Beware of the Publishing Predators

Issue #756 Oct. 5, 2013
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

1. Beware of the Publishing Predators
2. Action Photos in Your Press Room
3. Boost Your Klout Score
4. Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

My wonderful friend and assistant, Christine Buffaloe, is visiting from San Diego. We’re hiking amidst the fall color in the Kettle Moraine State Forest on Sunday. Look at the adorable little sun she brought me for my collection. I love the crooked mouth!

1. Beware of the Publishing Predators

p>They promise you the world, a bestselling book, publicity galore, stardom, huge royalties, and more.

All in exchange for your credit card number and many thousands of dollars.

Six months later, when you discover you’ve been fleeced, you call people like Judith Briles, Amy Collins, Georgia McCabe, Penny Sansevieri or me. We’re all experts at some aspect of book publishing and promotion. And we’ve all heard sob stories from authors who have been swindled.

Judith told me about an author she knows who lost so much money to the wolves in sheep’s clothing that he had to claim bankruptcy.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Join the five of us, aka The Chicks at Sea, for a free webinar we’re hosting at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Oct. 10.

“Authors Beware: What You Must Know to Avoid Being Fleeced by the Publishing Predators” will teach you the key phrases and marketing gimmicks that should set off your B.S. detector. We’ll give you a list of the important questions you should ask any book consultant.

We’ll explain what you can expect to pay for reasonably priced publishing services. And we’ll answer all your questions.

Register for the free call and we’ll even fill you in on the details of our Publishing at Sea cruise Jan. 18-23 in the Caribbean and how you can join us.

If you missed the first free webinar we hosted on Tuesday on “The 7 Deadly Sins Authors Make in Book Publishing Today,” you can sign up to listen to the replay at your choice of times and dates.

2. Action Photos in Your Press Room

Thanks to author Carolyn Howard Johnson for this tip about how to make your online press room more valuable to journalists and bloggers, and help you get even more publicity.

Include action shots of you in your online press room in case they want to use more than just the standard head shot.

Here are three examples I can think of:

–Speakers, include photos of you on stage, or interacting with the audience.

–If your company or nonprofit sponsors annual events, make action photos available for use by the media all year long, with captions.

–You can include other people in the photo. Chiropractors, include a photo of you adjusting a patient’s spine. Members of the clergy, include photos of you greeting members of your congregation after services.

Read my tips on writing photo captions at my blog.

3. Boost Your Klout Score

If a big online presence is important to you, you should care about your Klout score.

Experts debate whether your score of 1 to 100 at Klout.com is an accurate indicator of your influence. But because potential employers, joint venture partners, business associates and others might be checking your score, you’ll want to make it as high as possible.

Louise Myers has five fast tips for increasing your score, including connecting your Facebook profile to Klout, and not your Facebook Fan Page.

You’ll want to build up your Facebook fan base, too. Mari Smith shared “33 Ways to Find Facebook Fans, Provide Sterling Content & Keep Them Coming Back for More” during a webinar with me. Learn more about it and how you can access the replay and all the bonuses.

4. Hound Video of the Week

An hysterical collection of short clips of dogs being shamed by their owners