Marketing Through A to Z

By Julie Flanders

I know I’m not alone among writers when I say that marketing and promotion does not come naturally or easily to me. But as we all know, our books don’t sell themselves and our work doesn’t end when our books are released. Marketing is a continuous and essential part of the publishing process.

Fortunately for writers like me, the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is a wonderful tool for marketing and promotion. I’ve known since my first A-Z in 2011 that the challenge was a great way to network with other bloggers, make new friends, and increase traffic to my site. This year, I learned that it can also be an invaluable resource for marketing a book.

From the time I knew that my debut novel Polar Night would be released in February of this year, I knew that I was going to tie the book in with my challenge posts in some way. But I didn’t want to come off as one of those writers (we’ve all seen them, I’m sure) who post or tweet nothing but declarations about the greatness of their books and tell us all to buy them, over and over (and over!) again.

The A to Z April Challenge gave me a great opportunity to showcase my book without even posting that much about the book itself. As Polar Night takes place in Alaska, I wrote an A to Z of Alaska and shared interesting and fun tidbits I had learned about the state. I had a good time researching and writing the posts and the visitors to my blog seemed to enjoy reading them.

I know of other writers who used this year’s challenge to market their books in interesting and creative ways. My friend Carol Kilgore of Under the Tiki Hut wrote several of her A to Z posts using the voices of the characters from her latest novel Solomon’s Compass, thus introducing readers to the world of her novel and the people who populate it. And my new friend Sheena-kay Graham, who I was fortunate to get to know through this year’s challenge, shared tantalizing hints and tidbits about The Sacrifice Series, her series of novellas which will be released beginning in the fall of 2013. These are just two of many great examples.

I’ve said many times that joining the A to Z in April Challenge for the first time in 2011 was the best blogging decision I’ve ever made. There’s no question that it was also one of the best writing decisions I’ve ever made. If I am fortunate enough to have another book published, I know one of the first things I will start thinking about is how I can work that book into a challenge theme, just as I did with Polar Night.

The opportunities that come along with participating in the challenge are limited only by our own imaginations, and I will always encourage any writers I meet to sign up and participate. I don’t believe anyone will regret it.

About the Author: Julie Flanders is a writer and a librarian who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Julie shares her home with her dog and cat and, when not writing fiction, she loves to write about animals and animal-related issues. Her debut novel, the paranormal suspense thriller Polar Night, is now available from Ink Smith Publishing. Find Julie online at http://julieflanders.blogspot.com. 

Evaluation of A to Z based on Reflections

     Did you get your Reflections Post done and on the list?  We ended up with 382 links on this year's list.  Not a bad showing I'd say.   Like in the Challenge itself, there were some outstanding posts presenting thoughts on the 2013 Challenge.

        I'm still wending my way through the list and leaving comments at each one I visit.  I hope that more of you will do the same in order to show appreciation to the A to Z participants who took the time to add their thoughts and experiences.

        For the most part the Challenge reviews have been glowing or at least positive.  The usual negatives are there--word verification, commenting difficulties, lack of visits or comments, and not as many new followers as in previous years.   We had less of a problem with non-participant blogs thanks to our teams of helpers.  A big thank you to all of you who were part of that effort.

Here are a few specifics that some mentioned:

Adult Content Labeling:   Nagzilla and a few others expressed concern about the labeling on the list.  Some thought we were practicing censorship, but I emphatically disagree with this charge.   The AC labeling is a warning in the same way the film industry labels films with content adviseries.  And even FCC blocking of such content from public airwaves is probably not considered censorship.  Offhand I'm not sure what you call that, but A to Z is not unique in calling for some sort of screening for content that some find offensive.  We will continue to study this issue and hopefully come to a satisfactory solution.  We welcome your thoughts about this and ask that you try to understand our position on this.   I don't see that we are unreasonable in any way.

Topic Labeling:   Many of you liked having the opportunity to have blog categorizations to make it easier to find blogs that interested you most.   This is still in the experimental stage.  I agree that all of the different labels were difficult to remember.   Many suggestions have been offered on how to improve this.  I will stand by my suggestion from previous years of having a flexible programmable list that requires a few more registration steps.   The Linky List is fine for smaller blog networking events, but somewhat impractical and labor intensive for an event that has become as large as A to Z.   Any expert programmers out there who would like to contact me about this?   Since A to Z is an all volunteer project, we can't afford to pay for a programmed list, but I'm willing to listen to your ideas.

  Creating subgroups and communities:  I was interested in what Corinne Rodrigues organized from her site From 7Eight.   You might want to check out her post.   This may be part of the future of A to Z and the idea of creating communities is something we've encouraged since the event began growing as it did in the second year.  Corinne Rodrigues will be visiting the A to Z Blog on May 20th with more information.

 Comment complications:   My Rite of Passage provided a good overview of the problems some blogs have in their commenting systems or even tracking back to the blog of whoever commented in the first place.   You might want to read this for your year round blogging activities.  Not getting as many comments as you'd like?  This post explains some possible reasons for that.

Highlighting other bloggers:     Rosie Amber is among several bloggers who added lists of other blogs to her posts.   It's a nice touch to feature others and make friends in the process.

Watching stats and recording blog performance:  Katie at Adventuringathome was into stats.  You can check out how she did during April and read about her thoughts on the Challenge.  How was your month?  Did you keep an eye on blog stats?

        Please continue to visit the links on the Reflections Post list.  That list will be accessible all year.  And join us on the A to Z Ultimate Road Trip.  That list will be open all year so you can join us any time, but now is the best time so you can stay caught up.

         Do you have any observations about the A to Z Challenge that you would like to add here?   What do think about some of the points made in this post?

Related articles

• Courage Under Fire - My 2013 A to Z Challenge Reflections #atozchallenge
• A to Z Challenge Reflections, Ninja News, Celebrating Small Things
• A to Z Challenge Reflections and The Spirit of Nimue
• Challenge Reflections Post Linky List Opens

British Food ... A salute to all mothers on this the American Mother’s Day!

I'm excited to introduce the very popular Hilary Melton-Butcher as our special guest today! She has a wonderful blog where you always learn something new, and her sunny personality is sure to cheer you up. I was blessed to have her on Tina's Terrific Team for the Challenge. Please give her a warm welcome!

During April and my A – Z posts on Aspects of British Cookery, Marks and Spencer released some information which reveals how over the past century British shoppers received some of the foods we now take for granted with bemusement, scepticism and, occasionally, outright horror.

I remember my father coming back from Waterloo Station with new fruits – the Ugly stands out for me ... a very thick skin and a cross between grapefruit and orange. 

I stand corrected ... it is an "Ugli" – a tangelo (grapefruit, orange and tangerine) coming from Jamaica ... as I note it is a fruit with 'a bit of a complex'. 

The 'Ugli'

They certainly aren’t much more popular today, than when bought by my father from a barrow at the station on his way home to the back of beyond – as west Surrey was in those days ... not the urbanised sprawl of greater, greater, even Greater London that it is today.

We did not have an M+S in Woking in those days ... so we did not experience some foods til we knew how to eat them ... but apparently M+S had to educate the British housewife on how to eat and what to do with these exotics ...

• Avocado pear: peeled, stewed and served with custard?!  Yes – but the lady, who complained ... was politely told ... preferably serve as a starter with vinaigrette or lemon juice!

• Pistachios: the dentists enjoyed a resurgence!  M+S had to include instructions: ... please first take the shells off - then eat!

• Chicken Kiev: the Chairman of M+S (1972-82), Marcus Sieff, who revolutionised the company’s food, personally vetoed Chicken Kiev, saying the British were not yet ready for garlic!  He admitted later ... that he couldn’t have been more wrong – it sold everywhere.

I do remember the clerks serving my mother from her list of groceries ... but when the new “self-service” shops came in they were so disorienting for shoppers that M+S had to publish a leaflet explaining how the “experiment” worked.

Some early "self-service"  M+S stores had personal shoppers accompanying the housewife, as she was considered incapable of choosing for herself – being advised that this product is very new ... we’ll show you how to do it!!

It’s fascinating to think back on how much has changed ... M+S’s food technology department, founded in 1948 while produce was rationed and the economy languished, was given the job of lifting the dismal high street.

Their first forays were into cakes .... we always made ours at home – but again my mother was a brilliant cook ... yet like us many families turned their noses up at a bought cake ... but now, by the 1950s, the M+S advertorial would tempt these aspiring ladies to give bought cakes a try.

The horizons of everyday households broadened, no doubt spurred on by the ‘gossip’ of town and village life ... as women shared, or competed with each other to try new things ...

Look where we are today ... mass marketing, mass catering – yet artisanal foods, farmer’s markets, farm shops are being founded to offer creative and home made selections of foods.

The M+S advertorials, the in-house (back then) staff magazines, the rise of the cookery writer, cookery magazines, articles in newspapers all gave the aspiring, more affluent housewife the impetus and encouragement to try new recipes ...

... we are now a nation of gourmets celebrating the joy of fine food!

I hope today around the world on Mother’s Day, even though in Britain we keep the custom of Mothering Sunday (usually in March), we give our mother bunches of wonderful flowers, prepare a special meal for them and their family ...

... remember their tough times guiding their families through those early years, then celebrating all their achievements and love for their family and with life itself ...

I give thanks to all mothers today - for this Mother’s Day!


Please visit my own blog where I celebrated Aspects of British Food during the A - Z Challenge ... for a wrap up post on the way we eat now ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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