Love Never Fails...

Today I am a guest blogger over at Carol Ann Erhardt's Blog! She is featuring an interview and my new release, Purple Knot.


I'd love to see some familiar faces over there so if you have a moment, hop on over for a visit.


And don't forget to stop back here for my post tomorrow on How To Find A Critique Partner. Worth their weight in gold, a person that gives you honest feedback is hard to find, but I've got some helpful tips on how to find the elusive creatures.

The Three P's of Promotion - Marketing Mondays, Guest Post

Little did I know when I made the decision to turn my personal journal into a book to help others that it would take longer to edit, design and publish than to write. When I held Letting Go in my hand for the first time I felt a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. The time and money invested seemed well spent. Being a first-time author I was totally unprepared for what follows the birth of a book.

            

Now what? Once I went through my circle of influence - friends, family and clients - now how do I find the people who can most benefit from Letting Go? Talk about being unprepared. I’m a pharmacist turned animal communicator. I don’t have a promoter or sales type personality. It’s just not who I am.

            

Frustration and discouragement crept back into my life. I spent months online trying to follow suggestions of others with more experience. I joined a local writers group in search of people with more experience than I. They became a wonderful source of support and friendship.

            

While many of the presenters are focused on the craft of writing, we had a wonderful presentation on book promotion by Christy Tillery French. When I went up to thank Christy for all the wonderful information she shared, she offered to review Letting Go. I mailed her a copy immediately. Her lovely review was published on TheMidwestBookReview.com in February 09. 

            

I followed my publisher’s advice about starting a blog. After only a few posts I received a comment from Carol Upton from Vancouver. Carol has interests in animals and animal communication as well being a publicist of authors, artists, etc. I followed the path the Universe was showing me and hired Carol as my publicist. What I’d spent months trying to accomplish, Carol did in hours with infinitely more success.

            

As a result of Carol’s expertise and contacts, I began receiving requests for radio interviews from hosts all over the US and Canada. As the interview requests kept arriving, Carol began to submit articles I’d written. Everyone she’s submitted has been published, some in print and online, some on multiple sites. The positive response from Carol’s efforts lessened my frustration and discouragement.

            

With a few months, I had three features published in local magazines and newspapers. One was an article I submitted to “Western North Carolina Women.” The other two were from Carol’s efforts. What I didn’t know how to do in my own town Carol accomplished from Western Canada. I was featured in “All About Women” in my town. The third was in “The News Herald,” which is a newspaper about an hour from my home. I believe this illustrates the importance of working with someone that is far more experienced at what you need than you are.

            

For me, promotion is without a doubt the most challenging part of being an author. I’ve learned that as with everything in life patience is a key element. Everything has its perfect timing. I trust that the Universe knows better than I how to help Letting Go find the people who need it the most, but nothing happens without effort. Once Carol sends me a positive response to her inquiry, it is up to me to pursue the lead. It’s always about timing.

            

Perseverance is crucial to help survive the ebb and flow of book marketing and sales. I surrender to the timing of the Universe and let it work its wonders. I truly believe the people who are ready to read Letting Go will find it, but it requires that I do all I can to help it find them.

            

Without pursuit, perseverance and patience, I would have given up on promoting Letting Go by now. Calling on each of these Ps at the appropriate time has allowed me to put the hours into promotion that it requires. Although the promotion of Letting Go has delayed the start of the first of my animal-communication books, I do believe that everything happens for a reason.

            

Recently I was given a metaphor for all the efforts I’ve put forth promoting Letting Go and my animal work. It’s like pushing a snowball up a mountainside. It’s extremely challenging requiring an enormous amount of effort. But, once you reach the pinnacle with a tap of your little finger it effortlessly rushes down the other side building its own momentum along the way. My friend encouraged me to “keep pushing.”

            

So, don’t give up when you’re feeling frustrated and discouraged. Muster all the pursuit, perseverance and patience you have and keep pushing until you reach your pinnacle, and then, TAP!

Nancy A. Kaiser lives in the healing Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina surrounded by her family of dogs, cats and a horse. She is the author of Letting Go: An Ordinary Woman’s Extraordinary Journey of Healing & Transformation, about her recovery from trauma with the help of animals and nature. Nancy operates Just Ask Communications, a practice devoted to healing the human-animal bond through enhanced communication and understanding and does sessions in-person, via phone or on Skype.  Visit her at:  www.NancyKaiserAnimalCommunicator.com

Have An Online Launch Party - Marketing Mondays

Have you heard of a book launch party? The author invites everyone she knows to a bookstore or a place that has to do with the theme of the book. All the guests buy an autographed copy while eating, drinking and celebrating a job well done. But these days authors are having launch or release parties online. Why the change of venue and is it worth the time, effort and money to have one?

The most obvious reason to have a launch party online is that it's accessible for anyone with a computer. In How to Publish and Promote Online, co-author MJ Rose discusses why she chose to have a cyber launch party for her e-book Lip Service.  Not only was celebrating online the best way to get her e-book in front of potential readers, but Rose also found it a great way to gain local and Internet press coverage.

While many writers and readers are familiar with online chats, an online party has some significant differences.  Lucy Monroe had an online launch party for her first Harlequin Presents, The Greek Tycoon's Ultimatum. "We had a real party atmosphere with Ally posting reviews of my books every so often, Marilyn posting the book cover and my photo to the chat board, etc. It was a really different feel…oh, and no chat type protocol. Just me typing really fast."

Another important element is the bookseller working with the event. The event coordinator can post periodic reminders about the books being for sale. If it's an e-book, directing guests to buy from a major online bookseller or e-publisher works well, but if it's a print book, look into working with an independent or local bookseller who can take book orders online. You can supply the bookseller with signed copies or signed bookplates for the launch attendees.

MJ Rose suggests offering prizes related to the book that can be given during the party. Also consider giving door prizes. To do this, have the guest register before the event. They will give their e-mail and mailing addresses and you can mail the door prizes. Try to get it to them by the day of the event! Let them know that you will subscribe them to your e-newsletter and mailing list, which they can opt-out at any time. This way, if the guest can't make it to the launch party, you still have more opportunities to connect with them.

There are some disadvantages in the online launch party. Unlike a traditional launch party, the books available can't be personalized. The lack of face-to-face contact is also a disadvantage. Try posting your picture on the chat board, or offer a personalized bookplate if they e-mail you with a request.

Promoting the event is essential for success, but you also need to find a venue that knows how to advertise and work an online event. MJ Rose suggests finding a site that has chat capabilities and a tie-in to your book, but she also recommends using a site that you haven't received a lot of exposure from.

If writers are considering adding online launch or release parties to their marketing plans, Lucy Monroe advises to have fun. "This is not about making or breaking your career, but about celebrating the joy of launching a new book or as a new author.  The psychological benefits are more important in my opinion than the career benefits, although I believe I picked up readers and established the fact that I'm an approachable author."

Here's a list of essentials for a successful online launch party:

Promotion. MJ Rose says to send out email invitations, preferably with advance reviews. "Tell your friends to pass on the invitation. Mention the party on the discussion boards you frequent or the listservs you belong to. You want to over-invite."

The ability to type and think quickly. At Monroe's online launch party, she found herself typing fast and furious for four hours. "I really think if these skills are not an author's strong suit this type of launch party will end up being more daunting than beneficial."

A host or hostess. "You can't brag about your own book, but your host can," MJ Rose says in How to Publish and Promote Online. "Work with the host to make sure he has questions to ask you if the party hits a snag."

Enthusiasm. "Go into it wanting to have fun," Monroe suggests. "Don't try to sell your books. Just be happy to be with the readers. They will respond to that and in the end you'll all have a great time!"

Bio: National bestselling author Susanna Carr writes sexy contemporary romances. To find out more about her or her award-winning work, visitwww.susannacarr.com.


Photograph by Chris P. Photograph by Shashi Bellamkonda

How To Create A Twitter Following - Guest Post

If you go back in time just a decade ago, you'll see people going to college to learn marketing skills that have absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the modern media. 

Today, being able to waste a bunch of time on Twitter is really more useful from a marketing standpoint than any college learning regarding demographics and market trends. 

In other words, having a strong Twitter following is really one of the most important aspects of running any kind of successful business on the web today. Here are ten tips on creating that following.

Follow Everyone Back

If someone follows you, follow them back. No exceptions. Even following back a spam bot can be helpful if a dozen other people followed them back, too.

Design a Great Avatar

Your userpic is the reader's first impression of you. If it looks dull, people are less likely to read that tiny little snippet of text sitting next to it.

Follow the Big Names

Even if you don't care what they have to say, follow the big social media people, the "opinion leaders" you can find listed at Twittercounter and other social media ranking sites. Even if you could care less, Twitter is all about big numbers.

Send @Messages to the Big Names

Ninety nine percent of the time, they're not going to answer you, but that doesn't matter, because here's the trick: people will see that you're sending those messages to some famous person and think "This person must be big, they know (insert celebrity name here)." It's total baloney, of course, but it works.

Link, Link, Link

Don't just say "this a hilarious video", link to it. Link to interesting articles, pictures, videos, songs, everything. If sixty percent of your Tweets are just links, you're doing something right.

Be an Expert

People are a lot more likely to look for Twitter accounts focused on a subject they take an interest in than a Twitter account simply dedicated to your own personal thoughts and ramblings. If you know a lot about video games, movie news, antique furniture, whatever, milk that knowledge, and once you've made a name for yourself, don't be afraid to have controversial opinions. Nothing doubles your followers like a controversial 

Tweet.

Tweet and Tweet Again

Most people who use Twitter check their accounts at the same time every day. If they're following a hundred other accounts, then there's a good chance that your Tweets will be pushed off their page by the time they sign on. Post your best Tweets a couple extra times throughout the day to push them back to the top for those who haven't seen them yet.

Use Multimedia

The more pictures, videos and mixed media you link, the better.

Use Easy Tools

There are all kinds of apps you can get for your phone and your web browser to make Tweeting incredibly easy, keeping you in the loop and letting you text tweets in half the time.

Be a Twitter Junkie

Don't be afraid to be one of those people with their nose constantly buried in the phone, it helps.

We can say what we will about Twitter, but the bottom line is that it's one of the most effective marketing tools ever created, and if you're looking to develop an audience or get your piece of the market share, you'd be crazy not to take advantage.

Nicole Rodgers has been blogging about online marketing for 3 years, she blogs about a variety of topics such as ways to heat map a website to how businesses can utilize a budget worksheet.  

Photograph by Rosaura Ochoa.

8 Tips for Online Book Marketing - Marketing Mondays

When I first started promoting my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT online in April of 2008 I was pretty clueless what to do.  The novel had been a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and through this competition I had inadvertently learned what a blog was.


From that moment I was on a quest to learn as much as possible about marketing online.  After learning things the hard way, I co-founded a social media marketing company to help others benefit from my knowledge.

Here are eight tips for information that can help you be less clueless than I was:

  

1.     If you are a fiction author and want ideas on blogging, see the free report at www.fictionmarketing.com

2.      If you are on LinkedIn, join the Book Marketing group, which is now an open group. (Search under groups for “Book Marketing”)

3.      If you are on Facebook, “like” the Facebook Page Queens of Book Marketing at www.facebook.com/bookmarketing

4.      Learn about book marketing opportunities at sister sites www.freado.com and www.bookbuzzr.com

5.      Read several book marketing articles at http://budurl.com/bookmarketarticles

6.      Explore Aggie Villanueva’s book promotion site http://www.visualartsjunction.com/ and be sure to check out her reports on Amazon.  (She has uncovered some amazing information.)

7.      Tony Eldridge’s book marketing site at www.marketingtipsforauthors.com has an abundance of good information.  See especially his product on creating effective Twitter contests.

8.      Publicity Hound Joan Stewart has a terrific weekly free ezine that I read faithfully ever week.  Sign up for it at www.publicityhound.com

Just don’t feel you have to do everything – and especially not all at one time.  Find the marketing ideas that work with your style and time commitments.

But do start somewhere with at least one new marketing activity.  If you have poured your heart and soul into writing a book, you do want others to know about your book and hopefully read it. 

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic,  and she blogs at www.MillerMosaicSocialMediaMarketing.com  Her Amazon author page is at http://budurl.com/PZMAmazon

Digital Dose - Conference Buzz

This past week the Writer's Digest conference in New York generated a tsunami of comments and "a-ha" moments for those who attended. 


A recent post by The Write Runner's Andrew Rosenberg got the attention of Writer's Digest's Beth Friedman in her Best Tweets for Writers post.  His thoughts on the "Whoa" factor really hit home with a lot of authors. He talks about refining your pitch and wowing your intended audience. Check it out for details.


James Scott Bell, author of the Art of War for Writers, posted a great list of Opening No-No's. Some of his suggestions to chuck? Starting your cop drama with your MC cringing over his hangover...so done before.  If you've ever seen a Die Hard movie, you understand the reason.


For those of you that missed it, counselor Jeannie Campbell had an awesome post over at her blog, The Character Therapist on The Sympathetic Antagonist. So excited because the character she analyzed was my own bad guy from my current WIP.  Check her out. She's an amazing resource for writers.


That has been your Digital Dose for this Monday.  Until next time...Go Write!


***I will have a guest blogger, Social Media Marketing expert, Phyllis Zimbler Miller here on Monday, February 7th. Drop by for some important things to know about Marketing and the Writer.***

Photograph by Vancouver Film School.