Besides the blog tour I've set up, for the next three months, my Dream of Things publisher, Mike O'Mary contracted with Orangeberry Book Tours to create an additional virtual tour for me. I've already had four Orangeberry-arranged stops with four more to go this week. See below. Although the jury is still out about whether this tour will boost sales of Leaving the Hall Light On, I already love the service. Pandora Poikilos, who began Orangeberry Book Tours a year ago, is very helpful and responsive. Even before the tour began Dora liked my author page on Facebook and has tweeted about my book many times. What a great business head she has. I think her service would work very well for my many author friends. I suggest you check Orangeberry out if you're looking to promote your book or sign on to be a blog host. Here's the places I've been and where I'm going this week. Please check them out. Check out where this author will be talking about her latest release! 5th … [Read more...]
Late breaking book news
It's time to bring you up to date with book news. It seems like things are moving so fast, I barely have time to do my novel and article writing. But it's all good. Books for Sale As of yesterday the Kindle version of Leaving the Hall Light On is for sale. The paperback has been available for the last month or so. And in case you still like hardback books as I do, I have them for sale at my Amazon storefront at a reduced price of $21.50. Marketing Events Book giveaway at Goodreads. Hurry over there. It ends on August 28. Google + Hangouts with Jason Matthews: Indie Authors #21 on Memoir Writing and Indie Authors # 24 on Writing as Therapy. I'll participate in another hangout next Monday, August 27. A September 13 roundtable with Linda Joy Myers of the National Association of Memoir Writers and Mike O'Mary of Dream of Things to talk about how I was able to contract with Dream of Things after my former publisher went out of business. Readings at the Essay Fiesta and … [Read more...]
Book marketing – is there ever enough?
Okay, I'm on to another marketing project. I was overwhelmed and indeed impressed by the numbers of blogs Jessica Bell is going to visit during her two-week book launch blog tour for her soon to-be-released, String Bridge. And that got me thinking I hadn't visited nearly enough blogs at the time of my book launch. I visited one blog a day for about three weeks, and she's going to have interviews and reviews on up to seven or eight blogs a day for two weeks. Plus she's going to have a whole lot of these same folks and more hit Amazon on the day of the book's release. Now that's using the network to the fullest, I would say. With my friend Susan at my book launch with Ben in the background I asked her how she amassed such a list and she admitted it was a lot of work. She reads and comments on all the blogs on her list regularly. And that's why she felt she was justified in asking them to do this book marketing favor for her. I know that's true. Jessica visits and comments on … [Read more...]
My first radio interview – tomorrow July 5!
I'll be on: Smart Women Talkâ„¢ Radio Upcoming Guest Listen Live on Tuesdays 11 AM Eastern(8 AM Pacific ) Can't Listen Live Check Out our Show Archives! Heard online around the World and in Seattle on 106.9 HD Channel 3 Tomorrow morning - July 5th, 2011 http://www.katanaabbott.com/radio-show-2/ My hosts: Katana Abbott (left) and Vicky Trabosh (right) A little background. I met Vicky Trabosh, one of the hosts of Smart Women Talk, when I went to Portland over my birthday weekend. My sister Sheila took me to a luncheon and fashion show at their University Club and immediately upon entering she introduced me to Vicky. And as soon as Vicky heard about my book and its subject matter she asked me to be on her show. I of course said yes immediately. I sent out a list of questions with information about my book, including my bio and photo a couple of weeks ago. This week the folks producing the show … [Read more...]
WOW blog tour stop No. 14
A perfect segue to my blog post on marketing yesterday¦ Today Women's Memoirs has posted my answers to their questions about: MEMOIR, BLOGGING AND PLATFORM BUILDING Marketing and Promotion on the Internet. http://bit.ly/kp6bAC They say, As many of you well know, at Women's Memoirs we are as interested in the marketing efforts that go into the promotion of a new memoir as we are in the actual writing. After all, in most cases, writing the book is only half the job. We need to get our work into the hands of readers. We need a platform to which we can draw potential readers and a variety of tactics for making our presence known. And they are so right. I'm finding the marketing of the book as much work or even more work than the writing. I am so grateful to Kendra Bonnet and Matilda Butler for inviting to post on their wonderful Women's Memoir site today about my book marketing experience so far and on June 22 when I answered questions about how writing a memoir helped … [Read more...]
So how’s the marketing going?
Since my book launch and signing just after my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, was released in early May, I've spent the month of June on a blog tour, coordinated and managed by WOW-Women on Writing. I decided to embark on this tour because I had hosted two other WOW blog tour authors in the last couple of years, and it seemed like a great idea. I'm sure I've said before that I'm a me-too kind of person, so there I was again, letting the WOW folks know that I wanted a tour too when my book came out. And actually making that happen was quite easy. All it took was a decision about dates, blog post ideas that included the subject-matter of my book and general writing-related subjects, and $350.00, to cover their advice and counsel about post topics and their picking out and communicating (almost continually) with the blog owners where I would guest post. The big bucks kind of took my by surprise, but very quickly I decided it would be worth it. Also in June, my publisher and I … [Read more...]
One month to go until launch. So what’s on my list of to dos now?
Last Friday at exactly 6:29 pm, my publisher sent off my manuscript to the printer. And exactly one month from then, my book will be launched. And right now I'm feeling overwhelmed with thoughts of what should I be doing to get ready, and even if I know what things I should be doing, will I know how to do them? When the book I co-authored, Blue Collar Women, came out in 1994 I don't remember doing anything to market the book. My co-author had done the research so she did a few radio interviews and that was it. She used the book in her college classes, but other than that, sales were poor. I certainly don't want to have a repeat of that poor success. With that book I didn't even get fifteen minutes of fame. So far in preparation for my new book's launch I've actively participated in Facebook I have a friend page, I have a fan page, I joined two poetry groups, I joined a group of other parents who had an adult child die, and I regularly comment on pages related to my book's … [Read more...]
