PUBLISHING UNIVERSITY PREVIEW

by Sharon Goldinger

If you’re ready to go to the next level in your publishing company, the Advanced Track at the 2009 Publishing University is just for you. Offered on Wednesday, May 27, it is designed for publishers who are seeking more sophisticated marketing techniques, more advanced approaches to publishing problems, and the opportunity to discuss their companies, challenges, and questions with other publishers who also have several years of experience and more than a few books under their belts.

The Advanced Track provides an opportunity that experienced publishers report they value, a chance to learn from and network with other publishers at their level, and with publishing experts, in a one-of-a-kind environment.

You don’t have to take a test to qualify, but you do have to apply and be accepted. Why? Because this track is for experienced publishers only; its sessions won’t bore you with the basics that beginning classes cover. They’ll jump right in with the latest information about the industry, hot new marketing ideas, and advanced techniques for running your business efficiently.

Advanced Track participants must meet at least three of the following requirements:

attendance at one or more previous Publishing Universities

at least three years in publishing

publishing as your primary business

at least $250K in annual sales

at least five titles published

A Taste of What’s in Store

Here are some great tools from Advanced Track speaker Nettie Hartsock of Hartsock Communications that you can use right now to get optimal results from your Web 2.0 efforts:

Wondering what proper blog etiquette is? Check out WOMMA’s Blog Ethics for a short and sweet guide to blog and outreach ethics: womma.org/blogger/read.

Worried about search engines and eager to drive more traffic to your site by optimizing your press release? Great news! Try out the beta version of pressreleasegrader.com, and, voilà, you’ve got a great guide to ensuring your release is really getting the views it should!

What is Twitter, and why should you be using it? Think Paulo Coehlo and his 10,000 followers on Twitter are something to ignore? Go to Twitter.com, grab your name, and start following folks. Use Summize.com (summize.com) to search on Twitter for people who are like you and curious about what you’re doing. Make sure your Twitter posts are also linked to your Facebook page for optimal repurposing of content.

Social-media releases are all the buzz. If you can put in video and audio links, your template will be much more reader- and journalist-friendly. Check out the template for social media releases at shiftcomm.com/downloads/smprtemplate.pdf.

Always remember that it is never kosher to publish a comment on someone else’s blog that hypes your book, whether it’s an e-book, a free book, or a published book. Despite what PR and some social-media folks say, this is a no-no. Posting a commercial for you or your book as a comment on someone else’s blog will most surely hit a sour note with bloggers.

The Advanced Track classes will show you how you can:

Integrate your publicity and marketing campaigns to generate maximum sales by creating, coordinating, and managing a book’s marketing, sales, publicity, and Internet campaigns.

Generate more money through special sales, with a focus on mail order, premiums, and custom publishing, by finding the right outlets, constructing an offer that will appeal to them, and closing the deal.

Become an expert in your field so the media will contact you. You will also learn why some authors and publishing houses are featured and quoted more than others, and you’ll obtain a detailed list of tips and techniques that you and your staff can begin using immediately to get the media attention your books deserve.

Take full advantage of social media, boost your social-media savvy, use free tools for optimizing your Web site and press releases, learn which tools will work most powerfully for you, and discover how best to take advantage of AmazonConnect.

The 2009 Advanced Track will have its own keynote speaker, and the luncheon tables especially for advanced trackers and Advanced Track speakers that were so popular last year will be a feature of the program again in 2009.

You’re invited to check the IBPA Web site (ibpa-online.org) for details and registration information.