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Young Adult Novels: Day 1

May 3, 2005 /

Young Adult (YA) novels don’t look like YA books anymore. Walk into any bookstore and you’ll see the books becoming bigger, thicker, and with beautiful covers.

The marketplace for Young Adult books is changing. Two reasons:

1) Harry Potter & Tolkien Books
2) The Economics of Trade vs. MM Formats

Harry Potter & Tolkien Books

First let’s think about the Harry Potter effect. Prior to H.K. Rowling’s blockbuster success with the Harry Potter series, conventional wisdom was that young adults wouldn’t read books over 200 pages. Harry Potter books are thick, almost Bible-like in size.

Now things have changed. Youngsters have voted with their pocketbooks to purchase books in the 300 to 400 page range. The Lord Of The Rings movies then rode on the coattails of Harry Potter to sell 400-500 pages books to a YA audience.

To be fair, this is really a change in the older YA marketplace. The 10 to 15 year old crowd has blossomed into a distinct buying group whose demand publishers are now rushing to fill.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about the way economics is shaping the market.

Christian Chick Lit Builds Community on the Web

April 28, 2005 /

Christian chick lit, recently featured on the Today Show and described by Steeple Hill Executive Editor Joan Marlow Golan as novels for modern Christian women who wonder,”How do I live authentically in the kind of world we live in?,” continues to grow in popularity. In response to the genre’s growing readership, the authors of Steeple Hill Cafe, launched Faithchick.com, a blog community that’s welcomed over a thousand visitors since it’s launch in late March.

Veteran authors like Lori Copeland, Annie Jones, Kathryn Springer and Lynn Bulock add depth to the blog mix of newer authors like Marilynn Griffith, an African American home educator, Rachel Hauck, a youth pastor’s wife and Susan May Warren, a former missionary to Russia.

Griffith, whose first novel debuts with Steeple Hill in 2006, put together the blog with the help of her husband.

Griffith said:

Faithchick.com gives Steeple Café readers a chance to get to know our authors better and have a little fun doing so.

And there is fun indeed, with entries like “Hallelujahs on a Harley” and a recent “Living With the Top Down” contest with a Barbie convertible prize. The blog reaches the inner chick of all readers, especially the fifty percent of American women who attend church each week, according to the Barna Group.

The “Are You a Faithchick?” poll is another popular post, allowing readers to earn petals if they “own a cool devotional Bible but can’t remember the date” or “own one or more WOW worship CDs…and a karaoke machine.”

Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books

April 27, 2005 /

Most authors write because they want someone to read what they have to say. But what do you do once you’ve fleshed out all of your ideas and written your book? How do you get it into your readers’ hands?

Aspiring authors need to understand the importance of book promotion and how to successfully market your book.

Former media professional and Master Writing Coach™ Dawn Josephson reveals the secrets to successful book promotion in her book Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books (Ground Rules Press, $19.95, ISBN 0-9744966-1-8). She states:

The first step in book marketing is to create a press kit, or media kit, for your book. While each kit will vary in complexity depending on the book’s subject matter, the overall goal is to highlight what your book is about, why your message is important, who you are as an author, how you will help your readers, and how you’re marketing your book.

Josephson has interviewed buyers from major bookstore chains, distribution houses, and top book reviewers, so she knows what decision makers want to see in a book press kit. To help authors, Josephson details how to create each piece of the book press kit according to the decision makers’ guidelines so it gets a favorable response. She also includes examples of powerful and effective promotional materials that have helped authors propel their book sales.

Christian Authors Test Book Marketing Knowledge

April 20, 2005 /

You can test your book marketing knowledge free of charge at the Mid-Western Christian Book Fair website, www.christian-book-fair.com.

I took the quiz and I got all but one right according to them.

According to Paschal Eze, director of the annual Mid-Western Christian Book Fair in Iowa, this free service is not only helping Christian authors get a better understanding of the very dynamic and challenging book marketing landscape but also fine-tuning their book marketing strategies to ensure better performance in the market place.

“So far, out of the many authors that have taken part in this book marketing quiz, only one has got all the answers correctly but that does not mean the quiz is difficult,” explains Rev. Eze whose Mid-Western Christian Book Fair attracts Christian authors, publishers, book dealers, Bible printers and Christian book lovers from across the country and beyond.

Christian authors who get all the answers correctly are given 30% discount on the very low author exhibition fee for the September 23-24, 2005 Mid-Western Christian Book Fair.

Podcasting to Promote Book Sales

April 19, 2005 /

Author Mark Jeffrey is using a free, fully-produced MP3 audiobook performance online to promote book sales. The Pocket and the Pendant is read by the author and accompanied by soundtrack music by composer Bjorn Lynne (www.lynnemusic.com).

Mark Jeffrey, together with scifi/fantasy website DragonPage.com, has so far released five chapters of his book, with nine more to go. The free podcast is available from DragonPage.com, PodcastAlley.com, and the book’s website at PocketandPendant.com.

Podcasting is a new technology, similar to blogging three years ago. Here is an overview of podcasting: www.dragonpage.com/podcast.html.

Says Jeffrey:

There really aren’t a lot of free MP3 audiobooks out there, which really surprises me. It’s a great way to promote paperback and hardback novels, as well as give your existing audience a new way to experience the book.

Asked if he thought he was cannibalizing sales, Jeffrey said:

Absolutely not. We’re already seeing thousands of downloads each week, and new listeners are emailing me that they are purchasing paperback copies on Amazon as a direct result of listening to the podcasts.

DragonPage.com is currently featuring three free podcast audiobooks, or ‘podiobooks’: “Morevi” by Tee Morris, “Earthcore” by Scott Sigler and “The Pocket and the Pendant” by Mark Jeffrey. New episodes for each – usually a chapter or two – are released each week. Subscribers use popular ‘podcatchers’ such as iPodder or other applications to get the new audio content delivered to them automatically.

Jeffrey says:

Podcasting is an amazing thing. It’s like TiVo for audio.

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