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Posts from September 9, 2010
How to Sell Your Book Using Social Media
Posted by Jean Ann Van Krevelen
For a couple of years now, businesses (and individuals) have been sternly reprimanded for using traditional marketing techniques on social media channels. Repeatedly blasting generic messages across multiple sites is not only ineffectual, it’s considered spam, and is likely to 
alienate potential customers. And while many now understand that this is a definite no-no, they are unsure of the alternative. For authors, this is no different…going on social sites and shooting out hundreds of messages about your book will not build an attentive reader base. In fact, it will do just the opposite.
The good news is that there are multiple ways to build a brand or sell a book online. The key to being successful is in understanding these processes and adding them to your toolbox for future use. Here are a few of the primary ways people use social sites to market and sell:
- Relationship Sales: Relationships are the cornerstone to success in almost all online marketing efforts. Your network helps create context for your book, sort of like a peek behind the curtains. This kind of engagement gives readers a deeper experience than that of simply reading text.
- Observational Sales: The amazing power of social media is in it’s ability to exponentially magnify the impact of a single conversation. When you talk with someone about your book, it is witnessed by all of the members of your network. And when anyone comments on your conversation, it is witnessed by the members of their network, and so on, and so on. This means that a person with 1,000 followers on Twitter could indirectly impact millions of additional users.
- Suggestive Sales: If you’ve been to a fast food restaurant, you’ve experienced suggestive selling, (”Would you like fries with that?”). This is strategy is often used online when someone is seeking a resource or solution. It is a great way to reach out to your existing followers, as well as position yourself as an expert for those outside of your network.
- Customer Reviews: It may surprise you to know that 81% of internet users research information about a product prior to purchasing and 71% purchase products online. In addition to spontaneous reviews on sites like Twitter and Facebook, consumers review products on company specific sites (MacWorld), shopping sites (Amazon) and specialized review sites (Yelp). A positive comment on any of these websites is a tremendous benefit because it has the potential to be viewed by thousands of people.
These aren’t the only strategies for selling books using social media, but they should give you a head start in developing your own online marketing plan. Keep track of what is successful in which settings and hone your efforts to those tactics that are most effective, then repeat, repeat, repeat!
The 10 “B’s” on How to Get your Garden Book Published- Part 1
Posted by Roger Waynick
I am asked time after time about how to get a gardening book published, and I have tried to be consistent in my answers to these questions over the years, so I have decided to write a couple of posts that may help you in this quest. But first, I want you to fully understand that getting your gardening book published is hard….especially if you are trying to get your first book published. Yes… hard….not impossible!
(1) Be Prepared- Over the years, I have gotten queries from writers via the phone, in email form and in person that I thought had pretty good merit and have asked for a proposal only to go days, weeks, or months without ever hearing back from the writer. As many of you already know, and others are just beginning to understand, Publishing is a business, and for us to stay in business, we have to treat the publishing process that way. Part of the business of publishing is balancing the number of books we can publish each season and insuring that we do not publish books that compete with each other. So, if I am presented with multiple Rose books, I am probably only going to choose one of those for a particular season, and I am probably going to give priority (Assuming the book meets all the criteria for a Cool Springs Press title) to one that is presented first because of the time, expense, and contractual obligations necessary to publish a book. When you are looking to get your book published, be prepared by having your proposal ready, your bio ready, your marketing plan ready and FOLLOW UP QUICKLY!
(2) Be Aggressive- I know that many of you do not consider yourselves salespeople, but if you are going to be successful in getting your book published, you are going to have to aggressively sell me or any other company on the fact that we can be successful in publishing your book. I assure you that some of your friends are very aggressive! We get more ideas and proposals each week than we can possibly consider the way that we want to, so the writer who aggressively pursues us has a much better chance of having their proposal moved to the top of the pile! This is a business and every business needs aggressive sales people. Your writing career is a business, so get up and aggressively sell yourself!
My next post will cover the next three “B’s” of getting your garden book published…
Be Creative
Be a Marketer
Be Realistic
Posts from September 8, 2010
The Rise of the Creative Class and The Big Idea
Posted by Billie Brownell
In 2002, Richard Florida published The Rise of the Creative Class, which describes the rise of a new social class that Florida called the “creative class.” Its members are scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists, and entertainers. He defines this class as those whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology, and new creative content. (Does this sound familiar?) In general this group shares common characteristics, such as creativity, individuality, diversity, and merit. The book takes a look at how and why creativity is valued more highly than ever. Even though the pub date was eight years ago, that is nothing in terms of social change; just look at how long it’s taken for equal rights to take effect. (Oh, yeah … right.)
Florida is not without his critics, but I love the idea that writers (and bloggers) and artists (photographers and videographers and others) are leading this huge social movement. Maybe they always have. It’s the storytellers who not only keep the faith, but drive it. According to Florida, being part of the creative class is not a choice that is imposed upon us, but rather one that we are choosing.
Florida’s most recent book is The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity. Briefly, its position is that moments of great crisis are also moments of great opportunity to remake our economy and society. This “creative destruction” sets the stage for innovation, risk-taking, and invention.
What do you think? Is society being changed from the bottom up? Is it good? Do you feel part of the creative class? Are you optimistic? What Big Idea would you introduce?
It’s your time. Carpe diem.
Top 5 Picks: New Gardening Releases 9/8/2010
Posted by Jean Ann Van Krevelen
Texas Bobwhites: A Guide to Their Foods and Habitat Management by Jon A. Larson, Timothy E. Fulbright, Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Fred C. Bryant, University of Texas Press (@24.95) $17.47 at the Garden Bookstore
Northern bobwhites are one of the most popular game birds in the United States. In Texas alone, nearly 100,000 hunters take to the field each fall and winter to pursue wild bobwhite quail. Texas is arguably the last remaining state with sufficient habitat to provide quail-hunting opportunities on a grand scale, and Texas ranchers with good bobwhite habitat often generate a greater proportion of their income from fees paid by quail hunters than from livestock production. Managing and expanding bobwhite habitat makes good sense economically, and it benefits the environment as well. The rangelands and woodlands of Texas that produce quail also support scores of other species of wildlife.
Botanic Gardens: Modern-Day Arks by Sara Oldfield, The MIT Press ($29.95) $20.97 at the Garden Bookstore
All life depends on plants, but we often take them for granted in our everyday lives. It is easy to ignore the fact that we are facing a crisis: scientists estimate that one third of all flowering plant species are threatened with extinction. This lavishly illustrated volume considers the essential conservation role of botanic gardens, telling the story of how a global network is working to save our botanical heritage. Chapters feature gardens from countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Uganda, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, and China.
Comments and photographs from the gardeners involved give the book a personal touch, revealing the human side of the important work that goes on behind the scenes of these spectacular gardens. Author Sara Oldfield shows us how botanic gardens are truly “modern-day arks,” safeguarding species and saving resources on which we may someday depend.
Texas Bobwhites is a field guide to the seeds commonly eaten by northern bobwhites, as well as a handbook for conserving and improving northern bobwhite habitat. It provides identifying characteristics for the seeds of 91 species of grasses, forbs, woody plants, and succulents. Each seed description includes a close-up and a scale photo of the seed and the plant that produces it, along with a range map. Using this information, hunters can readily identify 
concentrations of plants that are most likely to attract quail. Landowners and rangeland managers will greatly benefit from the book’s state-of-the-art guidance for habitat management and restoration, including improving habitat dominated by invasive and nonnative grasses.
Aaaaw to Zzzzzd: The Words of Birds: North America, Britain, and Northern Europe by John Bevis, MIT Press ($12.95) $9.07 at the Garden Bookstore
Birds sing and call, sometimes in complex and beautiful arrangements of notes, sometimes in one-line repetitions that resemble a ringtone more than a symphony. Listening, we are stirred, transported, and even envious of birds’ ability to produce what Shelley called “profuse strains of unpremeditated art.” And for hundreds of years, we have tried to write down what we hear when birds sing. Poets have put birdsong in verse (Thomas Nashe: “Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo”) and ornithologists have transcribed bird sounds more methodically. Drawing on this history of bird writing, in Aaaaw to Zzzzzd John Bevis offers a lexicon of the words of birds. For tourists in Birdland, there could be no more charming phrasebook.
The Bird: A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came From, and How They Live by Colin Tudge, Three Rivers Press ($17.00) $11.90 at the Garden Bookstore
As Tudge remarks in the preface to this excellent exploration of birds, he became obsessed with nature as a child but discovered that he didn’t want to be a scientist—he just liked being around creatures and wanted to write books about them. Following on the heels of his book about one of his great indulgences (The Tree, 2006) comes this fond look at “a superior class of creatures.” Dividing his book into four parts, Tudge first examines the physical aspects of birds’ adaptations for flight and their evolution from dinosaurs. The second part explains scientific classification and provides a list of all the bird families of the world. Part three is the meat of the book, focusing on how birds conduct their lives: how they eat, migrate, court and raise their chicks, behave socially, and whether or not birds can be considered intelligent. Finally, the fourth part looks at birds and humans: specifically, at how we live with birds and impact their lives and their environment. Illustrated throughout with lovely line drawings, this book is another fine example of Tudge’s ability to make even the most esoteric science approachable. –Nancy Bent, Booklist
The Gardener’s Book of Days by Holly Kerr Forsyth, Melbourne University ($41.95) $29.37 at the Garden Bookstore
Providing a perpetual calendar for every garden lover, this handbook is organized into daily readings for the whole year, bringing together practical advice, recipes using freshly grown produce, information about annual festivals and gardening events, biographies of famous gardeners and garden designers, and interesting facts about gardens around the world. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this is a light-hearted, fact-packed companion to the gardening year.
Trends Tip for Retailers #7: Food Coaching
Posted by Clint Albin
Garden centers have to find addition things to sell beyond inputs in the spring for vegetables. Here’s something you may not have thought of: To expand sales in the landscape services division, retailers should think about offering a food coaching service to consumers.
The concept of food coaching is relatively new, but it encompasses two major societal trends of note: time (or rather, the lack of it) and a focus on better living (good nutrition). Food coaching begins with a nutritional assessment of a person or a family, followed by specific recommendations of the type and variety of plants to grow for optimal nutrition. It is an underserved area that’s just waiting for an enterprising IGC member.
In addidtion to the nutritional advice, time-starved consumers could purchase coaching lessons including how to plant tomatoes, pest control for potatoes, harvesting squash, or making homemade tomato sauce. Consumers like the idea of providing the freshest produce for their families but don’t always have the time to learn the best way to get started. The service could even include installation services that allow an IGC to offer services beyond ornamental landscaping. It’s an idea whose time has come.
Within the next few weeks, I’ll share more ideas about this new idea of food coaching, including some tips from someone already doing this in the field.
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