In this issue . . .
-- Nexus Newspaper Reviews: Educational Books
-- USA Todays's Open Air magazine
-- The Amazon.com sales rank widget (and bestseller campaigns)
-- Why you should give your novel away free: 10 million copies sold!
-- New social networks from John Kremer
-- Cool Book of the Day

Nexus Newspaper Reviews: Educational Books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nexus Newspaper Reviews has hired a new educational book editor,
Alison Weston. They are interested in reviewing educational books and
other product covering the following topics: autism, communication
disorders, special education, language disorders, speech disorders,
disabilities, pervasive developmental delays (PDD), Asperger's Syndrome,
developmental delays, articulation disorders, phonological processing
disorders, oral motor disorders, craniofacial abnormalities, stuttering,
fluency disorders, voice disorders, dysphagia, swallowing and feeding
therapy, cognitive therapy, traumatic brain injury, aphasia, stroke
recovery and therapy, CVA, and speech and language disorders.

Nexus Reviews provides book and product reviews to a syndicate of
2,925 US newspapers. Send review copies and media kits to Alison
Weston, Nexus Reviews, 5676 High Meadow Drive, Norcross GA 30092.
Web: http://www.nexusreviews.org.

Get on National TV -- free teleseminar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you want to be on national TV? If you missed my friend Steve
Harrison's free teleseminar last week with a former Oprah guest booker
on the three big secrets for getting booked on top TV shows, you're in
luck because he's offering it again Tuesday, February 5th, at your choice
of 2 times. Register free at http://www.freepublicity.com/tvcall/?10005.

USA Todays's Open Air magazine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The nation's newspaper USA Today has begun publishing a quarterly
lifestyle magazine called Open Air. This glossy color magazine will feature
articles on travel, nutrition, lifestyle, health, sports, outdoor recreation,
and related subjects. Its motto: Be active. Live well.

The first issue will be published on Friday, March 7th, with other issues
on May 2nd, September 5th, and November 7th.

Send story ideas to Alexa Yablonski, USA Today, 7950 Jones Branch
Drive, McLean VA 22108; 703-854-3400; Fax: 703-854-2122. Email:
ayablonski@gmail.com. Web: http://www.usatoday.com or
http://www.openair.usatoday.com.

Kenneth Paulson, Editor. Email: kpaulson@usatoday.com.

Photo submissions email: openairphotos@usatoday.com.

The Amazon.com sales rank widget
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reader's Question: Why would you promote someone selling a gadget
to attach to your computer to tell you your Amazon sales ranking? If
your book is in Amazon, which most of them are because Amazon gets
their info from somewhere else, your sales rank is automatically listed
on your book page. You don't need anybody else's widget. And because
of the millions of books that Amazon lists, if you sell ten books, you can
go sky-high in your ranking.

I think this is such terrible hype to tell people. I know of a young lady
who was talked into printing 30,000 of her books and her printer told
her he could get her a top notch sales ranking at Amazon. She printed
30,000 units, got a No. 2 sales ranking for one day and is currently
sitting on 29,750 books. I get so tired of all these people trying to sell
you seminars, widgets, conferences, etc. The poor kid out here trying
to get their book published is getting taken down the pike.

John's Answer: First of all, the widget is free. They are not selling it.
So why not use it if you have a good reason to do so? The widget is
not for you; it is for your potential customers to check out.

As I see it, the widget is a tool you can use on your book sales page
to give your book credibility. Obviously, if you book is sitting at 4.5
million, you would not use the widget. But if your book is in the top
100,000, then use the widget. It tells potential customers that your
book is available at Amazon.com (and they can order it simply by
clicking on the widget) and that your book is highly rated. I don't think
that is bad, especially since the widget is FREE.

As for the second part of your question, I am a strong believer in doing
Amazon Bestseller Campaigns, but only if they are part of a much more
extensive on-going promotion. Single promotions sell a few hundred
books in most cases. That's never enough to justify printing so many
copies. Your young lady friend was totally misled by her printer. That
is sad. I never recommend printing more than you know YOU can sell.
Generally, that means starting with 1,000 or fewer copies. You can
always go back to press if you are pleasantly surprised by consumer
demand for your book.

Why you should give your novel away free: 10 million copies sold!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 1999, bestselling author Paulo Coelho sold only about 1,000 books,
so his Russian publisher dropped him. After he found another publisher,
Coelho took a radical step. On his own Web site, he posted a digital
Russian copy of The Alchemist.

With no additional promotion, print sales picked up immediately. Within
a year he sold 10,000 copies; the next year around 100,000. By 2002
he had sold a total of a million copies of multiple titles. Today, Coelho's
sales in Russian alone are over 10 million copies and growing. “I'm
convinced it was putting it up for free on the Internet that made the
difference,” he said in an interview.

For the complete story (and it's worth reading the full story, click below:
http://blog.bookmarket.com/2008/02/paulo-coelho-100-million-sales-and.html

New social networks from John Kremer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During the past week, I've added a few new social networks to my
arsenal. You might also check these out to add to your book marketing
arsenal and increase your presence on the web. All of these sites allow
you to create links back to your website.

Book Marketing with John Kremer forum (a Q&A forum):
http://bookmarketing.forumakers.com
This is a Q&A forum where I will visit regularly to answer people's
questions. From now on, anyone sending me questions via email that
want free answers will be sent to this forum.

Information Marketing Resources blog:
http://marketingresources.sosblog.com
This is my new blog to feature marketing resources I discover that will
help you market books and other information products. Lots of good
stuff here (or will be soon).

JacketFlap social network for children's book authors:
http://www.jacketflap.com/JohnKremer
The link is to my page on this website devoted to helping children's
book authors. Includes editors and publishers of children's books, plus
lots more for children's authors. You can create your own profile on
this site if you are a children's book author.

Personal News Network: http://johnkremer.pnn.com
A people powered network promoting sharing stories online. Includes
stories from authors, storytellers, musicians, and actors. If a company
or person decides to sponsor your story-telling page, you get a cut of
the revenue. If you have a webcam connected to your computer, you
can create an instant video to feature on this site. You can also send
photos direct from your mobile phone to post to this site.

Red Room Authors: Where the Writers Are:
http://www.redroom.com/author/john-f-kremer
I have a page here but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.
Authors are welcome to join and create a presence here.

Cool Book of the Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Annie B. Lawrence, author of Love's Secret, was recently interviewed on
Cool Book of the Day. She's giving away a copy of her book to a random
comment on her blog on February 12th and another on the 29th. Check
out her interview at http://www.coolbookoftheday.com/loves-secret.

More Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogs . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doreen Orion, author of Queen of the Road, is a psychiatrist that lives
on a bus. She followed up on my tip a few weeks ago and is now also a
blogger at SPI: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/queenoftheroad.

Bridging Heart and Marketing conference
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first-ever soft-sell Internet marketing conference, on February 22,
23, and 24, 2008, at the Westin LAX (right next to the LA Airport). If
you've always felt uncomfortable with hard sell conferences, you'll like
this conference which shows how you can triple your income with a
soft-sell approach. This could be an incredible opportunity to build
networks and joint ventures with like-minded, heart-based partners.

For more information on the Bridging Heart and Marketing conference,
click here: http://www.bookmarket.com/softsell.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love;
the more they give, the more they possess. — Rainer Maria Rilke, poet

More great quotes at http://www.quotablebooks.com