tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post7282804594910363815..comments2023-07-11T08:27:49.027-04:00Comments on Hannah R. Goodman: Resolutions that don't suckHannah R. Goodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01844839035830038677noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-73187492937171528002007-01-03T17:53:00.000-05:002007-01-03T17:53:00.000-05:00Hello all: I didn't get a sense that Hannah hates...Hello all: I didn't get a sense that Hannah hates self promotion, only that she may have suffered a case of burn-out after a series of disappointing signings, at the end of over two years of constant self promotion. Who among us has not needed some time off to refresh and renew ourselves and our outlooks? It seems to have worked for her as she begins the year with a bright attitude and new goals for more vigorous promotion of her books. I do sense Hannah's disappointment at the "catch-22" development where traditional publishers will turn down her books for being previously published. I've read these books and know how good they are so I'm disappointed on her behalf. Hannah has paid her dues and proven herself as an experienced author who is ready, willing, and able to participate in the promotion of her books. Mazel tov, Hannah - this could be your year!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-79008078979966958502007-01-03T16:48:00.000-05:002007-01-03T16:48:00.000-05:00When did self-promotion become an unattractive wor...When did self-promotion become an unattractive word? Or rather an unattractive characteristic? Oh, I know, what we think of is some mind-numbingly boring person coming up to us and yammering on about him/herself, accomplishments, products, services, career, whatever. <br /><br />But the other side of it is this. Who is best to let the world know about what you have to offer? Certainly, in the beginning, really how else would they find out? When you meet someone who is passionate about what they have to offer, what they have to help others, what they have to reach another individual, then it’s such a rewarding experience. I guess, then, the bottom line is what is their motive? If your motive is pure (altho’ I hate to use that word; it implies “perfection” or an extremely moral person), then…..<br /><br />I can’t think of anyone who is not in the business of selling something. I looked in the thesaurus, and another word for “selling” is endorsement, which also translates to “encouragement”, “help”, “support”. Well, then self-promote and sell away if you can encourage someone with what you have to offer, help them and support them. <br /><br />Be successful at it. Be as damn successful as you can be at it. Why not? Building something successful takes a lot of time and energy. Someone very successful (perhaps it was Sam Walton or Bill Gates, or some such) was asked if they could give the secret to their success. The answer? They said they could never figure out a shortcut around just plain old hard work. <br /><br />I think we all have to have times to recharge our batteries and then just get back into the thick of it again. So, go Hannah, go! I’m as excited as you are about what you have to offer next…Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-47016213186204921352007-01-02T15:41:00.000-05:002007-01-02T15:41:00.000-05:00Good Day, Hannah,
The holidays are over and work ...Good Day, Hannah,<br /><br />The holidays are over and work is slow today so I finally had a chance to read your blog. I am new to the blogosphere and recently started my own blog, Plucky Althea. <br />I don't make resolutions specifically for New Years but I do have goals. I want to finish editing my book, Not of My Making, which I will self-publish. I am not as concerned about sales as you are since I already have a career as a psychologist and life coach. The book is more a labor of love and part of my survivor's mission. <br />My second goal is to finish all my classes for credentialing as a life coach. Related to that is to build my coaching practice. The plan is to sell my counseling practice in five years when my husband retires and to move to Richmond, VA with a coaching practice and publishing business established. <br />I am curious why you hate self promotion so much. It is my understanding no matter how you publish you need to market your own books. It makes sense to me that traditional publishers would rather invest their money on a book or an author with a proven track record. There is less risk that way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-71909777926674225432006-12-31T12:47:00.000-05:002006-12-31T12:47:00.000-05:00Sorry, also HI KBBate. Nice to meet you in cybersp...Sorry, also HI KBBate. Nice to meet you in cyberspace. My web site is lydaphillips.com and my blog is http://writerworking.blogspot.com/ if you want to know more about me.<br /><br />I was kind of disillusioned to learn that Anne Braeshares (sp?) of Traveling Pants developed those books for the packager Alloy Entertainment, the same packager that brought out (and down) Opal Mehta through Little Brown. I've never thought the same about that series since. I'm with you. I liked the first one and then thought the second was kind of formulaic. Now I know why.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621339612834832188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-14739445840162133702006-12-31T12:42:00.000-05:002006-12-31T12:42:00.000-05:00Did you do library mailings? I did half of one las...Did you do library mailings? I did half of one last year and still have the envelopes for the second half. I can't tell if I got anything out of it. I get Baker & Taylor sales regularly (1-2 a month) which I suspect may be libraries but I can't tell. Especially with Mr. T. I really feel there's a market there.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621339612834832188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-64767847005990428122006-12-31T12:13:00.000-05:002006-12-31T12:13:00.000-05:00Well, I want to say that writerworking and kbate a...Well, I want to say that writerworking and kbate are my very favorite writer buddies, and we have never met in person! They don't know each other either, but I hope they connect through this blog.<br /><br />Kbate– I am working on the online class format now and hope to have something running by the spring! I even see something like a "web cam" as part of it. I love what you said about Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants. Before they went "Hollywood", I adored the first book. Then I started to see it as a little formulaic. However, I really am psyched that such a rich and interesting (and not superslicksex) YA book "made it". The Gossip Girls thing…well, I shouldn’t disparage. There is a place for that kind of stuff although I wouldn’t want young pre-teens reading it–at least without a dialogue with Mom or Dad. I don’t like that stuff and didn’t as a teenager. Although, the “slickest” stuff back then was Beverly Hills 90210 and even they were do-gooders. Thanks for the nice words about “Maddie”. Your words keep me going when I want to pull my hair out and try my hand at MEAN TEEN writing (as I call it!)<br /><br />Writerworking-<br /><br />What I love about your post is that you lay it out in REAL NUMBERS about sales and that’s something I feel kind of embarrassed about doing. I know that thousands of people have read my books but probably only about 2000 (total) have purchased the titles (combined with My Sister’s Wedding in the lead). I think iUniverse is AWESOME and I recommend students and clients all the time. But for me (and I think this is how you feel too), I need the support of a mainstream publisher–both financially and emotionally.<br /><br />That being said…iUniverse also provided me the outlet and connections via awards and contests to become more involved and connected to the industry. But I had a HUGE part in the marketing and pushing of my first book and it was so exhausting and in the end reaped not enough monetarily for me to keep up the pace. I ultimately have to do more paying work at this point and that means promoting and doing those booksignings and traveling (all for sometimes as little as 5 books as you mentioned) has to be secondary and quite frankly done on a more selective basis.<br /><br />MY agent has gotten me gigs that are far more significant in terms of connecting with readers and, yes, sales of my work. But my daytime job dovetails my writing job so when I do a gig, even if I don’t sell a ton of books, I usually wind up with a few new clients. <br /><br />For the Writer’s Digest Award, I still use that as part of my marketing. Does it help? Yes, as it lends credibility…but it doesn’t really help in terms of readers. I think it helped me to get into the bigger bookstores as well as land a few speaking gigs. <br /><br />I did HUGE and expensive mailings with my first book and did call places to follow up. They all told me that they usually throw away such post cards or letters. It broke my heart but taught me a lesson. I have a have an excellent response to emailings. I also do a newsletter, teach classes and workshops, and have my website all of which are inexpensive marketing tools. I am going to focus more and more on that and less and less on pounding the pavement. Pounding pavement is tiring and until I get the space and time, I am not going to hard-core pursue much of it. However, I never, ever TURN DOWN a gig. That’s my rule of thumb. No gig is too large or too SMALL!<br /><br />So ladies…lets keep the dialogue going!Hannah R. Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844839035830038677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-27072850939467566432006-12-31T10:52:00.000-05:002006-12-31T10:52:00.000-05:00Great post, Hannah. I feel the same way. I have so...Great post, Hannah. I feel the same way. I have sort of slacked off promoting my two iUniverse titles since September, when I made a big, exhausting push in Memphis, and sold about 50 books. I had a little signing on the 23rd at an African-American bookstore here, and hand sold five books. I self-pubbed for almost the exact same reasons you did and it's been wonderful to have people say they loved my books and were moved and changed by them. But I really want a traditional contract now, and I've been focusing really hard on my two in progress novels and a screenplay I'm collaborating on with my friend in l.a., who's a reality TV producer. <br />But what I keep hearing is that self-pubbing is a barrier to traditional publishing unless you can show sales of about 5,000 copies. That's the number everyone keeps batting around although I have NO idea whether it's true or not. I thought that winning the prizes we both won would help. I assume it does, but what have you heard about that, hannah? I am close to the magic 250 channel sales for Mr. Touchdown and so I plan another big push for February (Black History Month) since it's got the desegregation thing going for it. But last year I only got about 11 channel sales to bookstores despite my efforts. Oh, but it hadn't won any awards then and now it has! Maybe that will help. Anyway, I joined the Association of Booksellers for Children and plan a mailing to those stores about Mr. Touchdown for February. And then another about Peace winning the Writers Digest award. What did you do to promote that, hannah? Did it help?<br />Anyway, I love this post. Let's keep each other to the wheel!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23771210.post-77437364468284733752006-12-31T09:24:00.000-05:002006-12-31T09:24:00.000-05:00Hi Hannah:
My most important new year's resolutio...Hi Hannah:<br /><br />My most important new year's resolution is to finish my novel. Therefore mine dovetails with yours -- I want to take your online class. So please set it up quickly -- I need you! <br /><br />Also, I and my teenaged daughter (who worked as a camp counselor the past three summers in Virginia) and my 15-year-old godchild (who has gone to a sleepaway camp in the woods of Canada the last five summers) loved your books. Mattie is a smart, funny, great girl and struggles with real people and real problems. Hollywood seems to prefer airhead mean girls to anyone with a brain and a conscience, and the public sadly seems to prefer them too. My own 14-year-old daughter loves the Gossip Girls, despite raising her on much better fare and despite my disdain. <br /><br />Mattie is more like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants girls, and they made it to the bigtime, so don't give up -- good taste and quality can prevail!<br /><br />Happy new year,<br />KBBateKB Concepts PRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07713804878964187050noreply@blogger.com