Business cards...gateway to fame and fortune?

Good evening!

Last year my daughter got on the computer and printed some business cards for me.  I was going to hand them out at a book signing I was doing at a local book store.  As it turned out, she printed a lot more cards than I had people interested in having my card, so I had a lot of cards left over.

Since then, I've been leaving them in random places:  with my tip at a restaurant, at our local library, in the rest rooms of stores.  I don't leave my phone number on my card, but my web site, blog, and email are all there.

Usually, I sneak away before the person I've left the card for finds it.  I'm shameless about promotion, but I'm also a little shy when it comes to actually saying the words, "I have two published novels and I'd really like you to buy them and read them, and then convince your friends to also buy them and read them."

Tonight hubby and I were at a relatively new eatery in our home town, and the server, also part owner of the place, was really personable.  (Could be that we were the only people in the place eating dinner, while everyone else was in the bar.)  As part of the tip, I pulled out my card.  She'd struck up enough of a conversation with us during dinner, that she had no issue picking up the tip in front of us and saying, "Ah, what do we have here?"

Then she frowned.

No one likes to have their business card frowned at, least of all authors.

Then she started asking questions about my writing.  We talked for a few minutes, when she said, "Would you be interested in doing a book signing here sometime?"

The words weren't even out of her mouth when I howled, "YES!  NAME THE DAY!"

I'm sort of shameless that way.

This is lovely.
 Now if I only had a BOOK
to read with it!

She offered to bundle the signing with a...wait for it...WINE TASTING.

Could anything be more perfect?

Now we're just hashing out a date. 

I'm telling you this to encourage you to look at the simplest way to promote your writing.  You can go to every single conference, pay someone to build adds and a video for your book.  You can pay to have people read and review your book.  Most of these things, I've done, in one way or another.  (Never done the video yet, though.)

The most effective tool I've had yet?  Putting a business card on a table.

I hate marketing.  I'd rather write.  But I love book signings, so if putting a card on the table gets me a book signing, then I'm printing out more cards right now and papering every eatery in the tri-county area with them!

As always, once I have a date for this amazing wine tastings/book signing, I'll let you all in on it. 

But for now, I'm off to print more business cards.

Promotion, promotion, promotion!

Good morning!
So, you've sold a book. And you've edited it to everyones satisfaction, and it's been released. Now what?

If you're like most new authors, chances are you've published through a small press, one that expects you to do much of your own promotion. No problem, you think, I'll get out there, I'll talk about my book, I'll sell millions of copies and people will flood my book signings!

I know, I've had that dream, too.

The reality of promotion is this: You can go one of two ways, you can spend a lot of money to get your book cover in different magazine adds and you can buy all sorts of space or time in this publication or that show. You can set us a super flashy website that costs you an arm and half a leg every month. Or, and this is way more work, but more fun, you can promote for free anywhere and everywhere.

It starts out easy enough. Get a my space page. Get a free blog. Get a face book page. Alert everyone in cyberspace FOR FREE about every little thing. Plaster your book cover every place you can. Make it your signature on your emails.


Good, you've the the passive promotions down pat. But that and $13.99 will buy a copy of "Dream in Color." So now what?


Now you get creative. Call the book stores in your area. (It won't be a long list, look at how many book stores have closed in recent years.) Set up book signings or readings. This takes some guts. I've only been brave enough to do it once, but I know I have to do it again, and soon. If you're working with an e-publisher that prints on demand, like I did with Wild Rose, this may be the only way you're going to get your book into a book store.


Okay, everyone knows that stuff. Now what?

Now we get fun. My favorite way to promote is to play a little trivia game on my favorite radio station. Every couple of weeks I get to get on Wisconsin's Number One Radio program and tout "Dream in Color." It's free, it takes about forty seconds, and it reaches thousands more people than I could ever reach with a dozen book signings. A few months ago, the boys at 1029 The Hog had me in the studio for a short interview...possibly the most fun I've ever had in 15 minutes.

Most recently, a friend of mine, AY Stratton, got herself on a local morning TV show to promote her book, "Buried Heart." (Also A Wild Rose release.) FREE TV TIME? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You know you have that opportunity...every city has a local TV station that has a local morning show that's aching for guests. Make that phone call. (Note to self...MAKE THAT PHONE CALL!)


But Sarah, you say, I'm too shy to get on the radio or be on TV. I can't do book signings. I just want to write.

That may be the case. Getting out in the public eye is not for everyone. Just because I don't have that little voice in my head that tells me to fear public speaking doesn't mean everyone else is willing to convince total strangers to buy a book.

Here's a secret that's been working for me: Write romance? Got a favorite celebrity in mind when you're writing your hero? BLOG ENDLESSLY ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR THAT CELEBRITY! Seriously, this works. Just ask Susie or Wendy or Vicky or the dozens of other women I've met recently who LOVE Rick Springfield and found my little book in no small part to my shameless repetition of his name in blogs, and while on the radio.

Granted, if you write non fiction, this may not work, but for those of us looking for a world of escapism, we want a good story and we want a hero we can fall in love with. If we know that the hero is already our favorite actor/musician, then half the work is done! (I was very recently asked to guest blog on someones website strictly because she got a notice from google that I'd written about Rick Springfield.)

Free promo opportunities are everywhere! You just have to look around.

That said, there are a couple of moments when you may want to dial back the shameless promotion. Personally, I wouldn't set up a book signing table at a funeral. Unless you've written a biography about the deceased, and even then, that might be a little icky.

And that's the only time I wouldn't promote! I've sold books at graduation parties, at wedding receptions, and in the grocery store. I got my personal trainer to read my blog. Where there are people, there are readers, and there is money. Put those two things together and that equals a book sale.

Now, I have to go. It's time to get on the radio and play "You Still Can't Win" and promote DREAM IN COLOR!

Here's a little shameless promotion for ya!

Good morning!

So I recently launched a website (See link at the right). Thing is...if you launch a website and now on looks at it, does it make a sound?

Granted, this is a very basic, simple site (Sort of like Wonder Bread and me!) still, as I work on it, I'd like to know that someone out in cyberspace cares enough to take a look!

Soooooooo, here's a bit of shameless promotion!

Under "Contact me" I have two emails. One, my close friends will recognize as my long time email. The other one is to a yahoo account I maintain for writing purposes.

In the tradition of radio call in contests, I'm giving the tenth person to email me at the YAHOO email address a free, Autographed copy of "Dream in Color!"

Is that shameless or what? LOL!

So, hit the link on the right, take a look the website (It won't take long, it's not that complicated of a site!) and then email me at the yahoo address!

Emailer number 10 wins!

Meanwhile...I'm a month away from seeing Rick Springfield in Milwaukee. Those of you going...I'll see you at the Friday night show! Wanna get buy an autographed copy at the show? Drop me an email, we can meet over burgers and cosmos before the concert! (I'll be the middle aged white woman in the Rick T-shirt! LOL!)

Writing: it's a family affair!

Hey all!

Sorry I've been MIA this week...picked up a nasty computer virus through Facebook. Here's a tip: Anything that says it's a personal anti virus is a lie and will mess up your computer. Don't do it! Also, it's a good idea to ignore those gifts, drinks, pillow fights, whatnot on Facebook. Just don't do it!

So my biggest news on the writing front is about my work in progres, "7/8th time." As you may know, my main character, Quinn Murray, is a DJ in Nashville, inspired by a photo of David James Elliott. (BTW, thank you everyone who suggested, "The Storm." I've managed to tape it off of Spike TV and I'll be watching it this weekend.)

Anyway, what I really wanted was to talk to a DJ and get a feel for a day in the life. Well, my hubby is the body shop manager at the local Chevy dealership. (If you live in the Milwaukee area, go to Boucher Chevy for your body shop needs. Tom is the most honest person you're ever going to deal with and he's a sweet heart, too.) A local morning DJ from 97.3 The Brew( my SECOND favorite radio station behind my beloved bob and Brian at 1029 the hog.) had his car fixed and hubby managed to get me an interview with Fish, the DJ. Bonus, Fish has mentioned that he'd like to get me on air and do some free promo for "Dream in Color."

This is not something I could do on my own. I would never have this kind of access to a DJ on my own. Even my air time with Bob and Brian have been purely luck. (Although, it should be noted that they are darling guys and have also offered to promo the book.) But thanks to the hubby I have a whole new outlet for promotion.

Ponder this, my writing friends: writing may be a solitary business, but being a writer is not. We all have research to do, not just those brave historical writers! "dream in Color" is as close to my life as I'll ever write, but I had to do plenty of research to get it right. So don't be afraid to get out there and talk to people, especially if you're trying to create a character and you want to get it right!

Have a safe and wonderful LAbor Day weekend!