Working With a Publicist

Marketing Image courtesy of ddpavumba at FreeDigitalPhotos.netOver the next few months, I’m planning on sharing some of the things I’ve learned about marketing since publishing my first book in 2011. To be honest, I’ve found marketing the hardest part of publishing a book. You work your guts out to get this product ready and then you have to work even harder to let the world know about it.

Last month, I chatted about the usefulness of cover reveals, this month I want to talk about collaborating with a publicist.

When I first started out in this business I thought if I saved my pennies and spent as little as possible, I’d make more money. It took me way too long to figure out that this is indeed not true. Money needs to be spent in order to be recouperated. I’m not saying be frivolous; wisdom and care is still needed in choosing what you pour your money into, but if you want to look at making a bigger impact in the market, then money does have to be invested to some degree. Continue reading “Working With a Publicist”

Cover Reveals – Should We Bother?

True Colors Melissa PearlIt’s easy to wonder if cover reveals are worth the time and effort. Some authors do them well in advance; some do them the week before release and others don’t bother with them at all. Being a fan of cover reveals, I thought I’d throw in my two cents worth and see what you guys thought.

I read a great post by Jonathan Gunson a couple of years ago. Basically what he said was that the sooner we start promoting a book before release, the better. My publicist (Mark My Words Publicity) recommends a 9-week build up. Most consumers need to see a product multiple times before purchasing. (See Lynne Cantwell’s article on Effective Frequency.) Readers need to be teased and enticed. You want them to be so aware of your book’s release date that they will have the date circled on their calendars and be looking you up on Amazon the moment that day arrives. Continue reading “Cover Reveals – Should We Bother?”

Motivate Me

myWriteClub logoAs the mother of two young children with limited writing time I need to make sure the time I do get is focussed. My goal is to produce six books a year. I feel like this is realistic for this stage of my life. I have one son in school and the other attends four mornings of kindy a week. Altogether, I probably get about 15 hours a week as long as no one is sick and there are no unexpected mishaps (which basically never happens). So let’s reduce this to 10 hours a week of pretty decent writing time.

In order to meet my goals I have to work hard and stay on task. It’s so easy to get distracted by Facebook and emails and sometimes finding the motivation to just sit down and write what I have planned can be really hard. (Kudos to Martin Crosbie and his 1,000 Words a Day Project!)

I have had to fit work in around two school holidays that have happened very close together thanks to Christmas and Chinese New Year (now that we are living in China). I have a family first policy, which means I try very hard NOT to write during holiday time. For my last writing project I managed to finish all my planning prior to Christmas, which meant I had three school weeks to write my first draft before the second lot of holidays began. I was determined to get it done…and you know what, I did.

One thing that really helped me achieve my goal was a new website I discovered called myWriteClub. This website is still in beta stage, but I signed up thinking it looked like fun and could really help motivate me. Continue reading “Motivate Me”

Author Research: Asking the Experts

medievil castleAs a writer, I always like to make sure my work sounds realistic. Yes, I am writing fiction and yes, I do take poetic license when I need to. I still want my work to be dramatic and exciting, but I also want my work to be realistic.

Fight scenes, medical incidents, specifics about the setting or the car the character is driving…getting the details right on those things can suddenly take your story from a place of make believe to a place of this could have actually happened. Now of course the reader knows it didn’t really happen, but if you can create a world where the details are realistic then you will avoid that moment where the reader makes a face and thinks, “As if!”

So, how do we get these details right? Continue reading “Author Research: Asking the Experts”