The Big Bad Book Blog

Sending a book to press is a lot like putting together the perfect outfit for a big event. Every piece of the ensemble must work together and complement each other nicely, and it’s the little details that make it really dynamite. If you want to be the hottest, baddest lady in the room, er, book on the shelf, think about these final touches before you head out to strut your stuff: continue reading

Actually, it’s a little bit more than that. Specifically, it’s the lifeblood of a business, whether it be a lemonade stand on the street corner or a book publisher. And when it comes to the latter, we all love to see an endless stream of book sales roll in. But turning that mounting stack of purchase orders into cash receipts involves more than sitting back and waiting for checks to arrive. Wholesaler accounts payables departments may try to be diligent about meeting payment deadlines, but let’s face it: they deal with an enormous amount of paperwork every day. So don’t rely upon them to process your payments on time. Take it upon yourself to make sure they are on top of your accounts and you will, in turn, maximize your cash flows. Here are some helpful tips to make this happen: continue reading

Q: What’s the newest and fastest growing microblogging phenomenon to hit the Internet in the past year?

A: Twitter.

Simple in concept and design, Twitter allows you to send twitters, or messages, to all of the twitterers following your account. It’s an online global community that asks its users to answer one question—“What are you doing?”—in 140 characters or less. But it can also be a great asset when launching your book media tour.

Twitter combines blogging, text messaging, and instant messaging on a platform that allows you to send real-time messages to thousands of people worldwide. continue reading

When you think “book club,” you may think of old biddies, crumpets, Aquanet, doilies, and a mystery novel. Or you may think of that blasted “O” sticker you spent ten minutes peeling off your copy of Bookspan from Time, Inc. The two companies joined forces in 2000, when Time’s Book-of-the-Month Club and Bertelsmann’s Doubleday Book Club combined to create Bookspan, which now operates over 35 book clubs. continue reading

Planned Television Arts, the nation’s largest and oldest book promoter, celebrated their 45th anniversary last month, and in honor of reaching this milestone, we are pleased to offer on their behalf 45 free tips on what authors need to know about getting published, promoted, and distributed. If you have further questions, please contact PTA’s Chief Marketing Officer, Brian Feinblum, at feinblumb@plannedtvarts.com. Please feel free to visit their website and download The Million-Dollar Rolodex, a great publishing resource, at no cost. You can also sign up for their free e-newsletter at the site. And now, the tips. continue reading