When you join please introduce yourself!

[Gail]

I'll see what my schedule is-sounds like a great bookstore-did you set this up or your pub?
(You can tell, I'm new at this promoting thing, too!)
Gail

[Judy]

My publisher set this up. He has a really cute PB coming out and the other two authors have YA books. I really am finding this marketing stuff stressful and confusing. Not sure what the best strategies are. Sort of seat of the pants for sure. Do hope you can come to Winter Garden and we can meet up! Would love to meet you. I am a real newbie at all of this too.

[Gail]

I'm going to try!
Thanks,
gail

[Neal]

KoKo wrote: "Neal wrote: "Hi guys,

I just uploaded my first book trailer. It's for "It's Weird to Grow a Beard", poems and illustrations by yours truly. Hope you like it.
Neal

http://youtu.be/rMxbpeMAcjU"


W..."

Carol wrote: "Gail wrote: "I just watched your trailer, Neal, and it's adorable. Did you do it yourself? Do you have video experience? Sorry for the questions-I have a MG fiction coming out soon and have wondere..."

KoKo wrote: "Neal wrote: "Hi guys,

I just uploaded my first book trailer. It's for "It's Weird to Grow a Beard", poems and illustrations by yours truly. Hope you like it.
Neal

http://youtu.be/rMxbpeMAcjU"


W..."
Hi,

Thanks. Yes. I do everything myself. Music, video, art, and the poems, of course. We just started promoting the book. Have zero budget, but we're trying everything we can think of.
Glad you liked it. :)

[Neal]

Carol wrote: "Gail wrote: "I just watched your trailer, Neal, and it's adorable. Did you do it yourself? Do you have video experience? Sorry for the questions-I have a MG fiction coming out soon and have wondere..."

HI Carol. My thinking is to get it out in every way possible. We're doing it all ourselves, so whatever gets it out there is OK by me. Thanks.

[Neal]

KoKo wrote: "Neal wrote: "Hi guys,

I just uploaded my first book trailer. It's for "It's Weird to Grow a Beard", poems and illustrations by yours truly. Hope you like it.
Neal

http://youtu.be/rMxbpeMAcjU"


W..."
Thanks, Koko.

[Judy]

Very good job, Neal. I understand shoestring budge. It is so hard to know where to put your money when marketing.

[Neal]

So true. And, thanks. :)

[Jessica]

My name is Jessica and I'm just starting at the very beginning of learning what to do with publishing, illustration, etc. Just about everything is so new to me that I'm looking for resources, support, ideas, etc.
My background is as an Artist. I've been doing artwork for my whole life but building a portfolio for about 3 years now. I've got plenty of story ideas and a few outlines, but am really not sure how to proceed since I have no formal training.
I'm currently looking for local groups to meet up with, but have started to really push myself to look for any groups that would be supportive and have info I could look into. My dream is to publish my own books and sit in the school library or local bookstore, surrounded by kids, and read my books to them.
Thanks for letting me join the group. Happy Spring!
-Jessica

[Judy]

Welcome, Jessica. I hope that we can all help one another on this journey.

[Jessica]

Thank you Judy :)

[Deb]

Hi everyone,
My name is Deb Hockenberry. I've just signed the contract for my first children's picture book, with 4RV Publishing, Where Can We Have The Party?

It's taken a long time for this book to be published. About twenty years! That's because for a long time publishers avoided talking animal books like the plague! Publishers wanted reality. They would say so in their submission guidelines. Something in me kept telling me to keep putting it out there. I'm glad I listened to that feeling!

[Gail]

Deb wrote: "Hi everyone,
My name is Deb Hockenberry. I've just signed the contract for my first children's picture book, with 4RV Publishing, Where Can We Have The Party?

It's taken a long time for this book ..."

Well, congratulations are in order! Very exciting-my first MG mystery print book comes out this spring, Something Stinks!, and it took many years and revisions to get someone to 'bite'. Worth the wait and work! Will your PB be out this year?
Gail

[Deb]

Hi Gail,
No it won't. The tentative publishing date for my PB is spring 2014.

[Jodi]

What a blessing to see this group growing so much. Keep up the great exchanges, everyone!
Happy writing!
Jodi

[[deleted user]]

Hi! I'm JD Holiday, author and illustrator. :D

[Judy]

Well, I am glad the prejudice against talking animals has changed. Ozette's Destiny is doing quite well so far. We are still in Forida heading south. We hope to arrive in Winter Garden later today for our weekend book signings. I am just a tad nervous! (If I were honest, I would admit to more than a tad).

[Deb]

Hi Judy,
I'm glad the prejudice has changed too. It's taken my book twenty to thirty years just to be accepted because of it. Mine is a PB of talking animals. There's not a human in it! These kinds of books are near and dear to my heart. It sounds like your book runs along the same lines only for a little older child.

Since I'm just starting to promote Where Can We Have The Party? I have found a few things on marketing and promoting. You've probably found more since yours is already in print. If you'd like to see what I've found so far go to: http://www.debhockenberry/articles.html.

I definitely am going to check your links out since I need all the ideas I can get!

[Judy]

Thanks so much, Deb. This marketing stuff has me pretty baffled. We are in Winter Garden for a book signing with my publisher at a festival here. Today we worked on an audio version of the book. We are half done. It is a lot more stressful than I thought it would be. I will definitely check out the site. My publisher is very into getting into the schools - doing school visits and getting the book in the hands of the media specialists. That could work for you, too. I am going to send you a link to an article on using social media as soon as I found it. I think it is great to help each other through this maze of marketing.

[Judy]

For some reason, I could not get the link you gave me to work. can you double check it?
Here is a link on social networking

http://randomwritingrants.com/2013/04...

[Gail]

Gail wrote: "I'll see what my schedule is-sounds like a great bookstore-did you set this up or your pub?
(You can tell, I'm new at this promoting thing, too!)
Gail"

Wwll, as you probably know by now, we missed your book signing. I really wanted to meet you, but had to work all weekend. Hope you sold lots of books and keep us posted on your school visits. I have all this coming up soon-hope my publisher is as helpful as yours seems to be.

[Judy]

My publisher set this up. We will be there tomorrow from 1-4 also. It is a neat little bookstore. Hope you can stop by!

[Gail]

Judy wrote: "My publisher set this up. We will be there tomorrow from 1-4 also. It is a neat little bookstore. Hope you can stop by!"

Hi, again-well, it's 86 miles one way, and like I said, I have to work all weekend. Rats.
Gail

[Judy]

Well, maybe in another place at another time!!! At least you can download it today free on kindle

[Gail]

Hmm, that's right! I have an iPad.

[Deb]

Hi Judy,
Thanks for the link! I bookmarked it for future use.

[Gail]

Judy,
Couple things-my email is gailehedrick@yahoo.com and if I come across any marketing tips I would be happy to email them to you.
also, please keep us aprised of any other book signings so if any of us are traveling we can try to find you. I'm so bummed about this weekend-I have never done a book signing and wanted to see how yours was set up. Any info you can provide would also be helpful via email when you get back home.
Thanks,
Gail

[Judy]

My publisher is having a drawing for a copy of Ozette's Destiny. You can enter at https://www.facebook.com/PantsOnFireP...

[Gail]

Dine! Would love to read and review it!

[Nick]

Hi there . I recently self published with my daughter and am kind of exhausted and in need of some advice. I have done signings, readings, a school visit, library posters/readings, social media marketing, print ads and I'm not getting anywhere near the results I was hoping for. I need to know if my book sucks or I'm doing something wrong. Schools are rejecting my request to come to their school and almost refuse to give me a reason ( I actually don't charge a fee I just want the order forms to go home w the kids) I just keep hitting wall after wall n I feel lost in the doldrums. Can you look at my trailer n let me know what u think? Http://www.butterflyrecipe.com

Thanks

[Judy]

I am no expert and am just learning all of this marketing stuff myself although my publisher has been helpful. i thought your trailer was really cute, Nick. I think it is important to get some ratings on Amazon even though some folks say they don't really matter. I think we all get impatient. It takes time for a book to catch on. I would keep doing what you are doing - maybe have a couple of giveaways. Some of my author friends do blog tours but i am not sure you reach your real target audience.

[Robyn]

Hi Nick, I only have experience with Amazon, it provides a good traffic if you keyword your product right. I checked your book page on Amazon and it looks a bit bare. Here are some of my suggestions:

1. Create a digital copy of your book for kindle.

2. If you don't find it controversial sign-up with the KDP Select program and offer the kindle version for free for a few days, this will help people find your product, download it, and hopefully review it. Most importantly if you get a significant number of downloads it helps as an internal promotion with Amazon's "The customers who bought this also bought that book...". In other words your book might show up on other book pages.

3. Sign-up with Author Central, create an author page with a good picture of yours, your bio and credentials.

4. Get on the Look Inside program and provide a sample viewing of your book.

5. Make sure your book description is search engine optimized, this will help people find it when they search on Amazon.

6. Make sure your website works on all major browsers and mobile devices. I checked it on Chrome it is not centered on the page and flash components don't download. (Remember most mobile devices don't support flash.)

7. Add a link to the Amazon page of your book. No offence, but people will trust Amazon more. So it is more likely for you to sell via Amazon than through your PayPal option.

9. If it is a viable option (if you are not currently holding printed inventory) go with one of the major indie publishers, like CreateSpace. They have an Expanded Channel option, which puts your book on many lists. I have a book about a Kangaroo and a Koala; after I signed up with their expanded distribution my book is available through many online sellers including some in Australia!

On a side note make sure it is clear what age group your book targets and how many pages it has. People want to know what they are getting for the price.

I hope this helps.
Robyn

My Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Robyn-Safarian/...

My website: http://www.robynsafarian.com

[Judy]

Great tips,Robyn.

[Julie]

Hi Nick I watched the trailer and I thought the book was delightful. I think Robyn has hit the nail on the head. I have used Amazon as an new and unknown author and all the tools Robyn has listed and it is a great stepping stone to get you on your way. Selling from your own site is still fine but you have to find your platform first. It would be a shame not to see your book out there. Cheers Julie

[Gail]

Julie wrote: "Hi Nick I watched the trailer and I thought the book was delightful. I think Robyn has hit the nail on the head. I have used Amazon as an new and unknown author and all the tools Robyn has listed a..."

I concur with both Julie and Robyn-Great responses. Nice to not feel 'all alone'! Thanks for the group.
Gail

[Judy]

Keep us posted, Nick, on how these new strategies work.

[Manjiri]

Greetings everybody,

So glad to join this group. I spent the last three years creating an illustrated e-book, King Ire's Last War: The Book of Peace. The story makes a compelling case for nurturing the better — albeit delicate — angels of our nature.
For a limited time, the book is available for free in the Kindle library, so you are welcome to borrow it at
http://www.amazon.com/King-Ires-Last-...
You will find plenty of discussion tips at
http://www.kingireslastwar.com/

Looking forward to learning and sharing from everyone in the group.

[Merin]

hi, I'm Merin. I'm currently writing a children's mystery.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Merlin. Welcome to our group. How fun that you're writing a children's mystery. I hope it goes well for you. Carol

[Deb]

Hi Robyn,
I've just signed a contract with 4RV Publishing for my debut picture book.

What is the link for Author Central? I know that there is a Facebook writer's group called Author Central but it sounds like this is a different one.
Deb

[Deb]

Hi Merlin,
Welcome to our little group. Your book sounds like fun! Can you tell us a little bit about it?

[Judy]

The author central I belong to is through Amazon. You can check weekly on book sales & also where your book is selling geographically in the US.

Do any of you know much about blog tours? My publisher thinks they are not a good use of my money but I don't know enough about them to judge. Any suggestions, experiences?

[Judy]

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/

this is the link for author central.

[Judy]

Deb, can't get this link to work. Help!

www.debhockenberry articles.html

[Deb]

Thanks, Judy! I'll write the link down. I just looked at it and I can't create an author page there without my book being listed on Amazon first. This is now on my must - do list for when my book comes out! Thanks again!

[Robyn]

Hi Deb,

I see Judy has already replied to you. I was referring to the same place, Amazon's author central.

You're right you need to have your book listed on Amazon.

Good luck, and let us know when your book's out.

[Deb]

Thanks, Robyn. I'll be sure to let everyone know when it's out!

[Judy]

Me too

[Deb]

Judy,
Here's the link to my article. I hope it works this time! http://www.debhockenberry.com/article...

[Deb]

Judy,
I can't figure out what's wrong! Okay, I'm trying again. http://www.debhockenberry.com/article...