Need more publicity?
Need more targeted and intensive publicity than the International Association of Writers is providing? Our Expertizing Publicity Forum, connecting you to prestigious journalists every week for five months with personalized feedback guaranteed, may be for you. $2400 covers five months of pitches to publications including The New York Times, Inc Magazine, Harvard Business Review, and many more. Pitch the same book or business every week, or pitch something completely different. You can even share a pitching space with a friend or colleague. Limited to 12 participants; $2400 / €1600; the only publicity forum in 2009 begins in February: www.Expertizing.com/
forum.htm. $500 / €333 discount for IAW members who sign up this week.

This week’s feature: Sally Falkow with an article on Social Media Marketing: How to Take Advantage of Web 2.0. Learn what the latest statistics show about social media marketing—and how you can tap into that for your business.

Next week, learn from IAW contributor Lisa Tener on The Secrets of Compelling Writing and IAW contributor Valerie Young on No Time To Go After Your Dream.

How to Get Published in 5 Easy Steps: And Keep 100% of the Profits

Kristen Eckstein is the Executive Producer of Imagine! Studios.

Book Kristen Eckstein as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

Email Kristen Eckstein

Be our featured speaker

Louis Postel is an expert in Reputation Management in Cyber Space.

Book Louis Postel as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail Louis Postel

Be our featured expert

Meet Christopher Paolini. The 19-year-old homeschooler is the best selling author of Eragon (now a 20th Century Fox movie), Eldest, and Brisingr.

Read more

Be our featured author

The Soul of a Leader
Margaret Benefiel

“Today’s global community desperately needs leaders with soul. Margaret Benefiel’s groundbreaking book meets that need beautifully, by teaching principles of soulful leadership, illustrated with stories of real leaders who practice them. Required reading.”

—Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Read more

Book Margaret Benefiel as a speaker for your next meeting or conference

E-mail the author

Feature your book here

Internet / Canada

Contentology I is the first in a series of practical Web usability manuals for private or public companies, non-profits, and government agencies. The book helps non-experts who are creating or redeveloping content for their organization's website(s).

Read Garth Buchholz's query

Feature your query here

Attend a talk with IAW Director Fern Reiss:
If you'd like to hear Fern in person in 2009, she will be speaking at:

• SpeakerNet News teleseminar on book marketing (2 February)
• Keynote, Colorado Independent Publishers, Denver (25-28 March)
• American Society for Journalists and Authors, New York (24-26 April)
• Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Conference, New York (17-19 May)
• Independent Book Publishers’  University, New York (26-28 May)
• Book Expo America, New York (28,31 May)
• Private consults, Europe (July & August)
• Publishing Game Workshop, Jerusalem (July 28 and August 4)
• Expertizing Workshop, London (19 August)

Please contact us to book her for your event or conference, or to book a private consultation on writing, publishing, or publicity while she's speaking in your town.

Follow Fern online: Twitter

If you need some personal input on your writing, publishing, or publicity dilemma, consider a consultation with IAW Director Fern Reiss. Fern consults to clients all over the world via telephone; the charge is $300/ €200 per hour or $1500 / €1000 for six sessions for publishing consultation and $1500 / €1000 per hour (non-profits: $1200 / €800) for Expertizing consulting. Sign up at PublishingGame.com/
consulting.htm or www.Expertizing.com.

27 January, 2009

Welcome PublishingGame.com and Expertizing.com readers to the new PublishingGame.com/Expertizing.com newsletter.

Welcome to our new members in New Zealand, Spain, Canada, and the United States.

Social Media Marketing – Sally Falkow

This week, IAW contributor Sally Falkow of FalkowInc.com shares some fascinating new statistics on social media marketing—and what your business response should be.

According to Sally’s report, based largely on data from Forrester Research:

• 75% of internet users participate in social media, up from 56% just one year ago
• The largest growth in audience was amongst those reading blogs
• The 35-44 year old age cohort is increasingly involved in social media
• 70% of shoppers do online research prior to purchase, whether the purchase is online or off

Sally’s article also reveals:

• How you can take advantage of these online trends
• How you can figure out where your audience gathers online
• Why knowing that Google’s new search parameters includes news, images, videos, and blog posts makes it imperative for you to reevaluate your online digital content
• What one syndication tool you can no longer avoid—for any business
• Why one quick search result will do more to improve your business than any single other thing you’re doing—and how to maximize its results

Members can read the article right now.  (You can also read/hear all our back articles, audios, and reports in our member archive.) 

Not a member yet?  Join right now for $149/99 Euros, and read the rest of this report today.

Next week: Stay tuned for next week’s articles by IAW contributor Lisa Tener on The Secrets of Compelling Writing and IAW contributor Valerie Young on No Time To Go After Your Dream.

Special Report: 89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases

If you missed IAW contributor Joan Stewart’s astounding 263-page special report last week on 89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases, you’re still in time to read it, and you really should if you want to write effective press releases—both for media attention and search engine optimization.  Joan’s report revealed:

• Why you should use keywords in your headline—and how to decide which keywords to use
• How and when to use statistics in your release
• The three questions your press release must answer
• How often you should ideally refer people back to your website—and where in the release you should do so
• The importance of a landing page—and how you should write one
• How and when to use photos and graphics with your press releases

Members can read the entire 263-page report right now. (You can also read/hear all our back articles, audios, and reports in our member archive. If you’re not a member yet, join us for $149 / €99.)

Special Report: How to Sell to Magazines

If you missed our 15-page special report from Meg Weaver on How to Sell to Magazines, there’s still time to learn how to make that perfect pitch.

Learn:

• The one thing you must know about the magazine’s readers before you can pitch successfully
• Why you should never pitch an article for this group—ever
• The two methods of measuring audience income—and which is the one you need to focus on, and why it’s important
• The optimal reader age range to target to improve your chances of successful magazine pitching—to almost any magazine
• How to craft generic press releases to save time—and then how to easily add the ‘magic something’ to make your pitch stand out from the crowd.

Members can read the entire report here.

Not a member yet? Join now for $149 [approx. €99], and read the report immediately.

Special Report: Get More Media Attention

If you missed our 7-page special report on How to Get Media Attention for Your Business: 18 Techniques to Attract Journalists to Write About You, it’s not too late. Learn:

• What two key techniques make your story irresistible to journalists
• How to position yourself as an expert to the media
• How to coin juicy soundbites
• How to get journalists coming back to you regularly
• The do’s and don’ts of dealing with journalists
• What not to waste your money on
• How to leverage your publicity into still more publicity
• And three effective ways to generate publicity online

Members can read the report right now. (You can also read/hear all our back articles, audios, and reports in our member archive.)

If you're not a member yet, join us for $149 [approx. €99] and read this report right now.

Audio: What a Publisher Looks For In a New Book Idea

Did you miss the 1-hour audio with IAW contributor Terry Whalin? It's not too late to find out what publishers are looking for in new book ideas. Particularly in rough economic times, how can you be sure that your query and manuscript will rise to the top? What are publishers really looking for?

Terry Whalin shares:

• Why pointing out that your book will lead to offshoot magazine article sales might lead to the manuscript's rejection
• Why you may have to overcome publisher biases, such as 'your audience doesn't buy books'—and how to do so
• How your book's production costs may determine whether a publisher is interested in your manuscript
• Whether credentials and potential audience matter—and how much
• What words should you never say when trying to sell your manuscript
• How to make your proposal stand out in a crowd
• Exactly what you should not say about radio and television in your proposal
• What technique is much more effective than mass marketing and should be the cornerstone of your book proposal
• How to get top-notch endorsements (& when in the publishing process you should try to get them)

Members can listen to Terry’s audio here. (You can find any other past audio, feature, or article in the archive.) Not a member? Join now for $149 (approx. €99) per year and catch up on past weeks’ gems!

New this week: U.S. novelist John Updike died Tuesday at the age of 76… Yahoo reported a $300+ million (€200+ million) loss due mostly to decreased ad revenues… US Bureau of Labor Statistics says newspapers down 22,400 positions in the last year; New York Times op-ed calls for newspapers to become endowed nonprofits to save the industry… Amazon is expected to announce Kindle 2 in their press conference on 9 February…

Members can read more by clicking through to:
PartyLine Media Leads and
Wooden Horse Magazine Update.

You can download a complimentary copy of Hubspot's Internet Marketing Kit, including a 10-page report on how to maximize your SEO, blogosphere and social media presence, at:

www.hubspot.com/download-imk

Agent in the Hot Seat this month is Rita Rosenkranz, here to tell us what's hot and what's new, and the best way to get that publishing deal…

Members can click here for more.

Whether you’re a business traveler or an armchair traveler, here’s what’s going on in the writing and publishing world for writers in Australia.

Members can read more at Spotlight.

(Interested in sharing what’s going on in your part of the world? Become an IAW ambassador.)

Each month, the International Association of Writers sends a newsletter featuring our latest syndicated articles to website editors, email newsletter editors, and newspaper editors worldwide.  The list of syndicated articles also runs in several locations on the website, and each week we feature one of the syndicated articles in our newsletter.  Here’s how to make the most of your Syndicated Article listing, which you can update here:

• First, select the category carefully. Website, ezine, and newspaper editors are usually looking for articles in specific areas or for specific audiences, so be sure the category you choose accurately describes the article.
• The catchier the title, the more likely an editor is to examine the full article. Usability studies have shown that the first two or three words of the title determine whether users will click through to see the full article—so choose the first few words of your title carefully.
• Your short biography will be displayed in several places on our website, so be sure it is interesting and describes your expertise accurately.
• You can post as many articles as you like for syndication. The more you post, the greater the chance that an editor will find something they’re looking for.
• Remember that in today’s economy, more editors of websites, ezines, and newspapers may be looking for no-cost syndicated articles—so this market is bigger than ever before.

Also, don’t forget that you can upload your photograph for your profiles in our Member Center. Next week, we’ll look at posting your Featured Author listing. Stay tuned!

The more members we have, the more clout we have with journalists, booksellers, literary agents, librarians, etc. Want to help make others aware of the International Association of Writers? Here are some ways you can help:

• Become an Ambassador from your geographic area, or become a web ambassador and mention us on listserves and writing forums online.
• List us as a favorite on Digg.com or Delicious.com.
• Email a friend or colleague to tell them about us.
• Add this to your Facebook or Twitter Status line: “Looking for publicity as a writer or small business? Check out AssociationofWriters.com”.
• Remember—sign up three friends or colleagues, and get a free one-year extension on your membership!

How to Say No
by Nancy Stampahar

Would you like to reduce your stress level and enjoy your work and personal lives? You can.

By learning how to occasionally say ‘no’ when you are already being stretched thin, you can take control of the demands you encounter.

IAW member Nancy Stampahar owns Silver Lining Solutions, a consulting, training, and keynote speaking business.

Read the article here. (This article is accessible to both non-members and members.)

(Want to see your syndicated article here? Members can post to our Syndicated Articles Directory; articles from the directory may be chosen to be featured here. Non-members:  Join now and you can post your articles, too.)

Q: “I noticed that part of Fern’s presentation for SpeakerNet News this week will cover how to set up a successful subscription website/membership association such as the IAW.   Is there anywhere else we can get that information (hint, like in a book)?” —Kim Thompson, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

A: If you’re trying to leverage (and monetize!) your expertise by setting up a subscription website, what’s most important is delivering benefits that your target audience really needs and wants. There are a lot of writing organizations—but only the IAW provides the speakers’ bureau, database of experts to the media, syndicated articles directory, and literary agent forum, for example—including mailings to meeting planners, journalists, editors, bookstores and libraries, and literary agents—to provide the publicity that writers and experts need. See what other organizations and membership associations serving your niche provide—and then deliver something even more necessary.

There’s not enough space in Talk Out to provide all the information you’ll need to start a successful subscription website, but if you’re an IAW member, look for Fern’s special report on the topic coming in your newsletter this spring.

Members can post their Talk Out questions here.

“A few days after I posted my speaker profile on the International Association of Writers’ website, I began receiving inquiries from meeting planners who wanted to book me for high-paying speaking gigs. The International Association of Writers rocks!”
— Linda Gradstein, correspondent, National Public Radio

“I’m loving the site—thank you!”
— Kristin J. Eckstein, producer, ArtsImagine.com

Members send your kudos & we'll print them in a future issue.

The Pet Writing Conference in New York City, 7 February (www.petwritingconference.com/)…

Whidbey Island Writers Conference, 27-28 February (www.writeonwhidbey.com/Conference/)…

Read the entire Calendar. (Members—post listings at no charge.)

Copyright © 2009 International Association of Writers

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