Tag Archives: Marketing plan

Road to Publication #16: Tchotchkes… Huh? Is that a typo? What the heck is my publisher sending me?

Posted on September 17, 2012 | 39 comments

Okay, let’s just get this part out of the way… since it’s an obvious question:

tchotch·ke/ˈCHäCHkə/Noun: 1.A small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional; a trinket.

(Typically pronounced “CHACH-kee”)

Honestly, I had no idea what this was either. I even had to look up the pronunciation. I did see a mention of this odd word in my marketing plan, but I didn’t want to sound stupid and ask back then.

When the email arrived from my publisher, I stared at it. Should I open it? Is it Spam? Was their email hijacked by some foreign based worm? Honestly, I was worried.

But you know what? Today is my Birthday, and it ended up being a big fat fun present! Just For me!

Well, not really. All the Make Believe authors got it, but it’s still like a present, dernit!

Inside was the artwork for a whole bunch of neat marketing pieces.

1. Email signature tag

2. Bookmarks

3. Posters

4. Trading cards/postcards

5. Desktop art (for your computer)

Oh! Oodles of good stuff. This is the front of the bookmark. Pretty cool, huh?

This is all so neat! I can’t wait to figure out how to slap that signature-thingy into my email. Good fun!

Oh, you know what? Yesterday was my three-hundredth Post. How wacky is that? Who knew I’d ever have this much to say?

How Often Should You Update Your Marketing Plan? (grasshopper.com)
Social Media Marketing 101 (twincreekmedia.com)
Book Marketing: Post-Print Era Pt.2 (epubconfesses.com)
Making the Most of Your Email Signature Line (blogs.constantcontact.com)

39 Comments

Posted in Road to Publication

Tagged Bookmark, email, Internet Marketing, Last Winter Red, Make Believe, Make Believe Anthology, marketing, Marketing plan, Social media

Road to Publication #11: Coming out of the closet

Posted on August 6, 2012 | 29 comments

“That’s what she looks like? – Really?”

Part of my marketing plan is coming out of the closet. For me, that is almost literally. Well, maybe it’s more like putting down the book that I’ve been hiding behind and showing off my face for the first time.

According to the marketing plan, you can connect with people more when they know what you look like. Hmmm… I’ve been connecting pretty well hiding behind that book, too. 🙂

I love my book logo, and I don’t think it’s disappearing any time soon, but you will get to see a little more of me as I trod ahead.

So, alas, it is time to come out of the closet and show everyone what I look like.

Step one is splattering my mug on the home page of my blog. If you’re reading this post in email, click on in. If you’re already here, please suppress the giggle. I can hear it now… “That’s what she looks like? Really?” Come on … give a girl a break. This is hard enough!

Step two is my new “About” page. I couldn’t decide on one particular picture, so I did a few. The marketing plan says to pick a picture and stick with that to brand yourself with… but me just sitting there and staring right into someone’s eyes is anything but ‘me’. I wanted to promote a little more fun.

Yes, I can be as boring as anyone else, but I also have a little spunk. I want to promote my fun side as well as my professional side.

So click on my “about” link and let me know what you think. If ya hate it, I can always go back to the photographer and ask for some pictures in my granny glasses.

29 Comments

Posted in Road to Publication

Tagged Coming out, coming out of the closet, getting published, hiding, marketing, Marketing plan, Mars, novel, photo shoot, publication, Short story, writing

Road to Publication #5: The Marketing Plan

Posted on June 11, 2012 | 50 comments

Today I received one of those big-scary presents from my publisher. The Marketing Plan.

I don’t know if this calls for a squee or and EEEK!

I was a little surprised by the magnitude of it. Everyone says writing the novel is the easy part. Now’s the time for the work. And this isn’t something you can’t put off. Anything you do wrong (or right) now can affect how your novel sells.

I have a 20 week marketing plan leading right up until the release date of December 3^rd. 20 weeks equates to 50 pages of reading. Did anyone else just cringe?

The good news is a lot of this I have done already, or have already planned to do and it is on my schedule. The bad news is, there is a lot of stuff that I haven’t done, and some of it is scary.

It’s time to plow ahead. The good news is that I can draw on experiences of others, and I am not floundering in the dark.

Keep your fingers crossed!