Advice to Authors

I am on a number of book publishing forums. Regularly, a new author complains about the difficulty of finding an agent. Others talk about self-publishing. And then I read stories of people who have paid large fees to "agents" or "publishers" and I cringe. So here are a few thoughts.

There are plenty of agents who are looking for new authors. However, you can't just bombard them. You need to find agents who are interested in the kind of book you've written. Many authors mention their agents in their acknowledgments. Look at books in your field or genre or aiming at a similar audience. Then, look at the agent's web site -- every agent has requirements for how to submit to them. One I'm friendly with requires submissions online and is very specific about the process. In return, she reviews and responds to every submission. Not all do.

Ignore any who ask for a fee. They are not real agents. An agent is a broker who represents you in a transaction for a commission. Also, any "publisher" who asks for money isn't a real publisher. A publisher is a manufacturer who licenses your product (i.e. book) and takes the risk of producing and marketing it. They get your intellectual property and pay you a royalty when they sell it (or in advance). The money goes from them to you; not the other way.

A comment on one of the forums recently said the difficulty in finding agents is leading to more self-publishing. I don't agree. It's always been challenging to get an agent. It's always been challenging to get published. Ironically, more books than ever are being published by real publishers, and most of them are sourced through agents. However, more people than ever seem to be writing books. Most of what's called self-publishing is really self-printing. Just because you now can easily get a book printed or set up for POD...that's not publishing. Publishing is a business that includes sales, marketing and distribution, editorial development, design and manufacturing. If you're not expert in these areas or willing to become competent, you are unlikely to be successful at self-publishing. There are always exceptions, but that's what they are.

Book Publicists Relax!

Now authors can't make your life hell because you haven't gotten them on Oprah.

Trying to Stay Old School in a New World

My father was an early adopter of technology. He had a photocopier that used spirit duplicating technology before there was Xerox. He was emailing (on Compuserve) before I understood what that was.

I'm certain that if alive and working today, he'd know you can't have a press event and try to embargo the information.

In recent days both J.K. Rowling and Nokia have bungled such situations. Rowling was announcing the new Pottermore web site. Nokia was giving a preview of a forthcoming product.

As this article points out, Apple, among others, knows that you release the information when you're ready to have it released and you really leverage the immediacy. I disagree with the premise of the headline -- it's not only tech product launches the new principles of p.r. apply to. As the internet has become a key source of fast-breaking information, the rules apply to all news

Below is the Twitter feed of BBC's technology correspondent at the Pottermore presser, and here is his later blog post on the subject.

Saturdays in the Office

When I was growing up and dad had to go in on a Saturday he would take me along. We'd buy the New York Times at the newsstand kiosk operated by Al, a retired boxer, and read it on the subway. We took the D train to 42nd Street and walked past Bryant Park and the library to his office building at 50 E. 42nd.

He put me to work running off press releases on the mimeograph and doing the mailings. He taught me his method for doing mailings that I have taught to assistants over the years. Run the envelopes through the Addressograph. Tri-fold about five press releases at a time and stack them up. Line up the envelopes with the flaps extended. Stuff them all. Then line up five envelopes at a time so you just see the glue (no self-stick yet). Take a damp paintbrush or sponge and paint the glue wet, then seal each envelope. When all the envelopes have been sealed, take a sheet of fifty stamps (always commemoratives - they attract attention), crease them at the perforations in both directions and divide into strips of 5. run each strip over a wet ceramic roller (no self-stick yet) and apply.

For lunch, he would take me to a coffee shop on Madison Avenue for a hamburger special: hamburger with fries, a little serving of coleslaw in a pleated paper cup, pickle slice, and a Coke. Even better, sometimes he'd have it delivered and we'd eat in the office. That and 25 cents was my compensation.

I long for those days.

When Sales Is Also Customer Service

New to the area, I selected a new dentist this April and went for a cleaning. As I was checking out, they had me address a postcard to myself that they would send in six months to remind me to call for an appointment, a common practice. All they then needed to do was correctly file the postcard and mail as scheduled.

I received the postcard, and kept intending to call for that appointment. I've done that before, and eventually I do call and make the appointment, but it could be a month or more late, despite my intentions to stay on a six month schedule.

This time something new happened. A week after I received the card, the dentist's office called and asked if I'd like to make an appointment. I was grateful they did, and made the appointment.

Perhaps it's always been the practice at this office, or perhaps business is slow. But they provided a service by reaching out to me, and made a sale at the same time.

What can you do to increase sales and leave your customers thanking you for doing so?

No Reply

It's happened again.

After moving to a new area, I needed to find snowplowing for my driveway. I searched online and found a few decent looking websites for small business that do this, among other services. Only one offered an email address. I sent a message and got no reply.

A friend in the real estate business who works for a local office of one of the big franchises, had someone send a test inquiry about one of his listed properties. The inquiry didn't come to him as he expected it would. It came to another agent...who replied two months after the inquiry had been sent.

More times than I can remember, I have sent inquiries to local and national businesses, using email addresses on their web sites and sometimes web forms, indicating a desire to do business with them, and have received no reply.

I have left voicemail messages with contractors and others, requesting quotes or information, and received no reply. Some of them have big Yellow Pages ads. Why?

I'm not sure why you would publish an email address or a phone number, or even have a web site, if you don't make it a constant practice to respond to people who are interested in your business.

Even if business is good right now, it may not be tomorrow. The people you insult (and it is an insult) by not responding will not call you the next time they need work done. And they will not tell their friends about you, at least not in the way you would like.

The message is clear:

If you reply to inquiries -- potential customers -- you will stand out from the crowd. Even if you do not win that business, you will be remembered.

Is "Dress for Success" Dead?

This piece is inspired by an article titled The Tragic Decline of Business Casual.

In his work life, my father dressed above his pay grade. He shopped at Wallach's and had "his" salesman. I remember accompanying him there one time. He told the salesman he wanted two summer suits. The salesman knew which suits to propose. Dad put each one on and proceeded to the tailoring platform. While they were being marked, the salesman was pulling shirts and ties to go with them. He knew Dad's style preferences. Over time, he was also able to move Dad up the price ladder. That was salesmanship! But Dad knew that to be successful, you had to look successful.

Times certainly have changed, and I admit to having mixed feelings about it.

I recently worked in an office in Colorado where shorts, sneakers and t-shirts were common. I wore them too, happily. It provided a comfortable work environment in an office where there were few outside visitors.

Before working for that company, I had regular business at their headquarters in Washington DC. Going there in the 90s, a shirt and tie were the minimum requirements for men, and if you were meeting with an executive, you always put on a jacket. A new CEO came in and introduced business casual. Today, you'll see some executives in jeans.

I like being comfortable, and I like not having to invest a lot of my pay in clothing. But I wonder if a lack of standards is a good thing.

In todays world it's so hard to decide what appropriate dress is for a given event. The toughest calls are job interviews. I think there is still truth to the idea the better-dressed people get treated better. But ten years ago I came to a job interview dressed in jacket and tie, and found my interviewers were all 15 years younger than I, and dressed in jeans or business casual. There is no question in my mind that my more formal dress worked against me.

Last week I exhibited at a trade show in San Francisco. My sense of the industry was that a suit or jacket and tie would be appropriate as opposed to the polo shirts I now sometimes wear at trade shows. Indeed, many exhibitors were dressed this way (women wearing the equivalent suits or dresses), although some wore logo shirts. Among the attendees, a sizable minority wore suits, and most of the rest were business casual. However, a fair number were dressed in sneaks, jeans and t-shirts, and some of those were ratty looking shirts and frayed jeans. Sorry, but they looked like bums. And perhaps they don't care -- they're buyers and have money to spend, so there. To me it makes them seem less serious.

I knew the world had changed when I exhibited at a computer trade show in the early 90s and the IBM folks had logo polos instead of the traditional white shirt and dark suit and tie. I think I'm OK with a more casual look in any business environment, but where I draw the line is when you transition from clean and neat, to sloppy and worn-looking.

There must still be a perception among the public that a suit makes you more important or trustworthy. Note that nearly every male news anchor or or talk show host wears a suit (with women wearing the equivalent). Would you deposit your money with a banker dressed in a t-shirt with printing on it, torn jeans and untied sneakers?

The Price Is Right

Seth Godin has a wonderful post on pricing your products or services to reward your customers and partners for their loyalty.

Two personal stories, both of which relate to services whose prices have gone down radically over the past decade:

I used to use register.com for my domain registrations. A few years ago I switched to godaddy, despite their awful commercials, because they had the best price. After using godaddy, I found I also like their web site and domain management tools. So I decided to switch the domains that were still at register.com to godaddy. This required actually calling register.com. In an effort to keep my business, they offered to match godaddy's price. I told them that if they had offered that price in the first place I wouldn't have switched, but now it was too late.

For more than ten years, I have used intermedia.net for my domain hosting. They have a great service, a useful online knowledgebase, and when I do need support they are responsive. However, as more competitors have entered the field, they have remained the high-priced supplier. I am willing to pay something more to retain their excellent service and avoid the hassle of moving all my files and learning new procedures at another supplier. About five years ago, I was considering a switch, but they lowered their prices enough to keep me. But now, I am paying $35 a month for services I could get from highly rated companies for well under $10. So I wrote to intermedia on their customer service web form, giving them an opportunity to keep my business. No response. This may not be my highest priority, but I will be switching.

Do you hear what I hear?

The Shirley Sherrod travesty points up how far journalism has fallen in this country. One incorrect piece of "media" posted on the internet is multiplied and amplified a thousand times by so-called news media before anyone in the business does their homework to learn whether there is anything truthful or accurate about it.

The fact that our government acted in the same fashion is disappointing at best, and not the fault of the media that led them there.

But among all the major media, none is as adept at legitimizing hearsay as Fox News. And the epitome of hearsay "journalism" at Fox News is Fox & Friends.

My favorite Fox & Friends phrase is "some say." As in, "Some say that Obama killed and ate his mother," never explaining who those "some" people saying that are, but imbuing the statement with legitimacy.

I imagine Steve Doocy in kindergarten, wanting to grow up to be a reporter. He sees some kids taunting Brian during recess, calling him a bed-wetter, when in fact they have no evidence of that being true. Steve picks up his toy microphone and says "Some say Brian is a bed-wetter."

That's journalism a la Fox News.

Not "Sort Of"..."Definitely!"

I'll admit to picking up some of the verbal tics that circulate in our culture. I say "you know" when I should simply pause as I form my words.

But there is one tic that has become prevalent which bothers me much more: "Sort of." This is different than "you know" "like" or "ummm."

"Sort of" or "kind of" softens and qualifies whatever it is we are saying. It's as if we're not confident to just state what it is we wish to communicate.

Example from this morning's New York Times:

Phil Mickelson played through tough conditions, finishing at one-over 73. "It kind of affected my attitude a little bit," he said.

Kind of? A little bit? The guy finished ten strokes off the lead!