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One of the things Mary and I have wanted to do with the Shrinking Violet Blog was use it to highlight new, emerging violet authors and their books, and we're very excited to introduce one to you this week.

Ms. Donna Gephart's first book will be published this month with Delacorte Press. And check out how timely her title is: As if Being 12¾ Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President!

(I also think she's giving Mary a run for her money in the category of Longest Titles Ever!)

In her blog today, she has some very helpful thoughts on Book Promotion 101, straight from the trenches. Check it out!

And congratulations, Donna! And thanks for sharing your thoughts with our SVP readers.

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In this show: Re-visiting a conversation with colleagues from Winnipeg, Manitoba. A special thank you to Chris and Tannis for their thoughtful contributions. Let me know where you are: Click on ‘Join the CLIP Frappr Map’ in the menu bar. Post a comment: Click the comment button below or leave a voice mail by clicking ‘leave me a message’ in [...]

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Here's a list of YA book trailers compiled by Jonathan Hunt of adbooks:

AIRMAN by Eoin Colfer

INTO THE WILD by Sarah Beth Durst

THE OPPOSITE OF INVISIBLE by Liz Gallagher

LEONARDO'S SHADOW by Christopher Grey

GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE by Barbara O'Connor

FIRST DAUGHTER: WHITE HOUSE RULES by Mitali Perkins

I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME by Lisa Schroeder

MEGIDDO'S SHADOW by Arthur Slade

THE HARROWING by Alexandra Solokoff

PROJECT 17 by Laurie Stolarz

HALLOWMERE by Tiffany Trent

PARROTFISH by Ellen Wittlinger

Wonder how many of them, besides mine, were completely homemade and cost nothing. Well, at least you can compare the amateurs with the pros.

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What should a book trailer look like?

Galleycat has an excellent essay about it here, giving a smart critique of a mystery book trailer by novelist Matt Beynon Rees. I appreciated the fun that this writer had with his video. 

If you want more advice, I blogged about this resource almost a year ago, but it still holds up. Bookseller Chick and her crew discussed how to build a better book trailer. Check it out:

"Then as I was searching for various things out there on the great, wide internet, I ran across this interview with Sheila Clover English who runs Circle of Seven Productions (the book trailer makers) about her novel series (which is marketing only through COS’s website)." 

Finally, I have some cool (and somewhat related) news to share. Short End Magazine picked my essay from The Believer magazine, “Skinning the Americans,” as one of the 40 Film Journalism Must-Reads of 2007. It's an honor to be included in that essay about film journalism--which is full of lots of ideas for budding book trailer makers.

 

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Book Promotion Tip of the Day

Write Article Peripherally Related To Novel. Place Spanky Box At The Bottom That Mentions You And Book. Attempt to Syndicate.

Here's my first attempt, intended for parents, teachers, and librarians:

Talking Politics With Teens
by Mitali Perkins

If you have teens in your life, you know how challenging it can be to discuss politics without someone melting down (usually you) or tuning out (usually them). Here are five habits to practice, all deduced from the school of hard knocks, while trying to engage young adults in the campaign.

Be teachable. A conversation isn’t about one person sharing knowledge and information with another. That’s better known as a lecture (or so I've been told). Listen to teens, allowing them and others to inform your opinions.

Be honorable. It’s okay to take issue with a candidate’s positions, but disparaging his or her character is a definite turnoff to teens and twenty-somethings. To everyone, in fact.

Be flexible. Your candidate isn’t Jesus. Teens appreciate hearing how we disagree with the person we support. Give them the grace to do the same, and don't take differing opinions personally. Endorsing your candidate's opponent doesn't mean a young person is repudiating your authority. Although it might.

Be controversial. Surprise and provoke them once in a while by saying something radical, starting with “I totally disagree with _____” or “I 100% agree that ____.”

Be passionate. Caring deeply about an election is contagious. Young people who watch us thinking deeply and talking freely about our opinions will be more likely to do the same. And they’ll be more likely to vote now and in the future if they remember us faithfully trekking to the ballot box during primaries and elections.
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Mitali Perkins (mitaliperkins.com) is the author of two novels about a candidate’s daughter, First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover and First Daughter: White House Rules (Dutton). Her main character, Sameera Righton, described by Publishers Weekly as “an intelligent, witty and prepossessed heroine," is keeping track of the hype around the REAL First Kid wannabes at www.sparrowblog.com. To learn more about the novels, visit firstdaughterbooks.com.

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As my book launches tomorrow (First Daughter: White House Rules), I've been doing my best to get ready from the comfort of my cozy study. For any writers out there, I want to share ten ways to spruce up your online presence in anticipation of a book release:

1. Create a web page for your book to grab potential readers.

2. Syndicate your blog(s) at Feedburner (bloggers should do this, too).

3. Invest in an ad via Google Adwords (see mine below) and on Facebook -- make sure you pick keywords carefully.

4. Use AddThis to put social networking buttons at the bottom of every post (bloggers, too).

5. Generate a Facebook Page for the novel.

6. Create a widget at Springwidgets to display your blog on your MySpace page, the sidebar of other blogs (note my sparrowblog content to the right) and/or on your website.

7. Import your blog(s) into Amazon.com so that the content shows up for all your titles.

8. Create a widget featuring your book(s) at Adaptive Blue for your sidebars -- see mine as an example to the right.

9. Set up Google Blog Alerts with keywords related to your novel and write a two-sentence blurb that you can cut, paste, and personalize on a blog post dealing with those keywords, like I did over at the Los Angeles Times and at MSNBC.

10. Make a book trailer (see mine below) using Animoto, Jumpcut, Quicktime Pro, or Apple iMovie and upload it to YouTube, Google Video, Facebook, and MySpace TV.

I know everybody might not be as geekily inclined as myself but some of these things are so easy even a purely right-brained person can do them.  And they're all free, except the ads, which can cost a lot or a little, depending on your budget. Oh, and you have to pay for Quicktime Pro or iMovie but Animoto and Jumpcut are free.

First Daughter (Dutton)

Book Teaser / First Daughter White House Rules

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Should you release your novel on your blog?

Lots of people do it. Check out Na-No-Blog-Mo if you don't believe me, it has a sprawling list of bloggers who have published their novels for free. Blogs make publishing so easy--if you know how to find your readers, you can quickly, painlessly get your novel out there.

On the other hand, we just don't have a good system for helping writers earn money by publishing their novels online. That system will exist someday, especially as audiobook podcasts and print-on-demand services become more profitable.

Until then, don't squander your work-- just give your readers a taste. Comic book writer and novelist Warren Ellis is the perfect example. He built a dedicated fan base on his blog, and then he unleashed the first chapter of his private detective novel Crooked Little Vein for free--just in time to take a hardboiled swipe at Harry Potter. 

Check out the free PDF of the chapter, and learn from the master. (Thanks to BoingBoing for the link)

 

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Re-visiting Pluto and What Gets in the Way of Practicing Critical Literacy? In this show: Re-visiting Pluto’s Demotion and What gets in the way of creating spaces for critical literacy? Special Thanks To: Mitzi Lewison, Sarah VanderZanden, Amanda Vender, and Heather for commenting on the show. I also want to say thank you to Kathleen Fay for the [...]

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Questioning and Researching from the Start In this show: “Pluto, I Found Him!”, Taking Social Action in 2nd Grade. Special Thanks to : Carol Felderman for contributing to the show. Participate in the show. Subscribe and listen in iTunes XML Feed Location : feed://www.bazmakaz.com/clip/?feed=rss2 Let me know where you are by clicking on ‘Join the CLIP Frappr Map’ in the menu [...]

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