Well, I’ve barely had time to create buzz, but since 'going live' last weekend, it's been quite the buzz...a fast, fun week of marketing and media releases, with the learning curve taking on new meaning, and a whole new world opening up. Lots more Facebook friends for starters :)

I’ve been a marketing maniac these past two weekends, visiting art centers, libraries, coffee shops and bookstores. And after monkeying around with Mail Chimp all month (not sure the boatyard prepared me for Mail Chimp…although it sure required perseverance!), I got my first media release out before heading to Florida for a few days.

A flurry of phone calls to brother Pete, coordinating the northern media blitz on LI and New England filled in any gaps I might have found during the week. He is poring over family lore and photos, scanning in all sorts of goodies, and in his own learning curve on social media marketing. Thanks Pete!

Many thanks to all of you who wrote, bought, and/or encouraged this week. It has just added to the fun and I really appreciate celebrating with you.

In case you missed this in Mail Chimp, I have some answers for the FAQs coming my way; if you’ve already read it, you can stop here, and enjoy the rest of your day. See you next time!

1. The book is not published yet. This is an advance sales period, during which the publisher is testing the marketability of the book. Based on sales during this period, they will or will not publish. They need a minimum of 55 orders.
2. I am ‘paid’ in copies; the more copies that are sold during this period, the more ‘free’ copies I receive, which I can then sell at retail. My goal is to sell 205 copies during this advance sales period, which will net me the highest quantity of free copies the publisher will send me: 100.
3. Assuming all goes well, and I sell the 55 minimum, this is a limited edition press run. The maximum number that Finishing Line Press will print is 1000. So you may want to get in on the action early!
4. Shipping costs are reduced to $1.50 just for the advanced sales period; costs will go up once the book is published.
5. I do not have any copies of the book to give you when I see you in person, because it is not published yet! I will take orders, however, if you don’t mind waiting until you see me to receive them! (I don’t want to incur shipping costs for myself.)
6. During the advance sales period, if you use Pay Pal, you can also use the ‘bill me later’ option, and get a $10 rebate.
7. Because you want to amaze Finishing Line Press with how vital ‘Poems from the Boatyard’ is to your life, the poetry world, and culture in general!
8. You want to encourage me ? (shameless, I know…).

P minus 14 days….

For those of you trying the link to order the book, and discovering it’s not active yet, that’s because it’s not active yet!

Feb. 15 is P for publishing day, and I will let you know, so do your finger exercises until then, and get ready to click on “order” at my signal!

In the meantime, after monkeying around with Mail Chimp for a couple of weeks, I have officially won and am now moving on to tinker with the postcard. The version Finishing Line Press sent me does not meet my finicky standards, so--time to create another! May I please be pre-forgiven by any of you who receive a graphically overloaded if informationally correct postcard until I get my own version out?!

And brother Pete is on the 'scouring every library on Long Island' to market the book. Go Pete! He is also on his way to my mother's house, to pore over Uncle Jack lore, in anticipation of blogging about Uncle Jack's part in this venture. (That blog is here if you want something to do while waiting for Feb. 15, but there's not much yet--only one blog post so far!)

So many projects, so little time...but all things come to those who wait.

Guerilla Marketing

I am reading “The Frugal Book Promoter” and “Guerilla Marketing.” In case you don’t know this about the publishing world, the author is responsible for most of the marketing of his or her book. So I am doing a crash course in marketing and book promotion, looking up websites, collecting email addresses, picking up local newspapers to collect editors’ names, and exploring Mail Chimp.

I have updated my profile on Linked In. I’ve got Twitter and my Facebook page ready to go, and of course the blog is up and running. I’m sure I’m probably missing 12 forms for social media, but that’ll do for now.

February 15 still looks like the official launch date, and I am most eagerly looking forward to crawling around the coastal cafes and bookstores of New England and Long Island, birthplace of these poems, hopefully with my brother Pete in tow. And no doubt be inspired with new poems…

In the meantime, I have a postcard and a bookmark to create…

Hoops & Bananas

Well, after a sharp learning curve, with deadlines compressed because of travel, I have finished jumping through all the publishing hoops necessary to bring this chapbook to press! I have January ‘off’ to study marketing, and get my social media up to snuff. The Media Release Kit is ready, as are the bios, short and long, with author photos, table of contents, a manuscript in txt, pdf and Word format, cover art, permissions, all in hard copy as well as CD ( why did my DVD player decide to stop working now?!? Flash drives to the rescue…)

I have until approximately Feb. 15, when the prepublication (advance sales) period begins. That means six weeks of sell sell sell, because based on sales, the print quantity is determined. My first goal is 205, which will earn me 100 free copies, which I can then sell at retail.

So, from now until Feb. 15, I will be studying “Guerrilla Marketing for Writers” by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Michael Larsen and “The Frugal Book Promoter” by Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

And figuring out Mail Chimp…oy…pass me a banana!!!