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Nobody Likes Me--Or Authors, Street Teams, and Pimping Books

6/18/2015

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Nobody Likes Me

(Or, where are my sales?)

            You’ve plastered your butt in your chair for hours, days, months, years. The story is completed, edited. Edited again. And again. And one more time for good measure. It probably will have a typo here and there, but it’s as clean as you and your editors can make it. It’s accepted to a large/small/micro publisher or maybe you’ve decided to go the route of self-publishing. Look at all the people that have cashed in and your story is far better than anything other that’s out. It’s fresh, new, and unique. Everyone will want to read it.

Finally, it’s your book’s release day. It’s up on Amazon! Look, there’s your name! The book cover! It’s at one billion. That’s good, right? Um, no, the lower the number, the better your book has sold. One billion isn’t great. It does mean someone, at least bought a copy. Thank your mom.

So, what did you do wrong? Did you do your research and try to market it? Did the book have any publicity? Do you have a blog? Are you on Twitter? Facebook? Google+? Other than your mom, does anyone even know you wrote the world’s best book?

If not, how did you expect anyone to buy it?

Not even the larger publishers really push books unless they are likely to hit major bestseller status. The smaller houses aren’t going to do much, either, and the indie publishers little more. They might offer tips on how to market, and if you’re lucky, bookmarks. The self-published are totally on their own.

So now what?

It’s not too late! You know your book is good, so time to research the best options to get your book noticed. The library and the Internet are the best sources, but beware, like any DIY manual, there are a lot of scammers that tell you nothing and are making a lot of money telling you how they did it. Which won’t help you in the slightest.

 There are a lot of choices, so first you need to determine what will be your best for your story. All of them are considered word of mouth advertising (WOM).

A:  Street teams. For new authors, this will be difficult. It’s hard to get people to talk up your book if they haven’t read it yet. If you already have a following, this might be a good option. Street teams are made up of fans who already love your stories. They’ll write reviews, share swag and information about your book, and are excited to know the latest news of their favorite characters. The cost can be minimal. You might want to offer the most active members something that relates to the story. A stake that relates to vampire stories. Book thongs with your book cover as a charm. A copy of your book. A small gift card. All of these keep up interest, particularly between your books. Be very careful you don’t overwhelm your team. I just read of someone that left a team because she was overwhelmed. No overwhelming. Bad author.





B. Blog tours. How awesome are these? Depends on what blogs you choose.. There are websites that will help you find some. Otherwise, look for books that are similar to yours and find out what blogs they’re on. Small blogs are a waste of time. You won’t get much exposure and without a team or a lot of friends to share it, your post will languish Good luck. Many blogs are booked months in advance.  These often have a contest that is connected to your tour, also known as a hop. With Rafflecopter, they can earn entries by liking your fan page, tweeting about your book, liking reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, wherever your book is sold.

C.  Facebook. This is another one of could be bad or good. Page takeovers are generally very good. It gives you a chance to talk to future fans one-on-one. Be sure the genre is correct, if you have a children’s book and are on a page for naughty stories, it might not work out. Of course, a lot of the readers are moms, so it might be great. Find out who has taken over the page in the past. You should have your own page, as well. You can drum up fans from the blogs you have posts on.

D) Tweet. Again, hard to do without already having a fan base, but there are teams out there that will #retweet  for you. If you’re with an Indie, you can

friend Indie Author Retweet Group: Simply follow to join, then add ‪#IARTG in any tweet you want us to re-tweet. :) ‪#RT ‪#indie ‪#author ‪#retweet ‪#group ‪@retweet_groups. These guys will also tweet for you. They didn’t cost anything at the time I put in this ad: http://readersgazette.com/world/moreinfo/B00H2YO68O/

            E) Hire a promo team. There are a lot of them, both excellent and horrible. Once more, get on your search engine and look for book promotion. You’ll run into blogs that describe the good and the bad ones. Research them. Look at the blogs they use and make sure they are appropriate, just as you would if you were looking for blogs for yourself. These teams usually do it all. They’ll schedule blog tours, cover releases, street teams (there are a few that share with multiple authors in the same genre or with the same publisher, they’ll find them for you). Most also come up with swag ideas. Key chains, more permanent book marks, things that you, as an author, shouldn’t waste your writing time with. For someone new at the game, this is your best bet. No fuss, and while different teams charge different amounts, you won’t have to reinvent the wheel or get caught up doing the wrong thing.

            This isn’t an ad, but my partner, Audrey Salick and I run Let’s Talk! Promotions. http://www.ltpromos.com Audrey owns Drey’s Library, a large blog, and handles arranging the tours. I do the crazy stuff, like set up teams. It cuts into my writing time, but because of my books I’ve learned valuable and not so valuable information.

So, butt out of chair, and start your promo! Let everyone know your book is unique and better than Death by Chocolate Cake. Or, in my character George, the egocentric basset hound familiar, case, tuna fudge.



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Snack Time!

6/17/2015

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“Arooo!”

Where is everybody?

“Gurgle.”

My tummy alarm is going off and no one with thumbs is around to give me any treats. My Peeps can be so inconsiderate that way.

Well, my Packmates are messy creatures. I’m sure I can smelltaste out something for a snack. I put my nose to the floor and snork.

Nothing.

I trot over to my Boypup’s small den. At eight seasons old, he’s very messy. With Tillie in her crate there might be some crumbs around. I push open the door. Tillie boings around in her crate, spinning, happy to see me.  She’s a cute basset puppygirl and I’m glad she’s ours.

Even if she isn’t very bright.

Not everyone can be a brilliant basset hound familiar, after all.

I snork around on the floor, scooping up scent with my fine ears, funneling it to my mouth and nose. There are many smelltastes. I savor old sweat socks, underwear, and spoons. I push the spoons around with my nose.

Licked clean.

Tillie bays pathetically. Hm. If I let her out, she might go potty in the house. That’s not a good thing. If I don’t, she’ll be sad. Can’t have that. She steps out, shakes her coat into place, and licks my nose. Then she rolls over on her back.

And pees a little.

Sigh.

Joey will never notice.

There are no nummies in here. Tillie on my heels, I check the kitchen. I smelltaste the lovely essence of leftovers in the trash I can’t get to. The kitchen is the room least likely to have goodies on the floor, unless there are Peeps around. I smelltaste around the table. Check under the fridge. Then under the stove.

My tail whips straight up. Drool pours from my mouth. There is a treat under the stove. I cock my head and slide my snout as far under as I can. Not far enough. I pull out, sneeze, and try again. It’s too far back. Karly’s magic homework probably went wrong.

Otherwise I woulda known it was there.

I poke my paw in the opening. It doesn’t reach far enough. My paw isn’t meant for grabbing things. It’s a perfectly designed digging tool. I snuffle. Maybe I can make it move.

Nope.

“Arooo!” How am I going to reach it?

Tillie is making a racket with a wooden spoon she stole from somewhere. She’s batting at it, sliding it across the floor, banging it against the walls. It bounces off the kitchen island and slips almost under the stove.

She pounces on it. The spoon slides out, a piece of biscuit caught on the edge. Tillie jumps on the treat, crunching on the cookie with joy. Her tail is spinning so fast she’s going to puppycopter out of the room.

It’s good she got it. She’s still little, and needs a lot of food to grow big and strong.

I bet there’s treats under the couch cushions.


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Tillie the Puppy Girl is On Sale!

6/17/2015

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Tillie's Tale, book 2 of the Magical Drool series, is on sale for $1.99 through the 18th! 




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George In The Kitchen

6/15/2015

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Aroo!

It’s breakfast! The best meal of the day.

The smelltaste of saltygreasesmoke teases my nose and mouth. I stealthily move closer to the fire Packmom is standing next to. She spins around and holds her nose, swiping her face with a thingy Peeps use when they eat. Stupid thingy.

“George, what did you get into? You smell like a rotten fish!”

Yeah. That’s the best way to confuse the evil squirrels. They never know who ate them

I plop down at her feet, giving her my best basset eyes. Peeps can’t resist the wrinkles. They’re jealous they don’t have anything to trap smellscents. She holds her nose, and reaches under a food saving place and grabs a sharpsourstrong liquid I can smelltaste though the container. I’m trying to get away, but she grabs my collar. My claws scrape the floor as I slide toward her and she spills the horrible smelltasting stuff on my soft, lovely black, tan, and white coat. I just groomed myself and now I reek. 


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An Interview with George

6/11/2015

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1) Describe your writing space.

The LadyPeep with the thumbs like working on the kitchen table, or in her den. I prefer the kitchen. She’s always eating and dropping crumbs.


2) What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Marking poles and trees, eating, sleeping. The LadyPeep likes gardening and playing with the stupid springers. Hah. Stupid dogs, they’ll do anything for a treat. Me, give me a treat, but if what a Peep wants me to do is foolish, they can’t make me do it.

3) Do you see yourself in any of the characters in this book?

The book is written about my life. The LadyPeep says that each of the scenes is about a dog she used to have who found human bones. No way, right? No springer would be smart enough to find bones.

4) How would you describe George Knows in 3 sentences or less?

Brilliant. Stunning. Perfect.
Oh, you mean my book. Um. An egotistical magical basset hound named George believes it's his duty to train and protect his 12-year-old Girlpup, a greenwitch named Karly. He and his Girlpup, must solve a murder as well as save their park from being developed. George is the perfectly designed familiar for the job.

5) What is your favorite and least favorite parts of the writing process?

I hate it when the LadyPeep argues with me about how a scene should go. My favorite part is when she gets up for snacks. She also doesn’t like to do something called Ed it. I’m not sure who Ed is.


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    Mindy Mymudes

    Middle grade author and head of the Muddy Paws pack. Find me on Goodreads and at my Amazon Author Page.

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