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The Magic of Cross-Promotion How To Do It Frugally Style

A Retrospective of the Doings at the LA Times Festival of Books

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Promoting with Invitations, Giveaways and Media Releases

Janet Goliger is back with our booth for her second year. She is a master promoter. Here she shares with her fellow booth participants but also with others who may be signing at a book fair. Here, she says, is what she has done so far "in a nutshell."

Now is the time to promote for the 2009 L.A. Times/UCLA Festival of Books. Press releases need to be submitted to online sites now for search engines to pick them up. Once the search engines get them, they will be available for viewing almost immediately and will also run for a good year. I still find some of my old press releases when I Google my name or book title that were submitted over a year ago.

Many of these online sites are now charging a fee, however, there are still a few like 24-7pressrelease.com/ and http://free-press-release-center.info/ that are free to use.

Another great way to network is to send your fair invitation to everyone you know. In the message, ask them to forward the invitation to their friends and colleagues, post them at their place of business and maybe even make copies to give to others. I sent mine to about 60 people, many of whom are in different fields of work, and within 1 hour I received 12 responses, all positive. The point is, you’re not just letting your friends know about this, but by the time they each send them to their friends, and so on, you have literally sent out over thousands of invitations for free! And who knows? Your invitation just might get into the hands of someone who can do more for you. If you have your own Web site or blog, get it all updated now.

No matter what you do to promote your book and our book fair booth, be sure to include the names of all authors associated with our booth. The more we do this, the more publicity we all get!

Now one more tip. Go to VistaPrint.com. They offer so many FREE promotional materials that by the time your done, you only end up paying a small shipping fee. I do this once a week all the way up to the date I need them. I have already ordered free promotional post cards, door magnets, calendar magnets, posters, pens, hats, t-shirts and more, all for only minimal shipping costs.

Good luck to you all and I’ll see you at the fair!



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Blogging by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Learn more at Carolyn's website, www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Her blogs are also content-laden:
www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com
and a Writer's Digest Top 101 Website:
www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com

And the New Book Review is at your service: www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com. (Follow the submission guidelines in the left column!)

Friday, March 13, 2009

LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books Featured Authors: Find Us in Booth 610



Signing Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26
Booth #610. It's by the food booths! Yay!

 Get a FREE book with your purchase of any book while supplies last.
 Browse books of other authors.
 Sign for Free handouts on promotion, editing and more (to be sent by e-mail).

UCLA Campus, Sat. & Sun, April 25 and 26
FREE Admission/Parking $9.
Easiest Parking at Structure 3 near Hilgard & Sunset Boulevard, Westwood (Los Angeles Area), CA.
Use the map of the on-campus event: http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/eventmap.html.
Look for the Authors Coop banner above booth #610.

Booth Sponsored by:
Marshall Turner's WebforAuthors.com, Red Engine Press, HowToDoItFrugally.com Series of Books for Authors, 4RVPublishing

Gift with Purchase Books Furnished by:
Leora Skolkin-Smith, Diana Raab, Philip Henderson and others.

Scheduled Authors Saturday 04/25/09
10:00 AM Loren Woodson
11:00 AM Lynn Goodwin
12:00 PM Janet Goliger
1:00 PM Marilyn Meredith
2:00 PM Anne Megowan
3:00 PM Linda Overman
4:00 PM Julie Spira
5:00 PM Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Christine Alexanians


Scheduled Authors Sunday 04/26/09
10 am Linda Ballou
11:00 AM Lynn Goodwin
12:00 PM Janet Goliger
1:00 PM Marilyn Meredith
2:00 PM Anne Megowan
3:00 PM Pamela Kelly

4:00 to 5:00 PM: Poetry readings!
Here's the breakdown:

4:00-4:15 Sona Ovasapyan
4:15-4:25 Don Kingfisher Campbell
4:25-4:35 Pardis Bagherzadeh
4:35-4:50 Carolyn Howard Johnson
4:50-5:00 Christine Alexanians



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Blogging by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Learn more at Carolyn's website, www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Her blogs are also content-laden:
www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com
and a Writer's Digest Top 101 Website:
www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com

And the New Book Review is at your service: www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com. (Follow the submission guidelines in the left column!)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Book Display Essential To Make Books Stand Out at Fair



Once upon a time I owned a small chain of retail stores. I know how important display is to a product; we used to display our merchandise (like mini pictures) with bookstand and we sold the stands to customers to use in their homes as well. So, I've always used bookstands to display my books on, too. Here is a source for LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books participants and writers taking booths at other books fairs to use the same professional methods. If you don't already use them, you'll find details on how to do it on my Sharing with Writers blog.

Guest blogger Sue Freeman has the resource for bookstands and a few other inspiring stories to tell about how and where to sell books. She also has some ieas for their most effective use. You will see my novel, This Is the Place, displayed on a stand in the photograph. If you decide to utilize this source, please let Sue know where you found information on her product. (-:

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Blogging by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Learn more at Carolyn's website, www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Her blogs are also content-laden:
www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com
and a Writer's Digest Top 101 Website:
www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com

And the New Book Review is at your service: www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com. (Follow the submission guidelines in the left column!)