Soft Book Launches

Tip of the Day: My new book, SHUCKED, debuted yesterday. Check it out on my website.

In self-publishing, ebooks are forever. My first day, week, month don't matter in the grand scheme of things. No one's going to pull my book down in shame if it doesn't hit the top of the charts right off the start line.

I LOVE THIS!

I'm not one of those authors that has rabid fans foaming at the mouth for my next book. Okay, maybe I have a few, but not enough to drive me to #1. So here's my strategy for book releases....

1. Facebook. That's where I have the majority of my followers. Generally, they are the ones who will buy my books when they release. Not thousands of them (wouldn't that be nice?), but quite a few.

2. Book Bloggers. I maintain a separate mailing list for bloggers. When I have a new release, I send them a message, asking if they want to read my book. I've had a handful of requests, which is great.

3. Fan Newsletter. These guys get the good stuff. Look, if you want people to sign up for your newsletter, give them a reason. With my announcement, they all get the chance to win 1 of 15 free ecopies. They can also be the first to receive signed bookmarks in the mail. Yes, that slows sales a bit at first. If they don't win the ebook, the bookmark in the mail will remind them about my book.

4. Book Blast. I want to sign up for one. I've contacted one blogger, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. If she doesn't by tomorrow, I'll contact another. This is a one-day blast on bloggers' pages about my book. It's a good, cheap, way to get the word out.

While it's a goal to sell, I also have a bigger goal - to entertain. I put a lot of my heart and soul into this book. I hope people enjoy it. :D

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Would You Like Some Spam with that Promotion?

Tip of the Day: Do you like cute, crazy, and cheap t-shirts? Then check out Tee Fury, they have a new design every 24 hours.

Every single day I get at least fifteen to twenty promotional notifications (via Facebook, Twitter, email, Goodreads, etc) from authors I don't know.

It's as if they think spamming thousands of people via social networks is a good way to promote their book.

Guess how many books I've purchased from one of these messages.

Go ahead, take a guess.

ZERO!

Why?

Because that type of promotion irritates the crap out of me.

If you want me (and other people) to look at you as an annoyance, do these things:

1. Start a Facebook group for your book release and invite everyone on the planet to join. Then post fifteen billion times a day so my notifications are filled with crap and I can't find notifications from my friends. (I used to be afraid to Decline or Leave Groups. I'm not now.)

2. Steal my email address from Facebook (or Twitter) and add me to your newsletter mailing list. I really love it when my inbox fills up with stranger spam. Even better? No link to unsubscribe! (This really drives me batty.)

3. Post on my Facebook wall telling me all about your book and how much I will enjoy it - particularly if I just accepted your friend request. (I will delete your post and unfriend you. Don't tempt me. If we're new friends, say something nice like "Great to meet you." That gives Megg smiles not the snarls.)

4. Email me directly, tell me how your book is so great, how badly you want a blurb from me, then direct me to your sales page so I can buy it. (I won't buy it. Even if it sounds like the best book ever.)

5. If I get so far as to 'like' your fan page, please talk about your book 24/7. (I fill most of my wall posts with things like the day my son rode on a lazy river with me and spent the whole time purposely tooting in my face. Trust me, people would rather laugh at my misfortune than listen to me blabber about my books.)

Kitteh wants you to act professionally or you may find yourself sleeping with the fishes

 

Here's the thing - if people want to know about your books so bad, they will go to lengths to make sure they are kept informed. You can:

1. Start a newsletter. Let people know it's there so if they want to be notified immediately about new releases, they can sign up. NEVER add people on your own. Give your readers some respect and let them choose. Make sure you also have an unsubscribe feature. It's common courtesy.

2. Create a Facebook fan page. Invite your current FB friends (it's a one-time invite, so it doesn't seem so spammy). Don't treat it like a promotional page. Use it as if you're just hanging out with friends for the afternoon. Be fun and engaging. Be yourself.

2. Use Twitter, Goodreads, blog, etc, but don't post about your books unless you have something newsworthy to say. If your book has been out for three months, don't post about it every day. If someone is looking at your social network, chances are they already know about the book. Leave the promotional posts for things that truly need promoting - like a new book release.

3. Don't force yourself on people. Let them come to you. I know, it's frustrating. You want the whole world to know you and love you right this second. Guess what? Life doesn't work that way. Be yourself. They will come.

4. Don't stress so much about promo. Adding to the noise won't help you get discovered. It only makes readers more agitated. Instead, write a good book that people will enjoy and tell their friends about. That's the very best promo you could ever get.

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

How Do You Promote a Book on Twitter?

Tip of the Day: Lots of tips, actually, on blog tours from agent and writer Marie Lambda.

I follow a lot of writers on Twitter, which means that at any given time I log in, I may see up to 10  books being promoted at once. Right now someone wants me to check out a review, there are two cover reveals, two giveaway contests, an offer for a free copy ... and I haven't even scanned down yet. If I was on Twitter a lot, I'd probably read promo tweets for about 25 different books a day.

Obviously I can't look at all of these books. So what catches my eye from the sheer volume of promotions?

Things Not To Do

1. Don't tweet random lines from the book. I mostly see people doing this for their friends instead of authors doing it themselves. I know, that sentence in your friend's novel was really powerful when you read it, but out of context, it means nothing. Some people will tweet ten or twelve of these in a row, qualifying as spammers. Seriously, don't tweet about something ten times in a row unless you're at the Super Bowl or something more immediate in real time.

2. Don't rely on price point. I see this a lot. My book is free today! But like many readers, I have this place near me called the public library where many books are free. I'm not going to download your book only because it's a freebie.

3. Don't beg. "No one will review me, what am I doing wrong? Please help!" You're probably not doing anything "wrong," and there are a lot of great books that don't get the attention they should. But if your novel sounds compelling to me, I'm more likely to read it than if you beg me to do you a favor, Stranger I Don't Know on the Internet. Plus what if I hate your book? How do I review it?

Things That Draw Me In

1. Snippets of reviews or fan mail. "I couldn't put this down." "My new favorite character." You don't need a ton of reviews, but if you get a good one, let me know. I love recommendations.

2. Promote novels you like with a personal touch. "Stayed up to 3 am to finish this, need coffee." "This novel about a cruise makes me want to go on a cruise."

3. I think giveaways still work. But there's a difference between a giveaway and giving a copy away for free on Amazon. Giveaways are often connected to special content and often writers team up to give away a few things together.

One thing I'm becoming more aware of is that I should make it more of a habit to leave reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for books I love. Now that I have an e-reader, I read these reviews a lot. I think a book needs quality reviews rather than quantity, but correct me if I'm wrong.

What book promotions work for you?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

Promo Talk: Postcards

Tip of the Day: Curious how a (fairly new) indie pub YA author is doing in sales? Check out Katie Klein's blog where she details her sales. She's sold 10,000 ebooks since March!

I find promotion to be one of the hardest parts of being an author. As you guys know, authors do a bulk of their book promoting on their own. But being that we're not experts in it, it's hard to know what works and what doesn't. Should you host a contest on your launch date? Maybe. Maybe not. I've put together big prize packages in the past and then only got 4 or 5 entries. So it's not always the best idea. If you have a huge following of people it might be worthwhile. Should you give away copies of your book? I think it's a good idea but think about where you're giving them away. If you give it away on your blog you might have 20-50 entries for it. If you give it away on Goodreads you'll likely have 1000+ entries.

I think the first few years of being an author is sort of a feeling around period of time to see what works and what doesn't. Contests didn't work for me so I probably won't do more. At least not big ones unless I'm being hosted on a bigger site. I tried a facebook ad back when The Espressologist came out in paperback (Jan 2011). I put it up for the week of Valentine's Day. It cost, if I remember correctly, about $125. I asked my agent to check my sales for that week to see if the ad had an effect. Nada. I literally had the same sales the week before. So I'm not likely to try that again.

But it's all a learning process, to see what works and what doesn't. My next book, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS, comes out October 11th. I want to try something different with this book and something enjoyable so this time I'm going to try and reach out to book clubs. The times I've had at in-person and skype visits with book clubs that have read my books have been really fun. So I ordered a ton of postcards and I'm mailing them to libraries all across the country (I'll probably cap this off at 100). To libraries within 10-15 miles of me I'm offering a free visit with their book club if they read one of my books. To the rest I'm offering a free skype visit. I'm not sure how my little experiment will work but I'll let you all know!

Do you want to share any promo ideas you've tried that worked or were a bust?

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Library Tweets (or Dithering about Twittering)

Tip of the Day: Border's is going out of business. :( Buy out their inventory at reduced prices so that they don't have many returns to publishers!

A couple years ago, two fellow librarians at BML and I thought it would be a good idea to have library Twitter accounts to post about our programs.

Two years later, I still use the account (@bmlkidsteens), but have never heard of a patron who came to a program because they saw a tweet about it. In fact, most of the first people who followed my account were from Brighton, England (I'm in Brighton, NY). Now some authors, illustrators, and other publishing pros follow the account because I follow them, which is fun and makes BML seem like a hot library! :)

I do have fun tweeting about books I love, and those are the ones I get responses on.

So my question is: If you don't already have a "fan base" on Twitter, can you build one there? If so, I know it takes time (retweeting, replying to tweets, etc.), but how much time per week do you think needs to be invested? *I am thinking about this as an author.*

And finally, is there any situation that would make you follow a local library's Twitter account and actually come to advertised events? What would you like your local library to tweet about? *I am thinking about this as a librarian.*

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

I Live in the Middle of Nowhere, How Can I Promote My Book?

Tip of the Day: Trying to decide between ePublishing and Traditional Publishing? Download the free excel worksheet on this site (click on "simple spreadsheet" in the 2nd paragraph), enter your info, and see how much money you could make from each route.

I ask myself this question all of the time. I'm not a big name author so I'm not travelling around the country on a book tour each time a new book releases. I don't get heavy promotion like ads in magazines or online ad space on busy web sites. I don't live near NYC or LA so I can't attend a lot of the big author events so many other authors are always talking about. And it's hard to get a book faced out at the book store for more than a couple of months. So what can I do?

1) I can do everything I can locally. That is go to schools to visit classes, attend school reading nights (I'll be at the Barnes&Nobles in Oakbrook, IL this Thursday @ 6:30pm for the Westmont Junior High Reading Night), attend author fairs, local conferences, and group book signings (it's always more fun in a group!).

2) I can offer free skype visits to schools that I can't travel to.

3) I can offer signed bookmarks and swag to bookclubs that read my books and skype with them during their club meeting.

4) I can be as present as possible online, that is blog/facebook/twitter.

5) I can make a book trailer and put it on youtube. Here's mine for The Espressologist.

6) I can participate in blog tours and answer interview questions for various web sites.

7) I can send stacks of bookmarks to teen librarians to put in their teen section at their library.

8) I can send signed bookmarks to YA book bloggers to put in their giveaways.

9) I can send out postcards announcing new books to independent books stores and libraries. Need to find addresses? Here's a great link to independent bookstores and their mailing addresses. And if you want to find library addresses check out worldcat.org. Click on Find a library and enter a place (like Illinois) and you'll get a list of all the libraries.

So there is stuff I can do out here in the middle of nowhere! Can you think of anything else I might have missed?

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Blogology

Tip of the Day: Enter to win books in a contest to congratulate Debbie Ridpath Ohi (Inkygirl) for her S&S book contract!

How many blogs do you read every day?

If you're like me, you would like to keep up with more blogs, and yet I feel guilty about the amount of time I spend on the computer. The challenge has always been to keep up with the RIGHT blogs--and once I've found a great blog, to be able to find it again.

Blogging has changed a lot since I started here at Author2Author over 2 years ago. Back then, I had a list of favorite blogs in my Internet browser bookmark, and I checked each one over lunch at the office. But it got too big, so I moved to a blog reader, Bloglines. That went under and then was purchased and relaunched recently.

In the meantime, I tried to migrate to Google Reader, but by then I was also trying to keep up with Facebook and Twitter. I found myself reading more and more blogs I had never read before, sucked in by intriguing Twitter "headlines." "I should promote Author2Author on Twitter," I think, but I'm not chatty on Twitter. I use it more to get news. And who wants to only hear from someone about promotion?

Lately, my personal and work life have both been super busy, so I've had less time online than ever. There are a few blogs I check on a regular basis no matter how bad it gets:

http://migwriters.blogspot.com/ My online critique group, MiG Writers. I love this group because we have such varying life experiences and viewpoints.

http://andrea-mack.blogspot.com/ I really need to plug Andrea Mack's extremely thoughtful, well-written blog on writing, That's Another Story.

http://writebadlywell.blogspot.com/ How to Write Badly Well. It will cheer you up immensely.

http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/ Bookshelves of Doom. If it's going on in YA lit, the very funny Leila Roy knows about it.

http://joshreads.com/ The Comics Curmudgeon. Comic strips commentary. Really. The highlight of my lunch hour.

Now I used to follow a lot more: Editorial Anonymous, Nathan Bransford, Live Journal accounts. (Hey, I still try to check in on my LJ buddies, but LJ is becoming increasingly incomprehensible to me.) But lately I rely on Twitter buzz to let me know when someone's blog is especially hot. And I suspect I'm not alone in this sea change. So I feel more pressure to be interesting. Look at me!! I'm interesting!!

Then I see a link to a blog post of mine from a year ago, and I realize that these entries are semi-permanent. This seems to be happening more and more with the increase in blogs: people link to old blog posts "on topic." Blogging has changed a lot since the LJ "what I did today" days.

Regular blogging doesn't seem to mean as much as hot, topical content. Do you agree?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

For YA Publishers: Bundling (or Librarians Love Read Alikes)

Tip of the Day: Want to know what books are already published that may be like your wip? Ask your local librarian! We're happy to provide read alikes and reader's advisory.

*A post inspired by the YALSA Symposium*

Guess what? Many YA librarians LOVE book lists. We make our own, steal from other libraries, compile from listservs, etc., all in the name of giving our teen readers more of what they like, and making readers advisory transactions quick and smooth -- and with more suggestions for their next library visit.

And we're not snobbish in how these book lists are organized or titled. We love to be "clever!" Zombie Books, Vamps Don't Die, Books with HEART (titles with the word "heart" in them), Make a Splash (water themed), Get A Job (MCs who work), Dead Parent Syndrome (MCs with dead parents), Jewish Themed, Asian Inspired, etc.

So what would be cool is if YA publishers "bundled" some books from their lists together for us. Not just in what is coming out by season, but maybe some backlist books that could be pushed with newer big releases ("Here's our BIG BOOK for the season! Fans of this may like THIS BACK TITLE!" (and the back title may be in paperback so it is affordable for us poor libraries)).

This would also be useful at conferences. If a big display of new releases has the BIG BOOK of the season front and center, they could provide a book list of read alikes from previous seasons to help with collection development which leads to readers advisory once the books are on the shelf.

So many times it seems that publishers jump ship from their "not as successful" books in favor of putting ALL their effort into the current BIG BOOK -- when in reality promoting the "smaller" books as read alikes to the BIG BOOK could help sales all around.

Is there a reason this isn't done?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Spinning Round and Round

Tip if the Day: My first booksigning for My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours is 9/11 from 2-4pm at the Borders in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Come see me!

Today's blog post might be a little swirly like this water slide:















because my head is spinning with last minute promo stuff for My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours! It releases in a week in a half (YIKES!) and there are e-mails and interviews and launch stuff literally piling up around me. So what do I do?

Go on vacation of course! Me and the family just got back from Wisconsin Dells. The picture above is one of their water slides (the Tornado) that was at the huge, fun water park where we stayed. I didn't go on it (wimp!) but I did go on a lot of the water slides with my 5yr old. And I was scared each time! The kids were fearless of course. My 7yr old loved the tornado but my head is already so spinny these days I didn't want to see what happened if the rest of me spun around like that! A vacation was a nice break from everything and my phone didn't work in the lodge so no e-mailing, texting etc. Wow! Not usual for me. Of course now I have a million things to respond to but that's ok. It's back to work time! I got my first author copy of Fake Boyfriend and it's sooooo cute! I love it. Pop over here for pics. And I'm running a fun contest starting Tuesday so please stop by and enter. Here's a hint: you can win a REAL fake boyfriend of your very own!! And who doesn't want that? :-)

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves

The magic of word of mouth

Tip of the day: Iced tea mixed with a little lemonade is a delicious summertime drink!

I read a book recently, SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR by Matthew Quick, that I loved so much, I have been telling everyone I know about it. I even sold a copy to someone at one of my own book signings.

Yesterday I did a one-hour presentation at a children's writers conference, and read from some favorite books to illustrate some examples of voice, character, etc. And when I came to SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR, I couldn't help it. I started gushing about it again. I was like - I just LOVE the vietnam vet who writes haikus. I mean, I LOVE him. And it's not even like he does that much, but him and Amber form such a special relationship... blah, blah, blah. I couldn't stop talking about it!!

But you know what? When I finally did manage to shut up, someone raised their hand and said, "What's the author's name again?" And everyone, I mean, EVERYONE, frantically wrote it down when I shared it again.

I am convinced there is no better kind of promotion than word of mouth.

So what is it that makes people love a book so much they want to tell everyone they know about it?

I think it's a perfect combination of a unique but also familiar story with well-drawn and interesting, admirable characters along with memorable scenes that make us laugh or cry or preferably both.

Think of the book you love so much you tell everyone about it.

Or think of the classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, that so many people will say is their all-time favorite book. A unique but somewhat familiar story? Check. Interesting and admirable characters? Atticus is probably one of the most interesting and admirable characters ever written. Not to mention Scout and Jem. Scenes that make us laugh and cry? Check and check.

It has it all.

With each book we write, we should strive for those elements that will make people want to pass the book around and share it with their friends and loved ones. We might not always succeed, but by keeping those elements in mind, and trying to do the impossible, you never know - we might just succeed some day.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

My TV debut

Tip of the Day: If you celebrate Easter, hope yours is a happy one!

So, do you remember how I talked about the radio interview, and keeping the dog happy while I talked on the phone, and all of that? And how almost immediately after that radio interview, I got an e-mail asking me to do a brief TV interview for Better Portland?

That interview was this week. We met at a local cupcake shop, and she asked me some questions which I tried very hard to answer without a) sounding like an idiot and b) sounding like I might throw up any second. Here's a picture of me and the TV host.

I realize TV exposure, even a local show that doesn't get a huge viewing, is a great thing. But as I told Brooke Carlson, the host who interviewed me, us authorly types generally don't like the spotlight much. We would rather be holed up in our offices with our characters, pouring our hearts on to the page.

But it's good, I suppose, to stretch ourselves. And if I sounded a little scared, it's okay, I'm human after all. I like to think people relate to that humanness. At least that's what I'm telling myself now that the TV interview has aired. Would I change a couple of my answers if I could? Yes. But unlike writing, I only got one chance.

In the end, I did the best I could. Which is what so many of us do, day in and day out, with the writing or the promotional opportunities. It's not easy, I know! So today, I applaud all of you who stretch yourselves one way or another, try your hardest to do the best you can, and step out of your comfort zones when you really don't want to.

Good for you!!!

As for the interview, if you're curious, and brave, you can watch it RIGHT HERE.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

I Want to be Swagalicious Part 2: So Where Do I Get Stuff?

Tip of the Day: Printrunner has free shipping right now until 3/31/10.

Thanks for all of your suggestions last week-- I think I'm on my way to being swagalicious. This week I've been researching where to get stuff and I thought hey, share the info with everyone else looking for swag!

Postcards

Why do I need them? Aside from sending them to absolutely every friend and family member and old teacher etc. that you know, send them to independent bookstores and teen librarians!

How do I get them? Vistaprint has some super awesome oversized postcards and here's the thing with Vistaprint-- they will send you e-mails numerous times a week offering you free stuff. LOTS of free stuff. Postcards are almost always on this list. You just pay the shipping. And if you're not in a hurry, choose the cheapest route. I just got some more free ones last week to send librarians-- aren't they cute?

Bookmarks

I already wrote a completely brilliant ;) post on bookmarks and I still love them so read here.

Buttons

Why do I need them? Cuz' they're cute. Really, they're completely optional giveaways. See the totally cute ones I got from Tera Lynn Childs:

How do I get them? Busy Beaver has totally reasonable prices. Check them out.

Stickers

Why do I need them? Why not? ;-)

How do I get them? I am about to order 1000 cuuuuuute stickers for Espressologist for $57 at printrunner.com (and like the TOD says, free shipping!). Still contemplating a Fake Boyfriend sticker but I'll order those too when I come up with something. In the mean time, check out Carrie Ryan's cute sticker for her new book:

Temporary Tattoos

Why do I need them? Cuz they're swagalicious. And who doesn't love putting something on their skin that takes a good 3-4 baths to get off?

How do I get them? Check out Tattoosales or Branders for deals.

Gel Bracelets

Why do I need them? I actually don't think I do. But I see them a lot at events so I'll include the info!

How do I get them? Here's a really cute place!

Other Stuff

I'm going to add one more tip that I got from Mandy Hubbard. Check wedding favor sites! Mandy got super cute lip glosses with her book title Prada & Prejudice on it. Check out this site, Beau Coup. They have everything from fortune cookies to poker chips to mini candles. Cute!

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves

I Want to be Swagalicious

Tip of the Day: Check it out, Alice Pope has me as her debut author of the month!

I need good swag. I hadn't thought about general swag too much before last weekend. Sure I had fun stuff for my launch party and I always have bookmarks at each event. But I need some cute, fun swag. Let me tell you why I suddenly feel like this. Last weekend I went to an author fair in a nearby town. SO much fun! It was in a big library and there were tons of authors there. Each author had their own table to set up their display.

PANIC.

What display? I have one book out, I have a galley of the next, and bookmarks. Oh, and I had a few fliers on me too. But that's it. Uh-oh. I looked around and other authors had fancy matching table cloths and props and games and stickers and lots of general cute fun stuff to giveaway. Kristin Walker and I sized up the table and begged to sit together. Maybe our stuff together would look full enough.

















And it turned out ok-- the fair was a blast and lots and lots of teens came through and stopped to chat. A number of them bought books but everyone wanted swag. So now I'm on a mission for next time. I need good swag! Does anyone have ideas? I want to get My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours stuff. Aside from literally giving out fake boyfriends (could you imagine pulling that off?) I'm not sure what to do. What kind of swag have you picked up at author events that you liked? Remembered? Used?

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves

A new side to this author thing

Tip of the day: Librarians and teachers, you can win some adorable cupcake notecards plus a copy of my latest mid-grade release, IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES. Go HERE to enter.

Up to this point in my career, I've managed to do most of my promotion on-line or via snail mail, with the occasional appearance thrown in there. I like it this way. With on-line stuff, you have a chance to think before you send. A chance to mull over your words a bit. Although I have to admit, as I've gotten busier, I mull a lot less than I used to.

This week, however, I was forced to expand my horizons. On Wednesday, I had my first radio interview, due to the release of IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES and an event I'm doing this weekend at Powells. Don't be too impressed. It's an AM news station in town, and the interview will air Saturday morning, with a mention in the news of my book signing on Friday morning. I think the mention Friday morning might be heard by a few people. My husband said some people he works with like to listen during the week. But Saturday morning? On an AM station? Yeah, this made me feel much more confident going into it. No one will hear me! Yay, it doesn't matter if I goof up!

And still, I was terrified. I knew he'd ask about the book, which he did. I had typed the summary out so I basically read it. After that, he asked about my writing process. This is a question I need to work on. How does a person explain the process of writing? For me, it's like - I sit down and I stare at the computer screen and then I make myself type the words in my head. I didn't say this to him, of course. Don't ask me what I said to that question. I have no idea. I think I babbled on about how some people are outliners and some aren't, and I tend to be one of the non-outliners.

On top of just being nervous about the whole thing and wanting to sound somewhat intelligent, there were other outside factors that made the thing stressful. Twenty minutes before I was scheduled to call him, a big water treatment truck parked outside our house and started making lots of noise. And that made the dog bark. And bark. And bark. So, to keep her quiet, I went into my bedroom, put her on the bed, shut the door, and proceeded to RUB HER BELLY THE WHOLE TIME I TALKED TO THE GUY.

I have never been so glad to have something done in my life as that radio interview.

And then guess what happened. Today, I got a request to be on a local TV show in two weeks.

Lord help me.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

How much is too much?

Tip of the day: Want to read Tina Springer's book, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST? Of course you do! Her release day is getting closer! You can pre-order your very own copy HERE or HERE.

With my own book's release date less than three months away, I've been thinking about promotion. Specifically, is there such a thing as too much?

I have a little blog tour lined up for the week of the release. But I know some authors set up guest blogs and interviews for an entire month after the release.

I suppose the idea is that the more places you and your book are, the more people who see you. But what about the people who see you again and again? Are you potentially turning them off by showing your book to them over and over?

I have to admit that sometimes I think to myself, okay, enough already. But I may be an odd duck. I understand, we all have to promote ourselves. But I guess I believe that at some point, you have to let go and turn the book over to the readers, and let them tell other people to buy it. If it's good, that's exactly what they'll do.

But I want to ask you - do you think an author can do TOO much on-line promotion, to the point where you're potentially turning people off? Or is there not such a thing as "too much?"

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Help me, please!

Tip of the day: Have a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend. It’s supposed to rain where I am. I plan on spending a lot of the weekend writing!

All right.

Dilemma time.

I need help!

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve been in a recession. A recession means less money for everyone, schools especially.

So, I’m getting e-mails quite often from teachers asking if I might donate a book or books for their classroom library.

Now, please understand – I love teachers! And I especially love that these caring teachers want great libraries of books in their classrooms, and want to include MY books in said libraries.

So I have said yes to these requests most of the time, because I feel like it’s something I should do.

But if I donate a book every week to a teacher or some other cause, and it’s a hardcover book at $16.00 that’s $832 in books! And for the record, let’s make sure everyone understands – that’s $832 out of my own pocket.

I mean, to me, that’s a lot of money! Money I need to be saving for my kids’ college tuition that is coming up in the not-so-distant future.

I hate that I may just have to start saying no. But I feel like saying yes has opened the floodgates and now I’m getting even more requests.

Yes, I want kids to read my books! But I also don’t want to be known as the author who is happy to give away books, because I can’t really build a career giving away books. Or can I? Do you think giving away 50+ books would help to sell many more books than that in the long run, because kids read one and then buy more later?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this! What do you think? Should I keep saying yes, or is it time to put my foot down?

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Two books ain't enough??

Tip of the day: Stock up on school supplies now for later in the year, when things need to be replaced. They’ll never be as cheap as they are now, especially if you shop stores specifically to get their in-the-door specials.

Remember when I talked about how having a book released is similar to having a baby?

Recently I realized, that as you have more books, it’s also sort of like having lots of kids.

The first one, people get REALLY excited. They shower you with gifts and food, and just think that baby is the best thing ever. It’s the same with the first book. People you know can’t wait to run out and buy it. I know a real author, they exclaim!

The second one, people are still fairly excited. People come to the baby shower again, although a little less enthusiastic, because, after all, can’t you just use most of the stuff you got the first time around? With the second book, some people are still really excited. Your mother, of course. Your good writing friends. But some people think, I bought her first book. Do I really have to buy the second? I mean, she writes teen books. Not really my thing.

The third, fourth, fifth one? Yeah, the excitement kinda wears off and it almost seems like people turn the other way when they see you coming. People talk amongst themselves – how many kids are they gonna have anyway? And WHY? Why do they want so many kids? Isn’t two enough? And with more books published, some people look at you differently. Stop talking about yourself, they think. You’ve been talking about yourself and your books for four years now. We KNOW you write books. So what? So do a lot of people. Let someone else step in the spotlight. Like this amazing debut author over here. Haven’t you heard? Everyone is SO excited for this book and people are talking about it like it’s the next best thing since THE CATCHER IN THE RYE.

Yeah, it’s easy to feel like old news. But for an author, each book is new, different and special. With each one, it’s expected we’ll do some promotion. In this golden age of YA, where the shelves in the bookstores are expanding by the day it seems, we have to do everything we can to compete. We have book signings not because we intend to beg the same people over and over again to buy our books. We have them because hey, maybe there are real, actual fans out there now who might want to come.

I’m proud and excited about the fact that I have more books coming out next year. But I still have to work to sell them. I still have to put myself out there, even if people want a little less Lisa Schroeder and a little more of New and Shiny Debut Authors.

Don’t worry though. I don’t ever expect you to have me and my five books over for dinner.

Please note: I love all you debut authors and want the very best for you, I really and truly do. This post is more about how I feel sometimes with people in real life than people on-line, in case you were wondering. And really, it's all good. I'm very lucky to be building a body of work and just think it's fun to stop and ponder what happens at various points along the way.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Do book trailers sell books?

Tip of the day: I recommend M2 Productions for an affordable book trailer. She did one for I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME and I will most likely be asking her to do one for CHASING BROOKLYN.

So this week, we asked one of our Author2Author buddies a question related to writing or publishing. Just whatever was on our mind at the moment. Since I've been trying to decide if I should invest in a book trailer for CHASING BROOKLYN, I thought I'd ask Kate what she thinks of book trailers. Does she watch them? Does she ever buy a book based on a book trailer? Does she think teens watch them and like them?

Here's what she had to say:

I don't usually watch book trailers, but I'm not their intended audience. (I have lots of writer-like places to get book recommendations.) I do think that teens watch them. In fact, I asked a teenager who loves to read what she thinks of book trailers, and here is what she said:

"I've watched a few teen book trailers at my old school as an advertisment for our school book fair and they really did make me want to read the books! I even bought one of them!"

And kids do spend a lot of time on YouTube. Some of them like to make movies themselves.

I just searched Book Trailers on YouTube. The fan trailer for CITY OF BONES has over 55,000 views. In contrast, the "official" trailer for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK has about 15,000 views. A fan trailer for BREAKING DAWN has over 8 million views! I wonder if book trailers aren't a word-of-mouth thing with teens. It's a way they recommend books to each other. (Then again, I'm a sucker for fan art.) Check out this website: The Teen Book Video Awards by Kirkus Reviews. (http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/book_video/index.jsp) It's a contest for teen-made book trailers.

I think there is a growing place for "official" publisher/author-made trailers. I think they'll take off when they're easier to find. Movie trailers are easy to find and studios don't mind grouping them together, even though the studios are competitors. There's a movie trailers channel on YouTube but not a book trailers channel. Sites like Bookscreening (http://bookscreening.com/) will help. Actually, this is the only site that tempts me to sit around watching book trailers for a while. I don't have time to watch a trailer here and there as I'm checking Twitter or Facebook quickly. I'd like to watch a few at once when I have some time, like we watch previews before a movie.

So yes, I think it's a good thing to have a book trailer made because I believe that we're figuring out how to get book trailers to teens. By the time my book is published, it will probably be normal to see book trailers in bookstores and school libraries, on their own YouTube channel, all over Amazon, and aggregated together like movie trailers are. People will be scrambling to make videos of their backlist books. But I think there will always be a big following for fan art videos. If a teenager ever made a fan art video of a book I wrote, I would probably die of happiness.

I agree, Kate. It's a really cool thing to have a teen love your book so much, he/she feels compelled to express him/herself in a video about it!

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Confessions of an Online Goddess, Tina! (or Go Tina! Tina Tina Bo-Bina....)

Tip of the Day: For an editor's take on an author's online presence, check out this link to an interview with Molly O'Neill (who is also a great SCBWI presenter).

I asked Tina, Miss Delighted to Debut:

How do you decide what social networking sites to spend your time on? FaceBook, MySpace, LJ, Verla's, Good Reads, a webpage blog, The Debs, etc.... And how much time per day/week/month do you spend on those sites? Do you think they help you connect with potential readers or buyers? Or are they just a fun, rationable stalling tactic before working on your mss? Any tips on social networking?

Tina says:

Awesome questions Deena! It is so hard trying to figure out where to spend online time since there are so many great places to go. Let me give you my list in order of where I go the most:

1) facebook

2) twitter

3) 2009 Debutantes

4) LJ/blogspot

5) Goodreads

These are my everyday sites. On occasion I go to Verla's too. I went a lot more when I was seeking an agent because the section on response times is awesome. Now I go just to check in and see what people are up to. I like the good news section to see what's going on. And I like the happy vibes.



I spend a lot of time on the Debs board. It's a great place to post questions and share author experiences since we're all going through similar stuff around the same time.



Very rarely do I go to MySpace anymore. I just don't think many people hang out there these days. I'll go once or twice a month just to see what's going on.



I love goodreads because there are SO MANY readers on there! And so many good books and it's really easy to post reviews. I like posting reviews on Amazon too but for some reason it's a bit more of a hastle than on goodreads. This could just be me of course. I do think if you want to reach readers for say a book giveaway, goodreads is definitely a great way to do it.



I'm on LJ everyday just because I like to blog (and it generates to the front page of my Web site and Amazon. Bonus.) and read blogs. Though, I'll admit, I skim a lot. Maybe that's why Twitter and Facebook are my favorites. I like the quick updates on what is going on with everyone. And, especially on facebook, you're keeping up with not only readers and writing friends but all the rest of your friends and family too.



All authors should probably be on Twitter now. If you want to reach your audience it's probably the way to go. I'm not saying that I'm super successful on Twitter (well yet, I'm trying!). But I know a lot of authors have 500-1000 followers. And John Green has 621,000 followers. That's a lot of people! So it does work for many. And, true story, when I was walking around Printer's Row in Chicago this summer I recognized an author based only on his tweets. I stopped and said, "Oh my god, I love you on twitter!" He's just really funny. So I think it can bring you more readers if people like you on twitter. And it's kind of fun to follow celebrities too and see what they're doing RIGHT NOW. Except for Heidi Montag (from the Hills). I think I might have to unfollow her soon because her tweets are a bit annoying. She's usually saying stuff like, oh it feels so good to be healthy! Come buy my exercise video or whatever it is she's trying to sell these days. I think if you're just trying to sell stuff then you'll quickly become annoying on twitter. So none of those come buy my book please! tweets, ok?

And you asked about how much time I spend-- well, I kind of do a drive-by of each site throughout the day. Think about how often you check your e-mail. When I check mine I'll also take a look at each site. So they are not long sessions, but brief stops. Hey, I sound like a meal plan. "Eat 5-7 mini meals..." "Check your sites 5-7 times throughout the day..." :)



So to sum up, authors should definitely:

blog,

join goodreads,

tweet,

and join facebook. :)

That's my two cents anyway.

Thanks, Tina! Wow -- I JUST got on facebook and now I realize I'm behind on goodreads and twitter -- ack! :)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Three Months Out

Tip of the Day: Back-to-School shopping is exciting (or maybe that's just me) but if you can hold off until after school starts, everything goes on sale a week or two in. (Exp. Target usually has all their backpacks, lunchboxes etc. 50% after labor day.)

I'm three months out now until the release of my first book. Eeeeeee! So I've been trying to figure out what I should be doing at this point to prepare. Here's what I've got:

Meet with publicist. Now is about the time when authors hook up with their publicist and talk about things like interviews, booksignings, events, media (if you're lucky!) etc. I have my first call with my publicist today.

Reviewers. I've also been getting a lot of requests from online bloggers to review my book. I've forwarded these to my publicist as I have no more advance copies to pass out.

Promotional Stuff. It's also time to get some promo items. I'm still deciding what I really want and what I really need. I like the business cards with the book cover on one side and the info on the other that I picked up a couple of weeks ago and I've been handing them out to people when they ask me about my book. I think I'll get more of these because they're so convenient and fit in my wallet. And I've ordered bookmarks (I'll do a separate post on these when they come in. And I might get postcards made. I hear it's a good idea to send post cards to independent bookstores to let them know you have a book coming out.

Think about launch. Do I want to do a signing? A party? An online contest? I need to start thinking about this stuff now.

Start filling out interviews. I'm part of a 40+ person blog tour with the 2009 debs and I've been getting interview requests from bloggers so I really need to get going with answering all these questions.

Web site. Alright, this one is all up to the hubby. He's been working on it though and I'm hoping it'll be cute!

Facebook Fanpage. My publisher set me up with a cute facebook fanpage and it has a great What Coffee Drink are You Quiz that I love. I'm so happy they thought to do this!

And...that's where I'm at. There might be more that I should be doing right now but I'm also working on that new book I mentioned last week (yes, I got back into gear!)

Any suggestions from you professional authors out there? Should I be doing something else at the three month pre-pub mark?

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut