It’s hard to believe that it’s almost here: Book Expo America, also known simply as BEA, the largest and most important of all the annual book shows in the States — and on the world stage, second only to the Frankfort Book Festival (where most foreign rights get sold). This year BEA is in NYC (how’s that for symmetry?) and looks to be exciting from a number of points of view.
The first and most important is, of course, Booth 3148 — DreamTime Publishing’s booth! I know that Meg and Shelby will be staffing it, but I expect to spend some time there as well, talking to whomever will listen about our absolutely terrific series that present the “why-to” of our various activities and hobbies. Can’t wait to see the cool t-shirts!
It’s an amazing expo, filled with publishers giving out freebies (some people bring boxes and ship all the “stuff” that they gather up directly home), lectures, seminars, meetings, and party after party after party. I have more invitations to parties than I’ll *ever* have time to attend! Networking, selling, and learning, all clustered together into three very busy days.
I’m actually leaving on Sunday, so I won’t be there for all of BEA, as my flight out of Boston is that evening — I’m heading to Bucharest, Romania, for *another* book show/festival there, so I’ll be doing a lot of the same sort of thing for at least a week, along with some author appearances (both at the Bucharest Book Fair and on Romanian television). Pretty amazing week, all in all.
But back to Book Expo America … DreamTime’s been given a wonderfully *different* gift to raffle off — a weekend at a clothing-optional resort in Land O’Lakes, Florida. Ha! Take that, Simon & Schuster! Dream on, St. Martin’s! Don’t you wish *you* had that, HarperCollins? Okay, so I’m kidding, but seriously it’s always a good way to attract people to one’s booth and one’s books, by giving away something that no one else is giving away. And the more people who know about DreamTime Publishing, the better!
Book Expo America runs from June 1 - June 3, with some seminars and other activities in the week leading up to it — which is *next* week. I’ll be sure to post pictures here so you can all see our booth, our publisher and marketing director, and the eager attendees flocking to buy our books!
— Jeannette
Posted in Publicity, Books, Publishing, Publishers, The Writing Life on May 25th, 2007
Words matter. I know that I keep saying it, over and over again, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum; but the reality is that it’s true. Words matter.
Take all the hoopla about the “new Web,” known in various circles as Web 3.0, Web 4, Web-whatever … and, folks, we’re sounding like we’re treading awfully close to one of my earlier posts, the one about Alice in Wonderland. You don’t create something out of nothing simply by naming it. That’s not the way it works.
Marketing guru Seth Godin talks about his vision of Web 4 as our personal assistant, one that helps with scheduling, introduces us to new interests, makes our lives easier. But isn’t that – forgive me – a little obvious? Every technology evolves. Presents new facets, new complexity, new opportunities. Does naming it change its evolution? Or does that just make certain individuals or companies feel that they have some control over the new technology – however it may look – coming up next? Some ownership?
Don’t get me wrong: branding is important. But let’s know what it is that we’re naming before we name it, and be sure that our motives aren’t just to add to the acronym soup that plagues the marketing industry and obfuscates the truth. It’s not a new Web: it’s the natural evolution of what we have now. It’s not new. It’s not different. It’s not going to cure cancer or make a better mousetrap.
It’s simply where we’re going, no more, no less. Let’s see what it looks like before we start fighting over who gets to name the baby. And then we’ll be … beyond the elements of style!
Posted in Process Matters, About Writing, Words on May 20th, 2007
I thought it would be useful to share some points on writing strong press releases that can be noticed by people and search engines alike. We all need to write them from time to time – to announce a book’s publication, a company milestone, or a new venture. Press releases for the web are very different from the old ones we all used to write for print media, and the copywriter who ignores those fundamental differences does so at his or her peril.
These days, press releases really are targeting the search engines. They need to get seen and get seen quickly. So bear in mind the first adage of good SEO and choose keywords that are specific – and that you can use several times in the press release. Just be sure that you use them naturally: being reader-friendly is as important as being search-friendly.
Take your tongue out of your cheek: search engines don’t “get” jokes, puns, or double meanings. (Neither will most of your email correspondants, but that’s a topic for another day!)
Remember that you’re not just writing for search engines, and make your copy easy to read. Don’t forget to use bold characters, italics, and so on – but leave the multiple exclamation marks and the screamers (words all in capital letters) behind. Press releases are a little classier than that – or, at the very least, should pretend to be.
If you’re trying to choose between one press release and several, go with more. The fresher they are, the better: search engines will let them drift down in the results pages as they age, and you want to keep your news in front of as many people for as long a time as possible. Several times is always better than once.
It’s not voodoo and it’s not magic: good press releases are the result of hard work, inspiration, and knowing a few tricks. And that will keep you … beyond the elements of style!
Posted in Publicity, Tools, About Writing, Words on May 1st, 2007
