Cranking up the book promo machine

It's April 1st -- only 28 more days until Armed & Magical is sitting on bookstore shelves at Barnes & Noble, Borders, or your favorite indie bookseller. Just sitting there waiting for the stampede of eager readers to snatch them off of the shelves and devour them in a single sitting. Hey, a girl can hope. ; )

So what am I doing to encourage said stampede?

1. Book Launch Party at Barnes & Noble -- This is gonna be a blast (and yes, I will post photos). The B&N at The Streets at Southpoint in Durham, NC, is throwing me a bash April 29 at 7:00 p.m. I'll be signing books, reading, there will be cake (with my book cover on it), balloons, prizes, giveaways, and tons of fun!

2. Bookstore stock signings: I'll go into local bookstores and sign the copies of A&M that they have on the shelves. It's a great way to get to know some fabulous people -- my local booksellers.

3. Cyber Launch Book Party -- This will be on April 24 (Kimber An, correct me if I'm wrong) over at Enduring Romance (the link is to the right). Kimber An throws world-famous cyber launches!

4. Advertising in Realms of Fantasy magazine -- I have an ad in the June issue (on newsstands now) on page 26, and will have one in the next issue as well.

5. Local press coverage -- My publicist is sending a press kit with a copy of A&M to my local media folks.

6. 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.

7. I'll be at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Pittsburgh April 16-20. My mentor/"author mom" Linnea Sinclair (I don't know what I'd do 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!

8. Cafepress store will be up by April 29 -- My designer is working on the designs now. We'll have t-shirts, tote bags, messenger bags, mugs, bumper stickers, sweatshirts, hats, and more.

9. Updating website with more fun stuff -- I'm finishing The Trouble With Demons while putting together the updates for Webmaster Todd. Those will be up before April 29.

10. Raine's Rangers -- My official Yahoo Group online fan club. We're getting new members every day and are having a blast!

11. Postcards and bookmarks. I never leave home without them. I actually had time to go to the mall the other night. Actually I had to go for stuff for the convention. I gave my pitch and postcards to every sales person I dealt with. ; )

12. Contests! -- I love giving away books and goodies just as much as you all like winning them.

I'm sure there's more, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to remember them. April's gonna be a busy month for me. ; )

Lisa

And don't forget about the MLTF Contest -- Since some of you have read your copies of Magic Lost, Trouble Found multiple times, I thought I'd give you all a chance to replace it with a brand new, signed and personalized copy. Over the next four weeks I'll be giving away copies of MLTF and other book goodies. Just send me an email at lisa@lisashearin.com with "MLTF contest" in the subject line and you'll be entered to win. There will be a total of four winners, with the names drawn on the next four Saturdays. You only have to enter once to be eligible for each week's drawing.