Saturday, September 7, 2013

Cross Promotion and Advertising with Carl Alves

This year, at the Bram Stoker Award® Weekend, Incorporating World Horror Convention in New Orleans 2013, Carl Alves and I attended an excellent workshop on how to market your work by Matt Schwartz from Random House. One of Matt's suggestions was to get together with an author friend or two and cross-promote each other's works. That's what Carl and I are doing this weekend.

I'll admit I'd never read any of Carl's work before this, but he sent me a copy of Blood Street and I've really been enjoying the story. I'm not a big vampire novel fan these days, although I loved Salem's Lot and the Anne Rice novels among other traditional vampire stories back in the day.

Click to purchase.
This is the synopsis from Amazon:  Blood Street is True Blood meets the Sopranos set in the streets of Philadelphia. When vampires tangle with the Philadelphia mafia, one thing is certain - all hell is going to break loose. 
           Alexei chose the wrong neighborhood to claim his latest victim, a member of Enzo Salerno's crime syndicate. Now Philadelphia mob boss Enzo Salerno is determined to hunt down the man who killed his associate in such gruesome fashion in his South Philly row home and serve his own brand of old fashioned Italian style vengeance. 
           Perplexed by this unnatural murder, Salerno uncovers clues that lead him to believe that this was not a mob hit, and that a vampire was responsible for this death. Magnus, the leader of Alexei's brood, must use all of his resources to save them from both the mafia and the FBI, sparking a bloody war that plays out in the streets of Philadelphia. Who will survive on Blood Street?   

I'm ten chapters in, and my favorite part of the story thus far is the mob setup. Carl gets it right, which makes me wonder a little...Ha! But I've seen all those mobster movies and read The Godfather, and you won't be disappointed with the development of these mob characters and their crime syndicate. He's done a great job of "showing" and not "telling." I'm sure it would have been easier to do an info dump to explain it all, but Carl takes the time to weave it nicely through the story.

I've recently been introduced to the vampires part of the story, and they're the typical vampires from back in the day, and I thank him for that. Nice job so far. When I'm finished with the book, I'll post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and in my next blog, where I will also write about how the whole cross-promotion trial went.

Monday, September 2, 2013

EAST END GIRLS Book Launch Party

Saturday, August 31st was the evening of my book launch party for East End Girls, my historical horror novella for JournalStone Publishing's Double Down Series, Volume 1. Gord Rollo's, Only the Thunder Knows, about notorious grave robbers Burke and Hare is on the flipside.

This is the second book launch party I've had within a six month period, so this one went smoother as far as me knowing what I needed for setting up, and I was a lot less nervous. A dear friend of mine runs a jewelry business called Ravenous Design and I invited her to join me, along with another one of her friends, who co-created HipsSister athletic wear, so between the three of us, we got some good traffic and cross-selling. Fortunately, I also brought copies of my debut novel, The Evolutionist, and it sold nearly as well as East End Girls did, because friends have told friends that it's about the "local" area and those who have read it are spreading the word. (Thank you all for that! XOXO!) So, all in all, I sold a little over fifty books, which was pretty awesome. But I will say the only minor downside to having a joint venture was that I used what I made in sales to purchase items from my party partners. Ha!

Since I've been writing, (and maybe even a little before that,) I've become somewhat of a recluse. But as a writer, I've learned that it's important to "get out there" and be able to "sell yourself." Having these book launch parties is one way for me to see old friends and make new ones. It's amazing how well you think you know people, but then you find out something new. A friend of a friend may be a well-known agent, or Hollywood producer, or run an advertising agency. All connections that might become handy at some point in your career. Then your friends make those same connections with others for things that they're curious about, or interested in, or need, and relationships and friendships are made. It's a beautiful thing.

I had a wonderful time, and actually got up and walked around and talked to people when the initial crowd thinned out. Now I feel one of the reasons I have to continue writing is so I can have more book parties and more opportunities to mingle with friends and make new ones. I'd really like to thank everyone that came, spoke with me, and had a good time. Always love the support!

My next event is KillerCon Convention at The Stratosphere here in Vegas, September 19th thru the 22nd. It also takes place over my birthday, and a whole lot of fun happens! Click the logo below for more information. There's still time to register.