Book.biz

Following the M.J. Rose column today, which covered big-name publishers picking up self-published work and taking advantage of authors' self-promotional initiative, iUniverse has annouced a marketing kit to help their authors get more attention. Every little bit helps.

iUniverse Introduces Marketing Toolkit
07/23/2002

Answering a need voiced by thousands of authors worldwide, iUniverse, Inc., announced today the launch of its Author Marketing Toolkit, a complete, customized marketing guide that helps authors publicize their work, create demand and sell books. [iUniverse]

Interesting BookBiz TidBits from M.J. Rose

10:55:25 AM

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There are some good ideas in today's Wired News column by M.J. Rose, and some validation for authors like Hugh Madison at American Invisible.

Before 1998, it was rare for established publishing companies to bid on self-published fiction. But in the last 18 months, thanks in great part to authors' ability to use the Internet to market themselves, more than three dozen self-published novels have been picked up by major houses. [...]

Also, a very entrepreneurial idea from Florida-based Chapter-a-Day: sending out excerpts from popular business books via daily e-mail:

The business of book clubs: From Good Morning America to the White House, book clubs are flourishing. And now businesses want them too.
Wells Fargo already has one. So do sales and marketing executives in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Chapter-a-Day, a Sarasota, Florida, company that builds and maintains online book clubs -- sending out daily book excerpts for libraries and book stores -- is getting as many as a dozen inquiries a week from corporations. [...]

I love this idea. It's a variant of the book summary/abstracting services offered by several companies. I think the bite-sized nature of this makes it very appealing. One of my favorite services comes from Audio-Tech Executive Summaries and is called Business Briefings.

It's on CD rather than e-mail, but every month they review some 300+ publications and send out a very interesting bite-sized summary of ideas, concepts, research, and publications that are or will affect business. It's one of the most interesting services I get, and I think it's because of the bite-sized nature of things.

Self-Publish Stigma Is Perishing. Major houses gobble up rights after authors create a buzz for their work. Also: Book clubs that work for business ... and more in M.J. Rose's notebook. [Wired News]