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Interested in marketing your books? Holiday lists are a great place to do it. Usually you need to set these things up way ahead of time, but there are also last-minute options. Do you offer your story in an e-format? E-gifts make the perfect last-minute gift for that relative you didn’t realize was showing up for the holidays. Remind your fans that you can do expedited shipping of books and offer links for e-copies. Everyone loves a great last-minute gift idea!

We’re going to ComicCon!!! Griffyn Ink was able to secure a booth just for A.J. after several years of trying. The Con is so big that unless your last name is Spielberg, take a number and don’t bother holding your breath. Lots of planning will go into this event. It will be the largest event we have ever attended (and quite possibly ever will attend).

We LOVE going to Dragon Con every year in Atlanta, so we have very high hopes for ComicCon. Looking forward to meeting the fans on the west coast. It’s going to be a long drive, but we’re glad to make it. Hope to see you all there!

When you do an event, don’t think that showing up will ever be enough. You have to let people know when and where you will be appearing. Consider how you will gather their info to stay in touch with them after the event. Be ready to take payment types and give change (if sales are involved). And whenever possible, take a friend. Let them worry about getting product set up, running credit cards, and holding down the fort when you have to use the restroom.

Yep, you need a picture. And get a good one – not something with bad wallpaper in the back and bad lighting. Get a real headshot taken. Fix your hair, wear a nice shirt and smile for the camera.

This headshot should be readily available for anyone who wants it. Some reviewers like to have one to include on their blogs. Any articles written about you and your book will want one (along with a picture of your cover).

Save it in a couple of formats and sizes. You’ll want .JPG and .PDF.

If you haven’t discovered Smashwords yet, go now. Run!

Smashwords is a site that will turn your Word document into every e-reader format known to man. And it’s FREE! You can set your own price or you can make it free if you’re looking for reviews and feedback. They take a cut of any sales you make, but it is completely worth it. They do a great job and it would take you a very long time (and a lot of frustration) if you tried to format your work yourself into all the different ereader styles.

They have a Style Guide you can download (also free) that will tell you how to format your book. This part is obnoxious and tedious, but again, it’s totally worth it. Do it right the first time. Otherwise you’re just waisting your energy because you’ll end up redoing it anyway.

So if you’re ready to put your completed work out there, go now! Make a few bucks. Who knows, maybe you’ll sell a million copies

When you’re ready to start publicizing your work, do your homework. Look for publicists with experience in your genre of book. Do they do fiction? non-fiction? Ask for some titles that they’ve worked on that you can look up. Ask for references and CALL the other authors they work with. Their tone will tell you as much as their words.

A great publicist can make all the difference. Don’t expect miracles, but they will do some things that might surprise you. Want to do signings? They can set those up. Want to do presentations or talks? Yep, they can do that. Want to get on TV or radio? They can pitch you and then its up to the hosts to decide if they want you. Want to find people to give you reviews? Yep, them too!

AJ’s super-awesome publicists have secured bulk sales. They’ve set AJ up with guest blog posts in all kinds of great places. They’ve gotten her on the radio and on podcasts. They’ve gotten her invited to book festivals as a special guest and onto author panels. The best thing they do that is so hard for most author-types is they FOLLOW UP and they STAY ORGANIZED.

If you don’t LOVE your publicist, find a new one. Great ones do exist!

If you are ever selling your own book, it helps to have someone else with you. There’s nothing like that awkward moment where you ask someone if they would like you to autograph your book and it becomes clear that that they don’t know how to say “no”.

If someone else asks for you, it’s easier for people to turn you down, which is fair. Not everyone wants their book signed. So take a friend and make them take all the money and ask if buyers want autographs. Then nobody has to hand you money either.

Next time you’re at a convention where famous people are signing photographs of themselves, take a look. They always have someone else with them who deals with the money. It feels less superficial to the people who are purchasing.

We’ve all heard of bar codes, but what are QR codes?

They are the black and white square boxes that look kind of like a crazy crossword. You can scan them with your Smart Phone (yes, you need an app for that, but it’s free) and it takes you to a website or downloads certain information.

Anyone can make one of these. It’s actually really simple to create.

Try Mobile Bar Codes. And I recommend using TinyURL first.

These can go on your business cards, mailers, e-mails, just about anywhere. AJ and I have t-shirts with a QR code that goes straight to the Smart Chickens App. If you decide to do a t-shirt, be sure the background of your QR code is white. It won’t scan if the background is a color.

When you get invited to your first book signing event, you are going to be ecstatic. While you should be happy, you should also try not to get your hopes too high. Until you’ve sold hundreds of thousands of copies and been on the NYT Bestseller list (probably a few times) people are not going to plan their day around your event and drive across town to see you.

It sounds harsh, but think about the last time you saw an ad in the paper for a local author signing copies of his/her new book and you just decided to go. Exactly – it has probably never happened.

That’s just the nature of the beast. So how can you make your event great?

-Tell everyone you know (within driving distance). The people who know you personally, even in a small way, are more likely to come.

-Consider some small advertising. Don’t go nuts here, but help the location get the word out.

-Bring a friend or two who likes talking to people. You are going to be sitting at a small table with your books. You need people to wander around the book store and direct people to you. You need someone to talk about your book with the people waiting in your line so they don’t get bored and leave before you get to them.

Keep your expectations reasonable and you’ll do great! And remember to have fun. You’ll meet a lot of neat people at a book signing.

Now is the time to reserve your website. Actually, the time has long since past, so if you didn’t reserve YourName.com already, go do it RIGHT NOW. There are lots of websites that will sell you a domain name for less than $10. And if your name is John Smith, I apologize now, but you’re going to have to get creative.

If you can get a .com address, do it. If you have to go with a different ending, so be it, but you may need to highlight it for people when you give out your URL. “Check me out at John Smith DOT NET!!”

So what do you do if YourName.com is taken already? You’re writers – do something memorable. Just don’t make it too complicated or long. You want people to remember it and be able to spell it! Other recommendations include staying away from hyphens if possible and don’t use numbers unless you want to buy every combination of websites (TwoPlusTwoMakesFour.com, 2Plus2Makes4.com, TwoPlusTwoMakes4.com, you can see where I’m going with this…)

JohnSmithTheWriter.com

AuthorJohnSmith.com

JohnSmithsBooks.com

JohnSmithsNovels.com

Whatever you decide to go with, go get it now before someone else does. Pay the $7 a year even if you aren’t ready to set up a real site yet. You’ll be really glad you did when you get famous

My last post addressed the benefits of attending conventions for writers. Now for some simple rules to follow when you go:

Show up on time. When you are attending a group discussion or a panel, it is very disruptive to others to have people coming in late or leaving early. Certainly there are reasons for it sometimes, but do everyone a favor and be where you are supposed to be.

Turn off your phone. Seriously. If you want to take notes on a computer or a pad, great! But nobody believes that your obnoxious texting is note-taking.

Raise your hand. I know, we all did this in third grade, but every group has a moderator. Let them moderate. They will get to you and they will be grateful that you allowed them to choose the appropriate time for your question or comment.

Please, please, please don’t be that annoying person who takes over the panel from the audience. If you are not the leader of the conversation, then keep quiet unless you have a relevant question. And try to keep your questions brief. Nobody wants to hear all the back story. If you want to share something personal or go in depth – do it! – just do it AFTER the group is finished so you can have a one-on-one conversation.

If you are asked to speak, enjoy it! This is a great opportunity to share. These groups are usually made up of very friendly, helpful people. Share what you know and don’t worry about the rest.