Book promotion a la Lisa
Again by request: What's going on with Armed & Magical right now? And how am I promoting Magic Lost, Trouble Found?
Armed & Magical is going into copyediting. That means that an editor in New York is reading A&M for mispelled words, bad/wrong grammar (though I prefer to say "temporarily incorrect" grammar), inconsistencies, correct verb tenses, missing words, etc. I'm an editor at an advertising agency, so I know the drill. You'd also think I could have caught all of this myself, but believe me, you get so close to a book that you wouldn't know a boo-boo if it wapped you upside the head with a hammer. I'm so grateful for another editor's sharp eyes!
As to promotion for MLTF. . .as a first-time author, there's only so much I can do, but I'm doing all that I can.
1. Bookstore stock signings: A great way to get to know some fabulous people -- my local booksellers. I haven't gotten to all of them yet, but I'm working on it.
2. Bookstore mailings: I mailed MLTF postcards to I think every bookstore in the state of North Carolina.
3. Attempting to drum up local press coverage (this isn't as easy as you would think).
4. The Internet: I love this place! What did authors do before blogs, forums, websites, chats, etc.? I get to talk to fans from all over the world, which is just too cool! Word of mouth from fans online is hands down the best way to spread the word. So if you loved MLTF, tell your friends, your family, your everybody!
5. Conferences and conventions: I'll be at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Pittsburgh next April. My mentor/author fairy godsister Linnea Sinclair (I don't know what I'd have done without her) has graciously asked me to be on her SciFi/Fantasy panel. Thank you, Linnea! So if any of you are planning to be there, please look me up; I'd love to meet you! There'll probably be more conferences between now and then, but I don't have them scheduled yet. I'll let you know.
6. And I have a massive blast email going out in the next week or so to tap an untapped market. Thank you, Scott!
I'm sure there's more, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to remember them.
Armed & Magical is going into copyediting. That means that an editor in New York is reading A&M for mispelled words, bad/wrong grammar (though I prefer to say "temporarily incorrect" grammar), inconsistencies, correct verb tenses, missing words, etc. I'm an editor at an advertising agency, so I know the drill. You'd also think I could have caught all of this myself, but believe me, you get so close to a book that you wouldn't know a boo-boo if it wapped you upside the head with a hammer. I'm so grateful for another editor's sharp eyes!
As to promotion for MLTF. . .as a first-time author, there's only so much I can do, but I'm doing all that I can.
1. Bookstore stock signings: A great way to get to know some fabulous people -- my local booksellers. I haven't gotten to all of them yet, but I'm working on it.
2. Bookstore mailings: I mailed MLTF postcards to I think every bookstore in the state of North Carolina.
3. Attempting to drum up local press coverage (this isn't as easy as you would think).
4. The Internet: I love this place! What did authors do before blogs, forums, websites, chats, etc.? I get to talk to fans from all over the world, which is just too cool! Word of mouth from fans online is hands down the best way to spread the word. So if you loved MLTF, tell your friends, your family, your everybody!
5. Conferences and conventions: I'll be at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Pittsburgh next April. My mentor/author fairy godsister Linnea Sinclair (I don't know what I'd have done without her) has graciously asked me to be on her SciFi/Fantasy panel. Thank you, Linnea! So if any of you are planning to be there, please look me up; I'd love to meet you! There'll probably be more conferences between now and then, but I don't have them scheduled yet. I'll let you know.
6. And I have a massive blast email going out in the next week or so to tap an untapped market. Thank you, Scott!
I'm sure there's more, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to remember them.
posted by Lisa Shearin at
8:45 AM
9 Comments:
Very cool, Lisa. There's so much that can be done. I imagine time management in getting done what you can is challenging. Linnea really is a sweetheart, I know.
;)
I continue to be surprised at the number of authors who are not active on the Internet at all. I suppose it isn't everyone's thing, but to not even maintain an author website? It's so cheap that its almost free. Yet in one of my last columns on Fantasy Debut, there were three debut authors who seemed to have no website at all.
I'm stunned when I hear of authors not taking advantage of the FREE (or virtually free) technology available to them. Especially when you write fantasy/SciFi -- your target audience IS online. And they do talk to each other. A fabulous example is the cyber-launch book party Kimber An threw for MLTF. Chatting going on from people worldwide. You can't get that anywhere else. The web rocks!
Lisa, what do you think of 'book peals' (not sure that's the correct term) or 'book trailers' to promote a book?
I just became aware of them, and it seems like a great way to generate excitement about a book, but I noticed very few authors have one produced.
I have a lot of interest in this idea. Any insights?
Laurie, I just recently heard of book trailers myself. In fact, I saw my first one last night for James Patterson's new book. Kinda like a mini movie.
Oooooo, a trailer with Tam & Raine or Mychael & Raine. It'd be pricey, but it'd be oh so nice. ; )
Oh, yes...or better yet Raine and Tam and Mychael. LOL Ok, I'm greedy, but I'd love to see these three created as live action characters.
If anyone is curious what I'm talking about, Linnea Sinclair has links to a couple of her non-live action trailers on the Alien Romance site. Or I think you can do a search in YouTube under 'book trailers' to see others.
Oooo, Linnea's got book trailers?! I'll have to go check 'em out.
I found your book through a recommendation on Amazon. I must say that I am disappointed that I will have to wait so long for the next book. I really enjoyed the story & the characters were great.
I am adding your blog to my aggregator.
Thank you so much Diane! It's been so great to talk to people who love my characters as much as I do! As soon as I can, I'll post sample chapters from ARMED & MAGICAL.
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