Developing a Marketing Plan Before You Sell Your Manuscript. Repost: Oh No, I Sold My First Book by Karen Sue Burns

Savvy Authors - Oh No, I Sold My First Book by Karen Sue Burns

BY KAREN SUE BURNS Author of IN HOT PURSUIT
Do not forget that everything comes back to your available time. Authors are busy people with day jobs, partners, children, parents, friend, pets . . . these are all things that suck time away from writing and then promoting. And they are all things that are a huge part of your non-writing life. Organization and planning ahead will work for you in conquering the writing part of your life.

There are other things I wish I had looked into or completed prior to my release day:


· Seriously thought about the target audience for my book
· Researched how to use Goodreads in general and as an author
· Set up an account on Pinterest and posted travel photo's and my favorite recipe
· Talked to published authors I know as to what promotion efforts have worked for them
· Developed a good list of review sites where I could send my book for an objective review
· Developed a good list of blogs that are receptive to guest blogs from romance authors
· Analyzed the usefulness of LinkedIn, Triberr, Squidoo, etc for promotion
· Researched how to do ads, contests, and sweepstakes to attract readers
· Looked into author newsletters and how to compile a mailing list of readers
· Prepared a list of blog topics for guest blogs as well as my own blog
· Researched blog tours and blog hops, what would work best for me?
· Created a template for a press release for my local newspaper
· Made a list of everyone I know who might have a media contact
· Researched vendors for print media — bookmarks, trading cards, postcards, giveaways, etc. — and don't forget about business cards
· Set up Google Alerts on my website
· Made a commitment to myself to post a blog on my website at least weekly
· Developed a list of organizations where I could promo my book or that might have a tie in to the novel itself (example: Yorkshire Terrier plays a key role in the plot, contact the local Yorkie Kennel Club, dog food suppliers, pet stores)
· Compiled a list of local groups for speaking, i.e. talking about writing or about travel
· Kept notes of good promo ideas from the many writing loops I read daily
· Made a list of vendors who could help me with any of the above

Isn't hindsight wonderful?

Let's be honest, no way can an author do ALL of the above. You must determine what you are comfortable with, what works with your goals, and what you have time for so that writing your next great novel isn't compromised. It's much easier to figure out your comfort level before your first release day than after. Planning is your friend!

Last thought: Document your plan for promotion and make a list of five concrete actions you will take. Determine the amount of $$, if any, you are willing to devote to the effort. Allow yourself the luxury of being flexible with your plan — it's dynamic, not static. Permit your innate creativity to color all that you do with promotion and marketing.

If you remain focused, your train will come.
0

INCANDESCENT by MV Freeman. Romance Magicians: BOOK LAUNCH: Come Celebrate!

Romance Magicians: BOOK LAUNCH: Come Celebrate!:   Today is the debut of M.V. Freeman's first book, an Urban Fantasy Romance (or Paranormal, I'm not picky), Please come celebrate with her and fellow ...

M.V. Freeman's website.
1

Writing Craft. Showing Emotions Instead of Telling. Part 1.

Blushing. Silently, effectively conveying discomfort or the "veil of love" as  Charles Darwin proposed in his book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872 (Third Edition edited by Paul Ekmann.)  How many times have authors written about that one feature? Countless.

Writing for emotion impact is the challenging part of story creation. Not news, right? But what's the answer for such a simple question. Study emotions. Simple answer but not so easy.

Learning to see with the non-verbal eye beyond what others say or, perhaps don't actually say. Words are tricky, getting in the way of what we wish to convey, limiting us as soon as they are spoken.  We have word choices to connect as well as disconnect, distance, or hide our true feelings.

In writing, the words we choose, placed just so, imbue a scene or exchange between characters with emotional charge that will connect, bond, and resonate with our readers. World building, creates the illusion that we share the story. The ability to draw a reader, begins and ends within the emotional landscape of the story, binding our readers to our characters, their conflicts, so that the lines and boundaries of the book or screen fall away.

What are the tools ?

Comprehend how emotions play out from psyche to physique. We come from a species that has limited and highly recognizable ways that emotions are displayed. There are seven core emotions: anger, joy, rage, sadness, disgust, contempt, and surprise. The face is a "snapshot" of these emotions that can be studied. Appendages accessories to further speak the unspoken. Once the keys are known, it is far easier to unlock or show character action that fully convey invisible emotions rather than tell.

Reknown pyschologist, Paul Ekman's Facial Action Coding System offers training in recognizing feelings in those close to us as well as strangers who we people watch.

F.A.C.E. Training Link

For thirty years, Dr. Edman has studied and teaches others how emotions impact facial muscles, changing the appearance of the face.




Charting the muscles underlying facial actions (AUs), here in the upper face. AUs 1 & 2—inner and outer parts of the frontalispull the medial and lateral parts of the forehead skin up; AU 4—combination of corrugator, procerus, and depressor supercilii pull the brow down and together; AUs 6 & 7—outer and inner parts of orbicularis oculi raise the cheek around the eye and tighten the eyelid. Image from a revised CD-ROM version of Facial Action Coding System by Paul Ekman, Wallace Friesen, and Joseph Hager.
Above Reference:http://cabinetmagazine.org/issues/31/turner.php

How can facial mapping help a writer?

Dialogue in writing is nothing like real life. Character speech that is on-point can be toxic to excitement. Hidden meaning, using dialogue to uncover character personality attributes, motivation, and emotional context is well down by the use of facial mapping. The pulling together of brows, flattening of the nose, slight flare in the nostrils could be a sign of anger characteristic of the hero who never says what he thinks or the person who is not at liberty to relay their emotions.

Along with the visceral reactions, internalizations, accurate body language ties an emotionally charged scene together, creating greater depth in writing by autheticity.

It's not enough to research scene environments, historical movements, political unrest. An author first and foremost must be an authority on knowing the human emotional signals.

Stay tuned for Part 2 - BODY SPEAK- Nonverbal Communication
0

My recommendation for the holidays!

Back to Top