Bad mood at black rock

Magnet #530 - Bad Mood

Picked up this pin magnet at ComicCon here in New York earlier this year, and then promptly forgot from which booth.

A quick trip to badagency.com reminded me that I got it at Sherrilyn Kenyon's kick-ass, two-story behemoth of a booth. I mean seriously, I love how a single author competes with the big boy booths of NYCC and holds her own, even putting some of the actual publisher booths to shame.

I mentioned last year how I was impressed by this woman's marketing prowess. I still am. It's quite amazing how much she's grown her audience, simply by being available to her fans at cons, holding cons of her own, and of course, writing good material. And a lot of it.

Full disclosure here: I've not read her work. I can't. I know me, if I do, I'll end up investing in all her various series, and the hotness that are her heroes, and then I'll become obsessed. I've watched it happen to at least one of my friends. She's fallen completely under the trance of the Dark Hunter series and its heroes, having flown through the DH backlist in less than a couple of months, and even stalked Forbidden Planet here in town for the manga book.

And if I'm not mistaken, it was all because I gave her the free book that was given away at NYCC. See how that marketing stuff works? Whoa.

Anyway, I'm picking this for today because it accurately reflects my attitude at work, and is a metastatement for a few other things as well. And, that's all I have to say about that.

eta:
I'm not gonna lie. This marketing stuff really does work. Having just visited the Bad Agency site, I'm totally picking up Bad Attitude now. Double whoa.

Happily ever after

Magnet #78 - Jill Shalvis

Back in another life, I was a romance editor. Technically, I guess I still am, on the side.

This magnet was from one of my authors like 10 years ago already. She pubbed these titles with a different publisher at the time, and had these promo magnets made for herself.

Lots of authors create their own little promotional items - and if it weren't the middle of the night, I'd wax poetic about how it's because publishers just don't have the bandwidth or the budgets to promote each of their authors as they should, leaving authors to have to work harder to get their own names out there.

Actually, I'm always fairly impressed how astute authors are at marketing themselves - updating their websites, monitoring their fanboards, sending out newsletters, independent signings, or exhibiting at conferences. Sometimes? What they do on their own, ends up showing up any work that any promotional agency or publicity team can do for them. Case in point - next time you're at ComicCon, check out Sherrilyn Kenyon - this woman's like the juggernaut of marketing. It's freakin' awesome. I haven't read her, but after seeing the woman's booth and seeing her superdupergigantor banner at ComicCon, I swear, I want to start.

Anyway, I've lost touch with Jill, but happily, she's still as prolific as ever - she has a new series out, about a high-end airline and private airport. Think Wings meets Hotel Babylon.

I know, right? And yet somehow, it works.