Bob O'Connor, top selling Infinity author of: The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859
Bob O'Connor, of Charles Town, WV has been a successful author since 2006.
He has published four book with Infinity including "The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859"; "Catesby: Eyewitness to the Civil War"; "The U.S. Colored Troops at Andersonville Prison"; and "The Virginian Who Might Have Saved Lincoln". "The Virgninian..." is also available on audio books, through Spoken Books Publishing, a division of Infinity Publishing.
All except "The U.S. Colored Troops..." are historical fiction.
According to O'Connor, "The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859" continues to be his best selling book. It is the historical fiction account of the John Brown raid, trial, execution and the seven raiders who got away. It was published in 2006 and was named a finalist in the Best Book Awards for that year. "John Brown has always been a interesting historical figure that people all over seem fascinated with." That can be said of the author too, who has studied John Brown for nearly 40 years.
No matter where I go and what the topic of my talk (I speak on Lincoln's bodyguard, slavery, John Brown, and the U.S. Colored Troops) a couple people at every event purchase "The Perfect Steel Trap...".
What makes Bob O'Connor successful? "First, my books are very readable because I tell a good story. Secondly, I market my books everywhere. I have been to 70 book events in 2011 in sixteen states, and over 500 since 2006. What most new authors don't know is that when their book is done, the work is just starting. For "unknown" authors, they must promote their book wherever there is an opportunity."
What's next in the hopper for O'Connor? He is finishing his next historical fiction book, "A House Divided Against Itself" which is about two brothers, one a Union soldier and the other a Confederate soldier, who faced each other twice on battlefields in the Shenandoah Campaign in Virginia. That will be published by Infinity Publishing in September.
Tony Hough, top selling Infinity author of: Halcyon Fury
Halcyon Fury marketing: My first action was the obvious - I sent a book launching announcement to everyone on all my email lists and Facebook friends. Fairly soon a couple of outstanding reviews appeared on the book's Amazon website posted by readers. I tagged the book into Amazon's "Sea Stories" subcategory hoping for better visibility there, and lo and behold it is listed now at #4 among 207 in that subcategory (when arranged as "recently popular"). Hopefully that will feed on itself and produce more sales. I have contacted a number of independent bookstores in northern Michigan where the story is set; several were not interested, but Horizon Books in Traverse City was immediately interested, and scheduled me for a signing on August 13, 2011. It seems to be selling there. I am in the process of contacting local newspapers, radio and TV stations to seek coverage in the Grand Traverse area. Also, the book has been put on the coming year's schedule by two book clubs in Clarkston, MI, where I live. As far as nationally, I have done nothing yet (except for the Amazon stuff), and have not figured out what to do at that level.
I created a blog about my writing and my background for what I write, the link is included in all of my marketing messages (seafaring1.blogspot.com).
Richard A. Price, top selling Infinity author of: Glycemic Matrix Guide to Low GI and GL Eating
There are four reasons for the success of my book Glycemic Matrix Guide to Low GI and GL Eating which can be emulated by other authors.
(1)Your book must be useful for your readers. For non-fiction books, this means to have a concept that will change someone's life or allow them to accomplish something much easier. My concept of the Glycemic Matrix is the ultimate tool for selecting foods that will have the lowest blood sugar impact for a diabetic. The Matrix is a grid which charts the glycemic index for foods on the vertical axis, and what I call Glycemic Density on the horizontal axis. Glycemic density is the glycemic load in a gram of food. This allows for the greatest hunger satisfaction with the least glycemic impact. The foods on the upper left hand corner of the Matrix have the least blood sugar impact, and the foods on the lower right corner have the highest blood sugar impact. The foods immediately along the two axis are also fairly healthy selections.
(2) Be prepared to spend at least $5,000 over a five year period without turning a profit. After my first five years, I was still showing a net loss of over $6,000 for the three books that I have had published by. Things are starting to look much brighter now.
(3) Always maintain an Internet presence. For me, this took various forms over the years. At first I had my own Internet site. When it did not seem to be profitable, I looked for free options. Sometimes, I only gave away snippets of my ideas. Sometimes, I allowed the entire book to be viewed without being able to be copied or printed. Finally, I became willing to allow my entire book to be spread all over the internet. This seemed to be the most effective way of all. Currently, my books are posted at www.scribd.com/RichPrice and they also appeared on many other "pirated" locations.
(4) Do a lot of old fashioned legwork such as magazine article submissions, writing to people of influence, library book signings, and book placements. In the beginning, this didn't seem to be very effective. In fact I gave up about two years ago, but continued to maintain an internet presence. This best selling status was a complete surprise. Now that I have obtained this level of success, I see the need to go back to this old fashioned legwork. Recently, I checked with our local library. My books are "best sellers" there too, hardly ever being found on the shelves. I need to place many more copies of my book in local libraries and regional book stores.
