Thanks to a link from Alvina Ling's blog, I visited Animoto and spent an hour or so creating this 30-second video to use on the author visit page of my website:
Making the slide show was free, but was it worth the time away from writing? (I'm trying to finish a revision of Asha Means Hope / The Secret Keeper for Random House.) Like a lot of the publicity/marketing kinds of things we authors are supposed to be doing these days, you never know.
I'm a bit confused about that whole aspect of the vocation -- author Jodi Picoult (who needs no publicity) recommends hiring a publicist in the October issue of Writer's Digest, my agent sent a link that might help me make better use of MySpace, Judith Appelbaum tells me to toot my own horn, and Raab Associates just posted an article about the new marketing model on their extremely helpful site. I found their words illuminating when it comes to juggling writing, speaking, and promoting:
Making the slide show was free, but was it worth the time away from writing? (I'm trying to finish a revision of Asha Means Hope / The Secret Keeper for Random House.) Like a lot of the publicity/marketing kinds of things we authors are supposed to be doing these days, you never know.
I'm a bit confused about that whole aspect of the vocation -- author Jodi Picoult (who needs no publicity) recommends hiring a publicist in the October issue of Writer's Digest, my agent sent a link that might help me make better use of MySpace, Judith Appelbaum tells me to toot my own horn, and Raab Associates just posted an article about the new marketing model on their extremely helpful site. I found their words illuminating when it comes to juggling writing, speaking, and promoting:
Children’s book marketing and publicity have changed substantially in recent years. With more publishers, authors, illustrators and books as well as stiff competition from other media for consumer spending and education and library budgets there’s an increased need to keep one’s name and books prominent. For those fortunate enough to have had specific books chosen for star treatment in-house or who have built a significant track record that has earned them on-going support from the publisher’s marketing team, the work is in balancing marketing time with the creative time. For many more who are striving to achieve that level, the challenge is to figure out what will help raise and sustain awareness of their books and their “brand” both among publishers and in the marketplace to generate demand.Whew. And they say it's easy to write children's books.