Getting the Word Out

Is there anything new in book promotion? What works for you lately?

It seems like so many different things are hyped as the one definite way for people to learn about a new book. Some of those are actually old, but have cycled around to become the hot new thing.

Book trailer videos - good if you have the skill, but if you don't... well... I looked at a few when the fad first started and knew right away I didn't have the skill level for any of it - art, audio, pacing.. What has been your opinion on this?

Reviews
When my first book came out, reviews were what you had to focus on. At that time there were numerous book review sites, all looking for new books to review. Some of them are still out there, but finding them has become difficult. And if you can't find the sites, how many readers are actually following them? My old publisher and my new publisher were good at sending books out to their lists of reviewers, but they also want their authors to get reviews.

Places like Amazon and GoodReads are fussy about what reviews they accept. (are you friends with the author, did you buy the book from Amazon...)

Book Announcements
When I consider myself how I find out about new books, I realize how much I'm probably missing. I follow Shelf Awareness, though actually it turns up in my email, because I supported an independent bookstore which has since closed. Looking at their submission guidelines, they don't want ebooks or those without national distribution, so that limits them.

For science fiction books I check Locus. They have several review sections, but also a big section on "Books Received", which I actually pay more attention to than their reviews. I've had my books appear in the "Books Received" section as it's easy to send them a copy. I've noticed a slight bump in sales after an announcement there. There's also a remote possibility that a book they receive might be selected for a review.

And, of course, never forget to send a book announcement to your local paper, university newspages, Facebook Author page, or other such sources.

Book Listings
I recommend that authors set up their own author page on Author Central on Amazon. It helps readers find your books from various publishers and gives you an idea of how sales are doing through Amazon. B&N used to have author pages, but I can't find any links to them now.

GoodReads is another important place to have your author profile set up and your books listed. I'm lucky in that some of my publishers make sure new books are listed quickly. Unfortunately I also have a few publishers with multi-author publications that forget to have all the authors listed for a book, which makes it a bit difficult to add to the author profile. Make sure to check on your author profile so that any books written by an author with a similar name don't turn up there. There are helpful people at GoodReads who will correct the problem when you alert them (too many Kathryn Sullivans write books).

If you're a YA or children's book author, YA Books Central, is another spot to consider listing your books. They also review books. (And if you write reviews, you can sign up to be a reviewer).

Blogs
I've been told that blogs are dwindling in popularity. I still follow several myself, and you're reading this here, so I guess you do, too. I still hear from authors setting up blog tours or asking for blogs willing to sponsor guest posts.

Jane Friedman recently wrote a very helpful blogging for writers, where she covered content, frequency, whether to have your own blog or share one with other authors (hello, YA Authors You Never Heard Of) and several other topics.

Interviews
Newspapers and radio stations are still good for interviews, but podcasts like Writer Groupie are looking for people with stories to tell.

Contests
I've posted about awards before, but there's been news about a recent scam contest put on by a fake literary magazine. There are still good contests out there, like the EPIC eBook Awards, and an author should check sites like Writer Beware and evaluate before submitting.

Ongoing Promotion
Don't think that promotion is "one time and done". And yet you don't want to be "one of those" authors on Facebook whose constant refrain is "buy my book, buy my book, buy my book". Consider more subtle means of promotion, like swag on freebie tables at conventions, pens or bookmarks you can hand out. I even have a little sticker I put on the back of envelopes I mail. Not sure if any of the companies I pay bills to notice a sticker about my books, but it's there.

Fellow authors are also sometimes willing to give others a boost. John Scalzi often has a Christmas guide where one day is devoted to indie authors to list their books. File770 not only sometimes has announcements about new science fiction and fantasy books, but people posting in the comments (one of the few places where you want to read the comments) also recommend books.

I set up my Facebook Author page awhile back. Some authors set up separate pages for each book, which to me seems overkill. Having an author page separate from my own FB page though, allows me to talk about different things. I also have a Google Plus page, though I don't post there as often. I know other authors have a Tumblr page and Twitter accounts. Which do you feel works better for you?

What other means of getting the word out about your books works for you? What do you notice as a reader?

Promoting Short Stories

When I first started writing short stories (yes, back in the days of manual typewriters and carbon paper), once you sold the short story, the magazine or anthology you sold it to took care of all the promotion. Yes, you announced the sale to your friends and maybe there was a writeup about it in the local newspaper and maybe industry newsletters, but that was about all you could contribute. The magazine or anthology promoted the various authors whose stories appeared in the work, depending on the author’s status.

Nowadays, with social media, you aren't as dependent on the publisher or the publisher's or editor’s idea of author status and who gets promoted. You can do your own promotion. You can announce the sale on Facebook and Twitter and Google+, and put a link to where the story appears on your website once the issue or the work is released. Some small press publishers furnish promotion material for their anthologies, like bookmarks, that authors can take with them to conventions for freebie tables or to hand out at signings.

Promotion by bookmark is good if you are traditionally published (where you only have a small window of time in which to promote) and even more so if your publisher is a small press, because with a small press you can continue to promote the anthology for years. Or until the publisher stops furnishing promo material for the anthology.

This is what I've done in the past to promote my short stories published in anthologies. I've also listed the story or anthology in the bios I've been asked to provide for conventions as an author participating on panels. But now I'm moving into new territory. One of my publishers, Amber Quill Press, is now publishing short stories on its website and then releasing the stories on Amazon Kindle. I've got one short story, “The Oracle of Cilens”, available through this program and another (“Search and Rescue”) will be released in August. So I started wondering how one goes about promoting individual short stories.

Searching on the web turned up only the suggestion to blog about your short story, both on your own blog and well as guest posts on other blogs. And of course mentioning the short story on your website. One author I know has had postcards on freebie tables at conventions advertising his free short story, and I liked that idea, but I wasn't sure if that was done for short stories for sale. So I asked some of the writing organizations I belong to, such as Broad Universe on Facebook, figuring I wasn't the first to wonder about this. Kelly Harmon kindly responded with an image of the rack card she uses to promote her six short stories at conventions.

So, with only two short stories so far, I'm going with a bookmark to bring to LonCon 3 (Worldcon in London) followed by Shamrokon in Dublin next month. The front of the bookmark has the two covers and the back has the blurbs for the stories.

Three questions: How do you learn about short stories? What promotions have you seen? What do you use to promote your short stories?

IS BLOGGING WORTH THE TIME AND EFFORT?

I thought this was such an interesting article I decided to share it with you.



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Article by Karen Cioffi and reprinted from The Writing World newsletter. Subscribe today at http://thewritingworld.com and get How to Create an Optimized Website. 3 Essential Author/Writer Website Elements and 9 Must-Have Pages, along with writing and marketing tips, plus updates on free webinars.
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The writer and marketer must do lots and lots of things to keep their head above the marketing waters. And, those marketing waters are constantly moving. How do you keep up? And, what are the most effective marketing strategies to use?



Since the game is always changing, it's important to keep up with marketing trends. One useful tool for this is Technorati's 2013 Digital Influence Report.



According to their new report, which is based on "over 6,000 influencers, 1,200 consumers, and 150 top brand marketers," blogs are now heavy hitters with consumers. Blogs are regarded as trustworthy, they are popular, and they wield influence over consumer buying decision making.



So, to answer the title question, yes it is.



To further validate the importance of blogs, the report shows that blogs have more motivational buying power than Facebook. That's pretty amazing since FB is the top social network brands use to create visibility and develop relationships with consumers. In other words, brands use FB more than other social networks and they put more budget dollars into it than other social networks.



Reviewing the Technorati Report, Social Media Examiner explained that the reason blogs are so influential is because "bloggers tend to be very honest and sincere in their reviews of products and services. They talk about both negative and positive aspects of a brand, and in doing so become a trusted source of information. Trust drives action, and thus consumers look to bloggers before they buy."



The study also shows that FB cornered 91 percent of brand presence, while Twitter cornered 85 percent.



Another important finding of this study is that over 50 percent of consumers feel that smaller communities offer more influence. Even new sites were trusted over social networks.



From this study it would seem that people like connecting with other people, not crowds. They like the personal relationship, the kind of one-on-one relationship that social networks don't necessarily offer.



While the study focused on brand marketers, the results are applicable to your author or freelance writing site. Knowing that people in general trust blogs and look to them for information along with help and guidance to make purchasing decisions is powerful.



It's understandable that this information may not be interesting to most. You may not care about knowing which social network is more popular with the heavy hitters or the percentage of marketing budget dollars brands spend on social networking. But, having proof that you're not blogging in vein should put a smile on your face.



Keep blogging.


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See you on the blogs.

True or False? A Blog Will Show Readers What To Expect In Your Books

I read blog posts that I gather together through Twitter (as I do a mashup on Mondays called Mind Sieve on my regular blog) and I've seen all sorts of lists, blog help posts, and writer advice posts that tout that aside from giving of yourself so readers get to know you, that it is also a medium for them to get a feel about your writing style/voice and will thus help make readers interested in your books.

From Socious

Since the first time I saw the part of that statement with regards to style and voice it's been eating away at me. Because in my mind, I don't think that's entirely correct.

Yes, a blog will show whether or not I can string two sentences together and have a grasp of basic grammar. It will also show if I can be entertaining or even amusing, but not what my books are like.

A blog is about sharing and creating conversations. Sometimes it's even about imparting wisdom or lesson's learned. Yet it's not really a story or novel. Yes, both entertain, both should have a beginning, middle, and end, but not in the same ways. My voice is totally different in my blog posts than it is in my stories. And even between stories, my voice can vary depending on the genre and POV. So how could a reader know what my books would be like by just reading my blog posts?

I do feel blogs can bring us closer to readers and other writers, as through them we get to know one another and can connect. And, if they like me enough through the blog, they might go ahead and click on over to the website and check out my books. There the sample chapters would do the job of showing my actual writing voice and whether or not it was one that appealed to them. But it would be a side effect of the blogging, not something the readers would have known about until they went the extra step and clicked over to the website.

Am I full of it? What's your take on this? Convince me! Let's discuss. :)

Rerun Blog - the Five Worst Blog Titles Ever

This month's blog kind of snuck up on me - it's been a hectic month. My husband was in the hospital, I got a new job, I've had my head down in the Revision Cave, and I've been doing interviews and writing blog posts for my Virtual Book Tour next month. I'm sure that at some point I had something to write about, but I've completely forgotten what it was. So I'm recycling this one that I posted on another group blog, because they have completely different audiences and most of you probably haven't read it yet. If you have, well... how about that Royal Wedding? 


(I'm kind of excited, I admit. I write fantasy and fairy tales, and what's more fairy tale than a common girl becoming a Princess in a big overdone, hugely expensive to-do??) Anyway, enjoy!


It's that time of the month again. No, not THAT time of the month, time for me to post here at YAAYNHO, my chance to shine and come up with some witty and poignant bit of prose meant to inform or entertain.

That's a lot of pressure. I mean, it's only once a month, and yet some months I get the notice that my day is approaching and I tense up. What am I going to write about? My mouth goes dry - what if no one reads what I wrote, or they HATE it? What if I can't be spontaneous and funny and we lose readers and I get kicked out of the blog? (wait, this is MY blog. I could kick myself out, I guess.) I've been working on guest blog posts and interviews for a Special Something I'm doing in May, and I tried to be sometimes serious and sometimes humorous, and here's what I've concluded: it's hard to be interesting.

I mean, with all the bloggers and authors and tweeters out there, I'm just another voice in the wilderness. I know some people have huge audiences for their blogs, cranking out daily articles that aren't too long (because now we know that people want sound bites, not manifestos) and that grab their readers and make them want to come back. It's hard to do day after day. I used to try and blog every day, but it got to be monotonous. Not much happens to me on a daily basis. So I gave up the every day thing and only post on my personal blog when I have something to say, usually related to my writing, or only really important things in my life that I want to share. I tweet and post to Facebook, so if you're really REALLY interested in the minutiae of my daily life, there you are.

But, in honor of those who feel the compulsion to blog every day, even if they have nothing interesting to say, I give you the Five Worst Blog Posts Ever (titles only; not real links).

5. Catwatch, Day 65: Hairballs Ahoy!
4. What I Ate For Breakfast  (unless you're talking about chocolate-covered bugs or something, no one cares. And if you ARE talking about chocolate-covered bugs, um, well, I don't need to read about it, do I?)
3.  How to Make Hospital Corners or: My Life in Dustbunnies
2.  Three Things I Found While Cleaning out My Purse
And the number one WORST blog post ever....

1. My Colonoscopy (A Video Blog)

Six Degrees of Oscar Separation

I’m not a big fan of awards shows. But I do love the Oscars. This year I had a more personal reason to tune in. Josh Fox’s documentary film Gasland was nominated.

The film contains a 13-minute segment titled “48 Hours in Garfield County”. I happen to live in Garfield County in western Colorado. My tiny town of Silt is ground zero for natural gas drilling in the Piceance (pronounced ‘pee-awns” – the “c” is silent – don’t ask me why) Basin.

When the film debuted on HBO last June, I watched it intending to write a review. But I wept through most of it. The film was way too personal. My friends and neighbors were in it. Seeing my home through Fox’s lens broke my heart. I didn’t write a review. Instead I wrote a blog post, A Gaslander’s View of Gasland.

I often write about gas well drilling issues on my blog. At the time I wrote the Gasland post, drilling had slacked off a little. But all that changed last August when Antero Energy drilled four news wells within two miles of my home. In the past, almost all natural gas drilling has occurred in rural areas, miles from towns and subdivision. Since last summer dozens more gas wells have been drilled and dozens more have been proposed close to heavily populated residential areas. This has awakened a sleeping giant in the local people. Combine that groundswell of opposition with the release of Gasland, which has attracted national attention to natural gas drilling, plus widespread public distrust of the gas & oil industry after the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and we have a rare harmonic convergence. It’s like that moment in any piece of literature or film when everything comes together and the little feller strikes a blow hitting the gi-normous beast below the knees. We have yet to know the full impact of our citizen pushback. Simply making more people aware of the dangers of natural gas drilling on humans and the environment is a victory for many of us.

Because of all that activism I have been pounding out blog posts for the past several months. Lo and behold, my blog made the news. The Colorado Independent ran an article about the film Gasland, and a New York Times article which exposed massive polluting by the gas industry. At the end of the CI article, reporter David O. Williams drew attention to a recent blog post in which I made a connection between our county’s role in the film and a group of NY attorneys who came to our area recently to discuss natural gas drilling issues.

‘Gasland’ misses Oscar bid but NYT story yanks red carpet out from under gas biz

Though it may seem strange to some, the film has changed our lives. And isn’t that the gauge of success for any artistic endeavor – be it film or literature or work of art? To change people’s lives. So even though Gasland didn’t win the Oscar for best documentary film, it has succeeded beyond our wildest imaginations. The publicity and the national attention to our plight are way bigger than a little man statue. We’re famous for something ugly – a blight on our gorgeous Rocky Mountains landscape. Our cause is hopeless. The gas industry doesn’t sometimes win or usually win – they always win. And yet a beautiful thing is happening. Through art – the power of the camera lens and the strength of words – we shall overcome.

Some things are worth fighting for even if there is no chance of winning. As we writers know, it’s not about the result, it’s about the process.

Peggy Tibbetts

Coming in 2011 –
LETTERS TO JUNIPER

My books

My blogs:
Advice from a Caterpillar
From the Styx

How I Coaxed the Caterpillar Out of Its Cocoon

From February 2001, through December 2005, I wrote a monthly column, Advice from a Caterpillar at Writing World.com. The original column, which was geared for children’s writers, was my idea. It was based on the notion that, even though I’m one of those “authors you’ve never heard of”, I had been (in 2001) working as a professional writer and editor for 25 years, and knew a lot about the business. I also knew my way around the internet, so it was easy for me to access information. I took questions from writers (usually 3 per month) and found the answers.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love writing the column. I did. But after 4 years, the questions all seemed the same – “Can you help me get published?” I started repeating myself. During fall 2005, I discussed my feelings with Editor/Publisher Moira Allen. We both agreed it was time for me to move on.

I was a restless soul back then. I had just finished a major rewrite of my YA manuscript, “PFC Liberty Styrker", about the Iraq War, for my ‘then” agent. I thought I was headed in a completely different direction. But I’ll go into that whole story next time (9/20).

The point is, I let the Caterpillar slip into its cocoon.

I started my From the Styx blog about 6 weeks after I ended my Caterpillar columns. I also began work on a new YA manuscript, “Hurricane Katrina”, which I had discussed with my agent and he’d said, “I love it. Get to work on that right away.”

In the meantime my friend, Olgy Gary asked if she could publish my columns on her website, Children Come First.

“Of course,” I said.

For the next 18 months I immersed myself in my blog and the manuscript. During those months I received emails from dozens of writers who said they missed my Caterpillar column and my input in the writing world. This touched me deeply. I didn’t realize I had made a difference in people’s lives until they told me so. My frumpy, old Caterpillar had fans.

Was it time to bring it back?

If I hoped to coax the Caterpillar out of its cocoon there had to be some changes made. Writing a blog and writing a column are similar. With a blog format, I knew I would have to post weekly, not monthly like the column. Doing a blog also gave me the freedom to expand on the original column. I decided to use some of the questions from the old column but update my answers with more current information. I also take new questions. Just email me at: peggyt@siltnet.net

Along with advice, I added reviews, markets, contests, and interviews, geared toward children’s writers but not exclusively children’s writers. Many of my column readers were young writers looking for advice and markets, so the blog contains a list of links to markets and websites for young writers.

The new and improved Advice from a Caterpillar emerged in October 2007. The Caterpillar’s fans found it again. And new readers have discovered my work.

My From the Styx blog appeals to different readers than my Advice from a Caterpillar blog. Likewise this YAAYNHO blog appeals to an even wider audience. Which brings me back to my original point about why I blog – to build readership.

Peggy Tibbetts

My books

My blogs:
Advice from a Caterpillar
From the Styx

Why Do I Blog?

Hunter S. Thompson said, "So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?"

I am Peggy Tibbetts.

I live, therefore I write. I write, therefore I blog.

My arrival here marks my 4th blog – if you count MySpace blog – and nobody does anymore – and none of the content I post there is original – so technically this is my 3rd blog. You can have your MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, I still think blogging is the best way to gain readers.

I wanted a blog long before I started my first blog, From the Styx in February 2006. I believe a blog should have a theme. So I had to figure out what I wanted to say. I had just left my job at Writing World.com, where I was managing editor of the newsletter and wrote a monthly column, Advice from a Caterpillar. After 5 years, I was in the mood to stretch my wings.

My husband was a trustee on the Silt Town Board. We were both involved in local issues. After ten years in our small rural Colorado town, we were frustrated at the lack of public awareness or interest in local issues. At the same time we knew it was because people didn’t have access to information.

Hunter S. Thompson had died the previous year. Along with being a nationally known writer, Hunter S was quite popular – some might say notorious – locally (I live 50 miles from Aspen where he lived). He didn’t blog but he often wrote op-eds in the local newspaper. Everyone wanted to read what Hunter S had to say about anything. When I looked back on the Battle of Aspen and his colorful life in politics (he even ran for Sheriff in 1970), I saw how it influenced his career, made him a better writer, as well as a loved – and loathed – local celebrity. I realized that I could use subjective humor to develop my own style of gonzo journalism as it relates to small town life in Silt. That’s how From the Styx was hatched.

By the end of my first year, I had a major issue on my hands. Saving the dog park. I wrote an ordinance that designated a park we had already been using to walk our dogs as an off-leash dog park. I led a group of local citizens through the petition process to its final passage. I documented it all on my blog.

Since then I have covered a mayoral recall, chided the energy companies for polluting our air and water, helped local residents tell their stories, and scooped the local paper more than a few times. Two years ago I received recognition as a Sunshine Activist from WikiFOIA. I have also been running the Crazy Bitch series about my dog’s struggle with mental illness, our efforts to help her live a normal life, and the harassment we endure from neighbors because of it. Most important of all, I have gained hundreds of readers.

I even had to hire a lawyer to keep the Town Attorney from shutting down my blog because he didn’t like what I wrote. My blog is the dlisted of Silt. The blog nobody admits they read but everybody does. I’ve made friends, frenemies, and enemies. But who cares? As long as they read my blog. Aside from those nasty legal fees, braving the storm of small town life has never been so much fun.

A local newspaper reporter once asked, “Aren’t you afraid you’ll get sued?”

“No. I write about public officials in their capacity as public officials,” I said. “I don’t write about their personal lives.”

“But you often mock them,” he said. “You could get sued for that.”

It’s true. A couple people have threatened to sue me. But I know my rights. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) publishes a Legal Guide for Bloggers, which spells out bloggers’ rights.

So anyway, my point is, blog about something you care about. Tell a story. Dare to voice your opinion. Offend someone. Controversy grabs people’s attention. Use humor and satire to engage your readers and keep them coming back. Above all, have fun with it.

I’ll be back on August 30. Next time I’ll tell you how I coaxed Advice from a Caterpillar out of its cocoon.

Peggy Tibbetts

My books
http://www.peggytibbetts.net

My blogs
http://advicefromacaterpillar.wordpress.com
http://fromthestyx.wordpress.com