An Interview with Internet Marketing Expert and Author Phyllis Zimbler Miller
Dorothy Thompson
August 27, 2009
Thank you for this interview, Phyllis. Can you tell us briefly what your latest book, What You Should Know About the Launch of an Online Information Product, is all about?
This ebook shares step-by-step information on how to launch an online information product.
Can you tell us who or what was the inspiration behind your book?
The trials and tribulations I went through to launch my own online information product inspired me to share this blueprint with others to make their own online information product launch easier.
Is this your first published book and if so, can you tell us your experiences in finding a publisher for it?
As you know, ebooks don´t need a publisher – the ebook is downloaded digitally from where it lives on the web. My first published book, the 1992 Jewish holiday book Seasons for Celebration that I co-wrote with Rabbi Karen L. Fox, came to me from my agent at the time as a project that Perigee (a division of Putnam) wanted. My novel Mrs. Lieutenant I self-published in April 2008 with Amazon´s print-on-demand unit BookSurge.
How has BookSurge been to work with?
BookSurge was good to work with – the designer worked hard to give me the cover design I wanted. But it´s a good thing I´m a "nut" about proofreading. Several pages were somehow dropped from the book after I had given final approval to the interior pages. Luckily I noticed this as I checked the hard copy of the book. (Let this be a warning to others: Just because you´ve okayed the interior doesn´t mean that interior will actually be the same one as in the bound book.)
Do you have an agent?
Not now, although Carolyn Howard-Johnson and I are looking for one for our proposed nonfiction book on fiction marketing – see our site at www.FictionMarketing.com.
Can you tell us how long it took you to write your book and also how long it took from the time you signed the contract with BookSurge until it was released?
It took me about 20 years to write the book because I kept writing it and rewriting it as I tried to find an agent and a publisher. Once I signed with BookSurge, it took a little over three months before the book was on Amazon. (This would have been a couple of weeks less if the interior hadn´t somehow been messed up.)
Do you have any words of inspiration from other writers who would like to be wearing your shoes?
Keep honing your craft. During those 20 years I took writing classes at UCLA Extension, bought and read book after book from Writer´s Digest Books, participated in a writers´ group, etc. Then when you think your book is ready, if you can´t get anyone to say yes to you, say yes to yourself. And then immediately start marketing your book online. (I have several helpful articles for writers at http://budurl.com/bookmarketarticles)
What´s next for you?
Two weeks ago a movie producer found MRS. LIEUTENANT on the web, so I´ve been in discussions on a possible movie project, and I´m hoping to develop the graphic novel series LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS – see www.MollieSanders.com – plus connect with middle school and high school social studies and history teachers for using MRS. LIEUTENANT as part of my proposed program History Through the Arts.
I also keep promising myself to return to working on the novel´s sequel – MRS. LIEUTENANT IN EUROPE – which will focus on being part of an occupying force in Germany only 25 years after the end of World War II.
And every single day I strive to learn new effective Internet marketing techniques. I keep buying more and more plastic file boxes to store all my accumulating information.
Thank you for this interview, Phyllis. Can you tell us how we can find out more about you and your new book?
You can find out more about the ebook at http://budurl.com/ebookproductlaunch and the About Us page on www.MillerMosaicLLC.com is a good place to find info about me.
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