Category: Promotion

Posted in Blog Contest, Blogging, Blogs, Marketing, Promotion, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide

Marketing Monday: Setting Up a Blog Tour & Adding a New Blog Feature

Posted on by beckylevine

Before I get down to business today, I want to show you a few of my favorite books.

Wait, what’s that one out in front? Is it…? It is! Yes, two copies of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide showed up at my house this weekend. Did I mind the rain and gray skies? Not after that delivery, I didn’t!

Okay, so if the book is here, this means I should get back to my marketing to-do list and get some things checked off. The book is due out January 15th, but I’ll have some copies before then that I can, and want to, use for marketing. I’d like to set up a blog tour for January…with giveaways! I’m keeping this simple, just hoping to visit a few blogs and let people know about my book, share some thoughts about critiquing and critique groups. If you’d like your blog to be a stop on the tour, I’d love to come by. I think interviews are fun, because I can talk about what you and your blog readers want to hear, but I can also do a guest post if that’s easier for you.

If you’d like to host me at your blog, please send me an email at beckylevine@ymail.com

The other thing I’m looking to do is add a new, probably monthly, feature to my blog in 2010. I’d like to host you, if you’ve got a story about a critique group or experience to share. (Obviously, I don’t want posts that are just rants or vents, but I’m definitely open to learning-experience stories as well as the more positive kind!) And if you’ve got a book out or coming out that you’d like to promote, I’ll include pictures and links to let people know about it. You can also donate a copy of an ARC or published book, if you’d like me to run a contest.

Again, if you’d like to guest blog here with your critique story, please email me at beckylevine@ymail.com

Next post, back to our regular, random programming.

Posted in Marketing, Promotion, The Writing Path

If it’s September, it Must be M…m…marketing?!

Posted on by beckylevine

Well, not yet. For pete’s sake, people, the book doesn’t come out until January. But I’ve read enough about book promotion to know that you don’t wait for the book release to get started. And the one date that has been floating in my head for a while is October—the month I’m supposed to talk with the manager at Books Inc in Palo Alto about my launch party. He sends a newsletter out in November, so he/I/we want it on the calendar by then.

And October isn’t that far away.

I’m not diving in deep yet. But I do want to at least start work on a list of to-dos and check that list for my Comfort Level Inventory, as the brilliant ladies at Shrinking Violet Promotions call it. Because we can’t do everything we want, or even everything we think we’re supposed to. And I want to have as much fun as I can with this part of the writing path, not spend all my energy on all the “shoulds” so very accessible to all us worriers.

So this week I start on the list. I’m going through ALL the blog post headers over at SVP, browsing for the helpful tips I’ve read before. And I’m going back to BubbleStampede, too, for all the great ideas Laura and Fiona put up in their year of blogging. You remember, the ones Laura talked about in her interview.

There are some things that I pretty much know won’t show up on the list right away. Like a trailer. I had some ideas, and I may get to them further into 2010, but I know that the visual is not my strength and there are a whole lot of twists and turns down that path that will take some serious quiet time for me to figure out. (I can hear you all now, Oh, come on, Becky, you can TOTALLY do a trailer. And I say back to you, Maybe. We’ll see. Now go away.) Some promotion I’ll be doing through Writer’s Digest, and I think it’s better not to overlap much on that stuff.

But things like:

  • Local launch party
  • Blog interviews
  • Review copies
  • Bookmarks (Are these still a good giveaway, with all the e-readers out there? I mean, think about that.)
  • Updating my profiles on different sites
  • Stockpiling chocolate

Yes, those will all be on the list. And more. Hopefully, you guys will find this part of the journey interesting, because I’m pretty sure I’ll be blogging about it now and again. And again. As the panic rises.

It’s sure to be quite a ride. 🙂

Posted in Blog Contest, Marketing, Promotion

Marketing Interview (& Contest) with Laura Purdie Salas

Posted on by beckylevine

In September of 2008, Laura Purdie Salas joined up with Fiona Bayrock to explore marketing and PR possibilities for two of their picture books that were being published the next year: Salas’ Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of Schooland Bayrock’s Bubble Homes and Fish Farts. And they decided to do this exploration publicly—at their LiveJournal community, Bubble Stampede. Over the next months, the two authors discussed their marketing goals, their fears, and their plans.

I asked Laura if she’d do an interview here, to talk about what some of those plans were, how they year and the release went, and which ideas worked better than others. Happily, she said, “Yes.” Read all the way through—Laura has provided a TON of specific, practical information.

And leave a comment. I’ll enter you all in a drawing for Laura’s book Stampede! I’ll draw the winner next Wednesday, September 2.

And on to the interview.

BL: How did you and Fiona hook up? What made the two of you decide to work on your marketing plans together?

LPS: When I posted one or two Marketing Monday posts on my personal blog, I told readers that I’d be sharing my book promotion journey. Fiona Bayrock and I knew each other from being on the NFforKids Yahoo group, and she emailed me to suggest we join forces and do a joint blog. I thought that was a fantastic idea and said, “Yes, let’s!”

BL: Why did you decide to do the planning publicly, on the community blog?

LPS: Well, I had a nice motive and an ulterior motive. The nice motive was that I like to share stuff on my blog, when possible, that is information and that’s hard information for beginners to find. My ulterior motive was that by sharing my promotion tasks, I’d be promoting my book, of course. Also I hoped to get feedback and ideas from some writers who were more experienced than me. And we did! Finally, I thought being public about it would help make me accountable and keep me on track.

BL: What were your biggest/basic marketing goals for Stampede!?

LPS: Here’s the list I was working from.

Interview/Reviews

  • Contact local media (personally & also through publisher’s publicist). Do again in summer with a back-to-school angle
  • Approach blog reviewers about sending review copy (give list to publicist)

ONLINE

  • Create a STAMPEDE website and give it some presence on my website
  • Create “billboard presence”—my word for a static online site/page that you don’t have to change a lot—on Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, Ning, etc
  • Update Flapjacket, Children’s Literature Network, and other sites that list my books
  • Do an ongoing marketing blog with Fiona Bayrock

Events

  • Book launch
  • Local book events with another author?
  • Attend IRA (International Reading Association) in May this year, here, in Minneapolis
  • Possibly attend ALA (American Library Association) in Chicago
  • Try to arrange to speak at some conferences in 09

Reaching out to Teachers/Booksellers

  • Teacher’s guide
  • Reader’s theatre
  • Authorless event kit? (A set of online materials a bookstore can print out to create a fun storytime with reading, activities, maybe a craft…all without too much work on the bookseller’s part and no in-person visit from the author.)

Reaching out to the Press

  • Create an online press kit
  • Update my bios
  • Create some resource materials (10 Great Back-to-School books, 10 Terrific Poetry Books, etc.) to share in press materials and also on Amazon
  • Write a back-to-school piece for news wire

Name Recognition

  • Guest-teach a couple of classes in the Whidbey Island Writers Association
  • Serve on poetry panel for CYBILS awards
  • Write a bi-monthly poetry column for Kid Magazine Writers
  • Attend local book club with media specialists, kidlit profs, and children’s book buyer for the entire Minneapolis metro area as members, etc
  • Anything that can bet my name in front of people and where I can slide a mention of Stampede! in there

Miscellaneous Stuff

  • Book trailer
  • Blog campaign to get people to request that their library buy a copy of the book
  • Have promotional items made
  • Campaign contacts to review the book on Amazon and B&N
  • Mail press kit to local media
  • Have postcards made as soon as cover is final and start handing them out now!

Mailings

  • Start updating contact list so that I can do mailing to schools, libraries, independent booksellers, and personal contacts

BL: What were your marketing fears?

LPS: In-person events scared me the most. I was losing sleep about a book launch. The idea made me so nervous. The other big fear was just that everything would fall flat. The more you put into it, the harder you try, the bigger our humiliation is if it all falls flat.

BL: Where and how did you gather your initial ideas about what a marketing plan might include?

LPS: The fantastic blog Shrinking Violet Promotions was a great starting point for me. Also, I had been saving emails and articles and all sorts of stuff for years in a folder marked Promotion. It was a “someday” folder…and someday came, and I really did use a lot of that information!

BL: What marketing to-dos went on your original list of things to focus on?

LPS:

  • Contacting the publicity department at my publisher
  • Building the microsite for Stampede!
  • Creating the book trailer
  • Figuring out a book launch

BL: Did you accomplish that whole list?

LPS: I did do all the stuff on that short list, though I ended up doing an online launch. It was a ton of work, but it was also lots of fun. The launch happened in April, but all the activities and comments are still live here.

BL: What was the best thing about marketing your book?

LPS: That’s a tough question, since marketing doesn’t come easily to me. Um…One was that putting so much effort into this really made me appreciate the value of my book. I risked my time, energy, money, and pride, knowing I might not get something in return—but felt like my book was worth it. Two was that by putting a lot of visible effort into Stampede!,I made my publisher aware that I was willing and able to promote my book. And that in turn made my publisher more willing to promote my book, like by sending me to ALA Chicago (and Texas TLA—Texas Library Association—next spring). This is a lot of money to spend on an unknown author, and I think (though I don’t know for sure) that my own promotion efforts indirectly lead to this.

So much stuff we do in marketing has no immediate, tangible result, so it’s hard to evaluate. But I do think impressing your publisher as a busy, effective marketer can only help!

BL: What was the hardest thing about marketing your book?

LPS: Handing out postcards or flyers or whatever at conferences—that is just so not me. Even as I’ve gotten more confident and a little more experienced, I’m still not comfortable with this. OH! And the other hardest part was in bookstore/signing events. Some were better organized than others, and some resulted in a few book sales. But I do not have a salesperson’s personality, and three hours out of too many Saturdays resulting in three books sold just got kind of old.

BL: With the book launched and “out there,” and looking back, is there something you now see as a must-do for writers?

LPS: If you’re not 100% comfortable with marketing, partnering up with another writer with a new book out is what I would consider a must-do! Teaming up with Fiona Bayrock for some online promotion at Bubble Stampede pushed me to do more. And for in-person events, which are what really intimidate me, teaming up with Dara Dokas (Muriel’s Red Sweater) was such a wonderful thing for me. The other must-dos, I think, are:

  • A website or section of a website devoted just to your book
  • Teacher-support materials (reading guide, reader’s theater, etc.)
  • Getting your book into the hands of reviewers (both print and blog)
  • Increasing your visibility in the writing community—don’t always focus on just one book; the more visible YOU are, the more people will recognize your name and hopefully check out your book(s)
  • Make postcards and/or business cards featuring your book cover and hand them out freely

There are a few things I never got to on my list, mostly because I ran out of time.

  • I never did any mailings
  • in-person launch (fear factor, more than time factor)
  • More billboard presence for my book on various online platforms

BL: Are there any other recommendations you’d give to writers whose book will be published in the next year?

LPS: I know I said bookstore events weren’t that successful for me. But it’s great to do them to build relationships with your local booksellers. I’m doing a reading at Red Balloon Bookshop in October, but they also hooked me up with an event at a minor league baseball game and recommended me to a school looking for (paid) author event. Booksellers have all kinds of connections with schools and organizations, so it’s smart to make them aware of you, your book, and what you might have to offer.

Start early. Some of this stuff takes a ton of time! And bookstores and other venues plan events for the future.

Don’t beat yourself up. I did as much as I could for Stampede!. I wanted to learn what works best for me. I didn’t get to everything, but I tried to just be proud of what I did do. And with my next book, I’ll be more selective, concentrating on the kinds of things that worked well the first time around.

Posted in Blogging, Promotion, Social Networking

Our Time Online: Where Do You Think We’re Headed?

Posted on by beckylevine

Okay, guys, I know I’m spending a lot of time on this lately, but I had an in-person conversation today with some other writers, and the questions we raised are churning away. And I’d really like to hear what you all think.

Basically, we started out talking about Facebook fan pages. Which I have not really explored. We took a look at some and talked about what they seemed to be doing, and here’s where my brain went:

“Blogs are going away. Webpages are going away.”

I know, huge leap. And obviously none of this is happening overnight. But I am wondering if we’re in another of those transition times, when the online world–and how people use it–is shifting. Yet again.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. A few years ago, webpages were the main place readers went to connect with a writer. They were the primary tool that writers used to get to know their circle, whether it be other writers, agents & editors, or potential readers.

Then blogs came along. And blogs became cool, primarily, I think, because they were less static than a webpage. You could go to someone’s blog every few days (some, every day) and read something new, find out something “fresh.” Newer blogs, like this one, are basically a blog with a webpage attached. It means I can have the “static” info up there for people who don’t know anything about me, along with changing content every few days.

And now?

I’ve talked about the people I’m “meeting” on Facebook and Twitter. I’ve also “met” people on blogs, and I definitely still go to someone’s blog FROM FB and Twitter if I think their updates are fun or interesting.

But I don’t spend a lot of time at those blogs. I add all I can to my LiveJournal feed, and I check in with them as often as possible, and I try to leave comments. And I try to keep my own blogs at least semi-interesting and informative.

After looking at these Facebook fan pages, though, I’m feeling like they have an awful lot of the same features that my blog/website do.

Are these FB pages the replacement? And how long will it be before Twitter has the equivalent. (Frankly, that might already exist without me knowing!) Are we moving, again, away from one use of the Internet and onto another?

So, I have a few specific questions that I’m hoping you’ll help me with. I’m not a Yes or No kind of person, so I’d love it if you just dumped your thoughts in a comment, random or otherwise. And I hope everybody who stops by will look at the comments, for the info everybody is leaving there.

  • Where do you make your first online “acquaintance” with an author or reader these days?
  • Do you spend as much time reading and commenting on blogs as you used to? How do you think your blog-reading pattern has changed.
  • Where do you go to find information about an author?
  • What do you enjoy about blog reading?
  • What do you enjoy about Twitter and/or Facebook?
  • Have you played with following any author Fan pages. What do you think of the process/experience?
  • Where do you think your online community has its strongest base?

Comments are OPEN!

Posted in Promotion

Are You a Shrinking Violet?

Posted on by beckylevine

Are you an introvert? Do you know the difference between being an introvert and being shy? Are you worried about getting out there and promoting yourselves and your books? You all know how I feel about the Shrinking Violet Promotions blog. Well, Robin LaFevers and Mary Hershey over at SVP have set up a new Yahoo group. Here’s the description:

This is the brainstorming, buddying-up, and support arm of the Shrinking Violet Promotions blog. It’s a place where introverted authors can discuss (and commiserate with!) the ins and outs of marketing and promoting their books.

I’m in! I signed up a few days ago, and it’s already turning into a really fun, interesting group. If you want to join, sign up here. Hope to see you there.

Posted in Promotion, Somebody Else Says, The Writing Path, Uncategorized, Writing Fears

Somebody Else Says: Jo Knowles & Bubble Stampede

Posted on by beckylevine

Two seemingly very different posts to link you to today. I think, though, that they’re actually pretty strongly connected by being BIG parts of the writing path.

Jo Knowles is a wonderful YA writer. Her Lessons from a Dead Girl is incredible, and Jumping off Swings (Due this August) is high on my to-read list. In her most recent blog post, she talks about how hard it can be to get seriously constructive feedback on your writing and how wonderful it is to remember what you can do with that feedback. A must-read for anyone who knows that discouraged feeling.

http://jbknowles.livejournal.com/319123.html

A year ago, Laura Purdie Salas and Fiona Bayrock created Bubble Stampede, a LiveJournal blog about their upcoming months of promoting their to-be-published books–Stampede!: Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School and Bubble Homes and Fish Farts . The year’s posts are definitely worth skimming, but they’ve also just posted a summation of the year-what worked, what didn’t. Lots of valuable insight.

http://community.livejournal.com/bubblestampede/13237.html

Happy Monday. I’ll be back soon with some more of my own thoughts!

Posted in Blogging, Guest Blogger, Marketing, Promotion, SCBWI, Social Networking

Guest Bloggers: Mary Hershey & Robin LaFevers from SVP

Posted on by beckylevine

Shrinking Violet Promotions is one of my favorite blogs. I discovered it soon after I started blogging, and I’ve been a regular reader since. Mary & Robin are encouraging, enthusiastic, and seriously GET how tough it can be for writers to get out there and market themselves and their books. So, obviously, I was very happy when they accepted my invitation to guest blog here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, pull up a chair, get out your notebooks, and listen up!

PRE-Marketing: Seven Important Things You Can Do Before You Sell Your Book, by the Shrinking Violets, Robin LaFevers & Mary Hershey.

Is it ever too early to start marketing? We’re betting the answer to this question depends on who you ask. Editors, agents, and authors will likely all have different perspectives. And, of those groups, it is likely that it depends on whether you ask an introvert or extrovert.

Robin and I have thought long and hard about this question as it has pertained to our own writing path, and the path of our readers at Shrinking Violets. As a generalization, introverts are more likely to want to remain in the wings until show-time. (Some of us would prefer to stay in the wings beyond that!) 🙂

One of the things to remember about marketing is that it’s really about connecting; connecting to a community of readers or writers or booksellers. As a pre-published author, one of the best things you can do is to begin to build those community relationships. The cool thing about starting before publication is that you will comfortably know these people by the time your first book sale is made, and it won’t feel stiff and in-your-face to mention it to them, it will make sense. The good news is, it’s never been easier. Between blogging and all the social network sites, it’s easy to begin tapping into those communities and building connections.

If it feels more comfortable, start off in those communities identifying yourself as a reader; most writers are avid readers first and foremost, and that can feel like a safer place to start from. Follow librarians’ blogs, “friend” indie bookstores and your favorite authors on MySpace, join book discussions with others about your favorite books. Follow your favorite authors’ blogs and comment, fer gawd’s sake. (They will not know you are there if you don’t comment!) Begin your own blog. At first, you can simply talk about your writing struggles or what you read or the authors and librarians you meet, however, at some point, it can be really smart to create a blogging niche for yourself. Something that guarantees a source of topics for you to talk about and get people coming back to your site.

Cyber Niches can be based on so many different things: Genres, Plotting, Marketing, The Industry, Gossip, Situational (ie: SAHM, writers who are actual teens, etc.), Personal Quirks, “The Call” stories, Rejection Letters, Interviews. Yes, there are lots of blogs with author interviews, but how about one that showcases booksellers or librarians. How about Reporting New Deals, or Six Degrees of Separation in publishing. (For example, did you know that Betty Groban of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is related to Josh Groban? Or that Jake and Maggie Gyllenthal’s aunt has just published a book?)

The point is to find something that interests you and begin building a community or connections around that. But don’t rely on that alone, be a good community member by participating in other communities as well. Again, the internet makes this easier than ever–and you’ll learn tons while doing it. Promise.

As a community of writing introverts, we also want to be smart and savvy about our work. We want to make sure that we take advantage of every possible opportunity, and we also want to conserve our energy for those activities that give us the biggest bang. We want to make sure that the major proportion of our personal resources goes directly to the work–to creating the best possible book we can. I believe strongly that this in itself is the most powerful marketing activity of all…writing a kick-ass book. Once that has been done, then absolutely–do whatever you can to create buzz–that enigmatic and intangible magic that gets your book into all the right hands and right places.

In the last five years, we’ve all born witness, or heard the tales of unpublished writers that have sold their work based on their mega-blogebrity status. Agents and editors have shopped them from their blog or website and offered contracts. Exciting stuff, for sure, but rare, in our opinion. The bottom line is that agents and editors are not going to come find you. You need to write a book that will find them, and grab them by their editorial lapels.

All right, all right! We promised a list–and here it is! 🙂 🙂

THE OFFICIAL SHRINKING VIOLETS PRE-MARKETING ACTIVITY LIST

  1. Meet your tribe. Get out there and start connecting with other writers. You can find them on-line and at conferences, critiques, schmoozes–follow the trail of writer bread crumbs!
  2. Join a professional writing organization like the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Romance Writers of America (RWA), or the Mystery Writers of America (MWA). Let the world know that you are serious.
  3. Start doing some karmic networking NOW. Become a volunteer in some reading/writing arena. DO something besides focus on getting yourself published.
  4. Dive into the classics. Read the Newbery, Caldecott, Cybil, Indie Bound award winners. Taste and savor the cream. Know exactly what you are up against. Know what the market buys. Then ignore it and go deep into your own  secret, crazy, unique place and write from there–that’s where YOUR best stuff hides.
  5. Write a fan letter to an author, or editor, or librarian or teacher or bookseller. For no purpose than to celebrate their work and thank them for their contribution to children’s literature. This is not a pitch, but an expression of appreciation with NO hook.
  6. Start designing a website or a blog if you haven’t already. Before you’ve sold something? Yep! Step into the frame of your future. Try it on for size. What would you like it to look like? Have some fun! Use this as a vision for your future. It will draw you there.
  7. Choose one thing slightly outside your comfort zone in the writing field and move toward it. Examples: finding opportunities for public speaking, doing a storytime with children, introducing yourself to the local booksellers, etc.

No matter how many dozens upon dozens of books an author or illustrator may have out–don’t ever forget that we ALL start unpublished. Remember to enjoy the whole of your journey. It’s all rich!

Posted in Contest, E-Launch, Launch Party, Marketing, Promotion

THIS is How to Do an Online Launch

Posted on by beckylevine

Launch party. What image does that phrase evoke for you? A crowded bookstore with a big, yummy cake? An author up at the front of the room doing a reading? A raffle?

I love book launches. I love to go and hang out with fans and other writers and celebrate a friend’s newest book. In a little less than a year, I hope to be launching my book and having a blast.

I also, though, am thinking about how to market that launch online. I will be doing an e-launch with/through Writer’s Digest, but I also want to make the most of any of my other online resources. So I’m starting to pay attention to how other authors are using the Internet to announce their books and get people hooked.

Cynthia Liu writes for children and teens, and her book Great Call of China has just been released. I went over to her website to check out the launch, and I am MORE than impressed. I’m going to take a few minutes and go through everything, taking notes at every step.

Go take a look yourself!

Posted in Guest Blogger, Promotion

Heads Up: Shrinking Violets Coming Soon

Posted on by beckylevine

I’ll be blogging for real on Thursday or Friday, but I wanted to throw out a quick note that we’ll have seriously cool guest bloggers here next week. If you haven’t read the Shrinking Violet Promotions blog yet, you’re missing out big time.

And the authors behind the blog, Mary Hershey and Robin LaFevers have generously agreed to share some of their knowledge and experience here. They’ll be blogging about PRE-Marketing: Seven Important Things You Can Do Before You Sell Your Book.

Be there or be SO square! (And meanwhile, scootch over to SVP and catch up on all their other great tips and ideas!)

Posted in Promotion

Somebody Else Says: Online Promotion

Posted on by beckylevine

I know, I was just here! But there’s some talk going around the blogs that I want to share with you.

Sarah Prineas, author of the wonderful book The Magic Thief, has a couple of posts up about online promotion for kids’ books. Check out the discussion here and here.

And Dana Stabenow, author of dozens of books, including my favorite–the whole Kate Shugak mystery series–is guest-blogging today at Jungle Red Writers. She’s laid out her entire online promotion plan for “Kate’s” latest–Whisper to the Blood. Cool stuff.

What are you doing still here? Go! Read! 🙂