Hello writers! It’s been a while since I made a post, and I hope to be putting out more content soon with more lessons that I have learned over the last several years of being an author. Today, however, I would like to offer you a fantastic opportunity. I have just launched a brand new marketing service to continue my goal to help raise other authors up, particularly those who are just starting out or who don’t have the time or budget to put together a strong marketing plan for their book.
Introducing Busy Author Marketing: custom book launch plans tailored specifically to your book and/or series. These launch plans include everything from social media content ideas, to suggested book blogs and podcasts to contact, and how to utilize your marketing budget of any size. Newer authors or authors with lower budgets can be accommodated in a way that works best for them. And the best part: this service eliminates the tricky and time consuming marketing research side of book launches and allows you more freedom to simply create.
So why me?
I spent three and a half months before the launch of my first book creating a database of blogs, websites, podcasts, etc. within my genres in order to reach out to everyone I possibly could to have the perfect first launch. I continue to do a lot of research into what social media trends are hot right now, what readers expect to see on an author’s website, and how to take the work you have already done for your book and turn it into something marketable. My presence online continues to grow, and I am trying new ideas all the time to entice readers. I am also very adept at working on a budget. As a student, I don’t have a lot of money to launch my books with, but I have learned to maximize the types of promotions I am doing and have a pretty good sense of where to invest money and where to invest time.
I want to continue my efforts to help writers take all of the content out there and actually figure out what ideas will work for their book. I think it is one of the most difficult parts of the publishing journey, and anything I can do to help those who get bogged down in research, who get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of possibilities out there, or who simply don’t have the time to come up with a marketing strategy, only to execute.
Special Offer!
To kick things off, I am offering a launch promotion for this business. The first ten authors who fill out my contact form will get 50% off their chosen payment plan. I hope you’ll check it out! Click here to learn more.
Paulette is an indie author who holds a Master of Arts in reading education. Her writing inspiration stems from watching fantasy and paranormal movies, as well as her real-life experiences with mental health issues. She hopes her readers will find humor in her stories, become curious about seeking peace through the present moment, and consider reaching out for help if they are struggling with their own issues.
Paulette loves drawing, watching a good thriller, kayaking, and eating chocolate…lots of it. She and her husband live in North Carolina with their two cats, Linda Hamm and Bree. Of the Lilin is the first book in her new upper YA paranormal series, The Sage Chronicles. You can check out her website here.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
It was back when I was in elementary school. One day at church, while the priest was giving the blessing, a woman a few pews in front of me suddenly got up and dashed out the front doors. She’d taken off so quickly that the strap of her purse slid from her shoulder and started falling to the floor, but she snatched it up before it did and tore down the aisle and out the entrance.
I was already having a tough time paying attention to the lesson for the day and so spent the rest of the worship time holding the picture of the woman in my head, replaying it, finding the best words to describe how her hair, purse, and body moved, the energy she gave off, and wondering why she left so suddenly and where she may have gone.
It was then that I knew I wanted to be able to share what I felt with others. I didn’t realize it at the time, but as I grew older, I found that writing was an excellent way to bridge the gap and invite others into my world.
What does your writing process look like? What do you find the most effective? What do you find the most difficult?
Initially there is a scene that I can’t get out of my head, and I feel driven to write it down, play with it, try to put into words the feeling I get when I see the scene in my mind’s eye. From there, I begin to write. As I build my story, I then begin to draft out a plot outline, character descriptions, etc. For Book Two, I’m thinking of starting off with an outline and see where that leads me.
The most difficult part of writing is when you don’t feel like doing it. It isn’t even writer’s block for me. It’s when you feel burnt out, tired, and unmotivated. Those are the times you have to push through.
How many books have you written?
Of the Lilin is the first book in The Sage Chronicles and the very first book I’ve written. I’m working on the second book (Book Two of The Sage Chronicles) now!
I also have a diary novel entitled When Life was Yellow in beta reading mode about a young girl coming to terms with her obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her story is based on my life experiences with the illness.
What is one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
It takes a lot of people to help create a book! From beta readers, ARC readers, editors, marketing, etc. It takes a village!
Can you tell us about your latest project? What inspired you to write it?
My latest project, When Life was Yellow, is based on my experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder. I’ve only recently come out about it to friends and family. For years, I kept it a secret because I was ashamed of it. I’m hoping my book will let others who struggle with OCD know they aren’t alone and that there’s help out there.
What is your best character-building tip?
I like to think of a scene – just a normal everyday one like cleaning the house before company comes over. Then I place each character into the same exact scene and think of what they would be wearing at the time, what would they be thinking, saying, etc. The idea of placing the characters in the same context helps me really tease out how each one would approach the situation so differently.
How do you market your books? How much interaction do you have with your readers?
I have a basic market plan that involves reaching out to book reviewers for their review of my book before it’s launched. I promote my book on Twitter and Facebook. I’m also looking into blog tours. I’ve not done them before and am excited to learn what they’re all about.
My reader base is small at this time, but I enjoy interacting with them whenever I can.
Who is your favorite author and why?
The author that stands out to me the most is Joanne Greenberg who wrote I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. What draws me to her is not only the topic of her novel but the images she provokes and the rawness with which she fleshes out her MC.
What words of wisdom do you have for young people who want to start writing their first book?
My “wise” words are for anyone who is starting the writing process no matter their age (as I’ll be 50 in October). Write because you love it and be open to critique, but only make the changes that truly resonate with you. When you write, you’re leaving a bit of your soul behind for others to know once you’re gone.
Hey everybody! I hope you all are having a great week so far. Things are getting a little hectic at my house as both my sister and I are gearing up for the start of school on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to my junior year even though I’m spending it at home. I have a great lineup of classes in the history, Latin, and anthropology departments, and I’m writing my capstone this semester. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to keep it all straight!
My debut book launch was last Monday, and it has been an amazing time so far! I had a great week of promotion and sales and all-around fun with my family and friends to celebrate. I am still so surprised that I am now a published author. I can’t believe that Chasing Fae is out in the world and getting so much great reception from readers! Today, I want to share a little bit about what worked for me during this launch and what the results have been so far as we come around to around the two week mark of my launch.
Results From the First Two Weeks
Let’s start off with some stats. In the last two weeks, I have sold 86 Kindle ebooks and 16 paperbacks so far, excluding the number that I sold as part of my presale campaign to fund the publishing process. I am super satisfied with this progress because with the limited marketing that I have done so far, I feel like this was amazing progress. I also made my way to the top 100 list for YA epic fantasy on August 6th at #100. The listing was only up for a day, but it was such an amazing feeling to see my book alongside all of my favorite authors. I took screenshots of the entire list so I could remember that moment forever.
Here’s What Worked For Me
There are a few specific things that worked well for me during launch week that I want to pass on to you.
Bargain Booksy and ReadFreely: I saw a sizeable jump in sales mid-week during the days that I picked my newsletter promotions to be. I had both of these on the same day, so I cannot be 100% sure which one I can attribute to it. But ReadFreely also did an amazing job in tweeting out my promotions constantly for about a week or so. I loved seeing them pop up throughout the day.
Having lots of great friends on Twitter and Facebook: Getting involved in the Writing Community on Twitter and Facebook and keeping your family and friends informed about your writing process can really help boost your launch when it’s time. I had tons of people retweeting and sharing my links all day, and it led to a great buzz. Lots of my friends went ahead and ordered on launch day, and throughout the week, I got pictures of people receiving their paperbacks or confirmations of Kindle orders. They really made me smile. Writing can be such a lonely process, so it’s important to make connections with other writers to lift each other up.
Virtual Blog Tour: I spent several weeks leading up to my launch securing key guest post, interviews, and excerpt feature slots to promote my book. I got a lot of cross traffic to my website and definitely a few sales. As a new author, this was a way to get my name out to a lot of readers at once and offer insights into myself and my book. I honestly loved it. I hope to do more guest posts and interviews going forward.
What I Wish I Would Have Done
There are also a couple things I would have done differently in my launch that I hope to incorporate in my second book launch.
Have a Dedicated Launch Team: I needed to send out more advanced review copies and have a few dedicated people who would talk about my book over the first few days. I was so lucky to have people who shared and posted out of the kindness in their hearts and their friendships with me, but I could definitely use a little more organization next time for my own peace of mind.
Promoting My Launch Party Earlier: My Facebook launch party on Wednesday, August 5th was a pretty solid success, despite the technical issues. I would have loved to have promoted that across my other social medias more so that I would have had a bit more engagement on my giveaways in particular.
In Conclusion…
All in all, my book launch has been very successful so far. I hope that as I enter the fall semester of my junior year, I will be able to work out a good balance between marketing, writing book 2, and keeping this website flowing with more posts about the craft of fantasy writing. Wish me luck on that, folks.
Today is the day, my friends. Chasing Fae is finally live!
In January of 2018, this book was nothing more than an idea and a handful of strange notes on a Notability page. Now, two and a half years later, it is a beautiful, genuine book that can be read by all. And already has its first five star review! There is so much that I want to say, but the words well up in my throat every time I try to type them.
Thank you so much for your time and support throughout this writing journey. When I introduced myself to you in January 2019, I was a girl with a dream and a first draft. You stuck with me through the entire revision process and the start of my querying process to literary agents. You celebrated with me when New Degree Press greenlit my manuscript for publication. Between social media, guest posts, and podcast appearances, you have given me so much encouragement and helped me discover my public voice as an author.
I finally reached my dream. I published my first book as a young college student.
And I am nowhere near done. From here on out, it’s all bright beautiful skies.
I hope you all pick up a copy of Chasing Fae today!
Hey everyone! Finally getting around to doing a full-length post with all of the launch preparation going on. According to social media, what writers most want to hear about at this particular moment is how to market a fantasy book. This is a super pertinent topic right now as I am setting up my early marketing strategy for Chasing Fae. Today, I’m going to walk through my small budget and which sites and resources I am going to be using as of today to promote my book through its first month out and into the future.
Starting Budget: $100
For my 21st birthday a few days ago, my grandparents gave me $100 in two very nice cards. I decided that I could use that money to set up a few small promotion listings and advertisements to get a solid running start with my debut novel. The most important elements for me in my marketing strategy are to utilize as many free promotion sites and services as I can and spend money in key places to maximize sales (and hopefully reviews!) in the future.
Free Promotion Ideas
All Author – This is a great site that allows authors to have a profile and your books in their directories for free. The free plan includes a basic author page with a listing in the Author Directory, up to 4 books, and a tweet scheduler feature. The pro plan is $59 for six months and includes more features like a premium author page, unlimited book adds, a featured book listing, and more. I opted for the free plan here because I had more worthwhile places to spend my money.
Alternative Reads – I submitted my book for a potential Sunday Spotlight Author feature. I’ll see what happens!
Authorsdb – Authors Database is a great free option for promotion. They have over 20k published listing, and setting up a profile and adding your books is super easy. It looks like it has a fun author community; I’m looking forward to taking part in it.
Book Goodies – I opted for a free listing on Book Goodies that will be up for six months. This is a site that I heard was a good option.
Book Reader Magazine – I submitted a book listing and a free interview to Book Reader Magazine, which I am including in my blog tour this coming week.
Fantasy Book Place and Fiction Hideaway – These sites are both affiliates of Book Goodies; one is fiction targeted and one is fantasy targeted. I submitted a free book listing to both sites, which will be up for six months.
Fresh Fiction – I submitted a free book listing to this site.
Humanmade.net – I submitted a regular listing to this site, which includes authors from all over the world.
Pretty-Hot.com – I submitted a free book listing to this site.
Paid Promotion Ideas
Awesome Gang ($10) – I submitted a book listing to Awesome Gang because it looks like a great site with quite a few solid affiliations with other sites. I submitted a free author interview to them as well, so I thought this was a good place to add some extra power to my listing. $10 buys a featured listing which gets me a listing on the front page for 2 days, a guaranteed spot in the newsletter, and a blast out to Facebook and Twitter with 70,000 followers combined.
Bargain Booksy ($25)- Bargain Booksy is one of the more well known promotion sites that I have heard of, so I decided to submit a title for a feature. Each genre has a separate price. I listed my book as a young adult title for $25. That gets me a listing in the daily email to thousands of subscribers as well as a feature front and center on their website.
Book Bongo ($19.99)- I liked the different kinds of marketing options offered at Book Bongo. The more I looked into it, the more I wanted to do a slightly higher priced package. I opted for the Book Blast for $19.99. My book will be permanently featured in two genres on the website and on the front page for up to two weeks during my $0.99 promotion period. I will also get a feature in the weekly mailout, a post on Facebook and Twitter, and inclusion in the weekly advertising campaign on Facebook. I thought this was absolutely worth it, and I’m hoping to see some results from it.
Book of the Day ($9.99) – Book of the Day was another promotion site that offered a lot of marketing outreach for a low price. $9.99 bought me my book on the front page for 2 weeks, the sidebar for 7 days, listings in the newsletter, on Facebook, and on Twitter; and addition to the Category pages and AI System.
eBook Booster ($20)- I found this form through Armadillo eBooks that guaranteed listing my ebook on 15 different promotion sites and social media channels. I browsed their database of options (and there were a lot of options), and I liked what I saw. I thought $20 was worth the breadth of the outreach. I’m looking forward to seeing where the listings end up.
Read Free.ly ($10) – This seems like an awesome site with a lot of opportunities for promotion at every level. For authors on a budget, this is a great spot. $10 buys a platinum level promotion package. This includes a long list of perks: promotion on the homepage for up to 7 days, promotion in the newsletter on a specific date chosen by me, promotions on their social media platforms, and an automatic spot on the shortlist for the site’s Editor’s Choice section.
YA Books Central ($3.99)- This is an essential database for any young adult author to take advantage of, and it has longevity. It’s been around since 1998. For $3.99, I entered my book into the database. This not only gives me access to a ton of readers, but it also opens me up to take advantage of the site’s other offerings in the future.
So this is my plan so far! I have a few other ideas for free listings in the works right now, and I may do an update later if people are interested. For now, there are a little less than 24 hours until launch day, and I have more work to do! Happy writing, everyone!!!
I am super pleased to announce that I finally have a release date! Chasing Fae will be available on Amazon, IngramSpark, and Kobo on August 3rd! I am so excited to finally have a launch plan for this book.
Here are some highlights of that plan that you can expect hearing more about as I go forward:
August 3rd: Release day!
August 3rd: Launch of an in-depth article series about Chasing Fae and all of its lore on Medium. Articles will also be posted on Fluff About Fantasy a few days later.
August 3rd: Launch of my virtual blog tour! I have some fantastic guest posts lined up, and I’m hoping to get a few more by the time my book comes out.
August 5th: Facebook Launch Event! I am throwing a fantastic online launch party to celebrate Chasing Fae. All throughout the day, there will be opportunities to interact with me live, learn about my process, hear excerpts from my work, play games, and win signed paperback copies of the book! Click here to see the event and mark your interest to get updates!
If you would be interested in getting early access to my book, please subscribe to my email newsletter. I will be sending some super secret updates via email to my subscribers!
