East of Eden Writers Conference: Report #1

Kendra and I just returned from the 2008 East of Eden Writers Conference. As you might guess, the conference is held in John Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas, California, known as the “salad bowl of America.” Driving there, we passed the spring-like pale green, red-tipped, and dark kelly green tops of the numerous lettuce varieties growing in the nearby fields. A treat for the eyes.

Kendra’s presentation focused on Using the Internet to Write Your Way to More Book Sales. As the audience gathered, she talked individually with those on the front row about their current use of the Internet.

The workshop participants were eager to learn the differences between “old school” and “new school” approaches to marketing your book. As Kendra says, “Classic approaches to marketing are always effective. But now the Internet means authors can directly build readership for their books.”

Kendra urges all writers to begin to build their brand and their future readers as soon as they start writing their book.

She highlighted the importance of branding yourself and building your audience with the following statistics for the most recent year available from Nielson’s Bookscan: 1.2 million books published. 950,000 sold 99 copies or fewer (that’s 79%). 25,000 sold more than 5,000 (that’s 2%). 500 sold more than 100,000 copies (that’s an infintesimally small %). “Think getting a publisher who places your book in all the bookstores is your ticket to sales and fame? ” continues Kendra. “Well, think again. Seventy percent of all books in bookstores are returned to the publisher. That means no royalties for the author.”

Still want to go with a big publisher? “Hey, that great,” says Kendra.”But the best way to get an agent and a publisher is to prove that you already have readers who like your voice, your style, and your content. Creating a popular blog, driving traffic from social networking sites, and developing relationships will help you land the deal you want. Get started now.”

Think it was all work and no play at the conference? Heck no. Kendra and I took off between our workshops to go over to the coast. Here’s a photo of us when we stopped along the 17-mile drive to watch the fiery red sunset.