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Welcome to another edition of Author's Corner. This month begins a run of events that will keep me quite busy over the next several months. Below are the confirmed dates and times for upcoming book signings:
Barnes & Noble
Raleigh, N.C.
2/20/03 from 7-9 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Fayetteville, N.C.
2/21/03 from 7-9 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Greenville, N.C.
2/22/03 from 7-9 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Glen Allen, Va.
3/18/03 from 7:30-9:30
Barnes & Noble
Lynchburg, Va.
3/19/03 from 7-9 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Christiansburg, Va.
3/24/03 from 6-8 p.m.
My publisher and I are currently working to schedule signings in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix and my local area (Pa/NJ/Del). I'll be visiting the Va. Book Festival in March for the first time. I enjoy hearing other authors speak of their experiences so I will be there to check it out.
The release of Twisted Fate is right around the corner. Although the original date of release was scheduled for March 8, I had asked about moving the date up. I haven't gotten a reply so I assume that is still the scheduled release. The next Author's Corner should have a confirmed date.
I've been working aggressively on Dark Horizon, the third book in the trilogy. It's coming along quite well. I'd like to complete it by June, but that depends on everything else.
This month, I want to talk about different ways to advertise books. Many writers are turning to print on demand publishers, subsidy publishers and vanity publishers to produce their books. The responsibility for advertising falls on the writer's back. I looked at advertising through the major newspapers and I was amazed at how expensive it is for one Sunday ad. I met with people from Fox-TV and they were able to run a 15-second ad for four and a half weeks at a lower cost than one Sunday ad. In addition, it only cost about $700 to have a professional company create the commercial. I did choose a smaller paper to run an ad for a few weeks and they were quite affordable. My advice is to shop around to get rates from the various newspapers.
I created flyers and mailed them out in October. A book makes an ideal Christmas gift so why not promote it. On the flyer, I placed a picture of the book and a brief description. In addition, I referenced the website for the CRMs who would like to know more about the book. CRMs are the Community Relations Managers. These are the people who make the decisions for the bookstore. You'll find that bookstores in some areas won't host book signings for different reasons. Watch the weekend entertainment section of your local paper for bookstores that host book signings.
Another valuable means of advertising is the internet. There are many websites out there for each genre. Many of them search for authors and books to fill their website collection. I've found a few of these sites to be very well constructed. Thanks again for joining me. Next month, my topic will be 'strategies to consider'.
- Michael D'Ambrosio
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