Up the Bestseller Lists!: A Hands-On Guide to Successful Book Promotion - Softcover

"Birthing a book is a lot like birthing a baby," say Kathleen Brehony and Karen Jones. "You've suffered through a long gestation process [but] ...your work, in many ways, has just begun." Their book, Up the Bestseller Lists!, is a basic guide to book promotion. The title may be a bit fantastic (unless you're selected for Oprah's Book Club), but there are many fine ideas for newly (and soon-to-be) published writers here. Brehony and Jones guide you through the entire book-promotion process: selecting titles and cover designs, garnering blurbs, getting your book into stores (and strategically placed once it's there), finding alternative outlets, conducting signings and interviews, having your friends run a guerrilla marketing campaign. There's not a lot new here, but the information is clearly and amiably presented. And there is some gold to be mined. For instance, don't sign your books on the first blank page. "When you're a famous writer," the authors explain, "your autographed copy will be worth a great deal more when it is signed on the page that includes your title and publisher." --Jane Steinberg

Kathleen Brehony is a clinical psychologist and author of Awakening at Midlife. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia. Karen Jones is a veteran of the radio and television industries, as well as the author of the romance novel, Kingdom of Hearts. She lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia.