Don't Promote to Promote. Offline Marketing

Good Morning and Happy Friday! I was supposed to post this post on Monday (past) but with it being Memorial day, I decided to do it Tuesday, Then Tuesday came and... Well...You know, so here it is now  Friday. So are you ready to finish up "Don't Promote to Promote?"

The past couple of weeks I have been telling you about how overwhelmed I've been with all the social media and that I need to cut back and find just the right ones that work for me. And many of you have agreed that the internet social media can be quite overwhelming.
Today I want to talk about OFFLINE Marketing.
We all get on twitter, FB, Goodreads, etc. but how do you market your book, your brand, to the people right here in your own city?
I live in a city with approximately 250,000 people and probably could count on my hands, how many know that I've written a book.

I hear a lot of people say, "If you want people to know, have a book signing"
Now that, that right there, is scary to me, because,

What if no one comes to my book signing?

 I owned a gift shop and when I was in school, I was told the key to a successful business is, Location, Location, Location! Well I thought I had the perfect location. On the main drag, a mile up from the freeway and the hospital. Boy was I wrong. I was right smack dab in the middle of a long block. Once the cars took off from the signal light south of me, by the time they reached my shop, they were pushing 40 MPH, staring straight ahead, hoping to catch the green at the signal light half a block north of me. And with city ordinances, stipulations, and all the rules concerning signage, most people didn't even know I existed, so I had to be creative when it came to marketing. 

So here's what I'd like to do

                               Let's put our heads together

 and come up with

 some ideas to market offline, so that when we have that anticipated book signing, we won't be disappointed in the number of people standing in that line waiting for our autograph!

Here are a few of my ideas;

1. Give a copy of your book to your mail man/lady.
2. Give a copy to your favorite teller at your bank.
3. Leave a copy in the waiting room at your doctor or dentist office, or give the copy to the receptionist.

With all of these, write a note inside the book asking people to please share with others.

1. Have business cards made up with a picture of the cover of your book. (I like the magnetic business cards. And I'll tell you why in a minute.)
2. Someone suggested to me Car door magnets with the picture of your book and a link to wherever it is sold or your website/blog link.
3. Make up fliers to hand out. These can be done on your own computer.
4. Send out postcards. 

Where I live, people put advertisements under the wiper of your car while you are parked in the grocery store parking lot, at the bank, post office, etc. Some places don't allow this, so check or look for posted signs prior to doing this. 

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get the word out. I use Vista Print for a lot of my offline marketing products. 

http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/welcome.aspx?xnav=welcomeback&rd=1

With just the cost of shipping and uploading your photo, you can get quality products at a reasonable price.

I buy the business card magnets to place on car doors just above the door handle where people won't miss it. With regular business cards a lot of times they just end up on the ground, more people will keep the magnets and put them on their fridge or their filing cabinet at work. And they are even better if they have a calender printed on them!

Now how about a press release? There are three major newspapers that cover my county, but I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about that small town newspaper just for your local area. Put a copy of your book in an envelope, write up a short bio with links, and send it off. If you were born and raised in this town, your headline could be something like; "Lifelong resident publishes her first book"

And last but not least, donate a copy of your book to the library, school, senior center, etc.

Of course you have to make sure that the book you're donating is appropriate. I mean you don't want to donate your erotica novel to the elementary school library.

Oh wait! One more idea and then I'll shut up. 

A car club friend of mine and a new author, you can find his book here,  http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Relations-ebook/dp/B006ZCBT6G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338567324&sr=1-1

attended a local car show in his area. He took some great photos and wrote a short article about the car show and submitted it to the newspaper and they published it!

So if there is something that is going on in your area, a car show, a flower show, or maybe the yearly fair, and you have a small town newspaper, write a short piece on it and submit it, you never know.

Okay your turn. Do you have any ideas on how you can market offline? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

I wasn't going to post today...

But... I'm so excited! I sold my first book today! I am doing back flips and cartwheels, and jumping for joy! Well not literary, not sure if I could do a backflip or even a cartwheel anymore.
I want to go shake my son awake and tell him, because he asks me every day, "So did you sell any yet?"
I was reading on another blog that you shouldn't say you self published your book, but I can't help it, "I am proud of me." I wrote it, went through all the... ahem...fun steps of publishing it and now have sold my first one!
No not rich yet, I made $1.70 but hey! I sold my first book. I sent out an email to all my family and friends telling them and gave them the link to get the e-book for free,  because I am having a giveaway on the 14th and 15th of February and I forgot to put a comment in the subject line of the email, so half of them probably deleted it without even reading it :-(  My old email address was hacked into last month and was spamming everyone in my address book and there was no comment in the subject line, so everyone is probably saying, "Karen's email has been hacked again and sending out spam. Delete." I know, I'm goofy, but to me it's exciting.
How did you feel when your first book sold?

You Are Awesome!

"You are Awesome" Maybe that's not the best title for this post.
Maybe it should be,
 "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" or
 "Thinking of others" or
"Make a Difference"

The Christmas season is upon us. It's the final countdown to Friends, Family, Presents, and Holiday Cheer, But...
Every year I make the same plea. I post it on FB, My blogs, or I tweet it.
We were all Thankful on Thanksgiving, now it's time to give back.

There are people every where that don't have what we have. There are homeless, people in shelters, nursing homes, and many people out of work, struggling just to keep their gas and electric on.

So I am asking for everyone to help others.
Whether you donate canned goods to a soup kitchen, or give to Toys for Tots, is up to you.

If you're not sure who to help here are some ideas and some of my favorites.

Make A wish Foundation http://www.wish.org/

Candle Lighters http://www.ccfsocal.org/candle2/about_us

Leukemia Society http://www.lls.org/

Ronald McDonald House http://rmhc.org/

Your local hospital Children's ward- Books, CD's, crayons, Lego sets, slippers, and hats.
(My oldest son, now 35, had leukemia as a child. So these are personal faves of mine)

Do you knit or crochet? How about making a couple of scarves and donate them to the homeless shelter, or make some small lap blankets or slippers for a local nursing home.

I'm not asking you to donate a million dollars here. With dollar stores everywhere you can pick up a few coloring books for kids, socks for the homeless, or whatever you can imagine.

And one last plea, buy a couple of cans of dog food and donate to your local animal shelter, because they need love too.

I know times are tough for everyone and many of us can't afford to help at all, so for those of you, please share a smile, a warm handshake, a kind word, or just a hug. Or volunteer to help!
 It can be the best gift of all.

My apologies for those that don't celebrate Christmas. I wish all of you Happy Holidays!

No matter what religions we are, or what beliefs we have, it all comes down to, we are people, We share this world together and it is up to us to make it a better world.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

You are Awesome!

Writing Bug!

The "Writing Bug" has gotten a hold of me! I don't know about you, but for the past 5 months I live, breath, eat, and sleep writing. Family and friends, especially Facebook friends, wonder what's up with me.




A little over a year ago I was sitting in my gift shop and had this story going through my head, but didn't do anything with it at the time. For me, I always have stories going through my head and tend to dismiss them as fantasies I dream up. In February 2011, due to the economy and a business partner who disappeared into the night. I closed my physical gift shop but continued to create custom gift baskets and keep my online business going.

Five months ago, tired of laundry and housework, the story in my head was stronger than usual, I picked up a notebook and pen, and my journey began. Three notebooks, 4 pens running out of ink,more than 20 hand written pages that still need to be typed, and over 70,000 words typed so far (I only type with 2 fingers), I know the Writing bug has got it's hooks into me!

Some people are naturals when it comes to writing. Am I a natural writer? I'm not sure. I know I had over a notebook written, before I told myself to do some research on writing. Am I any good? Once again, I'm not sure, that would have to be up to my readers. I do hope, as many writers do, that my book will pull the reader in, get them hooked, and keep them turning the pages to the very end.




I have always had stories go through my head and a great imagination. (Tea time with Elvis was one of my best ones when I was about 5!) So here I am, a 53 year old mom with three grown sons and am starting on a new journey in my life. Yep, the writing bug has definitely gotten me. Either that or I have completely lost my mind, as some of my family and friends seem to think and I couldn't be happier.




My question for you is.... Have you always had the writing bug?

If not, what, when, and where did it hit you? I'd love to hear your stories.




Wishing each and every one of you a very happy writing bug day!
   


     

I hope I have grown

As my title states, I hope I have grown, not only as a person, but also as a writer. Ten years ago I was attending college working towards my AA Degree. At that time my goal was to open a board and care facility for the elderly. Since then things have changed. I had just started my final semester and one of the classes I was taking was English Composition 101. Two weeks into this class my brother passed away suddenly. Instead of stopping right there and taking the semester off, I decided I would get through. It would have been what my brother would have wanted. As it was we had lost our mom during my first semester that I started attending college, just a year and a half before my brother. So in honor of my brother I had decided that every assignment I was given in my English class would either revolve around him or he would be mentioned in the assignment at some point. One of the assignments was to write a story showing opposites. I decided to write about people I knew that were listeners and talkers. Recently I found my story sitting on the shelf where it has been for the past ten years. Reading back through it I can't believe that I had written something so badly and that the professor actually gave me an "A" on it. As I reread it, I found that it really wasn't a story, but more of a statement of facts. Yes there are a couple of interesting lines, but as a reader it really would not have held my attention. Keep in mind that at the time, the thought of being a writer had never crossed my mind and that I was dealing with the emotional aspects of losing my brother. My goal at that time was just to muddle through and graduate.

   The people in my story are real people. A couple have passed away, there have been divorces, people that were thought to be strong and assertive, sweet and kind (nephew in law) turned out to be not so sweet and kind, and crabby and sullen people have changed over the years.

    I am embarrassed by my writing skills at that time in my life, but feel the need to share and to hope that I have grown not only as a writer, but also as a person. Here's my story exactly as it was written March 9, 2001.

                                                                    People I Know
 
   The people I know consist of my family and friends. These people are interchangeable. I consider my family friends and my friends are a part of my family. They are all unique and special in their own way. They all fall into two main categories, which consist of several smaller categories.
   The two main categories are listeners and talkers. The sub categories are their personalities. There are not as many listeners as there are talkers. First, I will describe the listeners. My son Bobby has an upbeat type of personality. He is generally congenial and considered a good listener. My son Adam is the quiet type. He always seems to be in a good mood. He gives you that impression, because he is always whistling and singing. I also see him as the strong, silent type and you never know what he is thinking or feeling. My niece Lorie looks like "the dumb blond" type, yet she is quiet and intelligent. My soon to be nephew in law is strong and assertive. He also is kind and gentle. My niece Stacy is a giver and taker. Normally she does not come around unless she needs something. She feels she needs me to lean on, but what she does not know, is that I get a lot of my strength from her. The last listener on my list is Cindy. Cindy is my best friend. She is always there when I need her. She is one of the best listeners I know. She is sweet and kind and always there to lend a shoulder to cry on. That is it for the listeners. Let us move on to the talkers.

   The talkers are an interesting group of people. Normally, people who are talkers, are often complainers as well. They have problems. And they want you to know about these problems. My sister Joyce is always smiling. People are attracted to her like bees to flowers. Once you get to know her you find that she has a multitude of problems that she likes to talk about. Joyce's son Anthony is not actually a complainer. He gives the impression that he is lonely and that nobody ever listens to him. My nephew Freddie talks, mainly because  he has a guilty conscience and can not handle silence. All you have to do is look at him and he will say, "What? I didn't do it." My son Jarrod constantly talks. He likes to be heard. He can talk about anything and everything. My great niece RaeAnna and my great nephew Andrew are small children who talk to be noticed and get attention. The award for the most talkative in my family goes to my sister Linda. Linda is sullen and crabby. She feels the world owes her something. When she talks. she expects you to listen. When the phone rings at my house we all say to each other, "You get it, I got it the last time." The reason for this is Linda calls constantly to borrow money or complain. One time Linda had called. My brother Bruce had answered the phone. After ten minutes of listening to her complain he quietly handed me the phone.He told me to listen for awhile. Bruce told me to throw in a couple of uh-huh's every now and then and Linda would not know the difference. After five minutes Linda said, "Bruce are you listening to me?" I could not help it I started laughing. Then Linda said, "Who is this?" I told her it was me. She then proceeded to ask, in a very shrill voice "What are you doing?" Finally she got mad and hung up the phone. That is all my talkers. Imagine the stories I could tell if they would just give me a chance to speak.

   There are two people that could not be put in either list. They are Bob and my brother Bruce. Bob could not fit in the listeners list because he is not a good listener. He either does not pay attention to what I'm saying or he misunderstands what I say. As for talking, he seldom speaks to me. Bruce would have fit in both groups. He was a great listener. You could tell him anything. He was also a great talker. He could sense when a person was in a bad mood. He knew when to speak and when to be quiet. He always had a kind word.

            That is my listeners and talkers. I hope you enjoyed them.


NOTE: I typed this up exactly how I had turned it in 10 years ago. I will stay with writing fiction, where I can mold and shape the characters the way I want them to be. And leave the non-fiction to others.

Wishing each and everyone of you a very happy and productive day. Keep smiling and writing!