I Have To Do What! (Plus Giveaway for "Death in Dahlonega")

THE WINNER OF "DEATH IN DAHLONEGA"

IS BEV - CONGRATULATIONS!

In honor of this post which is about Marketing I am offering a copy of "Death in Dahlonega" as a giveaway. Anyone who leaves a comment and signs up as a follower can qualify. I'll give a few days for people to leave a comment. Be sure to tell your friends on facebook!

I Have To Do What?

(Part One)

The journey to publication is usually a long one. Every now and then you hear of someone writing a book and having it published in less than a year, but that is not the norm. I started going to conferences and dreaming of writing my novel in 2002 - twelve years ago. "Death in Dahlonega" was published in October 2011. Yes, I had a lot of things going on in my life during that time so there were periods I didn't write for a couple of years. But three years ago I discovered American Christian Fiction Writers and I got serious! That was the best thing I ever did for my writing journey.

Now, back to marketing. I remember when I first started attending writing conferences they were already talking about how the publishing world was changing and how the author had to take a bigger part in marketing. So I was aware the author had to do some marketing. But that was in the future and as Scarlet said, "I'll worry about that tomorrow." Well tomorrow finally came. Boy did I learn a lot about marketing in a hurry and quite frankly by the seat of my pants. Yes, I'd read some books, but putting what is on paper into action is a different story.

I was published by a small press, Lamp Post Publishing, and I learned that most small presses do very little in the way of marketing. It is pretty much left up to the author. But having said that even the authors who are published by the big houses are still expected to market their books.

Now - what do I mean by marketing?  Marketing is getting your book out to the public in various ways resulting in sales of your book and name recognition. I want to tell you a few ways that I have marketed "Death in Dahlonega." When I first joined American Fiction Christian Writers I wondered if I would ever finish my book. So in the mean time I decided to establish a blog where I'd review Christian fiction and help other authors. That was a great move. Not only did I get to meet many authors it got my name out in the field of Christian authors and readers. They became familar with my name from the blog. A great way to market from a blog is to have giveaways - which I did. I now have 300 followers on my blog Butterfly Journey.  

To keep this post from being too long and getting boring I'm going to stop here and finish up in my next post which will be two weeks from now. Please come back and let me tell you more ways to market your book. If you are a reader you might be interested in knowing how much goes into writing a book - because the work doesn't stop when the book is published. Actually it's just begun. So I'll look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. Please don't forget to leave a comment to win a copy of "Death in Dahlonega." P. S. - This is marketing!

Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.