On the Trail of Book Art

It was Southbank Bristol Arts - Southville Art trail over the weekend and I've put a blog update on my website:

Amy's Lovely New Blog Here

where I've relocated:

2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year 

Join me in my 365 Adventures 
in Writing and Entrepreneurship... 

One thing I will share with you through is the inspiration of a young man, Sennen Hurley, who was a big fan of my book art and sent me an animation he made while he was enjoying my stall (and eating the freebie Smarties and Kinder chocolates with me!)

It's super short, only 6 seconds, but I was really pleased that Sennen and the other children who visited the stall and got stuck in to the book art, enjoyed it:

When Books Become Art and Other Shiny Things

This year my 365 day project is:

Authorpreneur Almanac: 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship

Evey day this year I am working on my Authorpreneur business and regularly sharing content, ideas, tips, techniques and inspiration for creatives and entrepreneurs (especially writers).

This is the third 365 day project I've done, having completed them for the past three years.

I suffer with 'idea-ism' (hence the name of this blog). Idea-ism is the affliction of having too many ideas.

By doing a 365 day project, I find I can focus my attention and alleviate some of the symptoms of idea-ism and actually achieve my goals.  If I don't focus, I tend to get distracted by minutia and the next shiny thing - I move on to other things before seeing through the last thing.

In 2013 I completed my first of these 365 projects. It was called: Project Book 365, something creative everyday with books.

I put a daily update on a Facebook page as I completed each activity: 

https://www.facebook.com/ProjectBook365

Projects ranged from deconstructing books, to dioramas in books, book binding and most notably, I publishing my first book, The Bronze Box.


 

All these small acts of creativity had been packed away gathering dust in a cupboard and this year I'm bringing them back out.

Bristol has more art trails than any other city in the UK, creativity in all its forms is the beating heart of my eclectic home city. 

I've exhibited at a couple of trails in the past, but this year will be the first time I've exhibited at Southbank Bristol Arts as an authorpreneur.

Now in its 13th year, Southbank Bristol Arts art trail is one of the oldest and best in Bristol and each year thousands of people flock to this welcoming community on the south bank of the river Avon to see artists in their homes, open studios, community spaces and performances all over the area.

The trail spans the weekend of 16th and 17th May and I'll be exhibiting in the community centre at the heart of this area; The Southville Centre 

Check out their website for this years artists listings: 

http://www.southbankbristolarts.co.uk/

The trouble is, 365 things is a lot to cram onto a table in a community hall. I've had to be quite selective about what to exhibit. I've tried a few mock ups for my stall:

And I also found some children's books I'd written a few years ago, that my husband helped to illustrate: The Spoilt Princess and Dinosaur Dave. I only have about 3 of each left, so these little beauties are as rare as hens teeth.
 
The most challenging decision, however, was; which book dioramas to display? 

They take up too much room opened up, so in the end, I've decided to pile them all up and invite people to rummage through and discover the secrets inside these books for themselves.

The next problem is what to charge for these random and unique pieces of art? 

The physical materials are inexpensive, but making them is fiddly and time consuming and each book is one of a kind. 

I've decided to sell these on a 'pay as you feel' basis. In other words, pay what you feel they are worth. 

The coolest thing about these dioramas is that when they're on the shelf they just look like any other book, until you open them up...

If you are in the Bristol area during the weekend of 16th & 17th May I highly recommend you visit the arts trail. 

There are over 170 local artisans displaying work as well as fun and games and activities for all the family. You can download the trail map here: 

http://www.southbankbristolarts.co.uk/download-map

It's free, but bring some cash so you can support some of these local creatives and buy some lovely things or at the very least, enjoy tea and cake at many of the venues on the route selling homemade goodies.

If you do visit, come and say hello to me, I'd defiantly appreciate the moral support. Also, if you tell me that you found out about the trail on this blog, I'll give you a 20% discount off anything you purchase from my stall.

Let's get inspired! 

45 Ways to Market Your Book

 2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year. 

Join me in my 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship...

I'm always having ideas and always writing them on lists. 

Last week I asked my readers what list they would like me to share. 

Writers often struggle with marketing their work so this list is 45 ideas you could use to market your book:

1) Host a book launch event.

Make it more of a party. Most writers opt for a rather conservative evening in a bookshop with some readings and maybe some cheap plonk. 

Why not do it a bit differently?

For both of my launches I had a party. For The Bronze Box I hired a boat and we took a trip around Bristol harbour with music and drinks, and bunting (I love some bunting). Everyone was happy to contribute a few pounds towards the cost of the boat hire for the novelty of an unusual evening out.

Bronze Box launch. Me and my husband and cover artist Graham

 

For Solomon's Secrets I had a treasure hunt and had a big chocolate cake with an image of the book on it - every party needs a cake!

2)  Blogging. Have a blog and post useful content regularly. I'm collecting some useful links for tips and advice on blogging on my 'Blogging Brilliance' Pinterest Board

Follow Amy Morse's board Blogging Brilliance on Pinterest.

3) Guest Blogging. Guest for other people and accept guests yourself. I've had some great guest bloggers on this site. I mentioned them in a recent review of 2014: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/shhthe-secret-to-successful-marketing.html

4) Social Media - Twitter.
I recently wrote a post with 21 Twitter tips: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/21-tips-to-make-most-of-twitter.html

Tweets by @TomCatDesigns

5) Social Media - Pinterest
I find Pinterest a valuable tool for collecting research, sharing and interaction. I wrote a tips article for Prowess Women in Business: http://www.prowess.org.uk/Pinterest-market-research

6) Social Media - Facebook
It's almost an expectation of every author to have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AmyCFitzjohn
I know some writers who swear by it. Personally, I never get much interaction on Facebook but it still helps Google to find you if you are on Facebook.

7) Write articles for online and physical magazines. Do some research and choose appropriate publications. Write on subjects that are related to your books.

8) Enter competitions. It can be expensive but there are free competitions. Writers Digest regularly share information on competitions: http://www.writersdigest.com/

9) Speaking gigs. Find ways to stand in front of an audience and talk about what you do.

10) Offer your book to local book groups

11) Get plenty of reviews on Amazon. Once you have a few reviews your book starts getting picked up in organic searches.

12) Go to literary festivals and mingle. If you can get a speaking slot or a stall, bonus.

13) Real world networking. Go to some networking events and talk about your authorpreneurhsip

14) Guerrilla marketing. Find a novel way of committing some random acts of marketing. I leave miniature manuscripts wherever I go and encourage people to interact on Twitter

15) Have some merch. Get some pens, mugs, tote bags, bookmarks, notebooks, chapbooks, business cards etc to give away when you meet people

16) Make a book trailer. I've seen some pretty poor quality book trailers. If film making isn't your strong suit, get help to create something professional.

17) Do a book tour - real world or online

18) Do a book signing at a local book shop

19) Get involved in a book fair or start your own

20) Link yourself to a charity and do some fundraising events. Give something back and get some good publicity

21) Work with a publicist who can help you with campaigns

22) Work with a professional marketeer to get a plan together

23) List your book in multiple market places

24) Run some workshops

25) Get involved with local writer events

26) Have a go at a literary open mic event. I recently wrote an article listing events in Bristol UK: http://www.bristolprospectus.co.uk/when-writers-come-out-to-play/

27) Sell your books at a market stall / craft fair

28) Get involved with a local Art Trail. This year I'll be exhibiting at Southbank Bristol Arts in May with 'Project Book 365': http://www.southbankbristolarts.co.uk/

29) Host a giveaway. Give your book away for free for a limited period and invite reviews

30) Optimise your website so that it's easier to find on Google

31) Set up a mailing list and email news regularly to your fans

32) Record a podcast

33) Make yourself available for interviews and approach people. I managed to get an interview on BBC Radio Bristol by being friendly and persistent and having a newsworthy story. The transcript of it is here: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-face-for-radio.html

There are also plenty of bloggers out there inviting interviews.

34) Host a webinar

35) Take part in a webinar

36) Join workshops or training courses

37) Pay for advertising - but always do some research and a cost benefit analysis before committing to anything. You want a reasonable return on that investment

38) Cross promote other writers - say nice things about them and they'll say nice things about you.

39) Submit your book for awards

40) List on websites offering free author listings

41) Be active on Goodreads

42) Be active on Linked In forums

43) Look at what other authors do to get more ideas

44)  Publish short stories and eBooks. The more books you have, the more sales you'll get. If readers like your work, they'll look for more

45) Read. Books, blogs, articles etc. There are always more things you can do or fresh ideas to keep you motivated.

What marketing activities have worked for you?