Promotion

After a week's break, I've discovered the blogs must be boring as reading has dropped off. I think I'll change my strategy. I'll talk about whatever comes to mind. Today I'll concentrate more on Promotion.

While writing a proposal for the Douglas Country Writer's Conference, I've discovered more on promotion. Try to be a guest blogger on popular blogs. Also search out interview opportunities. After hearing Dom Testa speak at AuthorU, I have a different outlook on interviewing.

He says your subject should be broad. If not, there will be no interest by media to do an interview. Suppose you've written on the life cycle of frogs. Who cares? Who wants to know about frogs? However, if you choose a subject such as his that says "Smart is Cool" to teens, you can land an interview.

In my case, Charles Russell appeals to a wide variety of people. How to look at art appeals to a large percentage of people although they don't realize it until they read my book. As one person posted on Facebook, "I'll never look at art in the same way again." Another woman made the same comment after attending my author visit at Evergreen Country Day School. That is my goal.

I tell a story on my website (www.LindaOsmundson.com) about an incident I experienced during the Moscow Treasures and Traditions exhibit during the 1990 World Games in Seattle, WA. Check it out. 

I did land an interview on The Children's Authors Show. It will air April 27/28. You can fill out the form on the site to request an author interview. My Pelican publicist forwarded the information to me.

She also forwarded the information for a guest blog on Imagination Soup. The host hasn't informed me when the article will be posted.

Promotion is a never ending but necessary evil whether you publish with a publishing house or self-publish. Thank goodness I've received lots of help from the publicist and by word of mouth.

Tomorrow I mail the final submission as requested by Pelican after a contract was signed for the Frederic Remington's Art, the second book in the How the West Was Drawn series. Hopefully the book will be released in Spring, 2012. In the meantime, I'm concentrating on doing author visits at retirement communities during the summer. 

Contacts - Organizations, Media

The list of publisher requests goes on. Among the 23 items on my checklist is organizations, local and personal media contacts (newspaper, radio/TV) and any interview CD, DVD, or digital files you might have. The marketing department requires names and addresses of each.  I'll try to include email addresses and phone numbers.

For me, organization information is easy and quick. If not, I'd Google it.

Media contacts requires more time. To find names and addresses of newspapers, TV and radio, I first Googled "Colorado radio stations" and found On the Radio.net at this link: http://www.ontheradio.net/states/colorado.aspx. They list every station ID frequency, city, fornat and website. Surfing the websites disclosed contact information and sometimes the person responsible for receiving press releases.

When I changed the Google subject to "TV/radio," another source, News Link, http://newslink.org/cotele.html, came up. It lists all kinds of media - TV/radio as well as newspapers and magazines - by state. However, I didn't see weekly newspapers like the Lyons Recorder for whom I regularly write. In that case, I'd Google "weekly newspapers" or the name of the paper in which I'm interested.

When the release date of my book comes, I'll personally call, write or email my local media sources, introduce myself and make them aware of my upcoming book. If I'm lucky, they might invite me to appear via print, video or audio.

Unlike me, be ahead of the game. Make a media/organization list while submitting your manuscript. You never know when that editor's call or contract will arrive. Good luck.