What’s Workin’ It Like?
September 3, 2008 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Cait London
By Cait London
FOR HER EYES ONLY, the 3rd and last book of my Psychic Triplet Trilogy, is an October 2008 release, and I workin’ it.
Let’s define exactly what “workin’ it” means for an author in “hot-spot selling time” and the tools needed to be moderately effective.
In “hot-spotâ€, the month prior and the month of pub date, you’ll be updating your website and blogs frequently, sending e-newsletters, answering e-mail, keeping busy at MySpace, Facebook and others, making appearances, sending out contest prizes, traveling, and generally overloaded to the max–even if you’ve planned well for the hot spot.
Note: You can do a terrific amount on your own at low cost. Else, many well-published writers use professional publicists and many do little for promotion; they would rather use the time to write.
You’ll need planning tools (I can’t do without my PDA):
Building a set of promotion tools takes time and energy. Be aware that even light promotion calls for sturdy dedication. The very first decision for a writer who wants to promote is if they want to do it themselves. Promotion is a true time-sucker (technical term).
Note: I do not endorse building a website for the purposes of promoting a writer, who has not yet been scheduled for publication. The risk is high, and could leave the writer out a very embarrassing limb.
Early preparation tool box:
• write articles for your groups; contact your group’s newsletter editor early for good placement
• create a blog, i.e. blogger.com and actively post on other blogs (freeskins.blogspot.com is an excellent freebie skin)
• collect friendly readers e-mail; develop a potential e-newsletter for excerpts, notifications, etc. Yahoo serves well.
• develop excerpts and keep reviews handy, keep a friendly reviewers’ list
create a promo item, something to mail and for appearances, i.e. bookmarks/postcards. VistaPrint.com has great freebies. *Due to high postage costs now, we will be seeing less mailings.
• develop a handout about your book(s) and you, your website and blogs, etc. (printer quality is fine)
• develop longer and shorter bios to have on hand, at a moments notice
• use databases; you’ll need them for contacts: readers/librarians/book sellers/reviewers
• publicity shot: casual may be acceptable now. This should be quality work, studio or not.
• clothing for appearances. (Since FOR HER EYES ONLY, AT THE EDGE, and A STRANGER’S TOUCH use Celtic motifs, I’ll be wearing that jewelry.)
Scheduling:
• Develop a wider community, i.e. Facebook, etc. Associate OUTSIDE your usual groups. (Find me at Facebook).
• Contact other blog owners and schedule to be a guest
• If you wish to be contacted as a speaker, develop programs that stay within the scope of your personal experience. If charging as a speaker, have rates ready in formatted form.
Critical: Repeat–Keep that website and blog updated frequently.
Super Tips:
• When that first book comes out, establish book lists that include title, pub date, publisher, ISBN. Develop a plain one for promotion, and a private one to collect the kudos or any awards, list sales to foreign countries, for your personal reference. This list is essential and difficult to rebuild down the road.
• At a book signing: take a notebook to be used for the collection of e-mail addresses; place it in front of you with already one e-mail address on it, providing a starting point. Use those addresses to invite readers to your e-newsletters.
Promotion hot-spot is absolutely hectic. Do everything you can to prepare for it. I’m truly workin’ it now with FOR HER EYES ONLY due on October’s book shelves.
Bio: From Cait London, newly NYTs extended after almost 70 books. Find her at http://caitlondon.com and caitlondon.blogspot.com
The Jonathan Winters Syndrome
August 28, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category ArchivesDo you remember the comedian Jonathan Winters? I recall a story that he had a hard time distinguishing his persona from that of his characters, to the point that he descended into an almost multiple-personality state periodically. I got curious and looked it up on Snopes to see if it was true…no reference there, so for all I know, the story is urban legend.
In any case, what got me thinking about this was my relationship with my characters. Now granted, I’m a character driven author, but even so, I’m getting worried.
My first novel was set in the countryside in and around Los Olivos. I feel that I could hop in my car right now, drive up, and visit Sam and her dog Rocky in the old Victorian she renovated. If she wasn’t home (probably out riding her motorcycle with Rocky riding pillion in the milk crate strapped to the back) I could stop at the Farmhouse Café and have a cup of coffee with her best friend Jesse, who owns the place.
See what I mean? These people became so much a part of my life that I’m starting to scare myself. Am I alone in this? Does anyone else get this attached to their characters?
I wonder if information would have Sam’s cell phone number…
A Fantasy Life
August 27, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn
By Janet Quinn Cornelow
Conference High
August 25, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as What Inspires YouBy Lori Pyne
Celebrating first sales and hard won achievements with writer friends from around the globe reinvigorated my soul and reinforced my commitment to my own dream.
The student inside of me gleefully absorbed the various ideas, suggestions, techniques and tips presented at workshops attended. Greedy girl that I am, I impatiently await the arrival of the full conference CD. I know there is more gold to mine from workshops missed. If I am lucky, they will arrive just as the information learned begins to fade.
The workshops did not have a monopoly on information. Much knowledge could be gained while sharing coffee, meals, a seat in the lobby and even elevators with fellow attendees.
Nationals in San Francisco was everything I expected, and more than I anticipated. I arrived uncertain as to my current writing path. I left with a firm sense of the direction I should travel.
I expected to glean more knowledge. Encouragement and confirmation were welcomed bonuses.
Did anyone else experience surprise bonuses?
Are you my friend?
August 24, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Harlequin, Isabel SwiftBy Isabel Smith, Harlequin Editor
OK, I am somewhat anti-social as well as being older than 20something, but that hasn’t protected me from getting sucked into a social network!
Here’s my etiquette dilemma:
What do you do when you get a “friend” request from someone who you’re not sure you know. Yes, you check out their lists of friends & hopefully find people in common that may jog your memory. But what do you do when, in the ‘family’ of the romance, there are a lot of people who might know of me, just as I might know of them, but we don’t actually know each other, have never spoken or met.
Are they my…friend?
When I launched into the uncharted waters of virtual reality, I ran around & made all my friend’s children ‘friend’ me (the 20somethings were everywhere). Then I discovered authors, and found good friends there. But for me there was a delicacy—I felt I had to actually know someone to friend them. I wasn’t using the site to do business, reaching out to strangers to expand my circle. I was just trying to find my friends—people I knew, had worked with, had met—virtually or actually.
I tried to always write a message with my friend requests saying Hi, often reintroducing myself and reminding them how we knew each other. That seemed, well, friendly. Like when you see someone at an actual event, you say ‘Hello, I’m … and we know each other from….’ Even if you know them well, you still say Hello! And if you don’t know them, of course you introduce yourself.
I realize that there are those for which ‘size counts’ and like counting piles of money, they delight in piling up a virtual world of people who are willing to be a notch in their friend-post. But I’m just not that kind of girl.
So I have actually ignored friend requests when I didn’t know for certain that I knew the person personally (sorry), and it makes me feel so ungracious! But all these requests are impersonal—no note, no greeting, just click here so I can add you to my list—I don’t even need to say Hello. And there’s also no place on the sites to share your philosophy or to alert people of your feelings on friending.
I worry that I might actually know them, that I ought to have remembered them—I’ve met them at a conference, they’re a Harlequin author, I took them out to dinner, they were kind enough to host me at an event, or may have read my blog (thank you!).
But just like at an event, if someone came up to you and said, ‘You don’t know me, but I’m a fan of your writing/met you briefly @ a conference/heard you speak…& would like to connect’ you’d be happy to get to know them. They’ve reached out, shared something of themselves, we’d found common ground and become new friends, or a friendly acquaintance. Or just a business colleague who chats and hands you their card.
Seems to me the same framework could—should—apply in this virtual world. Friend is a word that means something, and that matters to me.
Many years when I was a 20something my older brother’s buddies would complain bitterly that often the girls they were checking out & were interested in wouldn’t “put out.” My girlfriends noted that that was likely because they weren’t “putting in”—actually reaching out & putting themselves on the line.
I’m not comfortable ignoring people, but I do think I am going to maintain the standard. I’m not putting out unless the requester ‘puts in.’
Isabel Swift
http://isabelswift.blogspot.com
Featured Books
THE ALLIANCE
When Leora Ebersole sees the small plane crash in her Old Order Mennonite community, she has no idea it's a foreshadowing of things to come.
More info →
