HEARTICLES: Articles with Heart

Probably one of the most confusing parts of selling books, or any product, is marketing and promotion, but not many understand the difference in the terms. Before we begin, we must go back to the 5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Marketing includes all of those things. Promotion is just part of it. In the simplest terms, Promotion tells a customer WHAT you have for sale. Marketing tells the customer WHY they need it. You can't have one without the other. And if your book is on sale, you can include your WHERE and WHEN to that. WHO? That's your audience. Let's break it down with a few examples -- Promotion -- what = the product: Just Desserts Cookbook Marketing -- why =  you need this book because . . . It's full of dozens of seasonal recipes that can be used year-round. All recipes were written and donated by many Tirgearr authors. There are recipes for most occasions. The recipes are easy to make, so even beginners can make them. There are twi...

As we begin a new year, I know many of you are contemplating starting the submission process again after what has probably been a two month break -- November to participate in NaNoWriMo and then with most publishers being closed in December for submissions. And now that submissions are reopening at most houses, you want to get submitting. WAIT! Before you do, check out this handy list of dos and don'ts for submissions. Don't -- Ignore submission guidelines Do -- Follow submission guidelines because every publisher's guidelines are different. Tip:  By following guidelines, it tells publishers many things about a writer, including how well he/she pays attention, how well he/she follows instructions, how much care he/she puts into their work, how easily he/she will be to work with, etc. All of this also tells us how much he/she is dedicated to their work and their career. If something in the guidelines is confusing, don't guess. Send a short query outlining ...