Putting It on Paper: the Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books

Reviewer's Bookwatch, April, 2005

Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books

Dawn Josephson

Ground Rules Press: Cameo Publications LLC

PO Box 8006 Hilton Head Island SC 29938

ISBN: 0974496618 $19.95 www.amazon.com

Enlightening Read........ Recommended 5 stars

The narrative Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books is a work of 161 pages separated into ten chapters designed to guide the reader in preparing a winning Media Kit for their book. Chapter one leads the reader into an understanding of the Media Kit and why it is important for writers to incorporate into their plan for selling books. Chapter two offers hints on how to write dynamic cover letters. In Chapter three the reader will discover how to formulate a captivating Press Release. Chapter four offers hints for writing and use of mock book reviews. The authors bio how-to is covered in Chapter five. Chapter Six instructs in preparing and using a Book Sell Sheet. How to prepare a Catalog Sheet for your book is covered in Chapter seven while the freebies every one wants are discussed in Chapter eight. Chapter nine instructs the reader in how to prepare a dazzling magazine/news article. Chapter ten is the wrap up for the book.

Dawn Josephson who is both an author and marketing--communications expert presents an informative work meant to guide the novice, and not so new writer through the steps needed to prepare promotional piece creation for marketing their own books. Writing used in the book is presented in plain and understandable terms for writers who may be struggling to break into the writing--sales world. The helpful hints offered work equally to promote newsletters, books, all published works.

The, at times tricky, job of preparing a book press kit is presented in a practical, comprehensible approach the reader can use to prepare their own professional, affordable Media Kit. I particularly enjoyed the format used, points, ground rules, frequently asked questions were all presented in clear, understandable language. Offering examples of what to do as well as what not to do when writing cover letters offered in Chapter two were especially informative. Sales do not just happen. Reality is authors, especially those new to the industry, must be willing to promote their own books if they are to be successful. The strategies offered on the pages of Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books work equally when preparing your kit for fiction, how-to or real life works.

For this review I received a copy of the book itself, as well as an informative, well-organized media kit. Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books is an excellent reference work for new authors as well as being an additional tool for more accomplished writers who like to keep on the cutting edge of timely information. This publication takes a practical, workable approach to understanding, generating, and utilizing a book Media Kit to drive book sales. Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books is a must have for the author office book shelf.

Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend. I do not keep all books I receive for review. This is one that I will.