Liz Jasper

1.        What's your name/pen name, e-book title(s), website? When did/will the book drop?
My name is Charlene Leatherman and I am writing under my own name. My main website is www.
charleneleatherman.com
My book Prophecy of Vithan will be released August 2, 2007.

2.        What kinds of promotions have you done to get the word out about your ebook? If there’s some you plan
on doing, list those too, but identify them as “to do’s.” e.g. maintain a website, join chat rooms, join sites
dedicated to authors, join writers groups, interview or be interviewed, hold contests, donate books, send out
arcs, teach writing classes, buy ads, make and send out bookmarks or postcards, hand out business cards,
notify your alma maters, notify your local paper, blog, put it in your email signature, walk around holding a sign,
clutching strangers’ legs as they pass by on the street, etc.
Hey, clutching at strangers’ legs as they pass sounds like a great idea. I am a newby and haven’t done any
previous promotions. I also tend to do things in big way. So I have a website – seven to be exact. I have joined
chat rooms. I am still having difficulty getting the hang of chats, but I’m working on it. I hadn’t thought of teaching
writing classes, but I think I will actually try it. I plan on buying ads. I plan on buying bookmarks and postcards
as soon as I have a cover out. I definitely will hand out business cards – handing out is a misnomer. I live in a
tiny town with a population of 150. I can hand out cards when I go into town, but for the most part, I will be
mailing out business cards with my bills, to my friends and family. Some friends and I had a discussion about
Classmates.com. I attended 12 schools in 12 years for elementary, middle and high school. So I could contact
anyone from those schools and probably never be remembered. Perfect contact list. I have also attended
several colleges (I moved a lot) So contacting my alma maters gives me tons of “You probably don’t remember
me, but…”. I plan on sending an announcement of my book to the local papers. I have my email signature
boasting of my coming book. The local library is having two book signings for me. I intend to buy the book, put it
on CD then have the cover art made into CD covers and sign them. One signing will be when the book first
comes out and the second will be when the snowbirds come back, swelling our population to about 1500. An
idea I found and am working on is to use MySpace and invite 10 friends every day. In a few months I’ll have
hundreds, even thousands of friends who know about my book. There are other “friend” sites out there too,
Ning.com being one of them, that I have joined. I have joined just about every yahoo group that has readers of
romance so I can announce my book. Of course, I will not abuse my membership, but the more people that
know my name and my book the greater possibility of getting sales.

3.        What, if any, promo activities do you consider absolutely essential when a book first drops? Why?

If my book was paperback, I would say book signings in bookstores and at libraries. But my book is an
electronic book. I wonder about chats, unless it is attended by lots of readers. Some chats seem to be
attended only by other authors. Getting your name and the name of your book out is vitally important. We are
business people and are selling a product – our book, our name. So any means of getting our name out is
essential. If I thought enough people would read it and get online, I would purchase a billboard with my name
and book and where to purchase the book blazoned all over it for the world to
see.

What's your name/pen name, e-book title(s), website? When
did/will the
> book drop? Robin Leigh Miller    Book title: Black Smoke
                      www.robinleigh@chilitech.net Book released
March 29
>
>
>
>    What kinds of promotions have you done to get the word out about
your
> ebook? If there’s some you plan on doing, list those too, but
identify
> them as “to do’s.” e.g. maintain a website, join chat rooms,
join
> sites dedicated to authors, join writers groups, interview or be
> interviewed, hold contests, donate books, send out arcs, teach
writing
> classes, buy ads, make and send out bookmarks or postcards, hand out
> business cards, notify your alma maters, notify your local paper,
blog,
> put it in your email signature, walk around holding a sign, clutching
> strangers’ legs as they pass by on the street, etc.
>
> I'm finding sites to join, I already belong to writers groups and one
group is creating a web site for all of us, it's cool. I need to join
some chat groups but it's hard to find time since I have 3 children
involved in school activities and work at the same time. I'd like to
take out an ad in our local paper but haven't gotten to it yet and then
theres the expense.

>    What, if any, promo activities do you consider absolutely
essential
> when a book first drops? Why?
>
>
>    What's the best promotion you've ever done?
>
>
>    Have you done any promotion you’ve regretted? C’mon, let’s
hear the
> horror story.
>
>
>    IYO, what’s the biggest promo bang for the buck?
>
>
>    When Raelene Gorlinsky told me I'd have to "develop an online
> presence,” I went straight to the kitchen, made a double batch of
> chocolate chip cookies, and ate them. What have you done to get your
> name out on the web?
>
> I've signed up on Google ebook search..
>
>    Virtual book signing. Is it possible (even for those who don’t
write
> paranormal)? Have you tried it?
> Never even heard of it..
>
>
>    What do you do to keep your web site interesting?
>
>
>
>    You've published your e-book – yay! Now, how do you convince
Aunt
> Martha to buy it, even though she's never read an e-book before? We
> can all cite the e-book advantages listed on the CP web site, but
what
> do you tell people? Not just Aunt Martha -- we all know she's going
to
> buy it anyway-- but, say, your hairdresser, who can't help but be
> interested after you try out your blurb on her?
>
> I'm finding it hard to convince people that ebooks are just as good
as
print books. I'm still running into people that actually want to hold
the book in their hands. It's frustrating.
>
>    How do you think promoting an e-book is different from a promoting
a
> print book? If your e-book has gone to print, are there promotional
> activities you've had to add? Or plan to add?
>
> I think print books would be easier. You actually have something
tangible to show people where ebooks you can only show bits and pieces
of it.
>
>    How do you know your promotion efforts are doing any good?
>
>
>
>    Do you have any advice for new e-book authors? Anything you wish
> someone had told you?
> I wish someone had told me how difficult it is to promote and ebook,
but
then I don't think it would have mattered. Cerridwen press, Jasmin Jade
has been good to me so far. It's a great publisher to write for.

4.        What's the best promotion you've ever done?

I won’t know until later. After my book is out, I may find that all my work is for nothing. I may discover that waving a sign on a corner works
better to sell my book than all the internet promotion.

5.        Have you done any promotion you’ve regretted? C’mon, let’s hear the horror story.

I haven’t actually done any that I regret, yet. I have messed up in some chats before. I seem to have a mind block about what to say in a
chat, when to reply, and so forth. I am totally brain dead when it comes to chats. Its like talking in front of a bunch of people without a script
or a planned talk. It is just going to take more practice.

6.        IYO, what’s the biggest promo bang for the buck?
Two things stand out. First, have you ever watched the people who go to conventions, shows (don’t care if it is gun shows, dog shows or
book shows) they all have something in common. They all pick up magnets, pens, give-aways. Second, when people are on the internet
they do not want to spend a lot of time at any one place and they want the place they are at to be interesting. I am still developing places
that are interesting, and I need to order give-aways. Contests are great for give-aways too, but I wonder at the exposure. So the biggest
bang for your buck is for items – magnets, keychains, pens, bookmarks, you know stuff. And search engines to draw your name to people.

7.        When Raelene Gorlinsky told me I'd have to "develop an online presence,” I went straight to the kitchen, made a double batch of
chocolate chip cookies, and ate them. What have you done to get your name out on the web?
Other than 7 websites, 42 yahoo groups, aiming at 1000 MySpace friends, Ning communities, and driving myself crazy trying to sort it out?
No, not really. I think I will go make chocolate cake.

8.        Virtual book signing. Is it possible (even for those who don’t write paranormal)? Have you tried it?
I haven’t tried virtual book signing, but after looking it up on the internet, it seems a good and viable way to promote your book. There is a
virtual galleria at Romance Galleria.com (without the spaces). I have attended a virtual chat there and collected business cards from other
authors, a reviewer and a publisher. At Second Life, there seems to be a full scale world where an author recently had a virtual book club
where he was the featured speaker. He answered questions, and gave a speech and did a virtual signing. With ebooks being on the
Internet and available to readers around the world, it is only a logical progression that authors will have access to everything we used to do
with print books on the Internet.

9.        What do you do to keep your web site interesting?
I’m still learning. I am trying a serial novel.

10.        You've published your e-book – yay! Now, how do you convince Aunt Martha to buy it, even though she's never read an e-book
before? We can all cite the e-book advantages listed on the CP web site, but what do you tell people? Not just Aunt Martha -- we all know
she's going to buy it anyway-- but, say, your hairdresser, who can't help but be interested after you try out your blurb on her?
My library is going to have a book signing for me. I plan to have the book on CD to sell to the senior citizens that do not understand e-
readers. Most snow birds travel year round in their motor homes where space is limited. I like the idea that you can store 500 books in a
tiny machine that takes up only the space of a calculator. That kind of space saver is something they would be interested in. In fact, the way
houses are shrinking in size, the idea of a whole library in your palm.

11.        How do you think promoting an e-book is different from a promoting a print book? If your e-book has gone to print, are there
promotional activities you've had to add? Or plan to add?
Promoting an e-book is different in that you have to do everything electronically or expect the buyer to technically wise. I have talked to
authors whose e-book went to print. They have gone to the book store and asked to sign the books. The stores can’t allow that because of
the contracts they have with the publishers. However, the author can contact the store management and schedule a book signing.

12.        How do you know your promotion efforts are doing any good?
I will find out after August when my book comes out.

13.        Do you have any advice for new e-book authors? Anything you wish someone had told you?
Promotion can not be started too soon. If you wait until your book is released to set up the websites, chat, groups, promotion items, etc,
you will spend months wasting time. It takes time to learn your way around the internet. It takes time to set up a website.
Learn all you can about every aspect of the web and promotion, both live and virtual.
I also got some very valuable advice the other day. Write five days a week, but allot one day a week at the minimum to concentrate on
promotion. Chat, do ads, order and send out promotion items – pens, postcards, magnets, flyers, etc. Then your book will be found by
people who want to read your book. One more thing. Don’t just stay with the “usual” formats. Classmates.com resulted in several contacts
for one author. Are you interested in dogs? Join chats or online organizations that have a bunch of dog lovers on them. Pitch your book
politely there. There are worlds of groups and websites that are about anything you are interested besides writing. Join and network just
like you would in the real world.
One more thing. No matter how intelligent or how gifted you think you are, be polite to other authors you meet in real life or on the internet,
to anyone you talk to in chats, on blogs, or anywhere on the web. You are not just pushing your book, you are presenting yourself. Just like
a job interview. If you are rude, or crude or ugly, people will not buy your book because they will remember your attitude.
Have fun. Promotion is hard work. Even hard work can be enjoyable, and life it too short to make yourself or others miserable. When I
worked for a telemarketing company we were required to keep a mirror on our desk. We had to be able to see our smile. Our smiles
would translate to the person on the phone. Our frowns would translate too. I’m not sure how, but we need to keep our smile on our
fingers as we type our way through the Net.