Wednesday, February 09, 2011

A Day in the Life of an Author in the Promotion Phase


Yesterday was a cold, blustery, snowy day that never got above 10 degrees. Perfect for sitting in front of the computer and getting stuff done. But, since the release date for my Deadly Currents book is just one month away (March 8th), that "stuff" wasn't writing or editing fiction. Instead, here's what I did:

- Confirmed plans for a blogtalk radio show (Dellani's Tea Time) I'm participating in on Valentines Day and made sure I knew what phone number to call when.

- Wrote a guest post for one of the blog stops on my upcoming Virtual Book Tour and found and attached photos to that post and two others.

- Finalized dates/times for two signing events and almost a third, talked to the CRM (Community Relations Manager) of the Citadel Mall Barnes & Noble store in Colorado Springs where I'm doing my launch event on March 17th to make sure balloons and cookies are okay, and pushed a few more event plans down the road toward confirmation.

- Wrote up questions and directions for my fellow panelists on my "Murder in the Great Outdoors" panel at the Left Coast Crime conference in March since I'm the moderator. Our panel is from 11:30 to 12:15 on Friday, followed by a signing. If you're going to be at the conference, please come! We've got some great surprises in store for you.

- Made final arrangements for a two-car carpool to drive from Colorado Springs to Denver for the February meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of MWA Thursday.

- Took a break to shovel the driveway, planning to go out and run some errands, then changed my mind because it was too danged cold!

- Wrote and scheduled two posts for my own blog, sent review quotes to Mystery Lovers Corner for the Deadly Currents book page there, and sent my bio in to the author liaison for the local Pikes Peak Library District's Mountain of Authors event (mark your calendar for this free event on April 2nd!).

-Skimmed through hundreds of yahoogroup, DorothyL, etc. emails and responded to some, did the same with hundreds of Facebook status updates, and caught up with my friend requests on Facebook and Goodreads.

- Oh yeah, I did do some fiction writing work. I sent synopses on my two 2012 books (Wicked Eddies and the paperback/e-book version of To Hell in a Handbasket) to my editor at Midnight Ink. And, I got word from my agent that the acceptance advance check for Wicked Eddies arrived and she'd be sending it to me shortly. Yee haw! That's my Left Coast Crime traveling money. ;-)

6 comments:

Donna Volkenannt said...

Wow! You are busy and organized. No wonder you are so successful.
Congratulations!
Donna V.
http://donnasbookpub.blogspot.com

Beth Groundwater said...

Thanks, Donna, for the kudos! I wasn't so organized when I started out, but with each book, I've learned more about promotion and how much time things take and made more contacts with booksellers, librarians, etc.

Mark Adair said...

What Donna said. :) Very impressive Beth! So many plates to keep spinning, so little time. Here's to more success with your new one. :)

Pauline Alldred said...

I'm sure all your hard work and planning will pay off. I don't think I work that hard at my day job.

Beth Groundwater said...

An apt description, Mark! Many times I feel like that guy I used to watch on black & white TV, running around between spinning plates to keep them on top of their poles.

Sheila Deeth said...

Wow! Busy and super-organized. Congratulations!