Angel City Beat

 by Sybil Johnson

As many of you know I live in the Los Angeles area. We’ve been in the news lately because of the horrendous fires that have devastated parts of the area, Altadena and Pacific Palisade in particular. We live far enough away from these fires that it hasn’t been an issue for us. The only problem we had was one or two days of smoke in the air as it came down the coast. Then the winds changed and the air cleared for us. As I write this, the fires are slowly being contained, but they’re still going on. My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a home or family members in the fires.

It’s nice to be able to share some good news. My story, “Fatal Return,” is now out in Angel City Beat, a Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles anthology. Barb Goffman edited the anthology. She was really great to work with and helped me make the story better.

I’ve had other short stories published before, all online. This is the first one that’s been part of an anthology. Very excited about it.

My story takes place in a library so I had fun with the names I chose for the characters. I looked up the names of Library of Congress librarians and famous people who had some connection with libraries. Then I mixed and matched first and last names, added a few other names and it was done. Quite fun to name characters with a theme like that.

Here are the anthology details:

The City of Angels has a dark side. Hidden beneath its shiny surface are misdeeds, miscreants, and murderers. From Santa Monica’s sandy beaches to Hollywood’s glitzy streets, from Boyle Heights to Holmby Hills to the dirt trails of the San Gabriel Mountains, there are so many tales to tell. So many people on the beat. The police detectives seeking justice. The reporters seeking truth. Writers who build beats into their movies and TV shows. And people who choose violence to beat others and come out on top. Angel City Beat is an anthology of stories that show life behind the plastic smiles of the rich and famous, the desperate pleas of the overlooked, and the promises of dreams forgotten. Angel City Beat is the beat of a city told by those who love her.

Stories by: Gail Alexander, Paula Bernstein, Anne-Marie Campbell, Jenny Carless, Ken Funsten, CFA, Daryl Wood Gerber, Sybil Johnson, Norman Klein, Amy Kluck, Melinda Loomis, Kate Mooney, Nancy Cole Silverman, Meredith Taylor, and Jacquie Wilver 

Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/AmAngelCity 

BN: https://tinyurl.com/BNAngelCity 

Kobo: https://tinyurl.com/KoboAngelCity 

I’ll be participating in some events around the L.A. area. I’ll have info about that as the details are confirmed.

 

Promote that Book!

Last Sunday I was the Featured Author at the monthly Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles meeting. That means I read for five minutes from one of my books. I think it went fairly well. At least, I didn’t hear any snoring!

The majority of the meeting was taken up with a presentation by book publicist Liz Donatelli of Liz D Publicity. She spent part of her time explaining what a book publicist does and the rest talking about what authors can do themselves to promote their work. Here are some highlights from the talk. 

• Advertising v. Book Publicity. The two are not the same thing. I don’t remember ever hearing this explanation before, but it makes sense. Advertising is paid exposure such as taking out an ad in a magazine. Book publicity is free media exposure like social media posts, articles in local newspapers, etc. As a book publicist, Liz doesn’t deal with the advertising end. 
• Be seen, be available, build a fan base.
• No effort is too small.
• Promotional materials such as bookmarks and postcards are a must. People want them. Carry them with you at all times; you never know when you’ll meet someone who will be interested in your work.
• There are no hidden secrets to book publicity. We all wish there were, but there’s nothing you can do that will guarantee book sales. Produce a great product with as unique a hook as possible.
• A website is a must. No surprise here. The pages an author should have are: (1) a Books page that includes book covers and descriptions as well as purchase links; (2) an Author page that includes a short bio and picture; (3) an Events page where you list in-person and online events; (4) a Media page that includes links to reviews, interviews and articles. Don’t list every review and be sure to keep the site up to date.
• Social media is necessary. Facebook, GoodReads and Twitter are the main platforms for authors with the first two being the most important. An author should have a Facebook page separate from a personal one. She recommended posting 1-2 times per day. For twitter aim to tweet, retweet and reply to tweets ten times per day, 80% informative and entertaining, 20% promotional. (I shrug my shoulders when I hear how many posts and tweets I’m supposed to be doing. First of all, if I’m following someone and they tweet 10 times/day, I’ll probably unfollow them. That’s too many times for me. I realize I’m probably in the minority here. And, if I tweeted that many times plus did all of the other stuff I’m “supposed” to do, I’d end up not getting any writing done.)
• Don’t rely solely on your publisher to promote your book.
• Do joint events with other authors. It’ll bring in more people. In my opinion, it’s also more fun. And if the authors are having fun, attendees will too. 
• Do both online and in-person events.
• Work your contacts. Who do you know who will/can help you contact your readers? Be creative.
• Be patient and don’t compare yourself with other authors.

Ultimately, as authors we have to decide what kind of promotion and the amount of it that we do for each book. Balancing promotion, writing and real life can be tough. What works best for one author may not work for another.

So, Type M readers, have any of you seen a book promotion activity you found particularly interesting/creative? Is there any promotional activity that you find annoying?