Author Information – Promotion Guidelines – Publishing Guidelines – Publishing Schedule
So you want to make a real difference as a mental health ambassador. You want to give yourself a voice. You want to give a voice to others. Here are some guidelines for new Chipmunka authors, prospective and existing authors on promoting yourself and what to expect from Chipmunkapublishing.
The Production Department has now taken over PR and Marketing management. Jason Pegler is more focused on leadership and strategic marketing implementation. Jason will still oversee PR.
Social Networking and You Tube:
Promote yourself on twitter (6 tweets a day), Facebook (3 comments a day), linkedin and you tube. Your you tube channel is probably as important as your free website you can design yourself at word press these days. Infact you you tube channel is probably even more important. Call you you tube channel the name of your niche i.e the name of the theme of your book or you mental health ‘condition’, name the videos the theme of the video i.e if your video is about bipolar name the file bipolar disorder and manic depression. This way it will get more hits as when people search the condition you will come up higher in the rankings. Make sure your book is out and you are happy with it before starting promotion.
It is easy to make a video these days. Use windows movie maker if you have a PC (it comes with the PC and is free) and use imovie if you have a mac (free with macs). You can then upload to you tube. At the time of writing You Tube gets 13 times more traffic than all other video sites put together and then automatically feeds many of the other major video channels. Also do a testimonial for Chipmunka about how being giving a voice and published by us has raised your self esteem and opened doors for you. Then please subscribe to the Chipmunkapublishing You Tube Channel. Over the next 12 months we will be putting a significant amount of new videos on our channel.
Shared Testimonials
Chipmunka authors are partners and ambassadors for each other and the organisation. Shared testimonials are extremely powerful. We encourage you to liaise with existing authors through social media networks and provide testimonials for each other. It is also a good idea to write reviews about books in your genre that have inspired you and share testimonials that way as well.
Just a couple of authors working together by recommending each other can have amazing results. You may inspire each others writing, introduce fellow authors to journalists you know, make introductions to help the others conduct paid speaking engagements or get a job in mental health.. etc.. the possibilities are endless.
Make Your Own Website
Make your own website in WordPress its free. Read books on direct marketing – Dan Kennedy is a great place to start as is Ted Nicholas.
Background
Chipmunkapublishing prides itself on the fact that we achieve a huge amount of media coverage for our authors and on the fact that our authors achieve a huge amount of media coverage for themselves and their books. By achieving substantial media coverage we are able to help more people affected by mental illness. Just Google or search for Chipmunkapublishing on Bing, Yahoo, Ask or whatever search engine you use for the names of the authors and the names of our books to see or have a look round facebook or wherever you go on the world wide web.
How Promotion works
Chipmunkapublishing receives web coverage, local, national and international inquiries from the media all the time and is always looking to maximise the publicity of its authors using different angles. We work with all the broadsheets, most of the tabloids, some news agencies and a myriad of freelance journalists providing they agree to our terms of business. Be friends with journalists and thank them for any coverage they help you obtain or try to obtain for you. Every article that appears in the Press about you and your book will raise your profile and will mean we will be able to help more people. Keep in touch with journalists as well. Journalists will recommend authors that they enjoy working with to other colleagues they know in the media.
Chipmunka loves promoting its authors and their books providing the author is focused and easy enough to work with. Of course an author may be unwell and unable to promote themselves at times and we understand that. It is best to email the production manager as he has time to think about the most helpful response, as he has material he can use in front of him and can be specific and respond more quickly and accurately by email. See Jason as your publishing mentor with the production manager as your publishing manager. They will respond to your email usually within 7 days (unless on holiday) if your email is appropriate, relevant and you require specific information or advice on something. i.e. if they feel they can add value to your comments or requests. As with any best selling book, the best promoter is the author themselves. JK Rowling is not only a great author but she is also a great self publicist. The same is true with Tony Robbins. The more closely an author works with Chipmunka and the more closely the author takes Chipmunka’s PR advice the better the book will usually do. Some authors are naturally very good at publicity and have a very relevant book and need little assistance. Others may need more guidance.
Author, Charity and Bookshop discounts for Paperbacks Only
If you, a charity or a bookshop (most bookshops will buy directly through the trade) buy a minimum of 6 books on the website at full price we will automatically give you 10. e.g. If your book is £12 (as this includes delivery) you pay 6X12=£72 and receive 10 books,
Buy 6 at full price and we give you 10.
Buy 12 at full price and we give you 21.
Buy 18 at full price and we give you 32,
Buy 24 at full price and we give you 44,
Buy 30 at full price and we give you 56
Buy 60 at full price and we give you 115
Buy 120 at full price and we give you 240
Buy 240 at full price and we give you 490
Buy 480 at full price and we give you 1050
This offer is the same whatever the price of your book on the website. books that are more expensive can be sold at greater profit as the retail price is higher.
Publicity Today
Chipmunkapublishing was born on the internet and at mental health conferences. Chipmunka books may be reviewed from time to time in the national newspapers but this is not the best way to promote your book. Less than one in one hundred books submitted to the broadsheets will actually be reviewed. A far higher percentage will get a feature i.e. an interview and an interview sells more books than a book review does. People are more interested in the human angle and want to get to know the writers themselves.
The best way to promote your book and yourself is to keep reinventing yourself and appearing in the media for different reasons. Throughout this guide we will be using the way that our CEO Jason Pegler has managed to successfully promote his book ‘A Can of Madness and his other books’. Your book will have a different theme but the same principles will apply. One moment Jason Pegler may appear in the media as a former manic depressive, one minute he may appear as the author of A Can of Madness, or the author of Curing Madness or the author of Unlimited Confidence – Smashes the fear of mental illness, or as a rap artist, or charity person, social entrepreneur, former mental health service user, or a publisher or to comment on mental health legislation that the government announces or is proposing, or talking about dangers of Cannabis or dangers of internet bullying etc.. Jason has appeared in the national and international media hundreds of times in the last 9 years and most of the time has managed to have his book mentioned or displayed. He has only ever had two book reviews in the broadsheets but has sold more copies of ‘A Can of Madness’ than many publishers sell for most of their titles.
There are several reasons for this:
1) Belief that his books and his story are something that the media has a duty to cover.
2) Ability to make new contacts and thank existing contacts for coverage received
3) Continued promotion of his own book, himself and the company every day since July 2001.
Mental Health Biography – Make it Outstanding and Relevant
Your mental health biography appears on our website and throughout the global book trade. It will be used by journalists when they write about you in the media. It is a great tool for you to position yourself as an expert on the subject you have written about. With it you can position yourself as a public speaker, consultant, promote your organisation, goals, dreams and interests. Use it as a tool for personal development, self development, empowerment, a marketing tool for your identity as an author and your contribution to the mental health debate. It is part of your legacy. Treasure it. Make it relevant to the themes of your book, upbeat and original and make sure you are comfortable with it as once it is out there the whole world can see it.
Book Launches and Events
We always recommend that no book launches are arranged without having seen the first physical copy of your printed book. It is best to wait until at least six weeks until you have held the first copy so that you can then prepare for the event accordingly – this includes allowing time for the book to be added online across all distribution and partner channels and for you to receive any bulk order you may have placed for selling at the event.
