Marketing and an Award

In the ten years that I have been writing seriously, the one thing that I never expected was marketing. When I started, the only thing I thought about was writing the best manuscript that I could. It took me nine years to get a book published and I thought, "Wow, I did it. Now what?"

I learned quickly that the easy part was done, now the real work was to begin. I had to actually sell my book, as in advertise and market that darn thing. That has become a very eye opening experience. You'd think with the internet that advertising would be easy, but I have found that it could be a full time job if you let it.

So, how do I market my novel? I started off with the simple things: bookmarks, business cards, and a web site. Then, I found that I needed to do much more. I belong to several email lists of writers and readers of romance. Most of those lists set aside a day each week for posting promo emails for your books. I try not to miss a day for those special promotions on those lists. I know for one particular week, I worked every night online promoting my book and it worked. I saw my book move up to #6 on my publishers' Romantic Suspense Best Sellers List for that week.

My next step in promotion was to search out blogs that offered author interviews and I found several. They sent me questions and I submitted my answers, along with the offer of a free book for anyone that posted a comment. Then, I was able to do a BlogTalkRadio interview. That was a very nervous experience for me because it was live, but I survived. Finally, I started this blog. It's in the early stages, but I am noticing more hits each week. My other blog, Carols Food Bites started out slowly, but after a couple years the readership has really grown. I plan to repay those who helped me with their blog interviews and hope to have a few interviews on here soon. If you would like to read any of my interviews, you can visit my web site at http://CarolPre.webs.com

The thing to remember is that marketing is a never ending task. My novel has been out for months, but I still post every week on those lists and I'm always hunting out new blogs I can be on. In the meantime, I have to make time to work on my next manuscript. Like I said, it's a never ending task. Stay turned here for updates on any new interviews.

Now, for my award announcement. One of the email lists that I am on hold annual awards to list members to celebrate the anniversary of the list's existence. I am very pleased and proud to announce that this year my fellow list members voted me two awards: The Indy 500 Award, for the list member that has come the farthest in their writing career since joining the list; and the Share the Wealth Award, for the writer who so generously shares their wealth of experience to other list members. I want to say thank you to those members of the list that voted for me. I am humbled by the awards.

Thank you,
Carol