Guest blog by Camy Tang

We are pleased to have Camy Tang visit us during her blog tour as she promotes her latest book, “Deadly Intent.”

Promotion Routines for Writers

          Hi there! My name is Camy Tang, and I’m thrilled to be guest blogging today!

          Now, before you look at the title and think it doesn’t apply to you, let me tell you—I firmly believe that it’s never too early to start promotion, especially if you are a serious writer, seriously pursuing publication.

          Your book contract might come next week or next year or in a few years, but if you already have your promotion and marketing set up, you’re a leg ahead of all the other writers submitting to agents and editors. Yes, they look to see what you already have set up in terms of marketing!

          I have one simple rule for marketing and promotion:

          ONLY DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.

          And yes, I’M SHOUTING.

          If you don’t like booksignings, don’t pressure yourself into doing them. If you don’t like teaching, don’t guilt yourself into thinking you have to teach. If you don’t like blogging, don’t think that your publisher absolutely needs you to blog to promote yourself.

          Every person has their own strengths. Play to your strengths when it comes to promotion.

          Bottom line: figure out what you like doing. Write a list.

Here is my Promotion Routine. I personally don’t like booksignings, but I enjoy:

1. teaching, both in person and online
2. blogging
3. social networking

Teaching:

          Each year, I apply to teach at a certain number of conferences. Sometimes I get picked, sometimes I don’t. I do this to give back to the writing community and to interact with other writers rather than holing up in my office.

Blogging:

          I started a blog before I became published, and I also did a lot of research into how to blog effectively.

• Consistency: I blog 5 days a week minimum. Inconsistent blogs are ineffective promotion tools. It’s better not to blog if you can’t do it regularly.
• Short, easy to read posts: Research shows that because of the difficulty in reading a computer screen, blog posts should be 250-400 words max, have low resolution pictures for easy page loading, and have short paragraphs with LOTS of white space.
• Blog my brand: I write Christian fiction with Asian characters, so I blog about other Christian novels (I post excerpts and do giveaways), Asiana (neat things people might not know), “extras” about my books (for example, I blogged about and posted pictures of the winery that was my inspiration for my day spa in Deadly Intent, things like that), and a little bit of the personal things that interest me (food, my dog, knitting).

Social networking:

          Even before I was published, I set aside some time each day to do social networking. It basically gets my name in front of other people. When I got my first contract, I already had a bunch of people who knew me or had joined my newsletter YahooGroup who preordered my debut novel.

          In addition to Facebook, I also participate on forum boards and on email loops that have to do with my interests or the things in my book.

          For example, my books are romances, so I am an active participant on a romance reader forum boards. Notice—these are NOT WRITING loops, but READER loops, because I want to interact with readers.

          I also knit and am trying to lose weight, so I participate on boards for knitters and I’m on SparkPeople.com.

          What this does is get my name in front of people. Now, I do NOT post on these boards/loops about my book. I genuinely contribute to the conversation, but my website is always in my signature line in case people are interested in more about me. I’ve gotten several fans that way.

          Your turn! Make a list of your strengths in terms of promotion, and then brainstorm what you can do to play to your strengths!

          Thanks for having me here, guys!

Camy

DEADLY INTENT

SCENE OF THE CRIME

          The Grant family’s exclusive Sonoma spa is a place for rest and relaxation—not murder! Then Naomi Grant finds her client Jessica Ortiz bleeding to death in her massage room, and everything falls apart. The salon’s reputation is at stake…and so is Naomi’s freedom when she discovers that she is one of the main suspects! Her only solace is found with the other suspect—Dr. Devon Knightley, the victim’s ex-husband. But Devon is hiding secrets of his own. When they come to light, where can Naomi turn…and whom can she trust?

About Camy:

          Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every week, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own…), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away fourteen boxes of books and 24 copies of her latest release, DEADLY INTENT.