Alyce Wilson's Blog: Dispatches from Wonderland

LJ Idol Survivor Voting

It's time again to vote for LJ Idol Survivor, and immunity is on the line!

Voting for LJ Idol Survivor is open until 7 p.m. tonight.

If you don't have a Dreamwidth.org account, you can either sign up for a free account or use the OpenID option to sign in from a number of other blogging platforms, such as Livejournal.

https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/...

Voting for Me in LJ Idol

For years, I've been participating in an online writing contest called LJ Idol. The prize is simply bragging rights, but it's been a great way to build my skills and keep writing even on weeks when I have no ideas. The current season is taking a bit of a different approach, with an added "Survivor" style component, and the poll is up for week 4 of LJ Idol Survivor.

https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/...

As before, our votes are being averaged with the other members of our tribe to determine which tribe is safe. If you're interested, I'm alycewilson (of course), and my fellow tribe members are:

bleodswean
bsgsix
murielle
n3m3sis43 (She didn't post an entry, so I don't believe that votes for her will count towards the total).

You can log in with a LiveJournal account by using the OpenID option. You can also log in from some other blogging platforms, like perhaps from Wordpress, or you can start a free Dreamwidth account.

There aren't many entries to read, so it can be a fun way to occupy yourself. The deadline is 7 p.m. tonight. Read and vote!

Balancing Life and Promotion

Lately, I've felt so far behind it's ridiculous. In addition to personal projects, a large editing/design gig, and competing in the online contest, LJ Idol, along with, of course, all of my mothering duties, I can barely function. No matter what I am doing, I'm thinking of the million other things I should be doing.

Add to that the pressure of writing three articles a week for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, which has begun offering me open assignments, presumably because of my excellent track record and above-average monthly hit count. And, of course, there's my two "American Idol" recaps I also write for YCN each week.

All of this means that I haven't put in nearly enough time promoting something that really matters. That is the Baby Steps video competition, where I'm competing for an audience cash prize that would pay for my son's tuition for the rest of the year. We've been living paycheck to paycheck, so that's an enormous thing. It deserves attention, much more than I've given it.

Please take a moment to go to the voting page and cast your vote for me. My video is the first one on the first page, showing my 3-year-old son with two puppets. You can vote every two days, so please bookmark the page and vote as many times as you can until March 28.

In return, I will gladly help you promote any personal project!

Creative Parenting Leads to Creativity

Thanks to a friend, I learned early this week about a video contest about early childhood education held by an organization called Baby Steps. Thanks to my broadcast/cable undergraduate degree, I was able to work from existing video and shoot a little extra B-roll to put together an entry for the parenting/caregivers category. It helps that I have been engaging in creative learning activities with my son on a regular basis and have also compulsively photographed them and captured them on video.

According to the contest rules, a panel of judges will award the top three winners in each category based on specific criteria. As a special perk, they will also present a cash award to the video that receives the most votes.

I can use your help. Please follow this link, scroll to the bottom, and view my video (you'll see my son with two puppets). Then, to vote, first close the video window and then click the box at the upper right-hand corner of the preview box for my video. Please note: Clicking LIKE on the page does NOT count as a vote.

http://on.fb.me/1c22MbO

I've also uploaded an image that shows you exactly where to click, to make it clearer: http://www.alycewilson.com/aimages/20...

Winning this prize would help us greatly with my son's preschool tuition for the rest of the year. I would appreciate any help!

Goal Setting & Resolutions

This is the time of year for people to evaluate how they did the previous year and to set new resolutions. The question is: How useful is this practice, really?

As a writer, it's tempting to set goals that are too ambitious, too far-reaching. Then, by the end of the year, I tend to focus on only those things I haven't yet achieved.

This year, I've set two main goals: to complete my two works in progress. On my master "To Do" list, I've moved all my other writing projects to the bottom of a list, in a new category called "Shelved Projects." That way I'm not weighed down with guilt about them whenever I consult my list, but I also won't forget about those ideas.

As a reader, I have seldom set goals about how many books I would read. This year, however, I'm going to set a modest goal of 10 books, just because I know how hard it is to find time to read. And yet, I think that if I use my time effectively, I can finally get through some of the books on my "to read" shelf.

I'm also resolving to complete reviews (even if they're only one paragraph) for the books I did finish reading in 2013.

What about you? Are you setting writing and reading goals for 2014?

Update: Countdown Versus Free Giveaway Promotions

In the month of December, I tried out Kindle promotions for my two most recent books. Now I have some data and can reflect on the results.

First, I did a free promotion of The Art of Life, my essays and columns book, over Philcon weekend. This involved distributing rack cards at Philcon, sharing the link across various social networks, and engaging in an intense Twitter campaign, with tweets scheduled periodically across all five days.

The end result: I gave away 136 free Kindle versions of the book and, the following week, sold 1 copy at regular price. I also rose to #2 in one of the categories my book is listed in, during the duration of the last few days of the promotion.

Then, over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday/Tuesday weekend, I held a Countdown Promotion of my Kindle-only book, Dedicated Idiocy, a non-fiction/humor book about my time in the Penn State Monty Python Society. A Countdown Promotion offers the book at a reduced price, starting with the lowest price and stepping up incrementally to the standard price. Except for the rack cards, I engaged in exactly the same promotional tactics.

The end result: I sold 1 copy of the book, at a reduced price. Thanks to the way the Countdown Promotions are set up, I still earned 70% royalties on the sale.

This experiment doesn't answer all my questions, of course. After all, it is an apples-to-oranges comparison. The two books are very different, with the essays book potentially having a much broader appeal. (I'm thinking of changing the subtitle of Dedicated Idiocy to "How Monty Python Fandom Changed My Life" since the current title is a bit too esoteric.)

I'll have to wait 90 days before swapping the promotions and doing a free giveaway of "Dedicated Idiocy" and a Countdown Promotion of "Art of Life." When I do that, I'll be able to say which is more effective as a promotional tool.

I'm hopeful that all the free copies of "The Art of Life" will generate my first Amazon.com reviews of the book, since that could drive further sales. Hopefully, getting these two books into the hands of readers will make them more interested in my current work in progress, "Now with Kung Fu Action Grip," a collection of essays, writings and poetry about my son.

Have any other authors tried these promotions via Kindle? If so, what have your results been?

Countdown Deal for "Dedicated Idiocy"

This weekend I'm trying out the countdown deal option at Kindle Direct Publishing through Amazon.

So today and tomorrow until 6 PM (EST)/3 PM (PST) you can get my book Dedicated Idiocy for just 99 cents. Following that, it will be available for $1.99 and then $2.99 before stepping back up to the usual cover price of $3.99 on December 3. Just head to the book's Amazon.com page.

The earlier you click, the better deal you'll get!

Don't have a Kindle device? Don't worry. Just type "Free Kindle Reading Apps" into Google and select one of Amazon's free apps for smartphones and PCs.

I've never tried one of these promotions before, so I don't know what to expect, but I figured it was worth a shot. Please stop by and get your copy of this fun, colorful look at fandom, friendship and spam.

Special Philcon Book Promotion

Before I get caught up in the face-to-face networking with SF readers and writers known as Philcon, I'd like to take a moment to let you know about my special weekend promotion for my essays book, The Art of Life. A compilation of more than 10 years of newspaper columns and online writings, the book draws from pop culture, personal experience and observation to delve into the beauty and humor of everyday life.

I published this book the year my son was born, which meant I was too distracted by Baby Boot Camp to spend much time promoting it. But I've heard many positive comments about it and just know that if I can get people to read it, they'll pass the word about how much they like it.

Snag your free copy of the Kindle version of The Art of Life. And if you don't have a Kindle device, download one of Amazon's free Kindle apps for PC and smart phones. I use their Droid app and have found it to be a great way to pass the time while waiting in line at the post office or the hair salon.

If you do grab a copy, please write a review at Goodreads, Amazon, and other book review sites. I need the word of mouth!

Share this info with friends, family, and connections. I'd like to give away thousands of copies of The Art of Life. So far, in just the first half day of the campaign, I've reached #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Parenting & Families. Not bad! Let's see what sort of heights we can reach together.

Philcon Schedule

I've received my official Philcon schedule and am on two panels this year and am officially the moderator of one of them (huzzah!). Check it out:

Sat 6:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Two (1 hour)
BECOMING A FULL TIME WRITER (1496)

[Panelists: Alyce Wilson (mod), Alex Shvartsman, David Sklar, D.L. Carter, Thomas Willeford]

How do you become a full time writer? Is that a good idea for you?


Sun 10:00 AM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE YOUR CAREER (1543)

[Panelists: KT Pinto (mod), Christine Norris, Alyce Wilson, D.H. Aire]

Whenever a writer is on Facebook, he or she is not working on their writing. What are the potential advantages and distractions of social media?



So my questions to you: What information would you like to hear on these two panels if you were attending? And do you have any insights that might be useful (such as specific books or online resources) to share?

The First One is Free

A little more than a year and a half ago (I think), I did a promotional giveaway of my book, The Art of Life, on Goodreads. Sadly, the two people who won the book never wrote reviews. Perhaps they have as extensive a shelf of "books to read" as I do -- gathering dust in the combined office/toddler bedroom.

But recently, I've been reading information about marketing self-published books and, again and again, I've seen people testifying to the power of the freebie. Not only can free copies help introduce readers to your work (possibly convincing them to buy other books), but they can also lead to sales. Some authors talk about how free promotions led to sales, but that the most important part of that equation is to do a lot of footwork prior to the event in order to get the word out about the freebie. So this time, I'm going to try to do that.

I created a Goodreads event so that I could invite my friends and created a similar event on Facebook. Other friends of mine who are authors have created similar events, which was how I got the idea.

I've also been following through on some excellent advice from writer Karina Gioertz, who said she saw a spike in sales after doing her all to promote a free promotion. I've submitted my promotion to the freebie sites she suggested (although some of them no longer exist), and I've scheduled tweets to the Twitter handles she recommends notifying about the giveaway.

In addition, I made up rack cards via Vistaprint, which I will be distributing at Philcon. I also timed the giveaway to coincide with that weekend (Friday through Tuesday, to give people time to get home from the convention and follow through).

Before November 8, I'll be scheduling a number of other tweets promoting the book, including quotes, subject matter and other interesting tidbits that could attract readers.

I'm going to continue to brainstorm for other ways to get the promotion out there as widely as possible. My goal is to give away thousands of books, in hopes that it will lead to both sales and a higher profile for me as an author.

What about you? As an author, have you held a free promotion? If so, how did it go? As a reader, what makes you want to grab a free book?