A Few Things I Haven't Tried

No, I haven't wrestled a potential buyer to the ground until they cry uncle and promise to buy my book!




Nor have I held a gun on someone and threatened to shoot them unless they ordered my latest release.


And I certainly haven't resorted to kidnapping and ransom.


But I have been plugging along at writing and promoting since 2002. Someone smart told me that long before you book becomes published, you need to get your name out in the public's eye. I maintained and promoted a website long before my manuscript became a novel. I also used a tag line in my email signature to advertise my coming release. I ordered business cards with my website and email and left them in various places.

Since then I've done everything humanly possible to encourage readers to try my work. I belong to every 'strangely named' group associated with writing, I blog, I tweet, I plurk, and sometimes I want to scream and yell. I've given away countless numbers of downloads, in hopes that recipient will be so impressed, they'll make a public appearance on Oprah and recommend my book. I've even sent Oprah a copy of my short humorous, but never heard back. I'm certain it got as far as the round file in her aid's office.

I've joined critique groups to enhance my skills, traveled to Nashville to share ideas with other authors, started an author's group locally, but got dissed by a mainstream author who never heard of Internet Publishing. Has she been in a cocoon?

The stigma associated with e-publishing has got to lift eventually. For whatever reason, there are throngs of people who believe that if you are published by an e-pub, it's only because they'll publish everything submitted. There are those who will, and they have given the legitimate houses a bad reputation. Readers need to appreciate that most of us have jumped through hoops and fought frustration to get where we are. I'm pretty darn proud of my accomplishments, whether or not you can find my books in a real store or not. Dang it! I'm a published author and I dare anyone to defy it.

I'm resorting to everything I can thing of at this point. My latest trick was putting MY bookmarks in Nora Robert's books in Walmart. I keep expecting a knock on the door from the book police, but so far so good. I hope Nora doesn't mind. I also left a few post cards featuring my book covers and a blurb in the pockets of clothing in various department stores. Doctor and Dental offices, banks, and waiting rooms where people gather is always a good place to deposit promotion items. People love pens! I have a ton with my name, website, and my tag line, Spice Up Your Life With Ginger!

So...I'm hosting this today, looking for new and LEGAL ways to promote and market my work. Cheap is always good, because money is an issue for all of us. So...readers....what can we do to snag your attention?

Welcome Ron Berry

Work Spelled the Long way

Ah rit, er rote, ah the heck wit it, I put words into some kinda sentences and callt it a boook. I’s wants t’others ta reads it so’s ah can makes me some mony. Ah even lets me friend reads it. He said there t’were a bit o a problemo wit it. Den he sees it. My name wasn’t in big letters. Ah mailed me book to da book people what makes em books for da stores. I gots this big bad letter what says it ain’t fit to print. I says why? Dey tolds me it needs to have goodly spellin. Ah uses spelling chek but all it does is underlines words.

I rewrote the book using good English and punctuation then I published it with Lulu. A few writers read the book again and said it was good enough. Now came the hard part, getting the word out. This turned out to be work. However, I had done much of the work ahead of time because I had a blog and I used that to build a platform. I joined several social networks as well as Twitter. I went a step further and built a website (ok, this needs work but…). Those are the first steps toward self-promotion. Even if you are published with a big name brick and mortar publisher, you have to do much of the promo work yourself. Does it work? Of course. Every time you get your name out there it is one step closer to name recognition. It takes work, but it sure beats getting up at five to go to work at a boring day job. I’m retired and have an income so I am not in need of this being my primary income. I won’t get rich, but I’m writing for me, not to make my fortune.

I am known online as unwriter but my real name is Ron Berry. Click to visit my website or my blog. If it isn’t obvious, I specialize in humor and children’s stories. My first anthology, Laughs from Corn Country has some of my crazier stories and for the entire family is my non-fiction book, Math for the Family. This goes from before numbers through Boolean Logic. It is a fun to read reference book. I am also the proud Grandpa of Kadence Callista Berry.

JSM's Promo Viewpoints

Publicity. Love to receive it, hate to generate it. I was raised in a time and place where ladies did not put themselves forward; it was considered vulgar to work at drawing attention to oneself. Today I know that attitude is archaic, but the lessons learned earliest are learned best.

So – what to do about publicity? I deal with it. When I can afford it, I hire a publicist, and that is wonderful. Things are set up and all I have to do is go in and talk, which I do both at length and extremely well. As an ex-performer, I find TV and radio interviews a breeze, as normal as breathing. Booksignings are almost like holding a party and as hostess I must speak to everyone. As long as I don’t have to set the booksigning up. Calling someone I have never met and telling them I am so wonderful and talented that they have to have me is pure agony.

At booksignings I speak to everyone who comes near and have a smile on my face all the time. I have pens with my name and website on them and use them to sign the books I sell, then give the customer the pen as a gift. Also, I take little gifts – a mug or a small reading light with my name and website on it – for the store/library/wherever liaison who set up the signing, and occasionally for others who are helpful. I hand out personalized coasters of shocking pink to one and all. I have book-related displays and hard candies on the table, but will only give one to a child if his parent is there and says so. It avoids problems and gets the adult within reach of my sales spiel.

The internet is more problematic. When I sell a book I create a PR file with excerpts and set a regular schedule for posting excerpts and pertinent info to a myriad of readers lists, but I rarely join in extended on-line discussions. Quite honestly, I’d rather be writing, Plus, if you do all the internet PR most publishers seem to want you to, you’d never do anything else, including eat, sleep and clean house. I write for several publishers and doing sufficient PR would be an unattainable goal, even if I liked working on the internet, which I really don’t. I even have difficulty keeping my website current. Like I said, I’d rather be writing.

Here’s the commercial – go to my website and take a look. There are excerpts from all my currently published books, and as I write all over the map (mystery, adventure, time travel, traditional Regency, all with a romantic flair) I’m sure you’ll find something you like. Thanks for stopping by, and thanks to Ginger for this opportunity.

Available at Red Rose Publishing

A Pause for A Chuckle with MaryAnn Miller

As we talk about the serious business of promoting -- and honest to God I have no idea what works and what doesn't - I thought it would be nice to inject a little levity.

I've done lots of signing events and spoken for civic groups, writer's groups, and at conferences, but the toughest audience was at a senior center connected to a nursing home. The activities director had assured me that there were lots of avid readers among the residents and they would love to meet an author. I was scheduled to follow the late-afternoon Bingo game when folks would already be assembled and willing to stay since dinner would immediately follow the talk.

I knew I was starting to lose them when a gentleman sitting up front asked if I was ever going to get the glass of water he’d asked for an hour ago. Then three women got up and left, muttering loudly that they must be in the wrong place since dinner wasn’t coming yet and it was past time.

In an effort to salvage something – anything – I abandoned my prepared speech and tried to engage the rest of the audience on a more personal level. I asked if they liked to read. One woman said she couldn’t read but she liked to sing. I told her that was nice, and she asked if I’d like to hear something. Before I could respond, she launched into a lusty version of You Are My Sunshine.

The other residents cheered when she was finished, so I took the hint. We spent the rest of the hour in a sing-along.

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Maryann Miller is an author, editor, and part-time farmer living in East Texas. Her latest books are One Small Victory and Play It Again, Sam. Visit her at her Website and her blog.

Promo Tips by Anna Kathryn Lanier

Wow, I just glanced at what's been posted already and I feel like a fish out of water. I was just going to list "Things I've done." But, heck, ya'll gave brochures on what to do...lol. All good advise and I've done several of them.

I'm not sure I've hit on anything that really works or is the BANG that caught a lot of interest. One thing I do is promote with other people. It spreads the cost and the advertising around. Sure, we're all on a lot of the same loops, connect with the same people, but there are still areas where I might hit and they don't or vice versa.

I also do a lot of contests, I always have. On my website, on my blog, with other people. I don't think I go cheap on the prizes either. I usually do nice ones. My website contest is on-going. I ask people to sign my guest book. I usually ask a question for them to answer (Like: if you were on desert island, which 5 items would you want? What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Or this month's "Who's your favorite heroine - real or fictional?") I love reading the answers. I post what the monthly prize is and draw on or after the first of the next month.

Usually, on my blog, it's just 'post a comment, any comment on any posting.' I will draw from those who post at the beginning of the next month. For August, I'm doing something different, people have to go to the "Click to Give" website and hunt up an item they have for sale in their store. It's a great site for good causes and I'm just doing it to promote the site.

The third type of contest I participate in is with other authors. Anywhere from 6 to 24 people. It usually involves people going to our websites or blogs and finding the answer or clue to a question. I have found that if you make it too big or too long, people will lose interest. I'd say stick with 12 or less people and less than 2 weeks long. The point is to get people to go to your site and learn more about you and your books. You want to make it easy for them to find the answer or clue. People will get frustrated if they can't find it easily enough and get ticked off. Not a good thing to do when you want them to like you. Don't get cute and hide the clue or answer, but don't splash it on your home page either......I know I've quit doing a contest because it was too frustrating to find the answer. But you do want them to look around your site, see what you have out there that's published. So be careful not to make it either too hard or too easy.

I also belong to a group of gals in my area who are with the same publisher (The Wild Rose Press). We call ourselves The Roses of Houston....though we don't just promote books through TWRP, some of us are published elsewhere and include those in our promoting. One thing we do is goodie bags for various conferences. We pull in together for the cost of the bags, the goodies and the postage. We also put promotion and other writing tips up on our common blog http://www.rosesofhouston.blogspot.com/. And we hold regular contests. Right now, you can win a $50 Amazon Gift Card......check it out.

The hot dusty town of Salvation, Texas has more than its share of secrets in 1873 when Laura Ashton's stage rolls into town. Sheriff David Slade has no idea what baggage his mail-order bride is bringing into his life. Throw in the nightmares from his Civil War days and he's got more than courting to contend with. Laura's a woman ahead of her time, a woman trained in medicine. And she's got a will that could move mountains. Unfortunately, the only mountains in Salvation are in Sheriff Slade's memory. Can the determined doctor heal his pain, or will the dark secret in her past turn up to steal his Salvation Bride?

Anna Kathryn Lanier
www.aklanier.com
http://www.annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com