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I'm not sure what you mean LM. E dibt publish books through MMW
Chiquita wrote: "I'm not sure what you mean LM. E dibt publish books through MMW"Does Mark My Words publish books or did I misread something?
No Mark My Words is a publicity firm not a publisher. We can handle all PR for you :)
Chiquita wrote: "No Mark My Words is a publicity firm not a publisher. We can handle all PR for you :)"My bad, that should have gone to Sergio. sorry.
Sergio wrote: "if you want there is a site called www.heibooks.com :)you submit the information of your books and they create a promotion page on their site. it's all free, 0 costs. they also make you an interv..."
I posted this for some one but should have come to you.
I just checked the site you suggested and while is says free advertisement there is also something about publishing books for $399. Does this free advertising apply to the books published through Mark My Words or anyone who wants to advertise.
LM
I've had really good reviews for my books. I've got one on the To read list for quite a few potential readers. Have had some pretty strong feedback, which is encouraging. Have hired PR. Some successful, others who I feel haven't really put in the work. I'm an Indie author, who believes that the best sales emanate from the good old 'Word of Mouth.'
Last summer for 3 days, I offered a FREE ebook version of my book. Almost 6,000 people downloaded it. While I was at it, I also offered 3 FREE paperbacks on Goodreads. I will never do that again. My sales immediately dropped to half of what it had been and has never recovered. I'd never had a review on Amazon with fewer stars than 3--most are 5 stars. All of a sudden I got my first bad reviews. Two of them! All this is perfectly logical. If 6,000 people already have your book, they aren't going to buy it, are they. Also, readers may be disappointed in your book because it isn't what they expected, it was FREE and at that price worth trying without any thought to what it is. I can blame my title and great cover for that.
Karen, I completely agree with you. I experienced the same thing - not free ebook version, but lots of giveaways. For what it is worth, I read your book and loved it!Karen wrote: "Last summer for 3 days, I offered a FREE ebook version of my book. Almost 6,000 people downloaded it. While I was at it, I also offered 3 FREE paperbacks on Goodreads. I will never do that again. M..."
Hi everyone. I'm a new author and, like many others, I'm having some difficulty with exposure for my two current books. Has anyone heard of the company 'PR for Books'? and are there any feelings about their effectiveness (or not). They're currently asking for £195 for a 3 month PR campaign, which seems ridiculously cheap to me, although they offer all the usual things.David Christmas
David wrote: "Hi everyone. I'm a new author and, like many others, I'm having some difficulty with exposure for my two current books. Has anyone heard of the company 'PR for Books'? and are there any feelings ab..."I posted a comment regarding my experience with my debut book about being 'self-published,' as described in my contract by my publisher, and 'vanity published' as pointed out by other writers. My publisher, from whom I've repossessed my copyright, offered to carry on with 'listings' my book via amazon. Kindle-ebooks and all else as offered by Amazon and create space (for free if one's self-published with them( at the price of £48 or reduced to $76+ (?) )for two years if I continued being POD with them at amazon com and all other channels. But the publisher doesn't send me royalty payments or even statements and when I reminded them, they said anything under £5 sold per half-year is redundant! They don't even pay me royalty when I emailed evidence of friends having POD my book from Amazon. Recently, I was encouraged to really self-published with Create Space for free, including all the listings and other forms of marketing. I actually paid over a grand with that vanity publisher that described what they do as 'self-publsihed." Hope this helps. As I'd heard before, such publishers simply sit back for they've earned my big publishing fee plus annual fees for listings , don't pay any royalties and simply earn your annual so called,'marketing' fee. Unless I'm wrong.
Thanks AnneThat's very helpful. However, as I'm thinking of using 'PR for Books' I wondered if anyone had any specific information about them. Another well-known PR company quoted me at £2400 for the two books, and though I can't afford that, it does seem a little more reasonable for the effort I hope they're putting in. What can anybody do for £195 over 3 months?
Respectfully, David, do you actually know what this company is going to do once they have your money in hand?I'm not a British lawyer (barrister? solicitor? Don't know the right one here), but I suggest it's likely that no matter what their Web site seems to promise, it's not binding. In part because if this isn't on the up-and-up, they know you're not likely to be able (or willing) to spend the money on legal fees, etc., to go after them when you've "only" lost 195. (Also don't know how to put the pound symbol in here.)
If you haven't done so already, ask to see the contract, and then have an attorney of your choice look it over. If the language is all in the vein of (or the most significant parts are in the vein of) "we will use our best endeavours (sp?)" or "we will make every effort" "we will make a good faith attempt"...you've been promised nothing that's enforceable in any court probably anywhere. How do you prove they didn't "make every effort"/"make a good faith attempt?"
On the other hand, if the contract is specific about what promotions they're going to do, what they're going to say/show, and where/with whom (so you can take a look at those outlets, Web sites, whatever) you'll have some basis for making an informed decision as to whether you think 195 lbs. spent that way is likely to increase sales of your book(s).
Bottom line: Find out precisely what you're going to get before you put a penny in their pockets.
Just my USD .02.
Eric
Eric wrote: "Respectfully, David, do you actually know what this company is going to do once they have your money in hand?I'm not a British lawyer (barrister? solicitor? Don't know the right one here), but I ..."
Thanks Eric.
The idea is they do a review and submit widely to their database of contacts, including newspapers, blogs, etc etc. They do say upfront that there's no guarantee the various outlets will publish said review, but they say they've had lots of luck with getting radio interviews and so on, as well as spreads in national newspapers. Their testimonials would seem to bear that out, but I don't know most of the people who are submitting testimonials, so am unclear as to the value of them.
Bottom line is, I realise this is a risk and that's why I'm asking if the good people on Goodreads have had any experience of this particular firm. I must say, I'm rather more inclined to take a risk with £195 than £2400.
Well, I hate to say this, David, but here in the States I'm reasonably sure that what they propose to do is illegal. You are paying them to write a review, which is obviously going to be highly favorable, else why would you pay them?I'm reasonably certain GR would not allow the review to be posted here, nor would AMZ. And I suspect that would hold true of most major Web sites.
Perhaps it's legal to buy a favorable review in the UK (which I have to assume is where you are, giving the currency you're mentioning), and then use it to promote your book(s). But all the more reason to have a lawyer knowledgeable in intellectual property law review any contract.
Again, just my USD .02.
Eric
It's always worth doing as much searching as possible on outfits like this, looking for reports (good or bad) on people's experiences.A bit of a trawl picked up these comment threads on this one:
https://absolutewrite.com/forums/show...
http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topi...
Not definitive, and you could do some deeper research, but my gut feel from the outset was that this kind of service is unlikely to be useful. They are essentially spamming media contacts with emails that are likely to be ignored - if they make it past spam filters. And if you do get a review published, ask yourself exactly how useful that is likely to be?
My preference would be:
(a) If you want to get write ups in papers try making a personal contact in a local publication. That is probably going to be as effective as anything that might come out of a paid mailshot. Local media are far more likely to look favorably on local authors.
(b) Spend the money on some promotional blasts through sites such as Book Gorilla, Bargain Booksy etc. Again, do your research, but these services typically cost in the region of $30 to $50 and email people who actually want to be emailed about new books. You are directly reaching readers in your genre, rather than being a couple of steps removed, and these efforts are more likely to result directly in sales.
Ian wrote: "It's always worth doing as much searching as possible on outfits like this, looking for reports (good or bad) on people's experiences.A bit of a trawl picked up these comment threads on this one:..."
Thanks very much Ian. That's actually very helpful.
David wrote: "Hi everyone. I'm a new author and, like many others, I'm having some difficulty with exposure for my two current books. Has anyone heard of the company 'PR for Books'? and are there any feelings ab..."Hi David,
I have three books published in Kindle and paperback. Go to Amazon and publish first on Kindle, this is not too difficult, open your Amazon account. Then when you have them up and running publish the paperback , be careful if you publish with Ingram Sparks you will have to take your book off Amazon, only one of these sites will accommodate your book. Then when you have them up and published start the free giveaway which is part of Amazon's sales programme. You will then have to go to some site like BOOK GORILLA to advertise your giveaway days which will be three. This will cost a few pound but its the only way to go. David I hope this is useful for you.
John wrote: "David wrote: "Hi everyone. I'm a new author and, like many others, I'm having some difficulty with exposure for my two current books. Has anyone heard of the company 'PR for Books'? and are there a..."Hi John
Yes, that's extremely helpful, thanks.
I already have two books published as e-books and paperback, so its primarily a means of getting exposure that I'm looking for. Ian mentioned earlier about Book Gorilla, and you've just supported that, so that's obviously something I need to look at. Clearly, after some deliberation and looking at other sites, I won't be going the route of PR for Books.
Thanks to everyone who have contributed to this.
I just checked the site you suggested and while is says free advertisement there is also something about publishing books for $399. Does this free advertising apply to the books published through Mark My Words or anyone who wants to advertise.
LM