Unfortunately, sometimes they only draw the attention of the contest hounds, people who just lurk around until they have the chance to win something, and then never appear again. So holding a contest to build readership may backfire.

It’s worth trying, though. You never know when you might catch the attention of someone who’ll become a long-term fan.

So what do you give away when you host a contest? The most common prize I see is a free copy of the author’s latest release. While that might be a good prize, sometimes that, too backfires. If you give away too many copies, you might cheat yourself out of sales. And, sadly, sometimes those giveaways end up being pirated.

Which is why I’m glad to be part of Bookworm Bags. While I occasionally give away a free copy of one of my backlist books, and sometimes even a single copy of my most current release, most of the time when I hold a contest I offer Bookworm Bags as prizes. Readers seem to like getting a “goodie bag” instead of just a single item, and I get to help support other authors as well as myself. Win-win.

One thing that does clutter up my desk is promotional items. I have to be careful and put them away. I have a drawer that they go in. I have BWB materials under my desk. The bags for BWBs are in another drawer.

Are you a clutter or no clutter person?

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen

http://www.mechelearmstrong.com

http://www.melanylogen.com

Prioritize: to organize or deal with something according to its priority.

When the ideas come, in whatever strange way they do, how do you choose the order you work on them in? I mean it’s not as if you can tell from the early concept how a story is going to turn out. Sure after working on something for a while you may decide it the best, or the worst thing you’ve ever written. 

So let’s say you’re in the middle of a story, or series that is going great and wham an idea comes to you out of nowhere. First thing I do is jot down the idea (in depth) and get back to work. Now this idea just won’t let go. It’s like nothing you’ve tried before. Okay give it a little time and see how it comes along, or stick with what you’re doing? I’ve jumped back and forth a few times to satisfy my curiosity.

Of course for those with deadlines this whole line of thinking is probably not an issue. 

When face with real life and work (yes most authors I’ve met still have day/night jobs) you already have to work in your time for writing. So I guess the question I’m circling around is: How do you decide which ideas get the bulk of your time?

The next one would be what makes an idea really stand out? Some of my ideas have come as things I thought would make a great title so I worked on it. Other times it was a character that stood out in one of my other stories I knew needed to have their own story told.

Just a few thoughts that have been rattling around in my head. Now maybe that I actually got them out I’ll be able to get back to work.

Anyway, the topic turned to porn and erotica, and someone said, “Did you know Kitty (my chat name) writes erotic romance?”

The others in the group were immediately intrigued. An erotic romance author in their very midst? Wow! They wanted to know where they could find my books.

Epic promo fail. I had no business cards, bookmarks, or anything else indicating my website, publisher’s name, or even my pen name.

As an author, it’s important to keep something with you that you can give out to potential readers. Admittedly, as an author of erotic romance, I’m a bit leery of mentioning it in public, though in a situation like the party I mentioned, it certainly would have been appropriate. I also write young adult novels, under a different name, so I have to be very careful of what I say to people I meet face to face. I wouldn’t want the principal of my local high school, where I’ve done several presentations, to find out I write sex stuff!

Be that as it may, though, you never know when you might encounter someone who might want to read your books. You can tell them your pen name and even the name of your publisher, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll find you. Keep something with you, cards, pens, bookmarks, anything that has information on it about where those possible readers can find your work. Anything that will remind them of you and make them say, “Oh, yes, I remember meeting her. Her stuff sounded good. I should go buy it.”

You never know.

Why do you know who he is?

What image do you get when you think of him?

Now… Think about why you know that. He was a child once. He lived in Atlanta and worked several jobs. What made him unique?

As he grew and developed his career, he branded himself. He’s a singer, an awesome Queen (with way better taste than me), and a vibrance that only a person secure in their skills can produce.

He didn’t start that way. Yet as he became the person he is today, he learned how to make himself BE Rupaul. That’s why you know what he looks like, how he acts, even how he talks.

Okay, so coming back from Hollywood, what does this have to do with writing?

Simple. As writers, we are continuously recreating our names and brands. Every new book, every new series requires a new brand. A new tag. A new theme for the art. But the important thing is to learn how to brand yourself.

Sherilyn Kenyon? Yep, you immediately know her name. What about Nalini Singh? Or… here’s a good one…Kathleen Woodiwiss? They’ve branded their names into its own mark. Like Chase Bank, or Michelin Tires. You  know what they are, who they are providing for and the services they offer. By knowing the authors above, you already know what they write.

Here’s one for you. I don’t read Jane Feather, but I know she writes Native American historicals. Or Danielle Steel. I don’t read her either, and yet I know she writes women’s contemporary fiction. Because I know their names, not their books.

So the challenge for any new author is to brand themselves. It’s not easy, and doesn’t happen overnight. If you’ve ever heard Sherilyn speak, her story will make you cry buckets at the obstacles she had to overcome to get her very first book even looked at, much less signed. Ten years is not uncommon for author branding to happen. It takes hard work, perseverance, and for writers, a backlist. As your backlist grows, so does your readership, so does your name recognition, so does your branding.

So I guess this isn’t really ways to be noticed so much, as one way. The best advice I have–make it memorable.

When it comes to promo that’s probably more true than for other aspects of our authorial career. Others can’t write the books for us, or go through the edits, line by line, making the manuscript polished. They really can’t execute contracts, and unless they’re professionals, they probably can’t decipher them either. Which leaves the only other major job of being an author: promotion.

There are usually two ways of finding help with promotion. You can hire someone, such as a promotional agency, or you can have a friend or family members help out. Sometimes, the latter approach works best, as children can become involved in their mother’s job by doing things like using a hole punch to make a hole in a bookmark and stringing ribbon through it, or other smaller, crafty jobs. As a member of Bookworm Bags, usually, it’s my mother who stuffs the bags.

She likes to do it, loving to see all the various promo items that the authors send. She’s a voracious reader herself, so we talk about the books, the authors, and my writing career. She also likes to help out when, and where, she can. So it’s a win-win situation for me. I have someone to stuff my bags, and she gets to help out.

This Mother’s Day I want to thank her for her help, not just with the promo activities, but everything she’s done for me over the years. Today, however, she’s in the hospital, and while things are expected to have a positive outcome, it certainly isn’t where she’d prefer to spend her Mother’s Day. Also makes taking her out for that steak dinner pretty difficult.

While holidays such as this one make us stop and say thank you to those who help us, it’s always a good idea to thank your helpers, no matter who they are or what time of year it is. If it’s an author who helped you along the way with information or a publisher tip, or the graphic artist who made a banner, or even your kids who help you decorate bookmarks to make them stand out from the crowd…say thank you! Writing is a lonely business. Having help makes it less so. And, if you have help with your promo, it might even make you sell more books!

Mechele Armstrong
www.mechelearmstrong.com

For today the only thing I can think about is “What do you have in your office, and why? I’ve been putting a lot of thought into this lately. See I moved recently and with a new apartment comes a new office. Since my desk and storage was built into my old office I’m basically at square one. Really minus one since the room needs an overhaul.

It needs to be scrubbed, painted, and a rug. Then I can move onto storage and a desk. The final touches are still far off, but I’m wondering a few things.

1.) What do you think every romance author should have in their office?

2.) What should every writer have in their office?

For now I guess I should focus on what color to paint the room. I was thinking light pink, light yellow, or white. I asked my friends on facebook and got the impression they didn’t think my color choices were very inspiring?

So my final thought for tonigt is that if anyone wants to share what color is your office?

As an author, it’s another avenue of promotion. And it relies on the circles created by other authors. By sharing items with other Bookworm Bag members, who in turn share them at their signings or contests, I am able to reach more readers than I could on my own. Since we often send books to major conferences, this is another way that I can share my stuff with readers whom I wouldn’t have had a chance to reach otherwise.

When I’ve sent Bookworm Bags, such as with orders from Pink Petal Books, I’ve gotten great comments from readers. Most of them enjoy receiving the freebies, and I hope they’ve also discovered great authors.

The secret to promotion online is…….. NOTHING and EVERYTHING!

Bare with me, I’m still only on my second cup of coffee. The only keys that really benefit you are 1) name recognition and 2) backlist.

So, #2 is easy. Write your hiney off. Get busy!

#1…. That’s a little harder, and circles back to what to do for promotion. Believe it or not, there is no holy grail in today’s internet age.

Remember in the old days (I’m talking a loooong time ago here) when if a man plowed his field in good time before the rains and managed to seed, he’d done an excellent job he could take pride in? With only oxen to be his muscle? (Yeah, that long ago.) Well, that’s the backbone to today’s writing. Season after season, year in-year out, he did the same thing, knew what had to be done and did it. Writers have to take the same mind set. No, not go plow up a garden! They have to DO it. That’s it. Now, I’m not saying because you go and do a loop chat, you’re going to hit a best seller list anywhere. Remember the farmer’s sweat, the effort it took to make that field plentiful? Yep, that’s what you have to do too.

You have to discover the menagerie of “fields” you want to plow, and then work your butt off like there’s no time before the rains hit.

Static ads are great, don’t get me wrong, but in the pool today where there are thousands of other authors and writers vying for attention, you have to go one step further. Do blog posts (Gee, this looks like one and it only took me about fifteen minutes to do!), join with friends and hold a chat. Jump into your publishers loop and say hi. The sharks are trained not to bite–much. There’s tons more that can be done, on line and not. Dedicate time to do what you know you can and DO it. It’s the only way YOUR name will become visible. (Yes, your publisher has a responsibility to, but as a company, not to any one individual. That’s the bottom line on that.)

You’re asking, what does all of that do? There’s no one on line…. There’s no readers to see it. Wrong! Readers do see this. Readers READ people. They don’t all want to be your best friend. You’d never write if you had that many friends anyway. But they do want to read excerpts, they do like trolling websites to see what’s new, what’s coming, if you’ve made it prettier than the last visit. Free reads are a great way to keep them coming back. Shorts offered to sites like All Romance are a great tool. If you have a friend or two, grab them and go do something together. There’s tons of options out there to promote. Just find the things you know you can do, have the time for, and won’t blow off (yeah, talking from experience there) and in the timeless words of Larry the Cable Guy… “Get ‘er done!”

As a short Bio: I’ve been writing since 2004, promoting nearly as long on line and in person. I’ve been to conferences, signings, and have established relationships with stores in my area to carry my books. I don’t know it all (it’s always changing! Drat!) but all I can do is try.

www.dianacastilleja.com

www.dianadericci.com