I'm Blogging Somewhere Else...
...so there's not really any point in posting a long blog here. Yes, I'm that lazy.
Besides, Novel Spot asked for seven blogs! Now we all know I don't blog that often here. So, please stop by Novel Spot and check me out this week, blogging until Sunday!
It's for their "Behind the Scenes" feature and I'll freely confess, made me work the old brain box pretty hard. It may not seem like it at first, but stay with me until the end and you'll see. Work. Fun, but still work.
Perilously yours,
Pauline
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Singing the Promotion Blues?
Not long after that rush of joy from contracting a book, comes the crashing realization that if you want the book to sell, you have to promote it.
There's lots of excellent information out there about what is an effective promotion tool. A friend sent me to this blog about using business cards effectively. She had some excellent points that I hadn't thought about before.
I will admit that much of my promotion has been targeted to how I buy books and what promotional material I keep. Anecdotal evidence isn't science, but it IS helpful in giving us a glimpse into how at least a segment of the book buying public responds to promotional material.
The hardest part of planning promotion is figuring out what works. If you only do one thing, by the time you get a royalty statement letting you know if it worked or not, a year (or sometimes more) has gone by.
My best advice, for what it's worth, is to take a little from your own book buying habits, mix in a little advice gleaned from others...and don't put all your promotional eggs in one basket.
Perilously yours,
Pauline
P.S. We'll see if I know anything about promotion before too long. I've entered The Romance Studio's Promo Diva Contest. It requires participation by readers, so stop by and check it out.
Not long after that rush of joy from contracting a book, comes the crashing realization that if you want the book to sell, you have to promote it.
There's lots of excellent information out there about what is an effective promotion tool. A friend sent me to this blog about using business cards effectively. She had some excellent points that I hadn't thought about before.
I will admit that much of my promotion has been targeted to how I buy books and what promotional material I keep. Anecdotal evidence isn't science, but it IS helpful in giving us a glimpse into how at least a segment of the book buying public responds to promotional material.
The hardest part of planning promotion is figuring out what works. If you only do one thing, by the time you get a royalty statement letting you know if it worked or not, a year (or sometimes more) has gone by.
My best advice, for what it's worth, is to take a little from your own book buying habits, mix in a little advice gleaned from others...and don't put all your promotional eggs in one basket.
Perilously yours,
Pauline
P.S. We'll see if I know anything about promotion before too long. I've entered The Romance Studio's Promo Diva Contest. It requires participation by readers, so stop by and check it out.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
New Month, New Challenges
If you're an author, then you've probably heard a lot about the new Amazon/Booksurge "deal." Blog world and the internet is buzzing with the giant trying to smash the ants into obedience. If you need to catch up on all the nuances of the situation, you should start here, where the story first broke. More information here about why this is bad for READERS, not just authors and publishers.
This is hard for me, because I love Amazon and have their Prime program for shipping stuff. I love the quick click to get the stuff I want and it's a familar place for me to shop, but I'm going to remove all my amazon buy links from my website. It may take me awhile to track them all down, but I'm going to do it.
I'm also going to start doing my shopping at B&N.com. I'm also checking out other independent booksellers and online stores and I'll post what I find on my blogs.
I keep thinking of the story of the frog and the boiling water. It goes, if you throw the frog into boiling water, he'll jump out. If you put him in cold water and gradually turn up the heat, he'll cook to death. Amazon has been "cooking" us all for some time. It's time to jump out of the pan. IMHO.
While I'm the first to admire the entreprenurial spirit, I am fundamentally opposed to someone with a big stick slamming it into the little guys. Amazon could have made Booksurge services competitive instead of targeting publishers and authors already operating on a very thin margin and trying to force a deal that isn't good for anything but Amazon's bottom line. They are trying to make money off the people with the least in the equation.
They are the Sheriff of Nottingham in this story and sadly, there doesn't seem to be a Robin Hood out there.
If you want to do something, you can. As hard as it is, stop buying at amazon. Also, you can sign this petition.
There are already signs that the public outcry has slowed their attempts to roll over small presses. But the only thing that will really get their attention is hurt against their bottom line. They won't listen until they start losing money.
This move isn't just going to cost authors and publishers money. It's going to push up the cost of books. It's going to take some small presses out of the equation. It's going to reduce the books available to readers. And for the books that do survive, they will cost more.
We ALL have a dog in this hunt.
Perilously yours,
Pauline
If you're an author, then you've probably heard a lot about the new Amazon/Booksurge "deal." Blog world and the internet is buzzing with the giant trying to smash the ants into obedience. If you need to catch up on all the nuances of the situation, you should start here, where the story first broke. More information here about why this is bad for READERS, not just authors and publishers.
This is hard for me, because I love Amazon and have their Prime program for shipping stuff. I love the quick click to get the stuff I want and it's a familar place for me to shop, but I'm going to remove all my amazon buy links from my website. It may take me awhile to track them all down, but I'm going to do it.
I'm also going to start doing my shopping at B&N.com. I'm also checking out other independent booksellers and online stores and I'll post what I find on my blogs.
I keep thinking of the story of the frog and the boiling water. It goes, if you throw the frog into boiling water, he'll jump out. If you put him in cold water and gradually turn up the heat, he'll cook to death. Amazon has been "cooking" us all for some time. It's time to jump out of the pan. IMHO.
While I'm the first to admire the entreprenurial spirit, I am fundamentally opposed to someone with a big stick slamming it into the little guys. Amazon could have made Booksurge services competitive instead of targeting publishers and authors already operating on a very thin margin and trying to force a deal that isn't good for anything but Amazon's bottom line. They are trying to make money off the people with the least in the equation.
They are the Sheriff of Nottingham in this story and sadly, there doesn't seem to be a Robin Hood out there.
If you want to do something, you can. As hard as it is, stop buying at amazon. Also, you can sign this petition.
There are already signs that the public outcry has slowed their attempts to roll over small presses. But the only thing that will really get their attention is hurt against their bottom line. They won't listen until they start losing money.
This move isn't just going to cost authors and publishers money. It's going to push up the cost of books. It's going to take some small presses out of the equation. It's going to reduce the books available to readers. And for the books that do survive, they will cost more.
We ALL have a dog in this hunt.
Perilously yours,
Pauline
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