SLPA’s Jedi Book Marketing workshop with Dr. Judith Briles was a huge success. Known as The Book Shepherd, Briles’ fast-paced presentation (think "light speed!") energized an audience of authors, book designers, editors, and publishers. More than sixty-five people attended, representing many levels of experience —from beginner to pro—as well as book genres.

Light sabers and pens
For those who wated tips, strategies and ideas, this was an excellent opportunity to learn from one of the industry's top book marketing experts. Briles entertained the audience from start to finish with her informative sassy and snappy style, while participants furiously took notes throughout the workshop.

“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Briles emphasized: "You need to think of your book as a product that you are bringing to the market. Book marketing means creating chatter and buzz about the author and book. Is it work? Is it scary? Is it confusing? Yes to all. Yet, it can be fun. It does take commitment and hot spit, but it turns you into a marketing machine ... one step at a time.”

“Use the Force”
Judith had a galaxy full of topics. You're the brand: What’s the right marketing strategy for your book? Who are your top competitors? What are your keywords and phrases? How should you pitch (think Shark Tank)? Who is in your tribe? What social media channels should you focus on? Which tools will improve your titles and blog posts?

Post questionnaire and initial attendee feedback

1. What was the most interesting thing you learned?
• Marketing tools I hadn't heard of before. —Jennifer Geist
• How to create a successful cover, title, and subtext, and how to test it online. —Gary Kodner
• Website and email should contain author's name. Will adjust both to encompass my nom de plume —Vicky Wors

2. What are you going to do differently or better as a result of the workshop?
• We may move our focus from getting into bookstores to instead into libraries and directly into the hands of more readers, via direct sales or Amazon, etc. —Jennifer Geist
• Full speed ahead. I'm jumping into the deep end. —Dan Grizzle

Final comments
• Judith dropped knowledge like a B-52 and kept the audience engaged and entertained the whole time! What a blast. — Andrew Doty

• Very good program with excellent information! Judith was a very interesting speaker. I got a lot of good ideas. I couldn't write the information fast enough on my notes! —Cliff Harwin

• These pros are great. I can never hear too much about social media. —Terry Mulligan

• I was most interested in her comments about how to improve your pitch and how to get your book reviewed. I plan to work on both of those. —Andrea Jackson


• The seminar was great. The location was perfect, and Judith was at her best. I learned more about what should be on the book cover to market the book effectively and to reduce the book cover to determine if it was readable on a cell phone. —Sharon Wyman

A big thank you to The Book Shepherd, Judith Briles — great workshop!