Thomas Nelson Publishers looking for Book Bloggers

Here's a good, new example of how authors and publishers can utilize social networking to help market their books:

Thomas Nelson is putting out a call for reviewers. The publisher has launched a program called Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers, allowing readers to register at a Web site in order to receive a free copy of a select book for review purposes. At the site, http://brb.thomasnelson.com, which is now live, there are currently nine books available for review. For its part, Nelson requires potential reviewers to write 200-word reviews and post them both on its blogger site and on Amazon.com.

The idea for the program, according to Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt, came from his own blogging. After Hyatt started talking about two books on his blog, Stephen Mansfield's The Faith of Barack Obama and Lynne Spears' Through the Storm, he noticed a number of readers and fellow bloggers wanted to discuss the books. In August, Hyatt offered free copies of Mansfield's book and the move generated over 100 online reviews. Now, with this program, Hyatt wants to generate similar reactions. "Good or bad, we want people online talking about our books."

Other publishers and individual authors should consider how to adopt a similar program like this for their books.

The Writing Spa for Authors

Mary DeMuth, a WildFire Marketing client, has launched a helpful tool for new and established authors who feel stuck in their craft. It's called The Writing Spa, and Mary serves as a writing coach who mentors fiction and non-fiction authors.

Mary has a solid reputation in the industry for creating book proposals and ideas that publishers appreciate. So, if you, or a writer you know, needs a boost to get over writer's block or kickstart an important book project, visit The Writing Spa.

Kathi Lipp - Incredible book marketing success at a tradeshow

Hats off to Kathi Lipp for exhibiting extreme marketing prowess at the International MOPS Convention earlier this month to generate incredible exposure for her new book, The Husband Project.

Kathi used creative ideas to inspire listeners at her workshops and draw leaders to her booth. As a result, 1,400 people signed up for Kathi's newsletter, 650 leaders requested follow-up kits, and she received 4 speaking invitations!

Yet, here's the amazing part, Kathi's book doesn't release until January, 2009! She serves as a great reminder that it's never too early to start marketing your book.

October Amazon Comparison of CBA Publishers

WildFire Marketing tracks the top 15 CBA publishers according to the average ranking of their 20 best-selling books on Amazon. Using this monthly data over time helps authors and publishers identify who is best utilizing this important online sales channel.

Note: Amazon rankings do not reflect accurate sales figures. However, they can help determine how specific publishers or titles perform over time versue their peers.

Click here for a PDF file of the October 2, 2008 rankings sheet.

If you missed the September 2nd rankings, click here.

More Interesting Book Statistics

As an author, do you wonder if your books make enough money to keep your publisher happy? This week, I ran across some interesting stats on the subject:

• More than 50% of all books published never earn back their advance.


• Most publishers don't break even until your book has sold 7,500 - 8,000 copies.


• Publishers want authors to earn back their advances within the first 18 months.


• Publishers have to pay extra to put your book on an endcap in bookstores. So, they must think that your book is worth the extra cost to do so.

For more book stats, here's another blog post that may interest you.

Thanks to Sally Stuart for today's helpful information. If you write books for the Christian or religious market, be sure to check out her resource:

2008 Christian Writers' Market Guide.