How to Launch Your Book
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- This week, James McGowan's debut picture book GOOD NIGHT OPPY! published. So, Literary Agent Jessica Faust sat down with him to discuss tips and tricks for launching a book.
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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds TH-cam channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.
Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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Since interning at BookEnds as an undergrad in the summer of 2015, James has (basically) never left. He's just continuously level-up-ed inside of BookEnds. Now he is the Literary Assistant and Social Media Manager for the team. He’s been a reader since his mom gave him the first A Series of Unfortunate Events book and ordered the sequels regularly through Scholastic book orders.
James is currently growing his own list and is actively seeking submissions in adult literary and upmarket fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense. He is also actively building his picture book list.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
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Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks
Congrats James! It's great. And thanks for the video. Informative as always. Yeah and I am on launch countdown right now. All of a sudden. My publishers informed me but 23 days ahead of day x. Ups.
I'm like a toddler in a shugar rush. Crossed with a headless chicken. Squak!
This was a very motivating and inspiring video! I hope my future agent is as awesome as you guys are!
Thanks a lot for taking the time to put this together! And congratulations, James! My book, ALL GOD'S CRITTERS SING ALLELU is coming out in February, so your video is very timely.
Congrats on the book!
James, Good Night Oppy looks really cute. I'm going to seek it out. I suggest you put a link to Oppy under the 'Show More'. Launching a book is such an important subject! Doing it from your won POV was insightful. I love when you two open the door and let us peek into the publishing world. Please more!
Thank you!
Great information. Congratulations on the release of your book. Thanks so much for sharing.
Congratulations, James!
Thank you!
Congratulations, James!!
Thank you!
Congrats James for your book
Thank you!
I actually love this part, since my background is in marketing. I look forward to partnering with my agent/publisher in the marketing arena. And, CONGRATS, JAMES!!! What is the age range for "readers" of your new book? I have a 2.5 year old I need to get a Big Brother gift for. Tx.
Thank you! It's perfect for 4-8 but can definitely be a readaloud
Yeah. I launched my book... It was a lake in Oregon with a mast and sail. Set it on fire and called it a viking funeral. Actually, it was a nice evening, until the forest ranger stopped by. I explained what I was doing and he gave me a ticket. Three hundred dollars. It wrote it off on this year's taxes as advertising. I still wonder if it was money well spent.. However, I do plan to write a novella about the whole ordeal...
Ngl kinda loves this.
Huge congratulations!!!!
Thank you!
@@BookEndsLiterary I would love to have you on my live show, James, to chat about your new fabulous book and your writing journey. The Witty Writers Show is streamed live on Facebook and here, then shared across all of my platforms and my six podcasts.
I feel sunk into gloom by this, because I'm not tech savvy and while I'm willing to work hard I need help in the initial stages! Is that something a publisher would help with or do I have to pay somebody to help me?? I can't AFFORD to spend money on self promotion before I even get a deal ....
Yes typically your publisher can assist you in the beginning stages by offering tips and guides for social media marketing and what you should be doing.
Rosie, on Facebook there is a group called Creative Non-Fiction Writers Community. They offer workshops and critique help. On Sept 19 there will be a workshop about making your website. The best part is you don't have to be writing non-fiction. Any writer can join. I'll be in that workshop, for sure!
Congratz to McGowen & Carter :)
Thank you!
The information you gave about preorders and best seller… is that true for Amazon kdp? Please let me know 🙏🏽
First off, congrats on the new book. I also have a book coming out, this fall, and have no idea how to market it. My publisher tried getting me to build my newsletter but, quite frankly, I stink at it. However, I’m strong in other areas, like putting myself out there and talking to people, and I’m wondering if anyone knows anything about blog or vlog tours. How can I get involved? Do I have to pay a company to land me these opportunities? I ask because my publisher has limited resources and much of the marketing falls on me
You can speak to your publisher about Blog tours, as they might have contacts. You can also reach out to bloggers you admire on your own and see if they'd have you on.
@@BookEndsLiterary thank you. Sounds simple enough. Never hurts to ask someone who may be looking for the content. I'll start now.
Why would I go for a publisher when I have to define and develop my own marketing?
There are lots of reasons. One big thing for a lot of people is that publishers typically give advances AND cover production costs, where self-published authors make nothing pre-release and have to pay for all their editing, cover design, formatting, etc. So, on release day, a trad pub author is typically between $5k and $15k ahead of a self-pub author in terms of costs vs. income.
Another is that publishers handle distribution, store placement, and some pre-release review soliciting, which can be a HUGE deal for self-published authors to even get a chance at. Some professional review sites don't even accept self-published works at all. Publishers also sometimes cover author costs for attending conferences and/or events. I'm sure there are other benefits that James and Jessica could list which I, as someone who has never traditionally published, can't list.
To some authors these benefits aren't worth the trade-offs, but to some they are.
Personally, I'm a self-published author and I'll likely not submit any of my future work to traditional publishers, but that's because that's the path that is best for me. There are a lot of good reasons for some authors to go traditional.
Everything that Chelsea said is true. Also marketing is not as easy as it looks. I work in it in my day job and have qualifications in it. There’s a skill to it that is not intuitive not to mention having to know the algorithms and etiquette of each social media platform.
If you are traditionally published you’ll get a little marketing from your publisher which is a big deal because they have the expertise. You can also ask about ideas you have for marketing your particular genre and book. In marketing brainstorming with experts is critical. Also an editorial agent will work on your manuscript with you to make it marketable. They also have contacts in the publishing world that you don’t and haggle for you.
There are pros and cons to both self publishing and traditional. It’s your choice. People who self publish usually say they like that it is quicker, you have more control over your creativity and if you do well you keep the bulk of your profits. However, you need money, thousands to do it properly, and make reasonable sales and time to learn how to run a business, because technically that’s what you are - a self publishing business.
Also if you do it badly and sell a low number of books if at all and then decide to go traditional after all, that ghastly figure of sales is used by publishers to decide if they want to publish your next books, and they are likely to give you a hard pass. So now, you have to think of a way to get in surreptitiously.
You received a lot of great thoughts from the community, below.
I’m surprised you mentioned blog tours. Do people really read blogs? Is that just certain audiences?
Blog tours are a very common part of book promotion. Especially in KidLit -- there are tons of parent bloggers and educational blogs.
Congratulations, James!
Thank you!