MwM Author Spotlight: Cat Johnson
Marketing with Mandy Author Spotlight: Cat Johnson
Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Samhain Publishing.
A: I find Samhain does a lot of effective things to promote their authors. Probably the biggest thing recently was when they made the first ebook in my Red, Hot & Blue series free on Amazon.com. That put TREY on a few best-seller lists on Amazon and bumped up the sales of my entire backlist dramatically, as well as gave me huge hits on my website.
Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: I try to interact with and spread my name to fans of the subjects in which I write (IE supporters of the military, fans of rodeo/bull riding) as much as I do with romance readers. I also signed on to be a blogger at a site owned by a chef who writes aphrodisiac cookbooks. I thought people who like sexy food might also be interested in what an author of sexy books has to say. So far, I was right. Thinking out of the box as far as marketing expands the pool of potential readers wider than your usual romance readers.
Q: What is one thing you'd want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: Never stop learning. This business is changing faster than anyone can keep up with.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: TEXAS TWO-STEP: COWBOY SHUFFLE is a February 2, 2012 exclusive release from All Romance eBooks (though it will also be available at the iBookstore). In 2011 ARe invited a select group of authors to write for their Perfect Strangers Valentines Day promotion and I was lucky enough to be one of those authors. My title from 2011, TEXAS TWO-STEP, was a site-wide top 10 best seller. For this year's Perfect Strangers release, I've written the sequel.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIPs?
A: I'm currently writing Book 5 in my Studs and Spurs series (with Samhain). I'm finding through this series that there are a lot of stories in the world of professional bull riding to be told.
Q: How did you get into writing?
A: I've written my entire life, but my first paid contract was 2 weeks out of college when I got hired onto a YA series. I was an English major so writing seemed like a perfect fit.
Q: How do balance family and writing?
A: Not well. I'm a terrible housekeeper. I take care of what really needs to be done—like feeding my animals so they don't kill me and eat me in my sleep, and doing laundry so my husband doesn't leave me, but things like vacuuming tend to fall by the wayside (a little cat hair on the carpet won't kill anyone LOL).
LINKS:
