literary agent that’s been around for awhile should have great networking resources, a newer agent make just be getting starting. Some agents will be helpful with the editing process, although not many still do this. A red flag should go up if your agent asks for a reading fee or money up front. All newbie’s beware this is not common practice. Today, most publishers don’t take unagented submissions so having an agent is almost a must for fiction. Do yourself a favor and keep a record of which agents/publishers you sent your material out to with the date, after you send out so many it’s easy to forget.

Other Cool Helpful Websites:
Crime Scene Investigation: http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net
DNA Forensics: www.ornl.gov/hgmis/elsi/forensics.shtml
Cops and Crime: http://www.terryburns.net/COPS_CRIME.htm
Links for Writers: http://www.charlottedillon.com/WritersLinks.html
http://www.howstuffworks.com
Crime & Clues: http://www.crimeandclues.com
robertwalkerbooks.com
mirandawalkerbooks.com
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php
http://www.writersdigest.com
http://www.booksnbytes.com
http://www.murdermustadvertise.com
http://www.writers.net/resources.ph



Book Promotion
http://www.authorsden.com
http://crimespace.ning.com/
http://www.redroom.com
http://www.publicityhound.com
http://www.burryman.com
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/internet_marketing_for_novel_writers.php
http://www.bauuinstitute.com/Marketing/PressRelease1.html
http://www.author-promotion.com/promotionalresources.html
Facebook
MySpace

[robert walker]

So glad this is of help to y'all; have to give credit to my wife, Miranda, who did all the footwork....ahhh fingerwork, I mean. Carp-tunel syndrome of the brain I have and Yoda speak am going into mode.

[Matt Rees]

Great post. No matter how many places I post my blog writing, there's always another spot I can zap it to. Thanks for finding some more!

[lovelylj]

I'm still going through these links, this research is great