Inside Publishing

Now that your book is finished, what happens next? We're here to guide you through the publishing process, from editorial to distribution and sales.

How to Make a Good First Impression, or Correct a Bad One, with Prospective Buyers

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Nov 29, 2022

We all want to make a good first impression when calling on a sales prospect for a large book order. An order for thousands of books could be at stake. So the pressure is on you, and that alone could cause you to make a bad first impression. But there are other reasons, and some are beyond your control. The most expeditious thing to do is to control the impression you make on buyers. But if you don’t, you may be able to correct it. Here are Ten Ways to Make the Right Impression.

1. Understand that your words and behavior are always subject to interpretation. The buyers’ initial assessments of you are the result of their assumptions, stereotypes and cues. Dress, talk and act the image you want to convey.

2. Walk in the office confidently, smiling and dressed professionally. Shake hands firmly while making eye contact.

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

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Dealing with Emotions While Selling Your Books

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Nov 15, 2022

Negotiating a large-quantity book sale is a little like playing poker, requiring both hard and soft skills. To be good at it you need practice and experience. You also need a little chutzpah, the creativity to recognize alternatives, the ability to assess odds, the willingness to take calculated risks and the confidence to bluff when necessary.

But unlike poker, selling to a corporate buyer is not a winner-take-all game. It is not zero-sum activity where one’s slice of the pie is increased at the expense of the other. Negotiating is a give-and-take exchange seeking a larger pie to split.

Pursuing that end can cause consternation among the participants, particularly if they have not dealt with each other before. Both sides enter the negotiation with various degrees of tension or anxiety. If you manage the emotional tenor of a negotiating session you can be more successful bargaining and bring it to a win-win conclusion.

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The Latest from The Hot Sheet Newsletter

by Richard Smith
Bowker | Tue Nov 1, 2022

If you’re an author and want to stay on top of the important issues in the world of publishing — issues that affect you — you need The Hot Sheet.

With all the chatter out there, it will help you sort through the noise with stories that focus on relevant topics from across the publishing spectrum. From author success stories to key industry statistics, you’ll find what you need to know in The Hot Sheet. Among the most important insights in this issue:

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News & Resources

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March Marketing Madness

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Oct 11, 2022

Every March basketball fans are embroiled with Madness. However, while not all of us are so captivated with basketball we are all similarly obsessed with book marketing. There are so many marketing “bracket choices” available to authors that they become overwhelmed and do not know where to start or how to organize and implement an effective marketing mix. Until now.

Apply bracketology to book marketing by analyzing each of the four parts of a marketing mix: Promotion, Pricing, Distribution and Product Development. These are each depicted below and as one document suitable for editing here: https://bit.ly/37tZx5z. Complete the brackets as you would for the NCAA Final Four and at the same time your final marketing choices will set your Final Four marketing strategies and actions for the next three months.

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Marketing & Publicity

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Inside Publishing

How to Make a Good First Impression, or Correct a Bad One, with Prospective Buyers

Dealing with Emotions While Selling Your Books

The Latest from The Hot Sheet Newsletter

March Marketing Madness

Pages

Getting Started

Create a Culture of Quality in Your Publishing Company

How to Write a Business Plan as Narrative (Part 2 of 2)

A Novel Planning Technique for Book Publishers (Part 1 of 2)

Do You Have the Write Stuff?

Today's Great American Novel (Part 2 of 2)