I’m guest blogging at Pop Culture Divas about my time at the RWA Nationals in Orlando FL. Stop by and say hi if you get the chance.

 To paraphrase an advertising adage, “Only 50 percent of promotion works, but no one knows which 50 percent.” So it pays to understand your PR options, as well as how to avoid undermining your promotional efforts. The following is my personal list of author promotion missteps.

10. Sending too many book excerpts — or the same excerpt too many times — to reader loops. Also “drive-by promoting” on reader loops.

Even in promotion, there can be “too much of a good thing”, so be aware of how many excerpts and blurbs you send to reader loops. You want readers to say, “Oh, look, another fun book excerpt from Anne Author!” vs. “Oh, no, not another book excerpt from Anne Author!” Also, readers enjoy interacting with authors vs. being treated as a target market. So if you don’t have time to participate on these loops beyond posting book excerpts and blurbs, consider picking just one loop and developing reader friendships on it while promoting your books.

9. Bad-mouthing people (especially those in the publishing industry) and other authors’ books.

Snark might seem popular on certain blogs, but what you say online can haunt you forever. It’s best to follow the old saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

8. Making things difficult for readers: a hard-to-navigate website, hard-to-read text, no printable book list, no purchase link by your website’s book blurb/excerpt, etc.

Readers appreciate being able to easily find information about your books and how to buy them. Is your website simple to navigate and read? If you have a reader e-newsletter, can they see how to sign up to receive it? If you have a book series, does your website list the books and their order, so readers can read them in sequence? Is there a clear “purchase link” next to your website’s book blurbs and excerpts?

7.Not using an email signature — and not putting title CAPS in URLs.

Making things easy for readers pertains to more than just websites. Do you use an email signature? Most email programs make it simple to set up a signature. It should include your website URL as an active link, so readers don’t need to copy-and-paste your URL into their web browser. The email signature can also include things like your tagline, the title of your current or next release, contest wins, etc. But check the loops you’re on to see if they restrict email signatures to three lines. And remember that other writers are readers too, so use email signatures on your writer and reader loops.

URLs aren’t case sensitive, so reinforce your pen name within your URL by using title CAPS. For example, it’s easier to see my pen name in my URL if I type it www.MarciaJames.net vs. www.marciajames.net. And sometimes title CAPS can avoid unintentional connotations. An example of this is a consignment store named Children’s Exchange, whose URL was www.childrensexchange.com. Title CAPS would have prevented any misunderstandings in that example.

6. Treating readers, bookstore personnel, librarians, etc poorly.

I’m always amazed when I hear of authors pulling diva acts at booksignings or snubbing other writers at conferences. Successful marketing includes positive word-of-mouth, so why give the people you meet a reason to tell their friends and family how unkind you were? Booksellers don’t hand-sell the books of authors who were a pain at a booksigning. And librarians don’t recommend books by someone who was difficult when doing a library presentation. Years ago, I attended the booksigning of a New York Times bestselling mystery author. He was so abrupt (read “rude”) to readers, I never bought another one of his books.

5. Discounting the importance of networking.

Power-schmoozing can pay off with contacts who can introduce you to their agent or editor, give you a cover quote, join you in co-promotion efforts (like a group blog), include you in multi-author booksignings, etc. The phrase, “It’s who you know” is as pertinent in publishing as it is in every industry. Obviously, extroverts enjoy networking more than introverts, but shy authors can network online through reader and writer email loops.

4. Not Googling pen names and taglines before using them; and spending more on logoed PR items because you’re buying them to promote one book vs. your brand.

These two seemingly different missteps are connected under one concept: originality. Obviously, if you Google the pen name and tagline you’d like to use, you’ll be able to determine whether or not another author has the same or similar name and tagline. Years ago, when I decided on the pen name “Marcia James”, I did a search to see if there were other romance authors with similar names. I found Eloisa James and Stephanie James, who wrote very different stories than I did. So I locked in my domain name. Now, almost ten years later, there are so many authors with James in their names, I made lemonade out of the lemons by interviewing a different one each month for my James Gang feature (http://www.MarciaJames.net/James_Gang.html). So while you can’t predict who might have a similar pen name or tagline in the future, you can try to make yours as unique as possible today.

Uniqueness is also a good thing when it comes to your logoed promotional items. For example, I give away thumbcuff keychains (over 7,000 and counting) as part of my “Hot, Humorous Romances” author brand. The keychains represent both my law enforcement protagonists and the racy sex in my stories. Because I’m promoting my brand and not a single title with these thumbcuffs, I can order over 1,000 thumbcuffs at a time and save a lot on the bulk order. Last summer at the national Romance Writers of America conference, three people came up to me to tell me they were sorry they hadn’t gotten any of the thumbcuffs I’d put in the Goody Room. Why is that important? Because I hadn’t put any thumbcuffs in the Goody Room. Another author had bought them to promote a single book that had handcuffs on the cover, but a number of the people who noticed the thumbcuffs thought they were from me. So it would have been more cost-effective and memorable for that author to purchase in bulk a PR giveaway that would become associated with her brand.

3. Choosing to do PR options you hate or are ill-suited for.

No one author can possibly take advantage of every promotional opportunity available — even with the help of a publicist or a PR site, such as AuthorIsland. So why choose to do those things that are outside your comfort zone or areas of expertise? Instead, use criteria such as your personality, skills, and book specifics to determine your best PR options. This is a core element in my online promotional workshops (including the one I’m presenting August 15-28: http://www.MarciaJames.net/Schedule.html). For example, I’m an extrovert and love power schmoozing, so networking is one of my chosen promotional options. I’m also a technophobe who would hate learning how to design a website, so I hired a Webmistress (Karen McCullough, http://www.KarensWebWorks.com/) to create mine. I’m not saying, for example, that a shy author shouldn’t try to develop networking skills; I’m simply saying that authors have limited time and resources, and it pays to use them wisely.

2. Not having a professional, often-updated website.

A website is often considered an author’s #1 one promotional tool. Make yours as professional as possible, with interesting, new content to entice readers to visit often. Like many authors, I have a website contest that draws readers to my site. You can also offer free reads, interviews, a blog, book plates and other giveaways, recipes, games, photos, etc.

1. Spending all your free time on promotion vs. writing your next book.

Each book you write brings you new readers, so prioritize your time to allow for more writing than promotion. Social media sites, like Facebook, can be fun but incredible time drains. Protect your writing time so you’ll have products (your books) to market during those times you allot for promotion.

That’s my list. As I mentioned earlier, it pays to understand your PR options so you can make educated choices. I have a 300-page Microsoft WORD file on Promotional Options that I give away free to any writer who would like it. To request this file, go to my website’s “Contact Me” page and email me. I’ll attach the file to my reply email.

Thanks for having me as a guest-blogger today! Happy promoting!

– Marcia James

Today was the first official day of the RWA Nationals in Orlando. As much fun as Orlando is I still wish we were in Nashville. I love my country music.

Yesterday I volunteered for the Literacy event once more. I have done this for the past 8 years and have loved it every year. This one was no exception. I also attended the Book Buyers Best Books Awards last night with the fantastic Hannah Howell. I am proud to say that she WON for long historical. Yeah Hannah!!

Today’s luncheon speaker was fantastic. It was none other than Nora Roberts. The woman tells it like it is. Thank goodness. What did I learn from her? Well she has a really good sense of humour, but also that everything that is worth anything you need to work to get it. NOTHING COMES EASY – not even for her.

I attended one workshop on social network. What did I learn? You’ve got to get out there to get known. Ain’t that the truth.

What do I have planned for the rest of the day? I’ll be attending a party by the Hearts Through History Chapter and then I’ll be selling my books with fellow authors JoMarie DeGioia and Coralie Hughes Jensen at the Moonlight Bazaar. It should be fun.

July has arrived in Ottawa in a big way, a big heat wave that is. This isn’t uncommon here, but I have to say that after 4 days straight of heat over 35C I am getting tired of it. Did I forget to mention that I don’t have air conditioner in my home? So I’ve been living and working in my basement and roasting myself to sleep.

I never realized how exhausting heat can be. I’m going out tonight to spend time with a girlfriend who in a few weeks will be moving to Europe (the lucky girl). If I weren’t going out I’d be going for a nap.

The good news is that I heard a rumour that we’d be getting a break in the heat wave tomorrow. Here’s hoping that comes true!

I’m blogging at Pop Culture Divas about my summer reads and my Kobo.

 Come and join us http://www.popculturedivas.com/2010/06/make-room-for-kobo.html

Well it’s a beautiful Monday morning here in Ottawa. I’m already hard at work. There was a small emergency here and I almost found myself heading back to Toronto, but that won’t be the case. Thank goodness.  My will still be a challenge with keeping up with my usual work and the bookkeeping for Lachesis. It should be interesting to say the least.

I’m currently reading a mystery published by Poison Pen Press. This is a new publisher to me, but I met quite a few of their authors at Bloody Words a few weeks ago. I’ll definitely have to blog about the book I’m reading.

Here’s hoping your week is shaping up well!

May finished with a flourish of smoke filled skies. Don’t get me wrong I’ll take the smoke over the file that the poor people of LaTuque and other regions of Quebec are dealing with. My heart and prayers go out to them. Hopefully no lives and very little homes will be lost to the out of control fires.

Now as I sit in my office looking out the window at a dreary rainy day I can’t help but wonder what June has in store for me. Will I sell the international rights to DEADLY SECRETS? Now wouldn’t that just rock! I’m hoping for great weather, a solution for the oil spill down south and peacefulness.

What are you wishing for?

I decided to come to Bloody Words in Toronto a few months ago. At the time I thought what the heck I can drive down and deal with Toronto traffic. It couldn’t be as bad as driving in Montreal (I have to be honest Montreal is a beautiful city, but the driving is nuts) So how bad could Toronto be?

I have to say I had a great drive down until the last directions from MapQuest. They forgot to give me some steps or directions and I found myself lost within seconds. Usually I would panic when this happens. This time around I got ticked but not panicked. However as I drove by a police station I remember some advice me Mom gave me years ago, if you get lost find a police officer or a police station to get direction. I did just that. Within minutes I was back on track and at my hotel in no time at all.

The people at the conference have been great. Last night I went to dinner with two great friends that live in Toronto that I rarely see. We had a wonderful time. Now I have one more night here in Toronto and then it’s back to Ottawa.

It’s hard to believe when I step outside that we are still in May. It’s like a steam bath in Ottawa. Temperatures reached a staggering 42 C with humidity yesterday. I have to confess I usually don’t mind it, but I had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep last night. Why? I don’t have air conditioner and have no plans to get any in the near future.

So how has your May been?

I didn’t want to post twice yesterday, especially after posting on the death of a good friend. However I am happy to say my good friend Hannah Howell released the 3^rd book in her Wherlock series yesterday. Yep IF HE’S WILD hit the shelves yesterday.

I stopped off at my local bookstore on my way home. I had to get a copy on the release day. This is a tradition I started a few books ago. I know that my purchases don’t increase her standing on the bestselling list, but it makes me feel as though I’m doing my part to get her up there.

So what are you waiting for? Run to your nearest bookstore and do the same, pick up a copy of IF HE’S WILD. I bet you’ll love every second.