Caren Johnson Literary Agency

by Stephanie Kuehnert

So I wrote a book. A punk rock YA book called I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE (though it didn’t have nearly as cool of a title at first). I met an agent (the lovely Caren Johnson, of course) through my MFA program. It was all very lucky, but to be honest, I never felt all that certain that the book would actually get published. The writing world is full of tales of heartbreak. Deep down I feared I wouldn’t be able to get a sale until my third or fourth book and that Caren would give up on me. This seemed a more likely possibility than actually getting published, so instead of preparing for what would happen when I succeeded, I was bracing myself for failure. When Caren sold IWBYJR to MTV Books last spring, I was ecstatic, but I had no idea how to take on my new role of writer/promoter.

I’ve heard too many stories about how first books failed to sell because authors counted on the publisher to do everything for them and I didn’t want to make that mistake. I’m expecting the publisher to send the book out for review (though I’ve provided them with all the info about where to send and even how to pitch the book) and maybe an ad here or there, but for the most part, I figure it’s up to me to get the word out about I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE. But I’m underpaid, floundering under the weight of a mortgage and student loans and I didn’t get a huge advance, so how do I do that?

Fortunately I grew up in the punk scene where I’d learned all about D.I.Y. (or Do It Yourself) ethics and I’ve come to realize that writers can borrow lots of promotional ideas from the rock world:

#1 Get by with a little help from your friends.

I published ‘zines and helped organize a riot grrrl convention when I was sixteen. How? I used everyone in my community as a resource. I didn’t have a ton of money to spend at Kinkos to copy my ‘zines back in the day (nor did I have the balls pull off the numerous Kinkos scams I was told about), but I had a dad who’d let me use his photocopier at work if I came in and helped him out with a couple things on the weekends. I didn’t have a huge basement to throw a party in for a benefit for the Midwest Girl Fest, but the owners of a local record store loved me and an in-store performance by some bands I knew would benefit them as much as it would me.

It’s amazing what the people in your life can do and are willing to help you out with if you just ask. For example, I knew that the key to book promotion is a great author website. I know basic html, but I’m no designer. My friend Jenny Hassler is genius at it though. I asked for her help on getting started and she built a beautiful site for me and even made my myspace page match! And I have a lot of friends in the writing field who were more than happy to tell me who they knew at various magazines and give me an intro, all I had to do was ask politely.

#2 Tour, tour, tour.

How do bands get their name out there? Live shows. They start by taking every opportunity possible to perform locally. So, I’m working on making friends with bookstores and libraries. It was scary to introduce myself to strangers, but since I was approaching people who loved books, I found them to be really enthusiastic. Also, I remembered that my friends’ bands played graduation parties and block parties along with regular concerts, so when people at more unusual venues like a record store, bar, or a tamale restaurant say, “Hey, would you ever do a reading here?”, of course, I say yes. And bands team up with other local bands to build a great bill, so I make sure to go to as many local reading series as possible and let those who run them know that I’d love to read at their event. Eventually, I’ll move up like the bands do, going to farther away places and sleeping on friends’ couches to keep it cheap. Though, I’ve got to mention that writers have it even easier than bands because we can tour without leaving home thanks to the fabulous blog tour!

#3 Loyal fans are your greatest resource.

There’s a Chicago band called Kill Hannah. I’m not a big fan of them, don’t even own one of their albums, but I’ve known about them for years, long before they were on a major label. Why? Because at every major alternative rock concert I went to for years, there was someone outside handing out Kill Hannah swag. Stickers, CDs, flyers for their next show, comped tickets even. And because someone was devoted enough to stand outside of the Aragon Ballroom in the freezing cold to tell me about Kill Hannah, I listened to the CD they gave me. It wasn’t my thing, but I did pass it on to someone who I thought would like it. This was the first time I was exposed to the concept of “the street team”—the loyal group of individuals you round up to promote your project.

I’m building a street team as we speak. You don’t have to be a teenager to join nor do you have to be willing to stand out in rain and hand out swag. Maybe you can put a banner for my book on your website or myspace page, maybe you can ask to leave some bookmarks at your favorite bookstore, or maybe you can just tell your friends about me. Those are all street team-worthy activities and if you officially join the team before January 15th by signing up here, I’ll reward you. I’m running a contest and everyone who is on the street team is eligible for it. You can win early IWBYJR promo items and the “soundtrack” to the book. Read all about it here.

Feel free to steal these ideas (another thing I’ve learned from rock ‘n roll is that everything is copied and recreated), but share yours as well. What have you learned from other authors or entertainers about promotion?

www.stephaniekuehnert.com

By Terri Clark

I sold my first book this time last year and immediately began to wonder how I could get noticed. As a debut author, one of the hardest things to do is stand out. I can’t afford a publicist and while I’m savvy about some promotional things, I’m a total neophyte about others. I also have limited funds. In trying to figure out how I could get the most bang for my buck two things came to mind.

Number one: website. A strong web presence can cultivate your readership, create word of mouth interest, gain press, excite your publisher and more. With that in mind I started researching website designers by visiting author sites. I noted what layouts and features I liked, what I didn’t and which designers I could afford. I wanted a website that was user friendly, had teen appeal and that I could build on as my career grew. I thought of it like a starter home. I couldn’t spend $5000 on a site (or even $2000), but I could build an affordable base site and add on to it. And later on, if I wanted to, I could always remodel. My website designer, Barb of Jaleroro Web Designs, did a fantastic job of taking my ideas and making them a reality. I’ve already received positive feedback on my site and it has generated interest in my upcoming books.

Number two: group promo. In recent years I’ve seen a lot of authors band together for promotion—the Buzz Girls, Reader Girlz, The Brown Bookshelf, and Fangs, Fur & Fey (a great group I belong to) are just a few successful examples. The big thing I noticed about these groups was that they received more attention as a whole then the authors did individually. If you think about it, it makes sense. One author might be interesting, but 2, or 5 or 10—especially with a common thread among them—are even more compelling. Therefore, I wanted to find a band of merry authors I could join. Enter: the class of 2k7. I discovered this group last year when Publisher’s Weekly did a write up. “A Novel Approach to Debut Authors” the group touted. Thirty-eight first-time children’s and YA authors with books coming out in 2007 who were working collectively to promote their books. Eureka! Just the thing I was looking for. Lucky for me, three of 2K7’s members had their release dates bumped and the class of 2K8 was born. I immediately asked to join and now I’m a proud member of this fantastic group. January 1 “The Class of 2K8: New Books, New Voices” will be exploding on the web. There are twenty-eight of us and collaboratively we’ve created a killer website, blog, MySpace, book trailer, reader’s guides, brochure, press materials, contest, information for BLTs (booksellers, librarians and teachers), combined speaking engagements and MORE! And let me tell you I wouldn’t have had the fiscal means to accomplish this all on my own, let alone the talent and creativity that we as whole have demonstrated. I’m thrilled that 2K7 will soon be passing their torch to us and I hope you’ll check out our new class in the New Year.

http://www.terriclarkbooks.com

By Jennifer Echols

I do lots of volunteer work for my local writers’ group. I’m the coordinator for our enormous contest for published authors, the newsletter editor, and the secretary. I also have half the responsibility of purchasing gifts for authors who reach milestones like getting their first agent or selling their first book.

One of my critique partners thinks I’m crazy. The other does a lot more volunteer work for her writers’ groups than I do! Who’s right?

Rewind to my early writing life. I wasn’t a member of any writing groups. This was before the Internet, too, so I had no way to contact other writers except in person. And I didn’t think I needed any. Writing was something I did alone, in a vacuum, and if anyone helped me with it, it wouldn’t be “mine.” All I needed was an agent. The self-help books on how to get published said it was easier to get a publisher than an agent. So once I got an agent, I was as good as sold, right?

Agent #1, 1992: No.

Agent #2, 1995: No.

Well, maybe I didn’t need an agent. I could just send out my work on my own to publishers who accepted unagented manuscripts. And in 2000, I got a letter from a very prestigious publisher. A “good rejection.” They’d discussed my work at the editorial board meeting, and it didn’t quite make the cut. I was that close.

This news hit me hard. Harder because I was pregnant—you can imagine. I stopped writing.

In the meantime, I’d been working on a PhD in rhetoric and composition. This is the branch of English that studies how people use language in everyday life. One of the main lessons of the discipline is that you can’t really understand what goes on in a culture (including a culture of writers) from the outside. You have to immerse yourself in the culture until the members’ meanings become your own. Something clicked for me when I learned this. I had always kept a safe distance from the culture of writers. By doing this, what had I missed?

Two years later when I started writing again, I was more determined than ever to make it. I would not repeat the mistakes of the past. I would use the Internet for research. I would break out of my introverted shell and make contacts. And I would *gasp* meet real, live people and network! This last goal proved to be harder than I thought because there wasn’t a writers’ group nearby. But when I moved back to Birmingham, I saw my chance. Before I even had the power turned on in my new house, I joined the local chapter of Romance Writers of America, Southern Magic. And I took every job they offered me.

I credit the success I’ve had to information given to me by other members of the writing community. And I wouldn’t have access to these people if I weren’t so involved in the writing community myself. That said, I see lots of people around me who volunteer TOO much. I ask them what they’ve written lately, and they tell me they haven’t had time to write because of the work they’re doing for their writers’ group. I want to shake these people and remind them their membership in the writers’ group should serve their writing, not the other way around!

So, how do I achieve a happy medium? I know, my volunteer work may look to you like I’ve gone overboard, but it feels like happy medium to me, and here’s the secret:

I volunteer only for stuff that I enjoy or can do easily.

• I coordinate the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence because this involves contacting writers and readers over e-mail, mailing things to them, and keeping precise records. I truly feel I’m getting more out of this activity than I’m giving. Last year we had 175 entries in 10 categories, which gave me a little window into what’s being published in romance and how well readers like it.

• I compose the newsletter because I know HTML coding, and I have convinced my chapter that the newsletter should be online. Since I’ve gotten the page up and running, it hasn’t been hard to switch out the articles and information monthly.

• I serve as secretary because I attend every meeting anyway. I might as well take minutes, then type them up and insert them in the newsletter.

• I buy gifts for other writers who have reached milestones because every time I do, it gives me a little thrill like the one I felt when I received my own gift from the group for selling my first book in 2005.

And here are some jobs the chapter has offered me recently, and why I turned them down:

• They asked me to run for president. I was flattered, but I knew it would require much more time than I was willing to take away from my writing. It would also involve public speaking, which gives me nightmares.

• They asked me to run an online workshop for YA writers. At first I thought this was a great idea. But I didn’t feel comfortable with the chapter’s suggested topic. My own topic seemed flat once I found out about other YA workshops conducted recently. Finally, I realized how much writing this would involve on my part. You might think writing a few workshop lectures would be a piece of cake for a novelist! But I find writing draining, and I need to focus all my writing energy on my novels. This is also why you won’t see me writing articles for the newsletter, blogging daily, or working as a freelance writer. I work as a freelance editor instead, which uses a different part of my brain.

In my own writing group I see a pattern of people joining, getting serious about their writing, volunteering, getting published, and slowly giving up their volunteer work. This pattern makes sense because before you’re published, you have more time to volunteer and lots more to learn about the industry. After you’re published, revisions and edits and publicity are added to your writing responsibilities. If you’re lucky, you have contracts with multiple deadlines! You can’t devote as much time to your writing group anymore. Personally, I have given up my secretary position as of January, and I’m giving up the newsletter after that. But I can’t see myself giving up all volunteer work for this group. I have learned too much and made too many contacts by doing it. And I know what it’s like to write in a vacuum.

www.jennifer-echols.com

By Kelsey Timmerman

A contest based on the quest featured in Kelsey Timmerman’s website Travelin-Light

Muncie , Indiana, December 12^th 2007 – At some point in our lives we shake a present and, when we hear that it’s clothes not toys, we don’t pout. Instead, we think, “Huh, I could use some new clothes.”

That’s a sad day.

It happens when we can no longer blame our mothers for dressing us like doofi (plural of doofus) in pinstriped blue jeans and snowflake sweaters; when we take over our own fashion responsibility, for better or worse. For me that time was high school. Sure, I didn’t actually buy or pick out my clothes in the store – Mom still did – but I did dress myself: “Now, which Scooby-Doo T-shirt should I wear today?” Christmas was a time to expand my selection of Scooby shirts so I welcomed it and packages that sounded like clothes.

My first gift exchange this Christmas is Saturday. It will be one of at least three gift-giving extravaganzas that will leave me with an entire new wardrobe. In light of my global quest to track down the people that made my clothes, I will be tallying the country of origin for each pair of boxers, turtle neck, sweater, pajamas, etc., which I receive.

I invite you to join me. In fact I will bribe you to do so…

How to enter the First Annual Where Are YOU Wearing Christmas Inventory Contest of Destiny

Read the label on all of the clothing you receive this holiday season and record their country of origin. Post the results in this thread or email them to me at kelsey@travelin-light.com.

Ex.

Mexico - 2
USA - 4
Bangladesh - 1
China - 6

Awards

The You are a Spoiled Brat, You Should Feel Guilty Award

This award will go to the entrant who records the most items of clothing they received. A tiebreaker will be decided by whoever has the largest diversity of countries.

The Where the Heck is That Award

This award will go to the entrant(s) who records a country of origin that no other entrant has recorded. A maximum of two winners will be selected. If there are more than two who meet the requirement for this award, I’ll self-conduct a private round robin coin tossin’ tournament to decide who the two winners are. Or maybe I’ll just pick whomever the heck I want.

Winners will be announced and the results of the survey will be posted no later than January 1st, 2008.

Prizes when you win the Where are You wearing Christmas Inventory Contest of Destiny

You’ll be able to choose any one item from the following:

Books – These are books that relate to my quest or ones that I just happen to enjoy. I’ll have Amazon deliver the one you select to your door.

Travels of T-shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli - A lot of Economic facts and figures here, but author Pietra Rivoli does a good job of making them interesting. If you want to know the where, what, how, why, and anything else about your clothes from the cotton field to your closet, you’ll enjoy this book.

The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs - Bono writes the foreword. Largely an optimistic plan of how to eliminate extreme poverty. For me this book is at its best when Sachs gets his point across through his experiences from around the world to assist developing countries. Choose this one if poverty is something you think about.

The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi - Scalzi writes the popular blog Whatever and lives across county from where I grew up. This book is loads of fun. Seriously, my back hurt from loading all that fun around.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore - Jesus has a best friend. His name is Biff. Jesus and Biff get in lots of trouble…well, mostly Biff. When there is sinning to be known he knows it. This is perhaps the funniest book I’ve ever read.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts - Don’t know about you, but I could easily become a travel bum. Potts provides a practical way to be unpractical. He explores the nuts and bolts of long term travel and also philosophosizes (yes, I know it’s not actually a word) about life on the road.

OR

You can select something from the Touron Attire store. But I’d probably go with one of the books.

Happy Holidays!

Kelsey Timmerman

For more information contact Kelsey Timmerman at kelsey@travelin-light.com or (937)423-3517.

By Catalina Alvira

I work at a publicity firm that specializes in public relations and marketing for the arts and entertainment industry. It’s the perfect job because I get to witness—on a daily basis—how a professional publicity firm puts together a PR campaign for its clients.

If you’re a newly published author (or even an aspiring writer), you’ve already heard the horror stories. Expect to spend a big portion of your tiny advance on hiring a publicist because your publisher probably won’t spend a dime to publicize your book. For this reason, agents, editors, and published authors all stress the fact that debut authors must be prepared to generate their own PR.

But really, what the heck does that mean, anyway?

Public relations—also known as PR—is the art of generating publicity for free. For a published author, it means getting your book reviewed. It means getting trade magazines and regional newspapers to write articles about you and your book. And it means thinking outside-the-box in order to get the word out there—in as many ways possible—and for free.

Can you do this yourself? Without spending $5000 to hire a professional publicist? Sure, and technically, you should. Because if you hire a publicist to generate PR for you, then it’s not free PR. It costs $5000.

While it’s true that a well-connected publicist can get you radio, TV, and other media coverage through their vast network of connections, it’s also true that, in the end, this kind of PR isn’t free if you spend $5000 to hire a professional publicist.

For some authors, hiring a publicist might make sense. For the rest of us cheapskates, there’s a reason why public relations is the art of getting publicity for free.

If you’re an author, promoting a book, then you need to learn the art of generating your own PR, which includes pitching yourself and your book as an article of interest for various magazines, newspapers, and websites.

How do you go about pitching yourself and your book to these media outlets? First, you need to think like a PR professional. And PR professionals are always asking the same question over and over: what’s the “tie-in”? What’s the reason why the magazine, or newspaper, or website should write an article about you or your book?

Every magazine, newspapers, and niche website/blog is looking for fresh content of interest to its readership. But before you (or your publicist) can pitch your book as an article of interest, there has to be a “tie-in.”

The good news is that most “tie-ins” fall into a four categories:

The Geographic “Tie-in”

Our publicity firm is located in Chicago, so our PR brainstorming meetings always start with the question: what’s the Chicago “tie-in”?

If our publicists want to get coverage in the Chicago trades, it helps to pitch a Chicago tie-in. The founding member of the arts organization grew up in Chicago. One of the lead dancers in the troupe went to school in Chicago. The playwright lives in Chicago. The lead actor visits his grandmother every summer in Chicago. Anything that will give the story a Chicago ‘tie-in” is fair game.

For authors, geography is a great angle to consider for a “tie-in” because the options are unlimited. Author have multiple possibilities for geographic “tie-ins.” Where was the author born? Raised? Graduated from college? Living currently?

The characters within your book also can have geographic “tie-ins.” Where do they live? Travel? Resolve their dramatic conflicts? Even the book’s setting is an inherent geographic tie-in. Important cities, towns, and historical landmarks—central to the book’s plot—all are tie-ins for a possible cover story within a regional newspaper or magazine.

The Gender/Ethnic/or Sexual Orientation “Tie-in”

There are trade publications and websites that target every demographic of our society. Good PR professionals understand what’s appropriate when trying to establish the right tie-in for each demographic.

You’re a lesbian author, so you’ll be scheduled for interviews in the gay pride publications. You’re a female author who writes about women’s issues and relationships, so your publicist will work the women’s interest magazine angle. Your characters are Latina, and your mother is from Mexico, so you’ve got the Latina connection within the Latino community magazines and newsletters.

In fact, the gender/race/sexual orientation “tie-in” may seem too obvious, in which case, the problem isn’t establishing the tie-in. It’s establishing how to distinguish your book’s tie-in from every other lesbian female Latina author who also has a lesbian female Latina tie-in.

Sometimes, it helps to go with the less-obvious tie-ins. If part of your book is set in Cuba, and you traveled to Cuba before writing the book, that’s a Latino tie-in. If you’re tackling an issue of cultural interest, like adopting a baby from China or Russia, that’s a cultural tie-in. If your brother is openly gay, and the main character of your book has a brother who’s brother, (and your gay brother inspired the character in your book), then that’s a tie-in.

The Plot & Theme “Tie-In”

One of the best ways to establish a plot & theme tie-in is to be familiar with the wide range of secondary-market publications. For example, magazines and websites about genealogy research are incredibly popular nowadays. So if you’ve written historical fiction, and you’ve done genealogy research in order to help develop your storyline, that’s a possible tie-in. Same with pets and animals. Maybe your main character owns an equestrian sanctuary, or has a pet parrot that’s featured through the book. Voilà—the perfect parrot pet tie-in.

Arts and Crafts. Music. Home and Design. Travel. Camping & Recreation. Boating & Sailing. Cars and Mechanics. Antiques. You really have no idea how many publications and websites are out there until you start digging for them. And once you start digging, pay attention to the most popular secondary-market publications. Then, try to come up with a tie-in for your own book.

The Outside-The-Box “Tie-in”

Recently, this whole idea of PR and “tie-ins” came together when I was randomly browsing through a publication that I never randomly browse.

The publication was The Costco Connection: a lifestyle magazine for Costco members. Inside, there was an article about Sara Gruen’s best-selling novel, Water for Elephants.

What’s the tie-in for the “book pick” article?

1). Sara Gruen is currently being sold at Costco warehouses and on costo.com.

2). Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco’s Book Buyer, chose Water for Elephants as her “Pennie’s Pick” (did Sara Gruen’s publicist pitch the idea of the “book pick” article to Pennie? Curious to know.)

3). Sara Gruen is a member of Costco (which the article specifically mentions)

4). Sara Gruen is giving away fifty signed copies of her book in a “signed book giveaway”—exclusive to Costco members.

This is the perfect example of the outside-the-box tie-in. Sara Gruen’s book is a word-of-mouth success story. Water for Elephants hit number one on the New York Times bestsellers list and was named the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year. And still, you see PR coverage about her book everywhere, including inside The Costco Connection.

I hope that gives you a glimpse into the professional world of public relations and how you can generate publicity for yourself and your book—for free. Next time, I’ll tackle how to write your own press releases, how to pitch directly to media outlets, and the importance of an interesting author photo!