Marvelous Marketer: Gail Carson Levine (bestselling author)

Questions for Teens

As you may know, our teen panel starts in Feb. They will be talking abut books, what they like, what attracks them to covers, how they hear about books, etc.

If you have any questions for our teen panel on marketing, please leave them in the comments or email me by the end of the week.

This is your chance to get in the minds of teens and find out how to target them directly.


Marvelous Marketer: Gail Carson Levine (Bestselling author, Ella Enchanted)

Hi Gail. Thank you so much for joining us. Can you share a little with us on your latest project, how you got started, and your journey to publication?

Hi Shelli. Thanks for having me today.

My latest book is Ever, a young-adult fantasy set in ancient Mesopotamia, which got its start after I read the bible for the first time and became interested in the troubling story of Jeptha and his daughter. My story spun off the biblical one. It doesn’t have its own website. My general website, which is maintained by HarperCollins and I also have a blog.


You are a blogger, did that have anything to do with your success? Or how do you utilize your blog in a marketing way?

I recently started blogging in May, ’09, and I was originally published in 1997. However, I started the blog with the hopes of bringing more people to my books, which are listed on the site. I also use the blog for event announcements.


In your opinion , what are the top 3 things every author should and must do to promote their book?

• Write the best book you can. Then revise it. Then take your editor’s suggestions VERY seriously. Never disregard an edit unless you have a really good reason.

• Join the Society of Children’s Book Writing and Illustrating, which will help you with promotion strategies and much more. It is a fabulous organization to get involved with.

• If you’re comfortable with public speaking, let your publicist know, and say that you’d like any opportunities that come along to speak at conferences about your books. But do NOT bug your publicist or expect a lot of support for a first book.

What creative things have you done to promote a book?

I always send postcards out especially to family and friends by snail mail when I have a new book coming out. Ask your editor if the house would be willing to print cards as part of its publicity. The cost is pretty low, so sometimes your editor may say yes, or be willing to share costs.

Otherwise you do it on your own. I find that people like hearing about my success and start thinking about my books when it’s time for special occasions - like birthday and holidays. I never send postcards or market in any other way to writer friends, except for the writers who read my blog, and even then the marketing is peripheral.

Oh, yes, and I also include an automatic link to my blog at the bottom of my emails.


How has your view on marketing and publicity changed as you have moved throughout your career?

For my first book, which was Ella Enchanted, HarperCollins made “shelf talkers.” These are manila thickness, and they fold over a bookstore bookshelf, so that even if the book is shelved spine out, the buyer’s attention is drawn to it. HarperCollins also included Ella in an ad in book trade journals along with several other new books. And the publisher asked for blurbs for the book jacket. This was extraordinary for a first book. I was very lucky.

Everything changed after Ella won the Newbery honor. Since then, I’ve been sent on book tours for my books, with solo ads taken out for them. Nowadays, the publisher sounds most of the available bells and whistles. But this isn’t the case for most authors unless a book wins an important award and sales are excellent. Writers shouldn’t expect this treatment or be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. As I’m sure you know, these days there are more and more opportunities for authors to do a lot of promotion on their own.

To me, publicity takes second place compared to writing, always has, always will, I hope. My readers (and sometimes their parents) are my market. I’d rather think of them as readers and consider what will please them and me, more than think of them as a market.


Thanks for joining us today, Gail!

Thanks Shelli.

Marvelous Marketer: Bestselling author Alyson Noel (Immortals series)

Hi Alyson, I am so excited (and all geeky nervous) you agreed to stop by.

**pause for the gooby starstrucked feeling to pass**

So before we get into marketing, let's pretend as if no one knows who you are and tell us a little (or a whole lot!) about yourself.:)

I’m the author of ten novels for adults and teens, including the bestselling THE IMMORTALS series, which you can read more about at my author web site or the series web site.

In addition, I run a blog

Psst!!! In case you didn't notice, Alyson is being very modest about her bio. In addition, Shadowland, releases on November 17th and is already getting rave reviews. But what did we expect :)>


So how was your road to publishing? Did you start any of your platform or marketing prior to getting an agent or selling your book?

Well, the embarrassing truth is, I was as green as they come. Seriously, there was no one as clueless as me. And while I wanted to be a writer since I read my first Judy Blume book back in sixth grade, I didn’t get serious about it until late 2001, just after 9/11 happened and I was working as a flight attendant in NYC and figured it was as good a time as any to go after my dream. So I started writing in whatever spare time I had, on layovers, on flight delays, on cocktail napkins, you name it, I was determined to get it done.

The moment I typed “The End” I bought a copy of Writer’s Marketplace, jotted off a query letter, and sent it directly to a long list of publishers, mistakenly thinking I didn’t need an agent (I can’t even begin to stress how very wrong that is). And while every one of them requested the full, they all rejected me in the end. Still, they were the nice kind of rejections, the kind that welcome you to resubmit if you choose to revise.

So I enrolled in some online writing classes, and through one of those classes I met a fellow student who referred me to her agent. He read my mss, loved the voice but told me my structure was a mess (it was!), and suggested I read STORY by Robert McKee. I bought it straightaway, read it in two days, took the next three weeks to ruthlessly revise my mss, sent it back to him, and a few days later he signed me. And several months later he sold my debut novel, FAKING 19, to St. Martin’s Press in a two-book deal (this happened in Feb 2004).

But even with the book deal in hand, I still had no idea what I was doing marketing wise, or how publishing even really worked. I didn’t know any other writers, and was sort of living and working in a bubble. And aside from my website (at the time crafted from an Author’s Guild template), I didn’t blog, or join any professional writing organizations until my third book, LAGUNA COVE, was already on the shelves. It was through my memberships with SCBWI and RWA that this whole new world opened up and I realized that simply crossing my fingers before each release does not a publicity plan make! So I spent the next several months getting a blog together, joining a slew of social networking sites, and generally playing catch up.


Hate to say this, but it's kinda nice to know you got rejections too. Gives me hope :) As a bestselling author, I'm sure you do a lot of marketing. What are the top three things you think every author should do to promote their book?

While I think it’s extremely important to find a way to connect with readers, whether that be blogging, myspace, twitter, facebook, or all of the above, I’m also a big advocate for doing only the things you truly enjoy and scraping the rest. Because the truth is, keeping up with all of those sites is a major time suck, and if you’re not enjoying them, then it’s a colossal waste of energy that’s better used for writing!

I think the number one most important thing an author can do is to put together a nice website to showcase themselves and their books. It doesn’t have to be fancy, and you don’t have to spend a ton of money, just make sure it’s professional, inviting, easy to navigate, and a fun destination for readers and potential readers to learn more about you and your books.

If you like blogging and can keep it going and keep it fresh, then by all means, have it. It’s a great way for people to get to know you and your writing style. But if you don’t enjoy it, and can’t provide regular content, it’s probably better to skip it and find another way to reach out—or even join a group blog where you don’t have to post as often, and can cross promote with other authors and poach off each other’s readers.


Thank you for emphasizing that it is important to market your book the way you feel is best and the way you like to do it the most. In addition to blogging, how important is social networking to you?

I’ve found it to be a great way to stay in touch with readers, and I really enjoy keeping up with my Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter pages. I also keep a bulletin board on my site where I answer questions and chat. And while I’m a member of GoodReads as well, I admit that I rarely visit, I have super tight deadlines to meet and I had to draw the line somewhere!


I notice you team up with other authors on various projects. Do you feel it is beneficial for authors to promote books as a group?

Yes I do. I’m a member of two group blogs: The Teen Fiction Cafe and Living Your Five. I’m a huge advocate of the group book signing, because the reality is, unless you’re a huge, name brand author, it’s hard to fill up a room by yourself—especially when the majority of your readers are teens who can’t even drive yet. Not to mention, after you’ve released a few books in a row, it’s hard to get even your own family members to show up and look excited (not that I’ve had that experience or anything—mom, dad, are you reading this?!).

A group signing not only attracts more readers, but it’s a great opportunity to cross promote, which is why I’m especially excited about the Smart Girls Kick It Tour—the brainchild of Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong that’s kicking off in fall 2010. When they asked me to join them I was beyond thrilled. Most tours are set up by the publishers, meant to promote their own stable of authors, but this is something different—this is purely an author generated, grass roots effort, that is sure to be not only successful but fun!


I cannot wait for the Smart Girls Tour. If it does not go to Atlanta, I'll have to find one to road trip to :) Sounds like you do a lot of different types of marketing: blogs, group tours, signings. Can you give us any insight into what your publicist and marketing department does for you and how you two work together?

I’m lucky to work with such a great team at St. Martin’s Press—and it really is a team effort, a whole collaboration from the front cover design to the back cover copy to publicity and marketing, etc. They’re always brainstorming fun, new ways to promote the books, and they really knocked it out of the park with the Immortals website they created and the “overheard in Summerland” audios are amazing! Every time you click on a tulip (an important symbol in the books) you can hear a scene not included in the books—I was stunned when they came up with it!

On my own, I make bookmarks and bookplates which I send to readers who send me a SASE, I also make sure to blog about each new release and announce it on all of my social networking sites. And I always hire Circle of Seven to put together a trailer because they do a great job and they have the most amazing distribution (it’s all about the distribution!), then I pretty much hope for the best, and get to work on my next book! Because the truth is, while my efforts have merit and make me feel like I’m doing my part, it’s nothing compared to what my publisher can do. They have much bigger reach, far more resources, and much deeper pockets than I—and their efforts make a much bigger difference than mine ever could.


So in addition to signings and your publisher's marketing efforts, what other creative things have you done to promote a book?

While I’m not sure that they’re particularly creative, I’ve made bookmarks, bookplates, done blog tours, made trailers, bought ad space on reader centric Internet sites, signed stock in bookstores both near and far, Myspaced, Facebooked, Twittered, (yup, they’re verbs now!), taken part in group signings at bookstores and book festivals, given presentations at libraries and schools, all of which, no doubt, helps to get my name and books “out there.”

The truth is, and this may not be wildly popular but I believe it to be true—the absolute best thing you can do to market yourself as an author is to write your next book! At the end of the day, that’s all your readers really want from you anyway. And with books getting such a short shelf life these days, the best way to ensure yours books maintain their space is to keep ‘em coming, to build up a nice backlist for your readers to explore and for bookstores to reorder with each new release.

Thank you so much for joining us today and good luck with Shadowland! (not that you will need it! :)

THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW, SHELLI!!!

Marvelous Marketer - Jay Asher (Author of Th1rteen R3asons Why)

Happy Library Lover's Month to all our fabulous librarians!


Keeping up due to popular demand!

Interview with Jay Asher, Author of

Thirteen Reasons Why

Hi Jay, Thank you for agreeing to share your marketing tips with readers. Before we get into marketing, tell us a little about yourself.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel for teens, dealing with some very serious issues, which I decided to write as a suspense novel more than anything else. I submitted it to a couple houses, but before any rejection letters came back, I decided I would rather sell it through a literary agency.


While the book got its share of rejection letters, it ended up selling in a three-house auction, so I’m glad I had an agent to handle the details of the auction and guide me in my house selection. In the end, I went with Razorbill, an imprint at Penguin…and I couldn’t have made a better choice! With everything from the editing to marketing, they’ve been so enthusiastic and creative.

Do you have a website? When did you start it and who manages it?

I have a blog and a MySpace page . I manage both myself. Now, I keep a blog mostly for fun, to share my journey as a writer, and have mostly moved away from using it for promotional reasons.

There is also a website for the book which is handled by my publisher. It was launched right around the time my advance reading copies (ARCs) went out, and has been updated with new content a few times since then . They usually ask for my input on ideas, but I’m usually just amazed at what they come up with.


In your opinion, how important is social networking?

I’ve dabbled in most of the social networking sites and closed my accounts on everything but MySpace and my blog. It became to much to manage.

Before I was published, I think it was very important to do as much social networking as possible.

When the book finally came out, even though no one outside of the industry knew my name, there were enough people in different parts of the country interested in my book enough to give it a nice start. But you have to be careful, networking can be a time-suck, too.

The MySpace page is very important, though. That’s the first place most of my teen readers go to find out where I’m speaking, to get info on the book, and that’s where most of the fan-mail comes from!

How important is technology to an author’s marketing plan?

It depends on the book.

I’ve been promoting a unique Thirteen Reasons Why book club which ties in to some of the unusual aspects of the book (You can read about it on my MySpace page).

Since a lot of libraries with teen sections have their own MySpace pages, I promote the book club that way. With just a couple back-and-forth e-mails with the librarian, a group of teens will be discussing my book a few weeks later in some random part of the country.

So being creative and reaching out through technology is important. But it’s also important to simply have a presence so people can reach you if they’re looking to book an author for an event.

In your opinion, what are the top 3 things every author should do to promote their book?

My list would be different if I wrote for a different age group, but the things that helped me the most are MySpace, the book club idea, and speaking at as many schools as possible.

With MySpace, I answer every teen who contacts me, and many of them respond that most authors don’t write them back, which boggles my mind. It is such a gratifying feeling to know someone was touched by my book and took time out of their busy lives to tell me about it. I can’t imagine not writing back!

The book clubs are a great way to get a number of students talking about your book when you can’t travel to their schools.

But actually visiting schools and speaking directly to students is my favorite way to promote. Now, I was terrified of speaking the first few times I did school visits because I had no idea how the teens would react to me (or treat me…I’ll admit, I still haven’t gotten over my own high school traumas). So I designed my speech, even though the book itself is very serious, to be a little more lighthearted and entertaining. It’s fun to be seen as a “fun” presenter, but it also makes my time in front of them entertaining for me.

Basically, any way I can get my book in front of readers, whether I’m there or not, I’ll do it!

Do you have a formal marketing plan or is your marketing more random? If not, why? Would you like to?

Because my book deals with such a serious topic, I didn’t know how adults would respond to it. I thought teens would love it if they knew about it and had access to it, but quite often you have to go through adults to reach the teens (bookstore owners, librarians, and teachers all happen to be adults!).

I had a hard time thinking of ways to promote “this book about suicide” until I started hearing from people who’d read it. But once adults took to the book, usually after hearing the positive reactions teens were having to it, a lot of doors opened up for promotion. For example, the book club idea started with a school librarian in Alabama. She put together such a unique and positive event for her teens, I just copied what she did and promoted the heck out of it.

When the book clubs took off, Penguin printed up some nice discussion guides to give out at tradeshows. When I was asked to speak at a suicide prevention forum, I said yes even though I had no idea what I (“I just wrote a book about it!”) would have to talk about.

But I spent a lot of time putting together a presentation I was proud of, which led to more speaking engagements on that topic. I think if I had thought too much about exactly what I wanted to do to promote the book in advance, I would’ve been disappointed. The marketing evolved naturally, which was nice. And Penguin took a similar approach because they weren’t entirely sure what the reaction to it would be. When it started taking off, they adjusted their strategy to enhance what was already going on. So I think it’s important to stay flexible.

Thank you Jay for sharing your marketing strategies with us. I appreciate it.

Note: Until recently, Jay along with Robin and Eve co-authored the popular Disco Mermaids blog. It is still up for readers to view the archives which catalogs some of Jay's publishing journey.

Reminders:

• Please take my quick poll on what marketing topic you want to hear more about. (upper left side)
• Tomorrow: Day 4 in our 30 day Marketing Journey
• Wednesday: Our Secret Marvelous Marketer of the Day