We CAN! promote our books

Moving and Shaking

To our dear CAN readers:

Novelty and variety are what make us special here at the Christian Authors Network Marketing Blog. I'm pleased to announce several new authors to our lineup. Please note, too, we'll no longer be posting on Saturdays and we've streamlined our weekday schedule.

Here is our new posting schedule. Those in BOLD are our newest contributors. Please welcome them by leaving a comment or two!

Monday: Marilyn Hilton and Gail Gaymer Martin

Tuesday: Jill Nelson and Kathi Lipp

Wednesday: Karen Whiting and Jan Kern

Thursday: Jeanette Hanscome and Jeanne Dennis

Friday: Tiffany (Amber Miller) Stockton and Kathi Macias

Welcome!!

With joy,

Mary DeMuth

Branding from an Expert

Today we're privileged to have marketing expert Jim Rubart with us talking about the ever-confusing topic of branding. Jim explains it so eloquently. I think you'll all be informed and blessed. Read on...

One of those run around days

Please excuse my lack of a post today. Too much day, not enough Mary to go around. I'll see you next Friday, with bells on!

Learn about marketing, win a GPS system

Last year at this time, I met with Rob Eagar at Wildfire Marketing. That meeting ended up becoming a six month mentorship that greatly benefited me as a writer and a marketer of my words. Rob helped me:

Develop a branding tagline: Turning Trials to Triumph

Create a print newsletter for speaking that's garnered some great opportunities

Helped me create a killer website

Aided me in organizing my professional life

Geared me toward thinking in terms of audience instead of becoming myopic

And through all that, he became my friend. He's running a giveaway on his new website. If you're interested in marketing or learning more about it, hop on over to his site. Details are below.

Side note: My hubby bought me a GPS for Christmas. It has come in handy when I've done speaking gigs far away. I am not a native to the area, so am constantly turned around (In Seattle, you had mountains and sea to navigate by...in Dallas, not so much.) So, winning a GPS would be a huge blessing.

Freedom & Liberty

I just returned from West Africa, thankful to be home, and just in time to celebrate the Fourth of July. I wish you all a wonderful 4th. Enjoy your family, and take a vacation from marketing, you hear me? And best of all, rest in the freedom and liberty you find in Jesus Christ.

Publishing Reality 3: It's not about you

Note: This is the last in a three-part series about publishing realities. So please read the previous two weeks if you'd like the full report.

Publishing Reality Three: It's not about you. It's not that this is some sort of blazing revelation. it's not. But so many authors (me included) have walked down a strange path. We've somehow believed that this whole book selling thing is about us. About getting our message out. About sharing our story. On an elemental level this is true. But the reality is much more exciting. It's not about you. It's about the audience. It's about them.

Publishing Reality 2: Moving and Shaking

Note: This is the second in a three-part series about publishing realities. So please come back next week to get the conclusion.

Reality Number Two: People are moving. In a recent Publisher's Weekly, the big news was the shifting and moving around of various CEOs in the ABA. If you've never experienced a personnel shift in your writing/marketing/publishing/speaking career, you will. Just blink your eyes, and it will happen. And it's not merely shifting and downsizing from the top that affects a house. That usually affects the demeanor and atmosphere of a publishing entity. But it's the professionals who work directly with authors whose shifts affects us most.

Publishing Realities 1: Fewer Books, Higher Pressure

Note: This is the first in a three-part series about publishing realities. So please come back next week and the week after next to get the skinny.

Reality Number One: Publishers are publishing fewer books. Thomas Nelson has cut its output in half. Other publishers are trimming lines. Why? Less books means less output, which means less cost to the publisher. With rising costs in distribution and production (gas for trucks, paper costs have risen exponentially), publishers are finding ways to cut costs. And the other reality is that people are buying fewer books from different sources. (The independent bookseller is getting squeezed out by big box retailers, even competing with Wal Mart and Costco for marketshare). It's only natural that publishers have to respond to these factors. The question is, what does that mean for the average author trying to write great books and promote them well?

Four Success Steps

Like the nerd I am, today I read through my latest issue of The Costco Connection. On page eleven, I found this quote from Brian Tracy, the chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a training and personal development company:

"All successful people do four things. They set clear goals, take risks beyond their comfort zones and accept feedback and self-correct. Above all, successful people never give up."

How about if I unpack this a bit for all your writerly types?

Store Encounters of the Mary Kind

I love Half Priced Books. I love looking through all the stacks of books, doing mental research about what has sold, what trends are coming, what have passed. I spent a little more than twenty minutes there today, browsing, and this is what I found . . . .