Win a Cozy Mystery from Macmillan

Macmillan is giving away 10 copies of In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen. Enter for a chance at a free book.

From the website:

Irish immigrant Molly Murphy and her New York City P.I. business are in the midst of a sweeping influenza epidemic and a fight for women’s suffrage that lands her in jail. Her betrothed, Police Captain Daniel Sullivan, finds her, but he hardly has time to bail her out, what with Chinese gangs battling for control of a thriving opium trade. The only consolation Molly can take from her vexing afternoon in the clink is that it made her some new friends among the Vassar suffragists---and brought her a pair of new cases.

For the first, Emily Boswell is convinced her miserly uncle stole her inheritance and wants Molly to uncover the truth behind her parents’ lives and deaths. Second, Emily’s college roommate Fanny Poindexter wants Molly to find proof of her husband’s philandering so that she can leave him without one red cent. But when Fanny dies and her husband claims she’s a victim of the epidemic, it’s more than Molly’s conscience can take.

Rhys Bowen’s Agatha and Anthony Award--winning historical series continues to breathe life into the past with its wit and charm and its complete sense of early-twentieth-century New York, which makes In a Gilded Cage her most accomplished mystery yet.

How to Get A City To Promote Your Book - The Lace Reader

Talk about marketing. For all you self-published people who feel like second class citizens, check out Brunonia Barry's self-publishing story. HarperCollins picked bought her popular book, The Lace Reader, in a cool 2 million dollar deal. The new edition debuts today.



Her story is set is Salem, MA and when she suggested a promotion partnership with the city, they wisely jumped on it. There's now a tour map of Salem based on locations used in the book and restaurants are thinking up Lace Reader themed dishes to market to new tourists brought in by the story.



 The novel's premise uses an old piece of lace to read fortunes much in the same way people use tarot cards or crystal balls. And fortune tellers are now starting to use lace to read people because of the story.



So where to your characters live?

Even if you can't get the whole town promoting your book, is there a business you have contacts with that might join forces for some cross promotion? A restaurant that might create a sandwich named after your main character? Would it be too crass to feature their establishment in your next book? In these days where the author is responsible for much of the promo, is this kind of product placement too much?



Methinks it looks like smart marketing.

Book Promo Snark

Happy Friday, all.

Here's a great little mockumentary about authors and book promotion by Dennis Cass and an interview Bella Stander did with the author about his super successful video.

MMMMMM Marketing

Yes! M&Ms found a way to personalize the candy with logos and pictures. They've got all the sport team logos too.

Great promo opportunity. Can you squeeze your book cover on one of these? Looks like. Bookmarks are fine and dandy, but everyone likes candy. Tell me I did not just rhyme there. I'm going with it.



Only don't expect them to tap dance for you. Read this last sound bite from Entertainment Weekly and you'll understand. Happy Friday.

Book Publicity and Happy 4th

Nathan Bransford is soliciting book publicity ideas over on this blog. I like the one about creating a soundtrack and music videos for the novel about a rockstar.

Happy 4th to everyone. I'm taking a three day weekend for the blog. Don't blow your hand off.

Building Your Author Website

Once you get your book published, you'll need a phenomenal website to help publicize it. I've been lusting after the websites done by Authorbytes. They do online publicity for authors, including website design.

You can set up your own website before you get published, but once you get your contract signed and your advance deposited, I recommend investing in a professionally designed website.

I love the ones Authorbytes did for Doreen Orion's book Queen of the Road and Sam Walker's Fantasyland. They do sites for both fiction and nonfiction authors. Check out their portfolio to see more examples. I'm betting they're pretty pricey, though. They've done websites for some uber famous authors.

If you can't afford one of theirs, they recommend checking out the author website templates at Authorsguild.net, but you have to join the guild. Dues are $90 per year. Check out this example from children's author Toby Speed. Looks professional, heh?

Plan for promotion!