Caren Johnson Literary Agency

By Terri Clark

I sold my first book this time last year and immediately began to wonder how I could get noticed. As a debut author, one of the hardest things to do is stand out. I can’t afford a publicist and while I’m savvy about some promotional things, I’m a total neophyte about others. I also have limited funds. In trying to figure out how I could get the most bang for my buck two things came to mind.

Number one: website. A strong web presence can cultivate your readership, create word of mouth interest, gain press, excite your publisher and more. With that in mind I started researching website designers by visiting author sites. I noted what layouts and features I liked, what I didn’t and which designers I could afford. I wanted a website that was user friendly, had teen appeal and that I could build on as my career grew. I thought of it like a starter home. I couldn’t spend $5000 on a site (or even $2000), but I could build an affordable base site and add on to it. And later on, if I wanted to, I could always remodel. My website designer, Barb of Jaleroro Web Designs, did a fantastic job of taking my ideas and making them a reality. I’ve already received positive feedback on my site and it has generated interest in my upcoming books.

Number two: group promo. In recent years I’ve seen a lot of authors band together for promotion—the Buzz Girls, Reader Girlz, The Brown Bookshelf, and Fangs, Fur & Fey (a great group I belong to) are just a few successful examples. The big thing I noticed about these groups was that they received more attention as a whole then the authors did individually. If you think about it, it makes sense. One author might be interesting, but 2, or 5 or 10—especially with a common thread among them—are even more compelling. Therefore, I wanted to find a band of merry authors I could join. Enter: the class of 2k7. I discovered this group last year when Publisher’s Weekly did a write up. “A Novel Approach to Debut Authors” the group touted. Thirty-eight first-time children’s and YA authors with books coming out in 2007 who were working collectively to promote their books. Eureka! Just the thing I was looking for. Lucky for me, three of 2K7’s members had their release dates bumped and the class of 2K8 was born. I immediately asked to join and now I’m a proud member of this fantastic group. January 1 “The Class of 2K8: New Books, New Voices” will be exploding on the web. There are twenty-eight of us and collaboratively we’ve created a killer website, blog, MySpace, book trailer, reader’s guides, brochure, press materials, contest, information for BLTs (booksellers, librarians and teachers), combined speaking engagements and MORE! And let me tell you I wouldn’t have had the fiscal means to accomplish this all on my own, let alone the talent and creativity that we as whole have demonstrated. I’m thrilled that 2K7 will soon be passing their torch to us and I hope you’ll check out our new class in the New Year.

http://www.terriclarkbooks.com