Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Experiment.

As an unknown author and unknown person, really, it's hard to create and maintain buzz about the book Open-Eyed Sneeze through this blog alone. Social media is obviously a tool, but facebook changes everyday and my twitter account seems to be followed mostly by porn spam and restaurants. Not exactly my target audience.

So what's a girl to do?

Ideally, I'd like Open-Eyed Sneeze to be the go-to gift for graduates. How many of you received Oh, The Places You'll Go! for graduation? I'm guessing a lot. I have three copies of that book. But if people are going to know about Open-Eyed Sneeze by May, I have to get the word out on my end. In an effort to do this, I'm starting something new and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if you could be a part of it.

Here's what's up:
I'm starting what I like to think of as the Tupperware Party of the indie-publishing world. I'm calling it, "The Open-Eyed Sneeze National Living Room Book Tour."

Here's how it works:
You're a friend of mine, or get in touch with me, and you invite some buddies over. I show up with books, a case of domestic beer, and stories. The evening can be set up in anyway you like.
-If you're inviting your book club/writing pals, we can talk about the book, or the publishing process, or writing, or anything.
-If you're inviting friends and just want to drink the beer I bring, we can chill.
-I can perform what's known to no one as sit-down comedy, which is basically just me talking on your sofa, trying to come up with a routine as I go. (I've done this for my grandma and she lurves it. It hasn't been tested anywhere else.)
-These can be like mini-launches, a way for me to meet new people around the country, spread the word, and write along the way-- A new blog will document the tour.

What do you think? Is there any interest in this at all? I'll be putting up a list of possible tour cities and if you live in one and think you might want to get in on the fun, let me know. All living room tour groups will have their own featured post on the blog, and, um, the beer.

I realize the goals of this are a little vague right now. But that hasn't stopped the thousands of people currently camped out on Wall Street. Sometimes, it's just nice to get together!

Feedback greatly appreciated.

6 comments:

Suzanne said...

Your first PA experiment in Philly will be with me!!!!!! LOVE this idea!

Anonymous said...

Contact these people and try to get your book on their site: http://www.gifts.com/ideas/graduation

Or, you know, other things like that. So that when people search for "graduation gift", your book is one of the options they see.

When it's around April, you should get the $100 free google adwords and facebook ads and max them out with one search term, like "cheap graduation gift" or something.

Also right now is when people start doing blog posts about christmas gifts, with gifts for teens and college students (and also affordable gifts) being popular topics. I would write up a form letter and start sending it to big bloggers.

You did not ask for this much feedback! I should stop typing...

Jess said...

Thanks, Suzanne!

Anon- thank you SO much. that's amazing advice and completely helpful! I really, really appreciate it! You didn't have to stop typing:)

Anonymous said...

DC is only about 2 hours from Philly..bring it!
-Meg (TRF)

Jess said...

yeeeah, Meg! I'm definitely going to be in the area (MD for sure, maybe northern VA) so I'd love to DC as well. We can also screen our film.

Anonymous said...

I always forget to sign these things (that anonymous comment was from me before). I think when i get back to boston you should come live in our guestroom for like 2 weeks and we should furiously work on promoting our various businesses. thiiiiiink about it - jane