Saturday, August 8, 2009

Chloe the Super Star and Other Promo Notes

Chloe and I have coffee I was asked (or….maybe I should say my dog was asked to be interviewed for the fun site, Coffee with a Canine.  It’s a fun place to promote a book because your appearance there revolves around a date with your dog.

Chloe, the corgi, was wildly excited to participate.  She got lots of attention in downtown Matthews from passersby, and even drank some of my chai tea latte (which I did not plan.) 

The point here is that sometimes it’s fun to take a detour from your usual blog haunts to try something different and reach out to another audience. 

This morning I’m off to give a writers’ workshop in Concord, NC at the library there.  I’m in a promotional group of other Carolina mystery writers (the Carolina Conspiracy) and find it’s much easier for me to participate in a promotional group.  I’m far from being a natural public speaker and being with several other writers really seems to help me out. 

Basically, our promotional group works this way: everyone helps find opportunities for appearances.  These might be signings, workshops, craft fairs, or other events.  We promote the event on our website and encourage the event organizers to promote it on their end. We bring our own bookmarks, books, and promo materials. 

Some appearances are better attended than others.  Even the ones that are poorly attended are still useful to me—I share ideas and information with the other authors there.