Advice from Agents

I'm planning on interviewing a friend who has an agent and is looking for a publisher. She's bound to get one because her book is timely, and it's a memoir. I had my questions for her mapped out and suddenly I thought why not look through old issues of The Writer, for better questions. So I scanned issues for interviews.

But I continually got distracted. A good article here and there and then I stumbled across one titled: "Timely Advice from Agents" in an issue from 2009. It's about grabbing an agent's attention and every agent mentioned the crappy economy. Is it a little off track from book marketing? You be the judge; check out these five tips about selling your book in a down economy:

1. Develop durability, market sense. "Have a solid platform, marketing savvy and basic durability," says Rita Rosenkranz of the Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency in New York. Her best advice is to stay in touch with your audience. Connect with them in a consistent way. (Possibly giving things away as in number 3.)

2. Now is the time to be writing. "It's harder to sell a book to a publisher," says Peter Rubie the CEO of FinePrint Literary Management in New York City. (Got to love this kind of optimism.) "Authors have to go that extra mile in polishing their manuscripts and coming up with a truly compelling idea or concept as well as establishing strong platforms." His best recession advice is it's better to be writing the book rather than trying to sell it in this economy. (I'll second that. Selling a book takes persistence and consistent marketing.)

3. Build a Web following. "Give your work away for free. Use every chance that comes your way to expand your audience," says Ellen Geiger, a senior agent with the Frances Golden Literary Agency in New York. (Not sure what you live on while giving it all away--maybe just put in lots of extra hours. She should have added: skip the sleep, it's highly overrated these days.) Her best advice is to live modestly even if you received a big book advance. These are uncertain times for writers.

4. Develop your own brand. "Writers need to develop their own brands rather than identifying too closely with a particular publisher or medium," says Robin Mizel, a literary agent in the Midwest. Relying too much on one medium or one form of publicity to generate income is too risky at a time when publishing companies are downsizing and losing jobs. Do consider posting a video for your book on YouTube and proposing a column for a magazine or newspaper.

Her most encouraging words were "It's a great time for writers who are willing to take risks and try new things." (I was just wondering who would loan me a kitchen to make a video.)

5. Platform is crucial. "Platform is more important than ever, especially for nonfiction writers," says Janet Rosen an agent for Sheree Bykofsky Associates in New Yourd City. Her best advice is timeless: "Write well, meet deadlines, give people something they really need and want to read." Give the reader a reason to care deeply about your book. Take time, build community, and deliver the book your readers have been waiting for. (More giveaways--it's that economy story again.)

Maybe I didn't pick up more ideas for questions for my friend's upcoming interview, but it's an eye opener when they can't get any more depressing about writing a book today. Every agent mentioned giving things away in various way for marketing. Who's on board to write that book now? Only the truly passionate writers as it has been in all times. It adds up to working more for less and budgeting wisely when marketing a book for most writers.

News Updates; Cooking Demos; and Meet and Greets

I've been in Oregon and then working on my other blog, an article about the cuisine of Argentina for Vegetarian Journal, and a column about making soup. Then there are the two interviews I need to organize, one for a blog post and another for an article.

A writer often has to choose whether to write paid-for articles or do a live marketing event which brings in money, but not much and not right now. In other words, it doesn't pay for the tomatoes. That's one reason writing a column is a great idea for authors. I wrote about that in my last post.

Last week, I drove to Portland, had lunch with my publishers, and did a cooking demo at Portland farmers' market. It amazes me how different each cooking demo is and a chef/author really has to weigh the pros and cons before doing one, especially in areas that don't have established kitchens like farmers' markets. One of the downsides is you must always bring some kind of cooking equipment, and unless you're skilled at doing this on a regular basis, you could miss something really important.

Cooking Demo Book Tours

Checking out the venue site ahead of time and meeting the demo coordinator is always a good plan, but sometimes that isn't possible. And othertimes it seems that no matter how much you prepare, there's always something that comes up and bites you. At the Portland farmers' market, I realized I should have brought my own disposable gloves and I should have asked about clean-up. But I did bring my own towels, and these were in such short supply my assistant asked if I brought any.

Another thing I didn't think to ask about was clean-up. Where to do it at the Portland market was a puzzle. Just a bucket below the hand washing station. When I began rinsing the dishes, food fell into this bucket and I wondered where the water was dumped afterwards. I finallyt gave up, took most of my dishes home without washing them. (Drove them home to Washington after they sat in my car for a day and developed an unappetizing crust. Washing crusty dishes is exactly the thing you don't want to do after driving so 200 plus miles for an event.)

The growing list of "should-have-brought" "should have asked" inspired me to write a few helpful lists for chef/authors on book tours doing farmers' markets and other events.

6 questions to ask before a cooking event

1. Are there burners available? How many? What kind?

2. Is there an electrical outlet for a food processor or blender?

3. What kind of equipment is available? Pots, pans etc.

4. Will I have an assistant? What will the assistant do? Prep? Clean-up?

5. Do you provide individual serving dishes? Napkins? Paper towels?

6. Where can I wash my dishes?

10 essential items for any cooking demo

1. disposable gloves

2. cloth/paper towels

2. knives

3. cutting board

4. pot scrubber

5. measuring spoons/cups

6. spoon for stirring

7. spatula/tongs

8. peeler/microplane zester

9. strainer

10. Serving dishes

Also it's good to ask about health code requirements, and when in doubt, pick easy dishes, so if things go wrong, they won't go horribly wrong.

Meet and Greets

Unlike cooking demos and author readings, the "Meet and Greet" is an easy fun event where you contact a store, pick a date and set up a table with your books. It's an easy fun event where you greet customers, tell stories about your book and sign copies for the folks to come out to see you. You meet lots of interesting people and it can be great fun.

One of my best "Meet and Greets" was at Edmonds Bookshop where owneer Mary Kay Sneeringer made carrot hummus from my book and so many friends and people, some I hadn't seen in years, stopped by. I also brought some biscotti to share, also made from one of the recipes in my book.

I had a great "Meet and Greet" event at GrassRoots bookstore in Corvallis, where I met people who had enjoyed local CSAs from one of the farms profiled in my book and others who were interested in hearing more farm stories.

I love the "Meet and Greet" events on busy afternoons. And if you are uncertain how many people may show up for an author reading, why not propose a "Meet and Greet" event? One thing that my friend Kathy Gehrt is really good at is the "Meet and Greets." She places a bowl of lavender-spiked chocolate on her table to compliment her book Discover Cooking with Lavender. Chocolate always lures people over to your table. Sweets or cards with tip sheets are fun giveaways for meet and greets. Or, for special occasions, offer a drawing for a book giveaway.

I'm gearing up for the holidays next. . . .

Look Around; Write a Column; Promote Your Platform

I perused my email this morning and I noticed an invitation for a seminar presented by Kevin Smokler CEO of BookTour.com. I decided to look for Kevin on FaceBook and immediately sent a friend request after I read his great book marketing blog.

I got caught up reading his compelling marketing advice and I even checked his guest blogs on other blogs like this one where I was struck by this sentence:

"That authors must promote, often on their own, is now an accepted reality."

I sighed. I finally get how much publishers don't do. Previously I was seriously delusional thinking not me, my publisher is different. I wish I'd started with a stronger independent marketing plan, but drawing up plans are is not my strong suit. Authors be warned: be careful what you optimistically read into emails etc, then if you realize you perhaps expected too much from your publisher, get over and get on with fitting marketing into your life. If you have to mail your own books for reviews, do it.

And check out Kevin's blog --of course he's promoting his own businesses BookTour.com and PressFinder but maybe that will also interest you as a promotional vehicle for your book.

Also, if you're wondering what else to do right now, look around, and check out magazines and newsletters that pertain to your book. Maybe you can dream up a column that would be perfect for the publication. Check out specialty organizations, garden clubs, book stores--any place that might support a regular colum. A column can help satisfy your passion for writing and promote your book at the same time. Consider a column free advertising for your book and instead of paying for the ad, you get paid. It doesn't get much better than that.

One day as I was looking through my book to see what articles I could spin off, I realized I had a number of ideas that would make a fun monthly column. I called my column Take 5 because the information could easily be broken up into topics and the article wouldn't take that long to write. I proposed my column to Marlene's Market and Deli's Sound Outlook editor Lori Lively.

I mentioned this new column in an earlier blog post, but it wasn't until my friend Kathy Gehrt pointed out it was great advertising every month, that I realized what a great idea writing a column is for an author. Molly Wizenberg, author and blogger of Orangette fame has a column in Bon Appetit; Mathew Amster-Burton, author and Roots and Grubs blogger writes a column for Culinate; and Amy Pennington, author and gardener writes a column for Edible Seattle.

So consider promoting your platform and your book promotion will follow. Build your name recognition like a house, brick by brick, and any place you get your book mentioned every month is certainly worth considering.

Know Your Audience, Go With the Flow, and Tap Into Your Dreams

Maybe writing a book has long been your dream, but for a book tour it's good to remember that people are looking for their own dreams and the event is all about them, not you. I think people attend book events because they believe your book may enhance their lives and they want to connect with you, the author, in some way. Learn as much as you can ahead of time, and if possible visit the venue before your event. Observe everything. Take it all in and then focus your presentation.

This past week I had cooking demos at two wildly different events-- The Veg Fest in Portland and Barbara Jo's Cooks to Books.

The Veg Fest

At the Seattle Veg Fest years ago, I did a demo for my first book. It was a wild crazy event, with little room for food prep, no formal kitchen and back-to-back demos. The Portland Veg Fest was a new experience for me and my new book. I wondered if it would it be like the Seattle event--aisles and aisles of vendors hawking their products and people grabbing free samples of vegan foods and shoving pamphlets in bags.

The Portland Veg Fest appeared to be much the same type of event but when I read the instructions for cooking demos, but there was no mention of a stove or even a burner. But what demo doesn't have some kind of burner? I wondered. Just in case they didn't, I planned a recipe where I could use an electric skillet. I'd ask about the stove later, not really worried about the details once again.

One thing led to another and I never did ask about the stove, and then a day before the event I got a phone message from one of the coordinators.

"I just wanted to make sure you knew we don't really cook at the cooking demo." I heard her say.

I phoned back immediately. "What did you mean no cooking?" I was puzzled.

"We've worked with a number of chefs for years. Some simply pretend to cook; you just have to make your dish ahead of time. It should be something that can be served at room temperature."

"Precooked you say?" I asked. Pretend to cook? I struggled to picture how I could make this demo happen.

"It must be prepared before the demo," she patiently said again. "We have a tiny space near the sink you could use but it's crowded with people doing dishes and going in and out. Your dish should be okay to serve at room temperature."

It took me a minute to put it together. I could change the recipe into a grain salad, add some balsamic vinegar. Then I remembered I had 150 copies of the original recipe from my book--just a minor problem that I could easily explain at the cooking demo.

I didn't give much thought to actually cooking in my hotel room until I checked in and wheeled my suitcase filled with cooking equipment to my room. I got up at 6am, thinking it was so early no one would detect the smell of shallots and grains wafting under the door. There had been a wedding on an upper level in the hotel the night before so I hoped many guests were sleeping late.

I clearned a little table off, set the skillet up and once the shallots began to sizzle in the olive oil, I looked up and saw the fire alarm as the steam from the shallots began wafting towards it. I quickly covered the skillet and for a second the form I'd signed when I'd checked into the hotel flashed through my mind. The form specified that I wouldn't smoke in the room or the management would kick me out. What about cooking?

I felt my pulse quicken picturing the fire alarm sounding and some hotel bouncer tossing me out. All for a few shallots? I forced myself to quit mulling over details, and took a deep breath. I cranked open open window and blew steam outside as the grains cooked. Luckily, the room was on the 3rd floor so the smell disappeared into the city outside.

When the grains were cooked, I felt like a child who had gotten away with breaking the rules. I couldn't help smiling as I signed out, butI wondered what the maid would think when she opened the door and got a strong whiff of caramelized shallots?

At my "cooking" demo I told stories about my road to becoming a vegetarian, vegan cooking classes, and a recipe column in the early 1990s for small publication called Vegan Network. I talked about being a locavore and staying vegan and when I put the salad together, I couldn't resist telling the story of how my recipe for Orzo with Shallots, Kale and Walnuts had turned into a Balsamic Quinoa-Orzo Salad with Peppers, Carrots and Basil in my hotel room.

After my demo I strolled through this great vegan event and became inspired by all the latest information about the healthiest diet and decided to lose the eggs, cheese and butter for 30 days. If Oprah can do it anyone can.

Books to Cooks

A day after arriving home from the Veg Fest in Portland, I drove north to Vancouver, BC where I had a cooking demo event at Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks. I was looking forward to this cooking demo where an assistant would cook the meal while I did an easy demo for it and talked about my book. I was also looking forward to the event because I hadn't been to British Columbia for some time and had decided to make it a really fun trip and stay in a nice hotel on Granville Island.
I've never seen a store quite like Barbara Jo's. It's a fantastic cookbook store that must house over 10,000 cookbooks. Everything you could ever want is here including quirky books like After the Hunt (a thick tome that included a fried squirrel in gravy recipe), A Recipe for Murder(with a recipe for Hannibal's sweetbreads) and Marijuana Cooking (of course with the famous brownie recipe). As if that isn't enough, Barbara Jo's also has a demo kitchen for classes and events.

I phoned a few days ahead and spoke with Barbara Jo McIntosh who told me the night I'd be in her store to do a cooking demo, a film crew would be in the store because Barbara was going to be inducted into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame this year. I suddenly stressed over what to wear what to talk about for this event.

I arrived at Barbara Jo's a day ahead of my event to meet Barbara. I was tickled to learn that she recently released her book, Cooking for Me and Sometimes You: A Parisienne Romance with Recipes (French Apple Press). After learning how the event would go, I bought Barbara's book and went home to read this treasure about Barbara's month in Paris and how it had always been her dream to spend a month eating in this great city. I thought reading the would give me a clue about how to phrase my talk, but instead I fell in love with Barbara's passion for the city of her dreams. I slept deeply reviving some of my own dreams.

The next evening I told stories about childhood dreams and the path that led opportunities that opened doors to those childhood dreams. "I'd always dreamed about writing a book," I said. I laughed about the two bad novels I'd written before I turning to nonfiction--farms and food. Then I talked about my opportunity to write The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook and about meeting Northwest farmers for my farmer profiles. I told farmer stories and talked about the challenges of growing local foods. I talked about Dunbar Farms in southern Oregon that started with pears 1909, about Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce winning Farm Steward of the Year Award from American Farmland Trust and Jeff Miller of Willie Green's who cashed in a life insurance policy, rode his motorcycle Washington and started farming. When you think about it, anyone can relate to childhood dreams.

If you're having a little trouble recalling your own dreams, take a trip to Vancouver and talk to Barbara Jo about her dream. Then visit Granville Island and indulge in one of these edible dreams--well unless you are dedicated to a healthy vegan diet for 30 days.

Book Tours, The Downside of a Shoestring Budget, and Hiring A Tour Manager

I'm thinking about hiring a tour manager. It's partly because I'm guilty of scanning details for book tour events, and because I never gave much thought to things like mileage, food and lodging expenses when I signed the book contract. Those new to the publishing world take note: deal with these cost issues early on because if you can take care of petty things like mileage etc, you'll have a less stressful booktour. One idea is to clarify exactly what the publisher will pay for on book tours when you sign on the dotted line.

Try to bribe your agent and get a bigger advance of say $400,000 or more, then your book tour is a snap and every stop you'll be all smiles. Just ask Sarah Palin how she's enjoying the ride. Since I don't have a jet or a bus funded by a big fat advance plus contributions from right wingers who hope to get into the power spot next election, I brooded about tour expenses on the drive home from my last stop at Bellewood Acres near Lynden, Washington. It was a fun, crowded event but I paid my own way, paid full price for all the apples I ate while I was there and it was a 180 miles round trip. Whine, whine, whine-- but I've driven to Bellingham twice in the past few weeks for book events and I don't have anyone picking up the tab at the gas pump or the lunch counter.

So what's an author to do when most or all these expenses fall on their shoulders?

It's time to get creative, that's what. I started searching the Internet the other day to see what other authors have done to fund their book tours and here's what I discovered.

The cost of a book tour is the gorilla in the room that not many authors talk about. Google book tour expenses and you'll see, not much has been written about this shadow in the room other than the vague idea that authors mostly fund their own tours, no one ever gives a break down of things you spend money on.

One author raised money for his book tour by getting various levels of backers. I laughed out loud when I read that he had a $2,000 level where he will go to your town with one or two commedians in tow. Justin got 77 backers who met his goal of $5,000 for his book tour. I love his creativity.

Another author partners with Ethiopian charities and is committed to raising $500,000 dollars for wells in Ethiopian cities. The tour boasts "meet-ups not lectures," it's collectively organized and it's all self-funded. Chris is stopping in a number of cities in Canada and he is visiting a city in every state and at each stop he requested volunteers to host, contact media and provide cupcakes. I say not only does this fund the book tour but it's great way to give to other communities and create community around your book. This is a feel-good we are community approach.

If those ideas aren't quite your cup of coffee, check out this book I found about promoting your book on a shoestring budget. Or to cut down on expenses you can do a blog book tour. But you still have to get out and acutally connect with some stores and people who will also pass the message of your book along.

You can also talk to other writers and get the details of their tours. The editor of my book told me that for her tour, she stayed with friends and in really cheap lodging in various cities and looked at it as a vacation. That's not really my idea of a vacation. Another friend only books events in towns where she has family or friends that can attend those sometimes lonely book events. Another friend urged me to do a virtual book tour instead of hitting the road.

Even in the virtual world everybody's trying to make a buck these days. I think I'll just stay the course, try and get my publisher to kick in for some mileage and overnight stays, and who knows maybe my cooking assistant will consider signing on as my tour manager. Oh wait, he clearly wants a cut of the action too--some of those Honeycrisp apples I paid full price for no doubt.

What's Your Goal? Falling Down the Rabbit Hole of Book Marketing

As I'm faced with a variety of opportunities for book tour events and networking options on social media sites, I continually have to reset the picture and ask myself: what's my ultimate goal?

A book tour is a bit like falling down a rabbit hole and it's risky to"just do it" like the Nike Ad instructs, even lifehacker says so. Go out and start booking events for your book tour and you'll soon discover that each event needs to be tended like a new plant. Some stores expect authors to come up with marketing ideas, add blog entries for store blogs, provide snacks or do cooking demos for author appearances. It can cost more than you're bringing in. Blindly booking events can be a nightmare when you realize, you get to do all the planning and marketing. And when you book too many events all that precious writing time you dreamed about is sucked away.

In this connected age, it's way too easy to get distracted with things like responding to blogs like this cute one with two bull dogs. (What would my kitchen assistant say about that?) And social media sites are so addictive, they're driving me crazy--do I really"like" this? Or can I "comment" on that? And what does "poke" mean? I can barely keep up with my own life anymore. I don't even have to leave the house to get stressed over whether I've logged in and made comments on sites like FaceBook, Foodista,Culinate and Scribd--and all the blogs I'm following and commenting on.

I continually remind myself why I'm doing any of this, which brings me back to my topic-- keeping your goal in focus.

What do you really want to do with your time? Consider that question every time you start responding to a post on a blog or FaceBook and when an offer comes your way. Say an editor wants you to write an article about South American cuisine, or a natural food store wants a cooking class with raw food desserts, or someone wants to do a podcast with you--ask yourself: does it fit my goals? Will it propel me forward? Am I on the right path?

For me, it's important to reflect about what I do with my time. One satisfying by-product of my book has been helping like-minded people connect through my articles, my food travels and farm visits. For example, recently I visited the Medford farmers' market and Cathy Pennington of Pennington Farms said thanks for putting her in contact with BelleWood Acres who helped her figure out how to get a sign on her barn. And more recently I helped connect this farm with a great farm-to-school program in the Rogue Valley.

A rabbit hole offers many opportunities and lately I've got caught a spark of a trend I want to write about, and catching the spark is the fun of life. Starting a new article or book--the story coming to me in bits and pieces and I love putting it all together. I just have to keep reminding myself: what's my goal in this life adventure?

Hornet's Nest Marketing and Plans Gone Awry

Mary Kay from the Edmonds Bookshop showed me this perfect wasp nest (on Dayton Street) when I bought a card with beautiful photo of hornets' nest.

"The nests are so amazing," Mary Kay said. "That picture [on the card] was taken by a seven-year old boy." She told me the boy's grandmother had a card making business and when she added the boy's photo to her card line, Mary Kay placed the young boy's card next to The Girl Who Kicked Over the Hornet's Nest. It was in the storefront window and when the boy saw the window display, he wanted his picture taken near his card and the book.

Maybe we'd all secretly love a little celebrity to rub off on us. Perhaps that's what I was thinking when I spotted my book next to Alice Water's book and snapped a photo. If an alien popped in what would he make about our fascination with celebrity? It dawned on me that I'm just a little too impressed by celebrity, too. Who me? Hop on the celebrity bandwagon? Okay, maybe if the celebrity is Alice Waters.

Expectations versus reality:

What happens when events go awry? Recently, I signed up to sell books with Whidbey Island Writes' Association (WIWA). I'd imagined myself mingling with other authors, strolling the market and meeting farmers. I cheerfully packed my chair, sign and books and took the ferry to Whidbey Island.

I pulled into the Coupeville farmers' market long before it opened and looked for the WIWA table. I found a table that said Whidbey Island Writers' but they told me they were the Whidbey Island Writers' Group and I wasn't part of the group. Finally the kind market manager pointed out a space between a blue and a white tent.

I walked to the space and stood there for a moment, hoping someone would show up. One of the vendors next to me said, "It looks like you've lost something." I told him my group hadn't shown up and I had a chair but no table. "Take this one," my neighbor said, handing me a small folding table. I set up the table, then got the sheet I use for my kitchen assistant.

This is the bare bones table I set up. I met plenty of fun market shoppers and talked to a number of great farmers. I learned about Rockwell beans (reportedly a native Whidbey Island bean) and growing quinoa. I discovered a 112 year-old farm and learned that Whidbey Islanders didn't even get ripe tomatoes this summer.

What I'm saying is events may not always be up to expectations and there may be a number of explanations. Chill out, enjoy the sunny day, strolling the market and meeting other authors. That part of of my visualization was true.

Someday I hope to climb off the "D" list, but for now, I'll settle for a few laughs after-the-fact with things like this tossed-together table at the market. It's one step above a lemonade stand. My expectations weren't even on the same ladder as reality that day. Three cheers for a sunny dayand some really good fresh green beans.