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Today's Totally Important Post is about class member Daphne Grab. Teen reviewer Gela gushes about Daphne's book, Alive and Well in Prague, New York. Check it out.


Now, back to this week's topic: Group Marketing...

Debbie Reed Fischer is the other person who was part of the dynamic duo that took SCBWI Florida by storm in January. Let's find out what she has to say about doing a workshop with another author.

Debbie?

Chatting online every day for months creates a very unique bond with someone, and that is especially true in 2k8. Like the rest of the class, Jody and I had already spent hundreds of hours discussing book promotion, as well as sharing opinions, triumphs, disappointments and jokes. So when I arrived at the conference and we found each other, it wasn't the polite, tentative greeting that usually takes place when meeting someone for the first time. From the moment we hugged in the main conference room, I felt as though we'd been friends forever. When we did sit down to discuss our presentation, there was a comfort level of two people who had been working together for a long time. It made planning and executing our presentation as easy as two friends talking about a common interest. That was a direct result of being in the Class of 2k8.

The really great thing about 2k8 is that members have professional backgrounds in areas other than publishing. How is that a plus, you ask? Well, when Jody and I were speaking about book promotion, I was grateful she had worked in the related field of advertising for many years. It was reassuring to have her expertise handy.

One attendee told me, "You usually see workshops on the same thing at all these conferences. This was something truly different." That 'something different' is another thing 2k8 brings to the table, and Jody and I were eager to talk about it. We have mutual enthusiasm for the group and its purpose, which really showed in our presentation. Our Class of 2k8 brochures were received with interest and curiosity, and a lot of people wanted to know more. Another attendee complained that our workshop wasn't long enough, after we spoke for an hour and a half! Not to mention it was the very last workshop of a three-day conference!


M.P. Barker also knows how important group marketing is...

Being part of 2k8 has helped me because I'm a terrible procrastinator, very disorganized, and know absolutely nothing about marketing. I'm very bad at meeting personal deadlines if I'm not responsible to anyone but myself, but fear of shame and humiliation makes me very good at meeting deadlines when they're imposed by somebody else. Having a group to be answerable to forces me to get my act together and get things accomplished. It's also great to have a support group of people whom I can learn from and who are going through all the same things I am.


Liz Gallagher simply puts it this way:

It makes the fish a little bigger in that big pond.

So, if you're thinking of joining a group to help you get the word out about your books,

A Web site offers fun features.
There is one part on my Web site that I had a lot of fun doing: thinking of my all-time favorite girl and guy characters in YA lit for my Favorites page. I wanted to write YA because I read it all the time. Because much as I enjoy adult novels, I love YA more. Which means I've read, and loved, an awful lot of YA books with some pretty awesome characters. There are some amazing girl characters out there, and some pretty fabulous guys who spring to life off the written page. So who did I choose to feature on my site? Click on the link below to find out!
~Daphne Grab, Author of Alive and Well in Prague, NY,
http://www.daphnegrab.com/


A Web site is proof.
My publisher tells me that kid readers are especially interested in the authors of the books they read. It's as if they can't believe an actual person wrote the book. A website proves an actual person did write the book, and a well-designed site gives extra interesting details about that person, like how many cats she has. It’s a great way for readers to continue to interact with the book.
~Sarah Prineas, Author of The Magic Thief,
http://www.sarah-prineas.com


Teens spend time online.
I think it's important to have a personal web site because the world is so Internet-ty! Especially because I write for teenagers, who seem to spend lots of time online and be very savvy, it's the most efficient way to reach out to them, let them know about me and my book, events, news, and whatever else is going on in my book-world. I happen to be a writer who's interested in communicating with young readers, so it's a step to accomplishing that. I think teenagers almost expect the experience of a book they love to go beyond the page. Everything else seems to go online somehow! Look at popular TV shows, like Lost, who are doing webisodes to accompany the television broadcasts. Not to mention message boards!
~Liz Gallagher, Author of The Opposite of Invisible,
http://lizgallagher.com/


A strong Web presence can do amazing things for your career.
It cultivates your readership, creates word-of-mouth interest, gains press, excites your publisher, and more. With that in mind I started researching Web site designers by visiting author sites. I noted what layouts and features I liked, what I didn’t and which designers I could afford. I wanted a website that was user friendly, had teen appeal and that I could build on as my career grew. I thought of it like a starter home. I couldn’t spend $5000 on a site (or even $2000), but I could build an affordable base site and add on to it. And later on, if I wanted to, I could always remodel. My site designer, Barb of Jaleroro Web Designs, did a fantastic job of taking my ideas and making them a reality. I’ve already received positive feedback on my site and it has generated interest in my upcoming books.
~Terri Clark, Author of Sleepless,
http://www.terriclarkbooks.com/


Anybody who’s anybody has a Web site.
I think it's important to have a personal web site because everyone keeps telling me that it is, even though I'm not entirely sure what I should put on it. Frankly, I'm a pretty boring person. If I were all that interesting, I wouldn't be spending my time making upstories, now, would I?
~M.P. Barker, Author of A Difficult Boy,
http://mpbarker.net/


Web sites keep Amazon.com in business.
Personal websites make me want to read more books. Sometimes the websites give the back-story of a particular book, and I feel compelled to go straight to Amazon and order the book right away. I’ve discovered some of my favorite books this way, and I suspect I’m not the only one.
~Courtney Sheinmel, Author of My So-Called Family
http://courtneywrites.livejournal.com