memoir book marketing tips

Post #93 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Women’s Memoirs Welcomes Author Dawn Novotny

Women’s Memoirs: Hi Dawn. We’re delighted to have you visit Women’s Memoirs today. Before asking you our first question about your experiences marketing your book, let me give our readers a little information about your memoir that you’ve provided:

In 1963, I was just 17. I thought God had finally come through for me. Out of nowhere appeared my dashing Prince Charming. Married within three months, I was sure this was the redemption from my ragdoll beginnings. Though I had lived in the shadow of illegitimacy, bludgeoning poverty, physical and sexual abuse, I was sure I would prove worthy to my bridegroom. After all, I had remained a virgin. How was I to know that he expected me to be an aggressive sex-pot, or “whore” as he put it, modeled after the persona of his famous step-mother, Marilyn Monroe? Thus began my ill-fated effort to compete with the sexual image of Marilyn. Divorced after two years, I found myself-as I saw it-”used goods.” Ironically, I reacted by becoming just what Joey DiMaggio had wanted– an alcoholic and a sex-object –not only in men’s eyes but in my own.

Now, on to our interview with Dawn Novotny.

Women’s Memoirs Question #1. Dawn, marketing is a big challenge for writers. We usually prefer to write. But in today’s book environment, all authors need to become engaged in marketing. I wonder if you would share your experiences marketing your memoir, RagDoll Redeemed: Growing up in the Shadow of Marilyn Monroe with our readers. Perhaps you could start with the marketing plan you have developed. What seems to be working for you? Have you already had experiences that didn’t work? What activities do you see continuing on a regular basis?

Author Dawn Novotny: Thank you for inviting me to share my marketing experiences on Women’s Memoirs. First, I want to say that I feel as if I am in social media kindergarten so I’m hoping those who read this are at least a grade behind me, which, in this case, would be nursery school.

In February 2011, I attended my one and only book conference to date. When I first heard words like, platform, take away, and social media I knew that I was in way over my head. I had never even been on Facebook. Can you imagine? I truly felt as if everyone was speaking a different language. Where, oh where to begin? The first thing that I had to do was learn what these terms meant. I asked a lot of questions at the conference, and then Googled each word for further understanding. I saw that a blog was a way I could develop and extend my platform.

After a year of working on my platform, here’s the way I think about it:

A platform, my platform is the representation of my public face; who I am authentically representing myself to be, not necessarily what my book is about but what it is that I am passionate about. Platform means approachability, relationship reciprocity, engaging in conversations.

I decided that my blog would be the primary place where I would build my platform. So it was important that I found topics that were important or of interest to me because I truly wanted my blog to expand beyond my book, if in fact, my book, RagDoll Redeemed: Growing up in the Shadow of Marilyn Monroe, ever got published. The blog had to be something that would hold my interest in the long run regardless of the book’s eventual outcome.

My blog is only nine months old so I am on a deep learning curve. But I can tell you this much already, I have fallen in love with the process of blogging. I am shocked by this because writing does not come easily to me. My nervousness about pushing the Send button soon sailed on by, and I’m now enjoying the sensation of sharing my work with others.

Advice From a Memoir Author About Developing a Blog
1. Chose your Web Master carefully. I was referred to an experienced web manager after I practically had to sue an online company that did not deliver on what they advertised. Be very careful. Ask known memoir writers or known bloggers for recommendations. Don’t just go on line and chose blindly like I did.

2. Be sure the person you choose will be willing to teach you how to manage your own site. Some web masters want you to have to depend on them for all of your blog needs. This means you pay for everything over and over. You want to work your way to financial independence. If I can learn how to post and manage my own blog site, then trust me, anyone can learn if they have a teacher who is as generous with their time and training as was mine. Let me introduce you to Erica. She came highly recommended to me and I cannot say enough praise about her expertise and generosity in teaching me how to manage my site.

Advice About Social Media from a Memoir Author
Learn about social media. We can have all of the temper tantrums and excuses we want about social media but then, get on with leaning about them. I spent a great deal of time online availing myself of a wealth of FREE information. Below are great resources that are abundantly generous with social media information.

Writers Digest.

I also subscribe to their fabulous magazine. The free giveaways are amazing.

And here’s a free eBook: Facebook Timeline for Business: A Guide.

Advice on Getting More Bang for Your Buck (Or, At Least for Your Time)
After my articles were published on my own site, I re-post them them on sites such as www.wrytestuff.com and www.EzineArticles.com. These two sites increase your visibility.

Advice on Reciprocity
Find blogs that interest you and are related to the major topic you blog about. Then post comments there. What does this mean? Let me give you an example. I have chosen three (my goal is to increase this number to ten in the coming year) blogs that interest me and I try to write a sincere comment on each of their weekly posts. In that way we help one another advertise our own blogs by being consistent and signing our name and URL at the end of the comments. Once you have done this for a while, you can invite the owner of the blog to come visit your website and comment.

Women’s Memoirs Question #2: There is increasing discussion (and consideration) of alternative forms of book marketing. At one time, a book tour was seen as a necessity. But now, authors are looking to the Internet. I’m curious what pointed you in the direction of the Internet? How many different ways are you putting the Internet to work to promote your book? Are you posting on many different writing and journaling sites? I know you have a blog…tell us a little about your blogging experiences as well.

Author Dawn Novotny: In that same writer’s conference I heard this quote:

No matter how great your book may be, marketing is a must.

I realized that I had to have a means of advertising my book. Social media is not only an economical way if getting your book known, but it is the fastest growing means of communication on the planet. Love it or hate it, social media is where it’s at. Also, I live in a very small community–our nearest city is a two hour drive away. Because I self-published, there was no other way to advertise my book. If you are experienced in social media you don’t need to read further. If you are one of those social media kindergartners like me, then keep reading.

— BLOGGING EXPERIENCE: Although I mentioned my blog above, let me tell you about my experiences. I made the commitment to blog once a week for a year, and I have kept that commitment. It is hard not to get discouraged when people don’t leave comments, but I’m learning there are many reasons for that. Some people are too shy, some can’t figure out how to leave a message (this is very common) and some simply don’t know what to say. I’m still shocked when people say, “I just love your blog, I look forward to it each week.” What I have learned from this to make your commitment your priority not whether or not your get positive feedback in the form of comments. Just keep on target no matter what. Getting known takes time, energy, and patience.

–LINKING YOUR BLOG: I asked the person who set up my blog site to link my posts to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Being new to all of this, I do not yet understand Twitter. So, after posting each blog, I make a list of little tweets and email them to someone who manages getting them out for me. There are many inexpensive freelance workers on sites such as www.elance.com. Right now, I underutilize Twitter because I don’t know yet how to respond and keep the conversations going, but I intend to learn that next.

Women’s Memoirs: Question #3. Dawn, we have one final question for you. As you know, Women’s Memoirs invited you to our website thanks to the folks at WOW-Women on Writing who work with authors, helping them get the message out about their new books. They organized your blog book tour. I wonder what insight and advice you can pass along to other writers who are still wondering about the value of blog book tours. Do you have some sense of the value of such projects? Any advice for writers to help them get the maximum value of a blog book tour?

Dawn Novotny: In terms of business, the WOW blog tour, arranged by WOW-Women on Writing, has been the best investment I’ve ever made. Because of WOW, my book exposure is limitless throughout the world. For example, “CMash Loves To Read” at www.cmashlovestoread.com simply mentioned my book on her web and the next day I had inquiries from India. Where else could one get that kind of exposure in such a short time?

My only advice to get the maximum value of a blog tour is to follow their directions, don’t wait for the last minute to return the requested assignments. WOW works hard to not overwhelm their clients by spacing out the featured dates of the tours, but you have to do your part. Procrastinators will have a hard time. The WOW blog tour experience has been fabulous.

Women’s Memoirs: Thanks Dawn. We appreciate you sharing your experiences marketing your memoir: RagDoll Redeemed: Growing up in the Shadow of Marilyn Monroe. We wish you the much success with your memoir and with your blogging.

We invite our readers to leave you a note in the Comment section below as well as to visit your website where they can learn more about your, your story, and your memoir.

Dawn Novotny: Thank you for inviting me to visit your blog. I’ll be happy to come back to answer any questions or comments from your readers.

Dawn Novotny is a licensed clinician, teacher, author, and workshop leader, with a private practice in Sequim, Washington for the last twenty-seven years. She holds Master’s degrees in clinical social work, and theology, and is a nationally certified psychotherapistdramatist, has been an adjunct professor at Seattle University and an instructor at Peninsula Community College. Dawn brings her training and insights from her work in psychodrama to the page as an author of many articles about making ones implicit feelings explicit through the art forms of collage and the concreteness of exploring your life though self-representation or psychodrama. She feels passionate about the importance of personal stories as healing and transformation.

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