About Shel Horowitz

Shel is an internationally known marketing consultant and copywriter who focuses on effective, ethical, affordable approaches. He helps you find marketing partners, present yourself as an expert, get coverage in mainstream media, and develop a successful social media presence. As a copywriter, he specializes in writing marketing materials that tell “the story behind the story” in ways that focus on the benefits (achieving goals, fixing irritations) and move the reader to action. He has worked with clients across North America, Europe, and Asia and has more than 30 years of experience. He’s also the multiple-award-winning author of eight marketing books, among them Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green (Wiley), Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (Morgan James), Grassroots Marketing (Chelsea Green), Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers (self-published), and Marketing Without Megabucks (Simon & Schuster), and has helped several clients go from unpublished writer to well-published author.

Shel has been helping clients achieve marketing success since 1974. In 1985, he self-published his first marketing book. A decade later, he founded his own publishing firm, AWM Books, when he bought back the inventory of his Simon & Schuster title, Marketing Without Megabucks. AWM Books later published Shel's books, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's Pocketbook, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, and Green And Profitable. He was a member of IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) for may years, founder of IPNE (Independent Publishers of New England), and an active participant in the independent publishing world. He specializes in low-cost but effective approaches and offers very affordable prices and quick turnaround. Five of his books were self-published, and five have published by advance-paying publishing houses (Wiley, Simon & Schuster, Chelsea Green, Morgan James, and Stackpole). Books in both categories have been republished in other countries (South Korea, Japan, India, Mexico, Italy, and Turkey).

Please click here for client testimonials.

He was allowed to write his own book cover for his Wiley title, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green—a very rare honor when working with big New York publishers. That book was an Amazon Environmental category bestseller at least 34 months and was one of the first to be named a Groundbreaking INdie Book by Independent Publisher magazine. He's also done work for numerous small, independent, and mid-sized publishers around the world, as well as publishing-related businesses like Gropen Associates, PR Leads, and SiteSell/SiteBuildIt.

Authors and publishers choose to work with Shel for projects as small as a single press release or book cover, on up to full project management and even ghostwriting entire books.

If you're interested in marketing something other than a book or author, please click here.

If you'd like information on our publishing consulting services, please click here.

For the other services we offer authors, please click here.

Shel is able to help you with…

• Press Releases and PSAs
• Publisher Query Letters
• Media Pitch Letters
• Brochures
• Press Kits
• Fliers/Sell Sheets
• Catalog and Advertising Copy
• Sample Reviews
• Backgrounders
• Articles/Newsletters
• Direct-Mail Sales Letters
• Business Plan Narratives
• Marketing Plans-from one title or campaign to a whole brand or imprint
• E-mail Signatures
• Jacket and Cover Copy
• Web Page/Website Content and Marketing Strategies

• Choose the Right Strategy/Strategies for Your Book: traditional publishing, subsidy (often mistakenly called "POD"), true self-publishing, e-publishing, working with a packager
• Create knock-'em-dead book proposals, pitch/query letters, distributor submissions, review copy cover letters and promotional materials
• Find skilled top-of-their-game vendors who are still affordable (editors, designers, indexers, printers, etc.)
• Review your marketing strategies
• Develop strategic alliances with other companies and organizations who will help you as they benefit from your success
• Explore additional income streams through special sales, foreign and subsidiary rights, and marketing partnerships

• Overall marketability analysis
• Line editing

Please send the following:

For Marketing Copywriting and Consulting

• A copy of the book (and previous book, if you've already done a related title)
• Any press/promotional materials you've created
• Testimonials and Endorsements
• Clippings of any press you've received (including those from previous books)
• Information on the purpose and audience for the release (flier, brochure, Web page, etc.)
• Either a credit card number with expiration date and CVC code or a deposit check (for a press release, single web page, or flier, $525 in US funds; if it's a larger project, I'll suggest an appropriate deposit amount).

Editing:

• A double-spaced, single-sided printout in a legible font, at least 11-point (I strongly suggest that you have me edit a three-page sample, at no charge, before we decide to work together)
• Self-addressed stamped envelope to return the sample
• If we do work together, the complete manuscript, formatted as above, a return envelope or box with sufficient postage, an electronic copy of the manuscript in Microsoft Word format, and either a credit card number with expiration date and CVC code or a deposit check for an agreed-upon amount

Shel Horowitz
Accurate Writing & More
16 Barstow Lane
Hadley, MA 01035
413-586-2388

Contact Shel to Get Started.

Please click here for client testimonials.

Shel Horowitz’s Copywriting Price List

For publishing consulting outside the scope of the above list, hourly fee is currently $195 per hour.

Contact Shel to Get Started.