Return from the North.

A J HartleyA J Hartley
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Apologies for the late posting. I just got home after a mini book tour in Northern Michigan and have been playing various kinds of catch up. I’m also mired in grading and in working through line edits on Darwen III, but I wanted to tell you a little about the last few days because it was, well… just cool.

The multi-city book tour in which authors fly from place to place and are chauffeured from fancy hotel to book store and back just doesn’t make financial sense to most publishers. Sure, it’s a way to raise visibility, but unless you have the kind of profile which will guarantee hundreds (or thousands) of sales at each signing, it isn’t going to work, and I’ve heard countless tales of Huge Name Authors showing up at stores to find—for whatever reason—that no one has shown up.

So I was delighted and a [...]

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December 7th, 2012 | Tags: , , | | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)

Today the delete key is my friend.

Misty MasseyMisty Massey
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Just call me the Duchess of Deletion.

I started to blog about how it hurts to see one bad review even if forty-’leven other people have given your book raves.  I decided I didn’t feel like being depressed about it, and I didn’t want people to think I was begging for sympathy.  I erased that post.

I started another post about what I’ve learned from doing book signings, and realized I haven’t learned enough yet.  Let me do some more, and then I’ll have something entertaining to say.  That one’s gone.

So now here I am, the clock ticking on my day, and me without a decent topic.  I’m opening the floor…what do YOU want to know?  Ask one of us, ask us all. Play nicely, please. 

March 27th, 2008 | Tags: , , , , | | 20 comments - (Comments are closed)

Marketing? Me?

Misty MasseyMisty Massey
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Wednesday afternoon, I went over to visit my friend Kim Harrison for a little advice. She’s a bestselling writer of urban fantasy and wise in the ways of self-promotion, and I knew she’d be able to help me out. My husband and I had been talking about giveaways for my upcoming book signings. He wanted to order a somewhat expensive item, printed with my promotional information, to give away. But the cost was so high that I started digging my heels in – it’s not that I don’t love everyone who’ll come and buy a book, but if it’s between presents for y’all and a mortgage payment, I guess you know who wins.

I trooped over to Kim’s house for tea and advice. She very graciously pulled out all her old and new promotional items for me to see, and we talked about cost benefits and do-it-yourself options. She shared [...]

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February 8th, 2008 | Tags: , , | | 11 comments - (Comments are closed)