marketing – Page 5 – Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

The new cover for Nocturne as of November 15, 2019.

On Friday, November 22, and the following Friday, November 29 (Black Friday) I will have four of my works free on Amazon Kindle: Click; A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror; The Scent and Other Stories; and Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover.

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

If you noticed, I have new covers for three except The Scent and Other Stories. I hope to have a new cover for it by Friday the 22nd, however. This is another marketing tactic. Because I love black and white photography and often find it captivating and powerful, I have used it for most of my covers, trying to express something I see in each book. But I see that most, more experienced authors use full color, flashy covers to grab the buyer’s attention. So I decided to give that a shot and see if sales pick up. I tried to make each cover grab the attention of a passing buyer by making it not only in full color, but also expressing something powerful and exciting about the experience I hope to get across in my book. I would like readers, not to judge my books by their covers, but maybe get a taste of

The new cover for Click as of November 15, 2019.

my books from their covers.

Anyway, I have included the three new covers in this article. If you would like to find out more about each, please go to my Amazon author’s blog. You can sign up for updates there or go to philslattery.wordpress.com and follow me there.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering where I got the covers, I downloaded some royalty-free public domain images from Pixabay (and maybe Pexels) and manipulated them in Pixlr. Each one took a few hours to make.

Hasta luego.

I am sitting here right now (Saturday night, 8:47 pm CST, at home in Arkansas Post, listening to Carlos Nakai. It sort of makes me homesick for New Mexico. Beautiful, slow, peaceful, Native American flute music that sounds like it’s coming across a mesa or from some Anasazi ruins. If you ever need to seriously relax I recommend listening to Carlos.

The new cover for A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror as of November 15, 2019.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

my books from their covers.

Hasta luego.

Update: November 18, 2019, Letter on My Marketing Strategy

Having dinner with my wife at Ray's Italian Bistro, Midland, TX, May, 2019 — Having escargot with my wife at Ray’s Italian Bistro, Midland, TX, May, 2019

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a gentleman in Spain. In my response, I discussed my marketing strategy a bit. I thought that it might be of interests to others, so I am posting it here, with the gentleman’s name and other data omitted, because I do not know what personal information of his I can share.

“I try to post most important articles at 0800 EST. I researched the time zones where the most people read in the US and, unsurprisingly it is the Eastern Time Zone. The Eastern Time Zone has the most universities, major cities, publishers, and greatest concentration of population. So I post things at 0800 so people will see them when they rise,arrive at work, etc, I also post things to hit other time zones across the world. A few of my posts are on this. One thing I do is what I did with offering the four books as free on the same day, which I am doing this week and next. It’s my most recent article. I post an advertisement or announcement one hour later each day for 24 days, so that I can hit all the time zones. This seems to be gradually gaining me a larger audience. For example, on November 2, I had views from the US, UK, Canada, Austria, Jamaica, the Czech Republic, Italy, Jordan, Spain, and Romania. Recently, I had views from Uruguay and Nigeria.

“The thing about posting to the Eastern Time Zone is that because that is the seat of US government and major metropolitan areas, that’s when the rest of the world will be watching to see what is up with the US. Also, posting around the clock means that the article hits the US around the clock as one, So one day it hits New York at 0800, the next day Chicago at 0800 and New York at 0900, the following day Denver at 0800, Chicago at 0900, and New York at 1000, etc. With WordPress, I can schedule posts ahead of time, so this is easy. I often post advertising and articles weeks or months in advance.”

Hasta luego.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

my books from their covers.

Hasta luego.

Note Friday, November 22 and 29 (Black Friday), on Your Calendars

I am doing this primary as an experiment in marketing and publicity. Yesterday, I offered the same four books as free and I got more takers than usual.

my books from their covers.

Hasta luego.

Nocturne… is available on Amazon.fr

My poetry collection Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover is available in several Amazon markets worldwide including Amazon.fr (France). Here is a synopsis of the books details from Amazon.fr for September 30, 2019 (unfortunately, the book is still in English, unless someone wants to translate it into French-my French isn’t that good):

Détails sur le produit

Format : Format Kindle
Taille du fichier : 42617 KB
Nombre de pages de l’édition imprimée : 110 pages
Utilisation simultanée de l’appareil : Illimité
Editeur : Phil Slattery (14 février 2018)
Vendu par : Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Langue : Anglais
ASIN: B079TL7244
Synthèse vocale : Activée
X-Ray :

Non activée
Word Wise: Non activé
Lecteur d’écran : Pris en charge
Composition améliorée: Activé
Moyenne des commentaires client : Soyez la première personne à écrire un commentaire sur cet article
Classement des meilleures ventes d’Amazon: n°32.837 des titres gratuits dans la Boutique Kindle (Voir le Top 100 gratuits dans la Boutique Kindle)
- n°17 dans American Literature (Boutique Kindle)
- n°6 dans Poetry Anthologies
- n°4 dans American Poetry

Update: July 2, 2019, Foreign Articles and Marketing Strategy

I am still experimenting with reaching a worldwide audience. You will see some articles in languages other than English occasionally. I will post them at various times to target different time zones. Although my strategy has been gathering more viewers from around the world, it has yet to affect sales. I am getting viewers from such places as India, Malaysia, Russia, Portugal, and many others. Sometimes I get viewers from 10-12 or more countries in one day.

Update: June 8, 2019, 5:59 p.m. Publicity/Marketing

The post immediately before this one, gave me an idea/revelation (remember that I am still a novice at marketing).

Advertising my upcoming novels by updating the progress on them is like a TV mystery series with a definite but unpredictable conclusion somewhere in the future. Hopefully, it will likewise draw an ever-increasing audience as a TV mystery would.

At the moment, we are watching “Good Omens” (very entertaining) on Amazon, which stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant of “Broadchurch” and “Dr. Who”. The connection with the preceding paragraph is that the first season (at least) of “Broadchuch” is a good example of at TV mystery that intrigues the audience and draws them toward a inevitable but unpredictable conclusion.

There was another revelation associated with this, but I can’t recall it offhand. I have had little sleep over the past few days and my mind (or what’s left of it) isn’t functioning at full capacity..

Update: May 11, 2019 Using Facebook for Publicity

For some time, I have been tinkering with a way to generate publicity for my posts on Facebook personal page. When deciding who to request to be a friend, I look at two criteria.

First, I look at how many friends we have in common.

I select people with whom we share at least one hundred friends (this is a purely subjective and arbitrary number). This tells me that he/she is not a creep. It is essentially like having a hundred references. The closer to having zero friends in common, the better the odds that person many not be someone I want to deal with regularly. At least, that’s my experience. In the past, when I have decided to befriend someone with whom I share no friends, I sometimes regret the decision.

This also helps build a solid network. If I befriend someone who shares one hundred friends with me, when I post something that goes out to my, let’s say, two hundred friends, and then my new friend reposts it, that posts goes out to our one hundred friends in common twice, plus to all his friends that we don’t have in common. If he has one hundred friends in common with me alone, the odds are good that he has a lot more friends which we don’t have in common.

Now imagine how many people your posts will go out to if you have 500 friends with whom you have 100 friends in common with each of them. If only two or three people share one of your posts, the word about that post will start to spread among all those friends in common plus all those friends you don’t have in common. Hopefully, it will create something of a snowball effect.

Second, I seek out friends with whom I have an interest in writing and being an author in common. I decide this very superficially, but I think effectively. I look for people who have a book they wrote as their avatar or have the title “author” or “writer” in their name (e.g. John Doe, Author). This tells me they are serious about their writing as it take a high priority in their lives.

Now, I am developing an overlapping network of authors and writers that will probably be interested in anything I write about writing my works or writing in general.

I also post a lot of humor, about writing and otherwise, to keep my posts fun and entertaining. No one will want to keep up with someone boring.

I welcome any thoughts or ideas you have.

Writing a Book: What You Need to Know About the Publishing Process

Writing a Book: What You Need to Know About the Publishing Process

Writing a Book: What You Need to Know About the Publishing Process

— Read on freeplrarticles.biz/writing-a-book-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-publishing-process/

Experimenting with Photoshop Express

Tonight I am experimenting with tailoring photos for publicizing my world on Facebook and Twitter using Photoshop Express. Here is an example. Let me know what you think.

Reminder: The Farmington Writers Meet and Greet Will Be Held Today, Friday, June 9, from 5:00-9:00 pm.

Artifacts Art Gallery/302 Main Espresso, Farmington, New Mexico

Just a reminder that the Farmington Writers Circle Meet and Greet networking event is today, Friday, June 9, at Artifacts Gallery, 302 East Main, in downtown Farmington (NM) from 5:00 to 9:00 during the city’s Artwalk .

This event is open to everyone with an interest in writing or reading. Its purpose is for local area writers of fiction and non-fiction to socialize and make networking contacts with the public and other writing professionals such as editors, publishers, reporters, bloggers, teachers, and anyone else interested in writing. Novices, amateurs, students, and professionals of all genres, styles, and media are all welcome. Anyone with an interest in reading or teaching any type of writing is definitely welcome. This is an opportunity to meet your favorite local authors.

Bring business cards and any other handouts such as flyers or pamphlets to pass out to your new contacts.

There will also be book-signings and readings by several local authors and writers (a list will be posted soon). Artifacts Gallery will also provide a salsa-tasting. Refreshments will be available.

Check back frequently for updates.

For more information, contact Phil Slattery at phil@philslattery.com.

Reminder: The Farmington Writers Meet and Greet Will Be Held on Friday, June 9, from 5:00-9:00 pm.

Just a brief reminder that the Farmington Writers Circle Meet and Greet networking event is on this coming Friday, June 9, at Artifacts Gallery, 302 East Main, in downtown Farmington (NM) from 5:00 to 9:00 during the city’s Artwalk .

Bring business cards and any other handouts such as flyers or pamphlets to pass out to your new contacts.

There will also be book-signings and readings by several local authors and writers (a list will be posted soon). Artifacts Gallery will also provide a salsa-tasting. Refreshments will be available.

Check back frequently for updates.

For more information, contact Phil Slattery at phil@philslattery.com.

The Farmington Writers Circle Meet and Greet Has a Venue!

Tonight, Roberta Summers, a founding member of the Farmington Writers Circle, arranged to have our writers networking event (which we currently refer to by the working title of “the Meet and Greet”) at the Artifacts Gallery, 302 East Main, Farmington, during the city’s Art Walk on June 9 between 5pm-9pm.

Details on the event are still being worked out, but we plan on inviting as many authors and novelists from the Four Corners area to be there to meet their readers, participate in readings and book-signings and to network with any local publishers, critics, reviewers, and anyone else involved in the local writing industry.

Anyone who reads anything or is involved in reading, writing, or literature is invited to attend. If you are a reader or writer of any genre (published or unpublished), an arts or literature critic, a reviewer, a publisher, a literary agent, someone who interviews writers or authors on radio or TV, if you promote reading, writing, or literacy in any way, manner, shape, or form, you do not need an invitation, you are invited to attend.

The names of the authors and novelists expected to attend will be announced as they respond to our invitations, but, if you are an author/novelist, you don’t need an invitation to attend. Just show up, meet new readers, and pass out your business cards and other contact info.

The entire purpose of this event is for writers of all types to make contacts and to network.

Refreshments will be available along with a salsa-tasting. At least some of our local members will have books to sell.

Check back for more details as we approach June 9. Submit any questions you have via this website. Don’t forget that you can find a link on the right-hand menu to sign up to follow our blog.

#Marketing Myself as a #Character

For the last few weeks I have been contemplating how to market my works. Of course, I wander through the local bookstore studying how each book markets itself, Also, I analyze everything else I see on line and in person for patterns. I think back on the famous authors of the past and wonder how they achieved their renown: how were they marketed and how has their fame spread since.

It occurs to me that readers are as fascinated by the lives of their favorite authors as they are by the characters in their novels. My favorite author is Hemingway. Hemingway’s life fascinates me at least as much as that of any of characters. His life probably fascinates me more than that of any of his characters, because there is more to learn about it. Frederic Henry (For Whom the Bell Tolls) is interesting, but his life has none of the detail that his author’s does. Henry is shallow by comparison. None of the characters of any of Poe’s works have the same depth and complexity of his own life. When authors of biographies market their works, they have to show how fascinating their subjects are just as novelists have to convince their readers of how fascinating their characters are.

Therefore, I am beginning to believe that to sell my works, I need to sell myself, my story, just the same as I would that of any of my characters. If my readers find my characters interesting, they will naturally want to find out more about me. This is not blatant egotism; it’s simple fact. Readers are as fascinated by the lives of their favorite authors just the same as they are fascinated by the lives of the characters of those authors. Instead of writing the same standard bio notes for readers on my website and elsewhere, I will start writing those bio notes the same as I would the bio of a character: bringing out my own flaws, contradictions, ironies of my life, and so on to demonstrate how complex I really and hopefully attract readers who find my life so compelling that they have to investigate the characters I write. Writing a autobiographical note, then, becomes another chance to show how well I can write and to give potential readers another sample of my work.