New Professional Website

I have launched a website for Beverly Bambury Publicity. For the next several days I'll port some of the information from this blog over to that blog, but once the construction dust settles, this will be exclusively my personal blog in which I'll pursue the consumer and media literacy information that I enjoy, and also more general thoughts about marketing that aren't necessarily appropriate for the professional site.

Thanks for continuing to read!

Five Steps To a Quality Blog Tour

I recently had a correspondence with an author that had asked about my publicity services. When we determined that the fit wasn't quite right, she asked me for a few tips on running a blog tour for her book's publicity. I agreed to share some tips and after giving it some thought, I distilled my best practices into these five tips for running a better blog tour for your book, comic, or web series. Or CD. Or many other creative enterprises, for that matter.

Step One: Quality Means Research

The most important thing to take away from this article is that--if you're doing it right--preparation for a blog tour is time-consuming work. So if you only have limited time, it's far better for you to contact five or ten quality targets than it is to send 100 ill-fitting queries.

More Book Publicity Info: Advice, Services, and Rates

I started a new Facebook page recently for Beverly Bambury Publicity, and I've been using it to share advice, information about my clients' books and appearances, and information about what my fees are to do it. You can follow the page by clicking like, or I'll occasionally do round-up posts of the useful advice and info here on the blog. This is one of those posts.

These Facebook items were inspired by questions from clients and potential clients, so if you have any questions at all about publicity or marketing for your book (including comics) feel free to ask me here in the comments or via email and I'll put together an answer for you that will hopefully be both useful and easy to understand. Here are the first three (slightly edited for this different format):

• I was recently asked, "What about book trailers?" This is a tough one. They are expensive to produce and difficult to get right. But, when they are right they can be a fantastic tool in the publicity arsenal, if only in that they give you something to share beyond text.
  
  On the other hand, there is no evidence that book trailers are a lot of help sales-wise. Trailers seem to be a gamble: if it goes viral--even somewhat--then it's worth more than you could have spent on it. Unfortunately, no one can guarantee a video will go viral.
  
  So is it worth the expense? The jury is still out on this one. The main advice I can give is this: if you can get it done tastefully, with professional quality, and with an interesting hook, go for it. If not, it may be best to wait to do a book trailer.
• Another common question is "Just what is it you do?" My specialty is media contact/blog tour. This service uses my professional research background to find out which media outlets and bloggers have the best fit for you and your work in subject matter and theme interest, as well as site traffic and likely influence.
  
  I then craft personalized correspondence to each contact and then (depending on which service you've chosen) I will field all your replies and handle appearance scheduling on your behalf. I can even provide deadline and topic reminders if you have Q&A or guest blogs scheduled. (It has also been noted that I can provide a shoulder to cry on or a partner for enthusiastic swearing sessions!)
  
  Other services include, but are not limited to: social media advice and coaching, press kit creation, press releases where applicable, and blurb solicitation (with ample lead time).
  
  Have a question about whether or not I can handle your request? Just send me a message and we'll discuss it. If it isn't something I can do, I'll help you find someone who can.
• Think you can't afford a publicist? This has been the most frequently asked question I've had so far and I think it's well worth answering honestly and directly.
  
  So... how much does it cost? The short answer is "it depends on your situation and your needs", but I know you want something concrete, so here it is:
  
  Basic, à la carte book publicity fees start as low as $80 and premium publicist service fees start with flat-rate packages priced as low as $500.

Keep asking those questions and I'll answer them as best I can, and if you have tips to share with other authors share them below.

Short Ad Astra 2013 Recap and Rest-of-Year Convention Musing

In enjoyed Ad Astra once again this year. I saw many friends and made some new ones. My panels and presentations went extremely well, too. It was a good chance to be out at a convention as an independent publicist for the first time; although, I hadn't had time to get business cards made. That was a minor issue, though. 

High points were the ChiZine Publications party, the Bundoran Press party, Leah Petersen's Futurecon-hosted party, most of my panels, and quiet chats in the green room. Well, and the loud chats in the green room, too. Indeed: my compliments to the green room and con suite staff once again. Putting together a convention is hard work in all aspects, but the most obvious facet of service are the people there making sure we have drinks and snacks and a comfy place to come together, and it's always something I deeply appreciate. And friends. I can't stress enough that the people are what make the convention. Far too many people to list here, but, you know who you are. 

I liked that there were fewer panels overall, because it meant that the panels were pretty well-attended. Even my almost-doomed Moderator University ended up with more audience than panelists despite being opposite two of the most dynamic and popular local authors Toronto has to offer AND a guest of honour talk. There is a lot to be said for capping the number of panelists and guests. I really liked that part a lot. 

And people were nice to my dog. I liked that bit, too.

So yes. Going again next year. I look forward to it already. Next stop: Eeriecon for just the Saturday so I can visit with some friends I don't get to see very often. After that, I think the next thing I am up to is Readercon near Boston in July. It is my first time attending Readercon and I am deeply excited. I expect it to be closer to my experience at World Fantasy and that's a good thing indeed.

After that...? Who knows. It looks like the Polaris offshoot Reversed Polarity got Peter Davison as a guest this year, which makes me a bit more interested in attending; although, a one-topic convention doesn't typically interest me. That may be another one-day attendance convention for me. Certainly I am not at all expert enough about Doctor Who to be on any panels for that one.

Finally there will be SFContario #4. That one is always a strong convention for me, and it has the distinction of being the only local convention for which I've done content each time. 

I didn't intend for this to be all about my 2013 convention schedule, but I'll let it ride. It gives me something to refer back to later at any rate. My focus going forward is going to be finishing my school program by the end of February 2014 and slowly and carefully growing my publicity business. I already have enough serious queries that I fear I'll have to start turning people away. We'll see how it goes. I am cautiously optimistic. 

Did you attend Ad Astra this year? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Ad Astra 2013 Schedule

It's that time again: Ad Astra! Some neat guests of honour this year, such as Jim Butcher, Stephen Hunt, and Ben Bova (a fellow Floridian). You can see the other guests of honour (and everyone else) on the Ad Astra website.

This year I am really working for it, with four panels and one presentation. Three of these are on Friday, which means I’ll have a busy night, but then Saturday and Sunday I can relax and visit everyone else’s panels—and parties. Oh yes, there will be parties. Bonus: lots of dogs. This is a pet-friendly hotel and my dog will be there, among many others. Not at the panels specifically of course, but out and about.

Anyhow, here is my list of panels along with my esteemed co-panelists and panel descriptions. If you were planning to stalk me, I’ve just given you a roadmap. Use it wisely.

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Friday

7 p.m. in Arctic: Right to Review

Beverly Bambury (m), Adam Shaftoe, K.W. Ramsey

Readers have more outlets than ever before to voice their opinions about books, from book sellers’ sites such as Amazon, or social networking sites like GoodReads. Yet, like so many things on the Internet, these forums are open to exploitation, and the dilution of dialogue. Have a chat about the responsibilities site owners, authors and readers have in negotiating these new critical environments at this panel.

9 p.m. in Ellsemere East: Cross Promotion and Networking in the Age of Social Media

Beverly Bambury (m), Thomas Gofton, Sarah Water-Raven

Maximizing exposure, networking, cross promotion…Sort through the buzz to figure out where your product fits in:  what organizations you should join, what format your product should take, and where there are overlaps in the market (novels, comics, web series).

10 p.m. in Berczy A: The Contemporary Troll

Adam Shaftoe (m), Beverly Bambury, Chris Charabaruk, Derwin Mak

Once confined to the shadowy underside of bridges, trolls have become a blight upon the Internet and real world alike. What motivates a person to troll? Is it a simple need for attention, or is there a deeper psychology to the behaviour? How does a person draw the line between unpopular-yet-relevant ideas and misanthropic attempts at subverting a conversation? This panel seeks to contextualize the act of trolling, and attempt to form coping strategies beyond “not feeding the trolls”.

Saturday

11:00 a.m. in Beaufort East: Moderator University

Beverly Bambury (m), Adam Shaftoe

What makes a great moderator? Get some guidelines you can follow to make sure that the panel you moderate is the talk of the con.  Learn how to prepare for a panel you are moderating, what pitfalls to avoid, and ways to stay on top of a topic.  All your questions – and more – will be answered in this instructive panel.

Sunday

1:00 p.m. in Ellesemere East: Crowdsourcing Megapanel

Hayden Trenholm (m), Cris Macht, Thomas Gofton, Brett Alexander Savory, Beverly Bambury

Kickstarter, Indigogo — Come learn about this exciting new way of funding projects by discussing exactly what do these sites do and how to utilize them properly.  What types of projects are best suited to crowdsourcing and how you can meet your goals will be central to this panel.

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So there you have it. Even though as of last week I am no longer with ChiZine Publications (I know, I know what I said in the last post. Long story!) I still have plenty to say about marketing and publicity. So join us at Ad Astra this weekend. It will be fun, I promise. :)

Book Publicity and a Year of Elsewords

Hello again! It has been too long. The main thing (aside from work and my studies) that's taken up my consciousness the last while is that I've officially embarked on the journey of doing book publicity independent of ChiZine Publications. Now, don't fret: I'm still the primary publicist for CZP, too. I've just started down the path to eventually being my own one-woman book publicity agency. The two non-CZP books I am working on right now are Vaporware, by Richard Dansky, out May 24th, and The Year of the Storm (and accompanying novella, Broken Branch) by John Mantooth, out June 4th. (And as always, you can go to chizinepub.com/books to see what books are coming up at CZP--and ogle the gorgeous covers while you're at it.)

Since I started working as a publicist in the publishing industry a little over a year ago, my experiences have been varied and rich. I've worked with a number of authors and am now entering a period in which I'll be working with some authors on a second book--also exciting! I am even collecting testimonials and plan to launch a website and make a more official start to things in 2014. I think things are progressing nicely.

Anyway, while I'll continue to talk about marketing and communications and sometimes how those things relate to us as consumers, on this, nearly the first anniversary of Elsewords, I have decided I'll add discussion of publicity to the mix. I have experience that I didn't have last year, and now I think I have things to say that people may find useful. While my experience is in books, some of what I do is relevant to other types of creative work, such as movie, webseries, and music promotion, too.

Here's to another year of the blog, and to more content. As always, please leave a comment or email me if you have any questions or want to see a specific topic addressed. I don't promise that I'll answer it on the blog; but, there's a good chance I will, so speak up!

Pet Peeves #3.5: Follow-Up to Unethical Advertising

I recently reposted on social media about a past blog post: Pet Peeves #3: Unethical Advertising. I did this because I got a comment from someone who worked at Canada Purple Shield, the company about which I was writing. A friend of mine saw it and sent me something similar she'd received from Personnel Concepts. It looks like a mailing from the Government of Florida, but it's a private company from California in the business of selling workplace compliance poster sets. Again--a fine product and a useful service provided--but a misleading ad design caused to make people think they're ordering from the government. This works on a subconscious level, by the way, and not just for people who may be gullible enough to think it actually is a government mailing. Even if one knows it isn't a government mailing, it has the trappings of being official and still may influence purchasing decisions.

Here are the pictures to show what I mean:

Oh - the website? Personnel Concepts' website is fine. Just a regular website with products listed and informational sidebars: good, useful, and not misleading at all.

So there you have it. This kind of mailer is a common occurrence (and there are interesting comments on the previously-referenced entry if you care to see them,) and there is nothing illegal about it, I just think that it edges into being an unethical use of influence techniques. There is a right to sell this product, and the product has benefits which are explained in the UPDATE NOTICE section of the letter. Those are good benefits and I encourage Personnel Concepts to try to be more direct in selling this product in the future.