Published Author Services
Overview of Services for Published Authors
Savvy authors know that their publishers are very busy people. The book publishing industry is a very tricky business these days and even the best publishers have to make some very hard decisions about what kind of time, money, and effort to put into each and every book they publish. Many authors become disgruntled too quickly and fight with their publisher unnecessarily. Ask anyone in the publishing industry; there is no better way to guarantee that you don't get your phone calls returned than by getting the reputation of being a "pain in the ass." What's worse, publishers talk to other publishers, and if you get a reputation of being a "pain in the ass" it may impact your ability to get another publishing contract elsewhere.
Smart authors become proactive in the marketing of their book. Your publisher certainly wants your book to succeed. However, their first priority is the success of their larger business. Ultimately you, the author, will always be the person most concerned about your book's success. City Desk Productions can help authors market their books in a variety of ways.
Marketing Plans
There is no better way to get your book off on the right foot than to submit a marketing plan to your publisher. This serves several purposes:
- It shows your publisher that you want to be a partner in the book's success. This instantly earns you more respect and more attention in the publishing house -- an invaluable position to be in.
- It opens a positive dialogue with your publisher that allows you to really understand what they plan to do. It also allows you understand where you will need to direct your energy.
Don't be surprised if there are things in your marketing plan that are not in your publisher's plans. A thorough marketing plan will help you find the gaps so that you know where you will need to pick up the slack.
Obviously, every author wants his or her publishing house to cover the publicity for the book. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, and a savvy marketing plan, submitted early, will allow you to make plans to hire a freelance publicist if need be, as well as possibly negotiate sharing costs for freelancers with your publisher. It is better to know all of this ahead of time, rather than regret the lack of attention after the book has been published.
City Desk, relying on a very thorough author questionnaire, an extensive media database, a healthy dose of enthusiasm, and nearly ten years of publishing savvy, can develop a solid marketing plan for any non-fiction book.
Marketing Meetings
Scheduling a marketing meeting with your publisher as early in the process as possible is always a good idea. Again, the idea is to sort out early on what your publisher will and won't be doing for your book. There is no better way to do this than in a face-to-face meeting. Also, it is important that you meet the people that will be working on your book and make them your allies--even if this means traveling great distances. If you have to spend $500 to fly across the country and stay at a hotel, it may be the best $500 you spend to support your book.
Often authors, particularly those without agents, are intimidated by their publishers. In other cases they simply don't know what to ask of their publishers. City Desk has experience on the other end of dozens of such meetings. We know what authors need to know from publishers, and we know what publishers are trying to get from authors. We can be a valuable asset in such a meeting. We are happy to accompany clients to a marketing meeting with their publisher.
We are located less than 15 miles from Manhattan, and are able to easily travel to marketing meetings anywhere in the Tri-State Area. Arrangements can be made for long-distance meetings, or we can arrange for a conference call.
Publicity
City Desk can help you assemble a publicity team that suits your needs and your budget. We maintain a network of freelance publicists and we can manage certain print publicity campaigns in house. City Desk can also provide authors with effective press releases and targeted media mailing lists to conduct their own publicity campaigns if that is what their budget allows.
Web Marketing
One of City Desk's most popular services is what we call a "web marketing suite." It provides authors with their own custom website, as well as a plan to gain exposure on targeted sites all over the internet. Read the section on web marketing for more on this innovative service.