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Now you can have even more fun in the Savannah! Here is the first in a series of free print-at-home coloring pages straight from my new book I see… Savannah. Enjoy, and keep an eye out for more coming soon!

Our first review, and it’s a good one! Here is the full write up from John Graham (no relation I promise) over at www.dadsbookreport.com —

Check Out This Featured Review:

I see… Savannah

by Kirstan Graham

Self Published, 2011

Purchase this book

I love The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Like, LOVE love. To me, it’s the best epic written since Tolkien laid down the law of high fantasy. I stood in line at Powells for 3 hours to meet him and get my books signed. I named my daughter, my most precious being, after his leading heroine. With each new book release Ive hunkered down in my cozy spot and read straight through over 1000 pages with little more than potty and snack breaks. So when I read on his site that Sam Raimi had optioned the rights to make a film version I just about screamed out loud – YES!!!!

Then it turned into a mini-series instead. Hmmm… OK, still cool I guess.

Then I saw it.

I cried.

Why Sam Raimi? Why? How could you sell out and reduce one of the greatest epics ever written to a WB-tween-night-line-up-quality joke? Now people ask me “Oh, is your daughter named after that chick from the TV show?” And, on top of that, the Google statistics on my baby blog show “Kahlan Boobs” in the top five search queries people use and find my site. Are you FRACKIN kidding me? Mr. Raimi, if you hadn’t also directed some of my favorite movies I’d beat you with a stupid stick.

Out of utter despair, I refused to even pick up Goodkinds last book, a totally different story called The Law of Nines. I haven’t been able to reread any of the SOT books lately either, something I like to do every so often. I kind of gave up on Goodkind.

Now, out of nowhere, I just now found out about The Omen Machine. I guess I really did tune out on Terry, because I’m usually the first to start salivating on his release dates and pre-orders. The Sword of Truth is over, but Kahlan and Richard, are BACK? THANK you Terry Goodkind for coming to your senses. I’m pre-ordering this bad boy NOW. Then adding it to my Goodreads, and my iCalendar, and reserving some babysitters for August 16th. Mr. Goodkind, I only hope it’s everything I’ve come to expect from you, or I may need more Kleenex…

Just a quick update: I see… Savannah is now available for nook through Barnes and Noble! The nook app is also available for PC/Mac, iPhone/iPad, and most smart phones. If you prefer iBooks, don’t worry, it’s coming there too. I’ll keep you posted!

Now that I’ve created a book, and published it, I’m done.

Just kidding!

Now I have to get my ebook in front of readers. I feel like creating the book itself was the easy part. Now down to the real work. Marketing. That nasty loaded word that brings up murderous thoughts about door-to-door solicitors, unwanted late night calls, and the ever annoying flier fans. This is the part a traditionally published author may leave up to the publisher, the “get people to buy it” part. But where do you even start when your going it alone? How can you possibly get YOUR book in front of anyone while there is so much eye candy already out there?

I started by reading the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, a free ebook you can download here. Actually, I guess I really started a few years ago when I took a public relations courses  to fulfill social science requirements. I thought they were a good fit in my schedule, and not much more at the time, and now I’m thinking that may have been a pretty good move. Here is a list of things Ive been doing to try to get the word out, some are in the guide, some are my own devising.

1. Embrace the Twitter Craze
Twitter once felt to me like just another “twitter brain” way to kill time. Really, do you need to know when someone clipped their nails or ordered so much food they puked on the waiter? Ive come to realize there is so much more out there in the Twitterspace. Sure, the “bio-tweeters”, are on there but so are many authentically interesting people. People who like books. Your kind of books. Find these people. Make friends. Utilize hash (#) tags to discover people with shared interests or check who follows organizations that your interested in and are pertinent to your books genre. DONT spam people. A few tweets a day with links to your stuff is more than sufficient. To draw people in you need to be interesting and authentic. No one willingly subjects themselves to tele-marketers and Twit-marketers are no better.

2. Make use of Facebook Pages
If your like me, and reserve your personal Facebook account for real world friends and family, consider creating pages. A Facebook page can be public, allowing people to view your content, fan you, and share your material, without compromising your personal account. You can have photos, link interesting articles, and create tabbed static content, basically a mini web page. And, again, it’s free.

3. Maintain a Website/Blog
There is no excuse not to. Anyone can start a decent looking site, totally free, on a number of hosts such as WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad to name a few. Blog about your books genre, or create usefull tools that will draw traffic to your site. If you create a destination for people, some of those visitors are bound to click on your strategically placed book links.

4. Give to Give
Give away your book. Yes. Free. Build some fans, or even better some reviews. Try targeting people or sites that would genuinely be interested in the topic of your book, and also have a decent amount of readers themselves. If your requesting reviews, be prepared, if they don’t review it or have negative things to say be gracious and thankful anyway. Don’t burn people and grow a bad reputation, these things tend to spread and may make it harder to get honest reviews later. Another idea, one I used here, is to create special giveaway items like the Mini-ebook I posted earlier. This mini-book is intended to truly be spread everywhere, to anyone, and be enjoyed. It’s also the single most viewed page on my site, ever. I’m also creating some fun print-at-home coloring pages to accompany the book that will be posted once it’s distributed out to retailers. Give the world a little love, you’ll get a little back.

5. Get Active
A pal of mine that creates adorable Monsters, runs a super blog and has created a whole world for her monsters to inhabit. The monsters themselves get active in the community. They go to Open-Mic night, they throw parties, they even race milk-carton-boats. During all these great activities she never directly “sells” to people. There just there. Being authentic. Being awesome. People notice, and then those people go home and Google. It’s amazing, free, and probably the most fun advertising you can do. So next time you want to join a walk for the Cure, or compete in a hot dog eating contest. Think about making a fun shirt or other prop that subtly shows there is more about you on the inter-webs.

6. Participate
There are a lot of other authors out there. And readers too. They run blogs, they join groups, they inhabit Goodreads. Join in the conversation. Help your fellow authors by writing honest reviews and commenting on their sites. Help readers find good books, not just yours. The more you participate in the literature community the more your thoughts and opinions will matter to these people. They will seek out your bio, and from their maybe your book. But don’t fake it. People can smell a sales call a mile away. Like always, be authentic.

7. Press your Luck
If you have the cash, there are certainly places you can pay to advertise. If your lucky though, you can garner some press coverage which is not only free, but usually connects to more readers since most people tune out on the ad space. Write a professional looking press release and send it out. List it with PR services (more info on that in the Smashwords marketing book), and send it to the local paper and any topic appropriate small press magazines in your area. You may not get any hits, but then again it may only take one to launch your book into better sales.

Good luck out there!

I see... BLOGGERS!

Have a blog? Want a FREE review copy of my new Children’s ebook: I see…Savannah?

Bloggers are the new reporters. There is nothing happening worth knowing if no one blogs it. I get that. So to help spread the word about my book I will give any blogger willing to write an honest review, either on their blog or Smashwords.com, a coupon to download I see… Savannah FREE.

Interested? Just leave a comment here (be sure to leave your blog URL so I can email you the code) or email me directly (handy link on the right of the main site)

Thanks in advance, and power to the bloggers!!

P.S I’m going to try to reply to everyone interested by next week. If, by some marketing miracle, the response is overwhelming it may take longer. This giveaway will only take place over the next few days, I don’t foresee having to limit the freebies but like I said, a miracle may happen and thousands may respond. But likely, you’ll get your copy next week.