SRN On Marketing

Check out Sweeter Romantic Notions today for a blog on getting started marketing yourself as an author. Maggie Toussaint shares what she's learned since she began:

With my almost a year of marketing experience under my belt, my best advice is to take a deep breath. It doesn’t do any good to run in circles screaming and shouting (been there, done that). If your publisher doesn’t have a welcome packet to initiate you into the world of promotion, or even if it does, it’s a good idea to find a mentor. Someone who knows the ropes in your genre can shave hours off your time spent in promotion...

Read the rest of the article!

Rites of Romance Promo Opportunity

Here's a free promo opportunity from the Rites of Romance Reviews! See the post here. (If you're not already registered for the Romance Divas forum, you'll have to do that first.) I'm also reposting here, with permission:

Stella and I spent a few hours hashing the final details of this out. Right now, we're in e-zine form, but we're going about it a little differently than most e-zines (well, any that I've ever read).

Rather than being one hundred percent web based, we're going to offer a PDF download, with a print-style layout and all the features of a magazine you can hold in your hand. That's articles, short stories, poetry, most importantly BOOK REVIEWS, ads, and other industry and entertainment related stuff. This is our first step towards print, which we hope to achieve in the next couple of years.

Right now, we're offering free ad space. We have six publisher half-page ads and 15 quarter-page ads. Those are free, as are any reviews requested and printed, and we TRY our damndest to get every book reviewed that comes through my submission line. So far, so good, on that level. The ads are free for this issue. If you need one created, it's $15 or $10, size respective.

Right now, we need articles and we need short fiction. Our articles must relate to SMALL PRESS AND E-PUB only. It's what ROR is all about. If you have an article you think might work for us, PM me here and I'll get back to you with submission info.**check below for guidelines**

As for the short fiction: We're going to run a contest. The only requirements is you must be published by a small press or e-publisher (this is becuase we are showcasing e-authors, and we want this to be sort of a mini-promo for you. If a reader likes your short, chances are they'll look for your books).

We also need authors to interview. Again, e-pub and small press authors specifically. We're aiming for two interviews a month.

Now, in the future, ad rates run like this:

$50 for a full page, color ad ($40 for black and white). Add $15 if we're creating it. Both Stella and I are cover artists/digital artists with references.

$25 for a half page, color ad ($15 for black and white), add $10 if we're creating this.

$15 for a 1/4 page ($10 for b&w), add $10 if we create it.

Submissions for short stories, after this month, will be open. PM me here for info. Guidelines are simple. Stories need to be 5k or less, and rated about a PG-13.

Articles, same length or less, and pertaining to the SP/EB industry.

Any questions, ect, let me know!

ash (ritesofromance @ gmail.com)

Ad Banners For The Hoi Polloi

Some days, I just don't want to mess with Photoshop. But what's an author to do if (a) she's too lazy to use Photoshop; or (b) she's too poor to procure Photoshop and/or doesn't have a programmer husband to procure Photoshop for her?



That's right. She cheats. She uses a web-based banner designer like this one. Of course, then she has to put up with the FREE AD mess in the corner, but it's a small price to pay, especially compared to the arm and leg you'll have to give up in order to buy Photoshop.

Other banner generators:
http://www.bannergenerator.org/
http://www.mybannermaker.com

Reader Bryn adds:

There's a free competitor to Photoshop called GIMP. (It's a little less user friendly but it gets the job done.)

There are also online photo editors now like fauxto.com (and Photoshop will have an online version soon).

If you are wanting Photoshop, start with Photoshop Elements. It's about 1/8th the cost of Photoshop.

Reader Marty points out:

Gickr.com will allow you to create those flash avatars, banners, etc. by uploading your own images (they need to be yours or public domain) and selecting one of the standard sizes.

And, of course, you could pay someone to design ads for you. I'll design them for a fee. Contact me for pricing info and samples. Other design-for-a-fee places:

The Long and the Short of It

Have any other web-based ad banner creators you like? Any other freebie/cheapie ways to make 'em? Let me know in the comments and I'll add your ideas here.

Sonja Foust
Author of LOVE IN SHADOW (The Wild Rose Press)

Being Chatty

If you're not a graphic designer, I suggest making friends with one. Graphic designers are lovely people to know, and even lovlier people when they owe you favors, so be nice to them!

If you are a graphic designer or would like to try your hand at being one, I think having a really cool banner for all your forum posting is an awesome promotional tool. You can even use it to append to your email in your signature. Here's a tutorial on how to make an animated banner with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady: Step by step guide to animate a banner which has been created in Adobe Photoshop

I made these in about an hour each:





(I know, I'm totally awesome.) (If you're not a graphic designer but you still want a banner, try this.)

Now, though, you need places to chat where you can use your spiffy banner (rated with Google page rank to the left of each forum for chat/main page):

5/6 Message Boards at Romantic Times
4/4 Diva Forum at Romance Divas
3/0 Janny Wurts chat area
2/5 Otherworld Forums at KellyArmstrong.com
2/4 SUITE Mag Forums at SuiteMag.com
1/4 Cata Network Message Boards at ECataromance
0/4 The Chatter Box at Romance Reader at Heart
0/0 Writer's News Message Board at All About Romance

Give me your favorite message boards in the comments and I'll add them to the list! Thanks!

Sonja Foust
Author of LOVE IN SHADOW (The Wild Rose Press)