Publisher Feature Week: Meet Blaze's Marketing Director Mara Valderran

Earlier in the year, I brought you publisher feature months. This week I'm doing a compressed version of that for a brand new up and coming publisher: Blaze.

This is preceding a special announcement next week. So get the low down on the Blaze staff, and stay tuned.

Meet Mara!

1.     Tell us how you came to work with Blaze.

Krystal asked, and I said heck yea! Marketing has always been such a fun experience for me as an author. Before I published, I was highly involved in blog tours and pimping books in general. Then I started organizing my own blog tours for my books, group promotional tours like Fall into Fantasy, and Facebook parties for myself and other authors. I've gone from being terrified of marketing to loving it. I love coming up with new ideas to market books and helping those books find their way into new readers' hands. So when Krystal asked if I'd be willing to do that for her new publishing company, I jumped at the chance.

2.     What does your job entail? 

 As the Marketing Director, I'm responsible for organizing and launching all of our marketing campaigns and reaching new readers through social media. We're very hands on with our marketing for Blaze books, so I'm working right there with the author to get their name and their book out there and help them to build or grow their author brand.

3.     What do you enjoy most about working in marketing? 

I get to let my inner fangirl out! Marketing is exciting and thrilling, so I get to stay in this constant state of giddiness when I'm working on marketing for Blaze. There's no need to contain my enthusiasm and no shyness or uncertainty about it since these aren't my books. We get a book, I get excited about it, and then I find new ways to tell the world about that book.

4.     What have your experiences been like organizing promotion for Blaze?

 The amount of support we've garnered in such a short time frame has been overwhelming, so organizing our events has been a blast. I love that I can send out an email to our promotional network about an event and they jump on board. It's been incredibly rewarding and inspiring.

5.     What is the hardest part of running the marketing?

Probably the same thing that most authors struggle with--finding a balance between promoting your books on social media without spamming and connecting with readers in new and unique ways. You don't want to have the same boring posts all the time, but at the same time, you also don't want to go too long without posting. Since that's a daily thing, I'd say that's probably the hardest thing. I'm an organizational nut and a planner, so I love those aspects of marketing. 

  

6.     And what is the best part?

Connecting with new people in our promotional network! We're like one big family, and seeing so many people join up (which you can do here) has been awesome. I love meeting new people and seeing how they fit into the book world and what we all have in common. Writing can be such a solitary career, and this allows me the opportunity to connect with new people almost on a daily basis.  

7.     Last question; If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be and why?

Oh, that's a tough one. I was always inspired by Audrey Hepburn from a young age. Her grace, her talent, but most of all her giving heart. She lived such a fascinating life from childhood on, and put her abilities to good use with her activism. But, as a writer myself, I'd also throw Jane Austen's hat into that ring. Not only was she immensely talented with a knack for creating compelling, character-driven stories, but she was also very brave. In a time where women writing, or doing anything besides getting married and having kids, was unheard of, she defied the social standards and decided to live by her pen. Her bravery and perseverance drive me to keep going on my writerly path. 

Anaiah Press Publicist: Suzanne van Rooyen

Bio:

Suzanne is a tattooed storyteller from South Africa. She currently lives in Sweden and is busy making friends with the ghosts of her Viking ancestors. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When she grows up, she wants to be an elf – until then, she spends her time (when not writing) wall climbing, buying far too many books, and entertaining her shiba inu, Lego.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzanne-van-Rooyen/304965232847874

https://twitter.com/Suzanne_Writer

1.     Tell us how you came to work with Anaiah Press.

 I already knew quite a few members of staff at Anaiah Press from a previous publicity job. When the opportunity arose to work with this lovely group, I immediately got in touch and was delighted to be able to work with Anaiah Press.

2.     What does your job entail? 

I've had two roles with Anaiah Press. As publicist I have worked more directly with authors in scheduling online promo. For each author, this has included organizing cover reveals, trailer reveals, and blog tours as well as exploring the possibility of in-person events. As a publicist I also help my authors to create a social media presence and with any marketing related queries. As publicity manager for Anaiah Press I worked with the publicists and made sure everyone had what they needed and knew about upcoming deadlines. I was also responsible for making some of the book trailers and managing some of the Anaiah Press social media accounts.

3.     What do you enjoy most about working as a publicist? 

Getting to represent fantastic books by wonderful authors. Helping these authors find and engage with new readers. Helping to spread the word about great books that might resonate in a profound way with readers. 

4.     What have your experiences been like organizing all the authors?

Wonderful. As an author myself I know how time consuming writing guest posts and sorting out marketing can be so I try to alleviate those stresses for the author as much as possible so that they can focus on their job: writing books. The Anaiah Press authors have proven to be a hard-working, enthusiastic, generous team of people not only willing to go the extra mile to make their own book a success, but willing to support other indie authors as well. That has made my job so much easier.

5.     What is the hardest part of running the publicity?

 Deadlines. No matter how in advance you think you've started something or how aware you are of looming deadlines, they still manage to sneak up and attack when you aren't looking. Co-ordinating reveals and tours for specific dates and chasing up posts with both authors and bloggers can be nerve-wracking, but it's also part of the fun.

6.     And what is the best part?

 Seeing a book gain the recognition it deserves whether that's an Amazon sales ranking or a glowing review from a reader the book touched in some way.

7.     Last question; If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be and why?

Wow, what a difficult question to answer! The name that immediately jumped out at me was Beethoven. I've loved his music since I was a child and his music had an indelible affect on me as a pianist and musician. I still do a lot of writing to his piano sonatas and symphonies so I would definitely like to meet the man behind the music.

Bricks by John Davidson (probably my favourite Anaiah Press YA title)

Sixteen-year old Cori Reigns learns that not all tornadoes take you to magical places. Some take your house, your school, and life as you knew it. Struggling to put the pieces of her life back together, Cori learns to rebuild what the storm destroyed by trusting a family she didn't know she had and by helping friends she never appreciated.

Book Links

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23342608-bricks

Buy Links

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/n6vaqlh

B&N: http://tinyurl.com/oto6p6k

REUTS Marketing Guru: Summer Wier

We have Summer again today! Yay! I actually LOVE Summer and her novel, Link, that's coming out soon, so you need to watch this lady.

BIO:

Summer Wier is an MBA toting accountant, undercover writer, and all around jack-of-all-trades. She loves reading anything with a smart story and pretty writing. Link is her debut novel and the first in The Shadow of Light series. She has three short stories appearing in Fairly Twisted Tales For A Horribly Ever After and co-authors the Splinter web serial. When she’s not digging through spreadsheets or playing mom, you can find her reading/writing, cooking, or dreaming of the mountains in Montana.

Connect with Summer via Twitter @summerwier OR visit her website www.summerwier.com.

1.      Tell us how you came to work with REUTS.

Wanting to gain experience in the publishing industry, I inquired about open positions and was initially hired on as a Jr. Editor and Acquisitions Assistant. Not long after, REUTS posted they were looking for a marketing guru, which just happens to be my specialty! So my career as a Jr. Editor was short-lived, but I continued as part of the acquisitions team when I accepted the position as Marketing Director.

2.      What does your job entail?

 Oh boy, where to begin. I work individually with our authors to formulate a author marketing plan and identify methods that work best with their strengths. The fabulous Tiffany Triechel and I create promo materials and coordinate cover reveals and blog tours (though she is the magic behind the blog tours). Together, REUTS founder Ashley Ruggirello and I tag team social media efforts and PR responsibilities. Ashley and I also develop marketing strategies for the company as a whole, while analyzing competition, and identifying paths for future growth.

3.      What do you enjoy most about marketing? 

The great thing about marketing is that each day is totally different from every other day. With different projects continuously rotating through, I always have something unique to work on. It's also a ton of fun to help promote fantastic titles and interact with our authors and readers.

4.      What have your experiences been like working with the authors and promoters?

Thus far my experiences working with authors and promoters have been super positive. Each author brings different strengths and ideas to the table. Since we have authors in many different areas, it's also cool to discover events and venues in different regions. And the promoters I've worked with are super fun and energetic. What's not to love about that?

5.      What is the hardest part in marketing?

The hardest thing about marketing is keeping up with everything. There's a massive amount of pre-release planning, followed by post-release activities, followed by collecting and analyzing data, vetting new promotional avenues and events—marketing is a live beast that requires constant maintenance. And though usually similar promotions can work for a variety of projects (a blog tour, for example), every project is different and yields different results. But whether efforts are successes or failures, there is always something to be learned that can contribute to future campaigns.  

6.      And what is the best part?

This is somewhat covered in #3, but I'll add one last tidbit. It's great to see marketing efforts in action, and there's nothing greater than seeing promotional materials in action and achieving goals for author success.

7.      Last question; If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be and why?

I'm totally lame at choosing kind of stuff. *thinks for a million years* So you didn't say it had to be a real person. If I could meet anyone in history, I think I'd choose Kiya. (That's right, your Kiya.) I love history, but it's often times filled with very sad stories. I'm fascinated with Egyptian mythology, and I love how the Kiya series has such a real-life feel to it. I'd like to imagine that Naomi was a real woman who, though torn between her heritage/religion and royal demands, was as great and as strong as she was portrayed in your story. And if I could, I'd love to meet her.

REUTS Marketing: Tiffany Triechel

Bio:

Tiffany Rose does marketing for REUTS Publication and is still waiting for her Starfleet uniform to come. Until then she spends her time writing about magical girls and boys full of warped justice. When she isn’t writing there is a good chance Photoshop is open. Any extra time is spent looking out for plot bunnies and serendipity.

1.      Tell us how you came to work with REUTS.

I can’t remember if a twitter event led to me to REUTS Publications or Veronica Park first.  She was the Acquisitions Director at the time, but whether it was the chicken or egg, I started talking to Veronica a bit more over twitter. One day she basically asked me if I wanted to help out with a REUTS thing. Said sure, and after a few months of interning for Veronica I was offered a position on the marketing team.

2.      What does your job entail? 

To put it simply, I organize blog tours, make teaser graphics, bookmarks (or any other graphic the author might need), create book trailers and pass out review copies to lovely readers.

3.      What do you enjoy most about marketing? 

As much as I love some of the book bloggers I’ve come across, I think my favorite part is working with the authors. They’ve already poured their hearts into these stories and I like being able to add to the experience. I don’t have any say in the editing, but I can create visuals for them that will help others visualize what they had in their own heads for maybe years already.

4.      What have your experiences been like working with the authors and promoters?

They’ve been great! Writers are my sort-of people anyways, but those who decide to promote books if just personally as a fan or more officially as a book bloggers realize what a work of love a book takes. It’s wonderful see everyone support each other for the sheer love of it. 

5.      What is the hardest part in marketing?

I’d say the hardest part is trying to meet everyone. It’s a huge community and there are countless indie books, bloggers, and readers that even if I was a Big Five powerhouse I’d never see. It’s important to build those relationships and that simply takes time.

6.      And what is the best part?

Actually getting to know neat people that you otherwise might have never known and helping that author present something they love to everyone. From a more design point of view it makes me smile to see a graphic I did somewhere on someone’s website. 

7.      Last question; If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be and why?

Ask me another day and I might say someone else, but today we are hands down going to go with Nikola Tesla. He was such a neat guy and there is so much we don’t really know of him since he gets overshadowed by famous people I enjoy less.

For more about me you can follow me on twitter @ArtOverChaos or on tumblr by the same name. Currently, I’m writing a science fiction web series called Bone Diggers. This historical fiction meets video game culture can be found on Wattpad, Tumblr, or DeviantArt. I hope you check it out!

Thanks for having me Katie! 

Curiosity Quills Social Media & Marketing Guru: Clare Dugmore

Clare is a thirty-something, aspiring author from England, and Queen of Social Media at Curiosity Quills Press.

She runs the Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and Goodreads accounts for the team, all the while assisting in the curation of blog content, including guest posts from authors and weekly columns.

She also schedules and organizes virtual blog tours for CQ authors, and is the person to go to for ARC and review copies.

Tell us how you came to work with Curiosity Quills Press.

When both my sons reached school age, I began looking for work that would allow me to remain at home (so I wouldn’t have to get a sitter for when they got out of school), that was flexible to the needs of a parent, and also related to the publishing industry, too, as I’m also an author.

My mum suggested I see what jobs were available with publishers online, do I began reaching out. I’d heard of Curiosity Quills previously in my research for publishers, and they’re one I’d marked down to query in the future, as I loved what they were doing, knew a few people who’d published/ were going to publish with them, and liked the speculative fiction niche they’d carved for themselves.

I had a very fun Skype interview with Alisa, which led to an internship, after which I was taken on fulltime to manage the social media platforms. After a few months, I was offered the role of web curator too, and joined the marketing team.

That was almost eighteen months ago, and I’ve been lucky enough to watch CQ expand and go through some exciting changes since then. We’re now moving to a distributor, and with the awesome website Eugene created, the future looks amazing!

What does your job entail?

Making sure the Curiosity Quills social media platforms are up to date with current sale, release, pre-order information, and anything else relating to our titles and authors, along with a peppering of literature and writing related things from around the internet.

Adding new titles to the CQ site, and Goodreads, along with creating Goodreads giveaways.

Sending paperbacks to giveaway winners and reviewers, along with creating quotes and filling orders for authors.

Assisting CQ team member Hans with web curation – he mostly deals with serials and regular columns, while I deal with announcements and blog posts by authors and CQ team members.

Organizing review tours, and sending out the monthly reviewer newsletter featuring current and forthcoming titles.

Participating in marketing discussions about covers, promos, events etc.

Contacting bookstores/ libraries/ colleges etc. on behalf of authors to arrange events/ signings.

What do you enjoy most about working with Social Media & Marketing?

As an author myself, I know how much hard work goes into writing a book (let alone everything that comes after it!), so I love seeing an author go from signing with CQ, to their book getting released and the first couple of review coming in, to making it onto bestseller lists on Amazon or getting nominated for awards. The whole process is amazing to watch/ be part of, and I’m so thrilled for – and proud of – our amazing authors.

One of my favourite parts of the whole process is the cover design aspect. I love seeing the initial concept, and artist’s first drafts, and then the author’s reaction when the perfect cover they love is created. We have some amazingly talented cover artists at CQ!

What have your experiences been like organizing all the authors?

Mostly positive. Every job has bad days, but on the whole I love working with the CQ authors, and they’re very easy to organize and do whatever they can to make my job easier.

What is the hardest part of running Social Media & Marketing?

I hate giving authors bad news – be it sending across a less than positive review, or letting them know I haven’t been able to secure a signing/ event. Though they’re always understanding about the things beyond my control.

And what is the best part?

Sharing their success. I love it when our authors get nominated for awards, make bestseller lists or get glowing reviews!

Last question; If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be and why?

Oh, great question. I’d love a dinner party with my favourite authors – Anne Rice, JK Rowling, George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien!