Tenacity Tested

As you may know, I run a contest for U.S. Military Wives every year from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekend. Last year's Grand Prize Winner was Carrie Reyes and part of her prize was for me to come have a book signing in her hometown. Carrie graciously agreed to hold off on her prize until the release of Unleashed. The plan was to hold it at the Columbus, Georgia Barnes & Noble from 1pm-4pm.

I was very excited because we were able to get some coverage in the local newspaper, the Ledger Enquirer. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Katie McCarthy, who also happens to be a military wife and you can read the article here if you'd like.

At any rate, all of the planning looked like it was going to help us get the event off without a hitch.

Well you know what they say about best laid plans....

Needless to say the trip evolved into a series of planes, trains and automobiles.

I arrived at White Plains airport with plenty of time to spare and everything looked like it was going smoothly. Sitting in my aisle seat with the earbuds of my iphone nestled snugly in my ears, I waited patiently for the flight attendants to begin their familiar albeit slightly unnecessary here's-how-to-put-on-a-seat belt-bit.

However, the pilot came on to inform us that there was a mechanical problem with the plane. Apparently, they discovered a leak in one of the fuel pumps. Hmmm. I was just happy they found it before we took off. The flight attendants and pilots were really very accomodating and kept the passengers comfort their top priority. Bottom line: they let us off the plane and allowed us to wait in the terminal as opposed to beging squished inside the airplane.

After a couple of hours of waiting, the flight was cancelled but I was able to get booked on a flight out of LaGuardia that was scheduled to leave in just 90 minutes. I caught a van ride with ten other displaced souls, made it to the airport and ran through the place like I was on an episode of The Amazing Race.

Phew! I made it to the plane and arrived in Atlanta at 1pm....yeah....I was supposed to be in Columbus for the book signing at 1pm. Not so much.

Next step--the rental car.

If you're reading this and you've been to Atlanta International Airport you know that it's really like a small city. I disembarked my plane and hopped two separate trains to get out of the terminal and to the rental car center.

Then I had to drive about 90 minutes to Columbus. All I will say is that the speed limit on Georgia highways is 70 mph :)

I finally made it to the B&N in Columbus at 3:30pm and was greeted by the smiling faces of Carrie Reyes, her mom and two of her kids. I'd called ahead and kept them in the loop about my misadventures and they were very understanding.

Since Carrie won last year, we've become friends on Facebook so it was wonderful to finally meet her in person and get to know her kids. Carrie's mom, Joyce, was the one who actually sent her story in and nominated her daughter. They were real troopers and stuck around for the next three hours while we sold all of the copies they had in stock.

I'm a new author so when I have a book signing, I don't expect there to be throngs of people waiting for me. However, this time we had several folks show up who had read the Ledger article and came out to get their signed copies of Unleashed. I even had two guys who were sent there specifically by their wives to get a copy. Now that is romance!


I'm happy to report that we had a SOLD OUT event! The staff at the Columbus Barnes & Noble was absolutely fabulous and were very understanding about my travel conundrum.

After we ran out of books, I took Carrie and her family out to dinner. Good food, a very good beer and really good people.

Throughout this publishing adventure, I've had the opportunity to meet some pretty fantastic folks. Life is good.

If you know any military families, please feel free to tell them about the contest. I accept entries all year long and will start posting stories Memorial Day weekend 2012. People can send their story and picture to info@novelromance.net Please put 4th annual U.S. Military Wives contest in the subject line.

Dream on...

Promote or Perish

Any author will tell you that the hardest part about being published is the promotion. Before I was published I was under the assumption that the publishers marketed books for their authors. Ummm...No. The truth is unless you're Nora Roberts or JK Rowling the publisher doesn't do much in terms of marketing. Virtually all of it falls on the author. The trouble is that most authors aren't experinced in marketing and in many cases they don't have the money to hire someone else to market for them. It can be a very frustrating experience to say the least. So here are a few tools that have worked for me.

I know that lots of people are a bit squeamish about self-promotion. If you're an author I've got three words for you--"GET OVER IT!"

It's really quiet simple. If you don't promote yourself--no one else will. Well... not at first. As a new author the responsibility is on YOU to tell people all about your book and why they should run out and buy it/download it--whatever.

Social Networking. No...not for dates...for your book. Twitter, My Space, Facebook, Blogspot, Shelfari, Good Reads and We Read are all FREE!!!

Anyone promoting a book should have every single one of these accounts live and online. If you have each of these accounts you can then link them all to each other, creating your own business network.

Why do they help you? Twitter, for example, I didn't understand initially. A status update with only 140 characters. Huh?! Well the idea is to follow a flock of like-minded people. Here's just one example of how Twitter helped me.

Since I write Paranormal Romance I did a search for "paranormal". Well as you can imagine a lot of funky folks came up. One of them was "Paranormal Podcast" with Jim Harold. I followed him and he followed me back. I asked him if I could link his website to mine. We got a little conversation going. He took it to the next level and asked me if I'd like to be interviewed on his podcast show. Absolutely! Jim gets 90,000 downloads of his podcasts a month. Our interview has already been downloaded 10,000 times! Think about that.....all of those people...a brand new audience simply from connecting on Twitter.

So that's a bit about the Internet. What about face to face?

If you're an author you absolutely have to set up a book tour. It's not easy and you'll have to be persistent but it will pay off. What better way to personally connect with readers? I exectued a book tour last summer via various Borders and B&N and used all of the social networking to help promote it. These face to face signings were an outstanding way to connect personally with readers you may not have found online.

Okay. You get them face to face...and then what? What do you do you tell them? Easy. Give them your "elevator pitch". In other words...if you were on an elevator with your dream publisher and only had 60 seconds to grab their attention and sell them on your book....What would you say? That's an "elevator pitch". For me... the hook question to bring passers by to my signing table was..."Did you like "Twilight"?" Now, my series isn't about vampires...BUT...it's the same genre. I got their attention and got them to stop and listen a bit more. Then comes the elevator pitch.

I have to say that I throughly enjoyed all of my book signings. You can see an example of my experiences here on my blog.

I hope these thoughts were helpful. Believe me...after all of the publicity and promo...I need a big glass of Pinot!

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Book Signing up at Borders near Fort Drum!

What a pretty time of year to take a drive up to Watertown, NY! It was a wonderful signing event at Borders in The Salmon Run Mall near Fort Drum. I had the distinct privilege of meeting several members of our military and their families. It was a beautiful Saturday but the mall was hopping!

My signing liaison, Stephanie ( a proud military wife) did an unbelievable job promoting our event--and as a result we sold tons of books!!

She posted in online and had it put in the area newspapers as well.

Way to go!!

Unfortunately her kiddies were sick and she couldn't make it....so I took lots of pics so she could see how all her hard work paid off.

The people up in Watertown are incredibly friendly and the staff was awesome! My last signing in this tour is coming up at my Alma mater--Marist College--during Alumni Weekend.

Book Signing in The Big Easy!

Had a great time at the Borders Book Signing in New Orleans. The entire staff was incredibly helpful and set us up in a great area. This Borders is on St. Charles Street and pre-Katrina it was a Funeral Home. Cool huh?

I have to give major props to my Signing Liaison Kelly! She had already read "The Amoveo Legacy" and volunteered to be my Liaison when she heard I was coming down to NOLA. She did an awesome job! She even brought her daughter and a friend along. So a HUGE Thank You to Kelly!! What a great lady.

I also got to meet several other folks while I was there. Stephanie & her hubby David came by to say hello and pick up a book or two. We connected on Twitter and I was thrilled that they showed up!!

Our stay in New Orleans was such fun and I can't wait to go back. Book 2 in my shifter series actually takes place in NOLA so it was also a great opportunity to do some research....and have some fun :)

Next stop.....Borders in Watertown, NY....right by Fort Drum!

Book Signing Event-Barnes & Noble at the Palisades Mall

It was chilly and rainy here in New York last night but I was able to stay inside warm and dry at Barnes & Noble in the Palisades Mall. I discovered that if you're having an event in a mall--rain is good. There were lots of folks utilizing the shelter of the mall and foot traffic was aplenty. Betsy was my contact at this B&N and she did an outstanding job or organizing and promoting the event. Her staff is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating. When I arrived for the event I was pretty psyched to find out they had already sold a few and we sold almost all the rest!

I met a very eclectic group of people who bought my book and some who just stopped to chat and find out more the series. It was all good. The book tour this summer has been a spectacular experience and an exhausting one. I have a two week break before the remaining events--which I'm sure is very good news to my incredibly understanding husband. If you want a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" give Betsy a call at the B&N in Palisades at 845- 348-4701 or ask your local B&N to have it shipped from that store!

Not near a B&N? Buy it online

http://www.amazon.com/Amoveo-Legacy-Sara-Taney-Humphreys/dp/1554872774/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244992191&sr=8-2

Saturday's Stop on the Summer Book Tour

Hey there! I will be posting the US Military Wives Semi-Finalist for week #8 shortly, but I thought it would be fun to post a few pics here from my Book Signing in Philadelphia.

I have to say it's been quite an adventure organizing this Summer Book Tour but all the hard work and persistence has absolutely paid off. This Saturday I was in Philadelphia at Borders Avenue of the Arts and it was such fun.

Justin, the Community Relations Manager, and his staff were outstanding. Everything went off without a hitch and we sold most of the books they had ordered for the event. I have to say... it was pretty cool to walk into Borders and see my book on display out front with Harry Potter. Nice.

It was great to see some familiar faces and meet some brand new fans as well. I'll be very honest...I wasn't sure anyone would show up! I expected to sell one or two...not almost sell out. We had a few left over so Justin had me sign them and put them out front. If you want an autographed copy, give them a call at Borders in Philly (215) 568-7400.

Next stop on the Summer Book Tour is Boston! I'll be at Borders in the Cambridge Mall this Saturday 8/1/09 from 1pm-3pm.

Hope to see you there!