Michael Anderson

My specialty is helping authors write, self-publish, and promote books and related services. If you have ideas to communicate or stories to tell, I can help you create a book that furthers your career.

Book Marketing Services

There are two aspects to the marketing services I provide: planning promotional strategies and creating marketing materials in many media to achieve those strategies.

“Plan your work—Work your plan.
Learn as you go —Adapt as you learn.”
— A motto for good publishing practice

Marketing Strategy Consulting

I can help you think out and define plans for marketing your books and services based on your publishing objectives and your target audiences.  There are many different markets for books and many distinct ways of reaching those markets.  How you define your marketing plan should fit with your personal style and the goals you have set for your book.

There are two things that need to be marketed: 

• Your book (or book series)
• You, the author (as an expert in the topic area described by your book)

From a business point of view, you are likely to gain greater return from promoting yourself as the author and expert on your chosen topic than you gain from selling books.  Most authors make money by being known as the person who wrote the book. 

You market your book partly to promote other products and services that may include: book series, speaking engagements, consulting services, seminars, workshops, coaching, trainings, media appearances, additional publications in various media, and other after-market products and services.  Which of these components you choose to develop and promote will depend on your publishing objectives.  Self-publishing can also be used as a route to attracting a major publisher by demonstrating author publicity skills, such as speaking and doing book signings.

I generally recommend developing a marketing plan as early as possible. This provides a baseline for your publishing and marketing process and a guide for making changes as you go forward.  Based on my dialogue with you, the plans I write provide a vehicle for me to share knowledge and expertise customized to your unique publishing goals, objectives, and capabilities.  By developing a plan, I can help simplify this process for you.

What your Marketing Plan should include:

• Definition of your goals and objectives

Base on collaborative dialogue to clarify your publishing vision

• Analysis and definition of your audience

Who is the book intended for?  Through what media can they be reached?  What value do you propose to give them ?  What secondary audiences are important?

• Author-Expert brand development and promotion planning
• Author i mage planning through graphic style, colors, and imprint logo (how to get readers to remember you and seek out your books and services)
• Author bio planning for various formats, lengths, and orientations (telling who you are and how you came to write your book)
• Reader connection brand codes (how readers can benefit from interacting with your products and services, the role you give them to play, and how you can strengthen that connection)

• Book Promotion Options & Media Planning
• Where and how to promote your book
• The use of free publicity and paid promotional placements
• Planning which media and venues best reach your target audience
• Planning guerrilla marketing and viral campaigns 
• Tips for getting great author/speaker and event photos
• Identifying associations, conferences, and networks to build your community

• Publication & Publicity Roll-out Planning

Creates a step-by-step baseline plan to define the order in which things need to be done.

• After-Market Products & Services Planning

Conceptualizes the best ways for you to build your business as author-expert or fiction celebrity.  Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you will need to create processes, products, and services that build on your role as author.  Doing this provides extra income streams and is also one of the best ways to sell books.  The marketing plan provides a way to project what you will need to do to accomplish this goal.

Marketing Writing and Graphic Design

Once you have a clear Marketing Plan, you need to bring it into reality with various communication pieces.  Regardless of which media you use— print, online, or personal presence— most communication is based on two components: Words and Pictures. 

I help authors actualize their marketing plans by writing and designing marketing materials for a wide range of media formats.  Depending on the requirements of each author, these may include:

Print Media

Cards, flyers, sell-sheets, book cover posters, pitch letters, press releases, author bios, workshop hand outs, articles, interview question sheets, brochures, and book descriptions

Online Media

Web sites, blogs, web ads, and blurbs for Amazon and social media sites  

Personal Presence Media

Book-talk scripts, PowerPoint presentations, video scripts, elevator speeches, seminar training materials, and bookstore sales pitches 

There are many channels and many formats for promoting books and authors.  In this age of attention fatigue, the key is clarity and politeness.  Today, no one wants to be “sold,” but many are eager to buy—if you make it easy and pleasant for them.   

• Writing & Design of Publicity & Promotional Materials (Print & Web)
• Write/revise author bio for multiple formats and lengths
• Write/revise book description/blurb for multiple formats and lengths
• Write author/book promotional articles for multiple outlets (print and online)
• Develop ads, catalog blurbs, book reviews, and related marketing materials
• Develop Author Media & Press Kit: head shots for multiple formats, book descriptions, author story, press releases, clippings, event photos, audio/video interviews
• Create collateral materials: cards, book marks, sell sheets, brochures, book fair and conference handouts
• Write promotional copy, do overall graphic design, head shot enhancement and placement, book cover image, copy layout, design, and formatting
• Create online presence: web site, online promotional ads, blogs, email publicity, social media applications, community building processes for reader engagement
• Develop buzz campaigns to drive web traffic, book sales, and event attendance
• Create reader contact information data-capture processes  (e mail opt-in)

• Conceptualization, Writing, & Design of After-Market Products
• Create memorable PowerPoint presentations for author-speakers
• Develop speaker support materials: scripts, hand outs, flyers, press releases
• Write and design after-market products: seminar binders, training materials, booklets, CDs/DVDs, and specialty products for back-room sales and web sales
• Develop and write workshop training materials
• Collaborate with author to develop expertise-consulting opportunity strategies
• Work with fiction authors to develop story line spin-offs and author image building
• Provide on going author support mentoring/coaching service

Building Community

When you show your audience the value they can gain from your books, services, talks, and trainings, the right audience will begin to come to you.  In time, you develop a following, a community of people who like what you have to say and want more of it.

Additional Services:

Ghostwriting (nonfiction)

Book Design, Layout, & Graphic Arts

Book Marketing Services

Bio:

I have been a professional technical and business writer for over thirty years and have written over 200 book-length documents and marketing pieces for major companies including Merck, Unisys, The Franklin Mint, and Vanguard, as well as for small businesses and independent professionals.

My knowledge base is broad and deep, and I am a quick study. This positions me to quickly grasp your area of expertise and help you communicate it. In 2006, I self-published a book on future trends, VISION 3000: The Transformation of Humanity in the New Millennium, which explores forecasts for human science, spiritual culture, technology, media, economics, and governance, an example of the breadth of topics I have explored in depth. In 2008, I delivered a presentation, The Impact of Advanced Media Technology, to the world Future Society conference in Washington, DC.

My educational background includes: undergrad at Harvard University in social relations, Temple University in technical writing, and Villanova University in computer science, plus a wide array of seminars and continuing education courses, including a six-year program studying psychodynamics and spiritual psychology. As an independent scholar, I read continuously on a wide range of topics. I have also been a painter and graphic artist for most of my life and enjoy helping authors get their message across through visual images.

As an idea-entrepreneur, I have run over half-a-dozen different businesses and learned a great deal about practical uses of communications media to promote and publicize creative work. I have been involved with self-publishing, marketing, consulting, speaking, and creative media innovation throughout my career. As the owner of Emerging Vision Media LLC, I am constantly keeping up with how to use new media technologies to publicize new ideas, books, and authors.

Selected Publications and Communication Pieces

Vision 3000: The Transformation of Humanity in the New Millennium, 395 pages including
10-page bibliography, self published by Emerging Vision Media LLC. Available on Amazon and to bookstores via Ingram.  Plus web site and multiple business and marketing documents associated with promoting the book.

A Vision of the Impact of Advanced Media Technology on Human Consciousness: Surviving the Virtual-Reality Internet World, presentation to the World Future Society Conference 2008 with associated PowerPoint (32 slides).  Audio CD produced by WFS.  Photos of presentation integrated into multiple print and online promotional media.

EcoBuilt Efficient Buildings Strategy Plan, for Heartswork LLC.

Devon Talent Solution for IT Recruitment Process Outsourcing, for Devon Consulting.  Described business model of new division for established IT talent recruiter.  Plus eight other RFP response marketing proposals that won significant business for the same client.

Lumina Methodology: Process Overviews & Document Templates, Lumina Americas (New York, California, Brazil).  This document defined business processes for engagement management, project management, and knowledge management for an international ebusiness consulting firm.  Plus: PowerPoint presentation for Lumina University; Strategic Knowledge Management Program (white paper); Strategic Implications of Technology Infrastructure Options (report); marketing research binder for South America, segmented by industry and country; and WebMiner ASP User Guide.

Institutional Disaster Recovery Technical Document, The Vanguard Group.  This procedure protected over half a trillion dollars in assets.  Plus: video taped training for Vanguard University, disaster recovery training PowerPoint, and Runbook Technical Manuals for several major software applications. 

RocketBoard Strategy Retreat Plan and RocketBoard One-Year Roadmap. Three-day strategy retreat facilitator plan and resulting report for internet technology company.

High Performance Computing (HPC) Environment Design Specification and HPC Disaster Recovery Plan, Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc.  Plus: Combinatorial Chemistry Registration Software User Guide, Projects & Assays Database Definition, and other documents.

The Woodcuts of Paul Aschenbach, marketing catalog for Aschenbach Limited Editions.  Plus ads placed in The New Yorker magazine.

Multiple software design specifications for The Franklin Mint.  Trained and managed team of technical writers.

DECRAD Radiology Film Management System, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Admissions, Discharges & Transfers (ADT) System User Guide, The Devereux Foundation. Also developed training materials for this system .

Business and Manufacturing Control System: Technical Reference Text, Unisys.  Major software development documentation covering over three feet of shelf space.  Also, Executive Management Reporting Application Requirements Analysis and over twelve other specifications, capabilities manuals, and user guides.

Running Text: Semiotica, a book of symbolic drawings and philosophical inquiries about humanity, communication, and media.

Client feedback listed below.

Contact: MichaelA@editing-writing.com