Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Monday, 4 January 2016
Behind the scenes of a publishing house
Interview with a Marketing Officer
Welcome
to Sandra Pesso, who is a Marketing Officer working at Evernight Publishing. I
am delighted to have you on my blog.
Thanks
for having me, Jennifer!
Can you
tell us a little about yourself, where you are from, how long you have been
working as a Marketing Officer and what made you take up this role?
Sure,
I’d love to! I live in the States, not far from New York City. I’ve been
Evernight and Evernight Teen’s Marketing Officer for three years. I was an
author with Evernight before I took the job. It was a great opportunity to use
my marketing and advertising business background to help increase Evernight’s
brand and recognition.
What is
the thing you most enjoy about being a Marketing Officer and what is the most
difficult?
The
thing I enjoy most about my job introducing the Evernight brand into new
markets and finding promotional opportunities to reach new readers. I also
enjoy working with both new and established authors to help them navigate the
many marketing opportunities available.
The
most difficult thing is probably finding the time to do everything I’d like to
do!
What are
the biggest things that you feel authors should do more of in terms of
marketing their own books?
Consistency
is key. There are so many authors and books out there and entering the market
every day. Try to find something that makes you and your books unique and
leverage the uniqueness. For example, is your hero or heroine a chef or
bartender? Post recipes and cocktails on your social media pages. Is your book
set somewhere interesting?
(What an
interesting idea. JD)
Write
guest posts for fellow authors and bloggers about the locale. Remember, blog
and social media posts are samples of your writing. The more you spark a
reader’s interest, the more likely you are to get the sale.
Do you
find it difficult to promote a genre you don’t particularly enjoy?
Yes
and no. I love contemporary romance so it’s easy for me to promote it because
I’m most familiar with the genre. However, I love discovering new promotional
avenues for genres that aren’t necessarily on my TBR list.
Do you
get a chance to write yourself?
Yes!
Writing is my passion. I’m currently working on a Contemporary Women’s
Literature series.
Where do
you see yourself in five years’ time?
I
hope to be doing what I love to do – writing, travelling, and meeting fabulous
people.
What
projects have you most enjoyed initiating?
Along
with Evernight’s owner, Stacey, I helped create the Evernight Readers’ Choice
Awards. We kicked off the third annual awards season in November with lots of
new authors making it to the semi-finals.
(Yay for
the awards! I’ve been nominated all three years and go a runner up place in
2014 for Sexiest Scene and a runner up place in 2015 for Best Sci-fi. JD)
What
exciting events are happening at Evernight/coming up?
It’s
a great time to be an Evernight author! Submissions are at an all-time high and
we’re looking forward to another banner year. Look for both new and favorite
events and lots of amazing new books!
What are
your top five tips to authors for promoting their work?
- Avoid straight (and boring) “Buy My Book”
promotional posts. They’re ineffective. Instead, engage readers on social
media to create online relationships and connections. It’s all about the
connection.
- The best promo is word of mouth. Think out of the
box to get people talking about your book (ex. podcasts, book clubs,
YouTube video clips).
- You don’t have to spend a lot of money to promote
your book. Swag is nice but is often thrown away.
- Looking for reviews? Try smaller, lesser-known
review blogs vs. the really large ones. Instead of a blanket “Dear
Blogger” email, send a personal message when requesting review your book.
Offering a guest blog or interview will increase your chances. Most book
bloggers love to post guest author content. Also, it helps to note
something you liked about their website. Bloggers are proud of their
virtual homes and love to be noticed!
- The best form of promotion is your backlist and
new release. Protect your writing time and don’t sacrifice writing for
promoting. In the end, you’re better off creating new work. (Very
interesting point. It’s always hard to know how much time to give to
promoting. JD)
Thank
you, Sandra. It has been fabulous interviewing you. Good luck.
If you are interested in reading the other posts in the series, here are the links:
If you are interested in reading the other posts in the series, here are the links:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)