We're Finally Doing It! And a Contest, Too!!

For a few months now +Steve Kovacs and I have been talking about a new business possibility. I've been his producer since the end of January for The Kovacs Perspective, and gradually this new possibility came to light. I think we both suggested different aspects of it, and one thing built onto something else, until we got to this particular evolution.

Steve does a bang-up job as host of his show, and we decided to start a new one, seeing as he already has a loyal following. This show, however, would be geared specifically toward promoting authors. Now, this is a fee-based service that gives authors exposure. I do the back-end stuff, Steve does the interviewing, and then we promote the heck out of it. We're going to offer varying interview lengths, of course, and we might even delve into doing trailers for authors, which is something new that has come up in the publishing world. We don't have that in place just yet, but it won't be difficult to implement.

On top of this new WebTV show, I thought I might as well do something useful, too. You see, I'm a pretty picky person, which is a skill that's useful when it comes to writing and publishing. It's useful for me because I hate making my own mistakes in my writing, and it's useful for other writers who are looking for someone to edit their work. The thing about editing your own work, is that we tend to skim our own words far too often. I know I do it myself, because I think I already know what's on the page. After all, I wrote it. So, when a piece is particularly important I have my daughter read it over. She's as nit-picky as I am. When it's someone else's work, I tend to find the mistakes very easily because I'm reading the words for the first time.

Next we have audiobook recordings. I've had music editing software for more than ten years now. I've upgraded a couple of times, of course, but I started singing and recording those many years ago and needed the software to do it. It occurred to me that, since I'd been a somewhat talented non-professional actor at one time, and I'm skilled at reading aloud (not to mention enunciating clearly and projecting to the back row when necessary), that it might be a good idea to offer audiobook recording services. I was a bit shocked when I found out that apparently publishers are dipping into their authors' royalties, forcing them to pay an average of about $4,000.00 for an audiobook recording as part of their publishing contract. Let's just say I'm happy to charge a heck of a lot less than that.

Finally, we have reviews. Yes, a paid book review. It happens all the time, actually, and most people don't realize it. However, being the hyper-honest soul that I am, our clients will be getting an honest review. In fact, if there's going to be an issue, and I won't be able to give a good review, I'll simply tell the client that it's not going to work out. I have my own reputation as a writer to consider. Not everyone agrees with everything I've ever said, and some of the things I say are controversial, but I never say anything I don't mean. As far as I'm concerned, my integrity is a part of who I am, and as such it's also a part of my writing. I will never be so greedy as to sell my morality.

Now, there are many other avenues to explore in this realm, and I'm sure I'll touch on them all as possibilities at some point or another, so don't be surprised if you notice more services being added all the time. The fact is, I've got a pretty busy brain, and I like to keep it that way. It keeps the rest of me out of trouble.

I just started the Twitter account for these services at around 4 AM, eastern. Thus far we have over 200 followers in just those few hours, so things are picking up quickly. I'll be advertising and promoting on a wide variety of platforms, but starting one thing at a time so as not to overwhelm myself in the process. Facebook comes after the Twitter push, and then it's on to other options.The thing about doing a massive promotion push is that it isn't strictly for us to get new clients. Once we have our clients, they need to be promoted, too, and it becomes mutually beneficial to cross-promote between us and our clients.

I guess I should let you know where to find us, though! The Kovacs Literary Perspective and Woodland Literary Services are interconnected, but they are still separate. Steve's part is through TKLP, whereas the rest of it is on me through WLS. Click on either of the links, though, and you'll still be able to get to the other pages as all three websites will have buttons for the other two. We're waiting for a domain transfer to go through on The Kovacs Perspective, so the new site isn't up for that one yet, but the other two are already cross-linked.

Oh, wait! I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you this! We're having a contest. I've been announcing it on Facebook and Twitter, and totally forgot to say anything here. If you go to TKLP's website, and then click on the WebTV Show button, you'll get all the details on how to enter the contest. What's the prize, you ask? Well, we're giving away a 15-minute author interview video, which we will not only promote like crazy just like we would for any client, but we will also feature that video on our web page for the entire month of August. Entries have to be in by July 1st.

I told y'all to stay tuned, didn't I? Well, it'll be worth it, I promise. Not only for my friends and followers who are writers, but for those who are readers. I'll see some new books before they're out, which means I can tell you about them as they hit the market. We'll have exclusive author interviews for everyone to see, and for the many people who are interested in the back-story behind the books they read, this will be an awesome feature.

There's one other thing I should say. As long as the books are written in English, we can make something happen. It doesn't matter if it's self-published, published through a traditional publisher, or if the book hasn't been published at all yet. It doesn't matter if you have an agent already or not. Publishing has various stages, and we can offer something for each stage. I'm going to enjoy this, quite frankly. I love to read, and then there's the picky part of me, so being able to read and edit isn't exactly a chore to me. Reading aloud in order to record is going to be a lot of fun, because it's been some time since I really gave my acting skills a workout. The written word is a passion of mine, obviously, or I wouldn't be doing so much writing of my own. I understand the creative process on an intimate level, and I can clearly see where the publishing world is going just from a business perspective.

So, follow us on Twitter @KovacsLiterary - it's easy enough to remember anyway. I'll be setting up the Facebook page soon, so I'll update everyone on that as it happens. New things will be happening on the websites, too, so make sure you follow us if you want to hear about the latest deals we're cooking up. After all, we're not doing this to get rich or anything. Of all the pricing I've been doing, I can honestly say that all around we're by far the most reasonable. I want to see good books reach happy readers.

You know, I'm looking forward to this so much that I think I'm just going to have to do a little happy dance.