"Twilight" Gal Stephenie Meyer Pitched In to Ensure Her Own Success

On the front page of their Calendar section (E1, Nov 29, 2008), the LA Times reports that Stephenie Myer, author of the movie-inspiring Twilight series of books, took up the slack when her big New York publisher Little, Brown got the promotion wrong. Those, of course, are my words. Theirs are the site LB set up for her "failed to pick up on the book's subtler themes—the bridled desire and self-deprecating humor . . . ".

So Meyer did her own thing. Times's Susan Carpenter pointed out that Meyer's success was at least in part due to a "brilliant and strategic use of the Web . . . " one in which she "directly engaged with her readers." This was back in the time when she first signed with LB, sometime around 2004. It worked then and it works now, folks.

Oh, I should mention that her Web technique included her efforts to go to others' blogs instead of waiting for her readers and prospective readers to come to hers, "writng posts and commenting on the things they had written."

If this story doesn't convince you that advice you get in my Sharing with Writers newsletter and from The Frugal Book Promoter doesn't work, I don't know what will. So much of promotion is about the author. So much is about caring. So much is about doing what doesn't cost; only a handful of people in the world can afford to risk trying to promote themselves to stardom with paid advertising and a whole lot of other paid services. Without the author's participation--participation in abundance--even the most creative, talented and well-connected publicist can do little for you.

And, as long as I'm on that subject, the best reason to pay for a service is to learn. As an example, pay to let someone help you with a blog tour if you don't have the time or the Web savvy to handle the learning curve. Then do it on your own the next time around. The people you use at the service you hired won't mind. Especially if you occasionally tout how well they did their job.

And speaking of blog tours, I know about three people who do excellent jobs at reasonable prices. I think you can do it on your own, but if you don't think you can, you'll be able to when they are through with you. E-mail me for my recommendations. HoJoNews@aol.com

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how-to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal." Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com.

The "Tell-A-Friend" Link on Amazon is Fun for Readers, Great for Writers

Philip F. Harris, author of Jesus Taught It, Too, sent me a message about his book. Actually he sent it to all of his Amazon list, the list that Amazon calls "Amazon Friends." I'd never used it so I had to go see how it works. Phil says, "Sometimes the easy things are overlooked!"

It occurred to me that this is an Amazon feature that everyone should be using. Here's how. Booklovers keep reading. There's something here for both authors and readers. Even authors who read!

Go to any book's Amazon page. (Authors will probably want to start with the page for their own books! If you need a sample of one of mine, click here. Look on the right side; the 8th box down has a link that says, "Tell a Friend." When you click on that, there is a drop-down menu where you can choose specific friends you added at one time or another or you can choose to send to all of your Amazon friends.

This, of course, works better if you have been collecting Amazon friends all along, but it's worth a whirl to let just a favorite reading friend know about a single book. Authors can put the word out about their own books but also about the books of their author friends. It's Zen. Don't do it often, of course, but every once in awhile give yourself or a fellow author a treat by putting out the word.

For instance, I could send a notice to my Amazon Friends about Lisa See's new book, Peony In Love. Her book has nothing to do with me and I don't know her personally, but I do strongly recommend it. So, shouldn't I help out an author I love and in doing so, give a gift of sorts to my Amazon friends.

In the meantime, an author might want to start building that "Amazon Friends" list so that when his or her book is released, it will be ready to go. Readers can forward the cause of reading the same way. Phil and I both recommend it.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how-to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS. www.howtodoitfrugally.com.