Friday, December 12, 2014

INDIE AUTHORS: PR FOR YOUR KDP GIVEAWAY (HELPFUL HINT)


For the better part of 2014, I've been working with British mystery author Celia Conrad to boost the visibility and sales of her trilogy, "Alicia Allen Investigates," which never had a proper launch when it was originally published. If you find yourself in the re-launch boat, you might want to take advantage of the free Amazon service known as Kindle Direct Publishing for authors, and offer your book as a Kindle-friendly E-Book for a limited number of days. Yes, you might run the "danger" of over-saturating the sales possibilities, and yes, it does make the heart sink a bit when you see thousands of people have downloaded your book for FREE and even if they'd paid a dollar each...well, let's not go there.

Here's the reason Conrad and I decided to run the KDP specials along with the rest of our re--launch PR:

If you use the KDP as a raison d'etre for fresh publicity (meaning press releases), you could be looking at a win-win victory. PR Distribution services are free, but the editors are very strict about not allowing any pure publicity stunts to leak through your press release. It must be:


  • Well written.
  • Newsworthy
  • Timely (e.g., your KDP offer is coming up shortly)

The last book in the trilogy, "Murder in Hand," will be coming up for the free Kindle E-Book Giveaway on Dec. 13 and 14, and we have used this press release (below) not only for PR Distribution pickup (Broadway World Book News and the BBC Record picked it up, just to name a couple media outlets that thrilled us), but we also sent it via e-mails to book clubs, etc. with a personalized note/

Here then is the press release as it was posted on PR.com a few days ago, with my best wishes for your success along your novel journey!

Onward,

Marlan Warren (Book Publicity by Marlan)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LINKED IN NEWS FEED TODAY:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/indie-authors-pr-hint-youre-marlan-warren

For immediate release:
Barcham Books fights “Forces of Evil” with holiday KDP Giveaway (Dec. 13-14) of Celia Conrad’s Italian Crime Romp “Murder in Hand”: Bone up on your Puccini!

“Alicia Allen should be on the top of every woman’s reading list.”
 —Readers’ Favorite 5 Star Award Review

On Dec. 13 through Dec. 14, Barcham Books will gift readers with Book 3 in Celia Conrad’s Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy (AAI), Murder in Hand (MIH), as a free e-book via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select program. “It’s our way of saying thank you and wishing everyone a happy holiday,” said Barcham Books’ Jane Hall. “Everyone, it seems, just loves Alicia.”

This cerebral legal murder mystery turns on Italian international corruption, Puccini and dead Probate attorneys as it hails the return of Alicia Allen, the potato chip loving half-Italian London lawyer who never lets her thriving relationship with a handsome lawyer cohort stand in the way of fingering a culprit.

“The beauty part is that Murder in Hand can be read as a stand-alone,” Hall added.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Memories of made of this: Thanks for a great year (+One-Sheets for Celia Conrad's Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy)

Happy Holidays!

Like the shoemaker who was too busy to make his own shoes, I've neglected updates for my own PR blog. As the year draws to a close (farewell 2014!), I realize that I have not attended to my own marketing--in other words, Communication.

I began the year with the dual launch of Santa Fe authors Judith Fein and Nancy King (The Spoon from Minkowitz and Changing Spaces, respectively). The prep started in September 2013 with Nancy needing my assistance in the packaging of the book at every level before publication, including a rather harrowing experience where the indie publisher and Amazon got their wires crossed and Changing Spaces was listed with its summary...under another book title and author (complete with the wrong book cover); and fielding 20 emails a day from the Human Dynamo that is travel writer extraordinaire Judith Fein. Personal book appearances galore were organized, ditto radio interviews (including one major cap feather: NPR asked to feature Fein and her book).

Throughout the year, I negotiated and re-negotiated and gave out free how-to info to newbie authors, and learned learned learned....

Barcham Books fights “Forces of Evil” with Kindle Direct Publishing Giveaway (Dec.13-14) of Celia Conrad’s Italian Crime Romp “Murder in Hand”: Bone up on your Puccinii!



My interview with “tough little cookie” Celia Conrad: The British author shares her journey from law to crime fiction as she endorses Barcham Books holiday launch of “Murder in Hand” via Amazon KDP E-Book Giveaway (12/13-12/14/14). Distributed by PR.com to relevant newswires and picked up by Broadway World Books News and the BBC Record, among other key sites.

Author: Celia Conrad
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Barcham Books    
Pages: 352
Trade Paperback and All E-Book Formats
ISBN 13: 978-0954623340
ASIN: B00A1O1YQE

"The greatest pleasures lie in Celia Conrad's refusal or inability to write for the lowest common denominator. Instead she aims for the highest." —Midwest Book Review (Murder in Hand)

On Dec. 13 through Dec. 14, Barcham Books will gift readers with Book 3 in Celia Conrad’s Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy (AAI), Murder in Hand (MIH), as a free e-book via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select program. “It’s our way of saying thank you and wishing everyone a happy holiday,” said Barcham Books’ Jane Hall. “We are very pleased that Midwest Book Review features Murder in Hand this month. Everyone, it seems, just loves Alicia.”

This cerebral legal murder mystery turns on Italian international corruption, Puccini and dead Probate attorneys as it hails the return of Alicia Allen, the potato chip loving half-Italian London lawyer who never lets her thriving relationship with a handsome lawyer cohort stand in the way of fingering a culprit.

“The beauty of Murder in Hand is that it can be read as a stand-alone,” said Hall.

Journalist Marlan Warren recently sat down with Celia Conrad to discuss her author’s journey from law to legal crime fiction:

Warren: All the AAI books deal with the darker side of the legal world. Did you draw from your experiences as a London attorney?

Conrad: As a solicitor I met some rather obnoxious people and a few shady/unsavory characters.

Warren: Did you ever find yourself pursuing a murderer in your law practice?

Conrad: My world is far less dangerous than Alicia’s, although we do share love for Italian culture and a crisp that rhymes with “Tingles.” We both like researching and analyzing complex legal issues.

Warren: The Italophile Book Review recommended MIH for “Italophiles, Anglophiles, fans of traditional British mysteries, and fans of cozy-murder-mysteries.” Would you agree?

Conrad: Absolutely. And I was thrilled when the Readers’ Favorite 5-Star Award Review said Alicia “should be on the top of every woman’s reading list.” My fan mail shows AAI readers like strong but not perfect female detectives, and they love the repartee between Alicia and Alex.


Author Celia Conrad


Warren: Book 1 sends Alicia through London’s urban dangers. Book 2 takes her to Australia, and Book 3 spans New York, London, Italy and Sicily. Italian culture provides color and clues. What inspired you to use Puccini in Book 3?

Conrad: When I first saw Puccini’s opera, Gianni Schicchi, I hoped to use it in a plot of my own, and it did prove most “handy” in Murder in Hand.

Warren: Can you sum up Alicia Allen?

Conrad: She’s a tough little cookie who will stop at nothing.

Warren: And the theme of MIH ?

Conrad: Forces of darkness are everywhere.

Warren: What inspired you?

Conrad: Paul Marsh at the Marsh Agency suggested my experiences could make good novels.

Book Trailer for Book 1 in the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilolgy: A Model Murder





MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW "Murder in Hand" by British-Italian Author Celia Conrad




MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW Reader's Choice: MURDER IN HAND this month. Congratulations, Celia Conrad!

“Murder in Hand”: Italian Probate, Puccini & Dead Lawyers

MIH
Lawyers aren’t the most popular people, Miss Allen…”
—Murder in Hand

In her cerebral legal mystery, Murder in Hand, Celia Conrad pulls her feisty London Probate/Estate lawyer heroine, Alicia Allen, deeper into the quagmire world of unscrupulous attorneys, the unfortunates who work with them and their unsuspecting innocent victims. In this third book of the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy (AAI), Conrad hits her stride as a bona fide puzzle master in the tradition of Agatha Christie. The easy-to-follow plot line keeps readers guessing and the pages turning, while great pleasures lie in Conrad’s refusal–or perhaps inability–to write for the lowest common denominator of brain power. Instead she aims for the highest.
 
 If you want to roll with Alicia Allen…better bring your A-Game (and some knowledge of the Classics wouldn’t hurt).

Murder in Hand could be enjoyed as a stand-alone book if readers don’t mind not knowing the history between the justice-loving attorney Alicia Allen and her adoring cohort Alex Waterford; her investigator friends, Jo and Will; or her cultured elderly neighbor Dorothy.

The story takes off when Alicia’s Italian American client Fabio confides that he believes someone is trying to kill him. Fabio’s family ties span New York, England and Italy/Sicily; and when his sister is killed in the midst of doing some family estate research in Italy, Alicia embarks on a quest to find the killer.


 Gianni_Schicchi_Dore_Gustav
“I can’t leave you alone for a few hours without somebody else being murdered.”—Murder in Hand