ANNA STANIZEWSKI GUEST POST ON MARKETING A SERIES AND MY SORT OF FAIRY TALE ENDING 3 BOOK GIVE AWAY

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Happy Monday! For me, it's a great day. I'm off today because I had another day I needed to take before the end of the year or I'd lose it. And after Friday, I'm off work until January 2nd. We'll be spending a quiet holiday at home this year. I'm so looking forward to it after being in China during the holidays last year. I'm hoping to do some fun things with my daughter, get some writing done, and start an online office 10 course that will help with my job search next year. Hope you all have fantastic holiday plans.

So, the banquet for the girl's high school swim team was last week and it's official. Anna Li is one of the three captains on the team. I'm excited for her because she's been hoping for this since 9th grade. She wanted to be captain because of who she is as a person, not just because she's a fast swimmer and I think she achieved that goal. This also means I'll be swim mom next year. I'm more nervous about that, but I'm doing it with a friend and a mom who has done it two years in the past so hopefully, it'll be okay.

FOLLOWER NEWS 

Stina Lindenblatt is doing a blog hop the week of January 13th to celebrate the release of her NA contemporary story, TELL ME WHEN. Because the story deals with stalking and kidnapping, she's asking people to post a short blog post about stalking, either a personal story or in general. I'm a friend of Stina's and am excited to participate. If you want to as well, go HERE to join the blog tour.

Kelly Polark just released a new picture book, HOLD THE MUSTARD. Go HERE to congratulate her.

If you are a regular follower and have news, like agent or book contract news, book release news, or a cover for your new book, be sure to let me know so I can shout out about it for you. E-mail me at natalieiaguirre7@gmail.com

And I have a winner to announce.

The winner of CONTROL is Nutshell!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book. Please e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

Today I’m thrilled to have Anna Stanizewski back as part of her blog tour for MY SORT OF FAIRY TALE ENDING, the last book in her MG humorous fantasy series. I’ve been honored to be a part of the blog tours for all three of her fantastic blog tours.

Here’s a description of MY SORT OF FAIRY TALE ENDING from Goodreads:

Happily ever after? Yeah, right.

Jenny's search for her parents leads her to Fairyland, a rundown amusement park filled with creepily happy fairies and disgruntled leprechauns. Despite the fairies' kindness, she knows they are keeping her parents from her. If only they would stop being so happy all the time-it's starting to weird her out! With the help of a fairy-boy and some rebellious leprechauns, Jenny finds a way to rescue her parents, but at the expense of putting all magical worlds in danger. Now Jenny must decide how far she is willing to go to put her family back together.

Anna’s got a fantastic post on how to market a series. I learned a lot from reading it and hope you do too. And at the end of the post are details on how you can enter a fantastic giveaway to celebrate the end of her series.

So here’s Anna.

8 Tips for Marketing a Series by Anna Staniszewski

Marketing a series is a tricky business. When the first book comes out, there’s a lot of excitement involved, but there’s also anxiety about finding an audience. When the sequel is released, you have readers looking forward to the second installment, but you also have to find new ways to reach people who haven't even heard of the first one. And finally, when the last book is published (whether it’s the third volume or the seventh), there’s the thrill of wrapping everything up but also the fear of disappointing fans and of leaving them with nothing more to read.

Lots to consider, right? I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but here are some things that I’ve found helpful for marketing a series.

The First Book

Cast a Wide Net
Aim to establish an online presence (blog interviews, book trailers, Facebook pages) as well as an

in-person presence (signings, author panels, school visits). Try as many things as you can to see what you like, what works, and what doesn’t. When you’re just starting out, I think it’s best to try anything; the worst that can happen is that something will bomb and you’ll know never to do it again.

Celebrate!
Have a launch party or another event around your release date. Invite everyone you can think of—you never know who’ll come out of the woodwork to help you celebrate this milestone. The goal here isn’t just about sales; it’s about creating a network of people who feel connected to you and to your work.

The Second Book

Create Bonus Content
Give your readers something to tide them over in between books. Release a short story online that’s related to your books, give readers a sneak peek of the sequel’s first chapter, or create a video in which you answer readers’ questions. Additional content will help make the time between books fly by.

Celebrate!
Yes, have another party! I know some people prefer to be low-key for the release of follow-up books, but remember that you are not the only person who’s excited about your book coming out. Give people a chance to congratulate you. If need be, bribe potential attendees with cookies.

Share, Don’t Promote
Now that you’ve released two books, you’ve probably learned a few things about writing, publishing, etc. Share your wisdom through guest posts, articles, and workshops. Not only will you be able to help other writers and readers, but you’ll have a chance to spread the word about your books in a way that doesn’t feel like self-promotion.

The Last Book

Reach Out
Now that you’ve had plenty of practice with creating your online presence and doing in-person events, step it up and do all the ones that have worked in the past. Even though you’ve already created a fan base, it’s never too late to connect with new readers.

Celebrate!
Are you seeing a pattern? Maybe you don’t need a launch party for every single book you ever publish, but the final installment in a series is a big deal. Give readers a chance to come support you as you say goodbye to your baby.

Look Ahead
If you have a contract for a new book, great! Make sure readers of your first series know about it. If you

haven’t sold a new book yet, don’t panic. Remember that you’ve already written a series. After surviving that crazy rollercoaster, you can do anything!


Bio:
Born in Poland and raised in the United States, Anna Staniszewski grew up loving stories in both Polish and English. She was named the 2006-2007 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the 2009 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. When she’s not writing, Anna spends her time teaching, reading, and challenging unicorns to games of hopscotch. She is the author of the My Very UnFairy Tale Life series, published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. Look for the first book in Anna’s next tween series, The Dirt Diary, in January 2014, and visit her at http://www.annastan.com.

Anna’s publisher Sourcebooks generously offered all three books in this series to one lucky winner. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through January 4th. I’ll announce the winner on January 6th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 or older to enter. This is for US/Canada residents only.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was started by Shannon Messenger and you can find all the blogs participating today HERE.

Here’s what’s coming up:

First, I wish you all a happy holiday season and a Happy New Year! I hope we all have a happy year filled with good news, including book news.

On Saturday, December 21st I’ll be participating in the Midwinter Eve Giveaway Hop. I’ll have lots of great YA book choices. It’ll run through December 31st so stop by when you have time. This will be my last post until January 6, 2014.

On January 6th, I’m interviewing debut author Sara Larson and giving away an ARC of DEFY, her YA fantasy about a girl who impersonates a boy in the Prince’s guard to escape being sent to an awful breeding house. I love stories with strong female characters like in DEFY and this is a real page turner.

I have a number of great debut author interviews and giveaways that I’m excited to share with you in January Come back on January 6th to find out about some of them.

And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Thursday agent spotlights.

Hope to see you on Saturday!