Tag Archives: Marketing

Common Grounds Market News, Electric Light Parade, Christmas Prep: Monday Blog Post

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Payson Walking Pine Tree handing out candy at the 2021 Electric Light Parade by Randy Cockrell

 

Newest News:

Saturday was a busy day for me. From 9am till 2pm, I was at the Common Grounds Christmas Market. I shared a booth with an Arizona Professional Writers author friend Chrisann Dawson. We talked to a LOT of people and sold some books. The weather was fantastic. If you were able to come by, thank you. If you missed it, I’ll be at the Twilight Tuesday market on Dec 14th. See all the details below.

Common Grounds Xmas Market 2021

At 5pm on Saturday, we met up with some friends of ours and their family for our town’s Christmas parade. It was fun going with 3 young, rambunctious boys. They loved everything! The picture above is of our town’s walking pine trees. The group participates in several events each year promoting our area’s tourism. They’ve been in quite a few electric light parades in the state and appeared in parades for many football games.

Now, like many of you, I need to finish decorating inside my home. The outside is now done. There is baking to do, candy to make and I need to get the presents for my daughter in the mail soon. I don’t have my Christmas cards done yet either. No matter, what ever gets done will be fine and whatever doesn’t get done can be done next year.

Stay tuned!

Giveaways:

The Pumpkin Posse Authors Halloween Giveaway is now closed! As soon as the winner names are drawn, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, hop on over to the page with the following link and get in on the new giveaway, Oh What Fun It Is To Read prizes. https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ to enter.

 

Where will I Be?

The Twilight Tuesday Christmas Market this year will run from November 9th, 3 – 6pm to December 21st. I have obtained two appearance dates, when I only expected one so I’m pretty happy about that. I had a booth date of November 23rd, and one for December 14th. Come on by, check out our version of a European Style Christmas market and enjoy.

 

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming. Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

 

Newest Releases:

Creature in the Night, a short Halloween, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Fantasy story has been published. It is up on Amazon, in Kindle Unlimited or for purchase at $.99. You can also see all my books on http://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote my books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe, I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

A Writer’s Job: Monday Blog Post

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Newest News:

It’s possible that you wonder why, as a writer, I cannot get stories to you faster. I understand. It seems to take a really long time for me to produce and publish your next favorite series book. To be honest, it feels like a long time for me, as well.

A look at my current to do list might let you in on what’s going on. These are not in any kind of order. Just how they occurred to me as I was making the list.

AuthorShow.com – a note to myself to apply to the audio and visual podcast program that provides some exposure for authors. (Marketing)

Brown Rain Covers – I have them done, just want to update the interiors to match Tested’s interior. (Marketing)

Brown Rain Interiors – Yep, see above. (Marketing)

Gulliver Box Sets – What I’m currently working on. (Marketing)

Pre-Order Slave Elf – Get the story Slave Elf up on multiple platforms/sites as a pre-order. (Advertising)

Edit Slave Elf – (Editing)

Amazon Affiliate – Re-apply to Amazon for affiliate status. That way people coming to my author page or a book page, can continue their other Amazon shopping and I get a tiny cut at no additional expense to my readers. (Cross-Promotion)

Set up Amazon AUS, NZ, CAN – Officially set up my author page and books on these country sites for more exposure to English speaking readers. (Marketing)

Set up Optimize Press – This is a site that gives me assistance in setting up my marketing pages. (Marketing)

Pinterest Class – This is a Mark Dawson beta class that I have not been able to access despite the fact it appears on my class page. I’ll have to contact someone to get it to open for me. I’d love to learn how to use Pinterest to expand my reader base. (Marketing)

SAM – this is actually a book festival reminder that as a non-profit organization I have to annually re-certify that our organization is tax-exempt. (Volunteer)

Post Review – I had a nice review of Tested from Reader’s Favorite. I need to post it on my Tested pages (Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords) (Advertising)

You may notice there’s no reminder to write. I don’t need a reminder to write, it’s always in the back of my mind. I need to write a flash fiction to post every Friday and current writing projects include finishing It’s All About the Music, (plus 2 more to make 5 in that series), a horror story for December deadline, and edits for both Mystery at the Reunion and the 2nd Zoe Ohale story, Troubled Campus.

I’m also scheduled for a book selling/signing on September 15th, October 13 – 14th, and December 8th. So I need to inventory my on-hand books to see what needs to be ordered. I sold quite a few at the Payson Book Festival and need to re-supply.

It’s obvious I do a lot of tasks that are marketing oriented. I need to if I want my reader numbers to grow.

And that’s it! Lots to do and all of it needs time and energy. Some days I just want to play games on Facebook.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

How To Sell More Books With Social Media by Guy Kawasaki

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I just listened through a webinar with Guy Kawasaki, hosted by CreateSpace. The seminar, How to Sell More Books with Social Media ran 1hour and 13 minutes. It’s on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=135KGCLqC6Q

In the seminar, he went over ten tips for creating a social media presence. I know, a lot of indie published authors say it’s not necessary. Traditionally published authors say, “My publisher does all that.” I’m going to shrug. My thought is that if I’m self publishing, I need to do some marketing so why not use avenues available to me.

In the webinar he talks about the five main social services; FaceBook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest and LinkedIn. I know, Google Plus seems to be an email but he said he uses it as a blog, he doesn’t blog anymore! He also offers tips on how to get to the magic number of 5000 users. That number, he believes, is the critical mass that will take your book to a best seller.

I won’t try and repeat everything he said. If you have an hour and fifteen minutes, listen to the webinar. I think this is of value to every author. I hope you do to.