Blogger: Kathleen Y’Barbo, Publicist
Location: The Woodlands, Texas PR Office
Weather: Still 100 degrees, but it’s finally raining— at least a little!
For those of you whose books are on the shelves, you know what filling out an author questionnaire is like. Depending on the publishing house, you answered a few queries about cover art and tossed in a bio or you spent a full week answering a dozen pages of questions that covered everything from who will read your book to who the cover model should resemble.
While you’ll be tempted to zip through the questions and call it a day, DON’T! This compilation of information about you and your book will serve to not only insure that your cover at least bears some resemblance to the story but will also give the sales and marketing departments the help they need to promote you and your book.
But what about those authors who aren’t yet signed with a publisher?
Filling out an author questionnaire can be a fabulous exercise. It is never too soon to start thinking about what your book will look like in print. In fact, that sort of thinking is exactly what you may need to spur you on to finishing the book. It will also give you a great foundation for putting together a synopsis, bio, and presentation package for meeting with agents or editors.
Our own Books & Such Literary Agency client Carmen Leal has a fabulous example of an author questionnaire in her book You Can Market Your Book, which can be found here. As you can see, Carmen uses an all-around approach and hits the important points of book creation, marketing, and selling from the book’s inception to how you plan to tell the world about it. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book, not only for the author questionnaire, but for all the great advice Carmen has to offer.
So, now that you’ve seen a sample of the questions an author will be expected to ask, I’d love to see some of your answers. Pick a question and tell me what you would say if oh, Random House, were asking.
Is the “What church do you attend/Denomination” question specific to CBA industry books, or does everyone get that question?
If the writing is great, but the marketing is not, it won’t go anywhere. If the writing is so-so or even just good, but the marketing is amazing, it can (I stress can, not will) be a success. Since I’d like the writing to be exceptional, the marketing to be too, then I’d think that would be the key question.
To answer it properly, some of the previous answers need to be known. To keep it short: MIRAGE is the book title and its main character is a photographer — which is a wildly popular profession these days. It’s a love story with a little bit of fantasy and paranormal stuff though no vampires. 🙂 The book is geared toward women. Being a photographer is important in the story and sets the stage for the conflict. I do not yet have a book published, though I have been a featured photographer (newspapers and magazines) and my writing has been in a few publications. Oh and by the way, I have an MBA in entrepreneurial marketing. 🙂
Q:
“What organizations are you currently involved inthat might be of benefit in marketing your book?”
A:
As a photographer and studio owner, I am a member of two world-wide organizations, heavily populated by women. They are Professional Photographers of America and Wedding & Portrait Photographers International. I am also a member of the Professional Photographers of North Carolina and local affiliate chapters of PPA as well.
I am also a member of a volunteer group of photographers with a base of 6000 and my current studio clientele and mailing list includes over 2000 contacts.
The majority of the members are in fact women, and in the case of my affiliations, they are photographers.
—-
Thanks again for this series! This has been a wonderful exercise!
Something like this? Is this too much or not enough?
•Book description, purpose, and audience:
When Allison Banks becomes addicted to watching the new and widely popular talent-search show, Superstardom, she finds herself literally unable to peel her eyes away from one performer- Chris Knots. His smooth voice and high energy performances cause goose-bumps to rise on the back of her neck, and if she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was singing directly to her. When he flashes a dazzling smile into the camera, she shudders and feels her head spin as all coherent thoughts race from her mind.
Watching Chris and the other Superstardom performers each week allows Allison an easy escape from the harsh realities of her life. At the tender age of 25, she holds all dependability for her small family. After her mother’s death three years ago, Allison is left to care for her younger sister, her niece, and her 70-year-old grandmother who is suffering through the final stages of Alzheimer’s. Allison works hard to support those she loves and has recently been hired to tutor the adolescent competitors behind the scenes of Superstardom.
While going through the motions of another ordinary day in the studio classroom, Allison is shocked when THE Chris Knots appears in her doorway, looking to speak with one of the teens. She does her best to hide her feelings from him, but fate routinely causes their paths to cross. When Chris admits that spending so much time away from his family and friends has made him homesick, Allison is more than happy to take him by the hand and show him the ropes of Chicago life.
It doesn’t take long for the paparazzi to notice Chris’s interest in Allison, and after weeks of suffering in the limelight, her frustrations get the best of her. She ends her relationship with Chris and justifies her actions by convincing herself that she did what was best for his career. Allison tries to move on with her life, but as his career explodes she finds that she cannot escape. His face and voice are everywhere, constantly reminding her of what she had and gave up. When she finally comes to her senses and reveals her true feelings to him, she finds him a changed man.
Mariposa is a believable and enjoyable story that blends pop-culture with modern day romance. With an inspirational message that encourages readers to not be afraid to ‘live your life’, young women across the nation will find themselves unable to put the book down as they enjoy the constant struggles of the colorful characters.