Saturday, October 8, 2011

FB

Face Book, Face Book, Face Book! If you still have not explored it you must. As a writer in today's world it is as important as finding a publisher. Face Book offers so many option for you to get your message out into the public consciousness.

For an example, I created a fan page for my books several months ago, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Morgan-Kostival-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/120125661405421, and it was struggling along with just a handful of followers. I then explored running an add for just three days and increased my followers by a thousand percent! I still need to track my sales to see if the add was monetarily beneficial, but that said it was with out question PR beneficial.

I will be sure to place more adds in the future with Face Book, but that is not my only avenue for PR and should not be yours. You need to find as many channels as you can to get your word out. I know; I never thought becoming a writer would as so entail becoming a business man as well, but this is the new world way.

P.S. I am sorry I have not posted in two months but since no one is following this I am apologizing to myself for letting me down.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

"This all takes time."

In our world of instant satisfaction it is sometimes had to step back and wait for results. That is exactly what I need to do, or so my publisher and RP firm keep telling me. I am always anxious waiting for the next news about how my books are doing, and it can be weeks or even months between news. This past week I had a great example of how this patients pays off.

My book, The Deep Black Pond, has been on the book show circuit since the beginning of the year and I have had very little news on how my book is doing. I have received a lot of information on each individual book show, but very little news about my book. Because lets face it that is what I am most interested in. I am continuously assured that these book deals take time, and are rarely finalized by the end of each book show. My book has been to five or six shows since the beginning of the year, each one in a different country. The fist of these was in Taiwan, several months ago, and just this past week did I get news that The Deep Black Pond is being sold to eight Taiwan companies. Woo Hoo!

So my publisher and PR firm are right, it all does takes time. Not to say that I can't be busy with many other things in the mean time while I wait for news. I am spending my time learning all I can about social networking, tracking other PR efforts, and working on my next book. So I need to be patient, and let the professionals do their job, and any time I feel anxious just remind myself that this all take time.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Social Networking

After I  got published I thought that most of my work on the book was finished. I never realized that my work was just getting started. The time that is needed to help to promote my book is becoming equal to, or greater than the time that I devoted to writing the book.

If you are hoping to get published in the near future then plan on making time to brush up on, or learn about social networking. With all the social networking avenues available to you out there it is important to figure out early on which ones will give you the biggest return. Such as targeting the ones that your target audience may most frequent, and it should go with out saying that Face Book is a must.

As I have found out all of this can take some time to set up. Prior to being published I did not have an internet profile, short of a few newspaper clipping from old productions I had worked on. This was a mistake on my part. I never wanted a public profile floating out there in cyber space, but what I am finding is that it is possible to craft what and where you appear, at least at first. You will never be able to control all that will appears out there, but just remember there is no bad press, just press. It's what you do with it or how you react to it that can slant it to be good or bad.

So take the time to learn what is out there for you to be able to take advantage of and learn how to use their systems as quickly and efficiently as possible. Then enjoy the journey, because it will not stop until you want it to.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The good with the bad.

This week I have seen my first uncomplimentary review of my book The Deep Black Pond. All and all it was not that bad, but still it can be a blow to ones ego. I, however, was pleased to see it. In the past I have shown my book to many people and I have always asked for honest feedback, good or bad, but more often than not most people would just say, "It looks really good." Not the sort of feedback that you can do very much with. I think most people are good intentioned, but just don't want to hurt your feelings by telling you something that you might not like to hear.

As artists we have to put our work out there for all people to see, and the best work evokes emotions in others. All work has an intent behind it, but how the public reacts to it can be quite different from what you intended. This is not necessarily a bad thing. From the days when I was working in film I was always fascinated by how people seemed to want to read more into an artists work than was ever intended.

The review I received this week came from Michigan Science, if you can believe that. The reviewer made some very good points, and that will help me to improve my work in the future. So I am thankful for the impartial critique. I agree with many of the reviewer's points but I also think in some respects that the reviewer might have been over analyzing what I always intended to be a simple bed time story. All that being said I now have much to think about while writing my next project, and hopefully I will be able to improve my technique without loosing any of my style.    

It is so important to get negative, as well as positive, feedback to help all of us grow as artists. I already know where most of my sort comings and challenges lie, so when I am seeking feedback what I am looking for is not conformation of my short comings but a different perspective of how someone is viewing my work, and that is exactly what the review in Michigan Science did for me. Thank you.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Putting yourself out there!

First let me say that I believe in my work whole-heatedly, but from time to time, like many artists, I may have feelings of insecurity about it. Like when you are going to a party where you don't know anyone. Will any one like you? And it is the same with your work. Will any one like it?

Well I have been sending my books and photos out to numerous competitions lately. As the results of the judging comes back I have been disappointed to find out that my work has failed to place, but after checking out the winners I was able to take comfort in the fact that I was among very stiff competition and that all the winners, in my opinion, deserved to win! This, however, has not deterred me. I have continued to put my work out there.

This week that perseverance has paid off. I was recently sent this link to a review that appeared on Imagination-Cafe Magazine blog. http://imaginationcafeblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/deep-black-pond-review.html  I was thrilled by this short review because it showed that there are others out there that like my work and enjoy what I am doing. In addition there have been two reviews posted to amazon.com as well as  to the barns & noble site, which I am also attaching. http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Black-Pond-Morgan-Kostival/product-reviews/1609764862/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_pop_hist_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&qid=1307232398&sr=1-1 and http://www.amazon.com/Gray-Garden-Aunt-Nancys-ebook/product-reviews/B004TGX76U/ref=sr_1_cc_3_cm_cr_acr_pop_hist_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&qid=1307232514&sr=1-3-catcorr

The bottom line is that you and I, as artists, must continue to put our work out there to be judged by others whether we like it or not. It has been said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. The only bad thing is if no one is talking about you or your work at all. So I will continue to do all that I can to keep putting my work in front of the public and I know that my work will find it's audience.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Beware promises of great things.

Just before Easter I received several messages from an organization telling me that I had been recommended to them for inclusion in their who's who list this year. At first I thought that this might be some sort of scam, like "your long lost relative in Zimbabwe has left you a million dollars, please contact us to arrange payment." I googled their name and checked out their site. To my surprise they seemed legitimate, and since they only asked for some basic information to contact me, and because none of the information they were requesting was to personal I decided to see where it might lead.

I was contacted about a week later by a gentleman who seemed genuinely interested in my work. We spoke for a short while and he explained what his company would like to do for me. It all sounded on the up and up until he started talking about payment for this service. As I mentioned in one of my first blogs, when someone seems more interested in you ability to pay the bill rather than your work, move on!

When the man on the other end of the phone wanted to know which credit card I wanted to put the payment on I informed him that I do not, as a matter of principal, ever give out that kind of information over the phone. Suddenly the price began to drop for their services, and with each rejection the price went lower.  I finally had to say to him that he could drop his price to $1 and I still would not give him the information that he wanted. I had asked if he could send me all his information in a contract form and I would review their services and get back in touch. He was unwilling to do this. By the end of our conversation the gentleman was gone and was replaced with a slightly belligerent man.

So, just a word to the wise. I know that nothing in this world is for free but if you are willing and able to pay for something that you want make sure that you have a written contract, that you understand that agreement, and that you are comfortable with it.

Always check your e-mail!

Normally I check my e-mail every day at the same time. Last week I came home later than normal, and since I had only been getting junk mail in my account for the past few days, I decided to forgo my regular routine and instead go for a walk on the beach. After sunset I returned home again and then sat down to dinner. It was not until 11 p.m. that I turned on my computer to check my mail.  As I deleted the daily delivery of junk mail I noticed a note from my publisher. That in itself is not unusual, but this was a request from a magazine in Great Britain that wanted to do a feature on my work for their June issue.

GREAT! I thought to my self, then I read a little further to find that they wanted confirmation and a fair bit of material by 5 p.m. that day. OH CRAP!

I started retrieving the the information from my computer that they had requested and started e-mailing it off in the hope that the 5 p.m. dead line was not a firm one.  It was almost 1 a.m. by the time I was finishing up. Luckily I got a reply from the magazine the next day saying that the information that I provided was great and that they could proceed with the feature.

I got lucky this time. I could have missed out on a good opportunity for some free  publicity if I had not checked my e-mail that day. NOTE TO SELF, check e-mail every day!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Learning more and more.

After the elation of finally getting published wore off I soon realized how much I had to still do and learn on my own. Unfortunately I have not had a mentor in this process and so much of what I am trying is trial and error.

My publisher has taken my book to book fairs in several major markets around the world in the past few months but that does not seem to be enough to get the word out into the public consciousness. I came to the conclusion that I would need a publicist.

I started a search on line and came up with many options. As I weeded through them I discovered that many, just like my original search for a publisher, were just out for a quick buck. The quickest way I have been able to identify the bad ones from the good ones is how they ask questions. After they cover their services with you and then immediately turn the conversation to "how much can you afford", or "we have a payment plan", you should keep looking.

I have recently entered into an agreement with a company that I feel wonderfully confident about. The first good sign was that after sending them an inquiry on line they contacted me by phone! This does not seem to happen in our cyber space world today. I may be a little old fashioned but this personal touch appealed to me. They also seemed to be as interested in my work as I am, and they were concerned as to whether their services would meet my expectations. They also answered all of my questions honestly and straight forward. At this point I could not have asked for more.

So I am attaching the first of their efforts on my behalf. I hope you enjoy this article. http://whattheythink.com/news/50341-graphic-artist-nostalgia-technology-create-new-art-form/

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Getting Started!

Today I am creating my first blog.

Over the past year I have had two children's books published, The Deep Black Pondhttp://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TheDeepBackPond.html and The Gray Garden; Aunt Nancy's Gardenhttp://www.publishamerica.net/product36222.html and I am learning as I go through this process just how hard it is to get my books noticed. I thought that after I had been published I could turn my attentions to my next project but I am finding out that getting published is just the first part of the battle.

Publicity is such an important part of being published. You could have written the best book ever and get it  published but if no one knows about it it won't sell.

As I've said, I am learning as I go and I have made some mistakes through out this process. So the reason I am starting this blog is to put out information that might help others who are also starting out, and to hopefully connect  with others who can offer suggestions and advice.

That's all for now.