From the start of a writing project, an author needs to find a way to organize all of their contact information. Everywhere you go as an author, you will meet people whom you will want to reach when your book is released. It is never too soon to start your database of professional connections. Business cards, slips of paper, cocktail napkins, ripped corners from envelopes, and receipts. Might look like scraps of trash, but consider it unrefined crude oil. These bits of data – names, addresses, email and website addresses, Twitter handles, telephone numbers, etc. – are the fuel that will drive your future book sales. When you tell friends and associates what you are working on, take note of those who ask you to keep them informed of your book’s progress. Get the reference librarian interested in your project and take contact information. If you interview sources for your research, it’s important to notify them prior to publication. At social events you may meet people who are interested in your project, so gather their names now. If you send out articles – excerpts or adaptations – for publication, the names of editors and specifics for submission are data to keep on hand for future reference. If a journalist interviews you or writes a feature story about your project, you’ll want to stay in contact. Speaking engagements, conferences, readings, and literary events yield more contacts. Bookstores, institutes, museums, and foundations. As you seek copyright permissions, you’ll need names and addresses…

ONE:  Your publisher or your publicist will need to send a query letter to the producer of the radio program. It’s much better to have someone else query for radio interviews on your behalf. But doing most of the work to assist your publisher or publicist in booking radio interviews will increase your chances significantly. And if you are a nonfiction writer, there is a chance a good query letter will lead to a booking.  You want to book radio interviews for the month before release and the six months to a year after a book has been released. Your query letter should contain four paragraphs. One, why you think you’d make a good guest on their show. This first paragraph means you need to do your homework on the radio program and host and audience to demonstrate you believe there is a good fit. Two, the premise of your book and the pitch for an interview. This second paragraph is short but the most important. It’s your Hollywood spiel, your elevator speech, your hook. The third paragraph is about why you and who cares and so what. The fourth paragraph includes your specs. Your book, title, subject/subgenre, publisher, availability of an Advance Review Copy and press packet, and your availability to be interviewed with contact information. I can’t say enough about the hook. That second paragraph needs to be tight. Convince the reader of the query that the story is current, timely, compelling. Anniversaries, current debates, related news. The…

The launch of Green Bay author Melissa Gorzelanczyk’s debut Young Adult novel ARROWS (Delacorte Press, 2016) is one example of how social media can play an important role in author success. Melissa’s novel ARROWS is a modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom,” according to Melissa’s website. Her novel also has an element of social justice – a young woman learning how to leave a bad relationship. I asked Melissa that favorite question of up-and-coming authors: How did she find her literary agent? During a Twitter pitch party. That’s right. What’s a Twitter pitch party, you ask? Here’s how it works. Periodically on Twitter, moderators will host an event during which writers have the chance to pitch their manuscripts to agents. What’s tricky is Twitter’s 140-character limit. You must summarize your novel in a very compact and effective sentence. That’s a challenge for any writer who has faced the agony of writing a query letter, during which an author must summarize his or her novel in an accurate and enticing premise within a few short sentences. Now tighten that. “I actually recommend creating a Twitter pitch for every story that you start, even if you’re never going to pitch it that way,” Melissa says. “It makes you look at the true bones of your story.” This is an unusual way to obtain an agent. Twitter pitches aren’t a substitute for a query letter or a good…