Memorial Day

A Rose for Remembering

I'm back! It's been a while since I've posted because Google blogger has been having problems.Still a few difficulties, but at least it's back enough for me to post!

And may everyone have a day to remember those who have gone on. In so doing they live on, with us.Honor the dead this Memorial Day.

Market! Promo! SELL!

Here I am at "An Eclectic Collage" book signing partaking of a wonderful cookie the publisher provides--with the cover on the cookie--great marketing idea!

Since every author, whether published or not, whether they want to or not, must now sell themselves, here are some ideas and tips that I've culled from all sorts of places. Plus, how to create an Amazon page.

To get started...my favorite tip: have a bumper sticker of one of your book's titles or web page created and place on your car(s) and your relatives' cars. This tip comes via The Marketing Goddess and she mentioned that here in the mid-size city of Boise, a bumper sticker gets around 600 views a day of driving around town! Try to make your bumper sticker funny/dramatic/curious/odd. I've noticed that I remember certain bumper stickers because they're funny/dramatic/curious/odd.

Now everyone will tell you about Internet marketing, here's a quick rundown and then the best piece of advice I've received about the overwhelming world of the Internet.
1. Join social networks, including those that are about what you write (ex. have a mystery with recipes? Join cooking groups, etc., think outside the book!).
2. Have a blog, post at least once a week, cross post to Twitter and Facebook and your other groups, comment on other blogs.
3. Tag EVERYTHING. Try to think of all the tags appropriate to your book or blog post or whatever.
The best advice I've read about all of this: the writing comes first! Remember if you do a little of the social networking, etc., you're doing a lot. It's not necessary to spend your whole life on the 'net.

How to create an Amazon author page:
First, google Amazon author page (I swear, this is the only way I've found to get to this site, anybody have a better way?). It's called Author Central. Follow the prompts to join and create your page. The prompts will ask and show how to list your books. It's easy! (One flaw: if you are an author of several in an anthology you will need to e-mail, on Amazon's provided form, Amazon telling them you are one of the authors of that title. Hopefully, they fix that soon.)

Have I missed anything major? Let me know!

And since this post is about marketing, here's my next signing--come and enjoy those cookies!

How about a good book and beverage to start your weekend? You’re invited to a book signing event for An Eclectic Collage: Creative Works by the Women of the Pixie Chicks’ Writers Group Saturday, May 21, 2011 (10:00 AM to Noon) Moxie Java Coffeehouse (1750 State St. – Boise) Other Freundship Press books including Mooser on the Loose, Grandma, Does My Moon Shine Over Your House? (English and Spanish versions) and other books will also be available.

Come meet the local authors of An Eclectic Collage: Creative Works by the Women of the Pixie Chicks’ Writers Group, a collection of short stories, poems, life essays, recipes and other writings.

    

Questions: jane@freundshippress.com or (208) 407-7457

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

And IMO, there should be lots of Mother's Days!Not just the one. Thanks to all the moms of the world.

A Successful Week to Celebrate!

Okay, here's the fun part that writers often don't do. And the fun part that we need to do. It's the part that fills up the well for our writing. We all slog along and struggle with the work and then wince at the myriad rejections. So we all need to celebrate our successes! Here's mine this week, with thanks to members of the writing community for all their help and support towards these successes.

First: thanks to Aubrie of Flutey Words, who mentioned the market on her blog, I sold a short story to the anthology Fangtales.

Second: thanks to Su Halfwerk of Vivid Sentiments, who mentioned this wonderful promo market, Munaty Cooking, my incredibly delicious recipe is just released in their May issue. Writers if you like to cook, submit one of your recipes!

Third: The contract for my short story "Blood Tells" arrived for it's reprint in Big Pulp's June paper edition.

Fourth: My article, "Kiss a Garden" will be released in June's edition of Treasure Valley Family Magazine, both online and print.

AND LAST (does the big happy dance): I sold my mystery novel STARKE NAKED DEAD to L&L Dreamspell! Yay! It will be released in 2012, I can hardly wait! L&L Dreamspell also published my short story in their anthology Dreamspell Nighmares and it's been a pleasure working with them and I'm looking forward to doing that again.

And a big thanks to my friend and fantastic editor, Kathy McIntosh of Well Placed Words for her great help in getting the novel edited for submission! It worked!

So there you have it, my celebration. What do you have to celebrate? It can be a tiny success, writing a new paragraph on your w.i.p., for example. But celebrating creates success!

Next up: Nowadays, all writers must market, even before they submit. I've been doing this for a while, so I'll compile some tips and easy ideas and how to create an author page on Amazon.