PROMO BYTES:
The Author Newsletter and Goodreads
by
Lisa Hughey
Copyright 2011
Lisa Hughey
Smashwords Edition
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This FREE ebook may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This article was originally published in the San Francisco Area Romance Writers of America newsletter.
1The Author Newsletter: To Write or Not to Write?
Before the explosion of online social media, author newsletters were an effective communication tool. While Twitter, Facebook and blogging are ubiquitous methods of connecting with your reader, for longer communications the author newsletter is still an excellent way to get information into their hands. According to Sophie Littlefield (A Bad Day For Pretty, Thomas Dunne hardcover, June 2010), your newsletter should be a focused source of information
about your books and yourself.
Distribution
How often you want to distribute a newsletter is author choice, ranging anywhere from monthly to strictly generated for a book release. Littlefield also releases a newsletter during the holidays.
Content
Below are a few guidelines for the content of your newsletter. Juliet Blackwell (A Cast-Off Coven, Obsidian, June 2010) suggests keeping it short and sweet.
*good news
*award nominations
*additional printings
*re-releases
*new sales
*author appearances
*giveaways
*post .jpg’s of your book cover (if available)
*new releases
Some additional suggestions:
*Give a biography of your main character.
*Tell the readers about the conflict facing your protagonists.
*Post a teaser about the upcoming release.
*Enclose a deleted scene.
*Explain the inspiration for the book or series about to be released.
*Highlight a research book you used while writing or a research trip that you took.
*If you enclose an extra, make sure it goes with your author brand.
Extras
In order to give your reader something extra for subscribing, you can put little bonus information in the body of your newsletter. Rachael Herron (How to Knit a Love Song, Avon books, March 2010) has a secret link that she doesn’t reference anywhere else. The newsletter reader will get access to out-takes from her Cypress Hollow Yarn series.
Contests
For her Art Lover’s Mystery series (by Hailey Lind, Blackwell’s pseudonym), Blackwell, who is also a painter, ran a contest to win a portrait in conjunction with a book release. She advertised the contest on her blog and website, using the newsletter as a tertiary method of getting the contest info to her readers.
Branding
To stay true to your branding, be sure to make the contents of the newsletter consistent with your image. If you write grisly horror, putting in an article about your stuffed animal collection may not be the best idea...unless you can effectively tie the furry beasts back into your current horror release.
If you are writing a series about a restaurant, then enclosing a recipe in your newsletter fits with the theme of your stories. However, if your villain is modeled after Hannibel Lecter, then inclosing your favorite fava bean recipe is out.
Another tip, try to stay true to the color scheme on your website or blog using the same or similar images. Every chance you get to reinforce your image and branding helps cement your information and your name in the readers mind.
Mailing List
Everyone agrees you should make sure the recipients of your newsletter have requested your information. The worst thing you can do is alienate readers and buyers of your books by signing them up for a mailing without their permission.
Maintain a database of email address to receive your mailing list or use a service that will sign up newsletter recipients and distribute the newsletter for you.
Finally, the author newsletter can be an effective way to communicate with your readers and get your information out. The best rule of thumb is to make sure that your newsletter fits in with the rest of your author image. Setting up your format and content guidelines ahead of time will ensure that the time you spend to create and distribute the newsletter will be as painless as possible.
To answer the question in the title: the answer is yes. Writing the author newsletter should be a fun experience giving you the opportunity to connect with your audience and share fun extras that can’t be included in your books.
1Goodreads A Free Website for Booklovers
Nowadays more than ever, authors have to be their own publicist. Whether you are traditionally published with print books from a New York publisher or self-published from your living room on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and Barnes and Noble’s PubIt, you must promote your books.
But figuring out where to put your promotion effort can be daunting. There are so many forums and places available on the web. Where do you start?
Goodreads is an excellent way to connect with readers. Each user has an account with a bookshelf. They add books they have read and rate them and sometimes review them (which goes into the database statistics). They add books to their to-read shelf. They have a currently reading shelf. And the readers can customize and add their own shelf tags. Goodreads has a huge database of books of all shapes and sizes.
The most attractive draw for the author is these members are READERS. They love books. They love to read. They love to talk about what they read.
But just in case you’re still not sold, here are some solid statistics (these are taken from the Goodreads Author Tutorial).
*4.6 million users worldwide
*8.9 million unique monthly users and 73 million page views
*21% of the users are also book bloggers
*Twice as large as LibraryThing and Shelfari combined
*Community is composed of Booksellers, Librarians, Book Bloggers, Readers and Authors
*Many Goodreads reviews appear on dozens of E-commerce sites and Library catalog sites
So how do you get yourself an author account at Goodreads?
1. First join Goodreads www.goodreads.com
2. Find yourself in their database
Next search for your book or books in the ginormous Goodreads database. If you find it, click on the book and it will take you to the book page. Underneath the book title, it says
By Author
Author is you. Click on the name and it will bring you to the author profile page. At the bottom it will ask –is this you? Click on that and they will send you a confirmation email. Once you verify that you are in fact you, they will upgrade your user account to an author account and you can start entering your Author Data.
If for some reason, you cannot find your book, you are able to manually add it to their database.
3. Enter your Author Data
Website link
Genres you write
Twitter Username
Bio
But that is just the beginning of the ways Goodreads engages readers.
4. Link to your personal blog
You can link your own blog to your author page. The tutorial is easy and self-explanatory.
5. Showcase your Upcoming Events
You can add any book signings, workshop presentations, or public appearances on this page.
6. Link a Goodreads statistics button on your blog or website
This is all about cross-promotion and letting your readers know what other people are saying about your books. Their tutorials are very easy to follow.
7. Link your Goodreads account to your Facebook Fan Page
If you don’t have a Facebook Fan Page, make one!!
8. Upload ebook versions of your book
You can sell your book directly on Goodreads. The process to load your book is easy and painless. You need a book in .ePub format.
9. Join a Book Discussion Group
There are discussion groups with all sorts of genre classifications. One caveat. Do not join a group solely to promote your book. Engage in the discussion process. There are rules against joining a group and only sending promo emails.
All of these entries give readers a way to connect with you and a way to find your work through the Goodreads search capabilities. Goodreads is a simple, easy, and smart way to promote your work to the online reader community. So if you haven’t already joined, what are you waiting for?
ps. Everything in this article is simple and free. Goodreads does offer other promotional opportunities which involve a financial commitment from the author. You can read more about those programs in the Author Tutorial section.
About the Author
Lisa Hughey writes romantic thrillers with espionage heroes and heroines. Her novel BLOWBACK is available Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble.com, and Goodreads.
She has been writing 1romance since the fourth grade, which was also about the time she began her love affair with spies. Harriet and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys later gave way to James Bond and Lara Croft and Jason Bourne. Exploring the complex nature of a profession that requires subterfuge and lies fascinates her. She loves combining her two passions into fiction and hopes you love the results.
You can find her on the web at www.lisahughey.com , on Twitter @LisaHughey, and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Hughey-Fan-Page/133768193335188
Additional PROMO BYTES by Lisa Hughey
Author Branding available on Smashwords for FREE and on Amazon for $.99
Excerpt of BLOWBACK (Black Cipher Files)
ONE
Blowback (bloʹ bak) n. A deadly, unintended consequence of a covert operation.
Eerie blue light penetrated my consciousness first. The regulated thump-thump of tires pounded in my head, echoing with fierce resonance.
Where the hell was I? Why did I feel like this? I kept my eyes closed, knowing pretense was paramount to my survival. Wherever I was, it wasn’t normal.
Ha. My life would never be normal.
I tracked back to my last memory. I’d hooked up with a guy. Had relatively indiscriminate sex with him.
I inhaled shallowly, carefully, not wanting to give away anything. I still smelled like sex. Really great sex.
I wanted to smile but kept my expression lax.
I’d longed to stay in that bed. Sleep with him. Just sleep with the comforting warmth of another human being. The ache had been so intense that as soon as he dozed off--I left.
That was my last memory.
“You can stop pretending.”
I continued to fake sleep. I didn’t know that male voice. It was bland, not angry, but with a slight smirk, as if he knew something I didn’t.
“You should be awake by now. We calibrate our doses very carefully.”
That statement raised so many questions, I decided to comply with his unspoken request and let my eyes drift open. I calculated we were moving at a speed of about thirty miles per hour. Suburban, blacked out windows, bulletproof glass. The blue light came from the interior dome in the big SUV.
“The light is to protect your eyes. The drug affects your pupil’s ability to dilate and contract.”
What drug? I kept silent.
“Not very curious, are you?”
My last conscious memory was from the motel off of 295 near Alexandria around nine in the evening. It was pitch dark out now, so I’d been out for awhile.
Lucas. Could the guy have been a plant? Possible. Since he was my last clear memory, it made sense.
I sifted through the spaghetti of my brain. For the past two days, I’d been undercover, shadowing Staci Grant’s life. Last night, I’d encountered Lucas Goodman, who’d been looking for Staci and thought he’d found her when he found me. The sexual heat between us had been instantaneous and mutual. A few sweaty hours later, I’d left, confident my movements as Staci had been tracked. My cover had been working.
They’d kidnapped Staci.
Excellent.
I was right where I needed to be.
Now I needed answers. My task was to discover why CIA, DIA, and NSA agents were being kidnapped, the method of interrogation, and who was doing the kidnapping. The answers would be coming. I just had to be ready.
I settled into the backseat of the car to wait, taking in details. Mistake number one. They hadn’t taken my ring, so the satellite audio transmitter should work. I twisted the unusual ring with my thumb and pressed the citrine stone twice. I was now sending voice-activated recordings back to Carson.
Mistake number two. They’d cuffed my hands, in front, but left my legs unshackled.
They’d taken my government firearm but missed the knife in the sheath at my waist. Mistake number three. Always, always check everywhere for hidden weapons.
Although my mind was the most powerful weapon I had.
My watch was gone and my government-issue GPS with it. Slouching to the side, I got a better view of the dashboard panel. My kidnapper had conveniently supplied me with another GPS system, live and tracking.
Coordinates. Latitude–47. Longitude–122. I was in the Pacific Northwest. I looked out the misted window to see a reflection of the Space Needle and pinpointed my location as Seattle. I was a long way from Virginia.
I returned my gaze to the kidnapper. Subject was male, small head, blond hair gelled into little spikes, crescent-shaped birthmark below his right ear.
The car rolled to a stop. The rocking intensified my queasy stomach. I ignored it.
“We’re here.”
Here was a warehouse near the water. The guy wasn’t rough but the sudden motion as he lugged me out of the SUV caused my stomach to roil.
I breathed in the cold, damp air through my nose, trying to quell the nausea. As he led me toward a semi-truck trailer, I noted the parking lot was empty except for one other truck and a car, too far away and too dark to make out details. The warehouse, constructed with long cinder block walls interrupted by doors at twenty foot intervals, was to my left and behind me.
The trailer was modified from a regular shipping container, doors locked up tight in the back, with another entrance on the side. It looked as if the stairs were all one solid block which could fold up into the interior of the trailer.
The recessed entrance looked exactly like an old-fashioned front door complete with screen door. A porch light flicked on. The screen door wheezed open as a dark-haired woman in a white coat stepped out onto the platform.
The light behind her filled the doorway with shadows. I couldn’t make out her features but I caught a furtive movement, the light illuminating her hand as she tucked a syringe into her pocket.
“Thank you. You can go now.” She nodded regally to the man holding me. Her melodic voice held a hint of Asia, probably second-generation American.
He promptly let go of my arm and walked away. They must believe that the plastic restraint cuffs would be a big deterrent to resistance. The click of his heels echoed in the silence as she stared at me, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, so tightly her knuckles showed white.
There was something in her stance--tension, stress? I eased back a step.
“Welcome.” She put a hand on the railing and took a step down. Then she hesitated and glanced back at the open doorway. “We won’t hurt you.”
I thought about the syringe in her pocket. No thank you.
I’d had drug resistance training but honestly I didn’t want to put it to the test. At least, not yet. Although if that scenario became unavoidable and they pumped me full of drugs, the transmitter in my ring guaranteed I would get the information Carson and the NSA needed.
All of the kidnapped agents had an unidentified drug in their bloodstream and unknown consequences from those drugs. We had no idea what national secrets they’d given away or what kind of long-term effects were possible from the drug cocktail most likely in that syringe. My job was to get myself kidnapped, acquire the drugs, identify the perpetrators, and get out before they could accomplish their objective.
I wobbled as if unsteady on my feet and eased back two steps, assessing my position.
As the Suburban left, the beam from the head lamps shone on her. The shape of her face and the tilt of her eyes marked her as Chinese. Lines of strain curled around her mouth, the expression was supposed to be a smile but came off as more of a grimace. “Come with me.”
I don’t think so.
I’d expected the kidnapping, the intel suggested that Staci Grant would be next. I’d planned to resist at first. I didn’t want to make it too easy for them to subdue me. Carson was supposed to have a team on standby waiting to capture the kidnappers after I completed my objectives. But since we hadn’t planned for a cross country abduction–all of the other kidnappings had been local and accomplished within a matter of several hours–it would most likely take a little time before the extraction team got here.
If they got here.
I pivoted and ran for the warehouse door nearest me. Her footsteps rang on the metal steps as she followed.
“She’s getting away.” A man’s shout, older, deeper, slightly frantic, registered as I reached the door. Two against one. More difficult, but not impossible. Woman, older man. Until I saw his physique, I couldn’t judge who was more dangerous.
“I’ve got it,” the woman replied and sprinted toward me.
I yanked on the handle, flung the door open, and slid inside. The heavy metal swung shut with an ominous clang.
Obviously, the drugs were making me melodramatic.
The warehouse was dimly lit. Industrial metal lights hung from the ceiling, their muted pink glow making the surroundings blurry. Metal shelving separated the concrete floor into long, wide aisles. Three tiers of jumbo shelves housed wooden pallets of goods. I stood at the end of one aisle.
I hustled over two aisles, pulling the knife from the sheath at my waist as I went. The restraint cuffs at my wrists took a few swipes before slicing clean through.
I grabbed some small ceramic rice bowls and shoved them into my jacket pockets. Mistake number four. They’d let me keep my jacket.
The door banged open.
“Don’t let her escape.” I could hear the man huffing, and a rhythmic thumping noise as they pursued.
“She won’t escape,” the woman replied grimly from somewhere behind me.
I stalked down the industrial cement aisle, my footsteps silent. Glancing around, I searched for another way out.
“Please don’t try to escape, Agent Hunt.” The man’s plea had a desperate edge to it.
My legs faltered. I wanted to stop, stand rooted to the floor. Only training kept me moving.
He’d spoken my real name. My real name, not the cover I was using for this assignment. So who did they really want?
Me, Jamie Hunt, NSA agent? Or Staci Grant, CIA officer?
***
BLOWBACK is available on Amazon