Tag Archives: Twitter

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Hear Ye, Hear Ye: How to Promote an Audiobook

Okay, folks, this one is easy: If you’re already out there promoting your paperback or eBook, all you have to do is keep on doing what you’re doing and now throw your audiobook into marketing mix as well. What should you be doing? Most, if not all, of the following:

Create social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Goodreads, Google Plus — wherever it is you find you get the most mileage from your posts (remember, too much promotion can turn friends and followers off, so post wisely). You can also syndicate your content so that you can post to multiple accounts simultaneously.

Create a blog: There’s been a lot of debate lately on whether writers should bother with blogging, whether blogging is helpful as a promotional tool for writers. I started this blog in March 2010 not as a promotional tool, but as a way to help write myself out of a writer’s block and to network with other writers. (It worked.) Readers of this blog will know that I rarely use it for promotional purposes — Yes, I have my book info in the sidebar and I mention Baby Grand all the time but the blog is more informational than promotional.

Create a dialogue: Spend time reading other people’s blogs and social media posts. Not only do you learn a heck of a lot, but I’ve found that people find their way to my book simply by reading my comments or viewpoints and then clicking my gravatar.

Create a website: This is a MUST. All authors should have a “home base,” so to speak, one place where readers can go to find out everything they need to know about you and your books. Additionally, a recent blog post by Shelli Johson suggests you should have a media kit available on your website, which will make it easier for others (newspaper editors, bloggers, TV producers, etc.) to get your bio, head shot, book jacket and other info readily. Excellent advice.

Create a mailing list: Give readers and potential readers the opportunity to sign up to hear about your news. I use Constant Contact for my mailing list needs.

Create videos: Create a YouTube channel and develop promotional videos for your book. These can include man-on-the-street videos featuring the author, or Q&As or book trailers. Whatever you think will help people find you and generate interest in your work.

Well, that winds up this week’s celebration of the premiere of the Baby Grand audiobook. If you have any other promotional ideas for your books, audio or otherwise, I’d love to hear them. Have a great weekend!

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Meet Kellie Larsen Murphy

Today’s featured debut author is Kellie Larsen Murphy, a freelance writer who has worked in both the banking and publishing industries. In recent years, she has written on a variety of subjects and has been featured frequently in several mid-Atlantic magazines. Her debut novel, A Guilty Mind, is the first in a series featuring Detective Michael Cancini. Kellie lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, four children, and two dogs.

022613_kellieName: Kellie Larsen Murphy

Name of book: A Guilty Mind

Book genre: Mystery/psychological Suspense

Date published: September 2012

What is your day job? Freelance writer and mother of 4

What is your book about? George Vandenberg is a broken man, haunted by the memory of the young woman he once loved and “accidentally” killed. When his psychiatrist turns up dead, George emerges as the primary suspect even as he becomes a target himself. To prove his innocence, George must face an unyielding detective, his manipulative wife, and the past he’s been unable to forget.

Why did you want to write this book? I remember once being at a girls’ dinner and the question came up, “If you could have any talent, what would it be?” Every single person at the table said “singing” except me. I said I wanted to be a really good writer! Freelance writing is fun and rewarding, but writing fiction is what I love best.

What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book? For me, finding the time to write is very challenging. Often, I have to write in short periods. Also, I have a tendency to work on the same chapter over and over until I feel it’s close to right before moving on. Some writers are able to speed through a first draft but I’m not one of those.

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5 Book Club Tips

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Book club meeting in Massapequa, New York, January 18, 2013.

In promoting Baby Grand, I’ve done all kinds of appearances. Bookstores. Libraries. Assisted living communities. (Street corners.) But probably my absolute favorite thing to do is attend book club meetings. Sitting in a casual circle, talking about the book that I wrote and everyone read, and seeing up close how readers have taken ownership of the novel’s characters and how they defend them, fight for them, question them, hate them, love them. Hearing how someone was at the edge of her seat as Jamie plotted to escape from her abductors, how some were surprised by the ending, had guessed a few things, had a few questions, can’t wait for the sequel. It’s probably the closest thing to bliss with regard to being novelist that I can describe — other than that amazing feeling, when you’re actually writing, of being so swept away and in the moment that you don’t even know where the ideas you’ve just put on paper have come from.

And there are some things that authors can do to make their book club appearances even more memorable and worthwhile. Here are five:

  • Have handouts. Every book club has its own way of doing things, but many of them have a facilitator who runs the meeting. Sometimes you will be asked to serve as facilitator, as I was for the book club meeting I attended last night. As facilitator, I brought handouts for all the members that included discussion questions for Baby Grand, as well as my contact information (email, Twitter, Facebook) so that I could maintain relationships with readers. Even if you are not asked to facilitate, business cards or book marks with your contact info or perhaps information on your next book, including the publication date, can be helpful.

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Marketing Tips #2 & #3

Promote your author events on social media. Very important. Which leads me to today’s companion tip:

Don’t over-promote your author events on social media. Equally as important.

Today’s marketing tips go hand-in-hand. Those of us who do most of our book promotion online, particularly through social media, know the fine line there is between promoting and over-promoting our work. I’ll bet many of us can point to Tweeters or Facebookers who bombard our home or newsfeeds with nonstop ads for themselves. As supportive as the publishing industry is — and it is! — it can get pretty annoying after a while.

Give and take is what social media is about — and, actually, more giving than taking. The general ratio I strive for — and this differs, depending upon what website you consult — is 7:1. In other words, for every seven tweets or Facebook posts I do, I will do one promotional post, which may mention a new 5-star review Baby Grand has gotten or a contest I’ve entered (did you know that I was nominated for Best Long Island Author?) or a guest post I’ve done. I strive for the vast majority of my posts to be informational (the sharing of interesting blog posts or articles I’ve stumbled across, as well as my own experiences and lessons) and supportive (retweeting good news for fellow authors).

Last Monday, I had my first book signing for Baby Grand — an event I promoted heavily, mostly on Facebook and Twitter. Again, I tried to straddle that fine line between promoting enough and promoting too much. In the end, the event was successful; more than 100 people attended, and I sold a ton of books.

I’ll tell you now… I don’t think anyone would have showed, other than my husband, mom and kids, if I hadn’t promoted this thing for months (periodic reminders, I’ve learned, are good). But I also feel that no one might have showed if I totally alienated all my friends and colleagues with a constant bombardment of promotional posts.

We want people to be happy to see our tweets and posts and blogs. The last thing we want is for people to roll their eyes or, worse, to unfollow or unfriend us because they’re fed up. Although there are those who think that any publicity is good publicity, my feeling is that too much promotion can be worse than none at all.

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Writing Tip #103

If it ain’t broke… I have a confession to make. Generally speaking, I’m not a big reader of “how to write” books or articles or blog posts. (Ironic, I know, considering I pen writing tips every week.) I find the amount of information out there on any particular topic overwhelming — and often contradicting. I’ll be cruising along and minding my own business and then read about the enormous success another writer is having doing something in a completely different way from the way I do it, and I’ll think, “Should I too be doing it that way?”

More often than not, I’ve found the answer is no, that how I’m going about things is perfectly fine, because it developed organically, in a way I didn’t really think about because it just happened. Trying to emulate someone else’s process can be like trying on someone else’s clothing because you like the way they look on that person — problem is, they may not look the same on you.

Therefore, I tend to seek out writing help only when I need it — if I’m in trouble, stuck on something, at my wit’s end. For example, I remember when I was working on the first draft of Baby Grand in the summer of 2010 and I was stumped on a death scene. I felt like what I was writing was so cliche and uninteresting. So I went to Twitter and asked if anyone had any suggestions, and someone replied with this: Do something that would otherwise be humorous if the situation weren’t so dire. And just with that advice, written in under 140 characters, a light bulb turned on over my head, and I finished my scene. (I am forever grateful.)

Another example: Recently, I was interested in turning Baby Grand into an audiobook, so I attended a recent ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors) seminar on audiobooks. My research tends to be very focused and concentrated. If I have a question, I’ll seek answers. Otherwise, I treat writing like I do parenting — I just go with my gut. I keep my eyes and ears open, yes, because sometimes you come across information (hopefully, on this blog) that can help you out, but overall I find that all the answers to the questions I haven’t asked I already have.

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Marketing Tip #1

Create a Goodreads giveaway. In addition to my weekly writing tips, I’ve decided to toss some marketing tips into the mix as well, since I have been living and breathing promotion for my debut novel, Baby Grand, these past five months — I’d like to think I learned SOMETHING along the way. :) Since today begins my month-long giveaway on Goodreads, I thought I’d get the ball rolling there:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Baby Grand by Dina Santorelli

Baby Grand

by Dina Santorelli

Giveaway ends October 31, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

As readers of this blog know, I participated for three months in Amazon’s KDP Select program, but did not like the idea of giving away my book en masse as part of those free promotion days, so I didn’t use them. Key word(s): en masse. I have nothing against doing small-scale giveaways — in fact, I think they’re a great way to spread the word about your book. My Goodreads giveaway has only been underway for about 16 hours, and already more than one hundred people have entered. What’s more, the number of people who added Baby Grand to their “to read” shelf doubled in that same time period. Not bad for the first day!

And don’t forget to promote your giveaway on all your social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. The most successful giveaways reach as many people as possible.

How will this translate into sales? Only time will tell. But one thing’s for sure. Not only are the most successful giveaways a result of reaching as many people as possible, the most successful books are as well.

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Writing Tip #90

Make time to write (the return of #1kaday!). Today marks my return to writing Novel #2, In the Red, which I put on the back burner a few months back in order to work on the nonfiction title, Bully, that’s coming out in September. So it’s back to writing 1,000 words a day for me — every day — and by the end of summer I hope to have a completed first draft.

And I’m really serious. I will write 1,000 words every day. Every. Day. If I have beach plans, I will wake up early or stay up late to write. If I go away on vacation, my laptop will be coming with me this time (I usually try to leave work at home). If I have to miss a day of writing — hey, things happen, right? — I will double up the following day.

This is the only way it will get done for me. I know myself. I have to push. I have to stay on schedule. As I tell myself all the time, “This thing isn’t going to write itself.” I have to make the time. My family has been warned that I will often be frustrated and cranky and busy, and, as always, is totally supportive. (I’m lucky that way.)

If you’d like to join me during the next two months in writing 1,000 words per day, I’d love some company. Use the Twitter hashtag #1kaday, and we’ll cheer each other on.

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Bryan Adams and ‘Baby Grand’

So I’m doing what I do every morning, checking out various social media sites for news and trends, and I come across the new song “Don’t Look Back” from Bryan Adams, one of my all-time favorite recording artists (his was my very first concert when I was a teenager):

http://twitmusic.com/embed/songs/don-t-look-back

And I think to myself, Hey, this is perfect for BABY GRAND. “Don’t look back” is a recurring theme in my debut thriller. And the song’s opening line, “Look into the eyes of a child,” made me think of little Charlotte Grand, who is at the center of the story.

So I ask Bryan Adams — via Twitter, of course — if I may declare “Don’t Look Back” the unofficial theme song of Baby Grand and he says yes.

How cool is that?

So there you go. New theme song. Next on the list is to get Robert De Niro to agree to play Gino Cataldi. Hmmm…

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Meet Author Tamara Ward

Well, I’m back from Book Expo America, and, boy, are my dogs barking! Lots and lots of walking and excitement as always, and I’ll be posting all about it in the days to come, but today we have our featured debut author. A big welcome to Tamara Ward!

Name: Tamara Ward

Name of book: Jade O’Reilly and the Ice Queen (A Sweetwater Short)

Book genre: short story, mystery

Date published: March 2012

Publisher: Amazon

What is your day job? Stay-at-home mom with two young boys, freelance journalist

What is your book about? When a priceless vase disappears during the fanciest party of the year in the fictional town of Sweetwater, NC, it’s up to private investigator Jade O’Reilly to recover the family heirloom. As Jade tracks down the vase, she juggles pressures from her ex-fiancé, Dale Pickles, and hard-core co-worker Mack Blackmon. This Sweetwater Short story is about 40 pages in length and originally was published in the WG2E All-For-Indies Winter Wonderland Anthology.

Why did you want to write this book? Fortune and glory. Just kidding; I’m not Indiana Jones or his sidekick, though I wouldn’t mind wearing the hat.

Seriously, though, I enjoy writing fun, fast-paced mysteries, so when an opportunity to write a short story for an indie writers’ anthology arose, I jumped at the occasion. I was in the process of writing a novel with the same characters who appear in the short story. I’m surprised at how much I learned about those characters in the process of writing the short story.

So the story was published in the anthology. A few months later, my publisher, Peak City Publishing, ran a promotion for Storm Surge, my first novel. When it hit the Amazon bestsellers lists, I wanted to offer something more for readers. Since the Ice Queen had been professionally edited, and since it was ready to go, I decided to self-publish the short story. In the meantime, I’m finishing writing the novel with the same characters.

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Meet Author Hemmie Martin

Happy Tuesday! What a whirlwind of a weekend! Thank you, everyone, for your support of Baby Grand. It’s been an amazing ride so far, and it’s just begun. :) And now on to today’s featured debut author, Hemmie Martin, whose book also premiered this month. Congrats, Hemmie!

Name: Hemmie Martin

Name of Book: The Divine Pumpkin

Genre: Fiction-drama

Date of publication: May 2012

Publisher: Winter Goose Publishing

Do you have a day job? Most of my professional career has been spent as a Community Nurse for people with learning disabilities, a Family Planning Nurse, and a Forensic Nurse working with young offenders. I now write full-time whilst running a family home.

What is your book is about? The novel is about a forensic nurse, Paloma Parker, who is successful in her career, but is incapable of finding a meaningful relationship. She begins working with an incarcerated juvenile, Ella, whom she discovers has a connection with her, but it is only understood when Paloma’s family secret is revealed. Paloma searches for love and Ella searches for inner peace, and the pair may just hold the key to each other’s very different kinds of freedom.

Why did you want to write this book? I have always used some form of writing as a therapeutic release, and when the idea for this book popped into my head, I had to run with it. In Britain, young offenders are often stereotyped as thoroughly bad teenagers, but in my experience of working with them, there were many sad cases, and also some nice teenagers who had taken the wrong path.

What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book? I have an idea for how the novel will begin and end. However, after around 40,000 words, I can sometimes find I’ve lost the direction and have to retrace my steps from the beginning. Self-doubt can creep in and sabotage my writing and my confidence until I find my way once more.

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