Author: CMPR

Uncontrollable by Sara Staggs

Posted on by CMPR

Epilepsy, seizures, brain surgery—these are not the everyday problems of everyday people. For Casey Scott, a high-powered civil rights attorney in Portland, Oregon, they are a part of her life. Like many smart and super capable women, she is determined to manage her demanding boss, two kids, a husband—also with a big career—and her health conditions, until one day she can’t. Finally, up against a wall where sudden death from a seizure is a real possibility, Casey must make a heart-breaking decision that will alter everything she had carefully planned for her successful life.

Based on her real-life struggles with epilepsy, UNCONTROLLABLE (Black Rose Writing, 978-1-68513-201-9, $22.95, May 23, 2023) is a debut novel by Sara Staggs. It is the story of 

Casey and Jonah Scott, a power couple, who fell in love and married expecting to conquer the world. But when Casey’s seizures start occurring more frequently Jonah insists that they need to get serious medical help and make extreme changes to her career plans. 

An extensive hospital stay and painful testing takes Casey halfway across the country, while Jonah tries to handle his own failing aspirations at work and with the kids. Meanwhile, Casey is determined to return to work on a prominent civil rights case, after brain surgery. The strain on their marriage has unexpected consequences and Jonah and Casey will have to find even more strength and courage to save Casey and their family.

Sara Staggs was a civil litigator in Portland, Oregon. Two brain surgeries were successful at limiting the severity of her seizures, which can now be controlled with medication and proper self-care. She had to close her law practice and bid farewell to that chapter of her life for good. For Sara, writing is the next frontier. She has contributed to several publications including: Huffington Post, Flash Fiction Magazine, In Parentheses Literary Journal, Five Minute Lit, and Tiny Seed Literary Journal literary journals. She also has several other projects in the pipeline.

UNCONTROLLABLE is an inspirational story of a woman whose life is derailed by something out of her control, and how she chooses to face life on its terms, abandoning what she once dreamed she could be. 

SARA STAGGS was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She practiced civil rights litigation for several years before turning to writing. Her debut novel, Uncontrollable, is based on her experiences with epilepsy, and has been called “a compelling story that tackles complex themes with sensitivity and nuance” by Pacific Book Review and is a Five-Star Readers’ Favorite.

She loves to write fiction, both adult contemporary and YA. Sara is an epilepsy advocate and an LGBTQ+ advocate. She writes a blog that covers epilepsy, LGBTQ+ concerns, writing and publishing tips. She has appeared on television and podcasts to talk about epilepsy and works to dispel the stigma that surrounds the condition. She lives in Portland, Oregon, and, when she’s not writing, can be found reading, hiking, mountain biking, or camping with her husband and two children. 

 

Find her online at www.sarastaggswrites.com

The Shakespeare Killer by Douglas J. Wood

Posted on by CMPR

“Dick the Butcher wanted to get rid of the only people who could stop him from committing the crimes he planned. Shakespeare meant that if you kill all the lawyers, chaos will ensue. So only the lawyers kept criminals at bay.”

“Exactly. As I said, Dick got it right.”

“So you want chaos?”

“No. I want dead lawyers.”

When Jacob Schneider– a prominent criminal defense attorney– is found washed up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, his death is ruled a suicide by authorities. Given the suicide note found on his body and no other signs of a struggle, it seems like an open-and-shut case. Just like the other defense attorneys who recently died across the U.S. 

Special Agent Chris DiMeglio is back in Douglas J. Wood’s latest thriller, The Shakespeare Killer (Plum Bay Publishing, 979-8-9858564-1-5, June 2023). While DiMeglio is busy balancing his work as a federal agent and his newly appointed position of improving the public image of the FBI, he receives a tip from a local reporter who suspects the deaths of three lawyers are connected. Between the victim profiles, the suicide notes, and the unusual methods of death, it soon becomes obvious the FBI has yet another serial killer on its hands. 

This case is particularly sadistic and not long after he begins working on the case, DiMeglio starts receiving cryptic texts referencing Shakespearean characters and a clear motive to “kill all the lawyers.” With the lives of so many at stake, DiMeglio is forced to play a heart-pounding game of cat-and-mouse to find the culprit and stop the killing. Through guileful messages and hints, DiMeglio must dissect the killer’s vendetta and figure out who the Shakespeare Killer is at all costs before the next victim dies. 

“One of the most fundamental questions people have about defense attorneys is, ‘How can you do that? How can you go to bat every day for a person that you may not know is guilty but you have a pretty good idea that he’s not so innocent?’ It’s a question that defense attorneys answer for themselves by not addressing.”  — David E. Kelley, American television writer, producer, and former attorney

Douglas J. Wood’s gripping new detective novel, The Shakespeare Killer, picks up the story of Agent DiMeglio, who fans may recognize from Blood on the Bayou. Whether you’re already a fan or you want to read it as a standalone work, The Shakespeare Killer is a thought-provoking mystery that will have readers alongside DiMeglio trying to guess the killer. While it is a work of fiction, Wood’s tireless research into the federal justice system and interviews with professionals in that field culminates into an unnervingly accurate police procedural. The Shakespeare Killer is a book that readers won’t want to put down. 

 

Include POEM in all Digital Marketing Plans

Posted on by CMPR

A successful strategy for your business needs to include POEM in all digital marketing plans.  What is POEM?  It is a combination of Paid, Owned, and Earned Media.  These three things together constitute the tools you can use to market your business and build your revenue.

What is Paid, Earned, and Owned Media?

**P (Paid): Paid media is advertising, whether it’s on benches, buses, PPC (Pay-per-Click), or any other form you can think of.  For example, in digital marketing you will not grow organically on Facebook.   You must pay for growth by running ads and/or boosting posts to the best target audiences for your content.

O (Owned): Owned media is “free” and it belongs to you.  Examples are your social media platforms and your website.  Your podcast or tv show (if you have one) also belongs to you. How you manage them and populate them with content, determines how beneficial they can be to your business.

E (Earned): Earned media  is also “free” because it falls under the public relations and publicity umbrellas.  You may need to hire a consultant, but the resulting media hits are supposed to be free.  A media relations specialist or publicist will secure radio interviews, articles, reviews, and tv appearances on your behalf.

M (Media): It’s the “media” in the P – O – E components.

How Do Paid-Earned-Owned Media Work Together?

Your business needs to include POEM in all digital marketing plans because it represents the trifecta of a successful multi-channel or omni-channel marketing plan.  If you put your strategy together well your ideal customers will interact with your business throughout their journeys from idea to purchase.  For example:

A consultant offers hourly sessions and paid workshops.  They have a website and use Facebook and LinkedIn.  Let’s consider the three types of media for this consultant:

Paid: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising on LinkedIn and via Facebook could be a part of their plan.  The ads should link pages on their website including a page made specifically for the campaign.

Owned:  When a customer is on the website, there is a pop-up form for joining the email list.  Maybe they offer a free download or a free workshop to get the customers more involved with their business.  Also, every page has contact information and there is a “Contact Us” form in case someone is interested in finding out more, but doesn’t want to subscribe.

Earned:  You are interviewed in a trade publication, newspaper, online news outlet, podcast, local TV, etc.  In the interview you talk about what makes your services special and specifically how you can help your target customers.  When the interview is ready, you put a link on your website, broadcast it on social media, and possibly use it in another PPC ad.

 Learn More about POEM and Marketing

There are many resources on the internet that can help you identify what media you can “own” as well as different outlets for “paid” opportunities.  Simply stated anything you “earn” is when someone shares their owned platform with you.  A mention on Instagram is earned because that influencer is using their platform to amplify you and/or your message.

For more information about using POEM you can visit Smart Insights to read their article on customer acquisition strategy.

Additional resources:  Small Businesses, Yes You Need Social Media

Small Business Marketing: What Makes You Special?

Posted on by CMPR

How do small businesses survive these days in a crowded market where being discovered online is more than half the battle?  They need to know what makes them special and understand how they can directly fulfill the needs of  their customers.

The Vitality of Small Businesses

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, employing millions and creating innovations that their size allows them to explore.  According to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, in 2019 firms with fewer than twenty employees made up 89.0% of businesses in the U.S. and those with under one hundred accounted for 98.1%.

Rising Above the Competition

Just as there are many small businesses, there is a lot of competition and the best place to be discovered is the internet.  However, the web is a crowded place, and chances are your product is not the only one out there.  The key is differentiating what you do and sell from everyone else. 

What Makes Your Business Special?

To differentiate yourself, you need to consider what makes your business special.  What stands out about the owners, the employees, the products, and the services?  Being a bunch of friendly faces is not enough.  Neither is using words like “dynamic, innovative, or excellent” without an endorsement to add credibility to the praise. Here is an example of a successful differentiator:

Warby Parker is an eyeglasses company that started as a digitally native brand, which means they only sold online.  At the time there were dozens of different ways to purchase eyeglasses at stores like Pearle Vision, through your doctor’s office, and even at Costco and Walmart.  So how could the founders think that they could compete in a marketplace that was full of options?

They offered an alternative to customers who needed glasses by providing a simple process, a la carte pricing, and a chance to test out five different pairs of frames.  They saved people time and money, and offered the allure of an alternative name brand.  An article from CNBC explains exactly how they succeeded.  

Building Brand Trust

Once you know what makes your business special, you can incorporate the message into your overall brand.  Offering a product is not who you are, it is what you do.  In today’s world of direct, high speed, digital connection, people need to feel like they know their brands.  They need to trust their brands and to gain trust, you need to identify your customers and address their needs directly. 

For example, I spoke at a women’s networking event about content marketing and social media.  One of the attendees was a photographer who wanted to grow her wedding photo business.

Problem:  She did not understand why she wasn’t getting a lot of traction from her website which had beautiful photos that showed what she could do.  The photographer did not know what made her services special and different from others.  She also did not understand how her customers went about selecting a photographer.  

Possible solutions:

  1. She could share more information about her story and why she is passionate about working with couples and sharing their special moments.
  2. She could have blogs or articles on her website about how to choose the right wedding photographer.
  3. She could offer sample albums with endorsements from her clients.

Understanding what makes you special and matching that directly with the needs of your potential customers will build your business.  Everyone has something to offer that is unique to them.  The challenge is figuring out what that is and who needs it.  Then you need the courage and the know-how to go out there and communicate it to the right people in the right place, at the right time.

Amazon’s Order Policy Will Affect Indie Authors and Publishers

Posted on by CMPR

A recent article in Publishers Weekly (Amazon Stands by Books) came and went without a lot of fanfare, but independent authors and micro publishers should be paying attention.  The article is about a drop in sales due to changes in Amazon’s order policy, which the company says is a result of a cut in the warehousing of products.  However, Amazon assures publishers that they stand by books and are not planning any moves to relegate book sales to third party sellers.  For the bigger publishers, this may be comforting, but for independent presses, and authors who publish and distribute through Ingram, there may be a problem.

How Ingram Works with Amazon

Ingram is a wholesaler.  If you print books in quantity, you may have a distribution partner or you may warehouse the copies in another way.  Orders placed directly to Ingram will be fulfilled according to the terms you have set.  If you are a Print-on-Demand publisher, then Amazon and other retailers will populate your title on their sites when you select “global distribution” as you upload your title to Ingram Spark.  An article that goes into this more deeply can be found here.

How Indies will be Affected

In the past Amazon often ordered a small quantity of print books for new titles without a distribution partner.  A dedicated sales rep could increase that number, but many indies cannot afford to pay for one.  Also, having a partner does not guarantee you will get a bigger order. 

Now, Amazon may order zero copies of a new title, unless there is a pre-order demand.  In that case Amazon may only order the number of copies required to fulfill those orders on release date.  If that happens any additional orders will take “1 – 3 weeks” to fulfill, while Amazon waits on a new bulk order.  If their algorithm does not predict many sales soon, it is possible that Amazon will not stock additional copies until an order comes in. 

Unfortunately, a traditional book distributor is not going to solve this issue either.  Recently we have been told by indie presses that there is “nothing that they can do”.  Amazon makes their decisions and they can’t be refuted. In these cases authors are linked to the market through a “middle man”.  They have to wait in the dark  for something to change.   

While this is happening, there could be second-hand sellers on Amazon offering the book as “in stock”.  They may appear as “trusted sellers”.  Some of these people could have received a review copy for free and they are turning it around to earn a few bucks.  The books could have associated shipping costs and delivery dates of several days or more.  It looks bad to prospective Prime book buyers who are trained to get their products in two days or less.  It could deter people from purchasing.

Solving Amazon’s Order Policy Problem

The most direct way for Print-on-Demand (POD) publishers to solve the problem created by Amazon’s order policy is to publish directly to their KDP platform in paperback or hardcover.  If you do this after your title has been uploaded on Ingram Spark, your Amazon upload will overwrite Ingram’s.  You can still link your ebook to your account, even if you published that format through Ingram only.  

This method ensures that Amazon will have a vested interest in your book being available on their site.  Amazon has become your printer for the format you uploaded.  Your terms selling directly on the platform will be 60/40 in your favor, the book will be Prime eligible, and you can participate in direct advertising.

For independent publishers who print in quantity and have a distribution partner, the solution is murky.  Like so many inequalities in life, POD is a lower-class option because it is, for lack of a better word, “down market” publishing.  The reason small and micro presses pay distributors is to raise their status.  In some cases these relationships make them eligible for the advantages afforded to the bigger companies.  The question is, does this relationship truly elevate a book’s status?  Is there even enough room to consider titles from small presses?

Without traditional distribution, indie press books may not be eligible for certain awards.  Also, larger media outlets such as USA Today will not consider any POD books for review.    There are over one million books published every year.  This number it too high for media outlets to cover everything that is released.  Traditional distribution may provide some access to what the Big Five publishers can do.  It will not solve the ordering issue.

What Can Authors Do?

The first thing authors need to accept is that publishing your book is Step 1.  You may think you are done, but your work is just beginning.  Authors will need to come out of their comfort zones and become entrepreneurs who have platforms and marketing plans.  In the words of one of our clients, practice “shameless self-promotion”.   

Also, authors need to consider whether they want to work with a traditional publisher, a hybrid, or do it solo.  Make it a priority to find trusted sources who will explain how things work for indies. The divide between indie and big five publishing has only gotten wider over the last few years.

A friend of mine used to say “growing older isn’t for sissies”.  Well, writing and marketing a book isn’t either.  There are no shortcuts; it takes time, costs money, and there is no single path to take.  Be informed, prepared, and patient.