One of the hardest things for debut authors, even for established authors, is finding new ways to reach out and address your audience. Your readers. Whilst we have social media, interviews, podcasts and such all at our fingertips, nothing really beats seeing your book out in the wild with excited readers. Before I was a writer, I was (and still am) part of a worldwide … Continue reading Do You Believe in Book Fairies?
In July, I introduced you to The21ders, the debut group for the authors of middle grade and young adult novels being published in 2021. Today I’m going to talk about the debut year timeline. (And you will see why the knowledge and support of the group is so important) Depending on when your contract is signed, the publishing date set, and the deal announced, you … Continue reading The Debut Year Timeline
This year we are surrounded, slammed, by political news, and unfortunately, there is no end in sight. Not even on November 4, 2020. It got me thinking about those poor books being published later this year. Will their announcements get lost in the presidential candidate bickering? Will the book tweets disappear in the mass of berating tweets from—? How will readers hear the good news? … Continue reading It’s Never Too Early: Marketing for Published and Non-published Authors
It’s here! The cover of the third BRAVE NEW GIRLS anthology. The newest edition, titled BRAVE NEW GIRLS: TALES OF HEROINES WHO HACK!, is a collection of twenty-three short stories featuring teen girls who hack not only computers, but any puzzle they encounter. And I’m fortunate to have one of my stories included: The Experiment Called Life. These anthologies, created and edited by sci-fi authors … Continue reading Cover Reveal! BRAVE NEW GIRLS
The other day, several of us Pennies realized that it is now, in fact, 2018. Where did 2017 go?!? If you’re also wondering just what happened to 2017, welcome to our club! And to help you reorient yourself, we thought we’d revisit some of the Winged Pen 2017 highlights. If you missed a post last year, this one’s for you. (And feel free to sign … Continue reading ICYMI: Winged Pen Highlights from 2017
You might believe that traditional publishing will give you access to bookstores and libraries. The problem is few publishers offer a sales team. As far as indie authors are concerned, they are left to approach libraries on their own. In order to figure the details out, I meet with Tamar Kreke (Adult and Technical Services Coordinator) and Kay Webster (Youth Services Coordinator) from Greene County … Continue reading How to Sell to Libraries
If you’ve spent any time online recently (which, yeah, maybe you’ve been avoiding it as much as we have!), you’ve probably seen these cool graphic communication tools known as infographics. Infographic is really just a fancy way of saying “a picture and a few words working together to communicate key information or important messaging.” They give people an easy, at-a-glance way of gathering info, and … Continue reading DIY Infographics and other Cool Marketing Things
Welcome to “Creating Your Brand,” the first in a three-part series on basic marketing for authors. BRANDING If you are like me, a complete novice in the area of promoting yourself, this is the place for you. In 2016, I made it a priority to learn all I could about this subject. I had one-on-one brainstorming session with a published author and marketing specialist, attended workshops with … Continue reading Creating Your Brand
I’ve always been intrigued by a book’s title. I mean, how awesome is AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie. For most of my life, that’s how I chose books. Or so I thought. One day I stopped drooling over the shelves and shelves of books at my local bookstore and paid attention to my surroundings. I was smack dab in the middle of … Continue reading The Confusing World of Genres
I loved the ARC of Carrie Firestone’s debut YA novel, The Loose Ends List! The book will be released on June 7th by Little, Brown. Carrie is insanely busy – both with getting ready for the launch and with edits for her second novel, but she graciously let us steal a few minutes of her time to tell us about preparing for her debut novel’s pub date. … Continue reading Author Chat with Carrie Firestone, author of The LOOSE ENDS LIST
Karin’s debut picture book, I Want To Eat Your Books, launched September, 2015. She talks with us today about all she learned from that book launch. FoWP: Karin, readers have fallen in love with your zombie and the boy who tries to keep him from devouring every book in the school. A big part of getting this book into readers’ hands was you. You were … Continue reading MORE BANG FOR YOUR BOOK, a series on book marketing, interviews Karin Lefranc
