Are you an author needing help with online book promotion?
Through our network of book marketers, WITS offer a number of helpful marketing methods to help authors
gain online exposure for their books. Services include, but are not
limited to, the following:
Our weekly writing, publishing, and book marketing podcast is popular with book lovers because it gives sneak previews into books that are new on the market.
Authors enjoy the how-to publishing information and tips on book marketing and online publicity.
Writers in the Sky offers the author podcast interview as a stand-alone service
or we can incorporate this opportunity
into an author publicity package that allows clients to make the most of multiple online media outlets in
publicizing their books.
Please choose a marketing package from the list below or request a personalized marketing
plan from our author's assistant when you send a query
to be a guest on our show. You may create your own marketing package by
mixing several of the single items listed below and get
the podcast interview as a bonus.
If you choose only the podcast interview as a stand-alone, it is $50. The
reason we charge for the podcast interview is to cover our time in the
marketing the show. We send out a
media release each month
featuring all the guests who are scheduled to appear on our show.
Plus, we
post an announcement on our
podcast and e-zine blog,
and send an email to our newsletter subscribers each
month as a reminder to listen to your show.
All shows are permanently
archived on our blog feed.
The podcast is listed on
iTunes
and many podcast directories.
We send a list of questions for the author to answer and return to us. WITS will craft
the material into an interview style, blog-ready article that will
be posted on our blog. The article can also be used to further
promote the author's book in other venues. See samples on our writing blog.
Introduce the Author $200
Our Introduce the Author Marketing Package is the best deal for new authors.
It includes the following components:
A 500-word book review that will be featured on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Web sites as well as our blog and monthly newsletter.
An individual press release announcing the release of the book submitted to relevant online media
outlets. We also send one media release about all the guests appearing on our show each month.
One half-hour podcast interview that will be uploaded as a show on WITS podcast,
which is syndicated to other podcast directories as well as
iTunes. The author gets the interview in MP3 file format to use
in his or her book marketing campaign.
A 500-word article containing content related to the book's material to be submitted to online article directories.
Publishing in our writing newsletter the announcement of your
guest appearance on our show.
Posting the announcement on
our blog
about your appearance on our show.
Through these various components, new authors will reach a wide audience and provide many venues through which readers can purchase books.
This is a great way to get started with your online presence.
Choose from one-week to four-week online tours that caravan from place to place on the Internet to celebrate you and your book.
Think of a progressive dinner where you travel to one house for the appetizer, another house for the soup; at the next stop, you get an entrée,
and on to the dessert at yet another house. Now, put that concept into book and Internet terms, and you have what's known as a virtual blog tour.
We write and send your query letter to blog owners and radio show
hosts in your genre who will host you as a guest. We coordinate the
hosting participants to help them cross promote you and your book, using
social networking to create the buzz and spread the news about where you
are going next. This effort invites others to travel the circuit with
you and leave comments at each stop/site. We write the marketing
material and ask the host to write a review, share an article, or post a
question-and-answer interview about your book on their tour date. Once
the tour is over, you retain all rights to the material and may use it
in other book promotion campaigns.
One-week tour (7 stops) : $400
Two-week tour (14 stops) : $800
Three-week tour (21 stops) : $1,200
Four-week tour (28 stops) : $1,600
A virtual book tour is a great way to network since all parties get new visitors to their blogs/Web
sites as a result of our joint publicity efforts. See an
example of a successful book tour.
Each virtual tour package includes the following project management components:
Tour schedule organization between author and hosts
Coordination of cross promotion efforts among hosts
Cross-linked tour schedule created in Word doc and HTML for posting on the tour hosts’ blogs
Prepared tweets sent to the tour hosts to assist with promotion on Twitter
A query letter written to garner tour host participation for radio interviews, guest blog spots, Q&A written interviews, and book reviews
(a $100 value)
The author will answer written interview questions for the blog
hosts who prepare a list of questions suited to their audience and
blog/show theme. When you return your answers to us, WITS will craft them into an
interview style, blog-ready article for the host blogger to post on
their blog (a $50 value) .
The touring author may add any other service/package on this
page, such as an article or media release to announce
the virtual tour, at a 10 percent discount.
Be prepared to supply our author's assistant with a copy of your book, a 500-word bio (or add the
bio as a service to the tour package),
an author photo,
front cover jpeg, and provide
packaging and shipping of the book to hosts who have agreed to write a book review for the tour.
One of our team members will read your book and write a fair and honest review (up
to 500 words). We will post the
review on Amazon.com as well as on
our blog and in
our monthly newsletter. You get the Word and PDF versions of the review to use for other publicity purposes. If a book lacks literary quality
or has multiple grammatical/mechanical errors, we cannot in good consciousness give the book at
least a four-star rating. Five-star books will be featured on our blog and in our newsletter.
If you are a savvy marketer, you undoubtedly know about social
networking. Twitter is a fun place to spend time, but that's just
the problem: many people spend a lot of time there but don't get an
effective return for their investment. There is an art to creating
Tweets that drive traffic to Web sites and blogs. WITS can help! Our
author's assistant will employ technology to shorten your URLs, then
add hashtags and searchable words/phrases that make your marketing
micro posts (Tweets) easily found by your customers. These
ready-to-post snippets are only $1
per Tweet and come in units of twelve.
WITS will organize and manage a social networking campaign around your book, virtual tour,
contest, or other social media blast. We will link your social networking
efforts on Twitter, Face Book, Myspace, LinkedIn, and other sites using Hoot Suite to organize and manage your online social media presence.
Our author's assistant will write keyword-rich, search-optimized micro posts
(see Twitter Assistance above) and upload
them to transmit via HootSuite. This effort helps drive interested customers to your
Web site, increasing traffic and boosting search visibility. We employ the technology to shorten URLs, then add hashtags and searchable words/phrases that make
these micro posts easily found by your customers.
We will write and preprogram 12 tweets per day, which is one every other hour around the clock or one per hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (or other hours). You tell us how many
Tweets you want to go out each day. Pricing is based on $1 per
written Tweet and 25 cents per Re-Tweet to set up in Hootsuite.
Choose from one-week to four-week campaigns.
Article marketing is an effective way to drive targeted traffic to your blog or Web site. One of our team members will write a
350- to 500-word article
specific to your book topic. You will receive the article as a Word document to use however you choose, perhaps on your Web site or blog. We will submit
the article to five online article directories (see our list below).
Also called a facts sheet, the sell sheet contains the book's title, author, category, both ISBNs, pub date, price, page
count,
binding/book type, publisher, language, product dimensions, shipping weight, Web links, and media contact information
needed to query a bookstore about placing your book on their shelves. The sell sheet for a library contains different information.
A one-pager is an important part of any media kit. It contains a concise description of the author, a synopsis of the book, photo of the author,
photo of the book cover, tips or story angles, and your contact information formatted to make a great first impression. This quick-glance reference
sheet is used to garner author interviews.
That was a wonderful review. Thanks so much ... I'm expecting a review from Jim Kimsey, founder of AOL, Colin Powell, and Norm Schwartzkopf.
But yours will top them all. ... you must be "wonder-woman" ... You really know how to write!
A tips sheet is included in a marketing or media kit to show what your book is about
and may include a list of topics that you are able to speak about.
The tips sheet may be a list of questions and answers that gives the radio show
host an idea of how well your subject fits their listening audience. Great
for sending along with your query letter when inquiring about being a guest on a
talk show. See an author's tip sheet (PDF).
There is an established protocol and certain components are
necessary to be included when inquiring about being a guest on a radio show.
A query letter is the cover letter that introduces an author, a book, or business,
and states what you are able to offer the show's listeners.
See a sample of a query letter for
radio interview.
It has been proven that regularly updated material focused on a particular theme attracts more readers and potential clients to blogs.
One of our team members will write keyword-optimized, content-rich text for authors
who need material for a book or business blog. Fresh content encourages return visitors. If you don't have time to do your own blogging, we will post it to a Blogger.com or Wordpress account on behalf
of the busy author. Average cost is $30 per 300-word post.
See blogs we maintain on a regular basis.
I am very pleased with the press kit Writers
in the Sky developed for my new book.
Sarah Moore is a very talented writer and has been a pleasure to work with. In addition to providing excellent content,
I was impressed with Sarah’s turnaround time. She met or beat every deadline and that is very rare in today’s business world.
I’ve already put some of the press kit materials into use and I’m receiving great response. Writers
in the Sky certainly has my highest recommendation.
Dennis Snow, Author of Lessons From the Mouse - A
Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your
Organization, Your Career, and Your Life
This is a full media kit in an electronic format (PDF and Word
docs). This kit may be sent to online media or printed and sent along with your cover letter to request interviews
and other promotion opportunities. Our previous clients
have used the components both online and as physical mailers, or to
have available at book signings or speaking engagements.
Write a cover letter introducing you and your
media kit to the recipient
Create your one-pager
Compile a list of questions
a host might ask you during an interview or make a tips sheet (PDF)
about your topic
