Online Writers Promote and Help Communities

New program emphasizes community service while teaching authors to promote their works.

Today's bestselling authors of both fiction and nonfiction get to the top of the heap through effective marketing and promotion. That's no secret. Still, most authors give little thought to promotion, and some avoid it altogether. Why? Because they know very little about it, and the idea of promotion and marketing clashes with the romantic image of the writer.

Yet the book business continues to be increasingly competitive. The vast majority of the estimated 55,000 books published each year are doomed, by their authors, to languish in obscurity. The reality is that most writers don't promote at all, and when they do, they promote ineffectively.

Promotion is reasonably simple. It consists largely of hard work ¯ applying a few basic skills on a regular basis. It is not something available only to well-known authors or those with deep pockets. Any author willing to give it a try can learn to promote.

Writer Online has developed an innovative support program for published authors, called WOLves. This support program serves as an exciting and viable alternative to classes and workshops that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars and stop helping the writer when they end. The support program, on the other hand, is ongoing. It really only begins after the information has been absorbed by the student.

The information and techniques used in the program come in a practical text, written by author/publisher and promotion expert Trudy W. Schuett, that establishes what the basic skills are, and how to apply them. Every member has access to this e-book. But then the program takes off from there. An interactive on-line forum lets participants ask questions, brainstorm, and get outside opinions on their promotion efforts. Shared experiences help new authors avoid common mistakes and focus their efforts where they will do the most good. Experts stand ready to answer questions that might be outside the scope of the text.

The program is available by annual subscription, which costs only $45, and gives the participating writer access to the text, the forum, and an amazing amount of information and support. The more the author uses the program, the more he or she gets out of it.

Nobody has ever done this before," says Schuett. Ive been online since 1995, and when I went looking for something -- anything for authors, all I found were sites related to website promotion, or how to promote non-fiction books, which is almost an unrelated field. People think every subject is covered online, but guess what? Not this one!"

The program emphasizes volunteerism and community involvement as a means for authors to begin learning some people skills" and public presentation. Writers tend to isolate, which is why theyre so often boring guests on talk shows, and the first to be dumped when other segments run long or hard news breaks. But theyre smart people, with a lot to offer their communities. This way they can learn what they need while helping agencies that need their existing abilities."

Writers also learn about business, networking, and the realities of working with media professionals. The first thing we teach them is never to blast thousands of e-mails to everybody on the planet. That wastes everybodys time, not to mention their money! There is a way to use online capabilities, but its just a part of what an author needs to do to promote a book."

The program is open to any published author or independent publisher with a desire to both learn, and work with the group to set up cooperative events, which is another unique aspect of the program. Even a small group of writers can accomplish far more than any single author could do on his own," Schuett said. The first event conceived and planned by WOLves members, is the Western Authors Book Look & Shindig, to take place in Prescott AZ in August. Members from the US and UK will attend, to both sell their books and entertain.
Review copies of the programs text, Wild West Marketing -- Book Promotion for Greenhorns are available to media representatives on request.

WOLves http://www.writers-promote.com
WOLves Media Room http://writerspromote.homestead.com/room.html