Everyday Book Marketing

http://www.lyonbooks.com/

My fabulous local book store, Lyon Books, bought in author Midge Raymond last week to talk about her book "Everyday Book Marketing". Of course, I had to buy it (one more book never hurt anyone did it). Midge did a fabulous job presenting her book and has some great ideas for "Promotion ideas to fit your regularly scheduled life". I highly recommend this anyone who is writing or needs to promote any type of endeavor and suggest you read it cover to cover. Very worthwhile read.

/http://www.midgeraymond.com/

UP

Someone sent me this in an email, it was a forward so I'm not sure who wrote it but I liked it and wanted to remember it and share it.  I can't take credit  but I hope you enjoy it too.

Here is one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adj, adv, prep.

UP
Read until the end ... you'll laugh.

This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UPour friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times, this little word has real special meaning.

People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP

Don't screw UP. Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book . . . or not .. . . it's UP to you.

Now I'll shut UP!

What do you mean I can't just write a book and they will want to readit?

Visiting with family from Texas and discovered that niece Jamie has a dream to be a writer. Between catching up on everyone's activities we had some little conversations about writing and some of the things like marketing that you don't think about. I thought it would be a good idea to put a few ideas down in writing so we could remember them. Some highlights are:

1) write everyday, even if you only have 15 minutes

2) no, you don't just sit down and write a book, it takes time and thought to craft a sentence, a paragraph. You can spend as much or more time editing and refining  your work 

3) network, network, network

4) build platforms to market to including Facebook, a blog, a website, twitter, linkedin, etc

5) join or start up a local group of fellow writers, you can share ideas and tips for writing, marketing, you will meet some amazingly talented people and learn an incredible amount from them

6) read, read, read

7) if you have a small bookstore near you see if they support local writers, they can get your book on the shelf and maybe have a book signing for you

8) go to conferences

There's so much more, I will put together a list of some favorite books I have read that have been a great help for both writing and business in general for my next posting

A little short story I wrote as an exercise for a writing group I belong to, thought I would share it, let me know what you think.

My Saturday morning started like many others at my favorite coffee spot, the French bistro and market around the corner from my apartment. A brisk October morning sitting on the sidewalk terrace with hot chocolate and a perfectly  baked croissant with just the right amount of crisp on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside and reading AM New York.

Limbs from elm trees overhang the street, black and white striped awnings on the building where the café is located. With last of the seasons yellow Marigolds blooming in pots, you can almost believe you are at a little café in Paris. 

People watching provides me with both entertainment and insight into the lives of strangers. I enjoy trying to figure out what they were doing that led them to the same place and time as me.

This Saturday there happened to be three couples sharing the terrace with me, each at their own small table and absorbed with their own lives, not really paying close attention to their surroundings. One young couple had that look that identifies them as tourists wearing their “I Love New York” t-shirts. They were looking at maps and various brochures planning their activities for the day, obviously excited and enjoying the adventure of a visit to The Big Apple. An older couple at the table farthest away from me looked like the type who came into the city for the theatre and stayed over in one of the city’s many boutique hotels before driving back to their home outside the city. At the table nearest me sat a couple, in their early thirties I would guess, his hair was dark with slight waves and hers was long and blond. Considering their striking good looks one might assume they worked on the stage. There are several theatre groups in New York who would scramble at the chance to hire either one of them.

The table occupied by the “beautiful” couple was close enough that I could hear their conversation without straining or appearing to be eavesdropping. The young man had deep brown eyes and his voice was deep and soothing, reminding me of a radio announcer. It seemed totally out of place to hear him say “We need to get rid of him, he’s in the way”.

“Your right” the woman said to him, “but how, poison can be traced and so can bullets”.

“What about an accident?”

I was shocked when I realized they were planning someone’s murder.

The pretty blond got such an excited look on her face and started smiling. “That’s good, a hunting accident, that way we wouldn’t need to worry about the bullets being traced. You know he likes to get out in the woods. He loves putting on all that camouflage gear, cleaning his gun before he goes out. What if the gun were to “accidentally” discharge while he was cleaning it? A gun could be rigged that way couldn’t it?”

“Should I contact the police” I thought to myself. There must be something I could do to stop them. I was weighing my options and about to step inside the café so they couldn’t hear me on the phone when a black town car pulled up on the street in front of the café.

The young couple got in and as the car drove away I noticed the decals on the doors identifying it as belonging to the Murder Mystery Writers Guild.

I smiled and sipped my hot chocolate.

Had a meeting with my writer's group tonight, small group but we were able to cover a lot of ground and had a new member attend. We talked about the importance of developing platforms for marketing purposes. Facebook, blogging, twitter, etc. Got to show one member how to create a Facebook page for her book which just went to print. Here's a link to her book available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Detour-Suzanne-Markuson-Roberts/dp/1493679120/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1383885088&sr=1-1-fkmr0

I think I need a theme or a name for my blog, something fun and creative. I sent my novel off to the editor last week,  it's a murder mystery but I'm not sure that will be the theme for all of my writing. I'm still working on exactly what type or style of writing I want to do. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.