A Cornucopia of Odds and Ends

…because let’s face it, there are just a dearth of opportunities to use that word enough to justify it taking up all that room in the dictionary. (Actually, you can blame Nathan Bransford for that since he had a post about favorite and least favorite words and cornucopia was my favorite word ever when I was eleven.)

First of all, Joelle asked a follow up question for our publicist in the comments: I'd be interested to know how valuable Kathy feels it is for an author to hire and outside publicist. Especially a debut author.

Kathy Dunn's answer: I would recommend having an honest conversation with your editor and in-house publicist to see what kind of promotion they will be doing for your book and their timeline, and if you find yourself wanting additional things that your publicist may not be able to achieve given their schedules, then you may want to explore a freelance publicist.

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In an attempt to practice what I preach, I am cross-pollinating this summer (sounds a little inappropriate, doesn't it?) and will be attending the RWA National Conference in San Francisco this week instead of my usual SCBWI National Conference in LA. If any of you are there and recognize my nametag, do say hi! (I know, who am I kidding? We’re introverts, fer gawd’s sake!) And don’t worry, I’ll be taking lots of notes because those romance writers are marketing geniuses!

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Also, we have a great opportunity we’d like to offer to our blog readers. Do you have some bit of advice or experience that you think the Shrinking Violets and Vinnies might like hearing about? Or perhaps you’ve spent a lot of time and effort mastering a new marketing skill or approach? Or found a way to make some onerous marketing task more pleasant? We would love to give you a turn at the SVP microphone so you can share what you’ve learned/know/experienced with our readers. In case your introverted little self need some gentle persuading…

1. It would be a great way to practice blogging without having to commit to your own blog.
2. It would be a public service to your fellow introverts.
3. And, of course, the extra exposure never hurt anyone—especially an author.

If you think you’d be interested, please email us! We know we have some very smart, savvy readers of this blog and we’d love to give you a chance to share what you know! Plus, with Mary and I having deadlines popping up right and left, we could use a few pinch hitters in our back pocket. (How’s that for mixing metaphors?)

That’s all for this week, my dears. I’ll be back next week with tons of new marketing advice, tips, and ideas to share with you!