Book Promotion Lesson #209209: Run, Bike, and YouTube Your Way to Success?

Lately I've been finding some great examples of author promotion to share with our readers. Just when you think you've seen it all, an author comes up with something completely new (and possibly crazy) to do.

Dawn Dais is the author of two books. Her first book, The NonRunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On With Your Training, was published a few years ago and continues to garner tons of praise, word-of-mouth, and achy quads. The book took you from couch potato to marathoner, taking you along Dawn's own journey away from Cheetos and to the finish line. The book was written in a sarcastic tone, and you can bet that found its way into the way she promoted!

Here is a quick (and pretty darn funny) video compilation of the promotion she did to make that book a success.  And a success it is: it continues to sell strongly term after term.  In a day and age when publishers don't have the resources to promote books fully, the onus is on authors to do so.  Dais took up this challenge, and in my opinion, she set the bar for an author dedicated to promoting her book.  Her hilarious videos kept people coming back for more.

And now, with her follow-up book The NonCyclist's Guide to the Century and Other Road Races: Get On Your Butt and Into Gear, Dawn is taking her promotion to a new level.  For her cycling book audience, Dawn has actually set up Tour de Sacramento. Yup, you read that right! Tour de Sacramento will take place at the same time that Tour de France overtakes Europe. The event will involve three weeks of cycling, with 6 rides, safety seminars, and hey, a t-shirt! The event will be a fundraiser for Cycles4Hopewhile Big Brothers Big Sisters will have four used bike drives throughout the three weeks.

We always say that authors should go to where their readers will be. And Dais is taking it a step further, creating an event that her readers will want to go to.

Now THAT's What I Call Creative Self-Promotion!

I recently met author Lara Zielin, editor of the University of Michigan Alumni Magazine, when she came out to California to interview me and our author Jon Yang (Exclusively Chloe) for the next issue. Jon and I met because we're Michigan Alumni, and now, well the rest is history!

What I didn't know until we met was that Lara is a debut YA novelist herself! Her book Donut Days is out in August from Penguin. What I quickly learned is that while Lara is a first-time author, she is no stranger to promotion, and has been laying the groundwork for her novel to be a smashing success. If the novel is HALF as funny as she is, well then, we're in for a treat!

Check out this little YouTube gem. Personally, I laughed so hard I cried.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3PGzjanWf0&feature=channel_page

Takeaways:
*promotion should be creative
*promotion should be targeted to your reading audience (her teen readers are all over YouTube and would certainly appreciate a Fergie spoof)
*it's possible to have FUN promoting your book!


-Lilly

(ps. we'll keep you posted when the U of M article is up!)

René Colato Laínez spreads bookjoy!

Author René Colato Laínez celebrated celebrated El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day) visiting Cesar Chavez Elementary in Pharr, Texas and Fernangeles Elementary in Los Angeles, California. Rene shared read-alouds, lots of laughs and gave a sneak preview of his new book coming this October from Pinata Books, René Has Two Last Names/ René tiene dos apellidos. Visit Rene on labloga.blogspot.com or on his website www.renecolatolainez.com.


A few words from Rene about DIA and spreading bookjoy:
Every time I open a book, I discover new friends, great adventures, and incredible places. I run as fast as a cheetah, fly like a big airplane and reach for the stars. Books are amazing and they are there waiting for you to live new adventures.

I spread bookjoy by sharing books with my students and friends, by writing amazing stories that you can read and enjoy and by visiting classrooms around the country.

I am the teacher full of stories. Stories where you can dance, dream, fly and hope for a great future. And in my books you can live the adventures in two languages, because my books are bilingual!

Los libros son maravillosos, yes books are wonderful!

Monica Brown Spreads Bookjoy!

Author Monica Brown celebrated El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day) visiting three libraries in Riverside County including the Temecula Public Library which was decorated with amazing monarch butterflies in honor of her picture book Butterflies on Carmen Street/Mariposas en la Calle Carmen

She also celebrated with Arizona students at Galveston Elementary in Chandler, Arizona. Monica and the children, read, sang, danced and celebrated books! Each classroom door was decorated with a different book cover and parents and children joined together in the fun. They school truly celebrated children and the joy of reading!


Read these recent interviews with Monica Brown to learn more about her latest books, including Pelé, King of Soccer/ Pelé, El rey de fútbol:

http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6622083.html
http://marcelalandres.com/E-zine.html

Author Self-Promotion Hall of Fame!

Often, authors ask me how they can best promote their books.  They're thinking of world tours and elaborate websites (which, mind you, are fine and dandy!)  But what authors sometimes forget is the the best source of promotion is those who already know and love you, and who are invested in seeing your work do well. To that end, I thought I'd share with you the shameless self-promotion piece that arrived in my inbox recently from author Jon Yang ("Exclusively Chloe" and "The Rough Guide to Blogging").  As an agent, when I read this, I wanted to stand and applaud!!!

I thought rather than list tips, I'd just show you how it's done!  So, courtesy of Jon, I reproduce his email below.

On that note, please check out "Exclusively Chloe", in stores now!

-Lilly 

Dear Friends, Family, and Foe,

As many of you know, I've been working on book two for quite awhile now. I started the process two years ago and it's finally ready to hit shelves soon. As in two weeks soon. On Thursday, May 14th, 2009, my newest book, "Exclusively Chloe," will be released by Penguin/Puffin. This will mark my debut as a fiction author and I'm terribly excited for all this to be happening.

What's the book about? Well, remember all those times you've thought to yourself, "Omg, Jon's such a girl!" Well, it's true. And now she has a name: Chloe-Grace. Here's the book's synopsis:

"Chloe-Grace can't help it -- she's spectacular. How could she not be with celebrity parents who have been the queen and king of Hollywood for years? And Chloe is a celebrity all unto herself as well -- she's the first celebrity-adopted kid in Hollywood. But now Chloe's sixteen, and she is tired of every undesired moment of the world's attention. She wonders what it would be like to be a 'normal' kid in a regular school. To really understand it, though, she would need to go undercover. So after getting a make-under at the hands of her mother's fabulous stylist, she enters the 'real' world. But she soon finds out that there is just as much drama there as there is in Hollywood..."

The book is targeted toward the young adult market but makes a delightful summer read for anyone. Plus, I'm writing in the voice of a teen girl so you probably might want to see what that's all about. I read stuff like US Magazine and gossip blogs for research. It was grueling and I didn't enjoy a single minute of it. I heart celebrities who do things "just like us." Like ride bicycles and tie shoelaces.

I'm delighted to share all this news with you but am also looking for your love and support.

What can you do?
1) Um, buy the book. It's available widely and costs an astonishing $7.99. Pre-orders are being taken now. Heck buy two and give one to a twelve year old near you. It's available online at a variety of websites and will also will be available at mainstream and indie bookstores near you. If they don't carry it, ask for a copy, or tell me and I'll tell them to carry it. PR Scripts are available for those who want to act out "Act I, Scene I: Where is the greatest book on Earth, Exclusively Chloe?" It's a two person five-minute play intended for an audience of bookstore staff. No previous acting experience required. You can also improvise your own dialogue without a script if you like.
http://www.amazon.com/Exclusively-Chloe-J-Yang/dp/0142412260

2) Just as important as getting a copy, it would be wonderful if you could leave reviews (on Amazon if nothing else). Research has shown that online reviews are extremely important for a book's success. My personal goal is to get at least twenty five honest reviews on Amazon in the first two weeks. FYI: Amazon doesn't take reviews until after the book has been released.

3) Check out: http://www.exclusivelychloe.com
Join Exclusively Chloe's Facebook Fan Club (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exclusively-Chloe/81840608065), my her MySpace, twit her Twitter, and RSS the blog for news/updates in Chloe-Grace's voice. I'm generally blogging over at www.jonyang.org so you can keep up with the further adventures of your favorite author in training there. All my personal social networking stuff is linked from there.

As always, I'm available for television appearances, library talks, (bad) relationship advice, general counseling, and hanging out on your couch for days at a time. In addition, if you can think of any ways or connections to get the word out about EC, I would be more than grateful.


Random facts:
- The book will be listed under "J.A. Yang," in the grand tradition of obscuring gender information (ala S.E. Hinton). Maybe for my protection.
- Some of you may have inspired characters, descriptions, fashion items, sayings, situations, and all around general wonderfulness.
- My mom is very happy.
- George is also pretty excited.
- I'm currently working on my next book, also a young adult novel for Penguin.
- If you're in the Bay Area this summer, come hang out with me and I'll sign your book. Or your arm/credit card bill, whatever.
- Shelley is my official fan club president. She's waited two long years for a fan base to begin and she's been generally slothing around in the meantime. Let's make her busy shall we?
- All this would not have been possible without my amazing agents, Lilly and Stefanie of Full Circle Literary (www.fullcircleliterary.com).


Thank you all!

Jon

ps - I'm so sorry if you receive this multiple times.

People are Laughing... about "Boobs"

Author moms Shannon Seip & Adrienne Hedger are giving moms more reasons to laugh than ever with their book IF THESE BOOBS COULD TALK: A Little Humor to Pump Up the Breastfeeding Mom!

People.com's Celebrity Baby Blog shared some of their own hilarious breastfeeding stories and a bit about the book on their blog this week, and also named the book a Celebrity Baby Blog "Fave"!

http://celebrity-babies.com/category/cbb-faves/

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Hooray today to moms everywhere and all of the wonderful things that ONLY MOMS CAN do! 

Two of the funniest moms that we know, authors Shannon Seip and Adrienne Hedger, are celebrating this special day with their new book MOMNESIA: A Humorous Guide to Surviving Post-Baby Brain. You can take a peek at Mother’s Day tables at Barnes & Noble stores, visit their website www.momnesiathebook.com, or catch them in the Orange County Register and WKOWTV in Madison Wisconsin this week!