The Catfish Marketing Campaign, Day 17 The Log Line Blog

There are a number of places to promote your book on line. Today I plan on posting my books on a sight called Log Line Blog http://theloglineblog.blogspot.com/ but before I do I thought I’d run my log lines here for critiques and comments. A log line is an abbreviated elevator pitch. An elevator pitch gets its name from the concept of running into a successful literary agent in an elevator and taking the opportunity to try and sell him/her your book before the elevator door opens and they can escape. An elevator ride—30 seconds. A log line—25 words. Here are log lines for your critique. The first is for Stealing Mercy, the second for A Ghost of a Second Chance. 

Serving murder, mayhem and pies, Stealing Mercy is set on the eve of the Great Seattle Fire, when more than a city burns.

With the help of a ghost, Laine unravels the mystery of her grandparents’ marriage and faces the question—can love live after it has died?

Catfish Marketing Campaign, Day 16 Twitter

Just opened my twitter account. I’m a newbie and know nothing, but I’m passing along some advice I gleaned on the kindle boards.

Today is #litchat day.

If you follow @litchat, you'll see the questions and get in the loop faster. The account manager will send out reminders just before and say what the topic is. It starts at 1pm EDT today (Monday) and is usually an open session for random chatting.

This is a good day to put your new tools and skills to use.

1. Open tweetdeck and make a column for #litchat

2. Set a reminder on your calendar to 12:45 ET. (You'll need to adjust for your local time)

3. Watch the #litchat hashtag and see what people talk about, how they do it, what it looks like.

4. Don't feel like you need to say anything at all. Just watch. This is particularly important if you're new to this idea and aren't really comfortable with the speed at which things flow.

5. If somebody seems really interesting .. that is, they've made several contributions to the chat that you thought were well done, intriguing .. right click on their name and look at their profile. See what's there and maybe follow them.

6. At the end of the chat (it ends at 2pm ET so you're tying up an hour or some part of it), close the column.

Since I’m brand new, I’m going to sit and watch the river. Maybe I’ll have more to say before the campaign is over. Maybe not. We’ll see.

Catfish Campaign Day 15, QR Codes

QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or through supported extensions, virtually any kind of data.
From Wikipedia

How to make a QR code:

The process for obtaining a QR code online is easy and it’s free if 
you are linking simple information like a website URL. Goggle a free 
QR code-making site. http://qrcode. kaywa.com/ or http://www.qrstuff. com/ 
You insert your website address (or any other site that gets the 
buyer to your buy-page) and the QR codemaker interprets it into a QR 
code that links to the URL. Wait! You want something in color or 
with a different shape than the drab black and white code? Check out http://www.custom- qr-codes. net/ 
and you’ll have more options. Once you’ve got the color, shape and 
size you want, download the image. Pretty isn’t always best, 
however. Make sure you have a distinct color contrast between the 
dots/squares and the background for the quick scanning. A unique QR 
code like the one I show below (which came from http://blog. kissmetrics. com/genius- qr-codes/) 
, will probably cost you money.

Now it’s time to get the QR reader as a free APP on your smart phone. 
Check the reviews/ratings on different APP’s before you download one. 
You’ll want to test all QR images beforehand, with your scanner, to 
make sure they work. For instance, I applied my APP to my code to 
make sure the code led to my website, then I played around with 
different-sized codes as small as might go on a business card.
(I "borrowed" this info from a marvelous class taught by the fabulous Rolynn Anderson hosted by the fantastic Marketing for Romance Writers online writer's group.)

How can we use QR codes to market our books? Here's a list of places to stick a QR code that will take people to a pay page of your books:
Business cards
Posters
Banners
Flyers
T-shirts
Any more ideas?

Trailers Wanted

I want to talk/learn about making a book trailer. So--if anyone is interested, I'd love to post your (rated G) book trailer. If you want to share your creation process--that would be great, too. THANKS!

Catfish Campaign, Day 14 Chapter One Endings

At the end of my book STEALING MERCY I pasted on the first chapter of my upcoming novel, A GHOST OF A SECOND CHANCE. And at the end of A GHOST OF A SECOND CHANCE, I added the first chapter of my soon to be released THE RHYME’S LIBRARY. THE RHYME’S LIBRARY which is currently being white washed by my editor AND has a date with the Lee the formatter at Iron Horse Formatting that’s only a week away (silent squeal of excitement), but, returning to the matter at hand, at the end I’ve tacked on the first chapter of my next Rose Arbor book, LOSING PENNY.

My friend and mega-selling indie author Debra Holland has also had success with “chapter swaps.” She does it a little differently—at the end of her book is the first chapter of another romance writer’s western novel (Debra’s niche genre.) And of course, the other author returns the favor. It’s a win-win marketing technique. I suppose I’d be interested in chapter swapping if I didn’t have my own upcoming books to sing about. But today I want to sing about something else entirely.

            (For all those interested in marketing and only marketing—now’s the time to check your e-mail or your Facebook because I’m going to blog about what I call Barney Car Days, because I’m bored with the business side of books.)

           In Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the main character, Christopher, has what he calls red car days and yellow car days—the mood of the day categorized by the color of car he happened to see. I didn’t want to have a bad car day, but about a year ago I decided to have what I called Barney car days, meaning that every time I saw a purple car I’d have a good day. After a few months, I lost faith in Barney car days because I discovered that Barney car days only seemed to happen on those days that I happened to spend a lot of time on the freeway, and since freeway travel isn’t my favorite—well, how could I base a day’s happiness on seeing a purple car, anyway?

            But yesterday restored my faith in the power of the purple car. I did see a purple car. And my car that broke down 24 days after the warranty’s expiration that was supposed to cost hundreds of dollars to fix was free because the mechanic talked to the manufacturer. AND while eating breakfast at Mimi’s café a stranger handed us a coupon for a free breakfast. AND while at the beach, I happened to step on an earring—giving me an excellent first sentence for the new novel I absolutely, positively won’t start until September. (But it will start like this Everything Mia believed to be true changed the moment she stepped on the diamond earring.) AND then there was a magnificent pink and purple sunset.

            “You should have bought a lotto ticket,” my friend said.

            “You should buy a purple car, so that you’ll have a Barney Car Day everyday,” my daughter said.

            I do believe that good things happen to people paying attention and looking for the good, but I also believe that Barney Car days can’t be forced or tricked. I also believe that it’s important to love and cherish the ordinary days as well as the Barney Car Days.

I love the line from Ecclesiaticus 33:7

Why is any day better than another when all the daylight in the year is from the sun? By the Lord’s decision they were distinguished and He appointed the different seasons and feasts: some of them He exalted and hallowed, and some of them he made ordinary days.

Catfish Marketing Campaign, Day 13, Interviews

Doing interviews is a great way to market yourself and your books. Don’t know what to say? Here’s a list of interview questions I borrowed from Marketing for Romance Writers, a fabulous online writers’ group of approximately 1400 members.

Select eight to ten of the following questions to answer. If you wish to answer more, feel free to do so. Your interview will be posted with information on your latest book. The two questions at the top are vital. These will help direct traffic to your website and other promo places you might be using.

Please answer these two questions.

Where can your readers find you? (List them all.)

Where’s your favorite place to hang out online? (From the list above.)

Please include your cover.

[Select 8 - 10 questions]

Tell us about your latest book, including its genre. Does it cross over to other genres? If so, what are they?

What can we expect from you in the future?

How do we find out about you and your books?

How many readers/fans contact you?

Do your fans' comments and letters influence you in any way?

Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?

Why did you decide to write romance novels?

How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?

When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms?

Generally, how long does it take you to write a book?

Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?

What is your writing routine once you start a book?

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, outline, or...?

What about your family, do they know not to bother you when you are writing - or are there constant interruptions?

What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries?

What truly motivates you in general? In your writing?

How do you come up with ideas?

Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why?

What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels? Do you find them difficult to write?

What kind of research do you do?

Would you like to write a different genre than you do now, or sub-genre?

What does your husband/wife think of your writing?

Do you ever ask him/her for advice?

Please tell us about yourself (family, hobbies, education, etc.)


What are some of your favorite things to do?

Do you have a favorite author? Favorite book?

Who are some of your other favorite authors to read?

Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing?

Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.?

What do you think of critique groups in general?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

How long have you been writing - have you always wanted to be a writer?

How many books have you written, how many have been published?

After you've written your book and it's been published, do you ever buy it and/or read it?

List two authors we would find you reading when taking a break from your own writing.

Among your own books, have you a favorite book? Favorite hero or heroine?

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?

What book for you has been the easiest to write? The hardest? The most fun?

Which comes first, the story, the characters, or the setting?

What are the elements of a great romance for you?

What is the hardest part of writing/the easiest for you?

Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?

Have you experienced writer's block? If so, how did you work through it?

What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer?

What is the single most important part of writing for you?

What do you enjoy most about writing?

If you weren't writing, what would you be doing?

Are there any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?

What do you hope readers take with them after reading your work?

 A biography has been written about you. What do you think the title would be in six words or less?

 If money were not an object, where would you most like to live?

 What song would best describe your life?

 If you were a tool, what would people use you to do?

 Picture yourself as a store. Considering your personality and lifestyle, what type of products would be sold there?

 If you came with a warning label, what would it say?

What question would you love to answer that I didn't ask?

What is the one question you wish an interviewer would ask you?

[Choose any or all of the following as alternate or additional questions. Your choice.]

Leather or lace?

Black or red?

Satin sheets or Egyptian cotton?

Ocean or mountains?

City life or country life?

Hunky heroes or average Joe?

Party life or quiet dinner for two?

Dogs or cats?

I love pizza with (fill in the blank).

I'm always ready for (fill in the blank).

When I'm alone, I (fill in the blank).

You'd never be able to tell, but (fill in the blank).

If I could (fill in the blank) I'd (fill in the blank).

I can never (fill in the blank) because (fill in the blank).

Fill in the blank favorites

Dessert.

City.

Season.

Type of hero.

Type of heroine.

Catfish Marketing Campaign, Day 12, Blog Hops and Give-aways

                    

I love blog hops. They’re a great way to connect with other bloggers. If you’re unsure of how a blog hop works go to http://mylifeherdingcats.blogspot.com/. My friend and talented writing partner, Brittany, is hosting a blog hop and offering my novel, A GHOST OF A SECOND CHANCE as a prize.

I’ve done most of my blog hops through  http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/ because I love books and I want readers, but there are dozens of bloggers and hoppers out there and I’m excited that I recently found http://www.the-mommychronicles.com/blog-hops/blog-hop-directory a blog hop directory. I plan on expanding beyond the reading and writing world and seeing who else is hopping online.