Fun Stuff

This week I was honored with my first blog award and my first Meme. (A blog award is a form of Meme.*)

Thank you to Jane Kennedy Sutton- http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/- who gifted me with the Butterfly Award. Please check out Jane's blog-Jane's Ride for great views from another author.

This is a “meme” award-see below- so it gets passed on. The rules for passing it on are: 1. Put the logo on your blog. 2. Add a link to the person who awarded you. 3. Award up to ten other blogs. 4. Add links to those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs.

Now as you can tell- my link button does not work for me-so I have to write out the links instead of coolly embedding them in the name as others do. Sigh. But I am still honored and will list three really cool blogs that I think deserve a butterfly. Please check them out.


Ann Victor- http://annvictor.blogspot.com/ (Love her and her blog)
Marilyn Brant -http://marilynbrant.blogspot.com/ (Great new author)
L. Diane Wolfe - http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/ (Spunk on a Stick)

The next bit of fun came from Morgan Mandel ( http://morganmandel.blogspot.com) whose explanation of "what a meme is" is shown with the asterisk below. Morgan tagged me with the following meme:

Provide a list of six things that make me happy:

1)Doing something anything with my grown kids-they are witty and fun to be around.
2)Writing out the stories in my head-especially those scenes that make you stand up and jump around with excitement.
3)Playing and cuddling with my dogs George and Gracie.
4)Flowers- "Daisies are such a happy flower, don't you think?" (from the movie You've Got Mail.)
5)A good movie makes me happy even if I'm crying.
6)Reading great blogs on the Internet.

Now- I'm supposed to tag this to other bloggers to this meme-so I tag Pamala Knight - http://pamalaknight.blogspot.com

I'm enjoying my discovery of new blogs and learning so much following them. As most of you know I blog here every Sunday. I also keep a daily blog on my website (www.nancyjparra.com) called A Room with a View-come check that out as well.

*What is a meme? Wikepedia describes it as "a neologism used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an inside joke." A meme usually involves using a blog to acknowledge and link back to the person who named you, plus pass along the meme to a specified number of bloggers by naming and linking to their blogs. (For more info go to http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-are-memes-or-tag-games-do-you-love.html )

Revving up the Marketing Machine

Six months out from my next book release date and I have marketing on my mind. Over eight years of publishing, I have learned that each publisher has different expectations and needs for marketing. Each author, also, has different expectations for marketing their work. Some jump in with guns blazing, others stick a toe in and shiver. I hope to be somewhere in between.

Why? Because I have to put enough effort into marketing to get my name out there and let my readers know I've got a new story in a different venue. But I don't want to use up all my writing time on marketing matters- something that is really easy to do.

So, a fine line must be drawn while I build momentum to Mr. Charming's release date- July 31st.

To accomplish this I am setting aside time this month to build a marketing strategy and calendar. In the last few months I have spent time every day building my social networking skills. I have been reading some good blogs and along the way I have increased daily readers at my website by 400%. (I know, I didn't think that would happen. but I just checked my stats this morning and yes, 4 times as many people visit my site on a daily basis.) Also, my google hits have gone up. All this took was a little time on my part-daily- as in 15 minutes a day to say hello-nice to meet you. Will the numbers translate to sales? I'll find out I suppose.

So, what else am I planning? My friend Morgan Mandel's daily blog, www.morganmandel.blogspot.com has been educating her readers on blog tours, blog following and creating buzz in the blogosphere. So, I'm taking the time to follow her advice and visit a new blog a day-to comment and follow- to say hello!

Add to this strategy planning and executing a blog tour, writing articles for RWA chapter newsletters, and perhaps writing an article for the RWR magazine.

I hope to include the addition of a newsletter to my website, a fan page on Facebook and perhaps a speaking engagement or two. All while continuing to write my next book.

Ugh- you say, throwing your hands up. Who has the time? I don't know if I'll have to time, but five minutes a day, ten minutes a day adds up over the space of six months. In the mean time I get to meet new people and hear new voices which makes my office a cheery place and gives me a smile.

What about you? What, if anything, has worked for you? Any tips for me to think about while I create my marketing plan? This blogger would love to know.

Virtual Book Tours

This week I read an interesting blog (www.morganmandel.blogspot.com.) . Morgan invited Angela Wilson to talk about professional on line book tours.

Angela Wilson is an author, freelance Web content director and Book Blog Editor for Pop Syndicate, a pop culture site with more than 8,000 hits per day. Each week, Pop Syndicate hosts authors on virtual tour.

I am always interested in new ways of promotion. Angela says in this series of short blogs that even virtual tours are time consuming and take work. Reading over what she advises should happen for a book tour, I agree. Sounds like a lot of work. But then I realized that there is lag time between books. So there is time to produce a short essay, or a character interview, etc. every once in a while-not all at once. Save these up and that part of the book tour will be ready. Then there's the research that goes into picking the right blogs...now that takes time and recommendations from friends. Again- some advance leg work-say five to ten minutes a day-spread out well in advance might ease the pain.

The real cringer for me was when Angela suggested you keep an Excel file with all the numbers and results of hits, etc. so you know which blog or site really worked and which didn't. Sounds like good advice-but I know myself too well- by that point I'll have my nose into another story...