Saturday May 26, 2007
Well, I had a very successful day today. I actually did two events, one in Greensboro and one in Raleigh. The event I did in Greensboro was a presentation on book marketing, publicity, and sales, and we drew a crowd of seven people. The conversation was intimate because of the size group, and I felt like we accomplished a lot. Afterwards, I got a few of the attendees to stand in for a photo...



Afterwards, I drove back to Raleigh, where I organized the Lulu Authors Group "Party on the Lake at Sunset." We drew close to 70 people and everyone got to eat free barbecue, slaw, baked beans, and hush puppies. I've got some video footage that I'm going to upload in the next day or so, but for now, here are a couple of photos.

The first is of my publicist, Eileen Batson, who did an excellent job helping to get the word out, planning, arranging, and generally a lot of stuff to make this event a success.



And here is one of yours truly...



I'm going to try to get the video content uploaded to the internet tomorrow, so that you can see some more of this event!

Stacey

Posted on Sunday 27 of May, 2007 [03:10:23 UTC]

Yesterday, I moderated a panel discussion in Wilmington, North Carolina at Pomegranate Books. The topic of the discussion was "How to Get Published," and we drew an audience of about 45 people. Here are some photos from the event.

This first one is of the store owner Kathleen, me and two other panelists Jon Batson and K. Robert Campbell.



Here's one of me and Kathleen...



Here's one of me chatting with one of the audience members who had a question about Lulu...



Here's a shot of the crowd a few minutes before the start of the discussion...




And here's a video of the first eight minutes.

This was a great event, and the people who came were bright and engaging. We had a number of articles in the local press that helped draw the crowd, and we placed flyers at a number of public libraries and at the University of NC at Wilmington.

It was great to have Lulu's Katie Jamison onboard, and I think a good time was had by all.

More photos...

The panelists: (from left to right) Katie Jamison, Jon Batson, K. Robert Campbell, Stacey Cochran


Lulu author Chuck Schoonover and Stacey Cochran


(foreground) Katie Jamison and Christy Judah; (background) Chuck Schoonover and Stacey Cochran


Stacey signing books


K. Robert Campbell, Jon Batson, and Stacey Cochran discussing future bookstore events in southeastern North Carolina


www.staceycochran.com

Posted on Sunday 06 of May, 2007 [16:24:58 UTC]

Yesterday, I moderated a panel discussion on publishing at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. The panelists were (from left to right) me, Sarah Goddin, Sarah Shaber, Jon Batson, and Katie Jamison.





We had a turnout of about 90 people.





Including bestselling author Diane Chamberlain, whom I met a few nights ago at another event (center in red below)...



Lulu's Henry Hutton looks on...



Michael Graziano, who is set to direct The Stacey Cochran Show for television later this summer, shot the entire event in video and still format, and is editing a DVD that should be available in a few days.



This next Saturday, I'll be in Wilmington for a panel discussion at Pomegranate Books.

Stacey

Posted on Tuesday 01 of May, 2007 [04:13:27 UTC]

Yesterday, I drove up to Richmond for the first Richmond Write to Publish Group. We met at the public library downtown in a conference room that I reserved a couple months ago. All total, we had nine people who came, and the discussion was great.

It just so happened that the library was hosting an event for the Society of Children's Books Authors and Illustrators, and so after our discussion, I handed out flyers announcing our next Richmond event to all the writers at this other event.

After the group broke up, seven of us went out to eat at a nearby restaurant. Pictured here (clockwise) is me, Don, Judith, Geoff, Vanessagrace, Jeff, and Thia.



Geoff Zimmerman is the Lulu author of Love Never Dies and he was a huge help in getting flyers posted at area libraries prior to yesterday's Meetup.



Our next event will be on June 22 at the Richmond's Fountain Bookstore, which Geoff, Vanessagrace, and I visited after dinner...



Store employee Rose helped me to put up the flyers at the counter (the orange ones between her and I) announcing that event on June 22...



All things said, I had a great time, and I'm really looking forward to growing this group and a new one that Vanessagrace and I have just started up near Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Stacey
www.staceycochran.com

Posted on Monday 30 of April, 2007 [02:01:03 UTC]

I have a bunch of photos from the past couple of weeks. On Saturday April 14, 2007, I led the first Wilmington, NC Write to Publish Group at Pomegranate Books. We had an excellent turn-out for the meeting, and I managed to get a bunch of photos.

















I've got a couple of things worth mentioning about how I'm making these groups really work. Firstly, I make sure to set up my events 6-8 weeks in advance. The key is to reserve an attractive room either at a library or a bookstore. After a date and time are established, I really work hard to get the word out about it using Meetup.com, Craig's List, local media outlets like newspapers and online websites for a community, handing out and posting flyers at area libraries, bookstores, and community events bulletin boards. Anywhere you can possibly get the word out; I've given flyers to hair stylists after getting my hair cut, people in parking lots coming out of Toys R Us, people at libraries and bookstores, etc.

Once I have an event, I strive to make the event for the people attending. It's not about me and my book; it's about giving them the best information and discussion I can so that they grow and learn and want to attend future events. I make sure to get everyone's contact info, and then I add all that to a directory once I get home and am on my computer. That way, I can get in touch with them when we have a new meeting in their area.

I've also used it to send people (who have volunteered) flyers announcing our events that they can post in their areas.

This past Saturday (April 21), I had an event at a bookstore in Chatham, Virginia. Now, while the the attendance was not as great as at Wilmington the week before, I still managed to get some photos and make the event the best I possibly could. Here are some photos from Virginia:









After the bookstore event, I drove 3 hours up to Richmond, and I posted flyers at 3 area libraries and 2 area bookstores announcing the first meeting of the Richmond Write to Publish Group, which will meet this Saturday. In doing so, I was able to scout out the stores, and I actually got the business card for the manager for one store.

I waited like two days, called the manager, and set up an event for June 22 for the Richmond Write to Publish Group at the store. Getting the store's involvement is really crucial to helping to get the word out about an event.

In Wilmington, the store actually advertised the Write to Publish Group on their website, in their store, and in area media outlets like newspapers. If you're just having your Meetup at a library or restaurant or coffee house, you might miss out on this otherwise free publicity that a store will do for you.

Here's a photo of me in downtown Richmond:



Well, that's a little bit about what's been going on the past couple of weeks.

Coming up, I've got the Richmond Write to Publish Group on Saturday, a bookstore event at Quail Ridge in Raleigh on Sunday (April 29), and then a bookstore event the following Saturday in Wilmington, NC at Pomegranate. Of course, I'll be sure to take lots of photos and will report back here all news and info regarding these events.

Rock on, good people!

Stacey
www.staceycochran.com

Posted on Wednesday 25 of April, 2007 [15:55:13 UTC]

I am exhausted, but I'm exhausted in the best possible way.

Today, I spent a couple of hours driving around Raleigh to several libraries to post flyers for my author event at Quail Ridge Books on April 29. I've really started to get into the swing of things with this kind of on-a-budget advertising.

For this most recent batch of flyers, I had my PR guru Eileen Batson draw up a professional flyer for this event and send it to me as a pdf. Once I had the pdf, I went to OfficeDepot and bought 1000 sheets of bright orange 8.5x11 cardstock. Then, I took 250 sheets of the paper to Kinko's and had them create 150 8.5x11 flyers and 400 postcard-size flyers.



It's less expensive if you carry your own paper to Kinko's rather than use their standard cardstock.

Once I had all the flyers and postcards, I made a list (with addresses) and map of all the area libraries. Because I had Sam with me, I could only hit a select few, but my goal is to place flyers in each library in Wake County (there are about 15), or until I run out of flyers.

Most libraries have a community events bulletin board, and so on each one I put up a few of the larger flyers and pinned a bunch of the smaller postcard-sized ones in case someone wants one for him/herself.

In the course of doing this, I dropped in on a local newspaper and asked about possibly having a story run in the paper on the event.

And I think I've realized this is what you've got to do for each city. It's taken a couple of years to figure out what is manageable and effective, but I think I've finally figured it out.

There are 2-3 things you can do prior to a bookstore event that are manageable and effective marketing and advertising tools.

1) Post flyers prominently in all area libraries 3 weeks prior to your event. Most libraries welcome this and actually have an appropriate place for you to do so.

2) Drive by your local newspaper offices, introduce yourself, your event, and ask if there is someone you can speak with about running an article on your event.

3) Drive by your local public radio stations, introduce yourself, your event, and ask if there is someone you can speak with about doing an interview regarding your event.

Two days ago, I put flyers in the mail to Meetup members in Charlotte and Greensboro who volunteered to post flyers around their towns for our groups' upcoming events. This is truly a critical component to develop if you're planning writers' groups beyond a reasonable afternoon's drive.

It's also a good way to find writers who are responsible and ambitious in these writers groups who may grow to become assistant organizers.

My big goal is to add 25 cities by the end of the year to what has already been established, which would bring the total to around 30 cities.

I've been using the Meetup.com site very well as the de facto bulletin board for a given city's Writers Meetup. This combined with passing around a sign-in sheet to develop flyer-handout contact people in each city and the Lulu.com staff's alerting Lulus in each town has helped to create a tremendous amount of interest and excitement in what I'm doing.

For the past few days, I've begun being contacted by various strangers around the country who would like me to set up writers' groups in their cities. Then, tonight I was contacted by a regional marketing director for a major U.S. bookstore chain who wants to chat about store events and how I've managed to set up this kind of grass roots campaign.

I'm just ready to take on the rest of the country at this point. The idea of flying from city to city, staying in hotels, and launching writers groups in dozens of places (all the while, promoting The Colorado Sequence) sounds awesome to me.

I love meeting other writers, and I love helping other writers find their way in this (sometimes brutal) business of publishing.

Stacey
www.staceycochran.com

Posted on Thursday 12 of April, 2007 [03:30:05 UTC]

So, we had our first meeting of the Greensboro Write to Publish Group yesterday at the Greensboro Public Library located at 210 N. Church Street. All total, we had ten people at our meeting, and the discussion lasted for about 90 minutes.

Our primary topic of discussion was that of literary agents. I described for the group what a literary agent does, how to find them, how to contact them, and how to write a query letter. One of my handouts included my most recent query letter for my novel The Colorado Sequence.

I also passed around one of the positive response letters I have received to my query for The Colorado Sequence.

To aid contact and communication, I passed around a sign-in sheet, and attendees wrote their name, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and email addresses. Once I returned home, I created a file using MS Word for the Greensboro Group.

I plan to send a follow-up note to attendees in a couple of days (once I have the room reserved for our next meetup in Greensboro).

Our next couple of events in April 2007 include: The Wilmington Write to Publish Group on April 14; the Chatham Bookstore Event in Chatham, Virginia on April 21; the Richmond Write to Publish Group on April 28; and the Quail Ridge Bookstore Event in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 29.

We would love to have Lulus at all of these events. Come join us! They'll be fun.

Stacey

Posted on Monday 02 of April, 2007 [02:46:26 UTC]

So, I'm beginning a new blog, and I'm going to try to make my focus for it stay within the realm of marketing, sales, events, and promotion. Your one stop shop for everything you need to know about how to network and make your books sell.

First up, check out the documentary video I directed of our last Lulu Authors Group Meetup. The last event was on March 17, 2007, and we had approximately 20-25 people who came.



To make it happen, I reserved the conference room at my local Caribou Coffee about a month in advance. I used the website meetup.com to help get the word out about it, and I have developed an email list of nearly 100 people in Raleigh who have come to prior events.

I let all of them know about it.





This Saturday, I'll be over in Greensboro, North Carolina, where I'm organizing the first Greensboro Write to Publish Group. It will be held at the Greensboro Public Library from 1:00-3:00 PM (Saturday March 31), and newcomers are welcome.

Depending on what goes down, I'll try to post a blog on like Sunday.

Stacey
www.staceycochran.com

Posted on Thursday 29 of March, 2007 [04:45:37 UTC]