Sarah Pinneo's Blurb is a Verb!

On Tuesday, the Library's Writing Life Daytime Talk Series was thrilled to welcome back former member Sarah Pinneo, whose popular blog Blurb is a Verb, features adventures and misadventures in book publicity. Sarah shared what she's learned on the topic firsthand (by publicizing her Ski House Cookbook and her new novel Julia's Child) and from other writers. She was gracious enough to share her notes - and valuable web links...



Sarah says:

Postcards - You must have these!
- Your "Christmas Card" List: if you don't tell your friends when and where to buy your book, they won't buy it
- Postcards are cheap! I like NextDayFlyers
- Envelopes which fit poscards are size A6. Staples sells inexpensive A6 envelopes, and Paper Source sells beautiful ones.
- Booksellers I have loved: send a postcard and a note to booksellers who ought to know you're nearby

Events
Private Parties: much likelier to be well attended than bookstore events
Libraries: many public libraries will hold book events
Bookstores: have a STUMP SPEECH = why I wrote this book, fun research details, visuals, why you should care about this book
Sponsors?: If your book lends itself to alliances with companies, don't be shy!

Your web presence: Blogs and Twitter and Author Websites
Guest blogging: rent your audience
-Quality of blogs, not quantity
-Don't feel you must become a blogger. Driving traffic to your blog takes as much time as driving it to your book

Author Page
-You do need a landing page with your contact information: example.
-"Buy Links" should be more than just Amazon. Include B&N, Powells, IndieBound, and local booksellers.

Facebook: Unless you love it, skip it. "Sharers" will still link to you on Facebook. Goodreads: What is it even for, besides humiliation (possibly author talks); RedRoom is useless for authors.

Amazon - take control of your Amazon presence!
- Sign up at AuthorCentral
- Tagging: "tag" your book so that searchers can find you
- Solicit reviews from your friends. It matters.

You and Your Publicist
House Publicist
-Knows the book venues only (perhaps)
-New model: send out books, no follow-up
-Feel free to give a presentation: here is my reader, and here's where you can find her

Hiring Help
-Publicist: get someone good, and know what you want. Sector + follow-up.
-Publicists who do excellent work include: KMSPR's Kathleen Schmidt and Lauren Cerand, among others. {note from Carolyn - also check out Gilda Squire who gave a fabulous Writing Life talk Beyond the Book Tour: Marketing Your Book back in 2010.}

Paid book blog tours: Blurb is a Verb post about book tours

The Writing Life Winter 2012

I'm really excited about the Winter 2012 programming for The Writing Life at The New York Society Library. The January events have already been announced to the membership in the e-newsletter that came out this week, but I thought I'd give the faithful blog readers a heads up on the rest...Don't forget to register, because spaces are limited.

The A-B-C's of E-Book Publishing
with: John Snyder, author of Hill of Beans; Joshua Tallent (Founder and CEO of eBook Architects); and bestselling author Parnell Hall.
January 10 at 10am, Members' Room
Free of charge. For Library members only.

Literary Magazine Salon
hosted by Adam Kirsch
January 18 at 6:30pm, Members' Room
$10. Open to the Public. Nonmembers can register by calling or emailing Events office at 212-288-6900 x230 or events@nysoclib.org
Celebrate the literary magazine at our third annual Salon, featuring food and wine, conversation, visual presentations, and readings. Editors of The Paris Review and Triple Canopy will discuss thoughts on literature old and new, on the page and on the Web.

Blurb is a Verb! Adventures (and Misadventures) in Book Publicity
February 14 at 10am, Whitridge Room
Free of charge. For Library members only.
Sarah Pinneo is the author of the popular blog Blurb is a Verb!, in which she shares true (and sometimes terrible) stories of book publicity gone right (and wrong). In this talk, the self-described publishing nerd will reveal what she's learned about online book publicity, book bloggers, social media, bookstore events, working with your in-house publicist, and how to find your audience.

Close Reading: The Craft of Reading Fiction Like a Writer
with: Dylan Landis
March 13 at 10am, Whitridge Room
Free of charge. For Library members only.
In this session we'll take the first chapter of Daniel Woodrell's novel Winter's Bone, read it aloud one sentence or paragraph at a time, and hold each part up to the light. Close reading is a slow, surprisingly exciting process. It reveals how a writer does the critical jobs of storytelling: creates conflict, ramps up tension, reveals and deepens character, establishes place and time, anchors a world in sensory detail, and moves the story forward. Through close reading we refine our ability to learn, as writers, the craft of fiction from the authors we admire.

BLURB is a VERB

About 2 years ago now {my, how time flies}, we held a Writing Life talk called Marketing and Publicity for Writers. It was less a talk than a moderated discussion, and member Ellen Feldman and former book editor/NYSL Circulation Assistant Andrew Corbin led the assembled audience of writers in a spirited give and take about the new realities of book marketing and publicity. The bottom line was unanimous: authors are pretty much on their own. Member writers shared lots of terrifically creative ideas that day, as well as plenty of sad (and unfortunately, humiliating) stories about self promotion.

One of the audience members that day was member Sarah Pinneo. Sarah has since left New York for greener pastures (or more literally, White Mountains) but she has continued her quest for the holy grail of book publicity.

Her new blog Blurb is a Verb is subtitled "adventures (+ misadventures!) in book publicity". HuffPo has already picked up one of her posts and it seems clear that she's going to get a lot of publicity about ...publicity. She wants to hear your stories. Plenty of other writers will too.

p.s. we miss you, Sarah...