A Foray into Hybrid Publishing

 

For the first ten years of my writing career I happily and blissfully wrote the books of my dreams and was thrilled when publishers actually paid me an advance for the privilege of publishing them!

But when 2020 arrived, along with the events-that-shall-not-be-named, everything went topsy-turvy, including the publishing industry.

I don't intend to rehash recent history - it's enough to say I know I wasn't alone in experiencing an upheaval in my professional and personal worlds.

I wanted to do something different. In the spring of 2020, I decided to pursue a new genre. I wanted something fun. Something lighter. Something that gave me the opportunity to purse-whomp a bad guy or two (didn't we all want to purse-whomp someone at that time?) 

I turned to cozy mysteries with the thought that I would try them out. I had a target publisher, spent a year or so learning the genre, and wrote the first book in my Sweetbrier Inn Mysteries series.

But the world had gotten darker during that year to eighteen months and I quickly realized that traditional publishing wasn't an option for me at that time.*

*I want to emphasize that it wasn't an option for me. And it wasn't for me at that time.

I started exploring independent publishing. I asked for advice from our own Ruth Logan Herne and Pam Hillman and reached out to a few other friends whose indie work I admired, and started learning.

After all, Ruthy and Pam made the process look so easy! And every blog post I read said it was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy! 

I knew what I DIDN'T want to do:

1. I didn't want a cover that looked like my aunt had painted it.

2. I didn't want to ask my husband to be my editor.

3. I didn't want the font/paper/margins/etc. to look like I had cut and pasted my story to fit on a Word document.

In short, I wanted my books to have the same professional appearance that my traditionally published books had.

Was it as easy as the various blog posts claimed? No.

Was it doable? Yes.

I spent as much time learning how to indie publish my book as I had spent learning how to write in this new genre. I made a LOT of errors. I wasted a LOT of time.

At the same time, I "repackaged" myself. Instead of writing only historical romances, I wanted to expand my products. Cozy mysteries were already in the pipeline, plus I wanted to leave my options open to contemporary stories, historical stories, and even historical mysteries. I also wanted to edge into the general market - a market that wasn't really open to my Christian-focused Amish stories.

My new tag line reflected all of that.

After a new logo, a new website. and many, many hours of watching tutorials on everything related to indie publishing, I released my first indie book in May of this year.

With that bit of experience under my belt, I'm ready to publish my next book. The release date is September 28th!

Do you remember the three things I didn't want to do with my independent publishing?

1. I hired a fabulous cover artist - Hannah Linder. She's a familiar face around here, and she designs the best covers. She caught the vision of what I wanted after only a few emails, and I couldn't be happier with her designs. You'll need to stop by her website: Hannah Linder Designs

2. I hired a great editor - another name familiar to Seekerville - Beth Jamison of Jamison Editing. A great editor finds the hidden errors and inconsistencies in the manuscript, and Beth catches them all.

3. I purchased a program to give my books the professional formatting look I wanted: Atticus. Another option is Vellum, but only if your computer is a Mac.

All of these things cost money. If you're traditionally published, your publisher spends that money instead of you. There are other costs that you also pick up if you are your own publisher, but that comes with the territory. 

Eventually, the income column in my spread sheet should overtake the expenses column, but like any start-up business, that takes time. And work. A lot of work.

Which reminds me. Another little thing I did to enhance the professional appearance of my books (and my small business) was to form my own publishing company. Nothing fancy. But it took my name out of the "publisher" field on Amazon and gave me the opportunity to create my own logo and name. I call it Swift Wings Press, and I love this logo. I use it on bookmarks, my new business cards, and on the spine of my print copies.

What's next?

I'll keep writing stories for the Sweetbrier Mysteries series - I'm working on a Christmas novella right now. 

There's an historical romance waiting for my attention on my computer.

And I would love to explore all the other ideas swirling in my head...

...but the great thing about independent publishing is that I can go ahead and explore those ideas, because I have the freedom to follow my own path, not the path of a traditional publishing company.

That's why I used Swift Wings Press for my imprint - I'm free to follow the wind, wherever it blows. (John 3:8)

Will I ever traditionally publish again? Of course, given the right opportunity. 

But until then, I'm enjoying what the Lord has placed before me at this time.

Have you ever considered independent publishing, either now or in the future? Or are you already in the midst of the adventure?

One commenter will win an ebook copy of "The Case of the Artist's Mistake!"

The new art gallery in town is causing quite a stir, and Emma is in the middle of it!

The Sweetbrier Inn is filled with guests and the town is teeming with tourists who have come to celebrate Paragon Days, the official kickoff to the summer tourist season. But even before the festivities start, amateur sleuth Emma Blackwood stumbles upon a dead body. With no visible signs of violence, Deputy Cal determines the death is from natural causes, but Emma isn’t so sure. Why would a seemingly healthy woman drop dead? And what does the picture she was holding have to do with it? If Emma doesn’t solve this puzzle soon, a killer may get away with committing the perfect crime.

Coming September 28th! Preorders will be available soon!

Writing: Art or Business?

 

Hello, Seekerville!

My husband and I (along with our youngest son) just returned yesterday afternoon from a trip east to visit family. From South Dakota to Iowa, to Indiana, to Michigan, to Minnesota, and then home. Nine days, 3000 miles. We're glad to be home again!

But in spite of all my planning, I had no internet access for the entire trip. The wi-fi card in my little traveling computer didn't work and my phone isn't set up to be my #1 computer. So my vacation was a true vacation, right? Except for the work I had been planning to do while we traveled, including writing today's Seekerville post. 

No worries! Welcome to Jan Drexler's blog from March 2015! I hope you enjoy it!

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Last year I joined our local writers group. It’s a secular group with a broad range of writing experiences and goals among the members. And like any group of writers, there are a lot of aspiring authors who come to learn and grow. Several of the members have had some success in the indie publishing field, but I’m the only regular attender who is traditionally published.

The Prodigal Son Returns

Published by Love Inspired, May 2013

order HERE

That, plus the fact that I’m new means that they really aren’t sure about me yet. (That’s okay. Sometimes I’m not sure about them, either!)

One of the other members and I walked out to our cars together last month. She hadn’t realized before that meeting that I’m a published author with multiple contracts waiting to be fulfilled (i.e. I should spend all of my time writing!).

“How did you do it?” She thought she really wanted to know.

I hesitated for a half-minute. She wasn’t going to be happy with what I wanted to say, so I started with my standby answer for that question:

“I entered contests that put my name and my story in front of publishers and agents.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You’re published by Harlequin, right?”

“Yes, by Love Inspired, Harlequin’s Inspirational line.”

She looked past my shoulder and unlocked her car door. “Don’t they have pretty strict guidelines? Don’t they make you change your story?”

“They expect you to make revisions to improve your story and so that it will fit their style. Every publisher does.”

She tossed her bag into her car. She said goodbye. She drove away. No, she didn’t really want to hear what I had to say.

If she had stayed around, ready to chat under the street lights on that unusually balmy February evening, I would have told her a secret.

A Mother for His Children

Published by Love Inspired, August 2014

order HERE

Writing is an art. But once you hit the send button, it becomes a business.

When you’re in your writing cave, your story is all your own. It’s a wonderful thing to spend an hour or two every day in a world peopled by characters you’ve created. At this point, writing is all about imagination, craft, and answering the “What if?” questions.

I love this part of the process. It’s a little like giving birth, with all the pain, agony, and delight that accompanies bringing a new life into the world. It’s exhilarating! And it’s all yours!

But if you want to become a published author, once you’ve finished your story you need to switch modes. This story needs to have a life of its own.

Let’s take the birth analogy a little bit further. If you’ve raised children, you know that it is unhealthy (and impossible!) to force them to remain babies forever. They need to walk, to explore, to become separate people from their parents. As much as we delight in babies, we don’t want them to turn into some twisted copy of ourselves. We want them to become the people God intended them to be. To become adults.

The same goes for your story. If you have any desire to publish your work, you must put it out there for others to see. You have to listen to and evaluate comments from critique groups, contest judges, and eventually, potential agents and publishers. Why? Because these are the people who are helping your baby grow into a self-sufficient adult.

A Home for His Family

Published by Love Inspired, September 2015

order HERE

Some authors hold on to their stories too tightly. They keep their writing snagged within their prideful grasp, thinking no one else understands their story like they do. They refuse to accept help to make it better, and they refuse to change anything to make it fit someone else’s standards.


If you want to be published, you won’t be that kind of author.
You’ll be the kind of author who understands that once you hit “send,” your story is now a business. Rather than keeping it close to your heart, you humbly open your hands and let it grow.

If an agent suggests that your story will sell better told in third person rather than first person, you start planning how to make that change and still keep the meat of your story intact.

When an editor sends you a list of revisions that need to be made and invites you to resubmit your story, you put everything else aside and make those changes.

When you get a request for a partial or full manuscript, you comply in a timely manner because that’s good business practice.

Soon you’ll find that those changes and revisions make your story stronger. More complete. Saleable.

Hannah's Choice

Published by Revell 2016

order HERE

And when you see your book for the first time, you’ll cry. You really will. Because that’s what parents do when they see their babies all grown up.

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Welcome back to 2022!

I'm still treating my writing as a business. Next week, on May 25, my first indie published book will be released! You can preorder it NOW!!! 

Ebook is available for preorder now!

Preorder HERE!

Emma Blackwood’s favorite pastime is solving literary murder mysteries…until the body in her living room makes everything a little too real.

When Emma comes to the Black Hills to work at her Aunt Rose’s B&B, the Sweetbrier Inn, she is hoping for a quiet break from the corporate treadmill. But she hadn’t expected murder and intrigue to mar this peaceful setting.

As she wades through too many clues to identify the murderer, she soon finds that the culprit isn’t stopping at only one homicide and may even have placed Emma herself on the list of targets. With the help of her friend Becky, and a deputy sheriff who grudgingly lets them join in on the investigation, Emma tracks down the killer. But will it be in time to save the next victim?

Which kind of author will you be? What do you need to do to move your writing from art to business? #NoLimits!

One commenter will win an ebook copy of "The Sign of the Calico Quartz!" 

What Makes a Reader Try a New Author?

 

 

 

Happy Monday! Let's not speak of the torture that is Daylight Savings Time weekend and just jump right into today's topic, shall we? :) 

In my various roles as blogger, reviewer, influencer, and publicity tour company owner, I have the privilege of chatting with a lot of authors. A question that comes up frequently is 'what can I do to get my book in front of new readers?' In all honesty, sometimes I think that answer is different from reader to reader ... and from book to book. What works for one book/author/reader may not work for the next. Authors, this is probably not news to you. But if we filter through the various answers I think we can find some helpful common ground. 

And since I just got done saying that the answers can differ from reader to reader, I thought I'd ask some readers for their thoughts. (Occasionally I have a brilliant idea haha) I started by reaching out to several of my blogging/reviewing/avid reader friends to get their thoughts. 

Jessica Baker of A Baker's Perspective: First and fastest answer I have is a recommendation from a reader friend. There are several people in our bookish community that I know if they liked the book, I'll like it too. More than that, I just love the adventure of trying a new author. I will actually search the bookstagram community, or just visit my favorite online book sources and search for new releases. Once I find a book by an author I haven't read before, I'll check out the book blurb. If it pulls me in, I'll give it a go. I have found so many new authors this way. (so basically know this authors - have a strong book blurb!)

 

Suzie Waltner of Remembrancy: I’m usually willing to give a new-to-me author a try because I’ve found some hidden gems by taking a chance on someone. The first thing that piques my interest in trying a new author is the back cover blurb. If the book features something I enjoy reading (favorite genre or trope, a new setting, an intriguing plot, interesting characters, etc), I’ll try that author. The next thing that makes me read a new author is word of mouth. If I’m hearing about a book from other readers or seeing it often online, I’m interested enough to go read that back cover and a few of the reviews. And if both the blurb and word of mouth are building on each other, it’s a book I will automatically read. Also, if that book is in audiobook format, the book will get bumped to the top of my list as I am a reader who can listen to books while I’m at my day job and make a nice dent in my TBR. 

Connie Hill of Reflecting on Days Gone By: I have found some really amazing authors by word of mouth. I love subscribing to authors' newsletters and I’ve noticed they will put in their newsletter what they are reading. I like to know what they are reading. I also find new authors through social media. When someone posts about a book they are raving about it makes me want to read it. As a book blogger I’ve been fortunate to discover so many authors I may not have been exposed to before. I love when I get to partake in an author's first release. It makes me feel like I’m an important part of the journey.

Becca Rae of The Becca Files: There's lots of reasons I would try a new author. Word of mouth is gold, but that also has to start somewhere. Baker Book House has been running preorder sales for quite a while now and I have been known to scroll the "coming soon" section looking to add to my cart (because one almost never buys only one book at a time of course 😉 ). At this point I will confess to judging the book cover. I have found several new authors simply by the cover drawing me in and then reading the blurb. The one that comes to mind to me first for this recently  is Jennifer L Wright's If It Rains. It wasn't the most flashy cover, but it  tugged at my heart. As a reviewer, I find out about a lot of new releases through JustRead and also see the posts splashed all over social media. The more a new author can get out there, the more likely they are to be seen and talked about. I also follow publishers so will hear about the new authors through that chain as well. I fully admit that I am more likely to try a new author when they come from a publisher I already respect. If not, I'm more likely to need to see what others are saying before I'm willing to take the risk. It also needs to be said that the subject matter is what will catch my attention as well. I am largely an avid historical fiction reader. So I'm more likely to try a new author in that genre. But I like books. So like I said, word of mouth is gold and if other readers have said they enjoyed a new author then I'm more likely to give them a shot.

Beckie Burnham of By The Book: Trying a new author has some risks, but often great rewards. I’m always on the look out for something new, and a new-to-me author with a unique setting or subject matter is tops on my list. Whether it’s an exotic locale (A Tapestry of Light by Kimberly Duffy) or a new twist on a favorite genre (The Gryphon Heist by James R. Hannibal) I love stretching my reading horizons. A new author does that for me.

Crystal Caudill of Crystal Caudill.com: Once a new to me author has been brought to my attention I do several things, especially where I have to be so careful with my limited reading time. First I look at the cover, especially if it is indie. You can tell how much someone values their work by the quality of the cover. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it better not look slapped together. After the cover, I flip to the blurb. It has to be well written, grab my attention and leave me with questions without summarizing the story. After that, I read a sample through the look inside feature of Amazon or, if I’m in a bookstore, I’ll skim a bit from the beginning, middle, and end. This is really the make it or break it deal for me. Quality writing is what matters most to me. If there is no Look Inside feature, I’m really hesitant. Then I go based on who recommended the book and how much I think our tastes align. The other way I’ve found new authors is though the peer pressure of book challenges and book clubs. Apparently, the DARE strategy doesn’t work against books.

(By the way... speaking of trying new authors... make sure you keep an eye out for Suzie Waltner's new novel Midnight Blue - a second chance/secret child contemporary romance releasing July 5, 2022 from Anaiah Press. And grab Crystal Caudill's debut novel, Counterfeit Love - a Gilded Age romantic suspense that releases TOMORROW (March 15th) from Kregel!)

 

As you can see, even with the variety of answers & readers above, there are some common things that will lead to a reader trying a new-to-them author. If you look at the phrases I bolded, you'll see repeated elements such as:

• word of mouth
• recommendations from trusted readers
• social media
• book cover
• book blurb/subject matter/setting 

But then I got even more curious about what other readers would say. For instance, if I polled a bunch of different readers who like different types of books and aren't necessarily part of the blogging community, would I get similar results? After all, if I'm going to recommend that you dear-to-me authors try such-and-such to get your books in front of new readers, I need to know that these things go beyond book influencers. To make sure they stand true even when someone isn't inundated with books to review, feature, etc.

So. I did. 

I asked two questions on a Google Form and shared it on Facebook. Most of the respondents are my friends and family (though some people shared it to their networks as well), and based on the people who told me they answered the questions they represent a wide variety of reading habits & tastes. 

Out of 280 responses (way more than I anticipated answering - yay!):

• 30.7% said word of mouth is what most causes them to try a new author; 
• 25.6% said it was the book cover or blurb;
• 16.2% said it's reviews from trusted bloggers/bookstagrammers; and
  
• 11.6% said that social media posts most influence them to try a new author.

One thing I found interesting was how little newsletters & reviews on retail sites seem to be the dominant factor for a reader to try a new author - only 5.8% for retail site reviews & only 1.4% for newsletters. This is not to say that there is no value for either of these in an author's marketing strategy - because publishers who know way more than I do seem to put so much stock in them both - but perhaps the value of these factors as far as putting your books in front of new readers is much less than we realize. 

Another interesting (to me) result is that, while I did not include it in my initial list of options, several people also wrote in 'endorsements' as the most significant factor in trying a new author. Most of the other write-in answers were similar enough to the options above (for our purposes) that I tossed them in with those respective categories.

I know that's a lot of info and numbers, and maybe you're like me and your eyes start glazing over when math is involved. So, let me give you a quick summary that you can add to your author tool-box: 

When asked for the single most influential factor that causes them to try a new author, over 75% of the readers polled pointed to 'word of mouth' (which includes social media posts & trusted reviewer recs) and 'book cover/blurb'. 

What are some practical ways you can harness this info to work for you?

1. If you are indie publishing, invest in a professional cover & run your back cover copy (and even the cover) by several trusted readers to gauge their interest level & strengthen it accordingly. These two elements to your book are the first impression you give to readers. The cover (front and back) can make or break a reader's decision to pick up your book - spend time there accordingly.
   
2. Look for ways to drum up word of mouth recommendations. Invest in a blog tour or social media tour with a company like JustRead Tours or start a grassroots campaign on your own to keep people talking about your book. Get that book cover that you've invested in onto social media. Reach out to bloggers who review in your genre and ask them for a feature. Some may not have time for a review, but even a spotlight/excerpt or author interview can get that word of mouth machine working. 

What about you? Did these reader results surprise you? What's something you've done to increase word of mouth buzz that worked for you & your books?

 

Carrie Schmidt is an avid reader, book reviewer, story addict, KissingBooks fan, book boyfriend collector, and cool aunt. She also loves Jesus and THE Story a whole lot. Co-founder of the Christian Fiction Readers' Retreat and JustRead Publicity Tours, LLC, Carrie lives in Georgia with her husband Eric. She can be found lurking at various blogs and websites (because she can't stop talking about books) but her main home is the blog she started in 2015 - ReadingIsMySuperPower.org.

Top 5 Must-Haves for An Author Website (from a reader's point of view)

 

Happy Friday, Seeker villagers! As an avid reader, reviewer, book blogger, and book marketer, I spend a lot of time on author websites. Like... a lot. Ninety-nine percent of the blog posts I publish on Reading Is My SuperPower require me to visit an author's website. And I would say at least fifty percent of what I do for JustRead Tours also finds me there too. 

Picture this all-too-common scenario with me: I am doing a review for your debut novel, so I don't know a lot about you as an author yet. I search for your name (plus the keyword 'author') on the interwebs, click the link it regurgitates at me, the website loads .... and .... I sigh with disappointment. I can find almost no helpful information that I need to finish building my blog post. In fact, it doesn't even look like you want readers to connect with you at all.

What does this mean for you? Well... if it's me on the other end of that click, it means that I'm going to scrounge up what I can find elsewhere because I'm stubborn. But an interested reader who looked up your website may get frustrated and go away, no longer invested in you or your books. 

So what are some basic, easy-peasy-to-do must-haves that every author should include on their website to tell readers & media everything they need to know?

1. Author Bio

Ideally, you should offer a short bio and a medium-length bio. Both bio options should be in third person (I cannot stress that enough!!!) Our very own Mindy Obenhaus has two perfect bios to choose from on her website. My recommendation would be one paragraph max for the short bio & no more than three paragraphs for the longer one. 

Oh - and please keep your bio updated! If I go to an author's website and their bio says something like "Her latest book releases in March 2017", but I am posting about her actual latest book that released in October 2021, I am going to be hesitant to use the bio on her website.

2. High Resolution Head Shot

You can have a variety of head shots to choose from or just the one - that's not as important as the fact that the photos you include should be high resolution and professional-looking. Note: I'm not saying you absolutely must invest in a professional head shot (though I do recommend it) but at least make sure it's high quality and cropped well. I also strongly suggest that you be looking at the camera and smiling. Look friendly and open and "buy my book & you'll have fun". But the most important thing is that it's high resolution and doesn't look like my six-year-old nephew took it and/or cropped it.

Why does this matter on a website and not just a book jacket or media interview? Well, because graphics matter to most book bloggers / marketers. See the two examples below. This a graphic template I use often on RimSP - I have lost count of how many times I've had to hunt down a higher resolution or more professional looking head shot because the one on the author's website looks more like the 'please, no' sample than the 'yes, please' one. 

I know I'm spending a lot of time on this point but can you see the difference a professional looking photo can make? It sets a first impression for readers that can reflect negatively (whether true or not) on the assumed quality of your writing. So if you're going to spend some time and money on one thing, let it be this!

3. Updated Book Information 

This is similar to the 'keep it updated' note I mentioned in the section on your author bio. Your latest release should be easily discoverable on your website with a high resolution front cover (don't only include the whole cover spread - book bloggers don't use those) and a variety of purchase links. It's also not a bad idea to link to your publisher's page for your book. In other words, make it a piece of cake for people to find your book. (And now I want cake. And to read a book.) The fabulous Becky Wade is a great example of putting this 'must-have' into practice. Her latest release is super simple to find, and she also has a book list in a separate tab, organized by series. You can click on each book cover for the blurb, ways to purchase, fun behind the scenes info, quote graphics and more. Super fun for readers & super helpful for book bloggers / marketers.

PS - Need to know how to tell whether an image file is high resolution or not? There are some very technical descriptions that go over my head but as a general rule of thumb, if it's under 1MB in file size then it's probably not high resolution enough.

4. Social Media Links 

Let readers know how to connect with you!!! If we love your books, we are definitely going to want to follow you on social media and learn more about you & your life & what you're reading too. And if we find that we have things in common, well then we're all the more invested in you as a person and as an author. Personal investment from readers makes you an 'auto buy author' for them ... which translates into consistent sales. If they're coming to your website, they want to know more about you. Don't miss those opportunities! Our dear Mary Connealy has the icons readily visible no matter where you click through on her website AND listed out in her media kit too. Super helpful!!

5. Mailing List Sign-Up

While we're talking about connecting with your readers, you really need to have a way for readers to sign up for new book alerts and other email newsletters you might send throughout the year. This should be - you can probably guess what I'm going to say - easy to find on your website, whether it's a separate tab or a pop-up or a prominent place on your landing page and/or media kit.

Which brings me to the part of this post where it all comes together. If you've clicked on any of the authors' websites I linked to above, you may have noticed that they all have one thing in common - their media kit pages. A media kit on your website is a godsend for bloggers / media / marketers because all the info they are looking for is all on one page - can I get an amen?! But again... keep it updated. It's useless to us if it's 5 books old. (By the way, the 2021 Christy Award finalist Erica Vetsch did a terrific post on media kits a while back.)

Optional Fun Things To Also Include

I polled some bookish friends (aka Beth & Rachel) for some other ideas of things that aren't must-haves but do also appeal to readers. These are optional, but they really are a lot of fun to have!

• a printable book list (example: Jody Hedlund)
• charts of interconnected characters/books or family trees (example: Melanie Dickerson)
• book club kits (example: DiAnn Mills)
• other fun extras like character profiles, recipes, playlists, etc. (example: Dani Pettrey)

The possibilities of what you can do are endless... have fun with it & your readers will too! But don't get overwhelmed. As long as you have the top 5 must-haves I covered in this post, your website will be an incredibly useful tool to establish connections with the people who will read & promote your books.

~*~*~*~

Carrie Schmidt is an avid reader, book reviewer, story addict, KissingBooks fan, book boyfriend collector, and cool aunt. She also loves Jesus and THE Story a whole lot. Co-founder of the Christian Fiction Readers' Retreat and JustRead Publicity Tours, LLC, Carrie lives in Georgia with her husband Eric.

She can be found lurking at various blogs and websites (because she can't stop talking about books) but her main home is the blog she started in 2015 - ReadingIsMySuperPower.org.

 

What about you?
Authors, what questions do you have about your author website?
Readers, what makes you want to hang out on an author's website?

Comment below for a chance to win this super fun reading journal from Ink and Willow!
(US only)

One Thing That Works For Me with guest Roseanna M. White: Surprise and Delight

 

Good Monday morning, Seekerville! I (Carrie) am here to introduce today's guest for this month's 'One Thing That Works For Me' series. Please join me in welcoming author Roseanna M. White as she shares about 'surprise and delight'!

For the last several years, my husband has been fine-tuning a marketing approach that he learned via Rob Hardy called “Identity Marketing.” It was originally created for filmmakers but was oh-so-easily adapted to the book world that he invested quite a bit of time into writing out those adaptations…and of course, sharing them with me, mwa ha ha ha. The whole system is amazing and works super well with the outlook I’ve always tried to have—that it’s not about selling, it’s about serving. And one of the tenets of this system that I especially latched onto was the principle of “Surprise and Delight.”

What is it? Very simple—whenever you can, come up with something that will surprise (in a good way, of course!) your readers. We all love plot twists in stories, right? Well, one of our goals should be delivering little twists in our marketing too. Things that our readers don’t expect, and which put big smiles on their faces.

Great in theory…but what about in practice? How do we actually come up with these things? I have a whole list of things I’ve done and tried, and many have worked quite well. But today I want to tell you about my absolute favorite.

So around two years ago, when we were just beginning to test this system, I had the idea for an online Tea Party Book Club. Now, this was before the world went virtual thanks to The Pandemic That Shall Not Be Named. The inspiration came in May of 2018; I had a book coming out…I went to a tea with the ladies from my church at a local tea house…and my husband had been running some virtual events via online meeting tech similar to Zoom. All these things swirled together in my mind and made me say, “Hey! Why couldn’t we do a tea party online?? I could put together packages, mail them out, and then get together with readers to chat about the book and have tea and treats together!”

I quickly became OBSESSED with this idea. (This is pretty typical of me, LOL.) I priced bulk tea. I priced pretty vintage teacups. Spoons. Sugar cubes. Individually wrapped treats. Candy. Mints. I weighed and priced postage. I considered how much I pay for this sort of thing at the local tea house. I came up with a package price and built it out on my website. And then… then… I presented it to my readers.

Would they love it too? Hate it? Not want to pay for that sort of thing? I didn’t know—all I knew was that I found the idea delightful, LOL, even though it would be a ton of work on my part.

I didn’t have to wait long to find out how my readers would receive it. Within a few days of announcing the idea, I had people filling the parties, ordering “starter kits” that involve tea pots and vintage cups and spoons, a lady from my church volunteered to make tea cozies for me, and I even had some people so excited that they signed up for all the extras and then realized an hour later that, oops, they were out of town that day or already had a tea set they could use.

But this was my answer—this idea, unheard of at the time, sounded so fun that my reader friends JUMPED to be a part of it. Where else did they get an hour with other fans of the book and the author and receive a hand-selected package of goodies to go along with it?

Now, granted, in the last year and a half everything has gone online, and we’re beginning to see a lot more things like this. But I’m thrilled to be able to say that I’ve been at it for over two years, that kinks have been worked out, processes have been streamlined…and that the seats keep filling up.

Best of all, relationships have been developed. I have regular attendees, and they greet each other like friends when they see a familiar face come back for this month or that month. Readers have become friends. And the conversations have been AMAZING.

Will I do these tea parties forever? Who knows. But I’m having a blast doing them now—especially because my readers are too. It’s just one thing in the many that I do to try to reach out to them, but it’s been a total success. It’s one way to Surprise and Delight them…and seeing how well it’s worked, it’s an inspiration to keep coming up with new ways to do just that in the future.

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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing for WhiteFire Publishing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. 

You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

 

Roseanna is offering a $15 credit in her online store to one commenter!

 

Authors, what questions do you have for Roseanna about her tea parties or her 'surprise and delight' strategy?
Readers, what are some ways other authors have 'surprise and delight'-ed you?