Real world marketing

This week my seven actions for my 365 day project

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author

...have been in the real world...

Action 1:

I was interviewed by Eli Trier for her blogsite - The link isn't up yet, but when it is I'll share it. I do love meeting fellow writers and having a good natter about books and writing and sharing some tips, advice and inspiration with each other.

Action 2:

I went to networking event with Social Media South West - bringing social media into the real world. Spoke to some really interesting people.

Action 3:

After a tweet from Matt Burns who found one of my mini manuscripts I'm all fired up and have made some more this week. I'll be spreading them around Bristol in the next few days

Action 4:

The highlight of my week was being invited back to my old school, Court Fields, in Wellington, Somerset. 

I spent a day in classes with some of the kids and spoke about writing, following your dreams etc. They had loads of questions and were a lovely bunch. I also worked with a Creative Writing GCSE group who read out some of their stories. There was some really good work. 

I was asked to be the guest speaker at their awards ceremony and gave a speech and handed out awards. I put my speech onto prompt cards and here's the last one:

I really liked the line I finished on; 'Your life is a story - make yours a best seller'

Action 5:

I sent a press release to the Wellington Weekly News about the event. Hopefully they'll publish it. Here's the picture I sent them with the flowers I was presented with:

Action 6:

I printed off more A6 leaflets about Solomon's Secrets. I was at a wedding in rural Somerset over the weekend and left leaflets at the venues I visited and it was handy to give to guests who asked about my books. 

Action 7:

I had a proof copy of Solomon's Secrets back from another beta reader this week and have some changes to make on the manuscript. This will be the final edit I'll be making before, hopefully, handing it over to the publishers.

I'm still short of my target for the crowdfund that will enable me to publish with Silverwood Books 

If you enjoyed The Bronze Box, if you've enjoyed reading the extracts from Solomon's Secrets here, please help by pledging so that I can publish better and sexier this time!

eBooks are £3
Paperbacks £10 (inc P&P)

 


 

Connecting to new audiences and a trip down memory lane

This week my seven actions for my 365 day project

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author

...have been have about making connections...

With 3 weeks left on the crowdfund, it's clear to me now that I don't have the one thing that is essential to a successful crowdfund - A big crowd!

How do you engage with new audiences?

Action 1:

Meeting someone new

I met Eli Trier this week. She was introduced to me by a colleague. Eli is a writer too and wanted to talk to me about crowdfunding to publish. We also discussed me being interviewed for her website and writing a guest post. Look out for that...

Action 2:

I went back to my old school, Courtfields Community School in Wellington Somerset this week.

It was really weird being back there, so many memories. I had a tour of the school and recounted stories of my time there and what had changed or stayed the same. I'd not been back there for 20 years - I felt very old having to admit that!

I spoke to a group of year 7's (12 year olds) and a group of year 10's (15 year olds). They had lots of questions for me and I read out extracts from both The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets - It was a challenge finding age appropriate content!

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and was really impressed with the standard of teaching there. The teachers I met were all great and inspiring. 

I'm giving a speech at their annual awards ceremony next week.

Hopefully I'll have a tribe of future fans there!

Action 3:

Data analysis:

An important part of marketing is knowing what's working and what isn't. I've been getting to grips with some reports and analytics this week.

I was pleasantly surprised to read my Kindle report for May and June, to see that I've sold 289 eBooks. 

This is the period of the crowdfund, so my primary goal of using the fund to get some publicity must be working. Even if I don't meet my target fund, I'd call that a result! 

The trick is going to be in keeping the momentum up.


 

Action 4:

I've finished another edit of Solomon's Secrets 

Action 5:

I'm sourcing some new places to guest blog

Action 6:

I've published the last of the extracts that I'll be serializing here. If I serialize any more, it would be a spoiler! You can read chapter 14 here: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/solomons-secrets-chapetr-14.html

I especially liked this GIF of 'Tom Hiddleston' that I've added to the post - he looks sinister here, it's perfect for what happens to Sasha next (which I can't tell you because that's the spoiler!). I imagine him in the role of 'Jon Solomon'.

Tom Hiddleston as Jon Solomon (image from: http://31.media.tumblr.com)

Action 7:

My final action is a repeat from last week:

A call for guest posts...

Have you got an idea for a post on marketing tips for creatives / writers?
I'm looking for short pieces of approximately 500 words. Share your tips and experiences here.
Tweet me if you are interested:
https://twitter.com/TomCatDesigns
 
 

 

Lucky 13, an appeal for help and a call for guest posts...

This week for 

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author 

My 7 tasks have revolved around working towards getting Solomon's Secrets published.

My first action was to meet with Silverwood Books about publishing the book through them. I have some thinking to do then get back to them with what I would like.

I saw some examples of the books they've published and had a long chat over a cup of tea. I'd really like to work with them but everything depends on the success of the crowdfund.

My next action was to put an update on Fundsurfer, briefing those who've already pledged and providing more information to those that haven't, in the hope that it will resonate and they'd like to support me.

Link to the update here

 My next action is an appeal for help...

If you've been enjoying the updates. If you've read some of the extracts and think that this a project worth supporting, please get involved.

Of course, if you ever need help spreading a message I'll help you out too if you've helped me :)

There are several ways you could help:

Twitter

Follow me on Twitter and I’ll follow you back:
https://twitter.com/TomCatDesigns

• Retweet my updates
• Use my link to the fund in your own tweets: http://bit.ly/SolomonsSecrets_Fund
• Use the hastag #SolomonsSecrets wherever you can

Facebook

• Like and share my Facebook Author Page with your friends: http://bit.ly/ACFitz_FB 

Pinterest
 
Follow and share the Pinterest boards on the book:
Here’s the board of actors I imagine as my characters:
http://www.pinterest.com/amymorse184/solomons-secrets-characters/

Here’s the board of research links that I sourced when writing the book:
http://www.pinterest.com/amymorse184/solomons-secrets-research-links-and-images/


My next action is to call for guest posts. 

Have you got an idea for a post on marketing tips for creatives / writers?

I'm looking for short pieces of approximately 500 words. Share your tips and experiences here.

Tweet me if you are interested:

https://twitter.com/TomCatDesigns

This action is a funny example of how small the world is. 


I sent a press release to the Wellington Weekly News
 
They printed the piece. Later, on Facebook, a friend in New Zealand who's mum had sent them a copy of the Welly Weekly to mark the birth of their son (they too grew up in Wellington Somerset), posted an image. It was the issue I was in...

The next action associated with this is that my old school, Court Fields Community School contacted me and asked me to be the key note speaker at their awards ceremony. I'll be talking to pupils at my former school about following your dreams, entrepreneurship and writing on 10th July.


And finally, I'm still serializing chapters of Solomon's Secrets from time to time and this week I posted chapter 13

Please get in touch if you'd like to guest post and help support my publishing ambitions.  Thanks