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Hey everyone! It's Maddy again!! Today was a pretty action-packed day. A lot of stuff was filmed on the set and I sat through it all (except I slept in a trailer for a little bit because the jet lag was catching up to me). Guillermo took his personal assistant Russell, Dad, and I out for ice cream so we didn’t end up eating the not so tasty lunch they have on set!! (That’s a good thing.) None of us had any real lunch actually but that’s okay because GDT (I’ve noticed that that’s one of his nicknames ‘round here) claims that ice cream is a food groupl. It was kind of funny because while we were eating my father dearest said I should put the whole ice cream thing on this blog, and then Guillermo insisted that we go back and try the lemon sorbet because then I’d really have something to blog about. It was delicious by the way. ☺ I met more of the cast members today including Doug Jones who plays Abe. He is very nice but his costume is kind of smelly. I think it’s the leather. Oh, and I have some simply brilliant news!! Selma Blair thinks I’m cute, Claire Danes thinks I’m funny, Doug Jones thinks I’m gorgeous, and Guillermo del Toro thinks I should eat more ice cream. Pretty mind-blowing, I know! Anyway… today’s picture is one that my dad took of me with his phone when I was standing there unaware. (That rhymes. I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it.)



Apparently my padre is learning a lot about directing from Mr. del Toro and I think that he is also helping with the dialogue in the script. Oh Madeleine, Oh Madeleine how lovely are your branches… tee hee, sorry that is in my head. I replaced the words Christmas and Tree with Madeleine though because I think it gives it a nice little jingle. Plus Madeleine is my first name. Anyhoo, we won’t be going back to the studio until Monday, but on Sunday we are going to see Tori Amos who just happens to be here the same time we are. Also Selma’s birthday is tomorrow so today they had cake for her at the end of the day. It was very appetizing. Someone gave me bubbles to blow when the cake came out and everyone was going to blow kazoos and stuff, so I set the bubbles on my chair but when I came back they were gone. Tear. Ah, well it was still fun. Dad also took a really good picture of me and Selma but I’m not allowed to put it on here for reasons I am not allowed to mention on here but don’t get curious because it’s nothing big. Also curiosity killed the cat. Alrighty, well I best be finishing up! I’m not promising that there will be an entry tomorrow but we shall see. Fare thee well!

4. MySpace. You're never too old or too normal for MySpace. I am constantly hearing that MySpace is for teenagers and perverts. Who cares.

Let's start with the teens. These are the audience we need to be targeting for building a long-term reader/author relationship. They are the consumers of the future, and in many cases, they are the consumers of the now. Some teens I know have more cash on hand than I have had for decades. Few of them have bills to pay. Their money is theirs to spend. So why, as an author wouldn't you want to find a way to bring them into your reader base and nurture them? If you hook them young, you stand a considerably better chance of keeping them as you grow your career.

The declining numbers of teens graduating with well below acceptable reading skills are staggering. Most teens are not taking advantage of the opportunities to escape to exciting places and to be entertained while learning. Okay, so you write adult fiction. What's stopping you from using your adult fiction to educate the parents on how important it is to get their kids enjoying the written word? But I digress.

MySpace is not just about the teens. Sure, they are there, find something to put on your space to get them interested in you as an author. Read a young adult book each month and post your review in a "Teen Section" on your MySpace. The parents will thank you and then they might actually buy your books for themselves. You are also serving another purpose by encouraging families to read together. Not sure what to read? Ask teens for their tips on what to read. MySpace is a place to hook the kids and the parents into a world that has endless potential.

Now let's talk about the perverts. Someone recently said to me, I don't want to put my romance on MySpace because there are children in my book and I don't want the perverts getting any ideas. Again, who cares! You are not the moral police. You cannot stop anyone with less than pure motives from getting their hands on your books. The same perverts on MySpace are shopping in bookstores. You simply cannot worry about it. You will go insane. The bottom line is that you want EVERYONE to buy your book. What they do with it after they pay for it is not your problem or business. Bottom line is, most perverts have jobs and money to spend on books.

Enough preaching. How can MySpace really work for you? Anyone know how many people are on MySpace? A LOT! Did I mention it is FREE. You don't have to pay for it. You go in, set up an account, and promote to your hearts content. If someone is not interested, they will ignore your posts or delete you from their friend list. Big deal. There are plenty more to replace them.

What do you put on MySpace?
--Your cover
--You bio
--Your book blurb
--Your first chapter (or an excerpt)
--Links to you other web sites
--BUY NOW BUTTONS (this is a MUST)

If you take one hour to set up your MySpace and then you spend 15 minutes every other day increasing your friend base, you are reaching thousands of people. You can post bulletins within MySpace that go to all kinds of people, and that is marketing. Review announcements, events, new releases, awards, or all manner of things. You can even run contests. Speaking of events, MySpace has a calendar section where you can list your events and people you don't even know can see them and maybe want to meet you.

Use the Blog section in MySpace to post your articles, news, discussion ideas, and book reviews. This is also a great networking tool. Don't worry about whether anyone is reading it, someone is and maybe they'll tell a friend, who will tell a friend, and you might sell a book!

You don't have to spend a lot of time on MySpace. Put it up, change it once a month or when something happens, and let it do the work for you. But keep in mind, the more you do put into the more you stand to gain.

It's all about FREE and if you set it up and you aren’t careful, you might actually SELL SOME BOOKS!

3. The Buddy System! You remember, in elementary school when you went on field trips you always had to pick a buddy to do everything with. You were not to go anywhere, including the bathroom, without your buddy. Think of marketing as a field trip for writers. A giant adventure that could get a little scary and if you aren't careful YOU COULD GET LOST!

What is the biggest obstacle writers have with marketing? Okay, you can pick two, I know you will. Time and money. I know, I've been there. Consider this. You are on your own and you have to do a postcard mailing. You have a budget for 500 post cards, you have to decide where to send them. Now, let's say you live in Chicago. But you've already done a mailing in Chicago and sold very few books. Well, if you are paying attention you know that you need to do several more mailings to the same people to get them to pay attention. And, no, it is NOT a waste of money. Do the research, it takes multiple points of marketing to make an impression. So what do you do? Consider why they didn't buy the first time.

There could be any number of reasons. Now, how do you overcome those obstacles? And sales is all about overcoming obstacles. Let's see, you could do another mailing. What will this accomplish?

You might catch them at a better time.
They might have just woken from a nap and be full of energy.
They remember seeing something with your name on it a month ago.
You have added a buddy and a little bit of a credible reference.

How does this buddy system work, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. You find another author who lives in another state. Not a neighbor. Your secondary goal here is to increase your target audience. So if you live in Chicago, find a buddy in San Francisco. You pool your budgets, design a post card that promotes both your books (with a catchy tag line tying them together), and each of you mail out half to your individual mailing lists.

This offers a repeat of the original information and some new and exciting additions (your buddy). You double your chances of getting their attention and increasing your national exposure. Don't be one of those authors who is satisfied with selling books to the 147 people closest to them. You want to reach the masses. The bigger your market, the bigger your potential for sales, and what do sales mean? ROYALTIES and NEW CONTRACTS! Don't be satisfied with reaching whoever you can, make a concentrated effort to reach everyone. Oh, I just had a wonderful thought. What if you had two buddies? You in Chicago, one in San Francisco, and another in…Tampa! Wow! You could triple your market and cut your costs in thirds.

Oh wait, you're worried about diluting your chances by offering two other books. Hmm, let's think about this one. You started with no possibility of selling in San Francisco or Tampa because you had no connection, but now you have a connection to someone there and you actually have a chance at selling books in that market. No chance vs. any chance. Sounds like another no-brainer to me.

So, before you click to another screen, consider selling 3 books vs. selling 0 books at a third of the cost. The best part about the buddy system is you get to save money and increase your marketing potential. And there are no limits to the number of buddies you can have. You simply have to get off your duff, do the networking, and SELL THOSE BOOKS!

Pt. 4 Coming Soon!