3 S.R. Johannes: Fabulous Follower Fiesta/Marvelous Marketer: Daisy Whitney

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Fabulous Follower Fiesta/Marvelous Marketer: Daisy Whitney

Fabulous Follower Fiesta!

So I made 500 followers over the weekend so this week is a celebration of all of you.

Every day this week, I am doing a drawing from "my posse" for two prize packages. This is just to thank my followers for wasting time and reading my blog. You don't have to do anything to win except be a follower (yes you can sign up now and be considered for the next day's drawing) and the person who wins can only win once. If you comment, I'll add your name to the hat an extra time.

Here are today's winners:

My 500th Follower - Michelle Zink gets a small special gift. Since she gets all the free books she wants and wanted to give back her gift for one of you, I got her a 10$ iTunes card because I know from reading her blog she LOVES LOVES LOVES Music. (Michelle - it was always my plan to give my 500th follower something so it was only fair. Please email me your email and I'll send you your iTunes certificate :) Thanks for taking a chance :)

My first follower - To kick off my Fiesta, I decided to reward one of my first 50 followers for believing in me. The winner of a 20$ B&N gift certificate is Casey McCormick (at Literary Rambles). For those of you who have not had the luck of stumbling on her blog, Casey does weekly Agent spotlights that tell you everything about an agent. I'm talking down to their favorite color. So check her out - you will be happy you did. A Special Thanks to Casey and all my early followers for signing up in the very beginning. (Casey, please email me your address)


Marvelous Marketer: Daisy Whitney (Social Media Guru)

Daisy Whitney
is not only adorable and funny (seriously I want to be her friend) but she is a reporter, a Tenner/teen author (her book, The Mockingbirds, will be published by Little, Brown in Fall 2010), a social media guru, producer, on-air correspondent, and a serious vlogger. (Is anyone else jealous now? or feeling a tad inadequate? :)

I asked Daisy to stop by and explain to us "novice vloggers"(who are really just afraid of bad hair days, nasally voices, and the camera's added 10 lbs) why authors should use online videos. Here's her response:




I asked Daisy to give us a couple of great examples of when online videos that are done well and really work.

"Hi Shelli, there are a number of ways authors can produce and make online videos. Some like John Green do so on an ongoing basis. Jon, along with his brother Hank, has become quite popular on YouTube as Brotherhood 2.0/Vlogbrothers. In fact, his videos have done so well he's inspired a whole community of self-declared "Nerdfighters" who are working to reduce "world suck" every day. I urge all writers to check out his vlogs because they are informal, but professional, funny, intelligent and pure Jon! A good takeaway from his videos is be sure to do something that fits your own brand.

Then there's YA author Jackson Pearce. She started making YouTube videos before her first novel As You Wish was published last summer. Her second novel, the Sisters Red, comes out this summer. Her videos are fun and whimsical and she does a good job connecting them to writing without making them all about her books! That's key - you want to find a mix. While videos can help promote your books, you don't want them to feel like constant commercials. Jackson also has developed an online following in advance of release via her videos.

Those two are good examples of ongoing work done by authors who video blog. I also liked Libba Bray's ridiculously silly promotional video for Going Bovine. Rather than a traditional book trailer, she donned a cow suit and wandered around New York City singing bizarre songs, interacting with people and basically practicing absurdities -- all fitting the novel itself!"

Thanks Daisy! :)

Be sure to check out Daisy's informative blog, her upcoming book, and her NewMediaMinute series

41 comments:

Jackee said...

Hurray for follower prizes and a great interview. I can't wait to read The Mockingbirds. It's on my list, fo' sure. Thanks, ladies.

Daisy Whitney said...

Thanks Shelli! I hope the info was helpful and I totally appreciate you posting this! I will be happy to come back anytime!!!

Danyelle L. said...

Congrautlations to everybody--and awesome interview. Thanks for the links and the information. This is something I'd been curious about. :)

Anissa said...

Yay for the Fabulous Follower Fiesta! So fun!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Shelli--I don't know if I'll ever make it to 500, but I love your idea! I'm hoping to make it to 100 soon and I'll have a give away. I'm trying to line up some published friends to interview and give away signed copies of their books...I'm 13 people away. :)

Love your blog, always learn something. :)

V. S said...

YAY for followers! This is so fun! Thank you for appreciating your followers, we love your blog! :)

Robyn Campbell said...

Congrats to the winners. And Shelli how did you know I was afraid of bad hair days and those UGLY added after Thanksgiving pounds? =)

I learned a lot that's for sure. Thank you Daisy. No bad hair days there, I can't wait to read The Mockingbirds. (^_^)

Christina Farley said...

Fun interview. So much for me to learn.

Kerri Cuev said...

Shelli congrats on 500 followers! How cool is that! They would be crazy not to follow because you have a great blog ;)

Hi Daisy nice to see you posting again! One day I will be a brave vlogger!

Alissa Grosso said...

Daisy does have a great blog. Yes, I am still terrified of video blog, but perhaps one of these days . . .

Gail said...

Shelli, you always have the most interesting people!!! Great interview and thanks, Daisy, for the tips!

Linda Kage said...

Vlogging. That's a new term for me. I will definitely check it out. Thanks. And hi, Daisy. It was nice to meet you.

Congrats on the 500 mark, Shelli!

Melissa Sarno said...

Congrats on your 500 follows Shelli! Thanks for posting about Casey MocCormick's Literary Rambles. I am enjoying the agent spotlight.

Unknown said...

I'm not a big fan of vlogs--my internet connection means I have to wait too long for videos to load--but the ones done right--like Johns--are totally worth the wait.

Unknown said...

Congrats to the winners!

I must admit that vlogging scares the peewiligers out of me.

Kayeleen Hamblin said...

I'm not ready for vlogging yet. When I am, I'll come back and refresh the idea with this! Congrats on 500. You deserve it!

C.R. Evers said...

Congrats on the followers! YaY!

I love daisy's picture. It's not easy to capture such a genuine and radiant smile! :0)

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Hurray for follower fiesta week! Congrats to today's winners, and thank you for the excellent Daisy interview. :-)

B.J. Anderson said...

Wonderful interview! And congrats to the followers/winners for today!

Tere Kirkland said...

Congrats, winners! I love that video of Libba Bray! Great marketing for Going Bovine.

Casey Something said...

Thanks so much, Shelli! I'm so excited.

Loved the vlog, Daisy, and I LOVE that you're wearing a The Naughty List t-shirt. Yay Suz!

Elana Johnson said...

I do enjoy John Green and Jackson Pierce's vlogs. I find myself having a hard time carving out the time it takes to watch a vlog, though. Thoughts on that?

Like, usually, when I see an embedded video, I skip it. I can read faster and make my comment in less time than it takes to watch the video. Am I just being lazy? Le sigh. Probably.

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

Elana the videos need to be less than 1 minute.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Congrats on reaching 500! That is so awesome!
And a prize a day? That's CRAZY awesome!

Kelly Polark said...

Good reminder that the vlogs should be short!
Also congrats for 500 followers! Woo hoo! Casey definitely deserves a prize, her blog is another one that is packed with so much information for writers!

Michelle Zink said...

Thanks so much for the gift, Shelli! You shouldn't have - but I do appreciate it and will definitely choose some awesome new music (will send you my address via email).

And I LOVE daisy's vlogs! They're such a true representation of the wonderfully vibrant, genuine person she is!
<3

MZ

holly cupala said...

Super! Love the prizes, love Daisy's vlog!

Sherrie Petersen said...

So when are you going to start vlogging, Shelli? You know you want to :)

Cindy R. Wilson said...

Interesting--I've never really thought about making video posts. And thanks for the blog links, I'm going to check those out.

Susan R. Mills said...

Congrats on your 500th follower. Well I see it is 512 now!

Unknown said...

You're both awesome! I'm with you on your Daisy jealousy. Who wouldn't be indeed! *grin*

Donna Gambale said...

500 followers - holy cow, Batman!

How timely this post is, as the First Novels Club just posted our first vlog. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty proud of us, since there were four of us to squeeze in and three of us had never vlogged before!

Lynnette Labelle said...

Had to pop over here and say you made me laugh from your comment on my blog the other day. Sanks.

Congrats on making it over 500. Wow! That's great!

Lynnette Labelle
http://lynnettelabelle.blogspot.com

The romantic query letter and the happy-ever-after said...

Felicitations on your 500th follower also wanted to let you know I have an award for you over at my blog. If you choose not to participate, no worries - just my way of saying I enjoy your blog!

Jenn (Books At Midnight) said...

512 now, yay! :D

And Daisy IS adorable. I agree that vlogs definitely make me stay longer to watch it, and I love seeing other people be enthusiastic about books. Though I'm probably a hypocrite now since I've never vlogged before, lol. I'll seriously consider it though, thanks!

Natalie Aguirre said...

Congrats to the winners. Your choices for winners, Shelli, were great. And thanks for another really helpful interview.

Unknown said...

Wow, I am definitely not feeling self-confident enough to vlog myself...like Elana said, I need to start with pausing long enough to watch others' videos first!

Of course a year ago I wouldn't have commented on a blog, either, so maybe I just take a little extra time to test the waters.... (yeah, that's it!)

Jessie Oliveros said...

Great contest. Fabulous interview.

Daisy Whitney said...

Thanks again for reading and watching and commenting! And Shelli, thanks for having me!

Jennie Englund said...

This post has everything:

prizes, vlogging, a perky Tenner!

Good mash-up!

Rebecca Knight said...

Daisy IS adorable :D! CONGRATS, Shelli, on your 500 followers, and thank you both for this great interview!

I'm trying to absorb as much info as I can on vlogging, and appreciate all the help!