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Month: December 2014
J.A. Kerr on Marketing Newly Released Book The Braille Club: A Marathon not a Sprint!
Have been working all week on my website of the do-it-yourself variety and its not as hard as I thought. I was dreading it to be honest, but all my research points to needing one, so that’s been my focus today. I’ve spent a lot of time looking up author websites for inspiration and content ideas but none seem to fit with The Braille Club so I’ve been very brave and put together my own ideas. I have shared my webpage content on face book to gain feedback and will alter accordingly. Hoping to go live next week another first in the life of a newly published author!
J.A. Kerr on Marketing Newly Released Book The Braille Club: A Marathon not a Sprint!
Well today has been another steep learning curve as I navigate my way through website after website to gain inspiration on the burning issue of HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY MARKET MY BOOK!
This morning was spent oohing and aahing over my business cards, they look great. I will be distributing them around family and friends as word of mouth is an author’s friend as well as a powerful marketing tool. My mum had told all her friends which was fantastic… until she realised she’d given them the wrong pen name. I’m hoping the business cards will solve any further confusion and act as a gentle reminder, should someone be interested enough to buy.
I bumped into an editor on a night out in Glasgow and I always be grateful for his advice. I confided I was worried about the punctuation and the paragraph structure of my book when he said ” It’s always about the story… good punctuation is important but if the story is fantastic the rest will follow.”
It was great advise, I think as a writer you can sometimes get hung up on these details but that became my mission statement: “Its always about the story, if it’s fantastic the rest will follow.”
What really goes on in a newly published author’s life
A week has passed since my book became available through Amazon, Nook and Kobo and as Charlie succinctly put it “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
For everyone who ordered and purchased my book thank you!!! For me that was the best of times full of excitement and now I wait on tender hooks for some feedback and it feels like the worst of times. My nails are bleeding stumps and it’s all I think about, please be gentle with me, kind and constructive. My writer ego is terrified!
Spent hours on Google searching on how to promote my book and I am on a steep learning curve on how to achieve this but in the background all my household chores are piling up!!!! I keep wondering if other authors have this problem, can’t imagine JK Rowling breaking off mid plot twist to start the ironing…
Anyway since I am unknown and trying to carve out an identify as a writer I have no other choice but to nike my ironing… the joys!
The Braille Club, Inspirational Reads and Blogging!
I am avid reader and author and I like lots of different genres but they all have one thing in common, page turners, they grip me as soon as I begin to read.
I wanted this with my own book which I was inspired to write since forever but only got around to it now.
I remember reading Coma by Robin Cook and being utterly enthralled but equally loving the poignant romance of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
My 50 Favourite reads in no particular order are:
1.The Help by Kathryn Stockett a wonderful story that made me laugh and cry.
2.The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler scary book.
3 The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson this book is different read it to see why.
4. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See wonderful.
5. The Hunger Games.
6. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
7. Harry Potter by JK Rowling.
8. True Blood by Charlaine Harris
9. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold so sad.
10. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsid Hamid
11. The Drop by Howard Linskey David Blake series.
12. Original Skin by David Mark.
13. The Life of Pie by Yann Martel
14. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
15. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
16. Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
17. Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson
18. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
19. Flowers In The Attic by Virginia Andrews
20. Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.
21. Animal Farm by George Orwell
22. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
23. Atonement by Ian McEwan
24. The Boy in the Striped Pjamas by John Boyne
25. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
26. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
27. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
28. Certain Prey by John Sandford (Lucas Davenport series)
29. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
30. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
31. Carry on Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
32. The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh
33. Memoires of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
34. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
35. Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
36. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
37. Ricky by Ricky Tomlinson
38. Eeny Meeny by M. J. Arlidge (Author)
39. Blindsighted by Karen Slaughter (Grant County Series)
40. Looking Good Dead by Peter James (Roy Grace series)
41. Talking to The Dead by Helen Dumore
42. My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult
43. We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
44. The Sculptress by Minette Walters
45. Rosemadder by Stephen King
46. Postmortem by Patrica Cornwell
47. One Day by David Nicholls
48. Appletree Yard Louise Doughty
49. Bridgette Jones Helen Fielding
50. Queen Camila by Sue Townsend
Best Literacy Jokes Ever!
I loved this joke it wanted to apply it my own genre but not brave enough but rest assured my readers are getting the full package and not The Braille Club II just as hot!
HACK WRITER vs. LITERARY AUTHOR
Stephen King, Janet Evanovich, and James Patterson were hanging out at a coffee shop bragging about how loyal their readers were.
“I could write five novels a year,” Stephen King said, “and my readers would purchase every book, no matter how poorly they were written.”
“Oh yeah?” Janet Evanovich proclaimed. “I could write ten novels a year, and my loyal readers would purchase every single one of them.”
“That’s nothing,” James Patterson scoffed. “I could write 15 novels a year, and my loyal readers would spend their money on all of them.”
Tom Wolfe overheard the conversation and became upset. “You are doing your readers a disservice with your hackery,” he said. “I took five years to write Back to Blood because I believe in giving my loyal readers my best effort.”
And with that, Tom Wolfe strolled away.
“I hate to say this,” Stephen King said, “but I didn’t think Back to Blood was very good.”
“I hate to say this,” Janet Evanovich said, “but I spend so much time writing all my books that I don’t have time to read anybody else’s writing.”
“I hate to ask this,” James Patterson said quietly, staring at Stephen King and Janet Evanovich, “but you guys actually write all your own books?”
Reading and writing may be awesome, but telling jokes about reading and writing can lead to silence and awkward coughing. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A literacy joke is risky to tell because most people either don’t care about reading and writing or won’t have enough background information to understand it. Even if the audience “gets” it, chances are they’ll still think the joke isn’t funny. You don’t need a master’s degree in English to “get” a Best Literacy Joke Ever! You might need to read a book every once in a while, though.
WARNING! Just because a Best Literacy Joke Ever is easy to understand, that doesn’t make it funny. It’s tough to write (and tell) a Stephen King joke.
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HACK WRITER vs. LITERARY AUTHOR
Stephen King, Janet Evanovich, and James Patterson were hanging out at a coffee shop bragging about how loyal their readers were.
“I could write five…
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J.A. Kerr 