I have been published three months now and I’m still feeling my way around the promotion end. This summer, I’ve been trying out different email loops that promote books. That can be extremely overwhelming (sometimes 500 posts a day on all the loops combined!) So I’m working out a system.
First, I joined this yahoo loop: Promotion Loop Schedule. This group sends daily reminders of which loops accept excerpts and other promo and on which days.
There are a LOT of loops. And you have to join them. And sometimes you have to tell them why you’re joining. And they all have different rules. However, some of them have databases where you can upload excerpts and book covers and links to your websites. Some of them have author days where you can promote yourself, or get together with friends. So far I’ve only done this on publisher days because I’m shy ;)
Then I got my royalty statements and figured I needed to do some more promoting. I looked at the rules for the different loops again and made myself a chart about which loops take excerpts which days. My chart looks like this:
What I need to do next is figure out which excerpts to post when, so I’m not being TOO repetitive. I have three excerpts for each book, a romantic one, a sexual tension one and an action one. My books are fairly long. I probably will only have two excerpts for my Wayback Rodeo book.
If you’d like a copy of my chart, you can get it here: Weekly Promo Chart.
And if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, I would love to hear!
When the members of the WNP were brainstorming the Promo topic, I was at a loss. Then someone suggested I write about Author Talk, so here you go. It's funny that AT is included in Promotion month on the WNP, especially since it was never supposed to be promotion - just something silly between two authors.
Author Talk began after my friend and critique partner, Gena Showalter, received a series of questions by an interviewer who clearly didn't know anything about her. This person got everything wrong, from Gena's genre (historical?), number of books (one YA?). I, of course, thought this was HILARIOUS. So, I suggested we spoof it. So one day in January, Gena ordered Chinese food and we filmed our first Author Talk.
I didn't look at what we'd filmed for two days. I just couldn't. But, I finally began importing the footage into my laptop. It took me an entire week to edit. (My editing skills had gone WAY rusty from my R/TV/F days in J School - I'm much faster now.)
Gena met me in the parking lot while my kids were taking dance, and I showed her the almost final product in the front seat of her car. I kept expecting her to say something like, "Jill, let's just forget this whole thing." Even though I'd spent so many hours cutting and shaping the video, I wouldn't have minded - she paid for the Chinese food after all. But no, she never said just delete - in fact she had suggestions. Later I added music, the AT purple arrow open and her book cover and had a finished product:
I remember calling Gena the morning before I uploaded it onto YouTube. "Are you sure about this?" kept coming out of my mouth. So did phrases like "career suicide" but I hit upload anyway. Put it on my blog. She did the same and then I left the house. I was stunned by the comments we'd received, and so very, very thankful people liked it. That I hadn't ruined one of my best friend's (top ten) career was also a bonus.
There Was Only Supposed To Be One
Several people began asking who was next. Gena said it had to be me. So, we met again and filmed my Author Talk. I was pretty sure that would be it. No more Author Talks after that.
As I am so often, I was wrong. People began suggesting who they wanted to see interviewed. (In fact, I have an interesting search string list of people looking for a particular author's AT interview.) For my birthday, Gena bought me the Author Talk website. So, now I'll answer some questions.
What is Your Favorite Author Talk?
Wow, that is a hard one. There are so many good memories associated with each one and each author. So, we'll call that a draw.
Now my favorite Author Talk Extra is the one we did for Dear Author. You can view it here. The questions were a lot of fun, and I was able to use special effects and music to make it even more cheesy.
What's the filming process?
Because I have a news background, we set up AT to look like a studio interview. That would mean having three cameras, but we're only using one. So we start each interview with a two shot and then a headshot of individual answers from authors and questions from me. Everything is out of order and mixed up, but it all gets put together in the editing.
For me, I want to try and make things visually interesting. So I like things in the background, quick cuts and flashes of covers or pictures that represent an author's book to avoid the "talking head" effect.
Filming usually lasts no more than an hour. The editing is a lot longer. I'll send a low res quick time file of the finished product to Gena and the author for their input and suggestions. The longest (and most boring) part is waiting for something to upload or video to render.
Veronica asked, Did it hurt your feelings when you were called a mahjor bitch?
Veronica, I'm so glad you used the correct spelling of mahjor. Yes, I did receive that comment on YouTube of PC and Kristin Cast's AT Interview. You can click here for my response. No, it doesn't hurt my feelings (much), because that's addressed to the Jill Monroe character.
Because we're writers, Gena and I have given our characters motivation. We didn't really discover the Gena Showalter character's motivation until the Rachel Vincent interview, which is to get as much air time as possible. Notice how naturally she hogs the camera...
Speaking of character motivation, I'm going to answer the rest of these questions as the Jill Monroe Author Talk character. Which has absolutely no resemblance to my own personality whatsoever. None. Really.
****
What exactly is Author Talk?
Author Talk is an interview show I do with Gena Showalter. Actually, I don't do the show with Gena, she was just my first interviewee, and she's never left. Finally I had to come up with some bogus title for her, right now she's Special Correspondent On The Scene. But now you know the real reason she's around.
Some would call Author Talk a spoof, others would call it silliness. I would call it serious journalism, my friend.
Jill Monroe takes her job as interviewer very seriously, ready to ask the hard hitting questions to any difficult author. And they all are - difficult. But now the people have been asking ME the questions, and while they aren't as good as something I could come up with, being a professional journalist and all, I'll give it a shot.
How Do Authors Get On Author Talk?
We make it so simple - all an author has to do is ask, and we'll get the ball rolling. For some strange reason, some people are offended that I might want to interview them (see Kresley Cole) in fact, sometimes they have to be a little restrained (once again - see Kresley Cole). Right now Beth Wilson is handling all requests. We have many lined up to film at RWA National as well as a waiting list. However, if people are in Oklahoma (and really, how hard is it? No matter where you are in the continental US - you're only a day away from Oklahoma.) we can always find a time.
We also film at regional conferences. One we filmed at the Red River Romance Writer's conference will premier this Friday.
Why doesn't Gena Showalter have more air time?
Who would ask such a stupid question. Next?!
Ginger asks, "If you could be any kind of animal, what would it be?"
What an amazing question, Ginger - my kind of question. I'd be an Acinonyx jubatus. I'll answer for Gena. She'd be an anteater. Actually a peacock.
***
You can view all the Author Talk videos on youtube by going here.
You can see all the Author Talk videos and read all the Behind The Scenes Stuff at the Author Talk website by going here.
My absolute favorite promotional item is the bookmark. I order a huge supply for each book. A bunch are sent out to booksellers, librarians, and readers groups, and a bunch more I give away at booksignings or send to conferences. When sending out promotional books or contest prizes, I always include a bookmark.
I use bookmarks instead calling cards, always carrying them in my purse. Last week I ran into an old friend at the grocery store and I gave her my bookmark! I've given bookmarks to the clerk in the Post Office, a lady in a pen store, a woman in a Super Shuttle. When I visit bookstores they are always willing to take my bookmarks.
Here are some reasons I like bookmarks as a promotional tool: ♥ Readers like them. Unlike postcards, coverflats, or some other promotional items, readers actually are likely to use them. ♥ Bookmarks are relatively inexpensive and you get LOTS of them. The last site I ordered from gave me 2,500 bookmarks for about $150. ♥ Bookmarks are light and therefore not expensive to send in the mail. They are easy to carry in your purse. ♥Bookmarks provide information about you and your books. At booksignings I hand them out to passersby and lots of times people read the bookmark then buy the book! ♥ Many bookstores actually like to give away bookmarks to their customers.
What do you need on a bookmark? The bookcover! A short blurb about the book A short short review quote The release date, publisher, and ISBN Your website address
Nice to haves? Information about your backlist Cover of your previous book(s) More review quotes Awards
You can design your own bookmark with Photoshop-type software or pay extra to have the bookmark designed for you. Or your publisher might agree to design the bookmark for you. The online printing sites give you the dimensions they require.
What if you have a great promotional opportunity but you don't have a book to promote? You can still use a bookmark.
Before my first book came out I used a bookmark to announce the book's release. I didn't even have a cover for the book, so I used a print of a Regency lady reading a book. Last summer I didn't have a book to promote, but I did have a brand new website. I had a bookmark designed to promote my new website. It also had thumbnails of my whole booklist. What do you think of bookmarks as a promotional tool? Do you have any printing sites you recommend? Any designers? Any designing software to recommend? Do you use authors' bookmarks?
Come visit my website for a Sneak Peek at Scandalizing the Ton, my October 2008 release. Hurry! This peek will disappear soon. Enter my contest, too, for a chance to win one of my books.
I've always been a proponent of beginning some type of author self-promotion even before you sell that first book to build name recognition. That way you don't have to start from total unknown when you sell. But when you do sell, it becomes even more important to increase your name recognition and to build excitement for your upcoming releases. All you have to do is walk in any bookstore's fiction and/or romance section and look at how many titles and authors are lining the shelves to realize that something will have to be done to make you stand out and generate good sales numbers. Granted, writing an awesome book and then getting publisher support are two huge keys to your success, but there are other ways to generate some name recognition that hopefully will lead to sales when your book hits store shelves.
1. Web site/Blog -- I've heard many authors say that the best promo dollars they spent were on a good quality Web site, many of which include a blog. Even if you had a perfectly fine Web site before you sold (which I did, thanks to a good friend who created it for me), when you sell may be the time to take the leap and get it redesigned. That's what I did. I went for a new look, one that incorporated both of my writing identities so that I didn't have to maintain two Web sites. It was also in a different format, WordPress, so that I could do updates myself easily and without additional costs beyond the initial design and launch.
As far as the blog goes, try to build a base of loyal readers. How? Put of good blog content and update often, every day if you can. Perhaps hold contests. Back in January, I took a look around my overflowing bookshelves and realized that I couldn't possibly read all the books in my office if I lived to be 200. So, I went through and culled hundreds of them, all perfectly good, unread books. But instead of carting them all off to the Goodwill, I decided to have a contest on my site. Each week from the beginning of the contest until my first book's launch date in September, I'm giving away three books to a winner each week, chosen from among those who comment on my blog. I get rid of the books and get a little promo; the winners get free books to read; and the authors of those books get exposed to potentially new readers. It's a win-win-win situation.
2. Appearances -- Even though I don't have a book out yet, I've been making appearances at reader events and will be speaking at this year's RWA National Conference. It's my fourth year as a conference speaker, which means three of those years were before I even sold. I think it's very important to act professional and confident that you will sell (not arrogant) even before you do. I was pleasantly surprised last month when I attended the Heart of Dixie chapter's readers' luncheon and had a table full of readers who were interested in my books. We had a fabulous time.
3. Branding -- Instead of branding the type of books I write (which currently stands at two types but could expand in the future), I decided to brand my name and the look of my site. My Web designer also created bookmarks and business cards with the same look. And it'll still work even if I suddenly start writing something totally different.
4. Booksellers/Librarians/Reviewers -- Start getting to know these people, both locally and online. I've introduced myself to several, and I've already garnered some interest for book signings.
5. Social Networking -- I created MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Shelfari, Manic Readers and GoodReads accounts and started friending people on each. This is free online promo, and it's fun to "meet" other writers and readers and talk about books. I'm trying to add 10 friends a day between now and when my first book comes out. If I accomplish that, I'll have almost 1,000 friends by then. That's 1,000 people who may see my MySpace blog posts or the bulletins I'll send out when my book is available.
There are plenty of other ways to do advance promotion, but I'll leave it at that for now. All this said, remember that the writing is the most important thing. Don't get so wrapped up in promoting your first book that you don't spend enough time working on the second.
What are some cool promotional ideas you've seen used or utilized yourself?
My Web site is located at www.trishmilburn.com -- come on by to find out where I'll be appearing, find links to my social networking pages, and to comment on my blog for the chance to win free books.
You might think this topic is geared toward published writers, but the best time to start marketing a locally set book is before you finish the manuscript.
Unless you live in a very small town, newspaper and other media are fairly disinterested in the release of another fiction book, even it’s set on the steps of city hall. Fiction is not news to them. On the other hand, many of the general populace are still pretty excited to be featured in a book. Not all of them, however, and some of them are still going to pooh-pooh romance – sad but true. And if your book has a lot of sex, well… The local marketing angle may or may not work for you.
All that said, here are some things you can do.
Feature local businesses and landmarks. Don’t pick the latest, trendy restaurant or the brand-new oxygen bar. Chances are, those will be long gone by the time your book is out. Go for longevity. More people will recognize local icons of business, too.
Feature well-attended, enthusiastic groups. Does your town have a greyhound rescue organization? Breed-dog lovers can be loyal readers if you feature their favorite pup in a book.
Market to gender when picking what groups to feature. Your town may be noted for its Civil War re-enactment group, but how many of those guys read romance?
Look for tie-ins. If you feature a woman-oriented business, they may be willing to promote your contest or host a book-release party. Now is the time to feel them out about it, but be diplomatic. “I was thinking of featuring your salon/jewelry store/chocolate shop in my book. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a joint party?” If you know the owner, are a good client, or have a good friend who is willing to pitch for you, you’re in better shape.
Look for communication vectors. The greyhound group that has an active Yahoo Group and a nationwide email list is better than the knitting store that puts a stack of newsletters out twice a year.
Get the idea? Great! Now get cracking on that book about the lingerie-shop owner who owns a lovable rescued greyhound and gets proposed to at your local fancy restaurant.
Esri Rose’s paranormal romance, Bound to Love Her, is available right now!
Don’t get me wrong, I love to write! But I’ve recently had to embark on a whole new aspect of my chosen profession . . . promotion. My first book will be out in June and I am beyond excited, but there’s much to be done. More than I anticipated. Bookmarks, a website, profiles or updates for various other sites, interviews for newsletters, creating a newsletter of my own, deciding whether to blog or not to blog, and the list goes on.
In December I attended a workshop—"The Year of Living Dangerously: Taking the Step from Unpublished to Published Writer"—presented by my friends Susan Lyons and Kate Austin, and the timing was perfect. Their advice? "It’s never too early to have a plan." I just hope it's never too late!
I’m still on the steep uphill climb of this learning curve but thanks to their advice, I’m slowly developing a plan that I hope will work for me and fit my budget. Over time I’ll refine it as I discover what does and doesn’t work.
I'd love to hear from authors—published and unpublished—who have a business plan. What works for you? And has your plan evolved over time?
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