Marketing in Today's World & Book Giveaway

We're finishing off our week with Sandra Orchard here on Faithful Romances. It's been a pleasure having Sandra enlightening us this week, and today's topic is Marketing a novel in today's world. I've asked Sandra to highlight what her marketing plan is.

Marketing. The word alone is enough to send icy chills down my spine. Promoting oneself just feels…wrong.

But the days of publishers marketing our books is long gone. (Although with Harlequin, it’s still pretty good.) Readers expect to be able to find and interact with authors online. So at the insistence of my agency’s publicist, I started a Facebook page.

Figuring out how it all worked was a huge learning curve for me, but I have to admit, I’m enjoying it. I still get a thrill every time an email pops up to let me know someone “likes” me. Not sure how pathetic that is to admit. But there you go.

I always click on the person’s profile and learn a little about them. Because ultimately, I’m not there to promote my book, but build relationships with my readers. It’s fun. It’s addictive. It can quickly swallow my time.

For that reason, among many, I had avoided social media like the plague in the past. I didn’t want to spend any more time online than I already was. I wanted to write. When I interact with friends, I prefer one-on-one emails. I’m a fairly private person, and the idea of posting generalized comments for the world to read (or even just my “friends”) was uncomfortable to say the least.

I still feel embarrassed to announce the latest stop on my blog tour, or my latest personal blog post on my FB page. After all, how many times do my friends and fans want to read an interview or review on my new release?

Yet, I want to promote the blogs of the wonderful bloggers like Eileen who invite me to share my story with their readers. Generally, I try to post items that give value to readers, such as the latest free Ebook offerings etc., or share some humorous or newsy items about what’s going on in my life. I’m still searching for a happy balance.

I also started a blog, Conversations About Characters http://SandraOrchard.blogspot.com, and am thoroughly enjoying writing it. I didn’t think I could possibly think of enough things to say in a blog, and am surprised by the ideas that keep coming. I’ve designed it to be interactive, and am very grateful for the comments of my faithful readers. I’ve already made some wonderful new friends.

But to be honest, I’m finding it difficult to find time to actually write my novels!

Since Love Inspired books are only in stores for one month, I decided a blog tour would be the best means to get the word out to potential readers. I was blessed to receive dozens of invitations, and as a result, I have been very busy answering interviews and writing guest posts. I know this is just a season, and once I get caught up, I’ll find my rhythm again.

And hopefully, people who follow several of the blogs that are hosting me, won’t be so sick of hearing about my book that they’ll run the other way at the mere mention of my name!

I haven’t looked into Twitter or the gazillion other marketing opportunities out there. I don’t want to market myself. I want to build relationships with people. So I need to find a pace that works for me. The one thing I’ve committed to do without fail is to personally respond to every reader who emails me. I am sincerely touched when someone takes the time to send me a note.

This is an exciting time to be an author. The opportunities to reach people around the world are truly amazing. Just last week, an editor of a German romance magazine emailed me to ask for an interview for their September issue. I was thunderstruck. I mean, how cool is that?

The best piece of advice I’ve received on marketing came from fellow Canadian author Anne K. Albert. Her editor told her, "Self-promotion is not a sprint, it's a marathon." Now, whenever I feel overwhelmed by the long list of things that publicists suggest I do from press releases to book signings to bookmarks to blogging, I remind myself to pace myself. It doesn’t have to all be done today, or this week, or even for this book’s release. If I do a little each day, that’s good.

Ultimately, the best way to keep readers happy is to write fabulous books and keep them coming.


Sandra, It's been a real pleasure having you visit and share this week. Thank you so much! I wish you all the best with your writing and sure look forward to all your books to come!!

Last Day to Get in on Deep Cover Giveaway:

Leave a comment on this post or any of the posts here this week and you'll be entered to win a copy of Sandra Orchard's debut novel, Deep Cover.

Good Luck everyone!

Surrendering to Him,
Eileen

Oh, the Possibilities!

Over at Inkwell Inspirations earlier this week brands and taglines caught my attention. Anita Mae Draper took it a step further with creating a visual icon or logo to represent her writing. How cool is that?

I'm no where near ready to delve into creating a logo yet, but that post sure had me thinking about my writing tagline. For the longest time I had Faithful Romances Worth Pondering stamped on this blog. But lately I've been switching it up, trying new arrangements--all starting with Faithful Romances, because that part I'm quite set on with the dual meaning of Faithful. Faithful as in Christian, and faithful as in true to the happily ever after scenario that romance novels offer.

If you look up, you'll notice I'm currently trying out Faithful Romances To Grow With in my blog header. What do you all think? I'm not big on ending with the word "with", but at a loss as to what else to use. You see, I consider Grow to have a double meaning here, too, just like Faithful does to me. Grow to me means that my writing is appropriate for even the youngest of romance readers, but it also implies that what I write inspires change, internal and spiritual, in the reader of any age.

Our names are our brand, but have you ever considered taglines that describes the type of stories you write? If so, please share. What are your thoughts on Faithful Romances to Grow With?

Next week I have a special guest dropping in and a giveaway. I hope you'll stop by to get in on the action.

May your weekend be fruitful and inspired, and if you haven't already committed to a tagline, may the perfect one come to you!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Writers, Social Media, & Smartphones...

do they go together?

If social media is the way to build our platform, then perhaps owning a Smartphone is a key component. Hey, wondering if you could claim it as a business expense? Of course, that would require an income as a writer. One day...please Lord.

Anyway, it occurred to me as I stood in line at the grocery store, followed by waiting in line to fill up my gas tank, that those chunks of time were the perfect length to take in a blog or two. Or interact with Twitter or Facebook friends.

I was always taught "waste not, want not". And time is one thing writers don't have to waste.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to Facebook, Twitter, and Blog hop on the fly? Oh, the possibilities. Instead of being limited to reading or writing in long hand (which is really time consuming) while waiting at the barn I could actually be connecting with writing pals, and family, too.

The thought of devoting my writing time solely to writing, while getting my networking in on the fly seems very appealing. Especially since I'm not on Internet at home unless I'm writing. My days go like this: I have to time my writing spells then click over to the networking sites, then back to a writing stint before reconnecting online again. On and on this goes while my computer chugs away.

What about you, do you have a smart phone? Do you utilize it to improve your networking and writing time? If you don't have one, do you wish you did?

May networking take you to knew friends this week, and may you be the answer to some prayers, too!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Social Media 101

Thought I'd share what's on my nightstand this week. I'm currently working through Kristen Lamb's Are You There Blog? and finding it very motivational and informative in a general sense. There's not a lot of detailed how-to's in this book so far, but it certainly helps you see marketing strategies within the bigger picture.

Next, I'll be heading into We Are Not Alone to get into the nitty-gritty of how to implement what I learned in Are You There Blog?. These are both available in book format and Kindle Edition. A great savings for the Kindle version, I might add.

If you've read one or both of Kristen's books or her blog, I'd love to hear what you learned and if they were valuable in your marketing strategies. Time will tell for me as I work through them.

And, hey, does Blogger have tags? If so, how do you utilize them? Would they happen to be called Labels in Blogger?

May this week bring you blessings in abundance, and may your marketing skills multiply!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Web Design ?

My Website is in dire need of an overhaul. I understand (I think) that there is a way to use blogger to create your website. I'm wondering if I can just overhaul my current site using blogger?

Currently, I host my domain with GoDaddy and used it to create that dull, boring site that exists today. What I really want is to have my website match this blog. Pinks and colorful books just look so romantic to me. If I could splash a touch of rural life into it, I would, as my stories are mostly set in the country.

Can anyone guide me on how to do this, or to a service that could do this for a reasonable fee? Would appreciate all and any suggestions out there!

May the creativity wind drop by your doorstop today and may God bless it with His own special touch!

Till next time, may your weekend shine!

Surrendering to Him,
Eileen

Postings

I've been in the gardens way too much. It's messing with my brain. Seriously, I can't even remember my sisters' phone numbers lately. It's like I'm in a fog. I wonder if it's sun stroke? Anyway, I'm going to blame it on that and to show you just how out of it I am, I'm going to attempt to explain what I feel reveals a professional looking post.

The link I had kept to exemplify professional posts was this, but as you can see, that's a website, not a blogger blog, so it doesn't work for what I wanted. But, it does reveal several things that can be applied to postings and making them look professional.

1) Inserting pictures or snapshots of pieces of interest. The more accurate the picture is, the better the effect. I love it when people are able to import a word document that shows graphics, etc. But how do they do that in blogger? Anyone know?

2) Like I'm doing here, creating number lists. Though some have a really cool way of doing it. They indent and make the numbered section look so professional, like a separate entity to the post. Wish I knew how to do that, too.

3) And the number one thing that I feel is the coolest tool for posting like a professional is using that hyperlink icon. You know, the thing that looks a little like a green globe with some black circuit graphic up on top. That links readers to other URL's without having to write out the whole long URL that just looks nasty and uninviting. I'd much rather see the name of the site in a bright color that I can click on, then have to read the whole path to get to the page. And this, thankfully, I have figured out.

So what other tools or aspects of posting do you find give the impression of a professional post? And if you know how to do it, please do tell.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Building an Online Presence

I thought I'd share news about an upcoming teleseminar by Sheila Wray Gregoire. The teleseminar will take place this coming Monday, June 29 at 9:00 pm. ET. But even if you can't make it at that time, if you register, you can download it to view at anytime afterward.

The topics covered will be:

How to Find your Online Niche
How to Draw People to Your Blog or Twitter page
How to Host an Online Party!
How to Keep in touch through emails, newsletters, and more!
How to Collect email addresses.

There is a $10.00 US fee for this teleseminar. With that in mind, if you're interested in learning about building an online platform, you can find more information about it here: http://sheilawraygregoire.com/buildanonlinecommunityp459.php

I'm going to try it out and hope that I learn some tips. Like how to use and maximize the impact of Twitter, Facebook, and blogging.

Pray we all have a wonderful weekend!

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen