Decree of Hope Cover Reveal

So I've mentioned Finding Hope was getting a face lift and name change. I'm so excited to show you guys the new cover. And it's going to be in print!!!!

Funnel Marketing

Not too long ago, I read Susan Kaye Quinn's Indie Author Survival Guide. I found much of her advice helpful but ran screaming at the prospect of a five year marketing plan like she recommended. Why? Because I HATE marketing. I hate everything about marketing. When I decided to take up writing, I pictured myself alone with my laptop, the sound of my fingertips hitting the keys filling the air. I never imagined I'd be #retweeting people on Twitter or responding to fb comments. I didn't even know what these things were. I like signing. I always say they're like a nerd girl's rock show, but those are becoming harder to book and less productive. So how could I create a five year marketing plan? More daunting than that, the thought of marketing for five years made me not want to write.

Then I found Write.Publish.Repeat. There is a whole section on "funnel marketing," a term I'd never heard before. Simply put, funnel marketing is using a free product to funnel sales into a paid product. I knew the benefits of sampling, and from experience I knew it worked. When The Other Marlowe Girl was released, I made The Fate of A Marlowe Girl  available for free. That coupled with Reader's blog tour, put TOMG on amazon's inspirational best seller's list for a while. And it really isn't even inspirational.

Since then I've paid for blog tours, twitter parties and an assortment of other things. Nothing worked. Not to mention, I hated it. I'd rather be writing than doing just about anything else. Write.Publish.Repeat said that if you're releasing a series, your funnel product is obviously the first in the series. But what about stand alones? The authors suggested creating a short story or novella to help sell a stand alone. I felt so stupid for never thinking about this before. The idea of writing a prequel to sell existing products had never crossed my mind. I have two goals: 1) make a million dollars writing 2)write a million words. Part of what drives me insane about marketing is that I'm wasting precious time on something that doesn't seem to be fulfilling either one of these goals. The reason that the term "funnel marketing" immediately caught my attention is because it's writing. I'm writing to market writing. Assuming, it's ineffective as a marketing strategy those words still fulfill one of my goals. They will get me to a million words quicker.

But... my next thought was I have to package books (you're funnel product is a REAL product and needs to be professional) that I have no intention of making money off of. But then I realized I could spend up to $80 on a cover and still come out significantly cheaper than all the other marketing tactics I've tried. And there is more potential for this to work. The people you're marketing to are already interested in you or the story, so you're essentially marketing to a soft audience. You just need click through.

And now I have a five year marketing plan. It's all caught up in my funnels.

Monday Mishmash

Monday Mishmash is hosted by Kelly Hashway.

1. Decree of Hope- I've mentioned that Finding Hope is getting a new name (Decree of Hope) and a new cover. The cover reveal is being hosted by YA Bound and will be this Friday. I'd love it if you could sign up!
2. The Art of Blurb Writing- I'm teaching a blurb writing workshop in July or NEORWA. I'll post a sign up link as soon as it's available.
3. Blurb Writing Made Easy- I've quit marketing or even attempting to book my blurb writing class due to new constraints on my time. NEORWA asked me if I would be willing to teach, and of course, if it will help other writers, I'm always available. Well, another organization approached me about teaching blurb writing made easy, so I'm sure this will happen at some point. I just think it's ironic that I used to work hard to keep this class book, and now people approach me. This has made me think about my marketing efforts for writing.
4. Before Hope Dawned- I'm hoping to have a freebie for Peace Series fans the same day the Hope blog tour starts. 
5. Secret Project- I'm also plotting a secret project that is so secret it can only be referred to as "secret project."

Monday Mishmash

Monday Mishmash is hosted by Kelly Hashway.

1. Tests- Blah. I think I've taken more tests since I got out of school than I did in school. I'm taking the ESL exam on Thursday, and I really hope I pass it, because it will seriously impact my job choices, if I don't.
2. MFA- After I finish my test on Thursday, I'm going to come home and submit homework for my MFA that doesn't officially begin until June. LOL. Also, my reading list this semester is going to be interesting. Everything from inspirational to erotica, and you know how I feel about that E-word.
3. Dance Recital- My ELF has a big dance recital this weekend! She is growing up so fast. Sometimes I wonder where the time has gone.
4. Secret Project- Remains unplotted, but I'm looking for a travel grant of some sort to visit NOLA before I start writing.
5. Perfect Harmony- Likewise remains unrewritten. Productive week, right?

Monday Mishmash

Monday Mishmash is hosted by Kelly Hashway.

1. Update Friday/ Big Dreams- I'm sorry I missed this month guys. I got a sunburn bad enough that I vomited for 12 hours, and I got some bad news the same day (my school is doing away with intervention as a separate class, and that's what I teach), so I was out of commission for a few days. This happened just in time for our update day.
2. Relaunch- I need to get to work on the Hope relaunch. The covers are done, but I've got to get the paperback created.
3. Prequel- As part of the Hope relaunch I'm writing a Hope/Peace prequel. Right now, I'm plotting it out.
4. Seton Hill University- If you're looking for an MFA program this seems like a good place for a serious, career oriented, genre fiction writer. There doesn't seem to be any push for traditional publishing (not that I have a problem with traditional publishing, but sometimes art gets lost in the quest), and the reading list are reflective of a current genre fiction writer.
5. Edits- Kelly Hashway has openings in her client schedule for edits. I learned so much from her edits of Peace that when I sent Hope to my CPs they thought it had been through an editor.
6. Secret Project- While plotting out the prequel to I'm also plotting out a top secret project that will also be known as my thesis ;). I just hope TLMG doesn't get lost in the shuffle again.

Mission Statement

I attempted to write my first mission statement in 2013. 2013 was a huge year for me. I signed with my first agent and signed a contract with an imprint of Harlequin. Writing a mission statement didn't work out. I had no idea to put in it. I think I finally scribbled something down but knew that it didn't matter. There was a reason for that. In the midst of agency offers and contracts, something  more important got overlooked.

I told my CP, Kelly Hashway, that I loved writing books like Peace because I dropped out of law school at 22, and these kind of books (which I now know as romantic suspense) because it felt like it combined both sides of my personality. The more whimsical side, free of anxiety, that only comes out on paper, and the girl who sees the unfairness and danger in the world to the point she's often mislabeled as a pessimist. She told me it probably did. The day went on. Contracts got signed and the conversation was forgotten.

Later that year, Sarah Nego was trying to help me market, and she asked me what was the one element that was the same across all my writing. I had no clue. I had no idea what string could tie my Marlowe fun beach reads to a gritty YA about racism and injustice. After I thought about it, I said "everything happens for a reason." Both Marlowe Girls hint at this, though it's not as much of a punch and those books have a lot of humor. And my Iraq war books attempt to make sense out of something as senseless as war. The characters struggle with their backgrounds and who they are trying to fit into this little community, and in the end, have no regrets because things happen for a reason.

Writing the mission statement was much easier this time, because now I know who I am as a writer.

To use my background in law and government, education and life to bring about stories of life and love complicated by inequities and dangers while showing a theme compatible with my values. For example, “Everything happens for a reason.” To have every story be an improvement in craft. To be a supportive member of the writing community by providing writers with helpful feedback and techniques to make writing and/or marketing easier. To create a well received body of work that opens eyes and offers hope while innovating the art of storytelling and depth of English. To push and expand my creativity by experimenting with form and allowing myself to write whatever my heart desires.

This says some important things: "Well received body of work," notice it doesn't say "To have lots of readers." I'd rather have loyal fans who love my stories so much that they're standing in line for the next one than have a readership of thousands who might be disappointed in my next book.

And this goes hand in hand with something else, "While showing a theme compatible with my values." I write Doris Day romance in a 50 Shades of Gray world. I'm aware of that, and I'm okay with that. This means I have to write an amazing book with something to offer besides romance to have a huge readership. And that's okay. One day I will, until then well received clean romance is good enough for me. Selling out for money or fame wouldn't be good enough for me.

Monday Mishmash

Monday Mishmash is hosted by Kelly Hashway.

1. Writing Class- So I've signed up on for a class on writing/life balance and so far it's been great. The instructor is a graduate of Seton HIll, where I'm doing my MFA. Keeping track of time has been a major part of the assignment, and it's been eye opening.
2. Marketing- Keeping track of time, I have learned that marketing has been my demise as a writer. Attempting to market leave me frustrated very quickly to the point that I can't think and it's hard to not just quit writing. This tells me I should quit marketing. The problem is you can't quit marketing completely, so I'm trying to work out a plan that involves some form of marketing I won't find draining.
3. The Indie Author Survival Guide- I picked up this on Amazon, and it has been very helpful. Don't let the name scare you. I think it could be helpful for authors outside of the indie circuit, and so far there isn't much of the "the man" rhetoric. It's help me see that over the past 5 years, my goals have changed and became more specific.
4. Mission statement- After realizing my goals have changed, I've written a mission statement. You will see more about this tomorrow.
5. Branding- Having a mission statement and clearer goals has helped me find my brand. Helping other writers is very important to me, because this community has helped me in every aspect of my life. I want to be known as a writer's writer, but if, you know me very well at all, you know this was always true. I started teaching in a blurb writing workshop in 2012. I've taught this class now more times than I can count. And only one of those sessions came to a close without a student writing me a thank you letter and inquiring about other classes. Teaching these classes helped me to connect to other writers and hopefully gave them a new skill. It cleared a path for me to make money writing without freelance/editing/or being a bestseller. It's true that much of what I write now is lesson plans or instructional, and it does involve some editing, but that didn't change anything. I started blogging in 2010. The first six months were just book reviews (which do help writers), and the reviews focused on what I learned which helped writers two fold. 1. The writer whose book I reviewed obviously got an extra line of press that day. But if I learned from the book other inexperienced writers could learn from my review. Within six months, I'd learned a lot about a quickly changing industry and realized that I knew a lot about writing due to my education. (I have a B.A. in English then studied law for a year with additional in Legal Research and Writing). I started writing informative posts either about craft or the industry. Teaching is as integral to my writing journey as writing is. Now that I know this, I just have to figure out how to make it the backbone of my marketing plan.