IWSG: Marketing Mojo

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group day! The first Wednesday of every month is when members of the Group post about our writerly insecurities. If you want to sign up, go HERE. Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and his co-hosts for making this event happen every month. 

Marketing. Doesn't the word strike fear in your heart? It does mine. If you're an indy author or with a small press then you know the agony of marketing. You're expected to do it yourself. But of course, you can't really do it by yourself. You need help and you have to ask for it. You have to ask bloggers to host you and share your books. It's a lot of social media. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Wattpad.

That's why I've done virtually no marketing of my books this year. The push and the grind of trying to get sales is stressful. I just didn't want to do it. Blogging has been part of that push and grind for me too. So I took a break.

But, well, I really want to be a writer. A successful writer. So I'm starting to come back around. I'm getting those stirrings where I'm sort of caring again. About writing and even marketing. And maybe when I really get back into the writing (I've only been outlining) I'll care about blogging again and sharing what I'm working on.

So--since I write paranormal and this is October, the most paranormal month of the year, I went out on a limb and took things in hand a bit. I made Second Death free (which wasn't easy, but I'm pretty sure it was the hour I sat at my laptop pasting in the free link from B&N at Amazon so they'd price match) and put books II & III on sale. AND, I'm doing Facebook and Twitter sponsored ads. We'll see how it goes *shrugs*

OH! And I decided to be a real author and start a NEWSLETTER. It'd be awesome if you subscribed up at the top in the sidebar--and receive a free book (See? I've got marketing mojo!).

And...I'm thinking about writing a short story for the A-Z Anthology contest. Not that I'll win, not with all the other awesome authors and submissions, but I think it will be a good experience for me.

How are your marketing skills?

Have you even run ads?

How do you promote your books?

Summer Book Crush Time!

It's time for Summer Book Crush!

 

We have tons of authors with tons of books for only .99 cents!

 

June 19 - June 22, 2014

 

 

Whether you like the boy next door or the bad boy down the street,

there are lots of book boyfriends to cozy up to.

Just go to www.summerbookcrush.com and check them out.

 

Also, we're on twitter using a few different hashtags:

 

 

#SummerBookCrush

#SBCboyfriends

#romance

 

OR, Come Find Me:

 

@LadyGwenTweets

 

So, what's your type?

 

Boy With A Bite?

 

Boy Next Door?

 

Sexy Foreigner?

 

Jock?

 

Sizzler?

 

 

 



Summer Book Crushes - Who's Yours?

Let's talk about book crushes. Who hasn't had a crush on a character?  I'll admit that I used to read a lot of romance back in the day. I always fell just a little bit in love with the hunky male protagonist. I did love me some happily-ever-after. *sigh* I still do.

And now that I'm older - well, I still get little crushes. My current read is the Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices series). If you're reading the series, you know that Tessa is torn between Jem and Will. They're both good guys, but Will is a bit of a bad boy - and yeah, he's my book crush. I adore black hair and blue eyes, and by his description, I think he'd take my breath away - never mind that I could be his mother older sister. Anyway, he could be my book boyfriend, right?

 

So for a bit of fun summer reading activity, I've gotten together with some other authors to offer our books for .99 cents - and they all have elements of romance. You could find your own book boyfriend for only .99 cents!

Here's the scoop:

Hot sun, hot sand, cool drinks, dark tans. Ahhhh. But your summer won’t be complete until you land a new BOOK BOYFRIEND, right? Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered!

 

SUMMER BOOK CRUSH offers 50+ titles in many genres. This means 50+ chances to (fictitiously) fall in love. And the best part? Each of these gems is only 99¢, but for a limited time only. The SUMMER BOOK CRUSH event starts on June 26th and ends (yes, even the best things in life end at some point) on June 28th. So don't wait up! Mingle with our BOOK BOYFRIENDS and invite all your friends to participate too. There are plenty of BOOK BOYS to share!

Find your summer’s fling between the pages of a book. And don't stop on one - after all we have many BOOK BOYFRIENDS for you to mingle with.

 

 

 

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THE LOVE!

 

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Of course I have to talk a bit about Givin' Up The Ghost.

 We all know that Indigo has a huuuge crush on Badger. But, well, they both come with some serious baggage. Here's what Badger had to say about Indigo: 

 

My name’s Badger. I’m just your average eighteen year old guy. At least, until last summer when my dad disappeared. I had to take up the slack and help out running the family pub, the Blind Badger.

But then things got really strange. This girl came around and started saying my dad was dead and that she had spoken to his ghost. I took some convincing, I can tell you. He had been murdered, in fact, and we ended up doing our own investigation.

I care for this girl, but with ghosts popping in and out all the time causing chaos, I’m pretty sure I need a break. I was knocked to the ground, thrown up on and nearly killed. What’s a guy supposed to do?

Givin' Up The Ghost now only .99 cents

Amazon

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble

iTunes
 

 So who is your current book crush?