The Essential Guide to Promo Day 2017

Just one day to go until this years big event!

In this post you'll find all the information you need to make sure you get the most out of the Promo Day event event.

Important info

Promo Day is all day event on Saturday 6th May.

The event is completely FREE to attend and open to everyone.

Registration will remain open until the end of the event so late comers still get the opportunity to take part. To register just click on "REGISTER NOW" and enter your details. 

Registration is super easy and will only take a minute. You will then have access to the forums where the main event takes place.

Everyone who registers for this years event will received a FREE Book Marketing ebook from Publishing Push just for signing up.

The Forums

The main event takes place in the forums. Here you'll find the webinars, be able to pitch publishers, enter the giveaways, promote your books, network with other attendees, etc...

The forums are mobile friendly so you can enter them using your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Whichever is easiest for you.

Your Profile

Once you've registered for the event you'll have access to the forums. Here you can set up your profile. This is not obligatory but it's a good way to stand out and promote yourself during the event. Just log into the forums and then click on your username in the top right hand corner.

Then click on Edit. You can upload a profile picture, avatar, and insert details like your website url. Filling out this information makes it easier for you to network during the event and connect with other attendees.

You can also set up an auto signature to show on all posts you make to the forums during the event. 

The Webinars

The following webinars can be found in the forums for the whole duration of the event so you can watch them at your own pace. This also means that whatever time zone you're attending from you won't miss out on any of the presentations.

To take part in the webinars just click on the "Webinar" thread in the forums.

The presenters will be dropping by their threads throughout the day so if you have any questions for them, or comments about each webinar, you can post in that thread and they will get back to you.

The Pitch Sessions

During the event you'll have the opportunity to pitch your manuscript to publishers. 

Participating publishers include:

Champagne Books Group (CBG)

4RV Publishing

In the forums you'll find the "Pitch Sessions" thread. This is where each publisher will let you know their guidelines and what they are looking for. 

Follow the instructions and send them your pitch. They will get back to you before the end of the event to let you know if they are interested or not. 

The Giveaways

There are loads of fantastic giveaways for you to enter during the Promo Day event. All giveaways can be found under the "Giveaways" thread in the forums.

Prizes include; free books, book marketing consultation sessions, editing services, and more... 

If you have any further questions about the event or require assistance please contact via email.

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Webinar: How to Get Offline Sales with Skye Hegyes

Title: How to Get Offline Sales

Presenter: Skye Hegyes

About the Webinar:

Learn the ins and outs of selling books and talking to new people at events such as fairs and conventions. Discover how setting up your table can draw in a crowd and intrigue people into learning more about you and your work.

About Skye:

Dragons, wolves, and sharp objects are commonplace in Skye Hegyes’s home in North Carolina. She spends most of her time between writing and working. When not doing either of these things, you may find her making crafts or adventuring with her family, which consists of her husband, two daughters, two parakeets... and a partridge in a pear tree…

Connect with Skye:

Website: www.skyehegyes.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/skyehegyes

Twitter: www.twitter.com/skyehegyes

Register now for Promo Day 2017 for access to the forums where you'll find all the webinars, pitch sessions, giveaways, and loads of opportunities to promote and network on Saturday 6th May 2017 

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Webinar: Your Pre-Submission Checklist with Stacey Brewer

Title: Your Pre-Submission Checklist

Presenter: Stacey Brewer

About the webinar

A pre-submission checklist and discussion to make sure you have everything ready to go and that you don't forget anything before sending your manuscript to an agent or publisher.

About Stacey

Stacey Brewer has been the managing editor for PDMI Publishing, LLC, for the last 4 years and writes fantasy of all flavors, magical realism, and fiction (though she also suffers from the occasional steampunk and sci-fi ambitions). A little time studying journalism was all it took to turn Stacey into a proper grammar fiend, and a love of reading well-written books drives her to continually study the craft of writing and use those studies to help authors refine their work and make it the best it can be.

Connect with Stacey

Website: https://staceyhaggardbrewer.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StaceyHaggardBrewer/

Twitter: @AuthorStaceyB

Register now for Promo Day 2017 for access to the forums where you'll find all the webinars, pitch sessions, giveaways, and loads of opportunities to promote and network on Saturday 6th May 2017 

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Promo Day 2017 Giveaways: The Frugal Editor

Carolyn Howard Johnson is donating some ebooks as prizes for this years giveaways that will be taking place during the Promo Day event on Saturday 6th May. Make sure you register now for a chance to enter.

The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (Second Edition Subtitle: Do-it-yourself editing secrets for authors: From your query letter to final manuscript to the marketing of your new bestseller) from the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers. 

Awards: Winner USA Book News, Reader Views Literary Award, Next Generation Marketing Award. The e-book is a  Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist and was given an Honorable Mention by Dan Poynter's Global EBook Award, 2014. 

ISBN: 9780978515874

Distributors: Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Createspace

To order the new second edition as a paperback or e-book on Amazon: http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor

 “Language is a fluid lifeform. To assume that because we once learned grammar one way, that way will always be accepted is fallacious. To neglect researching the language we write in when we so assiduously research the facts for what we write is folly.” ~ Quote from The Frugal Editor

There are gremlins out there determined to keep your work from being published, your book from being promoted. Resolved to embarrass you before the gatekeepers who can turn the key of success for you, they lurk in your subconscious and the depths of your computer programs. Whether you are a new or experienced author, The Frugal Editorwill help you present whistle-clean copy (from a one-page cover letter to your entire manuscript) to those who have the power to say “yea” or “nay.”

“The Frugal Editor: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets for Authors is a complete course of instruction under one cover.” ~ Midwest Book Review

“Absolutely essential for beginning writers and a necessary reminder for the more advanced. The mentor you've been looking for.  This book won't collect dust!” ~ Christina Francine, review for Fjords Review

“Using the basic computer and editing tricks from The Frugal Editor, authors can prevent headaches and save themselves time—and even money—during the editing process. It’s well worth your effort to learn them.” ~ Barbara McNichol, Barbara McNichol Editorial

“Writers and editors have a true friend in Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Her word smarts, her publishing savvy, and her sincere commitment to authors and editors make The Frugal Editor a must-have resource.” ~ June Casagrande, author of The Best Punctuation Book, Period and Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies (Penguin) and syndicated grammar columnist

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Promo Day 2017 Giveaways: How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically

Carolyn Howard Johnson is donating some ebooks as prizes for this years giveaways that will be taking place during the Promo Day event on Saturday 6th May. Make sure you register now for a chance to enter.

IT’S HERE! ALL NEW! 340 PAGES OF REVIEW SECRETS

 

How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: 

The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career

Third in the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers 

ISBN-13: 978-1536948370

ISBN-10: 1536948373

ASIN: BOIMQCKRF5         

BISAC: LAN00400, BUS058010

Distributors: Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Createspace

For more advance information: http://bit.ly/HowToGetReviews

 

To order as a paperback:http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews

 

How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is the culmination of a nearly two decades Carolyn Howard-Johnson spent helping writers avoid pitfalls, misconceptions, and out-and-out scams perpetrated on unsuspecting authors . . . and helping them reach their dreams of great reviews, great book tours, and great launches. It turns out that Getting Great Book Reviews is the essence for a successful marketing campaign that includes all those things and—more importantly—for building the readership necessary for a prosperous writing career.

 

BLURBS

 

The most comprehensive book on getting book reviews I’ve ever come across. In her usual warm and easy-to-follow manner, Howard-Johnson outlines everything you need to know to maximise your  book’s chances  . . . an excellent resource that both beginning and seasoned authors can return to again and again
~ Magdalena Ball, owner of the prestigious review site, CompulsiveReader.com 

 

“Getting Great Book Reviews is another HowToDoItFrugally winner! Both new authors and seasoned veterans will get a lot out of this book! I put several of Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s tips into practice while I was reading and with great results.

~ L. Diane Wolfe, author, speaker, and owner of Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

 

“Carolyn Howard-Johnson has written the most comprehensive and modern guide to getting book reviews that I’ve ever come across. In her usual warm and easy-to-follow manner, Howard-Johnson outlines everything you need to know to maximise your chances of multiple reviews, from writing review query letters, creating reviewer lists, creating and sending ARCs and galleys, making the most of Amazon, making the most of every review, and even how to write your own (for other people’s books) and why you should.  This is an excellent resource that both beginning and seasoned authors can return to again and again.” ~ Magdalena Ball, owner of the online book review site and newsletter, http://compulsivereader.com

 

"Getting well-written and fair reviews is the single biggest block to independent authors and small presses. Carolyn Howard-Johnson takes on the problem head-on in this easy-to-use recipe for book review success. To paraphrase the late great Dan Poynter, your book is your business card so the single best marketing tool you have is to send out copies for review.” ~ Victor Volkman, publisher LHPress

You can find out more about the giveaway for another of her books the Frugal Book Promoter that will also be for grabs during the Promo day 2017 event on Saturday 6th May at http://www.promoday.net/2017/04/promo-day-2017-giveaway-frugal-book.html

The giveaways will be taking place during the Promo Day event on Saturday 6th May. Make sure you register now for a chance to enter.

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Webinar: Making Public Appearances Work for You as an Author with Clay Gilbert

Webinar: Stepping Out of the Pages:  Making Public Appearances Work for You as an Author

Presenter: Clay Gilbert

About the webinar:

In this webinar, science-fiction and horror novelist—and longtime staff member for Atlanta’s DragonCon--Clay Gilbert explains how you can get the most out of book signings and convention appearances, making them not only an important part of connecting with readers and increasing your visibility, but having FUN while you do it!

About Clay:

Clay Gilbert has been hearing the voices of aliens, vampires, and people from the future since about the age of four.  It wasn't long before he started to think taking notes on what they said might be a good idea.  This has led him many places—through the halls and classrooms of many schools, where he's been both in front of the teacher's desk and behind it, himself—to presenter's podiums at conventions, and, most often, to the comfortable chair behind his writing desk at home, where he uses his Dell computer as both a beacon and a translator for the voices that still find their way through from countless worlds and planes of existence. Clay’s work in various genres has been in print since his first short science fiction story, “The Computer Conspiracy,” was published in Scholastic magazine when he was just thirteen. He holds an M.A. in English literature from Auburn University, and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from the University of Souh Carolina. Clay is the author of the science fiction novels Annah: Children of Evohe, Book One and Eternity, as well as the vampire novel Dark Road to Paradise.  His current projects include the soon-to-be-published Annah and the Exiles: Children of Evohe, Book Two and Annah and the Gates of Grace: Children of Evohe, Book Three, as well as Cassie’s Song, a sequel to Dark Road to Paradise. He has also served as the Chief Editor for PDMI Publishing, and has been a member of the volunteer staff for DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia for the past decade.  He lives and works in Knoxville, TN.  His author blog can be found at https://portalsandpathways.wordpress.com/, and the official website for his Children of Evohe novels resides at https://childrenofevohe.com/.

Connect with Clay:

Official “Children of Evohe” series website: https://childrenofevohe.com/.

Author blog: https://portalsandpathways.wordpress.com

Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Clay-Gilbert/e/B00BS1N1W4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1492008209&sr=8-1

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6952531.Clay_Gilbert

Register now for Promo Day 2017 for access to the forums where you'll find all the webinars, pitch sessions, giveaways, and loads of opportunities to promote and network on Saturday 6th May 2017 

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Promo Day 2017 Giveaway: The Frugal Book Promoter

Carolyn Howard Johnson is donating some ebooks as prizes for this years giveaways that will be taking place during the Promo Day event on Saturday 6th May. Make sure you register now for a chance to enter.

One of the prizes up for grabs is her award winning book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or partnering with your publisher (Second Edition) from the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

First Edition Awards: Winner USA Book News, coveted Irwin Award

Award for Second Edition: USA Book News winner, silver medal from Military Writers Society of America, honored by Global Ebook Awards

ISBN: 9781463743291

Distributors: Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Createspace

To order paperback or e-book on Amazon: http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo

 

For only a few cents a day The Frugal Book Promoter assures your book the best possible start in life. Full of nitty-gritty how-tos for getting nearly-free publicity, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, an instructor for UCLA’s Writers’ Program and former publicist and journalist, shares her professional experience as well as practical tips gleaned from the successes of her own book campaigns. She tells authors how to do what their publishers can’t or won’t and why authors can often do their own promotion better than a PR professional. The first edition is a multi award winner and the second edition is a USA Book News winner. It is updated and expanded by more than 100 pages.

 

A recommendation from BarnesandNobel.com: Feather Schwartz Foster, an author, September 9, 2004

“Packed With Wonderful Information! For anyone who has written a book of any kind - this is a must-have, and must-keep guide! Every chapter is filled with insights and how-tos and a whole bunch of where-to-finds!”

 

“[Carolyn Howard-Johnson is] an incessant promoter who develops and shares new approaches for book promotion.”

~ Marilyn Ross, founder Small Publishers of North America and coauthor of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing

“. . . until now I didn’t have many other staples to recommend to new authors looking for publicity.”

~ Jenna Glatzer, author of Make a Real Living as a Freelance Author (Writer’s Digest)

 

“At last—a solid, sensible, systematic guide to the ins and outs of promotion and publicity. Written by a writer, for writers—Carolyn Howard-Johnson proves that she’s not only an accomplished poet, essayist, and novelist, but also a marketing maestro!”
~ JayCe Crawford, Cup of Comfort author, copyright professional

All giveaways will take place during the Promo Day event on Saturday 6th May. You must be registered on site to be able to enter the giveaways. 

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Promo Day Success Stories: Across Spacetime

Every year during the Promo Day event, a group of publishers take part in pitch sessions. These publishers are on the look out for talented authors with the right manuscript. 

How the pitch sessions work:

1) Participating publishers post their submission guidelines to the event forums.

2) Registered Promo Day attendees can then send them their pitch.

3) The publishers send back a reply THE SAME DAY. That's right, no waiting weeks, months, or even years for a reply. They let you know during the event if they are interested or not.

4) If the publisher is interested they will then guide you through the next steps in the process.

Promo Day Success Stories

Today I wanted to share with you one of the pitch session success stories.

Author Angela Guidolin pitched her idea to publisher Fountain Blue Publishing  during the 2015 event. Her book Across Spacetime was released in March 2017 (purchase now at: Smashwords).

Ms Guidolin had this to say: “When two years ago I partook in Promo Day, I didn’t expect it would be so important for my writing career. As the day went on, I discovered a treasure throve of information regarding the marketing and publishing industry; I took part in a competition to win five ebooks offered by PDMI Publishing and I pitched my manuscript to Fountain Blue Publishing. The following day Jo announced to me I was the winner of the competition and by mid-July I signed my first publishing contract for a novella.”

About the book:

2651: Humans have colonised most of the Solar System, and have a vast theoretical knowledge of the multiverse. The Martian branch of the Earth History Institute decides to put that knowledge to use by offering a few lucky students the chance to spend a short while on a different point of the spacetime continuum for research purposes.  

Samir, a young Terran, takes this opportunity to experience London in the ‘90. A few years later he happens upon another time traveller, Beatrice, a young Progressive (human from the outer planetary systems). They fall in love, but for their story to work out, they have to overcome their own prejudice and change their expectations from life.

"During the PromoDay event in 2015, we received an query from Angela Guidolin for her novella Across Spacetime. Her query was well written and her story concept was intriguing, so we requested the full manuscript for consideration. After careful review by several staff members, it was agreed that her concept was unique, her writing was strong, and her story was worthy of publishing. We appreciate the opportunities that Promo Day affords to authors and publishers." Melanie Fountain, Fountain Blue Publishing.

Are you an author with a manuscript to pitch? Register now to attend the 2017 event. It's FREE!

Are you a Publisher and interested in taking pitches during the 2017 event on Saturday 6th May? Email PromoDay@ymail.com for more information

Do you have your own Promo Day Success Story to tell? Email PromoDay@ymail.com and let us know the details.

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