Sell More Books by J Steve Miller

[Yvonne Pat Wright]

I AM SHARING THIS INTERVIEW THAT I HAD WITH THIS AUTHOR.  I HAVE READ THIS BOOK AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT FOR AUTHORS.

 

I had one simple question.  How do I, an extremely low profile author having just written my first book, published with a traditional publisher, but  with no platform (at the date of publication I had less than 200 facebook friends, and no followers on Twitter) sell this book?  My marketing plan had all the standard elements, launch parties in both countries mentioned in the book, signings at my local bookstore, radio interviews, tv appearance, newspaper commentaries, readings, speaking engagements,  stalls at fairs and other crowd dense events, listing on Amazon and mailings to a long list of email friends.  At the end of all of that and an empty bank account, I counted up the number of books sold, a mere 150.  I was devastated and frustrated. I thought my book was no good and destined for the book inferno, for sins it probably did not even know it had committed.

With very little hope of recovering anything from this debacle, I was not anxious to make any further investment in this book, so I spent hours attending free webinars and teleseminars on book marketing hoping to pick up some tips from professional or successful authors.  I joined and registered anywhere someone was talking about marketing books. My interest fizzled at the end of every presentation, when the crunch time arrived. Register for this course and even at attractively reduced prices the cost was way above what I could afford or even willing to afford. It was at this nadir that I heard about a book written by the author whom I am interviewing today.  If I had read this book before I started writing, publishing and trying to market my book, my experience and results would have stood a better chance of being successful.

My guest is J. Steve Miller, author of Sell More books: Book Marketing and
Publishing for low-profile and debut authors; Re-thinking Book Publicity After
the Digital Media Revolutions.              

Let me have Steve tell us more about himself and his book.

Welcome Steve.  It is a pleasure to be interviewing you. Your book has completely revolutionised how
I view my author experience and the long term goals as a writer. Please tell my visitors a little about yourself.

I call myself a “Wisdom Broker,” researching practical wisdom and disseminating it through books, the web, and seminars.
I’ve written several books and provide character education and life skills resources to educators via http://www.character-education.info and http://www.youthministry.info

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

I hated writing in grade school. I suppose my entire writing goal in school was to not make mistakes, rather than to write a great story or to try to persuade someone of something.  I wish just one teacher had said, “Today’s assignment is to write an interesting story. Make me laugh. Surprise me. And I promise, I won’t count off for grammatical mistakes. It’s just a first draft. We’ll get the grammar down in your second draft.” That would have shown me the creative side of writing.  I wrote my first book. The Contemporary Christian Music Debate, in the early 1990′s when I served as a youth minister.  I often introduced youth to Christian bands that played popular styles, and some of the adults objected. Nothing I read gave a balanced, well-researched perspective, so I decided to write something myself.  So it wasn’t that I set out to be a writer. I just felt strongly about the importance of musical choice in reaching youth, and felt that a more in depth response was needed. So I learned to write in order to write the book.                                                                                                             

Was it well received?

It was published by Tyndale House, a respected Christian publisher. They were great to work with. It went through several printings, including a printing with Operation Mobilization for global distribution. It was also translated into Dutch, Romanian, German, Spanish, and Russian.

How did you come to write this book?

Cherie (my wife) and I love to write and want to spend our fourth quarter of life writing. So we decided that it would be worth a year of our time to research the best ways that other low profile, not-yet-famous authors are successfully writing, publishing, and marketing their books.

How is your book different from the plethora of other How-to books on publishing, marketing and promoting books available on the market?

Publishing today is in such flux that it’s like the “Wild, Wild, West.” Authors hone their craft and write about their passion, but when it comes to publishing, they encounter a bewildering range of options, with many contradictory voices telling them:

* Self publishers can’t sell their books.

* Traditional publishers only accept high profile authors.

* Blog three substantive posts a week, tweet several times a day, start a
monthly newsletter, get 500 Facebook friends and start putting up Youtube
videos.

Who’s got time for all that, while raising children and writing your next book and working a day job?  As we got beyond the hype by studying low profile authors who were selling tons of books, we discovered that different methods were working for different authors and different books. Our findings were often counterintuitive. We thought we could assist frustrated authors by helping them determine what might and might not work for their books.

Sounds like you had me in mind.  Do you have a specific writing style?

I try to write clear, lively prose without a bunch of erudite nonsense that calls more attention to my sentences than my message. I also do serious research, documenting my facts so that people respect and appreciate the content.  Finally, I strive to be intensely practical. After all, my goal is to help readers. I put my early manuscript into the hands of many readers and tell them
to be ruthlessly honest. They give me invaluable input.

How does your environment/upbringing colour your writing?

After my first wife died, leaving me with four young boys, I married Cherie, who was raising three boys. Raising seven boys is no
recipe for a tranquil life, but I’m immersed in real life every day. I always run each chapter through Cherie and often get input from my kids. They never fail to give candid feedback.

Are you working on anything else currently?

I’m getting input on a book-length critique of atheist Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion. I’ve got it up on Kindle for people to give me input. It’s called Richard Dawkins and His God Delusion, by J. Steve Miller. Download it for a dollar and let me know how I can improve.

That sounds very interesting. Perhaps I should  I should  get a copy and see if I can make a contribution. So, where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Find Sell More Books on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Sell-More-Books-Publishing-Revolutions/dp/098...

Most of my other books are described at our publishing company site:
www.wisdomcreekpress.com .

Our blog is www.enjoyyourwriting.com

It was great talking to you, J Steve Miller and finding out a bit about you. I wish you every success with Sell More Books and your new project.

Thanks Yvonne.

 

 

[Eugenia O'Neal]

Interesting!  Thanks for sharing.

[Yvonne Pat Wright]

In his book, Steve shines a light on how not only to survive the hurricane, but to come out with a rebuilding plan.  Thanks for your comment.

[Diane Browne]

As we try to navigate this new wild, wild west this is a very timely interview. Sometimes present day publishing actually makes you feel as if you are in a hurricane, and all you want to do is take cover, batten down with batteries, tinned food and water.

 

[Yvonne Pat Wright]

Thanks Bernard.  This is a nifty place for readers and writers.  Come on board.

[BERNARD BOULTON]

Great interview Yvonne. Steve has compiled a wealth of knowledge. I hope that everyone who reads your interveiw will get a copy of his book.  

Thanks Yvonne for making me aware of this network.