Authors Access

On October 15th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with greeting card and gift industry maven Kate Harper. Kate Harper started her line of humorous greeting card from a hobby of making greeting cards for friends as gifts. Over the next 15 years, Kates turned her hobby into a business, manufacturing and shipping cards to over 2,000 stores, including Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods Markets and the Papyrus chain. She informed us on key areas of getting started as a writer or self-publisher of greeting cards, including:

* Card terends: research, seasonal cards, occasional cards, and publishers
* What subject areas and categories to focus on, how to stay organized
* Test marketing your cards and card verse.
* Seven most common mistake card writers will make
* Why competition in the card business is vastly over-estimated

On November 5th, 2009 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Toronto-based educator and print, radio, and TV journalist Donna Kakonge about how any writer can successfully refocus their work into the freelance journalism marketplace. She believes that you CAN break into the journalism business without having to have a specialist bachelors degree in the subject. Donna has been involved in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio Canada International (RCI) on and off for 15 years at the local, national and international levels of both television and radio. She has also worked for the Discovery Channel and Discovery Channel International, Vision TV, the BBC and various publications around the world. Key talking points of tonights talk were:

* How can I educate myself to start a career in journalism?
* What important trade associations can help me on my journey?
* Besides book writing, what other kinds of journalism are out there now today?
* Should I establish some sort of business identity?
* Can I make money just form my blogs?
* What about rejection, how do you deal with it?

On November 19th, 2009 Victor R. Volkman and Irene Watson interviewed media release guru Paul Krupin about whether Press Releases are still revelant to marketing your books in 2009. Krupin is the author of numerous books about publicity, search engines, and other topics. His latest book Trash Proof News Releases is also available as a free eBook download. We covered a wide-range of talking points, including

* So What Exactly Is A News Release?
* Why Is This So Hard To Do? What Makes This So Special?
* So What Exactly Do Media People Look For When They Receive A News Release?
* So What Do You Need To Do To Write A News Release That Really Works & Truly Gets Media Attention?
* How do you know when youre ready?
* What Specifically Should Authors Do To Create This Galvanizing Candy This Magic Script .
* What is the Magic Formula (DPAA+H)? (Dramatic Personal Achievement in the face of Adversity, plus a little Humor)
* Which Are Better For Authors To Aim At Book Reviews Or Feature Stories & Why?
* How do you know when you achieve success with a news release?
* So once you have a trash proof news release, what do you do with it

On December 5th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman interviewed author and editor Debbie Herald on writing for the erotic romance marketplace. Debbie Herald is an author and Editor currently working for Lyrical Press. Her two most recent books are Perfect Game and Sweet Dreams, available from BookStrand paperback and on Amazon Kindle formats under the pseudonymn Jordana Ryan. Among questions which Debbie answered for us were: What makes a good erotic romance?
What is the difference between erotic romance and pornography?
pseudonymns
If a writer uses naughty words does that automatically make it erotic romance?
If you write erotic romance can you branch out to difference sub genres with success?
What makes erotic romance so highly successful in epublishing?
Is there a standard for how much sex should go into an erotic romance?
As an editor what do you like to see in a sex scene?
What pushes the boundaries if anything in erotic romance?

On January 8th, 2010, we convened a roundtable discussion on Podcasting for Authors with Victor R. Volkman, Irene Watson, and Alan E. Smith. Each of the principals invited has been recording and distributing podcasts for several years through Authors Airwaves, Inside Scoop Live, and UnBreak Your Health, and podcast programs respectively. Our discussion ranged through a wide variety of subjects from production to promotion to book tie-ins and of course, getting started.1. How did you get into podcasting?
2. Is it hard to do, do I have to learn a lot of stuff?
3. Should I use blogtalkradio or do-it-myself?
4. How do I get guests, what do I talk about?
5. How do I promote the podcast?
6. What is RSS.XML and stuff like that
7. How can I tie my book into the podcast without making it an endless infomercial?
8. Can I integrate or interweave my book and podcast content?
9. How do I measure success?
10. What about audio quality? tips

On January 22nd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book marketing guru Dana Lynn Smith about exploiting the potential of Twitter for marketing your books. Dana Lynn Smith, owner of Texana Publishing Consultants, LLC, has 15 years of experience in publishing and 25 years of marketing experience. She specializes in developing marketing plans for nonfiction books and teaching authors how to promote their books online. She is the author of The Savvy Book Marketer Guides, a series of ebooks on book marketing topics. Talking points include:

• How does Twitter work
• Why do you think Twitter is a valuable tool for authors?
• What common mistakes do you see authors making on Twitter?
• Twitter profile for a minute what suggestions can you offer?
• Can you give us some tips for attracting followers on Twitter?
• A lot of people who use Twitter wonder what they should be tweeting about. Can you give us some suggestions?
• I know there are several different types of messages that can be sent on Twitter. Can you explain the difference between Replies, Mentions and Direct Messages?
• How often should authors tweet?
• How can Twitter work with FaceBook or MySpace?
• How can I run a contest with Twitter

On Feb 4th 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with web media and book publicist expert Jamie Saloff on common pitfalls of author/book websites and simple, easy, and inexpensive ways to get more conversions from your web hits into book sales.  Jamie is the site owner for www.PolkaDotBanner.com an author-helping-author website designed to help authors gain visibility for their books. She also maintains several other sites she built and designed, including the site for Pennwriters, a regional multi-genre writers organization, where she is the Web Committee Chair.  In this wide-ranging discussion, some key talking points included:

• What are the high real estate values and high productivity areas of your website?
• How does art direct the eye and how can I use it to my advantage?
• Why are color and lighting important?
• How is reading a website different from reading a magazine or book?
• How does my website reflect who I am and why it is important?
• How to use multi-media and flash cost effectively?
• What other things can I offer or talk about besides the book, the book, the book?

On February 19th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with fulltime freelance writer, proofreader, and editor Ernest Dempsey.  He shared encouraging information on how you can get started in the fun and profitable art of freelance writing.  In addition to having written 4 books, he is now the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing and also works as the country editor for Pakistan on the celebrated Internet news channel Instablogs.com.  He shared with us on the following points:

• Where are some places that I can go to look for freelance web writing?
• Is it ghost writing or does sometimes my name get shown?
• What about being a Foreign Correspondent for a news organization in another country?
• How does getting paid work?
• How do you manage personal time, schedules, and deadlines?
• What types of writing projects are available: interviews, reviews, tutorials and how well does each pay relative to the others
• How have you improved your knowledge of English by writing over time?
• How does freelancing compare to a regular job? Do you get to travel more?

On March 4th, 2010 Irene Watson moderated a roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman on how to successfully sell your books at conferences, craft shows, and regional, seasonal, and special interest fairs.   Tyler specializes in working regional craft and seasonal fairs and has achieved some remarkably good results.  Victor exhibits at professional conferences for social workers, psychologists, and mental health fairs.  Together, they addressed the following issues:

• Managing bathroom breaks
• Dealing with show management
•  Supplies You May Want to Buy as an exhibitor: tables, tablecloths, acrylic book stands and signholders, posters, Directors Chair, Tschokte items (pens, post-it notes, to give away),
• The Fine Print: watch out for proof-of-insurance, mandatory carpet purchase, furniture rental, and more
• Indoor vs. outdoor shows: foot traffic, weather, customers, pros and cons
• How to lure people to your booth
• Being prepared for any situation
• Offering exclusive specials
• Which shows work and which ones dont
• Determining whether you succeeded